Greatness Redefined

Mark 10:35-45 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked. 37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39 “We can,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

So here’s the question: who gets to define greatness? We all know what James and John are asking for, and we can’t really blame them because we’ve all wanted the same thing from time to time. Who hasn’t daydreamed about landing a feature role in some blockbuster movie, or perhaps walking out to the mound for the Philadelphia Phillies with thousands of adoring fans cheering you on. Maybe you think about winning the lottery so that whatever you want lies at your fingertips. Or maybe you just think about being a famous writer or world class doctor. I don’t know. But if you’re at all like me, there’s more than just the occasional thought of what it would be like to be famously popular or so important that everyone respected and looked up to you.

Probably, if I was following Jesus around for those years, and if I knew He would one day be king of the universe, I might be a little antsy for some shared greatness myself. But again, the issue is who gets to define greatness? Jesus clearly has His definition. But you can see that James and John are far too into themselves to be anywhere near the same page as Jesus. Jesus sees greatness has being others-centered, being a sacrificial servant for the betterment of the people around you. James and John have more their own benefit in mind when they come talking to Jesus.

So how about you? Do your own self-centered dreams and desires get in the way of true greatness? Do you see what Jesus is saying, or do you think He’s just some weirdo goody two-shoes? Which do you think about more: making your life better or making the lives of those around you better? How were you a servant this past weekend?

And less we ever get too into ourselves, may we never forget that whatever blessings or good things we have, whatever hope or bright future we might look forward to, comes only because Jesus was willing to think lovingly and graciously about you and me above His own well-being. Jesus gave up His life completely so that ours might be saved. That’s greatness!

A Personal Gripe

1 Corinthians 1:20-31 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things– and the things that are not– to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God– that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

I had the esteemed privilege of attending Juan and Andrew’s (and Christa and Brianne and Moo’s) graduation last night. I enjoy graduation ceremonies. Everyone’s so excited, so proud, so full of relief and optimism. And hey, any time you’ve got cow bells, streamers, and a few beach balls, you know you’re in for a good time.

One thing I’ve never been too thrilled about though are those graduation speeches. Aside from the fact I’m sitting on slightly uncomfortable bleachers in 85 degree weather while these people ramble on, I’m actually not a big fan of what they have to say. They’re all the same: look at all the hard work we’ve accomplished over the years, we can do anything, never stop reaching for your personal dreams. I always thought if I became famous enough to be invited to speak at a graduation I would start by saying, “Who cares about your dreams, and by the way, you’re nothing by yourself.” Yeah, I’m bettin’ that would be the last graduation speech I ever did.

But that’s what I’d wanna say. Because the last thing I’d want people to think is that life post-high school is now all about them. How sad and depressing is that? At least I think it is. The greater fact is that our life has so much more meaning then just what we might want to get out of if. We are all created by God, and we’re created for a specific purpose, a specific life now and an incredible future ahead. It’s in God’s plans – not ours – that we’ll finally live up to our fullest potential, to everything we were designed to be! You settle for so much less if your only concern is your own personal goals and dreams.

And then it’s not just your hard work and your perseverance that will get you to the top. If the Bible tries to convince us of anything its that we’re nothing apart from Jesus. We have no real hope, we have no lasting strength or ability, we have no promise. Jesus is the ultimate servant God gave to carry us towards those awesome goals and promises He’s laid in store for us. To say its my own hard work and determination that gets me there is essentially to see I’d be quite fine without Christ.

So shame on you graduation speakers. Shame on you for trying to convince us to settle for second best. The best is not my own dreams and ambitions, and its not attained by my hard work. The best is those things God has laid aside for me, for us as His church and His family, and it’s a gift He gives in love and grace as we enjoy that perfect relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. My best will only be as much when I line it up with God’s best for me.

That’s my gripe for the day.

