Surrender

I recently had a very strong experience with the word “surrender.”  As I was singing one of countless songs telling God that I would surrender, I conjured up an image of what that meant.  The problem is, as I write, that I can find all flavor of bible quotes dancing around “surrender”, but very little that actually says it like I envisioned it.  The lordship of God is very clear in scripture and it does require a surrender of will to allow someone to be lord over you, but my very justice oriented mind keeps going to a more literal version of surrender.

 

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.  These are what defile you… (Matthew 15:19-20a)

 

Here is the image I had.  I am guilty of some crime, or by scripture all variety of crime, murder, adultery, theft, greed, hateful acts, etc.  It is known to me that I am a wanted man, being sought by the authorities for arrest and punishment.  That knowledge conjures fear.  I must be arrested, shackled, brought before a judge, judged, and if justice is served as it should be, incarcerated or killed.  I will be told at every minute of the day where I must be.  BANG, BANG, BANG!  WAKE UP!  GET IN LINE! WALK TO BREAKFAST!  WALK BACK!  GO TO YOUR CELL!  GO TAKE A SHOWER!  SPREAD YOUR ARMS AND LEGS! TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES!  GO TO YOUR CELL!  LIGHTS OUT!  LIGHTS OUT!

 

That is how it feels, “lights out,” lights out on life.  I am no longer in control of me.  If I surrender to these authorities I lose everything.

 

That’s a pretty unsettling image.  I’m not big on being told what to do.  Maybe that is because I don’t really believe that the one giving orders has my best interest in mind.  In the jail scene, being told what to do is punishment, but the orders keep that system running with as little heartache as possible for the ones administering the justice.

 

In my life apart from Christ that is who I was, and left to my own devices, that’s who I am, a murderous, adulterous, immoral, thieving, lying, slanderer.  I am guilty, if not in action, in thought; deserving of that kind of justice.  To surrender means I must give myself over to THE Authority, God.  I know that when I walk in the door to relinquish my freedom, I am turning my whole self over to the direction another.  That scares me, because I truly believe that I most always know what is best for me.

 

But God, being different than any authority that he has issued to man, is apart. Where man may have some interest in bettering me, God truly has my best interest in mind.  From God, even getting what is due to me seems less oppressive. I would trust that his sentence would somehow better me. 

 

God is singular in disposition; he shows a quality nonexistent in us.  He had Christ step in.  God, the Authority, interested in justice and the heart, allowed my punishment to be diverted to Christ.  And I can scream and say “no don’t do it, I am the one who deserves that,” while really, at heart, I am more than happy to not have to face it. 

 

It wasn’t my choice for him to take it or not.  The real choice is, Christ takes it or we both take it.  It is like standing there about to be hit by a train and when he comes to push me out of the way I live and he dies.  Or I could fight it, try to shove him back, and we both die.  I can’t disallow him from taking it, he already did.  My choice now is to accept that he has taken it, or reject that and take it also, essentially slapping him in the face for his act of love.

 

When I turned myself in, surrendered, my punishment was due.  And as I stood there, shackled, head hung low, waiting for the gavel to drop, I heard the good news.  It causes my heart to drop.  I’m elated that I get to live; I’m broken that he has to die.  But then I learn, love so amazing, that despite death, he lives.  He alone, can take that kind of abuse and triumph over it to live.  And because of that, so do I.  I get to live!  I get to live!  I am free because I surrendered?  I have received a LIFE sentence. 

 

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.  He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

What Does God Say About the Environment?

About a year ago I was privileged to talk on this topic at our church.  Here is my outline for that.  It is a little messy, but I hope you enjoy it here on Earth Day. Make sure you get to the end to really get the point.

What Does God Say About the Environment?

