The Ancient Future Church

1 Peter 1:1-12

“Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ.”

Sanctified for obedience? This expectation for ourselves and other followers of Jesus is out of favor these days. I am following a blog that is considering known and admitted misconduct, like marital infidelity. When it is said that those engaged in it should step down from church leadership, it is met with a righteous indignation. An undeniable biblical teaching of loving discipline that leads to restoration is all but dismissed out of hand. After all, it is argued pastors are not police and grace trumps all. And of course if someone is held accountable in one local church, he or she usually has the option of moving to another church, perhaps within the same denomination, down the road. Pastors receive them without question based upon grace or the need to pay bills or some novel tertium quid.

But that is cheap grace. Bonhoeffer famously defined it this way:

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ.”

Cheap grace, the content of feckless preaching when there happens to be any content, tickles the ear. You can draw a crowd with cheap grace. But you can’t make disciples with it. Because grace isn’t cheap. And cheap grace does not transform. And what we offer transforms! “Sanctified for obedience!”

The church without discipline is not the church. Having said that, restoring discipline begins with restoring an expectation of obedience. Jesus does not redeem us for freedom but for freedom to live the life God desires from us, freedom for obedience. And given the height of the challenge Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit to make us climbers with increasing measure.

In other words, it is said that Jesus loves us enough to meet us where we are (even in our sin) and loves us too much to leave us there. That is biblical grace.

Exodus 13:3-10

“And you shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

So each year, in a land flowing with milk and honey, the Israelites were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. They were to abstain from leavened bread in those same seven days. It is an event that will escape no one’s notice, giving up one and substituting the other.  And as the memorial is celebrated, fathers will tell their children “it is because of what the Lord did” that we remember. Once slaves, the people of God have been set free.

What if followers of Jesus did this each week as we mark the day of resurrection? What if we talked about what the Lord has done in our lives, how we, especially as fathers, came to be where we are?

First I would struggle with the whole age appropriate thing. Let’s assume for a moment I could get beyond that. What would I say? What MUST I say?

The truth is that I was for many years, at least 21, living a life meant to satisfy John. I worked hard but only to earn money to spend on John. I earned good grades (rarely as good as I could have earned) because they furthered my ability to earn money to spend on John and my gratification. I gave the appearance of honoring my parents but only to gain greater freedom to satisfy John. I wasn’t a liar but I did not guard the truth. I was a libertarian, meaning here I honored no constraints (save those that advanced John) and that I took a lot of liberties. The sins of my youth that I remember still keep me up at night. I’m blessed at my inability to remember the many others. I am not saying this for shock value. Truly, it is only the beginning of the truth. It well known among those close to me that my goal in life was to retire at 35. If I failed miserably I would retire at 40. Why? So I could do what I wanted whatever that was. My life was narcissistic, hedonistic, individualistic, and unaccountable. My life really had no guiding ethic other than to please John.

Then Jesus, who was ever present on the periphery, entered my time and space continuum in a radical way. He changed all that. He brought me rather abruptly to a place of realizing I was not the center of the world not even the center of my world. He showed me I did not control what I thought I controlled and certainly not anything that mattered. He showed me that peace and contentment were found in abandoning life, my life, my narcissistic, hedonistic, individualistic, and unaccountable life, and living it instead for the welfare of others. And He has spent the last 28 years trying to transform me from the old man into the new, with only moderate success through no fault of His own. No false modesty here! After all who could easily overcome all the habits, stinking thinking, and self-inflicted wounds, along with ample and well deserved guilt and shame for what my please John life heaped upon others! He’s so gracious though. He keeps trying.

This is what the Lord did for me when he brought me out of Egypt. This is what I must tell my son, my sons, at least if I want to begin with the truth.

1 Corinthians 15:29-41

“If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’”

What horizon orders your life? What is the backdrop upon which you paint your story?

That is Paul’s chief concern here. Those who dis the resurrection of the dead are dissing something far greater, the existence of God. They are living as if there are no consequences, as if there is no ultimate and eternal “tomorrow.” All that awaits these folks is death. Therefore, eat, drink and be merry. Hakuna matata!

The worry free no consequence life is appealing. Finnegan lives it in Fool’s Gold. Sun. Sand. Treasure. I’m “all in.” Kristen would say “Calgon, take me away.” Some people save all of their lives for such an experience. But therein lies the problem. It is not a way of life. It is an escape from it. It is a vacation.

On the contrary, our lives are meant to be lived with purpose 24/7, even during the occasional trip to Disney or other la la land. We are meant to live as if a Creator created us. And we are meant to live as if the same Creator unshackled us from both sin and death in Christ Jesus.

