The sincere faith of my mothers

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MomGranny “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5 NIV).

The church of my youth had annual revival services. We would often have an evangelist come and share how God had miraculously saved him from a life of sin. He would preach with fiery enthusiasm and through tears about how God had taken a former drunkard, (or addict, thief, murderer, etc.) and saved him.

These “Damascus Road” testimonies were amazing to me. I was envious of their certainty and passion. As a boy, I often doubted my salvation because I hadn’t had such an awesome conversion. I had no flash of light, no voice of God. At age eight, I had just decided to give my life to Jesus the way my mother and grandmother had taught me.

As I grew in my faith, I no longer doubted my salvation, but I still sometimes wished that my testimony was more exciting. Why couldn’t I have a testimony more like the apostle Paul’s?

Maybe that’s what Timothy was feeling when Paul wrote him that second letter. Paul was so fearless and certain when he testified of his faith, but Timothy was a little timid. When he compared himself to his mentor he just didn’t feel like he measured up.

Paul would have none of that. He reminded Timothy of the spiritual legacy that his mother and grandmother had given him. Timothy had been spared the suffering and sorrow of Paul’s many mistakes before coming to Christ. Paul reminded Timothy that the “sincere faith” which had “lived” in his mother and grandmother, now “lived” in him.

As a grown man, I’m glad that I have a “Timothy testimony.” The two most influential people in my spiritual development were women. They were my grandmother Ettie and my mother Wilda. They didn’t have the same names as “Eunice and Lois”, but they did have the same “sincere faith” living in them.

Sincere faith. The kind that is more than religion, more than rules and ritual. These women loved and lived for their Lord in such a sincere way that what they passed on to me was more caught than taught.

My mother and her mother are with Jesus now, but their sincere faith still lives here in me.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Of geek power, a robotic pancreas, and renewed passion

Posted by & filed under Current Affairs, Religion, Science, Uncategorized, Web/Tech, Weblogs.

Diabetes sensor “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:11 NIV).

The cover story of this month’s issue of Wired is entitled “Geek Power” and the whole issue follows that theme. One of the “geeks” that they write about in an article entitled, “The Robotic Pancreas,” is Jeffrey Brewer. Brewer is the cofounder of two early internet successes: Citysearch and GoTo.com. He used to put in 100-hour weeks developing these two companies, but by 2001, at the age of 32, he had made enough money to live on for the rest of his life. So, he took a year off to live in Australia with his wife and two kids.

When Brewer and his family returned to the States they noticed that their 7-year old son, Sean, was always thirsty and using the bathroom more than usual. When they took him to the doctor, he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

After nurses taught the Brewers how to give their son insulin and check his sugar level, Jeffrey was shocked by the antiquated approach. He said, “I was testing Sean every few hours, and I’m thinking, this is crying out for automation. A computer should do this and would do it better. Why didn’t this exist, with all that we can do?”

And so began a new passion for Jeffrey Brewer. Over the next few years, he put the same intense passion into developing a better technology for diabetics that he once had poured into his internet startups. His passion has led him to join the board of directors for the JDRF – Juvenile Diabeters Research Foundation, to donate millions of his own money and to focus his considerable intellect and influence on helping his son.

Brewer’s intense passion has changed what many said would take decades, into confidence that a FDA approved, semi-automated insulin dispenser will be available within five years.

Passion is the measure of intensity of an emotion. It’s what the Bible sometimes calls “zeal” or “fervor.” Passion is like fuel that burns within us to accomplish or obtain a thing.

But human passion can run out or it can run awry. What we need is God’s power for passion. We need God’s kind of life-giving, focused and intense power for living. Then, we will never be “lacking in zeal or spiritual fervor” for serving the Lord.

Jeffrey Brewer was moved by passion for his son. We can be moved by God’s powerful passion for us. Nothing against “geek power,” but I’m depending on God’s power to continually renew my passion.