1. What is your image of environmentalism?-
a. Greenpeace, Al Gore, people chained to trees, protesters, people from Berkeley, girls with hairy legs and guys with big long beards, liberals, democrats?
b. (comedian John Ross) “Underground nuclear testing, defoliation of the rain forests, toxic waste…let’s put it this way, if the world were a big apartment, we wouldn’t get our deposit back”
c. Lately being “Green” has really taken off. Many products are going green, there are home builders advertising green communities, there are green consultants that you can hire to green up anything from a large corporation to your house. And as of a few Fridays ago, The Oprah factor has kicked in on this revolution of being green is now officially mainstream.
d. We hear about all of these steps to protect it, but why. There are lots of reasons floating around out there like leaving a good place for our grandkids, protecting endangered species, preserving beauty, protecting land that is sacred to a certain people. All of those reasons have some merit, but they are so often represented by extremists that we discount them altogether.
e. But our concern today is “What does God say about the environment?”
f. Today I hope that you will drop those preconceptions and open you heart up to what God has to say on this issue. Believe it or not, the bible has a lot to say about this.
2. What is the “environment”? Is it the trees and plants, or the seas, or the animals, or what’s underground, or the air we breathe, or the ozone layer, or outer space?
a. The environment is Creation, and as you will see in a few minutes, the part he wants us to be concerned with is the earth.
b. But the environment is not just these trees and animals and air as they stand on their own, it is the relationship that exists between all of the things that God made.
c. The environment is God’s masterpiece artwork. That is why we wanted to have this here today, to show you an incredibly beautiful artwork, but one that does not even compare to God’s artwork.
d. The environment is the complexity of plants and animals and how they work. How trees give off oxygen that animals need to breathe and how we give of carbon dioxide for the trees, who then convert it to sugar for food to grow. How birds eat seed and then scatter them around in a ball of fertilizer. It is the function of an eyeball sending complex signals to an even more complex brain. It is bugs that can make themselves look like sticks or leaves that have been chewed on.
e. The environment is all of the things that God made that in turn speak of his creativity and unfathomable complexity. The things that God made give him glory through how incredible they are.
3. The story of how God made his creation is recorded in the bible in Genesis 1.
a. He went through this progression of making the earth and space, and then light and darkness, sky, seas and dry ground, grass and plants, trees and fruit, the sun, moon, and stars, fish and sea life, birds, every kind of other animal including livestock, small animals, and wildlife.
b. And it wasn’t just God involved in creation. In Genesis 1 it says “Let us make people”
c. Part of the “us” is Jesus. In John’s account of Jesus life it starts with “In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.” So as followers of Christ we are not just followers of the Creator-God, but also the Creator-Jesus and when Jesus came to walk among his creation he came as a human.
d. Colossians 1 says: 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is supreme over all of creation, but as you will see in a minute, he has appointed us as caretaker. Look at the power of this scripture “Through him everything was created” All of it was created using Christ and all of it was created for Christ. If it was not created, God would not have had a place to put us, who are made to be like him, and consequently, would not have had a place to send his son to be this visible representation of the invisible God.
e. In that creation there was something clearly special about humans. Genesis 1 says: 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God has appointed us as rulers over his creation, the environment. So are we to be rulers who abuse that which they rule, or are we to rule like our king, Jesus, who treats us with mercy and love, who instructs us in ways that make us grow so that we can glorify God?
f. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. God has literally given us everything, but why? It is to sustain us. So he wants us to use the things he made, but he wants us to use them for sustenance. And for something to be able to continually sustain us, we have to sustain it. We have to be the ones who strike the balance, because we have been appointed as ruler and masters.
4. We are to be masters. So this position that we have been given is that we are created to be like God and that we are to be rulers or masters over all of life.
a. What then is a master? God speaks to this also. In Ephesians 6, Paul says: 9 “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.”
b. The same as slaves? 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
c. So then regarding all of creation we are told to be like master, who are told to be like slaves who should:
i. not threaten it
ii. have a deep respect and fear
iii. serve it as you would serve Christ
iv. try to please it at all times, not just when you are being watched
v. do the will of God with all your heart
vi. work with enthusiasm, as though for the Lord rather than for people
vii. The lord will reward us for the good we do
5. A lot of us think that the only thing on earth that matters is the people and that everything was made so that we could use as much as we want as often as we want, but God is concerned with everything he made
6. God cares about all of creation- Noah story- In the story of the great flood, God was fed up with people, but he decided to save a few of them. But what else did he do? He saved every kind of animal. If they didn’t matter, why did he save them. There is a Christian environmentalist that I have heard speak and I spent some time talking to him in preparation for this. His name is Peter Illyn and he runs a really great organization called Restoring Eden. One of the many things he does is that he works to protect endangered species because God is concerned with preserving his creation. In fact we usually talk about the rainbow that followed the flood as this covenant between God and us, but look what it says is:
a. Genesis 9:8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”… 17 “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
b. You see, it is not all about us. In this story, God wanted to wipe out the people, but when he decided to save us, he made a promise, but not just with us. He made a promise to all of the creatures on the earth that he would never wipe us out, not just us. There is so much language in the bible about God’s relationship with everything else, but I think we miss it a lot because we are so focused on the human soul and its relationship with God. I’m not saying that this is in anyway as important as salvation, or even a matter of salvation, but it is a matter that is severely neglected in the church and a matter that brings great glory to God.
7. The earth and everything in it was created to give God praise. The psalms are just filled with people marveling at God’s creation
a. Psalm 95- 1 Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the LORD is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
b. Psalm 8- 1 O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
… 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
c. Look around at the skies and the earth. This says that God’s name fills the earth with his beauty. And compared to all of that, what are we that he should even care for us?
d. 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God[d]
and crowned them[e] with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
7 the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents. 9 O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
e. Again we see that we have charge, we have authority. God’s majesty fills the earth through the beauty of his creation.
8. The bible even talks about creation praising God. We are not the only ones that praise God. How incredible is that.
a. Psalm 96- 1 Sing a new song to the LORD!Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! 11 Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
13 before the LORD
b. Psalm 19- 1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.[a]
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
i. What a cool work, “craftsmanship”. This is truly God’s work of art. Creation makes God known. As Christ followers, we are called to tell other people about Christ’s love, but his creation tells about God without words. All of the talking and convincing we try to do, but you can just look out at God’s creation and know that he IS.
9. Our actions cause life to suffer. Well that’s all of the beauty and goodness of it, so what’s the bad side? Wastefulness and Selfishness-
i. We sin when we are irresponsible with God’s artwork creation. We go unchecked with God’s creation. It is a slap in the face to God when we are irresponsible with his “craftsmanship.”
b. We also sin when our selfish actions cause distress to God’s creatures, animals and humans.
c. Ez 34:17-24- 17 “And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink water you have fouled? 20 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will surely judge between the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep. 21 For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands.
d. Nature doesn’t waste, but we do
e. People in earlier times were so much more connected to the earth as their life. Waste was counterintuitive to survival.
f. God even got mad about this when he brought the Israelites out of the wilderness.
g. Jer 2:7- 7 “And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the possession I had promised you.
h. Is 25:4-5- 4 But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O LORD,a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, 5 or like the relentless heat of the desert.
But you silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.
i. The earth mourns and dries up,
and the crops waste away and wither.
Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by fire,
and only a few are left alive….
The earth has broken up.
It has utterly collapsed;
it is violently shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunk.
It trembles like a tent in a storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy. (Isaiah 24:4-6, 19-20)
j. Even George Bush and his administration has admitted that there is significant climate change going on and that scientific evidence points to human causes
k. During the period of this rapid climate change causes floods, droughts, mud slides, temperature changes, weather extremes, resource shortages
l. Evangelical Climate Initiative- Christian leaders acknowledging climate change
Even small rises in global temperatures will have such likely impacts as: sea level rise; more frequent heat waves, droughts, and extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods; increased tropical diseases in now-temperate regions; and hurricanes that are more intense. It could lead to significant reduction in agricultural output, especially in poor countries. Low-lying regions, indeed entire islands, could find themselves under water. (This is not to mention the various negative impacts climate change could have on God’s other creatures)… The consequences of global warming will therefore hit the poor the hardest, in part because those areas likely to be significantly affected first are in the poorest regions of the world. Millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.
10. Climate change affects the poor the most
11. We are called to care for the poor and hungry
Matthew 25:31-40- 31 “But when the Son of Man[d] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[e] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[f] you were doing it to me!’
12. This doesn’t have to be a reactive thing where you give away food and clothes to organizations that help the needy. It can also be a proactive way of living and honoring God’s way that prevents these things from happening with such magnitude out of love.
13. So I’d love to talk to you about changing your light bulbs and recycling, but it so much more important that this becomes a matter of the heart; that it is out of love for the Creator-God, and love for his people. It is out of the heart of love that we are given through Christ that we care. We care about because the one through whom all was created is the same one that died for us and rose to defeat death so that we could truly live. And part of truly living is enjoying this artwork, this playground that he made for us.