A Religious Wawa

Matthew 28:16-20 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Let’s see, today we had to go to the grocery store to purchase a bit of food for at home. We had to swing by the gas station to buy gas for the car. $49.50, ouch!! Then when I was in the office I bought some bibles and books from an online bookstore. Later I took Callie over the YMCA, using the family membership we pay for each month, to swim in their very nice outdoor pool (we were disappointed Juan wasn’t lifeguarding!). I live in a world where if there’s something I want or need, I somehow find the money for it and then go out and buy it. And okay, youth pastor’s aren’t the richest people in the world, but I seem to have enough money for the basic things I need (except for that fire-red Porsche Carrerra 911 Twin Turbo I’ve got my eye on). So essentially, whatever I need, I can go to some store and get it.

You know, there are two ways of looking at church or understanding what the church is. Some people think its a place where they go to satisfy or fill up whatever “spiritual needs” they might have. For them, church is kinda like a spiritual grocery store. I go. I get what I need. I go home all fueled up for the coming week.

But then there’s some other people that think church is more a group of people being sent out on a mission. For them, church is not just a place to go to get filled up on worship or relationships or good lessons or whatever. Yes, they might enjoy those things, but they see church as more than that. They see it as something they belong to, a mission they are part of.

This passage is often referred to as Jesus’ great commission to his followers. He starts off by saying all power and authority belongs to me. This world belongs to me now. And since I am king, go! Since I am king, I am sending you out to build my kingdom, to go bring in the people of my kingdom. See, to be one of Jesus’ followers is to be someone on a mission. You become someone who is sent, sent out invite others to become followers of this awesome king you’ve come to know.

The danger we all face sometimes is seeing church as just another store or service station for our needs. We can easily expect church to sell us (for free of course) the religious and spiritual food we need so we can go about our lives as normal. And in one sense, yes, church is certainly a place we can grow closer to God, have our souls nourished by the teaching of His word, and grow in relationships with others. But if it stops at that, we’ve missed the whole point. There’s a reason church does all that for us. The reason is the mission! The reason we grow is so that we can go all the more.

So how do you see church? Is it just another WAWA, a religious WAWA, in your daily routine? Or is it something you belong to, a mission shared with others in God’s family. To be part of Jesus’ church is to be part of a mission. If we neglect the mission, we’re not doing church (or youth group!).

Weak Missionaries

Matthew 26:69-75 Meanwhile, as Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, a servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.” 70 But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said. 71 Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said. 73 A little later some other bystanders came over to him and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.” 74 Peter said, “I swear by God, I don’t know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. 75 Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went away, crying bitterly.

I love this passage! Okay, I know that sounds a bit weird. Here’s Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends and disciples, completely stabbing him in the back. “No, I don’t know that guy! I’ve had nothing to do with him!” Peter is so consumed with self-interest and worry from all the “peer pressure” that he denies any association with Jesus…Jesus! He’d hung with Jesus for over three years now, seen all His miraculous displays of authority and power, heard His message of truth and grace, talked about His coming kingdom, and yet here he’s so worried about the reactions of the people that he completely turns His back on Him. Yeah, this isn’t normally one of those stories you’re supposed to feel good about. And actually, it’s not really this story that I love so much, but its what happens after this story.

Peter goes on to become one of Jesus’ greatest missionaries later in life. Take a peak through the book of Acts and see how many times Peter’s name pops up in connection with some major event in the life of the church or the spread of Christ’s kingdom. That’s so encouraging to me. Because I know how often I’ve turned my back on Christ. I know how many times I’ve wanted nothing to do with Him when things weren’t going my way or the situation was a bit difficult or whatever. This passage reminds me that in spite of everything Jesus’ is delighted to use imperfect sinners in the cause of His great mission.

It’s also a great reminder that the real work of the kingdom is done by Christ Himself. It’s not Peter’s super spirituality or awesome saintliness that makes him such an effective missionary. Instead it’s the power of God’s grace at work through him. He, like all of us, was a broken instrument that Christ was willing to use…and use in really neat ways.

Denying Christ is a terrible thing! Unfortunately, it’s something we’ve all done. Yet, how reassuring it is that our screw-ups and failures never disqualify us from service in Christ’s kingdom mission. How great is the love of Jesus that forgives and sticks with us even when our backs are turned!

