Fasting, silence, and Scripture

After listening to Patrick Mead's sermon this past Sunday, I have decided to dedicate this week to fasting, silence, and Scripture for myself and the Rochester Church. We are in the midst of a season of change, and I am seeking to hear God's voice as we travel along this journey into God's preferred future for the family of believers that assemble here.
I am inviting you to join me in this spiritual adventure this week. Here is what I am doing:

Each day I will fast from food from 6:00am until 6:00pm.

In lieu of lunch, I am dedicating approximately 45 minutes to silence and Scripture. Each day, I will sit in silence for 20 minutes, read Acts 20:24 several times slowly and deliberately, then engage in another 20 minutes of silence.

You do not have to fast from the same thing as me or in the same manner that I am. However, I do invite you to fast from something this week. You could fast from your iPod, a certain food, television, or a host of other things.
Having just finished my first 45 minutes of silence and Scripture, I can tell you it was refreshing. It was interesting as I re-encountered noise how much I noticed every little noise. Sometimes - almost all the time I would argue - we are surrounded by so much noise, we miss hearing some of the most important things.
Let me finish with some thoughts from M. Basil Pennington:

Silence is the very presence of God - always there. But activity hides it. We need to leave activity long enough to discover the Presence - then we can return to activity with it.
Stillness is present throughout the run at every point. But if one only runs, he never knows stillness.
God is present in all beings, but we will never be aware of him if we never stop and leave behind all beings to be to him.

shine!
Jason

Hearing voices

There are many voices calling for our attention. We must always be asking ourselves if we are listening to the right voices. In John’s gospel, Jesus says the following:
“I tell you the truth, anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber! But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.”
Those who heard Jesus use this illustration didn’t understand what he meant, so he explained it to them: “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” (John 10:1-10)
We must always be careful about which voices become the dominant ones in our lives. In my experience, I have witnessed Christians who act in a way they think is appropriate because they have allowed themselves to become used to the wrong voices.
Jesus said, “They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” Unfortunately, some Christians listen to Jesus’ voice so seldom that it sounds like a stranger’s voice to them.
If we want to be able to follow the voice of God, we must constantly be listening to see what that voice sounds like.
In Colossians 3:16, Paul writes, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.” It’s not until the message fills us that it becomes a familiar voice.
When my closest friends call me on the phone, I can often tell who it is by the sound of their voice. However, if someone I don’t know well calls, I typically can’t tell who it is.
If our conversations with God are infrequent and brief, we will find it very difficult to know His voice. It may even be that His voice will sound like a stranger. If we want to discover the rich and satisfying life that Jesus talks about in John 10, maybe we better start listening to Him more often so we can tell which voices belong to God and which don’t.

shine!
Jason

Those who are lost

In our Wednesday night time this week, we meditated on and discussed Jesus’ words in Luke 19:10…
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
One of the things that we can overlook is that Jesus does not stop seeking and saving us once we are baptized. I think we often fall into the trap of looking at saved and lost as a “black and white” issue. While it is certainly true that we are saved when we are baptized into Christ, that is not where the saving stops. Salvation is both an event and a process.
The event that occurs at baptism enters us into a covenant with God that promises eternal life. There is something very significant and important about that event. It gives us hope and a future.
At the same time, anyone who has been a Christian for any length of time knows that at baptism we do not suddenly become people who are never tempted, never make mistakes, and don’t need to be saved any longer. Salvation is also a process because we still need to be transformed and conformed to the image of the Son on a daily basis.
When it comes to following Jesus, being saved and lost is a “full-color” issue; it’s not just “black and white.” While we have the security of God’s promises as Christians, we also continue to struggle with life. Here are a few examples I shared with my students on Wednesday…
When a close friend or family member dies suddenly, you feel lost.
When your parents tell you they are planning to get divorced, you feel lost.
When someone starts a rumor that spreads through the school and damages your reputation, you feel lost.
The list could go on and on of situations where even those who are committed followers of Jesus can feel lost. While being lost can describe our relationship with God, it can also describe where we find ourselves in life at any given time. As I said earlier, being saved is both an event and a process.
Christians who are allowing themselves to be conformed to the image of Jesus should be living out his desire to “seek and save those who are lost.” This means that not only do we help lead people to the event of salvation through baptism, we also stand beside each other through life as we go through the process of salvation on a daily basis.
This calls us to a higher level of commitment with one another. We must trust one another and hold each other accountable. We must be willing to share our struggles while not allowing one another to be comfortable with our sins. We must pray for one another, challenge one another, and encourage one another.
Seeking and saving the lost is not for the timid. It is a radical commitment to a relationship with God and others.

