Before the conference started, I had a few hours to burn so I went to visit an old friend to wish him an early birthday. Man, I miss him.
Surrendering Control…
Jack Miller, to a church he had recently visited and spoken to–
There is a release of God’s power when control is surrendered to the Spirit of Christ.
This is not a matter of mere feeling but of faith relying on the word of Christ. Get down on your knees in prayer and then get up and take the risk of humbling yourself by apologizing to that brother or sister you have sinned against. Is not such a liberating act a giving up of your own defensive will? Or go to a friend and say, “I have such a critical spirit and a loose tongue. Will you pray for me?”
Here we have the beginnings of a deep surrender.
–The Heart of a Servant-Leader: Letters from Jack Miller (P&R, 23004), 93
Discovering our calling
Last Friday, Mayline led a great discussion on “calling”. When I got home, I stumbled on this article on my FB feed called, “To find happiness, forget passion.” It’s a great followup to our discussion especially as we try to figure out what our respective callings are.
Like myself, today’s twentysomethings were raised to find our dreams and follow them. But it’s a different world. And as the jobless generation grows up, we realize the grand betrayal of the false idols of passion. This philosophy no longer works for us, or at most, feels incomplete. So what do we do? I propose a different frame of reference: Forget about finding your passion. Instead, focus on finding big problems. Putting problems at the center of our decision-making changes everything. It’s not about the self anymore. It’s about what you can do and how you can be a valuable contributor. People working on the biggest problems are compensated in the biggest ways. I don’t mean this in a strict financial sense, but in a deeply human sense. For one, it shifts your attention from you to others and the wider world. You stop dwelling. You become less self-absorbed. Ironically, we become happier if we worry less about what makes us happy.
Even though it’s written for a secular audience, I think he’s on to something. For the Christ-follower however, it’s tying our calling to the things that God is passionate about. It very well may be connected to the big problems of the world. There’s one song that Mayline referenced from the song, “Hosanna”:
“Heal my heart and make me clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am is for your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity”
In the end, it’s discovering what God is passionate about and letting His passion be your passion. We need to be attentive to his Word that reveals His heart. But we also must be attentive to the world around us to see what God might want to do through us. At some point, you need to put yourself out there and take risks in order to see what sticks, and what doesn’t. These days, I’m trying to be guided by this thought:
“Better to do mission and fail than fail to do mission altogether”
Since I tend to be risk averse, I miss out on all sorts of opportunities that are around me. But when I do step out in faith, I never regret doing it. I might not always “succeed”, but that’s never the point. The point is to be faithful and to plant seeds in people’s hearts. In time, something will grow.
The Better Resolution
In light of the new year, may our resolution for 2012 be: “I will let God love me and save me”. Read on:
This week I saw a list of answers to this question: What do you regret about this past year? Here are some answers: I regret thinking more money is all I need. I regret believing this would finally be the Cubs’ big year. I regret not spending time with my lonely neighbor. I regret the date nights with my wife I didn’t take. I regret my apathy in worship. I regret being held back by human opinions of me. I regret missing times with God but not missing my show on TV. I regret every minute I gave to pornography. I regret trying to hide my sins from others. I regret the person I’ve become.
I wonder what your regret is. I know mine. But sometimes we don’t see our biggest failing. All the regrets I’ve just read lie at the surface. And there is a deeper reason why we act these ways. The deeper reason is this. We do not savor God’s love for us. Of course, if someone asked us, Does God love you?, we’d all give the right answer. But savoring his love, enjoying his love, drawing strength from his love, especially when we see how sinful we are – that’s different. All our problems stem from this – not believing and receiving the love of God for the undeserving. I am calling you today to enter 2012 with this declaration: “I will let God love me and save me.” There’s a New Year’s Resolution for you! Every day of 2012, rather than try to make God love me, I will let God love me, because he does – for the sake of Christ.
HT (Ray Ortlund Jr. via Dane Ortlund)
Signs of renewal?
[update: here are the transcripts of the talks]
I’ve been ordained as a minister of Word and Sacrament in the PCUSA since 2005 in the National Capital Presbytery. My wife can testify that whenever I come home from presbytery meetings, I come home frustrated and angry at the nonsense that happens in our denomination. As a young, Jesus loving, Bible believing, ethnic person, I always feel like a complete misfit in an otherwise aging, left leaning, mostly white denomination.
