The Ancient Future Church

4 Epiphany, Friday, February 08, 2013

Mark 9:2-13

“And suddenly looking around they no longer saw any one with them but Jesus only.”

Jesus only!

Upon the holy mountain Jesus was transfigured, morphed in appearance into something exceedingly white. The witness about to be given was demonstrated wildly in physical form.

Moses, standard bearer of the law, stands with Jesus. Elijah, standard bearer of the prophetic ministry, stands with Jesus. Greats from history stand with Jesus. But the all stage lights are intensely focused upon him. He is the only one exceedingly white.

Then the greatest voice of all, the Creator of all created, speaks. “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And with that the greats fade from the scene.

Jesus is the center of this scene. Jesus is meant to be the center of life.

Jesus only!

This leaves a haunting question. Why is he not always at the center of mine?

Epiphany 3, Tuesday, January 29, 2013

http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/bcp/

“He could do no mighty work there. . . He marveled because of their unbelief.”

Jesus was struggling to heal because of the absence faith. The presence of faith does not insure healing. Normally, the absence of faith precludes it. “Normally,” I said. Jesus is able to heal who He wants when He wants. But faith is normally a part of the equation. He healed ten lepers. He saved the one who returned and believed. Faith expanded the healing exponentially.

Jesus heals! Do you believe? A friend has on his Facebook page a saying like this. “To believe something is to act as if it true.” I have not acted lately as if God heals. Jesus would marvel at my unbelief.

I need healing. That is apparent. Some folks probably believe I need a lot more than I do. I suffer still from voids in my childhood. Physical affection was not a large part of my youth. For a long time I struggled to love physically. Jesus healed. Consequently I love my wife and kids well in that way. All too soon that will be an embarrassment to my boys.

My ability to trust men in authority over me or with me is much less than it should be. This is with good reason. I have been betrayed a number of times especially by leaders in the church. How ironic. I made a list and I could not name a single betrayer outside the structure of the church. Anyway, my experiences should not make universal that which is particular. Not every man will betray. And to some degree it might have been a self-fulfilling prophecy. Possibly I helped bring it on because it was highly anticipated.

In the last few months and especially in this past weekend, the Lord healed me of looking for validation in the wrong place.  He is my rock. He is my fortress. He is meant to be my identity. An identity in him is one that cannot be shaken. He is enabling me to love and lead apart from hearing “well done” from others. How? Because Jesus has become the horse whisperer for me.  He is speaking softly to me the words “well done.” He whispers them again and again.

I think I will act as if healing is true, because it is and I have experienced it.

“Gleanings” is a devotional commentary for those who read the Bible through the Daily Office of the Book of Common Prayer.

1 Epiphany, Wednesday – January 16, 2013

Link to all Daily Office Lessons int he ESV: http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/bcp/

Ephesians 2:1-10

“But God, who is rich in mercy out of the great love with which he loved us, . .”

What motivates God? Love. He is love the bibles tell us. We love because he first loved us we are told elsewhere. Unconditional love is the formative principle. This is not love in some academic sense. It is not distant, remote or ethereal. This love draws near. This love includes pathos or passion. It is not sentimental but it is emotional. This love empathizes with the suffering as I did for my son Whit as he wretched last night or my wife Kristen as she cared for him (easy now, someone had to stay with Graham who wasn’t having a great night either).

How is God’s love experienced most? In mercy. We are children of wrath. We deserve punishment. We should count our blessings if it is only the rod we get. But instead the God who is love shows mercy to those who are rightly dead in their trespasses. That would be all of us. This changes me.

In the ordinary course of things we should love and therefore show mercy. I have found though that mercy first sometimes leads me to love. This is the reverse order of things. It is counterintuitive. Mercy leads me to God. He may not be safe (Aslan) but he is reliable. I may experience judgment (rightfully) but mercy will be not far behind. Therefore He is approachable. 24/7 judgment not so much!

Mercifully I pray for those who have wronged me. They need a touch from the God who has touched me. Somehow showing mercy, seeing someone else in need of the same thing that saves me, makes me more loving and that person more loveable. There is no older brother and younger brother, no great distinction between in and out. We are all in need of the same thing. Mercy! This is the odd economy of God.

1 Epiphany, Tuesday – January 15, 2013

Mark 1:14-28

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

Simplicity is a welcome commodity in our world. Life is full and often complicated. Just a couple of days ago we thought our new refrigerator was not cooling properly (and it wasn’t). After reading the manual a number of times it was still not clear to us if the temperature reading was the setting or the actual temperature. We think it is actually some combination of the two but we are still not positive. It is most appreciated when instructions can be captured in a single sentence and in an accessible way.

Jesus begins his public ministry in a simple way. He makes two statements and two commands.

In his arrival, time is fulfilled. This means in him we experience not the end of time but the consummation of history. Look for no other. In his arrival we experience the kingdom of God. It is not a concept. It is not something to be built. The kingdom of God is something we experience in Jesus. Simple. Done.

Our response? Repent and believe! Repent means of course to be remorseful for our sins but more fully understood it means to turn from our life lived apart from God now fully known in Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus says, “stop running, come about, and come home.” Then? Believe! We lean our whole weight on the good news that the reign of God is experienced in Jesus and accessible to us. Have life in Jesus. Live in Jesus. Simple. Done.