shine!
Jason

Under a bridge

I just spent a week driving from Michigan to St. Louis to Jenks, Oklahama, to Abilene, Texas. Then from Abilene to Oklahoma City to Searcy, Arkansas, to Nashville, and back to Michigan. Sound tiring? Maybe a little. But at the same time, it was a refreshing time to connect with old friends and make new ones.
One of the coolest groups of new friends we made were at Tent City in Nashville. We were able to go with Doug Sanders, a friend of mine in Nashville, and visit a community of those who are homeless. They allowed us to come onto their turf under the highway and spend time with them. We were able to talk with them, laugh with them, and cry with them.
As I reflect on our time with our new friends, the following words of Jesus came to mind…
'Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:37-40)
Every time I read this passage I am reminded of an important lesson. When we seek to serve others, we must always have our ears, eyes, and hearts open towards God. It is often in those moments that we see God in the faces of those we serve as much as or even more than they see God in our faces.
When we humbly seek to serve others and recognize that we need God as much as those around us who are “in need,” it can change the way we view everything. Jesus said it well near the start of his ministry. This is the way Matthew records it in his gospel (Matthew 5:3-8):
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
May there be the words on our lips, the intentions of our hearts, and the passions of our lives. For when we truly seek to live out the Kingdom of God in and around us, God will do incredible things. It is when we pursue the Kingdom that we be able to see God in every part of our lives and every person that we encounter, even a homeless man under a bridge in Nashville, Tennessee.

shine!
Jason

Now what do we do?

Most of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark that have been found, end at Mark 16:8. Here is how Mark 16:1-8 reads and how the early Christians would have encountered the end of the story…
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back— it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
Here we encounter a very unique end to the story of the resurrection.
As we reflect on the significance of the resurrection event, Mark’s telling of the story leaves us with a lack of closure. There is no ascension. We do not read about them seeing the body of the risen Christ. As a matter of fact, they are afraid. They don’t know what is next or what happened for sure.
I believe that we have often become so comfortable with the resurrection story that we miss the tension that it brings. We miss the story of the death of the man they thought would save them. We miss the idea that many of these people had lost hope when Jesus died on the cross. They didn’t know the end of the story. They didn’t expect a crucified and resurrected Messiah.
Today as we focus on the resurrection of Jesus, take time to think back to what it must have felt like to be one of Jesus’ followers then. Think about how the two women must have felt as they discovered that Jesus’ tomb had been opened. They were not excited. They were alarmed. They were trembling. They were afraid.
Is that ever how we react to the empty tomb? Or do we just take it for granted? A story we have heard most of our lives.
Allow yourself to go back to that day. Stand there with the women as they wrestle with the news. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He is no longer in the tomb. What does that mean? What is the significance? Now what do we do?

shine!
Jason

Intimacy through reconciliation

Our brokenness and unwillingness to forgive ourselves and forgive others is one of the greatest hindrances to intimacy.
For many of us, the biggest barrier between us and other people is undealt with anger, bitterness, and grudges. We are often either unwilling or unable to forgive someone who has wronged us. We read passages like Matthew 18:21-22 and wonder how we could ever do this.
Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
I think that the parable Jesus tells during this conversation with Peter gives us a glimpse of what Jesus has in mind…
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart." (Matthew 18:23-35)
While I believe that Jesus is talking primarily about the religious leaders of his day who were very judgmental towards others, I also believe there is a lesson in this parable for you and me.
As long as we refuse to forgive those who wrong us, we will find it impossible to truly receive God’s forgiveness. While we are offered something we cannot possibly purchase, we must be willing to receive and share the reconciliation that God offers us.

