Evan Barber- “Why I Choose to Call Myself a Christian”

Look at a painting. Whatever painting you’re looking at, that painting exists because at some point, someone created it. “Burning Giraffes and Telephones” exists because Salvador Dali created it. “Trinity” exists because Adolph Gottlieb created it. A friend of mine said sometimes his logic makes it hard for him to believe in God, but when I look at the world, I always think, ‘This exists because someone created it.’ Even without considering the details, like the way trees and people trade oxygen and carbon dioxide, or the way gravity holds everything together, or the water cycle, my logic tells me that if something exists, it exists because someone created it.

Some people say, “Well then what created God?” But God is not a thing; I doubt there are very many people in the world who honestly think God would be made of the same stuff that chairs are made of. But also, to me, asking “What created God?” seems kind of like asking where the Treasury gets its dollars; it seems like a category error. The Treasury is the place where dollars begin to be dollars; the Creator is the place where creation begins to be creation.

But trying to use an argument to convince someone to confess their belief in God is very difficult. At this point, I think my success rate is somewhere around 0%. It’s been my experience that most of these sorts of arguments best serve to encourage people who already have the faith that God exists, reinforcing their already-present belief. But the even crazier notion – which is much more important to me than there just being some sort of God – is the notion that the Son of God came to Earth as a human being to die, so that in God’s eyes you and I might be considered perfect.

This kind of thing is unprecedented. Martin Luther said, ‘Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not just in books, but in every leaf in springtime,’ and it’s such a beautiful quote, but I’m not sure someone would ever be able to look at the leaves in springtime and infer the gospel of Jesus; I think for most people, it would have to go the other way around. Anyway, all the other religions I know say something like, ‘You have to do all these things right before you can be in the good graces of God, or obtain good karma, or something like that.’ In the Christian faith, a personal God comes down here to be with us because He loves humanity. And with faith that Jesus is who he said he was, we Christians are given the status of perfection in God’s eyes, and then as Paul wrote, asked ‘to live up to what we have already attained.’ We have already become; therefore we do, without the anxiety of ruining ourselves.

While Jesus was on Earth, he preached a revolutionary message of love and compassion. The greatest commandments, he said, were to ‘Love God, and love people as we love ourselves.’ And if we actually followed his commandments, the world would probably be 100 times better. Men before him had said, ‘Whatever you don’t want someone to do to you, don’t do that to them,’ but Jesus said ‘Whatever you want someone to do for you, do that for them,’ which, if actually heeded, would push a very radical sort of generosity out into the world. Only a God who wants his creation to live well would issue a command like that.

This is the God who I love, and who I try to serve. I say try because I’m not very good at it. But I feel like he wants us to live a certain way, and not because he arbitrarily decided that we should, but because it’s how we were designed to live, and it’s the way that maximizes our senses of fulfillment and contentment. We weren’t designed to live in shame, paranoia, or fear, but in friendship, love, and humble confidence. The God who reveals this hope to me is the God who I claim as my savior, and I am thankful that scripture and my experience tell me he has claimed me as well.

Pentecost & Tongues

OK. I wrote this post back in September. I thought I’d dig it back out, though, in honor of Pentecost. Which is today.  Happy birthday, Church!

(I have made some minor edits.)

… … … …

This post is about the spiritual gift of tongues.

Yep. I’m going there.

But I’m going there with a disclaimer:  the things of the Spirit are largely mysterious. We should never claim to fully understand them, but we should seek clarity and wisdom. We should be humbled by the mysteries of God, but never should we run away from the things we do not understand.

“And He answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard:  the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.’”

                                                -Luke 7:22-23 (ESV)

I’ll go ahead and clear the air:  speaking in tongues isn’t just for Pentecostals. Sorry, Pentecostals. In the New Testament, speaking in tongues was a sign that often accompanied what the apostles called “baptism in the Spirit” (Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16, Acts 1:4-5, Acts 2:1-4, Acts 11:16). In “baptism in the Spirit,” the Spirit of God would “fall upon” or be “poured out on” new believers at their moment of salvation and repentance, and the gift of tongues would be given as an outward evidence that they had received a filling of the Holy Spirit.

(It is important to note that there was an important distinction in the early church between baptism by water and baptism by the Holy Spirit. Read Acts 8:14-17 and Acts 19:1-7 for this. Paul actually laid hands on Christ-followers who had been baptized in water into the name of Jesus, but who had not yet received the Holy Spirit. From these instances, we can gather that it is very possible for someone to have been “saved” and baptized in water, while having yet to receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Many believers, perhaps, are at this point, unaware that there is an invitation to receive another movement of God’s grace in their lives.)

In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit fell on the day of Pentecost. This was exactly 50 days after Jesus ascended into Heaven. The feast of Pentecost celebrated the day that God gave Moses the Law on Mount Sinai. On the day of Pentecost, the apostles and early believers had gathered in an “upper room” to pray and fast, per Jesus’ instruction. He had told them not to leave until they had been “clothed with power from on high.” He knew they couldn’t do ministry like He needed them to unless they had His Spirit.

So they didn’t leave until they were clothed with power from on high.

The Spirit of God fell upon them as Jesus had promised (He had promised a Helper and a Comforter who was just like Him). The third person of the Trinity fell on the believers on the holiday that celebrated the Law. The event that revealed the Spirit to be readily available to every believer in Christ happened on the day that celebrated the giving of the Law of God to Moses at Sinai.

Word and Spirit. Two sides of the same coin, they were never meant to be separated.

“… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

                                               -Ephesians 6:17

Anyway. Pentecost. The Holy Spirit fell, and people who witnessed it thought the apostles and early believers were drunk. It’s a fun passage to read. It ends with a massive revival, when the onlookers realize that the apostles are sharing the mysteries of God in the crowd’s various native tongues. Miraculously, there was no language barrier, through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Pentecost is thought to have figuratively undone what happened at the Tower of Babel. Fun stuff.)

So. Speaking in tongues.

Purpose number one:  speaking in tongues can be an outward manifestation of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. (Think Acts 2.) Do I think you can be baptized in the Holy Spirit and not speak in tongues? Yes. Do I also think that that truth is used as a convenient excuse for avoiding this fascinating mystery of God? Yes. I know a lot of people who operate in the gifts of the Spirit and who bear much spiritual fruit, but who have never spoken in tongues. I also know that some of those same people have avoided the subject altogether, because, let’s face it, it’s extremely weird.

But “weird” ever been an excuse for unbelief, ignorance, or complacency.

Purpose number two:  very practically, speaking in tongues can be a supernatural communication of the Word of God to someone whose language you don’t know.

I have heard all sorts of accounts and testimonies from the mission field that talk about this particular form of tongues. Missionaries have completely bypassed language-learning classes through the power of the Spirit, because they have found a miraculous gifting to communicate, in perfect language, the story of Jesus to a group or person who would otherwise be unreachable. It is truly remarkable. Obviously, this does not happen every day.

God is so passionate about reaching people that He will break the laws of learning and language to communicate His message.

Purpose number three:  1 Corinthians 14- Praying in tongues.

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit… The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy… Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also…  I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.”

                                                -1 Corinthians 14:2, 4-5, 13-15, 18-19

 

This passage highlights a more “controversial” form of tongues:  praying in tongues. It’s more controversial, because it is more mysterious.

In more “spiritual” circles, this kind of tongues is known as “praying in the Spirit.” In verse 2, Paul explains that one who prays in the spirit “utters mysteries in the Spirit.” In this kind of tongue, unless God has gifted the believer with a gift of interpretation, the things uttered aren’t understood. It is a form spirit-Spirit communication that the human mind cannot comprehend, in words that human ears do not understand.

Mysterious, right? But it’s the real deal, according to the Bible and according to the experiences of many.

“Praying in tongues” is edifying for the individual doing it. “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself.” It is a thing for our spirits. Throughout this passage, Paul emphasizes how important it is to edify others, as well as yourself. He preferred prophesy to tongues, as it edifies the whole Church. He also stressed the exercising of the mind in prayer. For Paul, it was important that the mind, as well as the spirit, bore fruit. He also stresses that, in a corporate setting, five intelligible words are far more useful than 10,000 spiritual ones.

He stresses these other gifts over tongues, while, at the same time, confessing quite humbly that he speaks in tongues more than all of the Corinthians. Thanks, Paul. Bottom line:  this kind of tongues, while secondary to prophecy in the instance of this letter, is very important.

Some common misconceptions of “tongues”:

1. The speaker babbles out of control.

False, as far as I know. The only “out of control” tongues incident I have ever witnessed was the product of emotionalism and fleshy expectation (I think). Unhealthy emotionalism is a manifestation of immaturity.

2. Tongues is required as a sign for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

False, as far as I know. I’ve already hit on this some. We have no business in limiting God by saying His Spirit can’t move absent of the gift of tongues. That’s foolishness. We should, however, be wise stewards of the Word of God and seek clarity on the issue. Paul says to “earnestly desire” the spiritual gifts. Tongues is something to be desired. It was never meant to be exclusive, divisive, or controversial.

3. Not having the gift of tongues, or not being baptized in the Holy Spirit, is a sign of spiritual immaturity.

False. Paul is clear that not everyone will operate in all the spiritual gifts, tongues being included as a spiritual gift. Just as it is foolish to limit God by saying that someone must have the gift of tongues for them to have been baptized in the Spirit, it is foolish for us to limit God by saying that He will give everyone the gift of tongues. He doesn’t work the same way with everyone. He’s God, and we are not.

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is anything but a sign of spiritual maturity. The fruit of the Spirit, and the fruits of our lives, are surer signs of spiritual maturity. I know some very immature believers who have abused their freedom in the Spirit (I’m referencing emotionalism and fleshy “manifestations”), only to turn away some curious, more mature believers from the things of the Spirit. This is very bad.

Baptism in the Spirit is simply an invitation into more grace, favor, and blessing from God. It is a thing of intimacy, and it is a matter of being “clothed with power from on high.” It is not a mark of maturity. Looking for a mark of maturity?  Look for the fruit of the Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5).

One thing I do know:  a sure sign of immaturity is complacency. If we approach the things of the Spirit as if they are not for us, or as if we are capable without them of doing what God needs us to do, we had better check our hearts. We can sugar-coat our complacency or ignorance all we want, but, when it comes down to it, we really just tend to avoid things that we do not understand.

Another thing I know:  just because you don’t currently operate in a specific gift of the spirit, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want to give that gift to you. Ask Him for it. The Father is a giver of very good gifts, and He loves giving gifts to His children.

“You have not, because you ask not.” 

                                                -James 4:2

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

                                                -Matthew 7:7

Be willing to trust in God. Know that His timing is perfect, and believe that He is totally sovereign.

… … … …

I grew up Methodist, so I’ve seen the entire spectrum of beliefs within the Church on this issue. I know people who think speaking in tongues is Satanic, I know people who believe the practice is for crazies, and I know people who believe “tongues” to be Biblically legitimate. Obviously, I believe the practice to be Biblical (and terrifically weird). I hope this has provided an even-handed overview of the various manifestations of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues.