So life isn’t haphazard because we didn’t get where we are haphazardly. The Spirit directed life allows for plenty of spontaneity. But the Spirit is always directing us to fulfill our purpose, not to be a doctor or lawyer or at least only to the extent that it is within the higher calling or vocation of being a follower of Jesus.

This should cause us to live with expectation. We should be vigilant in considering where God is working. Why did that person just engage me in conversation out of the blue? What does God want me to glean (take) from this conversation or this potentially new relationship? More important, what does God want me to invest (give) in this moment, in this relationship. How is God orchestrating an opportunity for me to fulfill my purpose of bearing witness and bringing Him glory?

What is your canvas like? Are you living with this much sensitivity, this much expectation?  Or are we unknowingly so consumed with another agenda (or no agenda –just eating and drinking) that we are living as if God does not exist and didn’t raise Jesus from the dead?

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Death is our enemy. Really? Many people experience death after four score or more years. And for many of them death is friend, relief to those bound by a broken body. Is death enemy in a universal sense?

Certainly the fear of death motivates many. We spend unspeakable amounts of money to hold death at bay at the end of life. My dear grandmother lived 84 years. Much was done to keep her alive in the last year of life even when she, out of deep conviction and great assurance, was prepared to meet her maker. She was unhappy with the decisions of those who could not accept her end. She greeted eagerly what others wanted to deny.

Ernest Becker captures death as enemy in his work Escape from Evil. Death inhibits legacy so many spend a lifetime creating a legacy that will survive their physical death. By what they built or amassed they will be remembered long after they are gone. And too often for Becker they heap evil upon others as they draw a disproportionate amount of resources to themselves. At the very least they often forsake those they should love most in the drive to create legacy.

Death is an enemy in that we are often so consumed by it that we forget to live and enjoy the God given breath that fills our lungs.

This enemy, in whatever form, met its match in Jesus.

Death’s grip isn’t what it once was. The tomb is empty. Physical death does not have the last word on our existence. There is life beyond the grave.

And we have a legacy. Our names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And the book resides in a realm where neither moth nor rust consumes. Long after winds have erased names etched in stone here on earth, our legacy remains indelibly inscribed.

Alleluia. Christ is Risen!

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

“I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast.”

Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.

The Gospel is that truth in which we stand and by which we are saved. What it is? What is the Gospel? “That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.”

Sin is devastating in so many ways. We wreck our lives with it. We wreck other people’s lives with it. And others wreck our lives with theirs. Worst of all, we alienate ourselves from God and earn the profound wage of death. If that was the last word, we would be sunk, without life and without hope.

But that wasn’t the last word. The last word was full of grace and truth and came to dwell among us. He rolled up his sleeves. He entered our mess. He suffered at our hands. Our sin put him on a collision course with death. Though sinless he would suffer the fate of everyone he came to save. His slate became chockfull that ours might be wiped clean.

But that wasn’t the last word either. On the third day God raised him from the dead. Jesus lives. The tomb is empty. Not only sin but death itself has lost its power. As promised there is power in sacrifice. As promised in the face of a sinless sacrifice “the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backward.”

Sin has lost its power. Death has lost its grip. Wrecked lives are not a given. Life and hope rule. No wonder they call it good news. No wonder we say “Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.”

Being a follower of Jesus is living into the implications of this life giving beyond understanding good news.

Happy Easter!

Mark 14:12-25

“Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”

It is so easy to throw Judas under the bus. What a scoundrel! Whether driven by desire for revolution or profit or

Close Enough to Kiss

some combination of the two, Judas sold out his mentor and friend Jesus. The wheels on the bus go round and round.

But that’s a bit too easy, isn’t it? One the most haunting hymns in Holy Week, is an African-American spiritual, Were you there? It is a penetrating question for anyone with ears, believing or not frankly.

OK, we did not betray Jesus with a kiss. But surely we can identify ourselves with one of the players in this epic drama!? There is Pilate in power and trying to maintain it. Appease the crowds and keep the peace he thinks. This will serve me well. There is Peter the bold and brave. “Who? Me? No, I don’t know him” Not once but three times he bails on his hero, mentor and friend.

The cast of characters is large. There are religious leaders who find themselves threatened and when backed into a corner, lash out. We find nothing godly or merciful in their response. Then there is the mob. They love stadium sporting events. “Crucify him. Crucify him.” Found yourself yet? OK, if you are still struggling what about the many who were silent in the face of grave injustice?

It is so easy to throw Judas under the bus. I just wish I could argue credibly that the same wheels don’t roll over me again and again. Unfortunately, I was there.

Hebrews 9:15-28

“Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant.”

New, as in not old. Why we struggle to get that I do not know. But we live under the new covenant.

Under the old, we strove and strove to keep the law. When we didn’t keep it, we offered sacrifices to atone. It was a lot of work. It was futile. Nothing got better. We strove. We sacrificed. Groundhog Day comes to mind.