But thankfully there are reasons for hope. Recently folks from our own presbytery sent an open letter to the churches detailing the concerns of the trajectory of our denomination and the need for those desiring renewal and reform to gather together formally for support.
My first impression was really no different from my other experiences. I still felt out of place generationally and culturally as a walked into the room full of white haired folks in their 60′s and 70′s. But when the elders and pastors began to share their testimonies and convictions, I couldn’t help but to nod my head in agreement and even whisper a few “amens” under my breath. What I appreciated most was their identity was not about what they were against, but what they were for. What was clearly evident was their high view of scripture, supremacy of Christ in all things, and their passion for mission with Jesus.
After the testimonies, we split into groups. With the exception of one man in his 20′s, my table was soon filled with folks in their 60′s or 70′s. But as we shared around the table, despite the generational and cultural differences that were clearly obvious, what was also clearly obvious was our shared love for Jesus and our mutual lament of how marginalized we all felt in our own denomination. But what was sad to hear was how many of these faithful saints felt marginalized even in their own churches because of their belief that the Bible is true and that Jesus is the only way. My heart broke for them as they share how the problems we face as a denomination are reflected in their communities. How tragic! But the fact that we now have a space to lament together is crucial towards a hopeful future. At the very least, it’s good to know that we are not alone.
In a few weeks, I will be attending national gathering of in Orlando, FL that will further flesh out what this association or denomination might look like. There’s even a gathering for pastors folks under 45! My hope is to give you a report and reflection on January 22nd.
It was D.A. Carson who said, “Losing the gospel doesn’t happen all at once, it’s much more like a four generation process too:
- The gospel is accepted
- The gospel is assumed
- The gospel is confused
- The gospel is lost.”
Although the gospel in PCUSA has been largely assumed, confused, and even lost, my hope and prayer is that there would be a rediscovery of the gospel within our denomination so that the gospel can be accepted and embraced once again!
My Christmas Highlights
The past few weeks have been a whirlwind! We’re pretty tired from all the traveling, socializing and eating, but we come back with thankful hearts. Here are some highlights during our time in Boston:
- All of Monique’s family were back in town and together for the first time in many years. It was great to see everyone together.
- It was great to see my nephew live in person rather than through a webcam. He affectionally calls me, “Bub” or “Uncle Woowoo”. Don’t ask. I have no idea why.
- We went to the Boston’s children’s museum which was loads of fun for the kids. My sister-in-law has some yearly pass so we got in for free!
- The weather was pretty warm (mid to upper 40′s) for this time of the year so it was great walking around the city without freezing to death.
- The food around town was amazing as usual: Anna’s Taqueria (twice), Rod Dee’s, Victoria’s (twice), Brookline Family Restaurant, Charley’s, Windsor Dim Sum Cafe, and Upper Crust.
- Got a chance to check out Grace Chapel and City on a Hill Church on Sunday. It was great just to sit and soak in.
- We also sent our first kid to the ER. Thankfully we had a good experience at the Children’s Hospital which is ranked #1 according to U.S. and World Report. How do I know? Because they have a big banner out front. They took good care of Justin.
- We headed back to NJ to spend time with my dad for his birthday.
- The boys are now playing with their new XBOX 360 Kinect they got for Christmas from their generous uncle. I’m not sure how I feel about this…
- Tonight, I’ll be hanging out with a Wolverine while rooting for the Hokies. I’ll try to be polite.
It was a full week! God is good!
Jesus is a magnet…
Chapter 1 of the gospel of Matthew starts with the genealogy of Jesus Christ and ends with the historical details of Jesus’ entrance to the world. In Chapter 2, Matthew describes for us three responses to Jesus’ birth. Generally, when there’s a birth announcement, [which we will get a lot of in this church in the next few months], people usually respond with joy and excitement. But with Jesus’ birth, the response was rather extreme. In many respects, Jesus’ birth was polarizing and divisive. Kent Edwards puts it like this:
“Jesus is like a magnet. Every person is either attracted or repelled by Him. The power and influence of his very being cannot be ignored”
Let’s take a look at this passage and see the responses to Jesus’ birth and what we can learn from them.
1. Herod’s Reaction – repelled by Jesus
The cast of characters in this story are all present in the first few verses when the Magi from the east came to Jerusalem asking, “where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him”
When word got to Herod that people were looking for the new King, he was disturbed along with Jerusalem. Why? At first, Herod seemed genuinely curious. He got the chief priests and the religious leaders who were familiar with the scriptures and prophecy to see what was going on. Next, he asked the Magi to fill him in if they were successful in finding Jesus so he could worship Him too.