It is my desire, anyway, to marry one end of the Church spectrum’s love for the Word of God with the other end of the Church spectrum’s love for the Spirit of God. After all, neither was ever meant to be independent from the other. Word and Spirit. Each can only be properly understood in light of the other.

Three Things I Wish I Had Known Going into College

For most, entering college is both exciting and terrifying. College is the first season of life during which one is exposed to different worldviews, people, ways of doing life, norms, and moralities.

“College” is a season of life– typically, a 4-year-long season of transition– that lays the groundwork for the rest of life’s seasons. The people in your life during this season will radically transform the way you view life, and they will forever change the way you do family, the way you have community, and the way you love or don’t love. The things you learn, accomplish, treasure, or discard in this developmental season will inform the rest of your life (such is the nature of seasons).

I graduate in three weeks. This precious season of life is almost over for me. In the spirit of looking back, I have come up with this list of things that I wish my current self could have taught my 18-year-old, freshman self in the months leading up to my higher education. My four years of college would have been radically more fruitful, had I grasped these things.

Thing 1:  No one else has life figured out yet, either.

This one is the “great equalizer.” This is also where grace begins to find its home in your heart.

When walking around on a university campus as an underclassman, the temptation is to elevate everyone around you while lowering yourself. In an unhealthy and insecure way. You look around at older students, and you assume that they have things figured out. You look at professors, and you assume that they have arrived onto some unattainable plane of enlightenment. You eat up words, political views, philosophical opinions, and moral judgments, because you assume these people know better than you, or that they are authorities when it comes to life.

But they don’t, and they really aren’t. At least, they don’t know any better than you. People are people, and people require margins of error and so much grace. Your professors and upperclassmen have a certain wisdom from having lived more life than you, but they do not hold a key to some ambiguous authority. Guard from them the decisions and beliefs that will define the rest of your life, particularly in matters of faith or morality. These people are no more enlightened than you are. Nothing qualifies them to be that voice into your life.

If you don’t believe me, audit a university class and listen to some of the silliness that is hashed out by some of our “best and brightest.” Remember, too, when in a university setting:  most intellectuals know just enough to doubt matters of faith, but most of them know just short of enough to see faith legitimized.

What does all of this mean? It means that your thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and faith are just as legitimate as anyone else’s. It means you have just as much authority to make moral judgments as anyone else. It means you have the authority to be countercultural. It entitles you to a backbone. It gives you permission to disagree. It gives you permission to be wrong, to make misjudgments, and to make mistakes, as well.

It teaches you to walk in grace, because life on a college campus is a constant interaction with people who, according to what you believe, are wrong. But where grace is, disagreement and tension are healthy.

Thing 2:  God has a plan for my life, but so does everyone else.

The call of God and the call of man are often– perhaps, “usually”– two different things.

God really values you. But here’s the thing:  everyone else around you really values you, too. Your time, your resources, your energy, your emotional fuel, your talents, your abilities, your draw, your network, your personality, your ability to get things done, the amount of hours you represent, the legitimacy you represent, the future you represent, etc.

I wish I had learned earlier on that everyone carries an agenda. It certainly seems as if most people have had a plan for me (one to prosper me, one to give me a hope and a future!). Very few people, organizations, or churches, however, have the health to build someone up, to equip them, to invest into them, and then to release them into what God has planned for them. Too many will use you, and then possess you. The secret is to learn how to value yourself so much that you reserve yourself for what God has planned for you, and not waste yourself on what those around you have planned for you. If you can do this, you’ll save a lot of time and effort. (If you can’t do this, or if you have failed to do it, there is hope:  God wastes nothing, but redeems everything.)

This is usually difficult to do, because the things that Man plans typically look really good. The fruit of their plans might even be Kingdom fruit. It might be God-breathed. What others are up to might be the will of God. (Or not.) Those tugging at you might be getting people saved, might be lifting up the name of Jesus, or might be providing orphans and widows with shelter and family… and the reality is that you might not be called to any of it.

It is possible– likely, even– that Godly opportunities (as well as ungodly opportunities) will rise up around you, and that you are supposed to look them in the eye and say, “No, thank you.”

Sure, it’s possible that you are supposed to say, “Yes.” However, be sure to reserve yourself for God’s plans for you, and don’t spend yourself on man’s needs from you.

You are called by God. Nobody owns you.

Thing 3:  People desperately need me, and I desperately need people.

I wish I had known sooner the value of community in my life. Conversely, I wish I had sooner known my own value to my community. To begin with, I wish I had known the healing that God works into our lives through people. I wish I had known the sanctification that God exacts from our lives through people. Sooner, I wish I had known the gift of people in my life. Sooner, I wish I had walked in my spiritual gifts to the betterment of the people around me.

If I had known these things, I would have spent more of myself on people. And I would have received more grace from people.

Here’s the truth:  you are God’s plan for the world around you. God is all about people. You are someone’s answered prayer, and you are called to be God’s voice into someone’s life. You will be called upon to speak words into someone that will sustain him or her for months, and you will be called upon to clash with someone for the sake of God’s work of heart transformation in their life. In the same way, you will be called upon to submit to a community, to humble yourself unto love. It isn’t difficult to be an authority in someone’s life, but it takes great humility to receive love, to know that you need people, and to learn and grow from ones you love.

There is a reason why God became a man. People are best engaged by people. He heals us as a person, and He forgives us as a person. He reserves certain works in your life for the people around you, who love you most. In the same way, He reserves certain miracles in the lives of those around you for… you. Or for somebody else, if you miss the opportunity.

