Just finished a week with these guys in Colorado Springs. I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing, or anything more fulfilling than helping young people sort out their place in the Kingdom of God. These guys were exceptional in their hunger and passion. It hurts to say goodbye.
Just a couple bits of information and an inspiring quote today:
Haven’t been able to pull up any original inspiration today. So let me recommend a dose from Nick Vojicic. He’s got a Croatian name, an Aussie heritage, and a kingdom story. People like this leave me shaking my head at the wisdom and grace of God.
Click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlJWJ_WfA&feature=related
Lionel Whiston was a dapper eighty-some year old saint when I met him thirty years ago. He was one of those uncommon individuals who had a gift for pulling people in, drawing them out, and sending them off with a gift. And he preached mighty good sermons, too. But the thing I remember most about Lionel was the gift he gave me that day: a happy revelation that old age was nothing to fear. If I could age like him, then each birthday would celebrate another year of becoming more like Jesus.
That’s my hope. Bill Gothard says that “The fear of old age is the false assumption that I still have many years of life ahead of me.” Only God knows the number of my days, but for this day I’m setting my hope on aging like Lionel, with my ear snuggled ever closer to the heartbeat of Jesus.
Been vaguely aware for some time that when it comes to the Kingdom, I’m a whole lot handier at talking about it than I am at actually living it. I try to ignore that awkward truth, but it’s becoming more of a burr in my backside while I go on talking. And talking.
This week I’ve been reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne, a book that my friend Bryan says is “the most dangerous book I’ve ever read.” Shane is a young man who’s actually putting feet to his words, living with the homeless, standing up against injustice, and caring for the poor. He says he’s not interested “in a Christianity that offers these (poor families) only mansions and streets of Gold in heaven, when all they really want is a bed for their kids now. And many Christians have an extra one.” That, right there, is the kingdom. And I really am wanting to find my place in it. But see? There I go with words again.
“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know the minute we understand, we’re obliged to act accordingly. Take any of the words of the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that, my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to be sure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close … It is dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.” – Soren Kierkegaard
It’s been about six weeks since I read The Shack. And last count I’d given away seventeen copies of it to friends. So for me to plug this book is a no-brainer. If you’re anything like me, it’ll blow the lid off your concept of the Trinity, illuminate the profound beauty of the Godhead, and carry your love of the Father to new heights.
Eugene Peterson, (The Message), says “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyon’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!” I can’t remember ever seeing so many people being so deeply impacted by a book other than the Bible. So if you’re looking for something worthwhile to read…
The kingdom is the only true reality. It is life as God intended it to be. The Kingdom is everything in the cosmos working as it was designed, from brain cells to business calls, from muscles to music. This is why Jesus said his yoke “is easy” and his burden “is light.” (Matt. 11:30) To live by truth is easy. Respect gravity. Expect to reap what you sow. Don’t step in front of a moving vehicle. Don’t spend what you don’t have. Treat others like you’d want to be treated. Pay your bills. But to resist reality is to ask for trouble.
Societies founded on falsehoods crumble and self-destruct. Communism, Materialism, and Postmodernism all fail because they haven’t the glue of truth to hold them together. No need for God to destroy those societies any more than for Him to have to destroy a person who’s trying to live on raw sewerage. The choice is the judgment. But the Kingdom! Ah! It is unshakable (Heb. 12:28). It is the house built upon a rock. Storms may rage against the Truth, but they cannot change it. And the Truth of the universe is the bedrock of the Kingdom.
Jesus told us to go out and make disciples. Instead we’ve made converts.
Scott McKnight, in The Jesus Creed says it’s the difference between a birth certificate and a driver’s license: “If conversion is like a birth certificate, we produce babies who need to be pushed around in strollers. If it’s like a driver’s license, we produce adults who can operate on life’s pathways.” This probably explains why so many here in the Bible belt are endlessly running from church to church seeking some place “we really get fed.” People who carry driver’s licenses generally also know how to go to the fridge, drive to the supermarket, and cook up a meal.
McKnight goes on to ask, “When was Peter actually converted?” Was is:
- When he left his boat and followed Jesus?
- When he fell before Jesus and confessed he was a “sinful man”?
- When he confessed “you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”?
- When he confessed Jesus as Lord?
- When Jesus breathed on the disciples with the Holy Spirit?
- When the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost?
It’s a tricky question for us because nowhere is it actually recorded that Peter said a “sinner’s prayer.” And that’s what seals it for most of us evangelicals. Undoubtedly this is something we need to wrestle with. What differentiates a disciple from a convert? And could it be that our “how do I get to heaven?” mentality lends itself to conversion over discipleship?
I believe this might well be one of the reasons we’ve lost sight of the Kingdom.
The centerpiece of civilization and the hope of Adam’s race is a child born in a manger. What a wondrous world.
I’ve had a sweet Christmas with family and friends in Maryland. The fingers are healing nicely, as well as the chest cold that’s kept me close to my Mom’s house for most of the week. The thought that keeps returning to me is the idea that the incarnation of the God-man Jesus brings meaning to all of life, from Christmas cards and pumpkin pies to Salvation Army ringers and good movies. God has entered our world and – by his presence – made all of it holy.
It’s an amazing place to live when once we’re able to see it.
It’s always humbling to be at the receiving end of so many prayers. Just thirty hours after my accident with the garage door, God restored my fingers enough to go through with Sunday evening’s concert. The fingers were still a little sensitive and weak. But He made up the difference as He always does.
“My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.”
II Corinthians 12:9
In the end, it was a warm family time together with the church. Formality was out, and the joy was in sharing our imperfect lives and gifts in the fellowship of the Spirit. Thanks for the prayers! Tomorrow (Wednesday), I head home to Maryland for a week or so. Hope we get some snow.
Dispatches from the Shadowlands 