Where have you lost your passion? In your marriage? At work or school? What about your passion for God? Ask God to renew your passion. It really changes things.

Do you feel powerless to restore broken relationships?

Posted by & filed under Current Affairs, Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

HappinessIsAChoice “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. …For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:6,10 NIV).

Do you ever feel powerless to restore broken relationships? Many of us do. As we continue on life’s journey many of us have left quite a trail of lost lovers and forgotten friends.

After a while, a real sense of lonliness and failure tends to overtake us. Any hope of happiness eventually becomes victim to our growing sense of anger and bitterness at our relational reality. We become depressed.

Some years ago I read a book that discussed how relationships have a direct affect on those who suffer from depression. The book was written by Dr. Minirth and Dr. Meier and was titled: Happiness Is a Choice. They noted that most of their patients who suffered from clinical depression had a combination of the following factors:

  • Pent up or unresolved anger
  • Lack of self-worth
  • Lack of intimacy with others
  • Lack of intimacy with God

The authors went on to say that they believed that the Bible offered real answers to these four factors. They suggested that the great commandment which says that we should “love God and love our neighbor as ourselves,” is the best medicine for one suffering from depression because it puts them in right relationship with themselves, with others and with God.

I agree. But I have noticed that just telling someone that they “should” start loving God, loving themselves and loving others always falls short. People are powerless to do what God’s Word says absent His power to accomplish it.

I don’t want to misrepresent Minirth and Meier’s book. It’s a classic book that is very insightful and helpful. But I am becoming increasingly aware of how inadequate it is to just tell people to do what God’s Word says. If we could just follow the written instructions of God’s Word, we wouldn’t need God’s Son.

Our problem is that not only are we struggling with the four factors listed above, but we are “powerless” to do anything about it! We need more than good advice, we need someone to empower us to follow it.

That’s why Jesus died for our justification and was risen for our reconciliation. He alone can restore us to God, to ourselves, and to others.

The resurrection power of Christ is available to restore our broken relationships.

Where did you get your identity?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

Identity “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NIV).

We tend to let our sufferings and longings identify us, but Christ’s resurrection means that we can follow Him into our true, glorious identity.

When we suffer, it leaves scars. Many of us find our identity in those scars. We lose a loved one and we spend our lives embittered and grieving. We never get over it.

Death, divorce, or defeat leave similar scars. They all may lead us to lower our gaze and wrinkle our brows in bitterness. Our present sufferings become our identity. We say to ourselves, “I am a widow. I am an orphan. I am a divorcee. I am a failure. I am hopeless. I am a victim.”

The groan of our longings can identify us too. We have sexual longings, so we identify ourselves by those desires. We confuse our sexual desire with our true identity, reducing ourselves to our hormones. We have an appetite for that which distracts or medicates our pain, so we become addicted to alcohol or drugs. Then, we become identified with our addiction. We become addicts.

When Jesus Christ rose from the grave, there was no smell of death upon Him. Sure, He had scars on His hands, feet and side, but they bled no longer. His wounds are healed. His scars are like badges hanging on a heroic soldier’s chest. They remind us of what He has overcome.

His resurrection from the dead verifies His identity as the Son of God. It also gives authority and credibility to the Bible’s claim that we were made in the image of God. Christ’s resurrection restores God’s original intent for those who believe.

Because of Christ’s powerful resurrection we can find our true identity in Him. We no longer have to struggle with an identity crisis due to our “present suffering.” Our true, glorious identity will one day be revealed when Christ returns.

When that Day comes, whatever we think identifies us now, will fade in comparison to the glory that is revealed.

Power for us?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

Sun_earth “I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:19-20 NLT).

God’s incredibly great power is “for us who believe.”

I don’t think any of us get this. If we did, we would never despair, never worry, never doubt.

Sure, we get it that God is powerful. We’re believers. We believe that God is Creator, that He formed the earth and hung the sun and moon in space. We believe He made everything.

