The Purpose of Fasting
Isaiah 58:6-9
This week I tried to create a thematic consistency among the days of the week by showing “pictures of the Kingdom.” While that was a good idea, it automatically eliminated some passages from fitting in. There was one passage that really jumped out at me on my first read through; Isaiah 58:6-9.
The intention of this passage was not to be a comprehensive instruction on the purpose of fasting, but in the process of critiquing the Jews’ fasting practices, Isaiah gives us some great insights into it.
The first observation is that fasting was a common practice, even if they weren’t doing it right, they were still doing it.
Second, notice the bold-faced phrases and see what the real purposes, according to Isaiah, are for fasting.
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
We tend to think of fasting as something we do for ourselves (of course we do, we are self-centered, spoiled rotten Americans). According to Isaiah, the purpose of fasting is to stop stuffing your face and take a minute to see the plight of the people around you.
How appropriate for us. We spend so much energy worrying about what we have and managing our assets, when the majority of the world around us has nothing. If we would fast from our pleasure-seeking, self-indulgant, creature-comfort-saturated lifestyle that we dare to call Christianity, and look around us at the rest of the world, I think we might have a rude awakening.
I received an email this week that is very appropriate for this discussion. I very rarealy read forwarded emails, but for some reason felt compelled to read this one. I cannot vouch for its statistical accuracy, nor do I know its source. However, I believe it to be accurate enough, based upon my other studies, to be worth submitting for your review.
If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans52 would be female
48 would be male70 would be non-white
30 would be white70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
The following is also something to ponder...
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace ... you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.
If your parents are still alive and still married... you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.
Jesus Wants to Save Christians – Rob Bell
I just finished reading Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell. I really resonated with this book. Here is a passage from the final pages that really sums it up.
A converted church will cause the mountains to tremble.
A group of people taking the bread and the cup, asking, "What now, Jesus?" -- the stars sing when that happens.
When the church gets saved, the queen of Sheba will be there in moments.
Jesus wants to save us from making the good news about another world and not this one.
Jesus wants to save us from preaching a gospel that is only about individuals and not about the systems that enslave them.
Jesus wants to save us from shrinking the gospel down to a transaction about the removal of sin and not about every single particle of creation being reconciled to its maker.
Jesus wants to save us from religiously sanctioned despair, the kind that doesn't believe the world can be made better, the kind that either blatantly or subtly teaches people to just be quiet and behave and wait for something big to happen "someday."
[in regard to the act of communion...] Maybe that's what he means when he says, "Do this in remembrance of me." The "do this" part is our lives. Opening ourselves up to the mystery of resurrection, open for the liberation of others, allowing our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured, discovering our Eucharist. listening. And going.
Thanks Rob.
Easter Vigil Message
Saturday.
Nobody was expecting Saturday.
They hadn’t signed up for this. Three years earlier Peter, James, and John had been fishermen in Galillee. They were probably your typical man’s man.
I don’t know what the Hebrew is for “huh, huh, huh,” but they probably did it.
Everyday they would go out to work, slave away, and then walk past the Roman soldiers on their way home.
The Romans. They had never known life without the presence of that oppressive empire camped out in their living room.
As Jewish men they had been raised on the hope that one day God would send a Messiah, a new king, who would overthrow their oppressors and reestablish David’s throne in Jerusalem and establish the kingdom of God once again in Israel.
Many had claimed to be that Messiah, but all of them ended up the same way. Hung on a cross by the Romans and left to die like wild animals.
Then one day along comes this man named Jesus. He didn’t just claim to be the Messiah, he demonstrated the power of God through his miracles. He spoke with authority. He healed the sick. He calmed the storms. He raised the dead.
Peter, James, and John had even seen him transformed right in front of their eyes and standing next to Moses and Elijah, the two most powerful prophet leaders of the Old Testament.
When they marched into Jerusalem a week ago they came in with the King. He had arrived to deliver the final blow to the corrupt leadership and establish the Kingdom of God.
That sounded like a good plan. That sounded like a plan worth fighting for. Worth dying for.
And then they took him. They beat him. They killed him.
Now it is Saturday.
Jesus is in the tomb. The disciples are on the lamb.
All is lost. All is darkness.
Hope is gone.
Have you had a Saturday?
Have you ever had something very dear to you taken away?
A child, a parent, a spouse?
A dream, a plan?
Your health?
Maybe you’re in that place right now. It was everything you could do to drag yourself to church tonight. The last place you want to be is a place where they talk about God and God’s plan.
How could God have let this happen? How can it be Saturday?