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

The following is from Jon…

Matthew 15:21-26
21And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O LORD, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23But HE did not answer her a word. And HIS disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24HE answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before HIM, saying, ‘Lord, help me.” 26 And HE answered “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Wow, the first thing that comes to my mind when I read this passage is just wow. How could Jesus say no to this woman!? Why would HE say no to this one woman but say yes to thousands of others who came with the same requests? As Jesus says in verse 24 He was sent here for the people of Israel, the Jews. So this woman, being a Canaanite, was not in the “loop” that Jesus was here for. However, I think there’s something very meaningful in this passage, let’s read on…

Matthew 15:27-28
27She said, “Yes, LORD, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Mmm, ok wait a minute, now Jesus grants her request, why is this!? Why did HE change his mind? Well, I don’t think Jesus changed his mind at all. HE could tell right away that this woman had faith in HIM, so much faith that she came up asking HIM to heal her daughter who wasn’t even there with them! I believe what this verse is really all about is it’s showing us that even though we have faith that GOD is going to help us out in whatever situations we may be facing in our lives HE, in his infinite wisdom, is still going to test our faith to see how much we really do trust in HIM and how much faith we really have in HIM. So, when hard times come and you think to yourself, “GOD where are you? I’m doing what you want of me, but nothing is going right at all.” Remember that GOD is there with you, but we will be tested in our faith. Not so that we may boast about getting through the hard times, but that we can grow even stronger in our faith that when even harder times come our faith in GOD will be that much stronger so that we will not fall.

Soul CPR

Ezekiel 37:1-14 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign LORD, you alone know.” 4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet– a vast army. 11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’”

Earlier today, I was talking to another pastor who said he’d felt a bit discouraged because he wasn’t seeing more lives changed in his church. It made him think he wasn’t doing a good job. As I was replaying that conversation later in my mind, I started thinking about this passage. Here you got a bunch of dead bones that desperately need some new life breathed into them. And the thing is, there’s only one person who can do that…God! Ezekiel is actually the one who wrote that passage, and can you imagine if, after describing the dead bones, he describes walking over and trying to give mouth to mouth to the rotting corpses? Besides thinking, bet his breath smelled good after that, we’d want to say to him, why in the world would you do that? There’s no point Ezekiel! It don’t matter how much you breath into those skeletons, life ain’t comin’ back anytime soon.

Ahhh, but if now God decides to send His breath (or His Spirit) into them, it’s a whole other story. God, as we well know, can surely bring life back into rotting corpses. Now, this story is just an analogy, or a picture of God restoring life – true life – to the nation and people of Israel. This story comes right after God talks about one day giving new hearts, new spirits, and new lives to the Israelites who’d become in a sense spiritual dead in their rebellion against God (chpt. 36).

So I was thinking about the pastor I spoke with, and then I got to thinking about our upcoming mission trips. And I figured it would be a good thing to remember again that really, we’re not going to the Dominican Republic and Rehoboth to do soul CPR on people. If that’s going happen, it’s going to be God who does it. We are going simply as servants for God’s sake! As Lori mentioned in a devotional a few weeks back, we’re going as messengers, hoping God might be pleased to work through us.

We always need to have the mentality that its not us who will be saving anybody. We won’t be the ones changing lives. We ought never to take credit for whatever spiritual new life we might see. All the credit belongs to God…because He’s the only one who can do it. He’s the only on who can save, who can bring that glorious new life back to into spiritual deadness. So again, what’s our job? Well, for one, its to pray – to pray that God would actually do just that, that He would bring new life to the people we meet. And secondly, its simply to have the hearts of servants, being willing to go wherever God leads, willing to do whatever God wants us to do (to the best of our abilities!) so that His will and His plans might be at work through us…if He so chooses!

A Father’s Delight

Of course the big thing on my mind these days is the arrival of our brand new, 2008, dark-hair edition, baby daughter. Yes, in case you haven’t seen her or the pictures yet, we have this beautiful little girl who, by most people’s evaluation, doesn’t really look like Amy or I or Callie or anyone in the immediate families for that matter. She’s big too! Over eight pounds of healthy, happy goodness.