1. What is your image of environmentalism?-
a. Greenpeace, Al Gore, people chained to trees, protesters, people from Berkeley, girls with hairy legs and guys with big long beards, liberals, democrats?
b. (comedian John Ross) “Underground nuclear testing, defoliation of the rain forests, toxic waste…let’s put it this way, if the world were a big apartment, we wouldn’t get our deposit back”
c. Lately being “Green” has really taken off. Many products are going green, there are home builders advertising green communities, there are green consultants that you can hire to green up anything from a large corporation to your house. And as of a few Fridays ago, The Oprah factor has kicked in on this revolution of being green is now officially mainstream.
d. We hear about all of these steps to protect it, but why. There are lots of reasons floating around out there like leaving a good place for our grandkids, protecting endangered species, preserving beauty, protecting land that is sacred to a certain people. All of those reasons have some merit, but they are so often represented by extremists that we discount them altogether.
e. But our concern today is “What does God say about the environment
f. Today I hope that you will drop those preconceptions and open you heart up to what God has to say on this issue. Believe it or not, the bible has a lot to say about this.
2. What is the “environment”? Is it the trees and plants, or the seas, or the animals, or what’s underground, or the air we breathe, or the ozone layer, or outer space?
a. The environment is Creation, and as you will see in a few minutes, the part he wants us to be concerned with is the earth.
b. But the environment is not just these trees and animals and air as they stand on their own, it is the relationship that exists between all of the things that God made.
c. The environment is God’s masterpiece artwork. That is why we wanted to have this here today, to show you an incredibly beautiful artwork, but one that does not even compare to God’s artwork.
d. The environment is the complexity of plants and animals and how they work. How trees give off oxygen that animals need to breathe and how we give of carbon dioxide for the trees, who then convert it to sugar for food to grow. How birds eat seed and then scatter them around in a ball of fertilizer. It is the function of an eyeball sending complex signals to an even more complex brain. It is bugs that can make themselves look like sticks or leaves that have been chewed on.
e. The environment is all of the things that God made that in turn speak of his creativity and unfathomable complexity. The things that God made give him glory through how incredible they are.
3. The story of how God made his creation is recorded in the bible in Genesis 1.
a. He went through this progression of making the earth and space, and then light and darkness, sky, seas and dry ground, grass and plants, trees and fruit, the sun, moon, and stars, fish and sea life, birds, every kind of other animal including livestock, small animals, and wildlife.
b. And it wasn’t just God involved in creation. In Genesis 1 it says “Let us make people”
c. Part of the “us” is Jesus. In John’s account of Jesus life it starts with “In the beginning the Word (Jesus) already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make.” So as followers of Christ we are not just followers of the Creator-God, but also the Creator-Jesus and when Jesus came to walk among his creation he came as a human.
d. Colossians 1 says: 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is supreme over all of creation, but as you will see in a minute, he has appointed us as caretaker. Look at the power of this scripture “Through him everything was created” All of it was created using Christ and all of it was created for Christ. If it was not created, God would not have had a place to put us, who are made to be like him, and consequently, would not have had a place to send his son to be this visible representation of the invisible God.
e. In that creation there was something clearly special about humans. Genesis 1 says: 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” God has appointed us as rulers over his creation, the environment. So are we to be rulers who abuse that which they rule, or are we to rule like our king, Jesus, who treats us with mercy and love, who instructs us in ways that make us grow so that we can glorify God?
f. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” 29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. God has literally given us everything, but why? It is to sustain us. So he wants us to use the things he made, but he wants us to use them for sustenance. And for something to be able to continually sustain us, we have to sustain it. We have to be the ones who strike the balance, because we have been appointed as ruler and masters.
4. We are to be masters. So this position that we have been given is that we are created to be like God and that we are to be rulers or masters over all of life.
a. What then is a master? God speaks to this also. In Ephesians 6, Paul says: 9 “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.”
b. The same as slaves? 5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.
c. So then regarding all of creation we are told to be like master, who are told to be like slaves who should:
i. not threaten it
ii. have a deep respect and fear
iii. serve it as you would serve Christ
iv. try to please it at all times, not just when you are being watched
v. do the will of God with all your heart
vi. work with enthusiasm, as though for the Lord rather than for people
vii. The lord will reward us for the good we do
5. A lot of us think that the only thing on earth that matters is the people and that everything was made so that we could use as much as we want as often as we want, but God is concerned with everything he made
6. God cares about all of creation- Noah story- In the story of the great flood, God was fed up with people, but he decided to save a few of them. But what else did he do? He saved every kind of animal. If they didn’t matter, why did he save them. There is a Christian environmentalist that I have heard speak and I spent some time talking to him in preparation for this. His name is Peter Illyn and he runs a really great organization called Restoring Eden. One of the many things he does is that he works to protect endangered species because God is concerned with preserving his creation. In fact we usually talk about the rainbow that followed the flood as this covenant between God and us, but look what it says is:
a. Genesis 9:8 Then God told Noah and his sons, 9 “I hereby confirm my covenant with you and your descendants, 10 and with all the animals that were on the boat with you—the birds, the livestock, and all the wild animals—every living creature on earth. 11 Yes, I am confirming my covenant with you. Never again will floodwaters kill all living creatures; never again will a flood destroy the earth.”… 17 “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.”