Learn it quick:  you were created to engage life in the context of other people, and you were created with a deep need to be engaged by and to receive love from other people. It’s how God moves His body.

In grace, you will have no regrets! College is a beautiful season, and it is a season of so much growth. God is a faithful Teacher. Embrace the season, and go into it armed with authenticity and love.

Guest Post, by Pastor Josh Foliart: “Do We Receive or Enter the Kingdom?”

“If the Kingdom of God was so central to Jesus’ life and ministry, then we cannot afford to be fuzzy about is meaning and significance.”

-Tim Dearborn (from The Perspectives Reader)

A few months ago, I was sitting on a plane with my son heading toward our new home of Lima, Peru. As we were approaching the city of Lima, we glanced out the window and spotted another plane in the distant sky. It looked like nothing more than a floating dot in the air, however we could tell it was a jet. Suddenly aware of a teachable moment, I asked my six-year-old son, Lucas, a question to lead his thoughts and give him understanding.  Casually, I said, “Lucas, do you think that plane is as small as it looks?”

He sat in silence for a few moments, looked around the ginormous cabin where he was currently sitting, and responded, “No, I think it’s HUGE. It only looks small from here.”

I said, “Exactly. Sometimes things that are big look small and things that are small look big.” That’s called perspective.

He responded with a child like, “Oh,” and then the conversation moved on to more important things, like Spiderman.

The Kingdom of God (the Kingdom of Heaven) was a mystery, and Jesus used stories, parables, and pictures to help unfold the realities of the Kingdom to the first-century disciples. Farmers, Seeds, Bread, Pearls, Treasure, Nets, etc. It seems that Jesus was attempting to do for those who were willing to listen what I wanted to do for my son. Give them the power of perspective. When we gain perspective, we have hope. When we gain perspective, we are willing to delay gratification. When we gain perspective, we can rest in the “not yet,” knowing that what currently looks small will in due time be revealed as it truly is. HUGE.

When Jesus came, He said, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) In essence, Jesus said that the Kingdom had come, but the mystery was that the Kingdom was also still to come. An apparent contradiction, but not if we have a proper perspective. He taught that it was going to start like a seed, small and insignificant. However, in the “fullness of times,” the Kingdom would be like a tree, so that the birds of the air could come and make nests in its branches.

What was Jesus saying? He was unfolding for them one of the mysteries of the Kingdom:  It will be both something we receive and something we enter!

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Mark 10:15

At times, God’s work in our lives may seem small and insignificant to our physical senses, but it must, through childlike faith, be seen through eyes of perspective. HUGE. He is in no hurry, but you can count on Him to finish the work that He began in you. Do not be afraid to RECEIVE kingdom seeds. One day, as with my son, what seems small and slow will appear as it really is. HUGE. Then, you will ENTER into the fullness of the Kingdom life that Christ has planned for you.

His Kingdom is a fulfillment of His own command to mankind: “Be Fruitful, Multiply and Fill the Earth.” However, He is fulfilling it not through the first Adam, but through the Second Adam, Christ Jesus the Seed of Heaven. When the King is Received, The Kingdom is Entered. Truly, for you and I today, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Isn’t it time to “Repent and Believe in the Good News?”

Pastor Josh Foliart is in the beginning stages of a church planting movement in Lima, Peru. He pastored at the Christian Life Cathedral for much of the past decade, where his passion was to raise up young adults and the leaders of the next generation. You can follow him, his family, and his organization- Multipli International- at http://www.joshfoliart.com. Pastor Josh recently published a new book, entitled “Rooted,” and you can find more information about that on his website, as well.

Being Led by the Spirit

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

-Exodus 13:21-22

He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

-Psalm 78:13-16

There is a lot of talk in the Body of Christ today about what it means to be led by the Spirit of God. Mostly, these discussions revolve around what we have come to call “the Will of God.” A lot of people talk about being led by the Spirit in ambiguous and slippery terms, which does nothing but confuse eager learners. A lot of people talk about the will of God like it is some great scavenger hunt, and they live their lives in a perpetual fear that they won’t ever find “it.” This seeking and searching roller coaster ride leads people to anxiety, discouragement, and depression, and a lot of people just end up giving up.

Hint:  it doesn’t have to be that way. There is a higher road, one of peace. We can meaningfully be led by the Spirit of God, and we can rest in a particular knowledge of God’s will for our lives.

1. Following requires submission.

Pretty simple principle. You are not a follower if you are not submitted to leadership. Why is this important? Because so many people speak with their mouth that they long to find the will of God for their life; yet, with their heart, they are unwilling to cede the authority of their own life to the Father. If you want the will of God for your life, you have to let go of the reins and submit to a higher authority than yourself.

Jesus said it this way:  “Go die to yourself, and then follow Me.” (My paraphrase.) There is a proper order. God’s thoughts are better than our thoughts, His dreams are more exciting than our dreams, and His ways are higher than our ways. We can’t follow Him until we have abandoned our own idea of what “destiny” needs to look like.

The largest aspect of submission is trust. When we submit to the Father, we do so one step of faith at a time, trusting Him. When we don’t see the end of the road, we take a step forward anyway, because we are certain that God is good and God is faithful. When we don’t know what we are getting ourselves into, we take a step forward anyway, because the safest place for us to be is smack-dab in the center of God’s will for our lives.

Following “the will of God for your life” is a step-by-step submission, by faith, to the leadership of the Father. “The Will of God” is not a destination; it is an exercise in submission and obedience. The Father is always taking us into Promised Lands. You don’t have to know the destination. You just have to follow the leader.

2. When God moves, we move.

In the desert, Israel followed the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. The pillars were the manifest presence of God, for the sake of the people of God. These pillars led God’s people through the desert.