So I find myself a lot these days just sitting on the couch looking down at this new little girl laying in my lap. And I tell you, it’s happy times. I haven’t even known her for 100 hours yet, but already there’s a deep love and bond forming and there is genuine delight as well, delight in this little girl and the relationship we get to share together.

More than once this weekend I found it pretty cool to think that this is similar to how God delights in His children. I guess its one thing to say God loves us. We hear that all the time. We hear that God is merciful towards us, that He is gracious and faithful with us, that He is quick to help and look out for us. But then I read a passage like this:

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, he will rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

God delights in me, he rejoices over me on account of His great love for me! That’s pretty wild to think about – that God actually receives joy and happiness because of His relationship with me. It’s even crazier to think how that’s true despite all my faults and personal unfaithfulness towards Him. His love for His children is pure. I’d like to think that my love for my daughters is pure, but I know that from time to time it will be clouded by my own sin, by my self-centeredness, by my weaknesses. But God’s love isn’t like that. It’s a pure and perfect love. It doesn’t change based on my actions. It doesn’t get stronger or weaker depending on how good I am today. When God says He loves us and that He finds great delight in us, He just does! And that never changes!

I hope the thought of God delighting in you is as neat to think about as it is for me. It’s one of those things I often find hard to believe. “Yeah, yeah sure He does, isn’t that nice.” But then when I find myself delighting in my daughters and start thinking about that verse and how God Himself says it’s true, I’m really thankful to be one of His children. I’m thankful to Him for claiming me as His son, and I’m thankful for Christ being willing to die to secure my spot in the family.

Where’s the White Bread?

John 6:1-14 John 6:1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

So what’s the point? That’s always the question we have to ask when we read these stories about Jesus’ neat tricks (miracles). Because again, the point isn’t just, “Wow look at that guy, he does cool stuff with bread and fish.” There’s always a deeper point to Jesus’ miracles. So to get at that deeper point, maybe I’ll ask this question: what does bread symbolize?

If you can’t come up with anything, you could scroll down to Jon’s devo from yesterday and read what he has to say about the part of the Lord’s prayer that says, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread (especially for people back in Jesus’ day) was just one of those basic essentials of life. So to any ancient reader it would easily symbolize all the basic things we need to survive, and as Jon points out, to grow. Okay…so next question: what might Jesus be demonstrating about Himself when He sees the hungry people and supplies them with more bread than they can even handle?

Well, if you still have no ideas, I suppose I can give my take on it here. This is Jesus showing how He knows exactly what we need and He is quite capable of (and up to the task of) providing for our needs. Right? Wasn’t that the concern of the disciples in the beginning of story? “These people need food. We’ve got nothin’ to feed them with.” Enter Jesus…

So great, Jesus can meet all our needs! When I come to Jesus, everything is honky dory now because Jesus is going to give me everything I need. Ahh, but here’s the problem: yes we’re all about Jesus meeting our needs, but how many of us actually trust Him enough and are willing to let Him determine what it is we need? Personally, I’m not a big fan of wheat bread. Back then, they didn’t have the tasty over-processed white bread I love so much. So I probably would have been the guy in the crowd who said as the bread and fish were passed around, “Ah come one! You mean you got no white bread. How am I supposed to choke down this stuff.”

Sound familiar…even just the slightest? Ever complain about what you have or don’t have? Ever wish your situation in life were different? Ever wonder why in the world you were made to suffer the way you did these past few weeks? You cry out and ask God to fix things, to help you with the hurt or the things you think you so desperately need. And He doesn’t answer…at least it sure seems like He’s not.

Do you trust Him? Sure we trust that God can do anything. He can answer all my deepest needs. No…do you trust Him? Do you trust that He best knows what’s best for you? Do you trust Him to decide the things you need? Will you hand over your expectations, your desires, your “needs” and patiently rely on His perfect care for you? That’s the question.

It’s hard for me to choke down the wheat bread. But then again, all these health nuts keep tellin’ me all that over processed white bread really ain’t all that good for you. So what do I know about bread anyway?