b. You see, it is not all about us. In this story, God wanted to wipe out the people, but when he decided to save us, he made a promise, but not just with us. He made a promise to all of the creatures on the earth that he would never wipe us out, not just us. There is so much language in the bible about God’s relationship with everything else, but I think we miss it a lot because we are so focused on the human soul and its relationship with God. I’m not saying that this is in anyway as important as salvation, or even a matter of salvation, but it is a matter that is severely neglected in the church and a matter that brings great glory to God.
7. The earth and everything in it was created to give God praise. The psalms are just filled with people marveling at God’s creation
a. Psalm 95- 1 Come, let us sing to the LORD!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
Let us sing psalms of praise to him.
3 For the LORD is a great God,
a great King above all gods.
4 He holds in his hands the depths of the earth
and the mightiest mountains.
5 The sea belongs to him, for he made it.
His hands formed the dry land, too.
b. Psalm 8- 1 O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
… 3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
c. Look around at the skies and the earth. This says that God’s name fills the earth with his beauty. And compared to all of that, what are we that he should even care for us?
d. 5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God[d]
and crowned them[e] with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
7 the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents. 9 O LORD, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
e. Again we see that we have charge, we have authority. God’s majesty fills the earth through the beauty of his creation.
8. The bible even talks about creation praising God. We are not the only ones that praise God. How incredible is that.
a. Psalm 96- 1 Sing a new song to the LORD!Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! 11 Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice!
Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
12 Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy!
Let the trees of the forest rustle with praise
13 before the LORD
b. Psalm 19- 1 The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.[a]
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
i. What a cool work, “craftsmanship”. This is truly God’s work of art. Creation makes God known. As Christ followers, we are called to tell other people about Christ’s love, but his creation tells about God without words. All of the talking and convincing we try to do, but you can just look out at God’s creation and know that he IS.
9. Our actions cause life to suffer. Well that’s all of the beauty and goodness of it, so what’s the bad side? Wastefulness and Selfishness-
i. We sin when we are irresponsible with God’s artwork creation. We go unchecked with God’s creation. It is a slap in the face to God when we are irresponsible with his “craftsmanship.”
b. We also sin when our selfish actions cause distress to God’s creatures, animals and humans.
c. Ez 34:17-24- 17 “And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats. 18 Isn’t it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn’t it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19 Why must my flock eat what you have trampled down and drink water you have fouled? 20 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will surely judge between the fat sheep and the scrawny sheep. 21 For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands.
d. Nature doesn’t waste, but we do
e. People in earlier times were so much more connected to the earth as their life. Waste was counterintuitive to survival.
f. God even got mad about this when he brought the Israelites out of the wilderness.
g. Jer 2:7- 7 “And when I brought you into a fruitful land to enjoy its bounty and goodness, you defiled my land and corrupted the possession I had promised you.
h. Is 25:4-5- 4 But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O LORD,a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, 5 or like the relentless heat of the desert.
But you silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.
i. The earth mourns and dries up,
and the crops waste away and wither.
Even the greatest people on earth waste away.
The earth suffers for the sins of its people,
for they have twisted God’s instructions,
violated his laws,
and broken his everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse consumes the earth.
Its people must pay the price for their sin.
They are destroyed by fire,
and only a few are left alive….
The earth has broken up.
It has utterly collapsed;
it is violently shaken.
The earth staggers like a drunk.
It trembles like a tent in a storm.
It falls and will not rise again,
for the guilt of its rebellion is very heavy. (Isaiah 24:4-6, 19-20)
j. Even George Bush and his administration has admitted that there is significant climate change going on and that scientific evidence points to human causes
k. During the period of this rapid climate change causes floods, droughts, mud slides, temperature changes, weather extremes, resource shortages
l. Evangelical Climate Initiative- Christian leaders acknowledging climate change
Even small rises in global temperatures will have such likely impacts as: sea level rise; more frequent heat waves, droughts, and extreme weather events such as torrential rains and floods; increased tropical diseases in now-temperate regions; and hurricanes that are more intense. It could lead to significant reduction in agricultural output, especially in poor countries. Low-lying regions, indeed entire islands, could find themselves under water. (This is not to mention the various negative impacts climate change could have on God’s other creatures)… The consequences of global warming will therefore hit the poor the hardest, in part because those areas likely to be significantly affected first are in the poorest regions of the world. Millions of people could die in this century because of climate change, most of them our poorest global neighbors.
10. Climate change affects the poor the most
11. We are called to care for the poor and hungry
Matthew 25:31-40- 31 “But when the Son of Man[d] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[e] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[f] you were doing it to me!’
12. This doesn’t have to be a reactive thing where you give away food and clothes to organizations that help the needy. It can also be a proactive way of living and honoring God’s way that prevents these things from happening with such magnitude out of love.
13. So I’d love to talk to you about changing your light bulbs and recycling, but it so much more important that this becomes a matter of the heart; that it is out of love for the Creator-God, and love for his people. It is out of the heart of love that we are given through Christ that we care. We care about because the one through whom all was created is the same one that died for us and rose to defeat death so that we could truly live. And part of truly living is enjoying this artwork, this playground that he made for us.