shine!
Jason

A Titanic misunderstanding

A renewed doctrine of salvation fundamentally alters the way we view mission. Instead of seeking to help people board the life-raft (church) on the sinking Titanic (the world), we are called to work with God in saving the whole ship. The "Titanic" theology that assumes we are simply trying to save souls misses the boat (pun intended). We cannot desert the ship.
The mission of the church is to renew the world with God, knowing that one day God will make all things new. In the meantime, the church works as an extension of God to bring renewal now. We live in the already/not yet tension of God's inbreaking future and save the people, not from the world, but for the renewal of the world.
N.T. Wright is right when he says, "the way forward is to rediscover a true eschatology." (Surprised by Hope, 264) If we want to move towards God's future, we must understand where that future is heading. If our understanding of the eschaton is destruction and desertion of the world, we will marginalize the world. If, instead, the eschaton is renewal and redemption of the world, we will engage the world and join what God is already starting to do here. This is a fundamentally different approach to the mission of the church and, ultimately and essentially, the mission of God.

shine!
Jason

Drive

This weekend at Illuminate our theme has been “Drive.” Since I am writing this in advance of the weekend, I am leaning on the Spirit’s leading to mesh this with David’s lessons. I know that the key passage he will be using (used) this weekend is 2 Corinthians 2:14-15…
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
If we are compelled by Christ’s love, that means we are driven by something working in us and among us. We shouldn’t wait for a youth minister, preacher, or someone else to push us. We should be led by the Spirit of God. As Paul says in Romans 8:9-11, You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
This means our focus as Christians is not to do what is right. Rather, we are called to pursue the One who is righteous. When we focus on works, we miss the point. That would be like pushing your car. When we are filled and led by the Spirit, it’s like having a tank full of gas and using the accelerator. While not a perfect analogy, I hope it makes the point.
If our Christianity is about trying to do the right things without the righteousness of God living in us through the Spirit, it feels like pushing a car without gas. When we allow God’s Spirit to dwell in us, connecting with and pursing God’s will can be much easier.
That doesn’t mean things will be easier, it means that following God will be easier in the sense that it will be more clear. Just like driving a car through mud can still be difficult, pushing a car through mud is virtually impossible. So it is with us and the Spirit of God.
At the same time, we cannot forget that there is an essential communal nature of God’s work. God’s greatest power and work come when we live as the body of Christ. God himself works in community as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Can we expect – as human beings created in the image of God – to function any differently?
This means that to be compelled, driven, by Christ’s love we must embody that love towards God, other Christians, and every other human being we encounter. Without the love of Christ in us, through us, and among us, we will find it difficult to allow that love to drive us.

shine!
Jason

Knowing God

When it comes to God, do we have the right concept of knowledge? Peter Rollins writes, "We note that the term 'knowing' in the Hebrew tradition (in contrast to the Greek tradition) is about engaging in an intimate encounter rather than describing some objective fact."
One analogy that comes to mind for me is the idea of knowing a cat. (If you're not a cat person, work with me on this one.)
I can think of at least two different ways of knowing a cat. One is the kind of knowing that happens in a biology lab. We cut the dead cat open and examine its organs. We see how it works as an organism. The other way of knowing a cat is for it to sit on your lap. You pet it, it purrs, etc.
While much of modern theology has leaned more towards the biology lab concept of knowing God, I believe that knowing God looks much more like the cat sitting on your lap. There is a relationship and interaction between God and us. The focus should not be primarily on the “organs and anatomy” as much as it should be on the interplay between beings.
This also changes how we approach the Bible. If the Bible is a document that intends to point beyond itself to the One who, according Anslem, is conceived of as inconceivable, then we will not be able to conceive - in any one context - all that God is seeking to communicate. Rather, from our vantage point, and based on our unique situation, we will interact with God through his word.
The Hebrew author writes, "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13)
Notice the transition in this passage. The word of God is living and active. But the word of God is not the ultimate subject of these verses. The word of God is a method that God uses to penetrate our soul and spirit. Ultimately, it is our relationship with God that is the topic of conversation.
Our study of God’s word is not a study to learn about God. Rather, it is part of a journey towards learning God. We are investing in a relationship with our Creator. We are entering into a covenant with the One who made us and knows us. This should fundamentally change the way we approach the Bible, and ultimately, God himself.
When you open a Bible, you are not entering into a primarily academic endeavor. Rather, you are committing yourself to be impacted, shaped, and changed by the words you read. In the grand scheme of life, it doesn’t matter how much you know about God if you’re not engaging in an intimate encounter with the One whom the words point us towards.