How many of you were here at the last Lenten Vespers Service?
Rob Bell talked about losing his good friend, Matthew, to a car accident. He talked about the painful experience of receiving that phone call.
Four years ago this month, we received one of those phone calls.
I will never forget the sound of my wife’s voice when she got the news.
Her father was gone. He went to bed the night before, and never woke up. 64 years old. No warning. We had just been with him the week before and he seemed fine.
At that moment life slows down and becomes a slow motion, blurry dream sequence. A few days later I find myself standing up in front of a crowd of people leading my father-in-law’s funeral.
What do you do at a funeral?
You tell stories.
You look back at the person’s life and remember.
One by one family members and friends come forward and they retell the story of that person’s life. Sometimes you laugh out loud. Most times you sob.
But through it all, you remember.
We sit here on Saturday night. It is the Easter Vigil.
It is the time between times.
It is a time when we look back and remember the stories of God. The stories of how God has redeemed his people again and again.
We remember Jesus’ life.
Then we sit in the darkness of the tomb. The Bewilderment and shock of Saturday.
And then we look forward to the morning. To the sunrise. To Easter.
A long time ago, when the early church was forming these rituals, they held the Easter vigil as one long, service that went all through the darkness of midnight and ended with the sunrise.
It was used as a baptismal service.
They would take all the adults that had come to follow Jesus during that year and baptize them.
The service was like an initiation and rite of passage. They were retelling God’s story and then bringing the new followers into that story through baptism.
Earlier in the service you heard a passage read from 1 Peter.
The reason 1 Peter is read is because most scholars believe that this letter is actually the manuscript of a baptismal service. Right in the middle of the text, in between two verses, you can almost hear the water splash as the people are baptized.
Peter speaks to the new followers and teaches them about what it means to follow Jesus.
Take out your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter 4.
In verses 1-8 we see a little snapshot of the message of the whole book.
As I was reading this passage, it hit me.
In some ways, all of life is like the Easter Vigil.
It is like the Saturday that you experience.
The Easter Vigil is a space in which we force ourselves to sit in that inbetween time and look all around us..
The real question is, “How do we get out of Saturday?” How do we break free of the darkness, the sadness, the pain, the confusion.
1 Peter gives us some direction.
Throughout the passage, and throughout all of 1 Peter, and in this Easter Vigil there are three Views that we need to take. Three directions we need to look. Three moments we need to live in.
The first is backward. We need to Come Out of the Past.
There two ways we come out of the past.
The first is to look back and remember that we are the product of everything that has come before us.
We are not the hero of the story. We are players in a long, ongoing story that is continually unfolding.
That is why we spend time on Saturday night retelling the stories from the Old Testament.
Something that my kids always loved to do, they would ask, “Dad, tell us a story of when you were a kid.”
As children of God, we need to hear the stories. We need to be reminded that over and over God has delivered his people. He has rescued them from their own messes. And he will do it again.
That’s the pattern of God’s story.
He creates something beautiful for us.
We mess it up and suffer in the pain of our own consequences.
Then he takes our mess and recreates it into something beautiful again.
Creation, Uncreation, Recreation.
Our loving Father continually redeems his creation and we need to remember that.
We come out of that Past.
There is another way that we come out of the Past.
Look what Peter says:
Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
As a follower of Jesus, we leave the past behind us.
We walk away from the junk that clogged up our lives.
We walk away from the addiction, the distractions, the bondage.
But, how do we do that? How do we walk away from the garbage and baggage of our past?
We die.
That brings us to the second view we must take.
We must Be Buried in the Presence.
That’s what baptism is really all about.
It’s about dying.
It’s about being buried right along with Jesus.
Remember, the Easter Vigil is really a baptismal service. It is a time when people came forward and joined Jesus in the tomb.
The church I served at in Vegas was really into baptism. It came from the Christian Church tradition that practiced immersion baptism. You know, the complete dunking of the whole body.
Lutherans practice pouring water on babies head’s. That church practiced the dunking of a person who had made the conscious choice to join in Jesus’ death. To me, it doesn’t matter, because it isn’t about the water, it’s about the intention of the heart.
In this church we had baptisms every week. Some weeks we might have 20 baptisms during a regular worship service. On Easter there was always at least a hundred. It was amazing.
One thing I liked about the immersion practice was that it was so violent.
You take the person by the back of the neck and you thrust them down under the water. If they were really bad you’d hold them down a little longer J
One time I had to baptize this guy who was 6’8” about 280 lbs. We looked at each other and wondered how this was going to happen. I reached way up and dropped him into the water. A tidal wave sloshed over the side. I think all the people in the front row got wet. It was awesome.