Look for no other. Live in Jesus. Simplicity. A welcome commodity.

1 Epiphany, Monday – January 14, 2013

“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Religion is powerless. Belief in Jesus is immeasurably powerful.

“After me comes . . .” The Baptist is always pointing to someone greater. I must decrease, he says that Jesus might increase. Something better is on the horizon. This is the movement from religion to faith. Being baptized with water is trite in comparison to being baptized with the Holy Spirit.

So much of what is being sold in the church today is religion. In liberal form it is activism especially in politics. With a little (more) effort we will bring about the utopian society! Even Matt Damon finally realizes that isn’t true.

In conservative form it is the religion of self-help. “If I take these seven steps, . .” Or “If only I discipline myself just a bit more, . .” Anything done “religiously” is better than done secularly or haphazardly.

Power comes in Jesus. He baptizes with the Holy Spirit. There is nothing religious about this dunking. In fact few find room for Holy Spirit inspired exuberance in religion.

Jesus has to do with power, real power. He saves. He transforms. He heals. He inspires. All this he achieves in filling (baptizing) us with the Holy Spirit. He is the author and perfecter of immeasurably more.

After Epiphany, January 7, 2013

John 2:1-11

“But you have kept the good wine until now.”

In the story, the better wine had come later in the affair. Poor or lesser wine was served first. The good or better wine followed. Chronologically speaking the statement makes perfect sense.

But John, as opposed to Matthew, Mark and Luke who are more concerned with that which is chronological, is concerned with the theological. In Jesus, the best that is coming has come. All else is inferior by comparison.

Instead of the Law and those churchy folks who would lord it over us, we get the good wine last. Rather than MD 20/20 (which comes in a variety of flavors, few associated with the history of wine) we get a Silver Oak cabernet. Theologically we get grace. We are loved in spite of who we are. We get a Savior who is less interested in protocol (“My hour has not yet come.”) and more interested in meeting where we are where we have real need (“true” as opposed to “felt” – I feel like I need a restored 67 Mustang. Jesus likely thinks otherwise.).

So instead of Law and the proverbial Damocles sword over my head and the anxiety it produces, I get love in spite of who I am. That’s grace! I can live a life of greater integrity because I can admit who I am, a sinner. I can rip off the façade of this house and reveal what is inside because I am loved in spite of it and I can rest assured there is power to transform it.

That is revolutionary. History really did turn on the hinge of a Bethlehem stable.

Where’s God? With Us!

Advent 3, December 21, 2012

Matthew 11:2-15

“From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. “

If you are a pastor you hate to hear these words. John the Baptist is on the outside looking in. He doesn’t have an office. He has a river bank. He doesn’t have fine clothes. He has camel hair. The religious leaders of his day held office and enjoyed fine apparel. And they were violent men in that they controlled their people. They locked out people like John the Baptist not wanting people beneath them to hear his revolutionary word.  And yet Jesus said John was greater than all of them.

Leaders today are often the violent men, finely dressed controlling religious leaders as opposed to prophets who rock the human worldview. Too often we tickle ears and preach sugar. We want to know what sells. We are more interested in butts in the pew and dollars in the plate than lives won for the Kingdom. We prefer the orderly and pristine as opposed to the chaotic and messy. And Jesus says to us the Baptist is better than us as are the least and lowliest in the kingdom.

Better to be a scorned and rejected prophet than a beloved pastor. Hate when that happens.

Advent 3, December 19, 2012

Mark 1:1-8

“I have baptized you with water but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Water versus Holy Spirit? Known versus unknown, readily accessible versus mystery, comfortable versus anxiety producing, these are various ways of describing the difference in water and the Holy Spirit. And yet God wants both for us with emphasis upon the latter.

John the Baptist and by extension the church only baptize with water. Jesus, however, baptizes with the Holy Spirit (and with fire we learn elsewhere). His work is markedly different than ours as the Baptist makes clear. It may or may not be associated with what the church does. Water baptism may precede or follow a Holy Spirit baptism and in some cases never happen at all. The absence of water baptism does not preclude the work of Jesus. He is not bound by us.

So we are to be immersed or filled to the point of sinking or overflowing (baptized) with the Holy Spirit. What is he going to do for every single one of us? To eliminate the unknowns, let’s state clearly what is known. The Holy Spirit leads us to profess faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior (1 Cor. 12). Subsequently, aided by our submission, the Holy Spirit will make us more like Jesus (2 Cor. 3). Until we see the fruit of this labor, we need not be made anxious by anything else.

Advent 3, Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Isaiah 9:1-7

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, . . The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Cannot wait! His reign. His peace. It has to be better than what we are experiencing. Far better.

Oh sure I have seen His reign and known his peace recently. He stopped pre-term labor of a friend. Chances are great that this baby boy will go to term. He has sustained my brother in the face of a great trial and is restoring his hope. He acted boldly in my own life to provide a parachurch ministry position that will allow me to continue planting Grace Community.

But then there is Syria. And the Beltway. I have seen greater maturity in a sandbox. Where are the adults? Then of course there is Sandy Hook. The innocent are slaughtered and the prince of this world heaps pain and misery upon an unsuspecting people.

I’ve seen His reign. I’ve known His peace. I want to experience more of them and see our common foe vanquished. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!