shine!
Jason

Creation and missional theology

The Creation Narrative
In Genesis chapters one and two, we find God creating the world as he intended it to be. As we listen to the Creation story in chapter one, we can begin to feel the beating of God’s heart through the rhythm of the days of creation. “And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”(1) Here we can already sense that God is up to something more than just making a world. He is speaking an entire world into existence that echoes the movement, nature, and character of the One who creates it. At the end of the sixth day of Creation, we read, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”(2)
In the second chapter of Genesis, the camera changes angles and zooms in for a different view of day six, and we see a more intimate description of the creation of human beings. It is here that we are introduced to Adam and Eve and Eden’s garden. We hear for the first time about the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We read of a beautiful garden where God and humans dwell together.
We also discover an integral part of our nature as beings created in the image of God. As God considers Adam, who was created to work and keep the garden of Eden, he says “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”(3) Eve, the ideal helper, comes from within Adam. It is though the creation of the woman, who completes man through relationship, that Creation reaches its climax. Things are as God intends them to be in the world.

Making All Things New
Starting in chapter three of Genesis, sin enters the picture. When we view it in the context of the Creation narrative, we can gain a more clear understanding of sin. While many people seem to believe that sin is a list of limitations God has placed on man, sin viewed through the lens of Creation takes on a different meaning. It is not primarily a violation of some arbitrary law, although the first sin did go against God’s advice to Adam and Eve. Rather, sin revealed fracture in the relationship between Creator and creation. By rejecting the relationship with God, Adam and Eve damaged not just their relationship with God, but also the relationship of God with all of creation. In Romans, Paul reiterates this when he writes:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.(4)

God’s dream for the world has been damaged by the broken relationship between humans and God. As a result, the curse, which is more consequence than punishment, reveals a world that must now deal with the implications of sin.
However, God’s dream is not forgotten or completely destroyed. Instead, through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, God enters the world and lives as a true human.(5) As Andrew Root says, “If our humanity is to be transformed, we need a fully human God. We need a God who bears our reality and takes it fully into Godself.”(6)
Through Jesus Christ, there is a significant turn in God’s plan for the renewal and restoration of creation. Paul hints at the import of the Christ event when he writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed; behold, the new has come.”(7) This is a glimpse of God’s final plan for creation. It is in John’s Revelation that we read the final realization of God’s dream:

And he who is seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new…Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the trees were for the healing of the nations.(8) (Emphasis mine)