We would say, “You are buried with Christ.”
Buried.
Dead.
Look what Peter goes on to say:
6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
Following Jesus means we have to die.
Jesus told us to pick up our cross and follow him.
The only way we can live in a new life is to die to the old life.
Here’s the thing. Baptism isn’t a one time deal.
That’s not a typo on the screen. We need to get buried in the presence of God.
Every day we need to wake up and die.
We need to die to the idea that we are in control of our lives.
We need to die to the idea that it’s all about us and our pleasure and self-gratification.
We need to bury ourselves in the present reality of God.
Here’s a wild thought. If God is eternal, then, for Him, there is no past or future. There is only now.
If we are going to live for God, then we need to live every moment fully immersed in the present reality of God’s presence with us and in us.
It is God’s Kingdom all around us and we are invited, in every moment to join God there and join him in His redemptive process.
We need to look around every moment and say, “God where are you moving. Who are you helping. How can I join you, right now.”
As pastor Mark often says, we need to “walk wet.” We need to be buried in the presence of God.
Now, look at the last thing Peter says
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
The final view we need to take is the view toward the future. We need to move forward with Purpose and Power.
What does Peter say?
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.
That is what Jesus demonstrated for us on Friday night.
He told his disciples that greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for his friends.
Now, here’s the wonderful thing about the story. The wonderful thing about the Easter Vigil. The wonderful thing about Saturdays.
They don’t last.
It’s easy to say we need to die to the past. It’s easy to say that we need to be freed from the bondage of destructive, addictive behavior.
It’s easy to say we need to move forward and love each other.
But the real question is “How?”
After all, it’s Saturday, right?
Jesus is dead.
The disciples are freaked out.
You are in pain.
If that was the end of the story, then you would have something to worry about.
You probably would be like the “pagans” that Peter talked about.
You would have no hope.
But, that’s not the end of the story.
It’s way past midnight. We’ve been up all night retelling God’s story of redemption.
Just below that horizon, the sun is just waiting for it cue. Tomorrow morning it will rise.
We have a leg up on the disciples. When Peter, James, and John sat in their Saturday, they didn’t know Sunday was coming. They didn’t know that Jesus was going to break free from the bondage of death and change the world forever.
But we do. We know that tomorrow morning we will gather in this place and this altar will be transformed.
We know that Jesus has conquered death.
We know that, by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, Jesus rose from the dead, and that very same Spirit is coursing through us right now, giving us the power to live and walk in a brand new life.
It’s Saturday, but Sunday is coming.
Spiritual Gifts
Look up the following passages. Whenever you see a spiritual gift or a special position or function in the church mentioned, write it down. At the end you should have created a list.
Romans 12:3-8
1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Ephesians 4:7-14
The list
As you read the descriptions of these gifts, see if this describes you. Put a star next to the gift that you have seen evident in your life. When you are done, have your spouse or a close friend read the descriptions and tell you which one they think most describes you.
Prophecy
The prophet was one who was called by God to speak the truth to God’s people, even when it was unpopular. The prophet is one who has the ability to see when a person or a group of people is straying away from God’s plan and can articulate that to the people in a way that they can hear it and understand it. That doesn’t mean that the people will accept the word, but that doesn’t stop the prophet from speaking. Prophecy can be “truthtelling” in a one-on-one situation or can take the form of public proclamation. Some forms of preaching would be considered prophetic.
Serving
The servant is the person who sees a need and meets it with no strings attached. Aservant never asks, “What’s in it for me?” We are all called to serve, but the person who enjoys being behind-the-scenes and sees everything he does “as unto the Lord” truly has the gift of serving.
Teaching
The teacher is the one who can take the truths of God’s Word and can make it plain and clear for other people. Ateacher is a student that never stops learning about God and His manifold mystery. You know you have the gift of teaching if you are constantly taking biblical passages and concepts and breaking them down into charts or systems that can be easily explained to someone else.
Encouraging
The word encourage means “to come alongside.” The encourager is always the first to tell you what a great job you did. He or she drops notes in the mail or gives a quick phone call for no other reason than to tell you that someone is thinking of you. The encourager is fulfilled when other people excel in what they are good at.
Contributing to the needs of others (giving)
God has blessed some people with a generous heart. Whether they have little or much in the area of physical resources, they are always quick to give to someone who truly needs it. Aperson in need breaks the giver’s heart. The giver always views his physical resources, not as his own, but as God’s, to be distributed to others.
