Life Lessons or Life Lessens

Our church family is mourning the recent loss of a dear lady named Margaret. Many knew her quite well, and not a few have known her more than 30 years. However, those who have been with us less than four years or so haven't had as much chance to get to know her. Her last several years were spent mostly within the confines of a care facility, and her ability to be with us steadily diminished with her health. To get to know Margaret in these years required going to her - and that privilege was well worth the trip.

Although I was not with Margaret the hour she passed, Lynne and I were able to spend quite a bit of time with her, her family, and a constant stream of loved ones over her last two days. We were also with her and her husband Pete when he passed almost exactly four years ago. The pastoral responsibilities, as you might imagine, have put me in a number of situations where the pall of death drapes down from the rafters like a curtain.

Those experiences have run the spectrum. There have been peaceful times where underlying confidence of entering into the presence of the Lord buoys the entire experience. There have been times when there remained far more unresolved relational issues than the time left afforded for any real repair, despite frantic attempts to "set things right." There was even one situation where the person was not prepared to die and fought it with everything she had, including some rather disturbing moments of sheer, inconsolable dread.

One thing that has been cemented in me through the collection of these experiences is that death is not the worst thing that can happen to us. First, estrangement from others rivals death. That may sound overstated ... while we're all breathing in and out with some measure of confidence. But when the end for one of the estranged parties is within days or hours, I have seen more grief caused by the ill repair of the relationship than by the parting of death. The regrets that soon follow further exceed the pain of loss. On the other hand, when the relationships are healthy, the last hours are not panicked, largely ineffective stabs at reconciliation. Rather, the loved ones can focus merely on the comfort of and fond memories with the dying.

Second, estrangement from God far exceeds death. While we're strong and eager, we may ignore God or even shake our fists at Him. But He is eternal, and our bodies are temporal. There will always come a time when we are too weak, too close to passing, to even form a fist to shake at Him. The confidence that death is nothingness teeters ... "What if?" When one is estranged from God, there is no external surety that what lies ahead is better. On the other hand, a healthy relationship with the Lord stirs a sense of eager anticipation beneath the immediacy of loss.

The reality of impending death for each of us gives us a choice: Life Lessons or Life Lessens. Either death teaches us lessons about life, especially about our relationships with others and with God, or life lessens - it becomes less valuable. In that case, death does not enrich the days we have left. In that case, death just robs those days of deep joy, peace, and love they could otherwise contain.

I've seen enough death to appreciate life, but not cling to it more than everything else. Because I have seen a number of deaths, I value more my relationships with others and with the Lord. Death can be our tutor, or it can be just a thief.

There's this great restaurant I don't want you to know about

We found the greatest Italian restaurant! We were just rambling around looking for some place we've never been before, and actually got a little turned around. But then Lynne saw something as we passed by and said we should try it. So we turned around, parked the car, went in, and gave it a try. Bar none, the best Italian food we've ever had!!! (And we're kind of picky about Italian food.)

But I don't want to tell you about it. We're not going to tell you what's on the menu, where it is, or even the name of the place. Trust us - it's awesome food. We plan on eating there regularly. The owner is very nice and welcoming. But ... we're just going to keep this information to ourselves.

You see, what if Italian cuisine offends you? Maybe you really can't stand Italian food. You were forced to eat really bad Italian food as a kid, and now just the mention of Italian food makes you mad. We wouldn't want you to be offended.

Besides, who am I to tell you where you should eat? You're a grown adult and can make your own choices. You know how to find restaurants. Just because we like this place doesn't mean you should like this place.

And what if you ask me how the pasta sauce is made, and I don't know? I know I like the sauce, but quite honestly, I can't tell you the recipe. I pretty much know how they make the pasta - I can answer those questions. But that sauce? I don't really know, and I don't want you to ask me questions I can't answer.