Engaging God’s Creative Imagination
So what are the implications for the missional church? We revisit Paul and his words of encouragement and challenge to the Corinthian church. He reminds them, and us, that our task as the body of Christ is to carry on the work of Jesus Christ: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation…Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.”(9)
Missional theology embraces this idea of engaging in God’s continued work of reconciliation through the renewal and redemption of creation. We are called to partner with God, seeking to restore creation as all things move towards the eschaton. Scot McKnight supports this view of the role of humanity when he writes, “As the Bible moves forward into the New Testament, though, ‘Eikon’ morphs; it shifts from denoting a ruling-representative function to a redemptive role.”(10) Our purpose moves from the original role as seen in the first couple of chapters of Genesis to the one envisioned throughout the New Testament writings.
This re-imagined role causes our function to have an already/not yet nature. When we acknowledge that we are not escaping the world, but seeking to work with God to restore it, we must revisit what salvation and hope really mean in the Kingdom of God. Since our ultimate hope is not to leave this world, but to see it’s potential fully realized(11), we join with God today as his preferred future breaks into the present through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This requires us to take a fresh look at what it means to be a part of God’s Kingdom. We are not saved solely for the benefit of some future reward. Rather, we are called to actively engage in God’s future today by determining what God is already doing in the world and joining him in those efforts. Church is not a place to wait for God’s future salvation; it is a place where God’s salvation is revealed now in anticipation of the total fulfillment that awaits us in the eschaton.
God’s heartbeat is embedded in Creation. We witnessed it in the opening lines of Scripture and it continues today. Human beings, and this creation, are separated from the tree of life since sin continues to fracture our relationship with God. In the end, we will once again stand in the presence of this tree and the One who created it. Until then, the missional church must continue to pursue the inbreaking of God’s dream for the future in the midst of this broken world.

Notes
(1) In Genesis 1:3, we see the first of six repetitions of God’s rhythm in the Genesis 1 creation narrative. This phrase appears five additional times in Genesis 1:8,13,19,23,31. (ESV)
(2) Genesis 1:31 (ESV)
(3) Genesis 2:18
(4) Romans 8:20-22
(5) I owe much of my understanding of God as true human to Andrew Root through the ideas presented in his book, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation. In this work, Root examines Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology as a framework to explain the significance of the incarnation.
(6) Andrew Root, Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 91.
(7) 2 Corinthians 5:17
(8) Revelation 21:5a; 22:1-2
(9) 2 Corinthians 5:18,20a
(10) Scot McKinght, A Community Called Atonement (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2007), 19.
(11) In Romans 8:23 and 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, Paul advocates a bodily resurrection for all humans in the eschaton. The redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23) is the hope in which we live. It is in this hope that all creation will find its rescue and rest from the bondage and destruction of sin.

The mind of Christ

In the last two weeks I have been to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. As I reflect on both experiences, I have been reminded that God is at work in the world, and in me.
I want to share a Scripture from Paul’s letter to the Philippians that the students at Harding reflected on throughout our weekend together:
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)
As I consider Paul’s words, I am reminded of something very important. Having the same mind doesn’t mean we agree on everything. Rather, it means that we share the attitude and spirit of Christ. We are called to be servants who serve others. We are called to be humble, even to the point of death.
Imagine how different our churches would be if we could have that kind of mind. What if we lived in a world where Christians really lived out the meaning of their name as followers of Christ?
When we make our faith primarily about embracing a list of beliefs, we miss something significant. The Kingdom of God is not about what we believe; it’s about what we embody. It is about the kind of life we live. This is why Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
When Christianity becomes something that consumes every part of who we are, we can truly begin to experience the world as God imagines it.

shine!
Jason

30 Hour Famine

Last weekend, thirty-three students participated in the 30 Hour Famine. We learned about hunger and poverty, served our church families and God’s Helping Hands, and raised over $2,300 to help Haiti earthquake victims (with some students still collecting).
During the weekend, we focused on the following passage from James:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14-26)
I was so impressed seeing our students’ faith in action this past weekend. They listened and participated in discussions where Scripture engaged our lives. Some students helped sort and organize at God’s Helping Hands, which makes it easier to help those who are hurting economically in the area. Other students provided childcare for the parents who attended our parenting seminar. All of them worked to surpass our goal of $2,000.
I am so proud of the students who participated, not just because of how much they raised, but because of their actions and attitudes throughout the weekend. They served without complaining. Some even asked for more work when they finished their task. In devotionals and discussions they were engaged. They continue to grow in their faith and actions as they work together.
Thank you as well to the adults who helped with the weekend: Karen Benedict, Bill Flowers, Barb Huey, Laura Stewart, Holly Hebert, Dalaina Harrell. Your time and energy are greatly appreciated!!