When God’s presence moved, God’s people moved.

As a modern Body, I think we are guilty. Yes, God’s presence works differently now. Technically, we are always where God’s manifest presence is… because, in the New Covenant, God’s manifest presence is in us. However, this principle still holds true:  as a Body, we should always be on the cusp of what God is currently doing in the Earth. We should always do our best to be involved where God is presently working and moving. We should be breathing where God is breathing. We should invest where the Father invests. We should make the centers of our attention whatever Christ is making the center of His attention. Today.

When Israel followed the presence of God, they pitched tents. They camped around the pillars, when the pillars stopped moving, in impermanent structures. In short, the people of God were always ready to move. God is a God of movement.

Today, we don’t pitch tents. We build castles, and castles don’t move. We build walls and make fortifications around something that God has done. Some revelation, some miracle, some experience, some theology, some personality, some revival, some program. We dig a mote, and we fixate on what God did. Past tense.

Meanwhile, in the present tense, the pillar of fire is moving on, and we aren’t prepared to leave. The castle is safe. It is our home. Our families and livelihoods are here. It’d be inconvenient and expensive. We’d have to redefine and rebrand. We’d have to rebuild elsewhere, anyway. So… let’s just stay.

But Israel walked a higher road. They packed up their tents, and they followed God’s presence. He was their center. They settled where God settled, and they went where God went. They made His presence their purpose.

3. When we follow God, God provides.

When Israel made God’s presence their purpose, God became Israel’s provision.

In regard to us, I’m not talking about manna. Manna is finished. We don’t get manna. Rather, we get gifts. We get blessings. We get land. And we get to steward it. Work.

However, this core principle, too, still holds true:  when we follow God, He provides.

God manifested to meet the needs of His people. By day, His manifest presence was a cloud. God was His peoples’ shade and rest when they needed shade and rest. He was their comfort from the desert sun when they needed comfort. By night, God’s manifest presence was flame. He was their light and their heat. He was their protection from the creatures of the night when they needed safety.

God was exactly what His people needed, always.

Further, the Father caused water to gush forth from rocks. He made rivers rise up from arid land, and He opened up the wells of the deep for a dry and thirsty people. He parted the sea. He gave them the bread of angels.

When His people followed, God provided. When we follow, God provides. He equips, empowers, and encourages. He puts things into motion only when we have the right tools in our hands. (We tend to put things into motion before we have the right tools in our hands.) He goes before us, He puts all things into their proper place, and we follow Him into provision.

4. We are not stronger than God’s sovereignty.

What is the most freeing thing about our relationship with Christ? In my opinion, it is this:  God is so incredibly sovereign that it is impossible for us to defeat His will. Even if we were to try, we couldn’t thwart the plans of our omnipotent God. Especially by accident, there is no way we could ruin the plans He has to prosper us.

He is too far-reaching. His redemption is too strong. Resurrection has too much power. His perfect love covers too much. His Spirit is too present.

When our hearts are ablaze to know and follow the will of God, He orders our lives according to His sovereign plan. Despite us.

Many of us walk through life in fear of messing things up. We have a faithless, arrogant mindset that tells us we can frustrate Heaven’s vision for Earth. We view God as some sort of taskmaster who will promote us only if we walk in supernatural degrees of excellence and perfection. Which is silly. He isn’t looking for us to fill in all the blanks correctly. He is looking for us to be faithful and willing.

He has initiated between us messy relationships of cooperation and partnership. He says, “Follow Me,” and He understands that our humanity is going to be disaster-prone the whole way through. The problem is that we leave no room for grace, mercy, or forgiveness in our conversations about the will of God. We think we are the sovereign ones. We think that the fruit of our will, and not God’s will, is the fruit that will endure forever. But God’s sovereignty is greater than our ability to mess things up. When we have hearts that seek after His will, we can derail very little.

Anyway- I hope some of this helps you. Being led by the Spirit is a journey. A fun journey.

Easter Blog

The Easter Bunny isn’t glorious. The Lamb that was slain- to take away the sins of the world- is glorious.

Two thousand years later, and the blood of Christ continues to turn the seasons. Tomorrow- Good Friday- marks the death of Jesus. Tomorrow, we remember the day that God climbed a hill outside of Jerusalem, as a man, to be given over to the worst the world had to offer. Nails, shame, and death.

We call tomorrow Good Friday, because the worst evils of this world were proven illegitimate. They were made void and obsolete. We call tomorrow Good Friday, because of what happens on Sunday.

Easter is powerful. The season is far more than chocolates and pastels and bunnies. It’s a season that represents hope. It’s because of this season that we have breath to praise God.

On Sunday, after three days in the grave, Jesus Christ comes alive again. The universe watching, He walks out of His own tomb.

So, too, do we come alive again. Easter is the season of resurrection. It’s the season for dead things to come back to life. Relationships, dreams, plans, anything broken… they all gain resurrection power. Easter is the Father’s invitation to us to find our crosses, to die, and to be raised in glory. It’s a season designed for us to rise, to remove our burial garments, and to walk out of our own tombs.

The world falters when it sees the dead come alive, because resurrection redefines everything.

Jesus Qualifies

We all know this:  Jesus hung out with the lowest of the low. So much of His purpose on Earth was to simply be among, teach, and love the “least of these.” He had compassion on the poor and broken, and He embraced sinners. Jesus spent significant amounts of time with tax collectors and prostitutes, to the extent that the highest of society were totally baffled by Him.

Jesus was a magnet.