We believe that God not only made everything, but He can do anything. We believe that He is omnipotent, all-powerful. Jesus demonstrated this divine capacity. He commanded the winds and the waves. He multiplied the fishes and loaves. He walked on the water. He died, was buried, and was raised from the dead.

We get all that. What we don’t get is that this power is “for us.” We don’t understand that this resurrection power is available to us. Maybe it’s fear that God’s power is against us. Or maybe it’s just ignorance. We don’t know about the power of God. But for many, it’s an old habit of self-sufficiency. We keep living in our own power, experiencing the stress and joyless struggle of self-effort. We live by the flesh, while Christ offers to empower us to live by the Spirit.

If we ever understand that the power that raised Christ from the dead is “for us,” then we’ll finally live the abundant life that Christ offers.

Do you get it?

Go back to your oikos

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46cf063b-00325-05317-400cb8e1 “They replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household’“ (Acts 16:31 NLT).

“Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?'” (John 4:28-29 NIV).

The Greek word for home is oikos.

Throughout the New Testament we see a repeating story that begins with an individual who believes and then immediately shares their new found faith with their own oikos. This is what created such momentum in the early church. People didn’t leave their family, friends, and neighbors behind. Instead, they immediately “went back” to them and told them of their new life in Jesus.

In the modern church we often pull new believers out of their own oikos without a thought of the consequences. We mean well. We want them to join our church family and be part of what we’re doing. But we forget that the Lord wants to use them to reach their whole family. By the time we get them all “cleaned-up” and “Christianized,” they may have lost the connectivity and passion that would have been present at first.

The Samaritan woman that Jesus encountered at the well near the city of Sychar had to be the least likely evangelist for reaching that town. But Jesus had no problem releasing her for service. She had such a sense of urgency that she left her “water jar” at the well and ran back to her town to tell them the Good News.

How can we experience the momentum that occurred in the early church? I think one way is to release and commission people to go back to their own oikos until everyone has heard.

What stops momentum?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

Momentum_rock “And they spread among the Israelites a bad report” (Numbers 13:32 NIV).

In nature, the following factors affect momentum negatively:

  • Inertia – The resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion. As Newton observed, “An object at rest tends to stay at rest.”
  • Friction – The resistive force acting between bodies that tends to oppose and damp out motion.

In the church, spiritual momentum can be negatively impacted too. We see a similarity between the physical and the spiritual laws of momentum.

Spiritual inertia can be seen in churches where the people have become comfortable and set in their ways. They are resistant to change. They want to sit in the same pews and sing the same songs from the same hymnals and listen to the same sermons and leave at the same time with the same people. In a fast paced and ever changing world, people don’t want any change in their churches. They see the church as a static and safe place, rather than a dangerous, faith-provoking movement of God.

Even after their churches become stale and lifeless, they resist change for fear of losing that which is known. Like the Israelites, they would rather live in the past and return to the “Egypt” they know, than risk going into the promised land they don’t know.

But fear alone doesn’t entirely explain this spiritual inertia. Confusion is the other factor. Those resistant to change have often taken what was a movement of God in their generation and turned it into a monument. They confuse God’s methods with His message. God’s Word will never change, but His methods are new for every generation.

God doesn’t do encores. Moses learned this when God told him to “strike the rock” to bring forth water the first time, but to “speak to the rock” in the second instance. Moses struck the rock both times. In the first, he was obedient, in the second he was not. God still gave the people water, but Moses never entered the promised land. God is on the move. He wants us to follow.

Spiritual friction is seen when a movement of God has already begun. This is an opposing force that damps out spiritual momentum. In nature, it is between bodies or objects. In churches, it is between people. Invariably, when a church begins to see God move, they will also notice an increase in people arguing and complaining about things. Their disagreement may or may not be with the direction of the church. Often, they just find themselves offended or hurt by someone in the church and they react by hurting back.