Leadership
Every group of people needs a leader. Without someone leading the charge, there is confusion in the group. The leader is the one who can step into a group of people and provide vision and direction so that the group will experience efficiency and productivity in what God has called them to do. The mark of a leader is whether people follow.
Mercy
Most of us would help a hurting person who was close to us but would try to ignore the hurting person who we don’t know. The person with mercy is the one who helps no matter what. This was best demonstrated by the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable found in Luke 10. Mercy is similar to grace in that it is given to those who don’t deserve it and is given with no expectation of repayment.
Wisdom
Wisdom is knowledge in application. It is the combination of skill with mastery. It is one thing to have a great deal of information about God and His ways; it is an entirely different thing to know how to use this knowledge in various circumstances that come in life. The wise person will be able to give direction to an individual or a group when a crucial decision needs to be made.
Knowledge
There are two kinds of knowledge. There is informational knowledge, and there is experiential knowledge. The gift of knowledge is when the factual knowing of God works hand in hand with the experiential knowing of God. The person with the gift of knowledge has a wealth of informational resources in his memory that is sparked to life by the knowledge of the true and living God in the world today. Much like the wise person, the knowledgeable person can provide insight and new perspectives to the individual or the group.
Faith
We all have a faith, an active belief, that saves us. The gift of faith goes deeper than that. This is the faith that Abraham had when God said “go” but didn’t say where. And Abraham went. This is the faith that Noah had when God said “build” and Noah built. The faithful person believes that God will keep His promises even when it seems that the whole world is against him. The faithful are the backbone and the bedrock of the ommunity.
Healing
There are many ways to be healed: emotionally, physically, and spiritually. God has given some the ability to heal others in each of these areas. Sometimes He works in conjunction with a person’s talents and experience either as a physician or a therapist. Sometimes He works through them miraculously to bring about healing in unexplainable ways. This gift can range anywhere from the person who has a listening ear and a gentle touch that soothes the soul to the person who can bring about deliverance from sickness. (Remember, this is the work of the Spirit, not the person.)
Miraculous powers
Throughout Scripture God had to show up in “supernatural” ways to get the people’s attention. Elijah called down fire from Heaven. Moses parted the Red Sea. Peter healed people. Joshua caused the sun to stand still. We are skeptical of these gifts, but we can’t deny they exist. Just like in Moses’ story, the forces of evil can perform “miracles” so we need to be cautious and wise about this gift. Yet, we cannot rule it out either.
Distinguishing between spirits
This gift was given to balance the previous gift. We live in a world where the spiritual world is alive and well…we just don’t like to admit it. Many people are claiming to have encountered “spirit guides” and have projected themselves to astral planes and can read “auras.” These things may appear as the gift of miraculous powers, but they are nothing more than Satanic deception. God has gifted some to be able to discern whether
something is from God or not. If a leader comes to the church and is using human tactics or is leading from a selfish motivation, those with the gift of “discernment” can “see through them” in a heartbeat. We need to listen to them to be able to avoid some nasty pitfalls.
Speaking in tongues
This gift is the granddaddy of controversy that has divided the church down the middle for the past 100 years. What is “tongues”? It is the ability to speak in a language that is foreign to your own (human or angelic) without having studied it. Why is it given? In the first century the Word was being spread from town to town. In those days every village had its own language or dialect. It would have taken forever to spread the Word to each language group. God gave His people the ability to enter a new town and speak their language. This accomplished two things. 1) it allowed the messenger to clearly articulate the Good News of Jesus to the hearer, and 2) it was a miracle that proved to the hearer that this message was from God. It was truly a spectacular gift which caused many people to envy those who had it. (That was one of the big issues in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Do a study on this when you get a chance.) Is “tongues” something that every Christian should do? No. All of the passages that we have studied have made it clear that the gifts were distributed throughout the body. Some got this one, and some got that one. Is “tongues” still a gift for today? Absolutely. There is no strong evidence to say that any gift has stopped. The one thing we do know is that “tongues” is a sign for the unbeliever and is not to be practiced in the believer’s worship service. (1 Corinthians 14:22-25) If anyone does speak in a tongue, it must be interpreted; otherwise, it is to be kept silent. (1 Corinthians 14:27-28)
Interpreting tongues
On the flip side of the “speaking in tongues” gift is the “interpretation of tongues” gift. Language is designed for communication, not empty proclamation. When the missionaries went into the new villages, some could speak the new language, and others could interpret them. Why these gifts weren’t given to the same person, I don’t know. Maybe they were. Maybe they were divided out in order to insure that missions was a community event. At any rate, if you can interpret tongues without having any study, then you need to stick close to those with the gift of tongues.