At first Herod looks like he’s attracted to Jesus, but he really isn’t. The reason why King Herod is disturbed is because he is threatened by Jesus. As history has shown, King Herod is ruthless against his competitors even if they are his own flesh and blood. Here’s his track record: he killed his wife, his three sons, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle and many others. King Herod has shown that he will do anything to protect his power even if it means pretending to be attracted to Jesus when in reality, he is repelled by Him. Jesus is like a magnet – he attracts or repels.
2. Magi’s reaction – attracted by Jesus
So who did Jesus attract? It’s interesting that out of all the people who would respond to Jesus’ birth, it would be gentiles from a distant country rather than the Jews who lived in the same region and had access to the scriptures. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding the Magi. Contrary to the familiar Christmas carol, the Magi were neither Kings or described as wise in scripture. The Magi were most likely priests from a tribe in Persia – modern day Iran. How did they end up in Jerusalem? They saw a star and were amazed by it that they traveled quite a distance to Judea to find out what the star meant. It’s remarkable that they would drop everything and endure long and hard travel with no guarantee that their quest would yield anything fruitful. Somehow, they supernaturally knew they were in search of a King.
Do you see the contrast here? Herod went out of the way to remain king, while the Magi went out of the way to submit and worship the King. And when the Magi found the star that pointed to Jesus, they were overjoyed. When they went into their house, they saw Jesus and his mother and they bowed down and worshipped him. Their posture of bowing and worshipping speaks volumes about how they see Jesus – this King is not just King of the Jews, but the King of all nations.
These are two reactions to Jesus – he didn’t even do anything yet, but they both knew Jesus wasn’t just anybody they could ignore. Jesus is like a magnet – he either attracts or repels. What about you? What’s your response to Jesus? Do you love Him or hate Him?
3. Religious leader’s reaction – no reaction
But there’s a third response that’s not so obvious. It’s the response of the chief priests and the teachers of the law – the religious people. When King Herod asked them about Jesus’ whereabouts, they were able to give a textbook bible answer. They knew the prophecies and knew how to answer Herod’s question. But notice there wasn’t much of a response. Even though they knew the right answer to Herod’s question, they didn’t do anything. Michael Green made this important point: “Did they lift a sandal? Not at all. They knew it all, but they did nothing. This is a characteristic danger for any long time religious person”.
You can be actively repelled like Herod. But you can be passively repelled like the chief priests and the teachers of the law. You can know a lot and know the right answers but completely apathetic to what God has revealed to you. As the gospel of Matthew unfolds, we see what eventually happens. When Jesus didn’t fit their mold as a King, their indifference turned into hatred and contempt. Herod wanted Jesus dead, but where he failed, the religious leaders succeeded. They crucified the King!
In many respects, being indifferent and apathetic is no different from being outright rebellious. At least those who are outright rebellious are honest with themselves. How about you? Are you indifferent to Jesus? You might be more repelled by Jesus than you think because if you know the real Jesus, you will either be attracted or repelled. There really is no in between.
4. Your response – will you love Jesus?
My hope for you is that we take a long, hard look at Jesus. There’s a reason why Jesus has that kind of affect – He either attracts or repels. People either love Jesus or hate Jesus. Why are people so repelled by Jesus? Like Herod, I think we have a difficult time giving up control. If Jesus is God, then we are not. Like the chief priests and teachers of the law, we’d rather ignore him and maintain status quo.
But I hope we discover this Christmas what the Magi discovered. Jesus is a different kind of King. Earthly kings use their power to make people worship him. Jesus gave up his power by going to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins – that alone makes people want to worship him. They were so willing to give up their treasure because they found a far superior treasure in Jesus. What is your response this Christmas? Once again, Jesus is polarizing person. He’s like a magnet – he either repels or attracts. You can either hate him or love him, but ignoring him is not an option.
Envy, Competition, and Comparison
I was really challenged by this article which deals with the struggles of leadership:
“Chariots of Fire” provides a helpful lesson in portraying the contrast between Abrahams and Liddell. When we truly grasp our unique identity and purpose, like Liddell did, our need for competition or comparison fades away… because we understand that we each have our own unique story to write.”
Read the rest here.
