We understand where youre comin’ from

a place and a reason

Its always fun to understand the bigness or goodness of old stories. One of my favorite parts of my first semester Hebrew class was understanding the significance of Jonah by studying its context, linguistics and message. All of a sudden a vacation bible school story was about God’s sovereignty and compassion for all nations, not just a giant whale.

Ive been in Jeremiah for a while and my blogging reflects that. About two weeks ago Tony Evans came and spoke on Jeremiah 29. Of course he highlighted the infamous youth rally Jeremiah 29:11. he also said something like,”Jeremiah is not exactly the kind of book you want to turn to for personal devotions”. In fact he said that magical verse 11 was “a good verse in a bad chapter in a bad book.”

But I LOVE Jeremiah. I am still claiming it to be my favorite book in the Hebrew bible. There’s a reality to it that enables the hope within it to feel like real life. If the people in these circumstances can lean into God, there must be something to a life of faith.

So this is what ive found recently:

Jeremiah 29:11 addresses the hope of the nation of Israel to return to their land. They were in exile- a time out for misbehavior. But even then God says they are not beyond redemption. There is hope and it is sure. It just doesnt look good but there is surely a movement to restoration.

In Jeremiah 30, we see this movement from darkness and chaos to restoration take form. Its not going to be easy. Inn fact, the Lord promises discipline. However, this pain is proof that they are being saved. Hebrews 12 says that discipline is proof of sonship.

In verses 10-11 The Lord calls his people not to fear because he is bringing about their salvation. He even says that he has dealt them a blow as an enemy. And that’s where I find hope. Even in pain or shame we have hope because we know that Go dis working. The word glory simply means weight. When we see our disobedience in light of God’s holiness, his glory stings. It weighs on us and we feel so near despair. We cant fix what we have broken. But that’s where deep hope through the hesed of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the most power. Though our “guilt is great” and our “sins are flagrant”, God promises: “I will restore you, and your wounds I will heal.”

The Lord promises that the pain we cause ourselves by straying from him will be restored by him. that’s grace. We get the opposite of what we deserve. We get reconciliation, not divorce. And here’s the part most Jeremiah 29:11 fans wont like: Its through the pain of discipline that we get to experience the deep movement of the gospel. When we deal with our failures and regrets and bring them to the Lord under the New Covenant, we can see true transformation happen in the deepest, sickest part of our currupted hearts.

So while there may not be much sunshine and daisies in Jeremiah, there is a hope that speaks to the farthest, darkest moments of our lives. Jeremiah 31 shows us that the rebuilding is done by God. We find rest and wholeness by submitting our brokeness and rebellion to him. He makes us good. He ransoms our souls and redeems our paths so that we can participate in his work. He brings us from exile to place of purpose and uses all of our darkness for reasons we could never have seen.

“And you shall be my people and I will be your God”

Making some changes

“But now is the time for decision and especially for planning. God changes lives in response to faith. But just as there is no faith that does not act, so there is no act  without some plan. Faith grows from the experience of acting on plans and discovering God to be acting with us.” – Dallas Willard

“And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveals Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experiences Who He is.” – Albert Schweitzer

Do not merely listen to the word, as so deceive yourselves; do what it says. (James 1:22)

“…I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I recently read Donald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It really hit me. I cried and laughed at the same time on my bathroom floor. Im not a crier. But the Lord broke my heart and warmed it at the same time as i was reminded of the full beauty of the gospel. So i wept and laughed on my bathroom floor at 2 am. And it was good.

AND you were DEAD in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked…BUT God, being RICH in mercy, because of the great love with which he loves us, made us ALIVE, together with Christ.

The part that i hope will stay with me more than the heart warming stories and endless inspiration to write a wonderful story after our Master Storyteller wasnt written in any chapter.

I read this book in one night. i finished the first 20 chapters in the library after class. I got hungry so i went home. As i was walking i saw something and i thought a joke that would be funny to Donald Miller. It was something that would fit with his personality. If He were there and i were to say it, he might chuckle and i would feel cool. Because Donald Miller is way cool.

And that’s when it hit me: that’s how we be masterpieces. We dont have to add anything onto our lives to be complete. We are complete in Christ. All we have to do is spend time with the Author AND Perfecter of our Faith.