When Moses had to address the complaining of the Israelites, he and Aaron “fell facedown” before them. When the leadership of the church has to turn to address the bickering and relational friction of its members, the church loses momentum.

The church is vulnerable to this opposing force for a couple of reasons. One, because we have not learned to become unoffendable like Jesus. We are like walking wounded, easily hurt and offended by the slightest word. And two, because there is an active and evil opponent in the world. Satan hates the church and will do everything possible to stop it. If he can’t do it directly, then he’ll stop it through manipulating us in our relationships. Spiritual friction is spiritual warfare.

I think WCC is experiencing a season of spiritual momentum right now. But I’m praying really hard against spiritual inertia and friction. I’m praying against fear of change and a tendency to build monuments out of the past movements. I’m praying against us being easily offended and manipulated by Satan.

If you sense that one or both of these factors that hinder momentum is affecting you, will you make it right? Will you trust God? Will you forgive your friend? Will you stay unified with God and with one another?

Will you join me in asking God to “shake” things up in our world?

Who can move the stone?

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

Empty-tomb “And they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?'” (Mark 16:3 NIV).

“…I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:17-18 NIV).

A great amount of energy is expended when changing the velocity of an object at rest to an object in motion. The greater the mass, the greater the inertia. The stone that covered the tomb of Jesus was of great mass and rested in a carved out stone groove, sealing the grave. It would take incredible strength to move it.

When the women went to the Lord’s tomb early on that first Easter morning, they worried along the way about how they would move the stone. They knew that they didn’t have the strength to move it. They went hoping that someone would move it for them.

Someone did.

With resurrection power God raised Jesus from the dead and moved the stone of separation between God and man. God put into motion a movement that continues to gain momentum until this very day.

God didn’t move the stone so Jesus could get out. He moved the stone so that the women could get in.

We still need God to move in order for people to come in to faith in Christ. As we desire our lost neighbors, acquaintances, relatives and friends to hear the gospel and believe, we must recognize that there is still that which keeps them out. There is a kind of stone in their lives that only God can move. Our best evangelistic efforts will fall short without God moving in their stony hearts.

“What does this mean for evangelism? It means quite simply that evangelism cannot possibly succeed. However clear and cogent we may be in presenting the gospel, we have no hope of convincing or converting anyone. Can you or I by our earnest talking break the power of Satan over a man’s life? No. Can you or I give life to the spiritually dead? No. Our approach to evangelism is not realistic until we have faced this shattering fact and let it make its impact on us. Regarded as a human enterprise, evangelism is a hopeless task” (J. I. Packer).

I agree with Packer. But like the women who walked to the tomb, we can pray, “Who will roll away the stone?”

We can pray that God would move in people’s hearts as Jesus instructed the apostle Paul when He commissioned him. We can pray, Lord, move to …

  • Open their spiritual eyes (because they are dead in their sin)
  • Lead them into light (because they walk in cultural darkness)
  • Free them from Satan’s power (because they are enslaved and deceived)

Evangelism begins with prayer. Prayer plows the hard soil of human hearts to receive the seed of God’s Word. Prayer rolls away the stone that separates the living from the dead. Prayer is not an evangelistic afterthought, it’s a necessity!

After praying for God to move, we can run to tell the good news that God has moved the stone and that Jesus is risen!

Spiritual momentum

Posted by & filed under Religion, Uncategorized, Weblogs.

Balls “After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (Acts 4:31 NIV).

p = m(v)

Do you remember this mathmatical equation describing momentum? It states that momentum (p) is equal to mass (m) multiplied times velocity (v). Mass is the amount of matter in a body. We sometimes describe it as weight. Velocity is the rate of change of position in both speed and direction.

In the first century, a small (little mass), relatively insignificant group of people (low velocity), began meeting together and going out into their community to preach the good news that Jesus had conquered death and people’s sins would no longer be counted against those who trusted in Him. When Peter and John healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus and began to teach in the Jewish Temple, the Sanhedrin put them in prison. Upon release, they warned them not to preach anymore in that “name.”