The low, the marginalized, and the outcast really loved being with Him. They were drawn to Him. Jesus was a refuge for the abandoned, the friendless, the illegitimate, the orphaned, the widowed, and the unclean. He was a simple man whom common folk loved.

The lowly didn’t know it, but when they were in the presence of Jesus, they were in the court of a King. They were walking among royalty. They were breaking bread with the Prince of Peace. The untouchables of Jewish society shared space with Jesus, the radiance of God’s glory. They may have been disqualified in the eyes of the world, but, in the eyes of Heaven, they were made great.

The low were drawn to Jesus, because who doesn’t enjoy an audience with a friendly King?

Jesus made people great, by proximity and relationship. He made unclean people clean. He made the marginalized the center of His attention. He adopted the aborted. He made the sinners and the criminals welcome company. He turned everything upside down when He qualified the disqualified.

Jesus qualifies you. God’s grace- His power- qualifies you. The people Jesus chose to spend time with- the people Jesus enjoyed spending time with- were people just like you and me:  sinners and outcasts. Jesus’ presence makes you great. Your proximity to Him and your relationship with Him gives you royal blood. The world can lock you out, but the Kingdom and its blessings and power are open to you.

Through Jesus, you are made royal and welcomed into the court of the King.

Hiding from the King

There is a scene in 2 Samuel chapter 13 where Amnon, one of the sons of King David, rapes his unmarried sister, Tamar. (Tamar was also the sister of Absalom, another son of David). Amnon rapes his sister. She pleads with him not to, appealing to what would be her disgrace. She even tries to reason with Amnon, urging him to speak to the king, who would surely not deny their marriage.

“But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her.”

The results of Amnon’s sin:

1.  Amnon hates Tamar with an “intense hatred.” This hatred is more intense, even, than the passion that had led Amnon to sin. (“Get this woman out of here and bolt the door after her.”)

Idols and relationships will always break when we approach them as we are called to approach God:  thirsty, desperate, and in need of fulfillment.

Amnon’s is a pretty standard outcome wherever sin is involved in relationships. Just as we will glorify an idol until it breaks, our tendency is to glorify a person until they let us down. Then, we despise them. We resent them for letting us down. We harden to them. We cannot stand to be in their presence. We blame the pain that we experience on the broken idol. We hide from them, and we bolt the door to keep them away.

As a way of coping with our sin, we convince ourselves that we are victims. All the while, however, we are the guilty party.

2.  Tamar is devastated and “desolate,” but consoled by Absalom. (“Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornamented robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went.”)

As a victim, Tamar mourns. She mourned in the Jewish custom, in the same way that David mourned when he found his best friend Jonathan had been killed. A season of mourning is healthy, and it is the only way to be healed fully. We should mourn for both physical brokenness and spiritual brokenness. We should mourn for physical loss, as well as for spiritual lack. When we do, we find wholeness emotionally and spiritually.

It would have been easy for Tamar to be outraged. It would have been easy for her to bear resentment and bitterness in her heart. However, Scripture doesn’t mention anything of the sort. She remained totally broken by her circumstance, but in her mourning she found it somewhere in her to release Amnon from his guilt.

In our culture, mournfulness is weakness. However, in the words of Jesus, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”

3.  Absalom hates Amnon for disgracing his sister. (“Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.”)

Where Tamar lacked bitterness, resentfulness, and hatred, Absalom had an abundance of each. Absalom hated Amnon for what he did to Tamar, whom he loved. I’ll talk about this a bit later, but Absalom’s blind hatred would lead him to do some very unwise things. His bitterness and resentfulness would stew for two years before it came to a head.

Absalom didn’t resolve his conflict. He never talked to Amnon. He did not forgive. There was no love in the equation for Absalom. Absalom, the son of the king, was totally given over to his feelings (understandably so), and he didn’t pursue any of grace, mercy, justice, or reconciliation.

I think we tend to do the same.

4.  King David is furious with Amnon, but apparently does nothing about it. (“When King David heard all this, he was furious.”)

The man after God’s own heart is furious with Amnon’s wickedness, but he does nothing to right the wrong. This is interesting. I don’t think we can know why David did nothing but get angry. But we can take some guesses:

EITHER:  It was in the wisdom of David, the father, not to intervene, but rather to let the parties involved resolve the conflict (which, if this was the case, backfired). OR:  David did not wish to punish Amnon, his son whom he loved (which would have made this an instance of poor and foolish parenting). OR:  David was too busy, too out of touch with reality, or too unconcerned with the affairs of his own house.

In any case, while King David was busy running his kingdom, his house was in disorder. He was king and priest, and his own family was swimming in unrighteousness, bitterness, hatred, poor health, and desolation. This is a problem. Or a model of reality. Either one.

Two years later:

“Absalom ordered his men, ‘Listen! When Amnon is in high spirits from drinking wine and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon down,’ then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Have not I given you this order? Be strong and brave.’ So Absalom’s men did to Amnon what Absalom had ordered…”

-2 Samuel 13:28-29

Absalom manipulates his men into doing his sinful bidding. He abuses his authority and leads innocent men into unrighteousness. He kills Amnon. Then, he flees the Promised Land for the refuge of a far-away king.

Word reaches King David that Absalom has killed Amnon and has fled into a foreign land. King David and his sons mourn the loss of Amnon and the brokenness of their family. The king’s court weeps “very bitterly.” King David mourns for his son every day.