As we do this, our thoughts become his thoughts and we live as his children. What would life be like if the only story we told ourselves was the Story of God? All of a sudden, the dots wont stick. right?

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand…For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, ‘Fear not, I am the one who helps you.’ “

Isaiah 41:10,13

Our God is a god who not only provides our foundation (forgiveness, eternal residence in heaven, etc) by upholding us with his right hand, He also comes alongside us in our weakness and holds our right hand as he guides us. He guides us through sanctification as we depend on him to transform us. He protects us and goes before us. He prepares us for the work he has prepared for us. You see, its not about us. It cant be. If the story becomes about us, it crumbles. BUT we can be apart of a Story that ends in Light. We are made alive, and we will be perfected in Him. That’s a rich God. That’s a BIG God.

Life is hard: God is good

What else is there?

interesting…

this thought almost blew my mind when we discussed it in class the other day:

Legalism cheapens the holiness of God. It does this in a 3 step process:
A man makes a list of things to be done that will make him acceptable to God.
This list is not complete and therefore lower that God’s standard because it is man-made.
This implies that God’s standard, which reflects his holiness in its other-ness, is achievable.

and that’s why Jesus is our Sabbath (Hebrews 4). He achieves what we cant and so we are able to rest in his perfection instead of trying to achieve our own(which is a cheap illusion).

A high priest whose name is Love

“The deepest secret of our walk is just to know him, and so to believe in His Father-heart that we can cry out our failures on his loving breast, if need be, or speak plainly to him in Thanksgiving for every victory. When we know the consolation and relief of such communion we shall have less occasion to trouble anyone else. It is ours to tell Him just what we feel, just how bad we are at heart, and even our darkest unbelief. To do this only opens up our hearts to Him for His blessed light and strength….
…We are never wonderful saints of whom God may be justly proud: we are His children, immature and filled with foolishness, with whom he is endlessly patient and on whom he has been  pleased to set all His infinite heart of love. He is wonderful. We are not.”
“Dr. Karl Barth was one of the most brilliant and complex intellectuals of the twentieth century.  He wrote volume after massive volume on the meaning of life and faith.  A reporter once asked Dr. Barth if he could summarize what he had said in all those volumes.  Dr. Barth thought for a moment and then said: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”"

that’s all that counts friends.

Good Shepherd

“…He does not lead His children by any rules whatsoever. No two of his children will be led alike and it is most probable that He will never lead any one of His children twice in exactly the same way. Therefore rules are apt to be misleading. True spirituality consists in a life which is free from law and which is lived, to the minutest detail of individuality, by the power of the Spirit”

- Lewis Sperry Chafer

we were :: we are

dead :: made alive [Ephesians 2]

not a people :: People of God [1 Peter 2:10]

nameless :: a name [Jeremiah 13]

darkness :: light [1 Peter 2:9]

timid :: powerful [2 timothy 1:7]

broken cisterns :: filled with living water

objects of wrath :: workmanship [Ephesians 2]

others?

All truth = God’s truth

I remember sitting in Jonathan Haeger’s living room as we discussed this idea. He’s the man and I think we talked about the Beatles somewhere in the midst of that discussion.

“Augustine’s approach [to goodness in culture] thus laid the foundation for the assertion that whatever was good, true or beautiful could be used in the service of the gospel.” – Alister McGrath

Augustine developed this idea by using the Exodus story. He claimed that just like the gold taken from Egypt by the Israelites, we  can take the “truths” from the world and convert(ha!) them by comparison to Truth. Just as the Egyptians did not “invent” the gold themselves but mined it from God’s creation, people not belonging to God can find truth, however inadequate and incomplete in their own lives by observation, experience or conjecture.

For example i submit [for the approval of the midnight society...anybody?] Jimmy Eat World’s Be Sensible. A B-side to Chase This Light this song really struck me the first time i heard it. Each verse ends with a two lines that seem like they belong in a sermon. here we go…

“it’s all in how you pray
not what needs to change…

…the game is how you play
not who wears a ring…

…why are we still so afraid
the things we do deserve their rightful names”

The first one is blatantly sarcastic. I think that helps make it simple. It talks of the heart being more important than the hands. And we know that “man looks at the outward appearance while God looks at the heart”. Jesus talks about this. He contrasts the religious leaders who toss in sums of mounds of money to trumpet blasts with the widow that gave all she had. So Jimmy’s on to something.