shine!
Jason

Bearing the Spirit's fruit

What does it look like to exhibit the Fruit of the Spirit in your life?
I would argue that it’s much more than a change in behavior. Ultimately, it requires a change in your attitude and fundamental approach to life.
Let’s consider something that Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke:
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first." (Luke 11:24-26)
If all we do is attempt to act out the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives without undergoing a transformation on the inside, we will experience the same fate as the person Jesus is describing in the above passage.
If we are going to bear the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, the change must come from the roots up. It calls us to change what is going on inside, even in the areas that no one else sees.
In Romans 8:9-11, Paul writes…
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The question we must always ask ourselves is which Spirit is dwelling in us? To borrow Jesus’ analogy, who is living in your “house?” Is it the Spirit of God or is it the spirit of hostility towards God?
If we are going to truly bear fruit of the Spirit, we must clean house and invite the Spirit of God to dwell in us. We must, in the words of Paul, be “filled with the Spirit.” This is an ongoing practice that requires time, effort, and energy. It is not something that happens just because we go to church, or even church and class.
Spiritual growth will only occur when we allow our whole life, all of our humanity, to be consumed by the Spirit of God. This means that every action, every thought, every word, must flow from the work of the Spirit.
This will require most of us to clean our “house.” There are attitudes and habits that must go. We must make room for the Holy Spirit to take up residence in our whole being. We can no longer simply allow God to have one corner room that we visit a few times a week. He must be present in every room and in every moment. Then we will bear the Spirit’s fruit.

shine!
Jason

Fasting for 30 Hours

In preparation for this week’s 30 Hour Famine, I am sharing Isaiah 58 for our students to meditate on. I am encouraging them to read this Scripture throughout the week:

1“Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
2For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
3‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
14then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

shine!
Jason

Avoiding temptation

I had a student pose a question to me. Here is the question:
Let's say a person is weak in a certain area and they struggle with a temptation, but they remove themself from or avoid any situation that would cause them to stumble and give in. Does this make the person strong for not giving in, or just safe? Because if the person were in that situation, they probably would give in.

I wanted to share my response, so here it is...

This is a great question. Let me offer a few Scriptures and then a few thoughts.

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)

If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:3-16)

Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:20-26)

A few thoughts...
We need to have the wisdom to discern areas of weakness in our lives. When we realize those areas, I believe that Scripture is pretty plain that we should flee from things that we know are weaknesses.
While that seems pretty clear, there is an even bigger picture we need to consider. Let me share one more verse and then a few concluding comments.

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, "The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me." For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. (Romans 15:1-7)

Not only do we need to be aware of our own weaknesses, we must be aware of the weaknesses of others. As we continue to examine this idea of sin and community, this becomes vitally important. If what we do causes another to be tempted and sin, we are bringing sin into the community. (Go back and read that last sentence a few times.)
This has so many applications, but I will offer a few that I feel often take shape in a community of teenagers.

When a girl dresses in a way that provokes a boy's lust, she is inviting sin into the community.
When a boy flirts with a girl in a way that leads her to have an unhealthy need for relationship, he is inviting sin into the community.
When someone wears name-brand, expensive clothing (especially when it is with the intent to portray themselves as part of a certain socio-economic group) they can create division and invite sin into the community.
When someone uses hurtful words to talk about another person, whether they are there or not, it can damage the other person's worth or value and invite sin into the community.

I am sure I could come up with more examples if I had more time, but I think you get the idea.
We are called, as individuals and as a community, to discern areas of weakness to temptation and make every effort to flee from those. Not only does that mean we may need to change some of our choices for our own sake. It also means we may need to make some changes in our choices for the sake of the other. This may call us to sacrifice something that is not a temptation for us, but could be for a brother or sister in Christ. We are not just called to take steps to protect ourselves from temptation and sin; we are commanded to show love to our brothers and sisters by doing what is in their best interest as well.