They said, “We need to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name” (Acts 4:17 NIV).

Their warning should have worked. It should have stopped this fledgling movement in its tracks. They were the larger authority. They had not only the “weight” of local law on their side, they had the “weight” and “velocity” of Rome.

But when Peter and John returned to their little community of faith, they began to pray. As they prayed together with the other believers, they became unified in the Spirit (a unified direction) and velocity within that house began to grow. Rather than shrinking from the size of the threats from Rome and the Sanhedrin, they asked God to “consider their threats” and to “stretch forth” his hand to move in the name of Jesus.

God answered their prayer. He moved. The greater weight of the living God moved into that small community of believers and the house where they were meeting was “shaken.” Like a tremor that moves through a train when the locomotive first begins to engage its mighty engine, so the Spirit of God shook the people of that house of faith and put into motion a spiritual movement that turned Rome and the world upside down.

The Spirit of God is still moving today. Regardless of the size of the problem that we may face as individuals or in our communities, our God is greater. The spiritual momentum that Jesus started 2,000 years ago is still growing and moving in our world today. He can overcome the spiritual inertia of our generation.

I’m asking God to shake us up afresh today. “Lord, stretch forth Your hand.”

What in the world?

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Earth_from_space “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (John 17:15-18 NIV).

When the Bible talks about the “world,” it is almost always referring to human culture. And as we’ve been discussing these past weeks, the culture has been bent by human sin. The culture is crooked.

So, what in the world do we do in response to living in a crooked culture?

Almost half a century ago, H. Richard Niebuhr’s book, Christ and Culture, laid down a framework of five typical answers to the question. In the book, Niebuhr gave a history of how Christianity has responded to culture. He outlined five prevalent viewpoints:

 

  • Christ against culture. Following Christ alone, we reject the culture. We become separatists from culture.
  • Christ of culture. Affirming both Christ and culture, we become accomodationists of culture.
  • Christ above culture. Believing that neither a blank rejection or acceptance of culture is in order, we attempt a synthesis of both.
  • Christ and culture in paradox. Believing that we live in dual kingdoms, we attempt to live in both, while at the same time recognizing their differences. We become dualists.
  • Christ transforming culture. While similar to the dualist’s view of two kingdoms, this view believes that culture can be improved and that a holy Christian community on earth is possible.

As I studied Niebuhr’s book in seminary, I saw things I could affirm in all five responses to culture. I know Christians throughout history have struggled with this question.

The church of my youth came closest to Niebuhr’s first category, Christ against culture. We heard sermons on the evils of TV and Rock and Roll. We were challenged to watch our hair styles (“The Bible says it’s a shame for a man to have long hair.”) and our dress code (“Women shouldn’t wear pants.”). Our church represented a cultural island within the larger American culture. I tried to live in both, but often felt schizophrenic in the attempt. There had to be a better way to live.

I want to live in the world the way Jesus did. I can think of at least three metaphors that Jesus taught that can shape our response to today’s culture.

  • Be like salt. Jesus tells us that we are the “salt of the earth.” Salt does many things. It adds flavor. It has healing properties. It can be used as a preservative.  Like salt, we are to be influencers of the culture’s flavor. We are to be healers of the culture’s wounds and preservers of that which is good.
  • Be like light. Jesus tell us that we are the “light of the world.” Light gives sight and exposes the darkness. We are to share the truth about the gospel and expose falsehood in the culture.
  • Be fruitful.  Jesus tells us that we are to bear “much fruit.” We are to do good in the world just as He did. We are to bear the fruit of being God’s children, showing the world God’s goodness.

If we’re going to be salt, then we’ll have to mix it up with the world to affect its flavor. If we’re going to be light, then we’ll have to shine bright, so the world can see. If we’re going to be fruitful, then we’re going to have to devote ourselves to doing good in this world of need.

We’ll have to live in this world where Jesus sent us just like God sent Him.