Today we took a break from our regular series and talked about the Tower of Babel and Pentecost.
Fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:22-26
This morning I had the opportunity to teach on the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.
Matthew 5:17-20: Kingdom Righteousness
In our gathering this week, we looked at the righteousness that is a part of the Kingdom of God.
Blast From the Past: Falsetto Spirituality
This post was first published in 2008.
In Soul Graffiti, Mark Scandrette writes, “A fascination with the supernatural can be a sign of spiritual fragmentation, a falsetto spirituality that strains to reach beyond the normal”. As I pondered that statement, I realized that it is so true in much of what is called Christianity.
The obvious examples of this “fascination with the supernatural” are those who run from place to place seeking signs and wonders and “fresh anointing” from God. The supposed moving of God can keep arenas, and ministry accounts, full for months as people swarm to experience a touch from God to lift their lives above the ordinary sameness of their daily lives. While some would consider these events on the fringe, there are other examples that hit a bit closer to home.
Mainstream evangelicalism is concerned with showing people how to have their best life now, with programs that will enable folks to experience a life that rises above the ordinary. Church leaders are given opportunities to learn the secrets of success from The CEO: Jesus. Congregations strive to be extraordinary and have bigger and better facilities and programs. Supernatural power that gets prayers answered and our needs (wants) supplied is constantly sought.
Even those of a more conservative, fundamental bent are not immune to a hunger for the supernatural. They seek a home far away in heaven, a home where the physical no longer matters, a place to escape this broken world. Many of the rules and regulations in fundamental groups seem designed to limit contact with this physical world and its “corruption”.
I’m not saying that the supernatural does not matter. I am awed when God performs genuine miracles of healing, and when he provides for his people in supernatural ways. I rejoice when prayers are answered and when godly leaders influence others to follow Jesus Christ. I too believe that this world is broken and corruption runs deep.
What I am saying, and what I think is the point of the quotation from Scandrette, is that the normal, ordinary parts of our lives matter. We are called to follow Jesus here and now, not in a future existence outside of this world. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom was here, that the King had arrived. Christ’s Kingdom is not of this world, but it does have an impact on this world. We have been given the commission and privilege to participate in the work that God is currently doing in this world.
If we look around us with eyes that can see, we can notice how God is working in the day-to-day of our lives. In fact, I think the really supernatural and miraculous thing is that the Creator of all things uses broken, ordinary people like us to do the work of restoring his creation, a work that will finally be complete when Jesus returns. The work of the Kingdom is not just those things that we see as “spiritual”. It sometimes involves getting dirty and dealing with ordinary things. But, then again, Jesus used ordinary things. He used spit and dirt to heal a blind man, for goodness sake! Why do we think we have to “rise above the ordinary”.
Look for God at work in the ordinary, and ask him where he wants you to fit into what he is doing. Don’t run after the supernatural. Remember, many times a falsetto voice doesn’t sound very good.
Apostles’ Creed: To Judge the Quick and the Dead
In our gathering this week, we continued our study of the Apostles’ Creed.
The Desire for Power
Back in 2016, at the beginning of his campaign for President, Donald Trump spoke to a group of evangelical Christians in Iowa. During his speech, he lamented what he called a lack of power of Christianity and told the crowd that if he was to be elected, Christianity would have plenty of power. After promising that America would be saying “Merry Christmas”, he said, …”Because if I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power. You don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.” The rest is history. White evangelicals overwhelmingly voted for Trump and evangelical leaders have been roaming the halls of power ever since.
I see a number of problems in the statement and in the response of so many who call themselves Christians. Nowhere in Scripture are we commanded, or encouraged to seek political power. In fact, the opposite is true. Jesus tells his followers to not be like the Gentile rulers, who wield power over their subjects. We are told to take the low position, to serve others. In Philippians 2, we are commanded to have the mind of Christ, the mind that laid aside the power of deity and made himself a servant and lowered himself to die the most horrible, shameful death known to man. After his resurrection, Jesus told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem, where they would receive power. Not the power of a force that would destroy their enemies, but the power of the Holy Spirit that would cause them to love their enemies.
One of the characteristics of political power is the temptation to believe that the ends justify the means. I believe that is what happened in 2016, and has continued ever since. The same evangelical leaders who loudly proclaimed that character matters when Bill Clinton was in the White House, conveniently forgot that when faced with the reality of who Donald Trump was as a person. Some even began to speak of him in terms that elevated him up to a position that no man should ever be in. Trump was compared to Cyrus of ancient Persia, even King David. Excuses were made, and continue to be made, for his behavior and hateful rhetoric, all in the name of restoring Christianity to a position of power. I believe that this runs contrary to who Scripture teaches us to be.