I know!

Soon, I promise! I’ve got the bug, just need the time.

What?

Today I heard the most ridiculous term. “Recessionista.” I’ve heard is before, but today it kind of just crawled all over me. It means a lady, who had a yappy little dog in her purse last month, but now finds herself in such economic hard times that she has decided to eat leftovers instead of just throwing them away.

What?

The “Recessionistas” are bringing their lunch to work and wearing clothes in their closets that they haven’t worn in a while instead of buying new ones. Pardon my French, but, what in the hell has this world come to when it is fashionable to bring your lunch to work. What kind of fantasy land do people live in that these reasonable things that most people do are now trendy.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that people are being wiser with their resources, but how did our society get so off track that these things slipped away into the undesirable world of normality. I don’t want to see people losing jobs, but I think it would do our society a lot of good if all of the boutique stores with $5000 handbags, $200 cigars, dog birthday parties, and baby clothes that cost more than a tailored suit, just went out of business.

This is not to say that I don’t occasionally indulge in something that others would consider crazy, but we are just a bunch of spoiled babies who have taken on a ridiculous mentality of entitlement. Let me let you in on a secret. You don’t really deserve any of it.
The folks having to slum it down to upper middle class are still incredibly rich, the middle class is still incredibly rich, and those without jobs who still have cars and houses are still incredibly rich.

May we all have richer spiritual lives and relationships by living the rest of our lives as “recessionistas.”

Adonai- Lord, Master, Owner

I have been working my way through First Samuel lately, but as I opened up my bible this morning, I heard the word “Adonai.”  My extent of knowledge on that word is restricted to a vague memory of the chorus of an 80’s worship song.

Feeling that this was an inadequate level of understanding for a God-reference, I did some further study. This may have all been sparked the other day.  My parents showed me a new book they had been given listing all of the names of God.  My favorite at the time was “The Balm of Gilead.”  I guess Gilead had a little rash.

Ok, I’m back!

So, Adonai?  Adonai means Lord, Master, Owner.  How does God manifest as Lord, as Master, as Owner?  These seem to be such unfriendly terms in our time.  Our independence does not want to put us under anyone as our Lord.  We don’t respect crowns and the spoiled lives of royalty.  We are probably a little jealous if we really admitted it, but the other side of us demands competence over just being handed something.