“After Absalom fled and went to Geshur, he stayed there three years. And the spirit of the king longed to go to Absalom…”

-2 Samuel 13:38

We are like Absalom. When we sin, we flee into prodigal lands. We hide. We know we have done wrong. We flee from the King, who definitely has power to judge and to condemn, and we settle in the safety of the far-away palace of some far-away king. While we hide from the King who loves us, we settle for any king who will have us. While we hide, we forsake the royal blood running through our veins, and we adopt the status of alien and stranger. In hiding, we give up everything:  inheritance, privilege, status, and identity. We sacrifice all of it, because we fear the wrath of the King in our sin.

Meanwhile, back in Isreal, the King longs for us. He knows we have done wrong, and He knows we are guilty, but His spirit longs to be with us. He longs for the presence of his sinful sons and daughters more than he longs for his court to be righteous and, therefore, empty. If only we would be near, he could handle our failures and our unrighteousness. If only He could see us. If only we would come out of hiding.

Longing.

When Absalom returned to Jerusalem, King David did not allow him to look on his face. Absalom lived in the holy city for two years without seeing his father’s face, despite David’s longing for his son. This void in their relationship points to the distance between man and God that was caused by our sin. It points to the void that was filled by Christ. (It also reminds me of the scene where Moses is not allowed to see God’s face in the desert.)

We have been hiding since Eden. The moment Adam and Even messed up, they hid. They hid behind trees, and they hid their nakedness, as if the Father didn’t know them fully exposed or as if the Father didn’t know their hiding places. We have been hiding since Eden, as if the Father doesn’t know our shame or as if Jesus hasn’t yet walked through the scum of it.

And, ever since Eden, the Father has longed for us to understand:  He would be near to us. It is His heart to have us near, to handle our shame in the context of loving intimacy. It is why Jesus walked the Earth:  so that our intimacy could be restored. And that intimacy was restored.

We do the hiding. We create the distance. We throw up the walls that hide our disgraces and prevent their healing. It is the Father who longs to get close, so that He can restore, resurrect, and reclaim. We run from Him, and we keep Him out. He longs for us to be restored to the Kingdom we ran away from.

So, come out of hiding. Jesus was a message from the King:  “It’s safe.”

David: God’s Will, Safety, and Judah

David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

-1 Samuel 22:1-2

David is on the run. With the Lord’s favor upon him, and with his fame spreading throughout the nations, David (none other than King Saul’s own servant and son-in-law) is on King Saul’s most wanted list. In fact, at this point in history, David is Saul’s number one enemy. Because Saul is jealous. He’s a terrible king.

King Saul had been jealous of worshipper David ever since David’s first exploit:  the miraculous slaying of Goliath. Over time, Saul’s fear and jealousy festered and shot through the roof, and he made plans to murder the shepherd-warrior. David heard of Saul’s plans to murder him, thanks to Jonathan the grapevine.

So, David ran. He went into hiding to save his life. David ran into the wilderness, and caves were his new home. Others quickly joined him.

From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, ‘Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?’ So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.

But the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.’ So David left…

-1 Samuel 22:3-5

1. David ran into new territory for right reasons, so God gave him an army.

Sometimes, we go exciting places, make radical decisions, or initiate life-altering changes for some very wrong reasons. We are offended, unhappy, or under-appreciated. We disagree with leaders, we are bored, or we don’t see a way out. In environments like these, people tend to abandon ship. We tend to run away, and we tend to justify it using selfish reasons. (All the while, God was saying, “Stay put, and stay faithful.”)

Once we find ourselves in new territory, we can come to find that we made a wrong decision. We left for bad reasons, so we ended up in a bad place. We went in a direction that was temporal, rather than ordained.

David, however, made a right decision. He ran for his life, and he did it in the most honoring, excellent, dignified, and noble way that he knew how. It was the only decision he could have made that would preserve his life, and it was the only course of action he could have taken that would eventually see him to his God-ordained throne. He left Saul’s palace for the desert, because that was the next season that God had for him. And he was rewarded for it. People joined him: granted, they were a lowly rabble, but they were the foundation of an army that would some day serve him as king.

When we walk in God’s will for our lives, and not in our own selfish will, God gives us an army. He always provides the next step and the next means. He always gives us the right seeds for the present season, even the seeds of an army. In retrospect, we always get to see that, all the difficulties considered, the desert was perfect all along.

2. The stronghold was safe, but the stronghold was not God’s will for David’s life.

Sometimes, we value safety over destiny. We can easily mistake what is safe for what is God’s will. (Conversely, we can mistake what is dangerous, risky, and apparently “faith-full” for what is God’s will.) It is so easy to step into a palace- a place of comfort, peace, and rest- and convince ourselves that we are supposed to stay.

The palace can be a season. It can be a ministry. It can be a career. It can be a relationship. It can be whatever is safe or comfortable. It can be whatever feels like home, or whatever tempts us- for some very excellent reasons- to stay put. But any safe place that wasn’t nailed to a cross is probably not a very safe place at all.

Strongholds that aren’t in the will of the Father are idols. They require no faith in God. Actually, they require no faith at all. They’re easy, but they are not where God wants you to be.

The prophet, Gad, told David to flee that stronghold. So David fled. He left a safety that made sense to the world and pursued what had to look like absurdity:  the will of the Father. He left Moab’s palace, and he made his dwelling place among rocks and caves. It was in these caves, depending on his burning friendship with God, where David really came to know his savior. It was in this season of fleeing the world’s strongholds that David became a man worthy to be King.

3. Chased by death, David was led to worship.

“Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.”

“Judah” was the land of the tribe of Judah. It was a portion of the land promised to God’s chosen people. In Hebrew, the word “Judah” means “praise.”

When God commanded David to flee into the land of Judah, so much was revealed. As a member of the tribe of Judah, David was commanded to flee into his own inheritance. He was commanded to flee into a parcel of land that was, according to his lineage, already his. In other words, David was commanded to flee into his destiny.