Patience in a "Your Way, Right Away" world

It’s so hard to be patient. We live in a culture that wants things now.
In the 1990’s, Burger King had an advertisement that said, “Your way right away!” That has become the mantra of our society today.
Rather than eat healthy and exercise, we want pills and surgery to make us skinny.
Rather than save money to buy something, we run up credit cards so we can have it now.
Instead of developing and growing a relationship, we rush to bed with someone of the opposite sex to develop false intimacy.
Instead of starting with a small house and an inexpensive car, young adults buy outside of their standard of living to have the lifestyle their parents took years to get to.
I could go and on and on, but I hope you get the point.
As people of God, we live by a different standard. We should be patient and diligent as we both live in the present and look to the future. But we don’t always live that way.
When we are impatient, we tend to fall to one of two extremes. Either we don’t care or we get so anxious we try to numb our anxiety. Just think about all of the things we do to deal with our impatience when it comes to the suffering in this world.
Some people would rather escape and pretend everything is OK. Others want to swim in their despair. Some try to medicate their anxiety away.
Our society, which often lacks the perspective of the Kingdom of God, encourages all three. We offer books, movies, and television shows to help us “escape” from reality. Or, we are entertained by people whose lives are worse than ours so our problems don’t seem as bad.
Alcohol and drugs become numbing agents to help people escape, even if just for a little while, from the pain. Some music simply amplifies the anxiety, making it easier to remain in the darkness.
Let me conclude with Paul’s advice in his letter to the Colossian church…
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(Colossians 1:9-14)

shine!
Jason

In the midst of suffering

Since I was asked to preach on "Marked with Patience" a few months ago, I have been surrounded by suffering. A girlfriend from high school was diagnosed with breast cancer and has been going through chemo treatments. An ex-fiancee just lost her mother to a battle with cancer. Today at a youth ministers' meeting, one the ministers shared that his father had just passed away last week. Not only is there localized suffering going on around me, there are situations like Haiti that break the heart of the whole world.
In addition to the physical suffering we see around us, I talk with numerous people who are suffering emotionally and spiritually. Often those who suffer in these ways have the added stress of dealing with conditions that cannot often be seen. While those who are homeless, dying of cancer, or caught in an earthquake have something tangible to point to for their suffering, these others often suffer in silence, often unable to understand or explain what they are going through.
In times like this I often hear the following question: Why would God allow this to happen?
I don't have all of the answers, but I do feel like I am gaining a better picture of what is going on and why there is so much suffering in the world.
In the beginning, God created the world as He intended it to be. At the end of each day in the Creation account, God says it is good. At the end of the sixth day, God says that it is very good. So what happened?
Human beings, the part of creation that God intended to partner with him as caretakers of this new world, lost their way. Instead of embracing their partnership with God, they wanted to be God. Instead of relishing their relationship with the Creator, they selfishly wanted to be God. Satan, ever the deceiver, convinced these two people that they could be more. They bought the lie and death entered the world.
From that day forward, all of the earth, human beings and the rest of the creation, have suffered from the consequences of a broken relationship with God. Because God's partners, God's caretakers, no longer had a complete, unbroken relationship, their role was compromised. The creation suffered as a result of the sin of human beings. Paul describes this in Romans 8:20-21, when he writes, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
Until the arrival of the eschaton, we will face suffering and difficulties in this world. In the next two verses, Paul writes, "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:22-23)
God does allow us to live in a fallen and broken world. I believe that is true. But it's not because God doesn't care. God cared so much, that in the person of Jesus Christ, God Himself came and suffered with us. Don't miss this. The God that sees us suffering because of our choice to fracture our relationship with the Creator and damage our role as caretaker of Creation, turned around and chose to become a part of Creation to suffer with us.
Rather than blame God for what is happening, we should join God in His mission to make things right in the world. One day our bodies will be redeemed and Creation will become what God intended it to be all along. In the meantime, my desire is to partner with God to move this world in the direction that He wants it to move. I am still imperfect and I still sin. I still make choices that damage that relationship with Creator God. But if Jesus was willing to suffer for me, even though He was innocent, why shouldn't I be willing to suffer as a partner in making things right in the world?