Apostle
Apostle means “one sent.” The apostle is the one who feels compelled by God to move out into a new field, whether it be geographical or philosophical, and plant a new work that will glorify God and propel the work of His kingdom. Church planters most often are apostles. People who see a need in the church and start a new ministry to meet that need, even if it means encountering resistance, are apostles.
Evangelist
We are all called to share the message of the Good News of Jesus with those around us, but the evangelist can’t think of doing anything else. The evangelist is continually looking for opportunities to turn average conversations into conversations about Jesus. The evangelist is heartbroken by the fact that the world does not know Jesus and is not experiencing the fullness of life that comes through Him. This heartbreak motivates him to do whatever it takes to spread the message of the Gospel.
Pastor
The Greek word for “pastor” literally means “shepherd.” The shepherd is the leader that leads from behind rather than in front. The leader takes the hill and hopes everyone has followed. The shepherd points to the hill and makes sure that everyone in his span of care gets to the hill in a healthy and safe way, even if it means taking a little longer to get there. Shepherds tend to ask about the health of those they lead before they ask
about their productivity or efficiency.
How to Pray
How to Pray - Matthew 6:5-15
Two Skewed Attitudes Toward Prayer (Matthew 6:5-8)
- Will People Look at me? (Matthew 6:5-6)
One of the greatest pits of temptation in the public religious gathering is the prayer time.
Here are some things ways that you can misuse public prayer:
-
- Use big, fancy words that shows everyone how spiritual you are and how much you know Shakspearean English (as if that is somehow God's language)
- Use it as a bully pulpit. Since everyone's eyes are closed, and you know that no one would dare interrupt someone while they are praying, go ahead and preach that little sermon you've been dying to preach, but haven't had the opportunity. Condemn something that bugs you. Chastise someone's attitude that is annoying you. Correct some bad theology that you've heard people discussing. Go ahead, after all, you're not talking to God, you're speaking so that the people around you will hear what you have to say, right?
- Use it as a clandestine means of spreading gossip. After all, you're just "lifting them up in prayer" right?
- Will God Look at me? (Matthew 6:7-8)
In the ancient world, the gentiles--or pagans, as Jesus called them--believed that the gods did not care about them. In order to get the gods' attention they had to enter into all sorts of rituals and sacrifices. Then, if they did get the gods' attention, they were not guaranteed that the gods would do anything for them.
Jesus tells us to rest assured that God does hear, God does care, and, like a loving Father, actually wants to do good for His children. We never have to jump through hoops to get God's attention. He is always there, and always welcomes us to talk to Him.
Four P’s in the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13)
Priorities (Matthew 6:9-10)
Question: When do people usually pray, and what do they ask?
They say there are no atheists in foxholes. When the artillery is hurling toward you, what do you say? "Oh God! Save me!" We tend to ignore God until we are in need. God is our big vending machine in the sky. Put in the right amount of good works, correct doctrine, effective faith, fancy prayers--whatever you think He demands--and God will spit out whatever you need.
The first thing Jesus tells us to do is to get our priorities straight. Who is really in control here? Remember, we are not the hero of the story. We are the supporting characters. It isn't my name that is awesome. It isn't my kingdom that reigns. It isn't my will that needs to prevail.
God, it is...
Your Name
Your Kingdom
Your Will
Provision (Matthew 6:11)
Daily Bread (Proverbs 30:8-9)
There is great wisdom in Proverbs 30.
Wealth can be a terrible handicap. When you are rich, you have all you need. You can be tempted to adopt attitudes like: "I worked hard for this, I'm in control," or "I deserve all the good that I have, it is mine," or "I don't need God." With a false sense of security, we can neglect the relationship that gives us life. In the end, we have lost it all. Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said, "what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?" (Matthew 16:26)
Poverty is also a terrible handicap. Some people think that taking a "vow of poverty" is a super spiritual act. The truth is that people who take a vow of poverty are actually taking a vow of simplicity. The move into a monestary or a community where they have food and shelter. Their basic needs are covered and they can focus their time and energy on serving God. True poverty is a place of fear. You don't know where you will get the next meal. You don't know where you will sleep and be safe from the elements. You are not protected from predators that encircle you every moment. This type of fear can be so powerful that you may be driven to violate your own conscience and commit crimes in order to survive. In so doing, your heart is calloused with shame and you can no longer receive the unconditional love of God.