Bearing that paradigm, calling God “Lord” is hard for some.  But imagine a kingdom, where the King really, truly loved the people, where he designed his kingdom to be a beautiful place to be enjoyed by all, not just “royalty.”  Imagine a kingdom where the King welcomed you in, gave you gifts, met all of your emotional needs.  Imagine a kingdom where the King was so concerned that your life be lived in a loving relationship that he would go to any length to pursue you.

I would fall behind that Lord!

And how about Master?  That one may be even tougher.  If God is Master, then I am…..slave.  But I don’t want that lowly position.  I have freedom, I have choices.  I can take the word “master”; however, when it relates to a craftsman.  Many people would love to apprentice under a master potter, a master chef, a master physicist, a master surgeon, or a master poet.  We would allow that master to dictate our actions.  That master would be concerned with passing on his skill in the interest of that skill living on through the ages.  God is that way.  As his apprentice, we learn the Master’s skill of love, of compassion, of joy, of beauty, of creativity.  When we allow THE Master to dictate our actions, we become like him.

And finally we have God as Owner.  My initial reaction is that I am owned by no one, for if I am owned, I am not fully in control of myself.  But think of your most prized possession.  Maybe it’s a car, or a stereo, or a work of art.  How do you care for that thing?  The owner who is really proud of his car goes to great lengths to keep it clean, he changes the oil so that is runs well, he keeps it in alignment and balances the tires so that it drives straight and does not inadvertently veer off course.  He cares for it so that it works well and for its intended purpose.

God is an owner like that.  He really wants you to run well, He really wants you to stay on course, not because he is controlling, but because He knows what is really best for you.  And He is the life-blood with the greatest viscosity.  You will operate perfectly when filled with that bloodstream of intensity.

Pray these words, and allow yourself to fall into the arms of Adonai:

Adonai,

I serve you and allow you to rule over me,

That in love,

You know what is best for me

You own me completely,

And from love,

Dictate all that I do

I am your possession,

You may do with me as you please.

Christ the Power of God

Have a taste of a good word from my friend Jeff Miller.  It was a great reminder to me of the power of Christ in salvation.

“but God demonstrates His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us”.

“Nor is there salvation given in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”

“for we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God”.

My friend Mark is an evangelist. He reminded me of such basic truth the other day. He told me that when you  are talking to people about the Lord, its important that  we come straight to the point. Never ask them if “they believe in God”. Too general. Ask them who Jesus is. Ask them if they have been born again.

I realized that in my desire to love people, especially those who are unaware of God’s love, that I have been so concerned with comforting them, affirming them, and demonstrating  God’s love for them that I am not loving them with His love. It is not God’s love to leave His Son and His cross out of the picture. At best, I am not dividing my own soul and spirit and  at  worst I am giving in to the subtle spirit of Antichrist.

We must not be so concerned with offending people that we quench the Spirit of God. We all must pass through that moment of  painful realization that we are lost, eternally separated from God apart from faith in Christ. For me to put my arms around a lost person, encourage them, pray for them, tell them God loves them without  presenting Jesus Christ crucified on a cross, dying for their sin, raised from the dead and their only hope for fellowship with the Father then I am not loving them with God’s love.

Jesus Christ crucified IS the love of the Father. Jesus Christ crucified IS the mercy of God. Jesus Christ is the central figure of eternity and His Father demands we make a decision about Him.

I am determined then that yes, I will love people. Yes I will put my arms around them and encourage them, but it will not be open ended. It will be towards the Love of God demonstrated through the sacrifice of His Son, and the joy of His salvation!

Are Given a Blessing- Matthew 5

3 “God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

11 “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

One of my favorite ways to study the bible is to rephrase the words using my own. It helps them sink into heart and mind a little better. This morning I was reading the Beatitudes. Beatitude is not a word that we use much (OK, at all) in our language except to refer to this piece of scripture. I had to look it up. It means to be in a state of supreme happiness. In the Latin, each of these lines started with “beatus” or “blessed.”

That word is really watered down these days. We always hear people say “have a blessed day” or “I am so blessed.” Are they really saying “have a day filled with supreme happiness” or “I am in a state of supreme happiness”? Maybe, today at work, when someone asks me how I’m doing, I will say, “I am in a state of supreme happiness!”.

So chew on this rephrasing of the Beatitudes:

3-God makes people really happy when don’t have any money and can’t get by unless they rely on Him. They are happy because instead of worldly wealth, they are given everything in God’s kingdom.

4- God gives people comfort when someone they love has died.

5-God makes people happy when they don’t brag about themselves and serve without being noticed. His gift to them is all of nature.

6-When people are truly interested in the fair treatment of all; God makes them happy by treating them the same way they want to see others treated.

7-People who are kind and loving to others, even when the world would deem those people unworthy of that love, will be made happy by God when he returns that same love and kindness in spite of their weakness.

8-If your heart is truly free of impure thoughts; God will bring you incredible joy by allowing you to see Him for all that He is.

9-If you sacrifice your time trying to make a kind and loving environment for others who live in an oppressive place, God calls you His kid, because you are doing exactly what he wants you to do.

10-When people treat you like crap after you do what is right, God will give you happiness and allow you to share all that is His.