And then we see the attempted murder of perfomance orientation. One of the nuggets of wisdom that has stuck wiht me after the Forge is Chris Legg’s idea of our responsibilities. He says that if God wanted something done perfectly he would do it himself. Instead he chooses to use us. So he gives us the opportunity to further his kingdom. But we can never do it compeltely right. To some extent we will be inadequate. Chris used this illustration:

A Father and his son are working under the hood of the family car. The father asks the son to go and get a crescent wrench. The son doesnt know what it is but he tries to find the wrench. He comes back with  screwdriver and the Father patiently corrects him and describes the toll to the kid. The kid forgets the description on the way to the garage and instead brings back a ratchet. The Father once again patiently describes the tool to the kid and he goes back to retrieve it. Eventually, he does ge teh right tool and the job gets done.

I know this analogy breaks down but it does give us a glimpse into what the Lord expects of us. We cannot be perfect but we can depend on him for direction. And that’s all he asks, that we follow him. He provides and guides, we respond in faith and obedience.

I remember being very discouraged after giving my best counseling one week and still feeling like i missed opportunities. A wise friend told me simply, “When you have done youre best, be satisfied with the results.” Jimmy knows this, son!

The third one is less biblical but certainly true. If we are not brave enough to honestly own up to our mistakes, we will not see progress. If we make excuses instead of disciples, we are not pursuing the great commission. If we talk and talk and talk to someone and make them feel loved without sharing Christ’s death and resurrection and the subsequent forgiveness of and victory over sins then we are not living missionaly, we are making friends.

Im sure i am prone to reading too much into things like this because i am a thinker. Sometimes i observe more than is actually there because i want to find meaning in everything.  so…

You make the call. Is there truth in shadow form in the creative works of non-believers? I think its safe to say that we see beauty and goodness in secular movies, books and music. but have you?

what do you see?

a name

Last night i was sitting in the Caribou Cafe when it stuck to me. And now i think

i

have

an

idea.

In Jeremiah 13:11  something strange happens:

“…I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord , that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.”

Did you catch it?  read it again and see if something sticks out to you.

Isnt this the same god that spoke to Moses in the wilderness? When Moses asked him what name he could give, the Lord responded with the [un]answer, ” I am who am”.  Its like saying, “I have no name, I am existence. The way I exist is my name”

And this is what he shows through the nation of Israel. The way he exists (or we might say what he does) gives him the names we call him: Lord, Redeemer, Rock of Ages, Hope of Nations, One True God, Good Shepherd, Light of this World, Living Water, Bread of Heaven, the True Vine, the Door, The Resurrection and the Life.

The crazy thing is he doesnt just show these things like a slideshow. He doesnt show his redemption by making a valley a mountain. He doesnt show his healing by putting lava back into the ground. He doesnt speak identity back into Pluto so that he will walk(spin?) with confidence.

No, this God chooses to do the unimaginable. He makes his creation his name. Specifically those that submit to and participate in the story he is telling over creation.  He shows who he is in our lives. Through faith we become the name of the Nameless.

Or, in the words of August Burns Red (yes, there is truth in Metal, Dad):

“I am the painter making this mess a masterpiece.
I will rebuild you up again.”

Or, in the words of Paul:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

My Forge family knows the depth and beauty of the word poeima, translated her as “workmanship”. It can be expanded to include work of art,  creation, magnum opus or even masterpiece.

And that is what we are in Christ Jesus. That is why we [should] do what we do. Not to have something to boast on or judge others with or even to feel better or  reverse guilt. We do what we do because we are undeservingly called to be the masterpiece of the God of the universe. He has done it and he is rebuilding all that we have done to walk away from that.

Remember that our sanctification(progress in the spiritual life), like our salvation (beginning of or spiritual life) is totally dependent on the work of the Spirit in our lives. We cannot, as Matt Chandler says, “white knuckle sanctification”. If we are to grow, it is only by the enabling power of the spirit. Its both a  fight and crawl. But its more than we can ask for when we realize we are all lumps of clay being molded into a masterpiece. Its worth it.

and yes, Jerry Bridges is the father of all knowledge.