What if you've heard bad reviews of this restaurant? Maybe you read somewhere on the Internet about someone who ate there and thought it was awful. Or, worse - maybe you know some people who like that same restaurant, but you've seen how they behave in restaurants. Their behavior is horrible. So if they recommend this restaurant, it's probably the last place you'd want to eat, right? Who would want to eat where they eat?

Or maybe you'll find out I'm a hypocrite. Maybe you'll catch me sometime in a weak moment eating Spaghetti-O's. How could you take Italian restaurant advice from someone who eats that?

I know, I know - you've seen some of those TV chefs, and they're just after your money. Plus, there's that one politician who wants to make teachers teach Italian cooking in the public schools.

So, I'll just keep my restaurant choices to myself.

On the other hand, the food in this restaurant is the best we've ever had. Come and see. Try it for yourself. Make up your own mind. If you don't like it, we'll still be friends.

Am I Sent?

On Sunday, I told the graduating high school seniors that (if they are believers) they are being sent to their college campuses. In the past several months, I have said the same thing to you about your neighborhoods and workplaces. The implications, of course, are life-altering. If I am sent to my workplace, my neighborhood, my school, even my grocery store, then I can never just go to my workplace, neighborhood, school, or even grocery store. But is it true? Am I really sent?

We've been in these places for years, time and time again - perhaps without any sense of being sent. No determination on my part to live as one sent, and no voice from heaven exclaiming "I sendeth thee!" I've being living quite unsent for a very long time, and the universe still seems to spin and the paycheck keeps showing up twice a month. How can I be sent if I've successfully gone so many years as if unsent? Besides, I chose that job, that neighborhood, that school, and that store without praying or asking God where He'd like to send me - my choice means I couldn't have been sent.

Rather, isn't this religiospeak to make my daily grind sound way more important than it really is? Isn't this just a clever way for the pastor to trick me into integrating my faith better into my "regular" life?

This is no mere manipulation or motivation-by-guilt. It's absolutely, fundamentally, necessarily true. Consider:

God is continuously purposeful. It is God's unchanging nature to have a purpose for every action. He never lacks a fully developed purpose for anything He does. Where you live and work and shop and play are in fact choices you make. Furthermore, you can make some choices that are decidedly contrary to God's purpose and will. However, you cannot do anything, not even choose something against His will, that works outside of His purpose. He will use all of your decisions - those submitted to His will, those ignorant of His will, and those contrary to His will - to accomplish His purpose. "And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28). You are not where you are outside of God's purpose.

Jesus said so. Jesus sends His disciples, pure and simple. He had the habit of doing so during His ministry, and in the instructions He gave them, they still had freedoms to make choices on how to carry out that sending. More importantly, near the end of His ministry, He effectively sent all who would follow Him. "Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you" (John 20:21). He did, in fact, say, "I sendeth thee!"

Let no man separate what God has joined. We tend to separate our jobs and the marketplace from our "religious" sphere. It's a false secular-sacred dualism. We can be sent to the people in our church or sent to a pre-designated "mission field" across town or across an ocean. I'll even take a week off from work to go (be sent) to one of these specially-designated mission fields - I leave the work sphere to enter the mission sphere. That's a false dualism. Our mission field is this world. All of it. "All" would include "secular" places like work, home, school, and market. On God's map, there are no lines to separate mission fields from "normal" fields. He just drew a big, red circle around the whole planet and said, "Go ye therefore there" (cf. Matt 28:18-20).

It is impossible for a follower of Christ to be unsent. In order to prove the positive, let's look at the negative - you cannot be an unsent follower of Christ. Impossible. A follower of Christ follows Christ. (It's tautological, but profound.) To follow Christ is go where He goes, do what He does, think how He thinks. Jesus is by His very nature missional (i.e., sent). In order to follow a missional (i.e., sent) Christ by definition means being missional (i.e., sent). I.e., sent! It is impossible for a follower of Christ to be unsent.

If you are a follower of Christ, you are sent on behalf of the Kingdom of God into your neighborhood, workplace, school, and even shopping mall. (Oh, God, please don't send me to the shopping mall!!!  -- 1 Kinseronians 4:12) You may have "chosen" these places without regard to God's mission. You may have chosen them out of godless, selfish, or rebellious intentions. And yet you are sent nonetheless. How much better, then, to be sent to these places by choice?