As God provided for the Israelites in the desert, so should we seek provision today. Daily bread. Food and shelter for today. That is really all we need. Let's not set our standards too high, or too low. Remember to be thankful for all that you have, and remember that you don't need as much as you think. When we have too much, give it away. When we don't have enough, lean on your community and don't be too proud to ask for help. If everyone behaved this way we would eradicate poverty and hunger completely.
Pardon (Matthew 6:12)
Forgiveness from God
Based on our forgiveness toward others
Question: if we are under Grace, then why do we need to ask for God’s forgiveness?
The definition of grace is a gift. We don't earn it. God gives it. Salvation is a gift. God's love is a gift. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more.
If this is true, then why do we need to ask for forgiveness? More importantly, why does Jesus insert the caveat "as we have forgiven" into the prayer? Here's the key: unforgiveness is like a clogged artery to the heart. When someone hurts you, your natural reaction is to hurt back. You want vengeance. The problem is that in order to pay back the evil that was inflicted on you, you have to become the evil that was inflicted. There are two ways that unforgiveness manifests itself:
acting out - you actually pay back the evil. In so doing you become the evil and you are corrupted in your spirit. It is a volitional act of the will to betray the nature of God and do a heinous thing.
bitterness - you may not have the courage to act out, but you internally stew over the infraction. You blame your offender. You blame yourself. You blame God. Every day you dwell on it and it eats away at your soul.
Now think about this. If your heart is full of malice toward your offender, how open are you to face God with a thankful and loving heart? The only way that you will be open to the love of God is when you let go of the idea of vengeance and forgive your offender. Give it to God. Let God deal with it. Does that mean criminals should not be punished? Of course that is not what it means. The justice system is necessary and crime and punishment is vital for civic survival. So, if you have been violated, let it go and let the justice system mete out appropriate consequences. You shouldn't carry that burden. Forgive, let go, and turn a lightened heart toward God.
Remember this. It is not that God withholds forgiveness if you are not forgiving. That would be petty. It is that you are not able to receive God's love and forgiveness until you are willing to let go of your need for retribution.
Protection (Matthew 6:13)
From temptation
temptation = trials
evil = spoiled or worthless
There are two ways to look at this verse. The first is to ask God to keep you from experiencing temptations or trials of any kind. This, however, does not seem likely. Jesus told us that we would face temptations and trials. Rain falls on the evil and the good. James tells us to consider it joy when we face trials.
The second is more likely. In light of what Jesus says in the next two verses, and what he just said regarding forgiveness, perhaps he is saying, "deliver us from the temptation to seek retribution against my offender because seeking vengeance will render me worthless for the Kingdom of God."
The Key to Relationships (Matthew 6:14-15)
Forgiveness
An unforgiving heart blocks your ability to receive God’s love and overflow it to others.
Isn't it interesting that Jesus ends his instruction on prayer by reiterating his teaching on forgiveness. Why? Remember what the first part of the prayer was? Your Kingdom come, your will be done. What is God's Kingdom? What is God's will? Reconciliation. God created us for love, he loves us continually, and wants all of us to experience His love and live in His love with each other.
That can only happen when we learn to forgive.
Amen.
Week 3 Day 3 – What’s in a Name?
Exodus 5:22-6:8
In order to grasp the depth of this passage it is important to define some terms. To Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God revealed Himself as El-Shaddai. Read this definition of that Hebrew word. I am printing the actual Strong’s Enhanced Dictionary listing so that we do not run the risk of reading too much into the meaning of the word.
7703 [shadad /shaw·dad/] 58 occurrences; AV translates as “spoil” 30 times, “spoiler” 11 times, “waste” eight times, “destroy” twice, “robbers” twice, and translated miscellaneously five times. 1 to deal violently with, despoil, devastate, ruin, destroy, spoil. 1a1 to violently destroy, devastate, despoil, assail. 1a2 devastator, despoiler 1b to be utterly ruined. 1c 1c1 to assault. 1c2 to devastate. 1d to be devastated. 1e to violently destroy. 1f to be devastated.1
7706 [Shadday /shad·dah·ee/] 48 occurrences; AV translates as “Almighty” 48 times. 1 almighty, most powerful. 1a Shaddai, the Almighty (of God).2
El means God. When you put El in front of Shaddai, you get the name of God; El-Shaddai. In other words, God presented himself to Abraham as “God, the mighty, powerful destroyer.” Take a few minutes and meditate on that definition. How do you feel about God in light of His name, El-Shaddai?
Now look at the definition for the word LORD.