11-Even when you are made fun of, treated unfairly, and even lied about for following God, you should be happy. Very happy. Your gift for faithfully staying with God through all of that is getting to live in God’s house, with Him, for ever. You are not the first; people have been treated this way for a very long time.

On Corporate Worship

One of my favorite books of late is This Beautiful Mess from Rick McKinley, the pastor of Imago Dei in Portland. I love Rick’s teaching style and have enjoyed his writing as well.

His writing on the purpose of the corporate togetherness really struck a chord with me. Here are his main points:

1. To listen to God

2. To confess our sins

3. To stand in solidarity with sinful people at the table, recognizing that we all need God’s grace

4. To worship Him

5. To receive His Spirit

6. To encourage each other

7. To be sent out again

I struggle sometimes with the idea of Sunday morning designed primarily as an outreach time. I don’t think we need to paint ourselves into the box of trying to operate “church” exactly as they did in the New Testament time, but the organic formation of that first church was very different from what we see today.

In the model of Acts 5, the believers would perform miracles and wonders among the people, meet together in a place where no one else dared come, and then go out to heal people and drive out demons in the streets.

In I Corinthians 11 the believers waited on each other during the Lord’s Supper and shared. There are some other teachings on appropriate head coverings and hair cuts during worship, but even Paul admits that is the custom of the day and they don’t have anything better to go on than that.

In I Corinthians 14 it says that if an unbeliever comes into your meeting while someone is prophesying, their heart will be laid bare, that they will be convicted, and that they will fall down and worship God. So now we finally have some mention of an unbeliever coming into a meeting, but that whole prophesying part freaks most of us out. It goes on to say that one should teach, one should give a special revelation, one should speak in an unknown language (also referred to as tongues) provided that there is someone there to interpret, but that all must be useful to all and build them up. I think it is safe to say that this makes many people uncomfortable.

Ephesians 4 gives us some instruction on the gifts that God gives to believers, the body of Christ, for the purpose of building us up and equipping us to do His work. Those gifts are given to people to operate as Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers. I think we do a great disservice by trying to cram one or two folks in a pastoral staff into fulfilling all of these rolls. The BODY of Christ is given these gifts; that is the body, composed of us all. In that day there were no professionals, just ordinary people who found true the message of Christ, operating in the gifts given by God. The struggles were as huge as they are today. A deficiency we have today may be that Paul-like overseer who instructs and mediates as he travels from church to church imparting the wisdom of God.

An even different paradigm is presented in I Timothy 2 where the believers prayed together for all people, thanking God and pleading for mercy. They were instructed to pray for anyone in authority with the goal of living in peace, quietness, godliness, and dignity. That sounds a whole lot like much of the action in social activism today. If that prayer foundation were with all groups today, the world would be a very different place. The writer says to pray with holy hands lifted high to God. Women were to take a backseat in this culture through modesty and learn by receiving teaching in submission.

Hebrews 5 says that we should be past the “milk” or baby food of our faith and onto spiritual growth, but that milk is teaching that escapes many longtime Christian in our culture. The “milk” is turning away from evil deeds, having faith in God, and instruction on baptism, the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. We are so afraid that we will turn somebody away from God that we skip these uncomfortable truths which are the milk, the sustenance of our faith.

So what do you pick, how do you do them all? It seems clear that we should be relevant to our culture. I love the story of Paul sitting with the philosophers, talking their language, relating God in their terms. It seems to me that most really effective evangelism happens outside the walls of the Sunday morning “church.” It happens in relationships, in God appointed meetings, but it is happening in “church” too. People are inviting their unbelieving friends and the culturally relevant message is effective.

And so my struggle is in the corporate body meeting to developing the deep Holy Spirit filled life that we are called to as believers, beyond the milk, operating in our gifts; with the delivery of the message of the love of the Father that is our highest calling.

I am not settled in this. I love the creativity that is God imbued, that gives liberty to the believer, where some are called to build up believers in order that they will be sent out and were others are called to go.

So back to Rick’s list. When we gather as believers, may we listen to God, confess our sins, stand together as sinful people in need of God’s grace, worship Him, receive His Spirit, encourage each other, and be sent out to spread His message of love.

God in the Senses:

I was thinking this morning on ways to fully experience God, in all three manifestations, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and it came to me that the way we experience anything is through our senses. We traditionally think of those as SIGHT, SOUND, TOUCH, SMELL, and TASTE.

So I started making a mental inventory of each. I can see God in the beauty of his creation. Traveling to places like Glacier and Zion National Parks make the sight part really easy for me. All of the scientists and explanations of billions of years cannot take away the sheer artistry of God in sight. Christians are so boring some times, but God is THE artist and every other work of art is merely an attempt at mocking what the original artist has already created.

But there is more than just creation, there are visible miracles, like seeing someone frail and inflicted by a deathly cancer that is now healthy and strong because of God’s miraculous healing. That is experiencing God in sight. Be aware of it, it is everywhere.

Sound is a little more natural to us. We hear beautiful music, and it speaks of God, we hear the sounds of nature and it speaks of God, we hear a child’s voice and it speaks of God, but to audibly hear God; that would be awesome. I have not experienced God like that, but I believe that he still speaks that way.