So be sent. You can never just go to your workplace, neighborhood, school, or even grocery store.

Doing is the Second Half of Learning

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.

-- Benjamin Franklin

Last week, I asked a pair of questions during the sermon. The first was, "What kind of verb is the word follow?" Immediately, the right answer came from several directions: "Action!" Then the second question, "How similar is that word to what we're doing right now?" Crickets, at least for a few seconds. Then the realization ... it's impossible to follow Christ by just sitting down.

There are times to sit and learn, but we will never be followers of Jesus if sitting down "learning" is the bulk of our Christian experience. Sitting to listen to a sermon, sitting to learn in a Bible study or Sunday school class, sitting in a circle in a small group. All of these are valuable and important. But they do not comprise the phrase following Christ.

To follow anyone, we must do what they do. That's the simplest definition of follow. The word in the original language of John 6:66-71 carries the idea to follow a teaching by obeying it. A follower of Jesus does the same kinds of things He does (within the sphere of human ability). It is a stretch to call oneself a follower of Jesus based just on regular attendance to sitting-and-learning events.

Let's look at this another way. Let's consider the word obey in terms of being a learner. But before we do, let's also look alternate ways to think about the word obey.

Obedience as "ought". Perhaps this is the most common view. We do because we're supposed to. It's what good followers do. We ought do some things, and we ought not to do other things, and getting those categories sorted out well means obedience.

Obedience as righteousness. Take that a step further, and you can look at obedience as a form of righteousness. By obeying, you're becoming more righteous - a better person, a purer person.

Both ideas have some merit. There is some sense of "ought" to obeying Christ - we certainly ought to. There is even a sense that we do become more righteous the more we walk in His ways (even though we cannot merit His favor or earn salvation in any way). However, I think there's a stronger motivation than these that God has for us for obedience.

Obedience as learning. Jesus taught His disciples, sometimes sitting down as a group, sometimes on a hillside or in a boat, and sometimes along the way. But teach He did. However, He also had His disciples do. They handled the fish and the loaves, they retrieved the donkey, they prepared the Last Supper, they went out by two's to tell others about the Kingdom. He did not expect them to obey just because they ought to or to make them more righteous. He did this to teach them! As they obeyed, they would learn. 

Why do we expect Him to teach any differently today? Have we outgrown the need to do in order to learn? Can we just study forgiveness and learn it, without actually ever forgiving anyone? Or, will we only learn forgiveness when we actually forgive someone?

That would mean that Jesus wants to me forgive not just because I ought or in order to be more righteous, but to really, truly, actually learn forgiveness. And I need to learn forgiveness because that's one of His key attributes. I cannot get to know the forgiving Christ well without learning forgiveness by forgiving people.

Not just forgiveness. Apply this same idea to anything He wants us to learn: love, joy, grace, generosity, compassion, humility, patience, endurance, surrender, and so on. We won't get to know well the Christ who loves unless we learn love by loving people. Go on down the list.

So, why do so many of our Christian teaching venues have chairs?

Consider the seated learning as the "first half of learning." Then consider the unseated, action verb learning as the "second half of learning." Whenever you learn something about walking in the way of Christ, don't consider that you've learned it until you're doing it. Take that lesson and find some way to do it right away - that day, that week, sometime before you try to learn the next thing. Don't declare you learned something awesome in a sermon until you're doing that awesome thing or actually living according to that awesome thing. Then you've learned it!

The last thing we want for our Bible studies is for us to learn something that we're going to disobey only to come back the next week and learn something else we're going to disobey.

You will get to know Christ better by this. It's a way of learning! Jesus even says so Himself in John 14:21. Rather than some mystical appearing of Jesus for those who obey, I rather suspect what He means is, "As you obey, what you are doing is getting to know Me in ways you can't learn by just sitting in a chair."