I. is given Ex 3:12–15 as the name of the God who revealed Himself to Moses at Horeb, and is explained thus: I shall be with thee (v 12), which is then implied in I shall be the one who will be it v 14a (i.e. with thee v 12) and then compressed into v 14b (i.e. with thee v 12), which then is given in the nominal form He who will be it v 15 (i.e. with thee v 12). Other interpretations are: I am he who I am, i.e. it is no concern of yours; I am, (this is my name), inasmuch as I am; I am who I am, he who is essentially unnameable, inexplicable.3
Yahweh (translated LORD in the NIV) means, the God who is and the God who will be with you. Another way to say it is “the God who is present.”
This was a radical concept to the ancient mind. In the ancient world the concept of God was that of a fierce being who lived on top of a mountain somewhere and was in charge of making the crops grow and would hurl thunder bolts at mortals that displeased him. God was “up there” and “out there.”
At this point we must stop and discuss a fundamental point about the nature of God. God always meets us where we are and then takes us to the place we need to be, in the right timing. I believe that God presented Himself to Abraham as El-Shaddai because that was the default understanding of God that Abraham was raised with back in Ur. In order for Abraham to recognize God as God, God had to use a name that Abraham could grasp. Then God took Abraham one step further into truth; God -- the “destroyer” -- made a loving promise to bless Abraham’s descendents. That was a radical shift in man’s idea of God. All the other gods of the world couldn’t care less about mortals. The Baals, as they were called, were wrapped up in their own agenda of fornicating with the goddesses and fighting with the underworld. Humans were insignificant “accidents” that were nothing more than pawns in the cosmos. Now, with Abraham, El-Shaddai broke the mold and gave value to the mortal. And yet, he was still “out there” and something to be feared.
In Moses’ encounter we see a new step towards a deeper understanding and a further revelation of the true nature of God. The God who is “out there” now refers to Himself as Yaweh. In so doing He said to Moses, “Moses, I am not just out there or up on some high mountain. I am what I am. I am the giver and sustainer of life. I am present with you. Not only am I with you, I am for you. I am welcoming you to come into my presence and have a relationship with me. I will be your ‘present God’ and you will be my people.” With this pronouncement the old theological paradigm was shattered. God told Moses that He was there for Him, walking with Him, guiding and protecting Him. God was now “in here”.
Meditate on that definition of the ‘present God” for a moment.
So, what’s the point? All of us must pass through these levels of understanding that the people of Israel had to pass. Unfortunately, for various reasons, many of us are stuck in an El-Shaddai perspective of God. God is nothing but a big and powerful destroyer; a force to be feared; a perfection that can never be achieved. He is so far away that we cannot know Him, so He might as well not exist as far as my everyday life is concerned. The truly sad reality is that many of us learned this perception of God through “Christian” religious institutions.
One of the fundamental mile markers on the journey of Spiritual formation that we must pass is to join with Moses and meet the God who is present. Yahweh is the God who made you, who loves you, who wants your best, and who desires to guide and protect you like a loving Father and a caring Shepherd. Just say those words over in your mind...”God is with me” “God is for me, not against me.”
As we study the entire Bible we will see that this “progressive revelation” of the God who is “out there” to the God who is “in here” will culminate in the person of Jesus. Jesus referred to Himself as “I AM.” In other words, Jesus said that His name was Yahweh. In the person of Jesus Christ, the God who is “out there” (El-Shaddai) revealed Himself as Immanuel, God with us, Yahweh, the God who is “in here.”
Where are you today? Is God still “out there”, a cold and meaningless, somewhat scary notion? Or, is God “in here” through the person of Jesus Christ, giving meaning and purpose to your life?
Remember that God is with you today.
A New Journey with Grace
Yesterday I officially began a part-time position as Director of Spiritual Formation at Grace Lutheran Church in Andover, Minnesota. Over the past year the pastor, Mark Hellmann, and I have gotten to know each other and found a kindred spirit. When he informed me that Grace was beginning an emphasis on Spiritual Formation in 2010 and was looking for someone to lead that charge, the Holy Spirit started tapping on my shoulder. I have to admit that I was resistant at first. Do I really want to do this again? Do I really want to engage with the institutional church? God's response was, "Get Over It! I gave you gifts, now use them!"
I am very excited to begin this journey. It will be an adventure as we meet new people and experience a new culture of church. Having never been in the Lutheran context before, I look forward to exploring and being enriched by the Lutheran sensibility and spirituality. It has already been a refreshing experience to engage in a liturgical worship service. The piece that is most intriguing and liberating for me is that the liturgical service is not focused on the preacher. It is focused on the person and practice of Christ and our continual connection to the body and life of God Incarnate. I like that.