In touch, God moves to heal. His spirit flows through us and can be imparted in boldness. Touch can exhibit God as soothing, exhilarating, correcting, calming, or loving. We can also touch God in all that he created. The texture of moss or water, the heat of fire, the warning prick of a rose stem.

As with the others, experiencing God in smell comes easy in nature. My wife loves the rich earthy smell of a freshly rained upon forest. What can we create that God did not? We blend his creations like vanilla and strawberry into something of our own and enjoy the aroma. His garlic makes us salivate as we roast it, but we are still merely manipulating what he created. It seems that we mostly take for granted that these everyday smells are so directly of God. We miss so much of him and the myriad ways that he desires for us to enjoy what he made for us.

I intentionally saved taste for last. If I miss God in the others, I generally get this one. Communion is the most beautiful, but not the only, way in which we experience God in taste. This taste reminds us directly of the sacrifice of God as Son, Jesus. That sacrifice sometimes stops me in my tracks. To even have the ability to make the connection between sight, taste, and feel, as the look and texture of the bread as flesh and the wine as blood brings us into this gift, boggles my mind.

Taste comes down to the everyday for me as well. I truly thank God for his creativity when I enjoy a really good glass of wine or the sweet creaminess that coats your tongue when you eat homemade ice cream. I love that fire affects the flavor of meat as it chars and smokes.

All of this,
God made,
To be enjoyed,
Speaking of the maker

But there is still a sense that the scientists tend to steer clear of. Some call it a sixth sense, the very ability of our souls to discern the presence of God as Holy Spirit, that place where the I AM is in you. Not floating around somewhere, but in you. Christ talked and taught and those who believed gained the knowledge of Christ, many had even experienced the physical presence of God as Son, but when they truly accepted the gift, they received the impartation of God as Holy Spirit within them. Much of our Christian society so tries to squash this aspect of God. We love to know about him, hear, taste, touch and fell things of him, but to submit ourselves to be invaded by him can be frightening, but so liberating. The spirit of God in us is much better than our own alone.

So be conscious of it.
God in all.
Smell him, touch him, feel him, see him, hear him, and be transformed by sensing his indwelling.
God in all.

What Ever Happened To?

After Jesus had recruited his disciples, and long before his death, he gave them a simple charge, followed by warnings and instructions (Mat 10:5-8). His charge at that time was to announce, heal, cast out, and give.

Four things.

He followed this with some expectations, like being beaten, rejected, and thrown in jail, but the charge was simple. ANNOUNCE that Heaven’s kingdom is near. HEAL people who are sick. CAST OUT demons. GIVE freely. And this seems like such a lost art.

My “evangelical” or “post-modern” or “emerging” community is good, and sometimes very rotten, at the announce part. We even do pretty well on the heal part, although lacking boldness and faith in many instances. We might even get a passing score on the give part. Most of us fail miserably on the cast out part, probably out of fear of looking weird. What is interesting in this is that the person Jesus was telling them to reach in this way was not all of the lost of the world, although he gives that charge after his resurrection. In fact he told them specifically not to take this to all of the world yet. The audience for this was Israel, who he calls “God’s lost sheep.”

I find it fascinating that the person who needed to be preached to, healed, have demons cast out of, and given to, was the religious one, the one who knew all of the “rules”, but do not have the love of God or the life that comes through the true kingdom in him. To the ones who don’t know, the message of Christ’s love is like a beautiful gift, and is often easily received, but those who have it all figured out are already off trail and about to careen off of the cliff while what they see in front of them is steady trail.

Who comes to mind in this is those that have heard Christ’s message or have lived in Western culture long enough to be affected by the activities and the resulting governmental laws of centuries of a mostly Christian society, and now think themselves “good persons.” They really believe that they don’t need Christ. They can do it themselves, and the sad reality is that from a perspective of just “doing”, many do it better than many followers of Christ. We are so scared that people are going to reject us, and in that we neglect the power of Christ.

And so this was the beginning and Christ was setting up his body of messengers. Take the village, and then take the state, and then take the country, and then take the world, but not as a ruthless dictator, but as the King of Love and Justice. Jesus needed to lay out a foundation, he had a plan, and he started in the hardest place of all, his own back yard.

It would have been easy to go out into foreign lands where people had varied beliefs and tell them that they could be saved through Christ, just as today we can take the message of Christ into underdeveloped places and be well received. But where it is the hardest is our own backyard, where we have a reputation, where we care what people think of us, where going out on a limb may cost us something. And that is where Jesus started, because that is where God’s chosen people were, and after all of the decades and centuries of making himself undeniable, the thickheaded were still thickheaded. When God’s lost sheep began to grasp this new manifestation of his love, he had something going that would affect eternity.

So to model that locally and now, would be a life lived unconventionally, not gong banging, but filled with outrageous love, unparalleled mercy. Those who don’t think they need God really want all of the things that actually are God.

God is love and who does not want love.

God is mercy, and who does not want mercy.

God is peace, and who does not want peace.

At the honest heart, where we were created to be in communion with God, we want God.