Pursued by death and chased by his enemies, David was told to walk into the land of Praise. He was commanded to worship. And worship he did:  during this season of his life, David wrote many of the Psalms. In what was the darkest season of David’s life, God provided the answer:  “Walk into the furnace, and Worship Me.”

Amidst schemes and arrows, God led David to Worship.

Where the enemy is concerned, Praise is better than stronghold. Worship is better than safety. In trial, “Judah” is the answer.

Excellence and the Church

Core values are those things that you claim as defining characteristics of your life. They are traits that you want your life to reflect in the long run. They are the things that, on a daily basis, you are unwilling to compromise. They are the things that you most value. At your core.

Excellence is one of my core values. This means that whenever I do something short of excellence, I have given up ground that is dearly important to me. It means that I have betrayed myself.

Church culture is always changing. One thing that I do not believe will soon leave the Church is its core value of excellence. We are part of a Western culture that is so loud that our house speakers are struggling to pump out enough decibels to cut through the noise, much less to be heard in any constructive way. We are in a culture that is so flashy that our media teams, productions teams, creative teams, online teams, and design teams are in perpetual races against themselves, the finishing lines of which are the constant outdoing and exceeding of whatever happened seven days prior.

The bar is high. None of these things can happen without excellence, because excellence is one of the engines of our church culture. Excellence is simply one of those things that we have built our houses upon. Here is where we are today:  if the church experience we build falls short of our standards of “excellence,” then we weren’t “engaging” or “relevant” enough, and some people definitely won’t come back for the next go-around. We failed to meet our standards of excellence, so we simply failed.

For the Church, this is a problem. The idea that we could fail at all, as the body that represents victorious Christ, is a problem. That our numbers, attendance, production value, and performance factor at all into what we call our “success” is a problem.

If our church’s “success” is based on our excellence, and not on the excellence of God, then we are doing some things very wrong.

Don’t get me wrong. Remember:  excellence is one of my core values. However, excellence cannot be the Church’s aim. It cannot be the thing that drives us creatively or innovatively. Excellence should be at the core of the Church, but it cannot be that factor which sets us apart from the world, which determines our relevance, or which gets a person plugged in to our community.

Here are some questions that will help us keep our thirst for excellence in check:

1.  What are we camping around?

In the Old Testament, when Israel wandered the desert, the nation camped around the presence of God. They pitched their tents around His manifest glory. They followed Him through the desert as He led them by His pillars of cloud and fire. God’s people didn’t camp around a production. They didn’t camp around high sound quality or flashy lights, and they didn’t value pristine websites or engaging app interfaces. They were in a desert, and they went where the Lord went.

In other words:  the people of God didn’t go to “church.” They went to the presence of God. They didn’t go to an excellent experience. They experienced an excellent God.

The success of any given event or gathering must not be judged by our amount of equipment glitches or engaging sermons. It can’t even be judged by attendance. The success of any fellowship of Christians can only be measured by the work of the Father in the hearts of His people. It is the presence of God that changes people. It is His Spirit that reveals Jesus. No cue sheet, Planning Center update, or emotion can do what the breathe of God can do. The presence of God- and not excellence- makes any given body of Christ phenomenal.

2.  Why do we value excellence?

Who are we trying to impress? Literally. Are we trying to impress God with our excellence, or are we trying to impress fellow man with our excellence? Is our perfect God impressed by excellence, or is He impressed by faith? Are we driven to new levels of excellence by comparing ourselves with other bodies of believers, or are we driven to new levels of excellence as a spiritual act of worship?

Do we fear God, or do we fear man? Are we attracting people with our excellence, or are we attracting the Spirit of God with our humble, contrite, and contented hearts?

I fear that many cling to a standard of excellence as a way of building a ministry. If we value excellence for any other reason than the simple fact that God Himself is excellent, then we are probably building a monument to ourselves. Just because a gathering calls itself a church doesn’t make the worship pure, truthful, or full of God’s Spirit. Where are our hearts? Who are we trying to impress? Who do we fear? Why are we pursuing excellence?

3.  Where is the love?

In his first famous letter to the Corinthian church, Paul says:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

-1 Cor. 13:1-3

I do not want to take this verse out of context. However, I think Paul, when looking at parts of the modern Church today, would see some very excellent resounding gongs and clanging symbols. I think he would see some very excellent prophets and mystics on some very excellent stages performing some very excellent miracles and promoting some very excellent selfless activity, and I believe Paul would determine that this tremendous excellence, wherever love is lacking, has gained us nothing.

Excellence, Paul would conclude, fades away. Without love, our excellent services mean absolutely nothing.

I value excellence as much as anyone. I value excellence, because I want to become more and more like God, who is excellent. However, I am challenged, as a musician and as a teacher, not to be motivated unto excellence by any sort of the fear of man- man’s values, opinions, perceptions, support, or validation. I believe the corporate Church shares that same challenge:  our pursuit of excellence should be our act of worship, and our ideas of success should come from the validations of the Father alone.

Is it possible to pitch our tents around the presence of God and to be excellent at the same time? Of course. Is it possible to value excellence for the right reasons? Yes. Is it possible for a loving community to be truly excellent, relevant, and engaging? Definitely.

In fact, not only is it possible- it’s our calling. The Church- both corporately and individually- should be the most excellent organization on the planet, because it worships the most excellent God that exists. But we have to be careful. It’s so easy to let excellence be our aim on Sunday morning, and it’s easy to build monuments to ourselves throughout the week.

Let’s be excellent, but let’s be willing to admit that God’s excellence is far more important.