shine!
Jason

Image, vocation, and mission

As I reflect on the inter-relationship of the image of God, vocation and the mission of the church, I see something significantly more encompassing and holistic than what the majority of churches and Christians typically embrace and embody.
While most church members would agree that being a Christian means "being a good person," most would limit that definition to primarily mean living a moral life as modern society defines morality. And whether they admit it or not, most of them would likely tie that morality to a "works" mentality of salvation where they earn their stripes so their soul will make it to heaven.
If we are going to help shape a vision where missional practices will become the lifeblood of Jesus-followers, we will need to significantly alter the way most people understand what it means to be "images of God," and in the process, reconsider how we embody mission.
If we help people re-imagine Creation and our role as co-partners with God in the care of Creation, they will likely begin to have a different understanding of mission. Rather than mission being a task to go out and invite other people to save their souls from eternal banishment, mission becomes a lifelong pursuit of engaging in re-creation. When we can envision this new way of looking at ourselves as imagebearers and co-partners, we will gain a more holistic view of our role in the world.
Many Christians today see a secular/spiritual dichotomy that is neither biblical nor Kingdom-oriented. Therefore, people can often fall into one of two (or both) traps: They can either "look the other way" when aspects of their work stand counter to Kingdom ethics or they can discount their work as a source of income and not as an opportunity to partner with God in bringing forth the inbreaking of the Kingdom.
When we can help people change their vantage point and consider Christian vocation and calling as an all-encompasing endeavor that includes roles in family, society, and workplace, we can begin to reorient people to a healthier understanding of our bearing the image of God, our vocation, and the mission of the church.

shine!
Jason

What's your story?

In his Philippian letter, Paul writes,
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)
This passage reminds us that God’s way of doing things is different than the world’s. Jesus didn’t establish his kingdom with an army, weapons, force, or coercion. Rather, his Kingdom is based on the Fruit of the Spirit. Love, not hate. Joy, not happiness. Peace, not war. Patience, not selfishness. Kindness, not harshness. Goodness, not evil. Faithfulness, not dishonesty. Gentleness, not cruelty. Self-control, not indulgence.
If we are going to truly be followers of Christ, God’s story must be the story that determines the direction of our lives. There are many stories competing for our attention and our devotion. Stories of pride. Stories of possessions. Stories of privilege. Stories of power. These stories seek to draw us near and pull us away from God with their promises of easy happiness.
But the reality is that only God’s story of humility and Spirit-led living will bring true joy and ultimate satisfaction. This is the story that reveals our true calling to seek and embody the character and nature of our Creator God who loves us and desires relationship with us.

shine!
Jason

Bearing fruit

According to the dictionary, fruit is, “The ripened ovary or ovaries of a seed-bearing plant, together with accessory parts, containing the seeds and occurring in a wide variety of forms.”
The apostle Paul writes:
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:16-26)
There is an important lesson here. The Fruit of the Spirit are not something you can create on your own. We cannot simply be loving or create peace. Goodness does not come naturally to most of us all of the time. Self-control is not easy to manufacture.
The kind of fruit we bear depends on what kind of seed we plant in our lives. You cannot plant apple seeds in your backyard and expect to grow an orange tree. But, for some reason, people seem to think that they can plant seeds of sinfulness in their lives and hope to bear fruit of righteousness.
If you want to see the Fruit of the Spirit exhibited in your life, don’t start by simply trying to make outward changes. Yes, we need to make efforts to change our behavior. But, the reality is that real change, change that takes root and lasts, can only come when we examine what is watering and feeding our inner-self.
Jesus said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.” (Matthew 12:33-35)
The question we have to ask ourselves is: What are we planting in our hearts? What are we allowing to shape the way we think? Are we, in the words of Paul, living and walking by the Spirit. Only when we are can we truly bear the kind of fruit in our life that God desires.

shine!
Jason