Under the new covenant, the sacrifice is made once for all by God in Jesus. Once for all. Never to be done again. There goes half the human effort. Then, the law we are meant to keep is written upon our hearts and we are transformed in such a way as to live into the law (albeit not fully). There goes the other half. God is doing all the work.

This Friday, this Good Friday, as you mark and celebrate the unthinkable, be reminded of the new. It is why Jesus said, “It is finished.”

Thanks be to God!

2 Corinthians 1:1-7

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions.”

Comfort too? How great is that!

This Lent I have thought a lot about and written some about sin (personally, how selfish I am) and suffering (how if we are to be imitators of Paul or followers of Jesus we will endure pain and rejection). To dwell there in sin and suffering daily for a sustained period of time would be depressing. Wasn’t it TS Eliot who said we humans can only handle so much of the truth?

In Paul we hear truth that relieves, truth that enlivens as opposed to truth that humbles, breaks down and destroys. That truth? Our God is the Father of all mercies and all comfort.  And He comforts us in our afflictions. We are not forsaken to endure affliction alone. He is not absent. Nor is He idle. He comes to us bringing relief and restoring hope.

And he means for us to capitalize on it. We can comfort others in affliction with the comfort God has used to comfort us. After all, we are in this together. I have determined there are two kinds of people, those in pain and those about to be. We are all just around the corner from bringing pain upon ourselves or having it imposed upon us. So God, in His infinite wisdom, equips us to comfort in the face of what is inevitable, pain.

I am reminded of the words of John Donne:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

John Donne, From Meditation XVII

2 Corinthians 4:1-12

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.”

This passage has sustained me at some critical junctures in life. These were moments of great personal pain and uncertainty. They were moments to be endured, times unsolicited and undesired. And I heard in Paul a hope that does not disappoint. I heard that I as bore what seemed unbearable I would not be destroyed. And I was right to hear it.

What I often overlooked in earlier years was that being a follower of Jesus would put me routinely in place where I would need this hope that does not disappoint, this truth that I cannot be crushed or driven to despair. “So that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” What Jesus endured his followers will endure. Troubles need not be sought out. They are a byproduct of being a follower. He suffered. We suffer.

This rocks our world as we live in a place (dare I say a country or culture) of comfort wherein pain is to be avoided at all cost. We have the victory. We are meant to live triumphantly! After all, “your best life now” is only seven steps away. Activate your faith and you can “become a better you.” Interestingly enough seven steps too. Drivel. Bunk. Hooey.

Let me say it again. Drivel. Bunk. Hooey.

We are not meant to experience pain and suffering to the exclusion of joy and even fun. Even Jesus loves a good wedding reception. But we cannot and should not attempt to eliminate from our lives the things that make us like or look like Jesus. When they are for the right they are not to be endured but embraced. Indeed we must contemplate the absence of pain. In my estimation it has its moment in denial or not following or some combination of the two.

1 Corinthians 3:7-18

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.”

It is always nice when the lectionary tees up a favorite line of thinking or inquiry. What happens beyond salvation, when the Spirit leads us to profess “Jesus is Lord” that we might be reconciled to God? What’s next? Simply put, the Spirit’s work continues. He is transforming the believer into the likeness or image of Jesus.

Now there is no promise that this will be radical or fast though the former is clearly a goal. As Eugene Peterson describes it, our journey is a long obedience in the same direction. This is important to remember for the classically trained American Christian. Why? Because our sense of entitlement to immediate gratification has evolved into an entitlement to a quick fix. “Chemo?  Radiation? No thanks. I’ll take a shot and be done with it,” the doctors refrain “not an option” notwithstanding.

No we are being transformed and that for the rest of our lives. We should be humble about what progress might be made. At the heart of most sin is self/me. We so easily elevate ourselves above God and other. In its simplest form it is selfishness that has no regard for other, ANY other. Now we are steeped in selfishness. It is entrenched. So transforming it out of us is no easy is task. When you pull out weeds you always run the risk of harming wheat. A full on extraction of selfishness from the individual would be a bloody mess.

I was explaining this to my friend Jos yesterday. I lament it but I am selfish. I was born that way and the world has done little to temper it. When I get home at the end of the day, I want my wife and family to lavish attention upon me regardless of what their day has been like. I don’t want anyone to bring me slippers but a remote control would be nice.

But after decades of transformation I am a little more sensitive to what energy has been consumed just to get through the day especially with the addition of three boys in the last four years. And when I rail against God anyway, I tend hear his “and your point is?” sooner rather than later. I am a little, and I mean a very little, less selfish today than I was yesterday. The change may be imperceptible (and I am quite sure some will readily agree). But it is change nonetheless in the long obedience in the same direction that is producing the likeness of Jesus in me. And in that I will rejoice.