Giving oneself wholeheartedly to a particular political candidate or position is very shortsighted. Even is Trump is successful and does everything his supporters want, what is going to happen when the political pendulum swings back the other way? Depending on political power and laws to carry out the work of the kingdom of God does not work because when those who oppose those laws come into power, those laws will be changed. For example, if abortion is outlawed during this administration, there is nothing to stop a future administration from coming to power and bringing about the legalization and even the encouragement of abortion on demand. Personally, I don’t believe Donald Trump is really interested in doing anything but keeping power. I believe his “pro-life” stance is a show, like everything else.
I believe that those of us who call ourselves followers of the King of Kings are to live our lives as his subjects, giving allegiance to him first, fulfilling the Great Commandment and Great Commission. If we did that we would do more for the pro-life cause, and other just causes, than we can do by electing certain politicians to office. Man’s power is ultimately weak and fleeting, but the power of the Holy Spirit through the gospel is world changing.
Lonely or Broken?
Back in the 80s, the group Yes put out a single titled “Owner of a Lonely Heart.” One line in the song reads, “Owner of a lonely heart, much better than the owner of a broken heart.” There are a lot of people who would agree with that sentiment, along with that expressed in Simon and Garfunkel’s song, “I Am a Rock.” I can understand the feeling. Many have had their hearts broken by friends, family, lovers. Abuse, violence, and death is a common part of the human experience.
While I can understand wanting to withdraw from intimate contact with other people, thinking that hiding the heart will make life better, I would disagree with the sentiment that being lonely is better than being broken hearted. I agree with C.S. Lewis, who wrote: There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one , not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies, and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket – safe, dark, motionless, airless – it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside of Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers of perturbations of love is hell.
I believe a large part of the problem is our culture’s definition of love as something that will make the one loved happy and make the lover happy. It is a very self-centered thing. Because we can never make another person completely happy, and no one can ever make us completely happy, going into any kind of relationship with another person will be no safe investment. If you try to love others, whether as a spouse or friend, they may hurt you and you may hurt them.
As a follower of Jesus, I am commanded to love others. Not necessarily to seek to make them happy, and certainly not to make myself happy, although both of those things can and will happen at times. I am called to love others in a sacrificial way that seeks their good, even if that good may make them unhappy for a time. I am also called to love everyone, those who are like me and those who are different. This is where the rubber meets the road. Can I love my brothers and sisters in my local fellowship when we don’t see eye to eye? Can I love those who follow Jesus differently? If those whom I fellowship with aren’t “as far along in their walk with God as I am” can I love them?
In A Fellowship of Differents, Scot McKnight writes that to love others we must be committed. We must commit to be with those we seek to love. We must spend time with them, being a faithful presence. We must commit to be for them, to be on their side and let them know that we are for them. We must also commit to love them unto the person God has created them to be. As God’s faithful presence in us and his commitment for us transforms us unto the likeness of Jesus, so our loving relationships can transform those we love. It is in that loving unto that we run into difficulties. We don’t always take well to correction or teaching. We must be careful that we don’t hurry the unto before we have loved with and for. By our presence and support, our unconditional love, the Spirit can work in the hearts of those we love.
As someone who likes to be the one who fixes things, often with not so good results, I can tell you that what we need to do in our relationships is be faithful in our presence and support, and then trust the Spirit to do the work of changing hearts the way God wants, not the way we want. This is not easy because our love for others leads us to want them to be Christlike, and it can be heart breaking when it doesn’t happen. But, the results are not up to us. We are simply called to love as Jesus loves us. Period.
Let us show the world around us that we belong to Jesus by our love for others, especially our brothers and sisters.
C’mon People…
A few years ago, The Youngbloods finished the phrase with, “Smile on your brother / Everybody get together / Try to love one another / Right now.” It wouldn’t be a bad idea for those of us who follow Jesus to take a closer look at this song and see if we can glean any wisdom.
The song begins with the words, “Love is but a song we sing / And fear’s the way we die / You can make the mountains ring / Or make the angels cry.” When you look at the very basis of Christianity, you find love. God loves us and he calls us to love others. All of God’s law is summed up in the commands to love God and to love others. Love is the song we sing. Why don’t we love like we should? Fear. We fear the other. We fear loss of face. We fear being taken advantage of. We fear any number of things that may happen if we love. So, we don’t love. And, we die. As C. S. Lewis said, “But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” If we love, God is glorified. The mountains sing. If we don’t love, God is dishonored. The angels cry.
As the song goes on, we are told that we are just “a moment’s sunlight, fading in the grass.” Our time here in this life is short, yet we tend to waste it on things instead of spending it on, and for others. We only get a limited amount of time to love those whom God has placed in our lives, yet we spend that time focusing on our interests and desires, building our kingdoms rather than building for the kingdom of heaven. As the song continues, we see that we “hold the key to love and fear / All in your trembling hand / Just one key unlocks them both / It’s there at your command.” We are the ones who are called to cast off fear and love. We are the ones who can love because we have the Spirit of the resurrected Christ in us.