The one who has my commandments and keeps them—that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him. (John 14:21)

Banned for Life

This week, Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, was banned for life from participating in the NBA. A recorded phone conversation between him and his mistress was made public, which revealed blatantly racist comments. Public reaction was swift and strong, overwhelmingly critical of his comments. His own team silently protested in a recent playoff game by wearing their shirts inside out during the introductions.

The comments he made were undeniably racist and are indefensible. I'm not going to argue whether or not a lifelong ban is appropriate for ugly racism. But I am struck by the severity of the reaction. Banned for life, not for racist actions but for racist thoughts. Yes, once public, those words inflict damage to the league, and if the reaction were just for that, there's a good argument that the severity is justified. My impression, however, is that they are not reacting to the actual damage done, but for how much they don't like those thoughts.

I don't like those thoughts, either. Not one bit. They are entirely repugnant. And the league has every right to ban someone for public comments that directly damage their organization. But I'm still brewing on the possibility of a lifelong ban because of what someone thinks.

Other examples are becoming more common. Scientists denied work if they believe the universe originates with God, restaurant owners being denied business licenses if they hold a personal belief about the boundaries of marriage (or shaggy men losing their TV show), CEOs ousted by popular demand for personally supporting a particular bill, and so on. Because of what they think, ugly or not, even if they never treat people unequally, they are banned from engaging in commerce.

I'm not writing a piece on American free speech rights. I'm not writing an alarmist article to incite people to hunker down for a fight. Rather, in the face of increasing, severe, and potentially expensive consequences for holding a view deemed unacceptable by a vocal crowd, Christians have a decision to make now.

We must decide in this moment that we're willing to be banned for life for what we believe - banned from a league, from a job, from an industry, from a community. Before the heat comes, before the crowd gets vocal, we must have already established that we would rather be banned than abandon our beliefs. After the heat comes, the temptation to falter is stronger, and for anyone unprepared, resisting will be all the harder. The "heat" may be mild or sizzling hot, but it seems clear that the temperature is rising. We must settle this while it's still relatively cool.

A word of warning: It's crucial that we're sure which beliefs are core and which ones aren't. Put a gun to my head, and I won't deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but I'm not going to insist on a mid-tribulation, pre-millennial eschatology! Burn me at the stake over the Trinity, but it's not even worth breaking a sweat over determining which political party has the most avarice. Fire me for believing God made everything, but it's not important to me that we agree on how long He took to do it.

Be willing to be banned for life over the Gospel. Because others will be banned for eternal life without it.

Matter

What’s the matter? What’s the matter? What is the matter?Matter has weight, matter tips the scales, matter is heavy … what.is.the.matter?Is what is heavy here heavy There?Does what breaks my back here break my back There?Does a high price tag here convert to a high price tag There?There … There … There in the Kingdom of God?

Is the statue here in the center of the Kingdom of Me the same statue There in the Kingdom of God?

Does the Kingdom of my Calendar here have any appointments There?

Does the Kingdom of Career here have any job openings There?

Does the Kingdom of GPA here have any scholarships There?

Does the Kingdom of Skin here sell any toothpaste There?

Does the Kingdom of Substances here have any substance There?

But Jesus says that There is now Here.

“The Kingdom of God is near,” Jesus says.

“The Kingdom of God has come upon you,” Jesus says.

Jesus tells the Kingdom of Sin, “An hour is coming and now is…”

The Apostle declares that our citizenship is not here but There … if you are in the King of the Kingdom.

Switch your perspective - Once we are There, There is now Here and here is now there.

“In Christ” doesn’t take us There … “In Christ” brings There Here.

Is what is heavy Here in the Kingdom of God heavy there in Kingdom of Man?

Does what breaks my back Here in the Kingdom of God break my back there in Kingdom of Ego?

Does what breaks the King’s heart Here in the Kingdom of God break my heart there in the Kingdom of Self Righteousness?