I look forward to the new vistas of growth that will occur in me and, hopefully, in the people of Grace. This Sunday I will be bringing the message. If you are in the area, come on by. Services are: Saturday at 5:00pm and Sunday at 8:00 Traditional, 9:00 Blended, and 10:20 Contemporary.
Another encouraging piece to this new chapter of life is that Mark and the church leadership is very supportive of my artistic self. Spot Studios is not going away. The position at Grace is only 10 hours/week and is actually one of the contracts for Spot Studios. I will continue to grow and develop as a freelance illustrator, animator, and writer.
Does a Clone Have a Soul?
Americans want to succeed. That can be a good thing, don't get me wrong. It is far better than wallowing in apathy. In our search for success it is only natural to search the landscape for people or organizations that have, in our opinion, already reached that utopian place called "It." Success. The big time. You know, "It."
We laud the successful as demigods and flock to their seminars, read their books, scour their blogs, and take note of their processes that led them to "It." No industry is immune from this practice. Artists copy artists. Musicians listen to musicians. Businesses follow other businesses models.
It is not a bad practice. In fact, it is mandatory training for a young artist in Europe to copy the masters as part of their basic training. There is great wisdom in copying those who have gone before us and made the mistakes and learned the lessons.
There is one area of life that gives me pause for concern, however, when I see copying take place. The Church. Many church leaders see a mega-church that is bursting at the seams and say, "That's It! I want what they have." So they go to the seminar, read the book, copy down the 5 points or seven steps, and transplant the methodology to their home church.
It's a clone.
Do you know how a clone is made? DNA is extracted from a healthy adult and implanted into the unfertilized egg of a host mother. The egg is just a shell, a neutral husk, and the host mother has no genetic bond to the child. The copy of the healthy adult grows inside the host womb; present, yet detached. The idea is that the process of gestation happens, but the outcome of the birth will be completely expected.
That is not the natural process of creating life. True life happens when a father and a mother contribute equal parts of genetic matter and implant it within the genetic host of the mother's body. It grows and develops organically, the outcome of which is a continually unfolding, unique creation.
When a church copies the refined methodology of another church - which, by the way, took years of mistakes to discover - they are essentially extracting the mature DNA of that life form. The body of people to which the leaders bring the DNA are the host womb, but have no organic attachment to it. The methodologies may grow and form systems within the church, but, more often than not, it lacks the same spark of life found in the original congregation. As if it has no soul.
Why does this happen? There are a number of reasons. One is that the culture from which the original DNA was extracted is usually very different from the culture of the surrogate congregation. Another reason is that these types of implantations usually occur as a top-down strategy from the leadership that is imposed on the congregation.
Perhaps the most significant reason has to do with the idea of success. What is the measure of success? Where is the success in these congregations? Is it really in the large numbers? Or, are the large numbers simply a natural by product of the actual success found in that congregation? For that specific congregation, and the seed God planted there, the fruit was numerical growth. For other congregations, there may be another fruit that God wants to grow; like committed service to the hungry, or outreach to the disenfranchised, etc. The fruit, or the mature body, is not the success. The conception of that body is the success.
Throughout time, whenever the Spirit of God has done something miraculous and brought about great healing and revival, it has always been fresh, vibrant, and unique. The intimacy between God and the willing hearts of people creates a fresh seed that is planted in the fertile womb of a community. Life takes root and develops into something beautiful, organic, and unique.
As church leaders, God does not call us to clone methodologies. He calls us to intimacy. God, our lover, our Father/Mother, longs to plant a new seed of life in each of us. That can only happen when we take time to listen, to struggle, and be open to what God wants to do. We don't get to pick what the fruit looks like. We don't get to pick the color of our child's eyes, or the gender, or even if it is free of defect. We only get to be open to the conception and love the process of new life.
When that happens in a congregation, there will be vitality. It will pulse with the energy of God's unique creative act. It will have a soul.
The Enneagram and Spiritual Formation
this is a visual representation of how the use of the Enneagram impacts our spiritual formation
If God is pure, white light, then human personality is the spectrum of color that radiates as God's Spirit passes through the prism of creation. Each of us fall somewhere on this continuum. We all have gifts that contribute to the community and effect our journey with God, and we all have dark sides that turn us away from each other and God. The Enneagram helps us discover the most effective path to turn away from our dark side and grow closer to the Mind of Christ.
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