Loving others is not an easy thing to do. It will be messy. You will get hurt. Nietzsche said that Christian love looks like weakness, and it opens us up to manipulation and abuse. He’s right. Look at Jesus’ command to forgive over and over again. Look at Jesus’ statement that the greatest love was laying down one’s life for our brothers and sisters. Look at Jesus asking the Father to forgive those who were murdering him in the worst manner possible. It does look like weakness. It does leave us open to abuse. But it is the way of the King and his kingdom.
Let us love as we are loved.
The River
This past summer, while on a break from my bus driving duties, I spent some time sitting on the bank of the river that runs out by the camp. I stayed there about an hour, relaxing and watching some of the wildlife. As I sat, a number of things made their way through my mind.
I saw a hawk and an osprey fly along the surface of the river looking for fish. At one point the hawk dove into the water and came up with a meal. I saw fish come up to the surface and snatch the insects scurrying there. I thought how the river is a giver of life, and was reminded of Jesus’ statement that rivers of living water would flow from those who would follow him, that water being the Spirit of the One who gives eternal life.
I saw a cicada fall into the water and twice narrowly miss being dinner for a fish. The cicada tried to swim to a branch or something to get out of the water, struggling more and more as his wings grew tired and waterlogged. I thought of how the river can also be a bringer of death. It was high and flowing swiftly, and anyone caught in the current would have been in danger. I saw branches and other debris carried downstream by the inexorable flow, and thought of the way life can be. As I get older, I am more aware of how quickly time passes, and how it moves relentlessly to the end. Sometimes life, like the river, brings us death. Dreams, goals, careers, and so on, can die as our lives change. Death is a fact of life.
Since June, I have often felt like I am in a river that is running swiftly. I don’t know where it is taking me and I feel as if there is not a whole lot I can do about it. On one hand, there is some uneasiness because of the unknown. One the other, there is a feeling of adventure. There is a sense of moving into new territory and a wonder at what I might find there. I believe that I have a guide with me on this journey, even though he currently is not saying much along the way.
All along, I have had the sense that God was going to do something a bit unexpected with me. I still feel that way. What that may be, I don’t know. The river may take me to a tropical paradise, or it may leave me stuck on a sandbar for a while. I am sure that it will be interesting, and I know my Father is good and that he loves me.
Let’s Dance
The Trinity has been described as a “divine dance.” The word in Greek is perichoresis, a word meaning to dance around. This divine dance describes the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is a relationship of mutual love and service, a relationship in which each one is centered around the other. This can be symbolized in the triquetra and other designs that show three interlocking rings, triangles, or fish symbols. The Trinity is a relationship that gives to the other, exalts the other, and serves the other.
As we begin to follow Jesus, we are invited to join in this dance. God created us, not to give God joy, but to receive the joy that already existed within the Trinity. We join in this perichoresis, this divine dance, by centering our selves in God. We recognize that it’s not all about us, but that it is all about God. Ultimate reality can only be found in God. We are invited to play a part in that reality and join in God’s story. It’s mind blowing to think that the Creator wants us to be a part of what he is doing to restore the creation and reconcile all things.
This invitation also has implications for us as we enter into the dance. The first is realizing that our lives are to revolve around God. God is to be the sun around which we orbit. As a baby learns that the world doesn’t revolve around him, so must we. We are to be all about doing the will of the Father as Jesus was. We are to seek his interests, exalt him, and give ourselves to him. We are to love God with every fiber of our beings. As we enter more and more into this dance, we find that forgetting about ourselves and orbiting around God is a joy rather than a drudgery.
The second implication is that we must also remember that there are others who are in this dance with us. Our brothers and sisters in Christ are dancing as well, and those who haven’t come to faith in Christ are to be invited to join us. That means that in our relationships with other people, we are not to expect them to orbit around us. We do not expect them to give to us, build us up, or serve us. The opposite is true. As we dance, we recognize that we are to orbit around them. Their interests, their needs, their good is what we are to be about. This means we are to forget about ourselves. That is a hard thing to do. Our natural tendency is to make sure that we get ours, and then maybe we’ll give to others. We do this with our money, most obviously. We also do this with our time and energy, and our talents and gifts.
I believe this lack of dancing correctly is a major reason why churches are ineffectual, and why community is so hard to find. A group of folks who expect everyone else to orbit around them and their interests will quickly fall into conflict and will cease to exist. It is only in the dance God has called us to that we can truly find the love and acceptance we all desire. It is only when we forget ourselves and dance in our orbits around God and around others, that we find joy. The old children’s song that spelled “joy” as Jesus, others, and you, was actually pretty much on the money. That is the dance, moving in and out, around and around, in a constant relationship of mutual love and service.
Lets dance!