Is the “ooh” and “ahh” of the angels Here in the Kingdom of God the “ooh” and “ahh” of the Church there in the Kingdom of Couches?

Is the Treasure Here in the Kingdom of God worth selling everything there in Kingdom of Brand Names?

What’s the matter? What is the matter on earth as it is in heaven?

With my feet planted firmly Here in Your Kingdom, give me this day my daily bread.

With my feet planted firmly Here in Your Kingdom, lead me not into temptation.

With my feet planted firmly Here in Your Kingdom, forgive me my sins … as I forgive those who have sinned against me there ... in the Kingdom of Me.

What’s the matter? What’s the matter? What is the matter?

(Slideshow here)

The Danger of No Danger

For those who are very observant, you might have noticed that there was someone in the pulpit other than me this last Sunday. Pastor Luther from Bridge of Hope and I will do a "pulpit swap" once or twice a year, which usually brings a whole slew of good things for both churches, and frankly, for both Luther and me.

When I arrived at BoH Sunday morning, I stepped into the men's Sunday school. They were talking about keeping praise vibrant in our lives, talking through all the things that God has done for us - especially good things that we don't deserve. One of the points that was discussed, one that seemingly everyone in the room except me identified with, is the miracle of waking up alive, considering all the drugs, violence, and crime that went on the night before.

Most, or likely all, of these men have extraordinarily checkered pasts. Bridge of Hope exists primarily to reach those society has written off - drug abusers, drug dealers, prostitutes, gang members, petty thieves, and even violent criminals. Waking up alive beat the odds on many mornings for many of these men, and they keep praise alive by remembering that several times over, they shouldn't even be breathing.

If I stretch my imagination to the limit, I can remember maybe four times when I felt like a beat the odds to still be alive or stay out of jail: as a child with severe asthma, two perilous encounters with drivers driving toward me in my lane of the highway, and goofing around driving as a teenager and almost hitting an elderly man. Even then, I don't think the odds were stacked high against me. I just don't have the context to feel like I'm lucky just to be alive, let alone several times over.

Nor can I identify with a family of dear friends in Kenya who thanked God at least five times in one evening that they finally have electricity to light the one light bulb they have in their house. We have well over 40 bulbs in our house, and I grumble when one of them goes out and I have to walk all the way down into the basement to get its replacement.

Perhaps most of you are similar - very little real sense that being alive is beating the odds, or that a single lit bulb deserves a choir of angels. Some of you could count on one hand the number of times you've had a close brush. A few of you could list dozens of times. But our response should not be that we feel guilty for not having the same dilemma as others. We're not worse, and we're certainly not better, because we've "cheated" death fewer times than they have. Having more light bulbs doesn't make us closer to God.

Rather, we also have something to be grateful for ... that we haven't had repeated brushes with death or jail, that we do have lit rooms. That in itself is a blessing. It is a different form of rescue. God has rescued me, and many of you, from a life that frequently tests our mortality. Those of us in that group have been "saved" from a life of real, frequent casualties.

But we also, then, face a greater danger than darkness, jail, or death - a danger that requires no less of a rescue. We face the danger of complacency, of taking God for granted, of feeling like this relatively safer life isn't a gift of grace, but rather the just rewards of a birthright. Lord, save me from the jaws of temerity!

God has not promised you that you will always be safe from all harm. We will scrape our knees. Some of us will die young. Some of us will suffer disease for years. What he does promise us is that we will always be as safe as he needs us to be for his purposes. God has a purpose for all who call on him, and he will accomplish that purpose. That means that we will always keep us safe enough for him to complete that work. For some great followers past and present around the world, that means that God kept them perfectly safe enough to make it all the way to the stake or firing squad ... in order to accomplish his purpose.

And that's plenty to be thankful for.

It's not just that I'm alive when shouldn't be, but that I don't normally even have to worry about it (when what I deserve is to be constantly running for my life). The more I pursue God's purpose, the more I can rest assured that I will always be exactly as safe as I need to be for him to accomplish his purpose with my life. Or death. He owns both.