In Spite of Our Gifts: What I Learned During My Mission Trip.

There is a big hype in the church centered upon finding our place in ministry in light of our spiritual gifts. I think this is a great thing. Obviously enough if God has given us certain gifts, we are meant to use them. To ignore our God-given gifts is to be irresponsible with God’s grace. We need only look to the parable of the talents to see this as true. Even so, it seems to me that the Church’s obsession with gifts can and does often become reason to limit our ministry, instead of reason to do ministry.

While some might disagree, I feel that I have been given the gift of writing. I thrive in the solitude that sitting behind a screen offers. At times I know what I write is not of me, because, at least to me, it seems profound.  I am granted peace in the quiet of writing. I could be perfectly happy doing nothing but writing for the rest of my life.

On the other hand, I am not naturally gifted at being a team leader. I enjoy following instructions much more than giving them. While I do well at public speaking, there is a separation between the speaker and the audience when an actual speech is being given. However, being a public speaker does not make one automatically gifted at social engagement or at leadership. I have a bit of social anxiety, and I can be socially awkward. I do not like being in the midst of a large group of people, and I am certainly not gifted in ministry to children. So, who am I to lead a team out to the Navajo Reservation to serve a group of kids for VBS? This is not where I thrive.

If I was into the latest church trend, I would be able to show my skills assessment and get off the hook for this sort of job. I have taken two different and very well respected skills assessments and neither suggested I have the slightest gift for such a leadership position. I have heard so many other church goers say, “Well, that is just not my gift,” and it has seemed to get them a free pass. As a person who enjoys avoiding problems, I like free passes. So, I told God long ago that I was not to be a team leader for VBS missions. He did not accept the pass.

Why will this not work for me? I tried two years ago to do my best to have the mission trip canceled, and God kept pushing open the doors I was trying to shut. It made me so angry, and I protested that if He wanted to have me serve in such a capacity he should gift me with the skills I would need to confidently do the job. He gave me no such comfort. But, He called me out anyway. And guess what: The trip went just fine, in spite of me, the leader, and it has gone well ever since, even this year, when Murphy’s law was in full force.

The truth of the matter is that God calls us to use our gifts, but His call on our lives is certainly not limited to the gifts He gives us. If we were able to dismiss our calling on the grounds of insufficient gifting, no human would be in ministry. If we look to the Bible, we see several of its key figures coming up with very reasonable objections to His call in light of their own gifts. In fact, objection to God’s call on the grounds of lack of gifts is prolific in Scripture:

Gideon: “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” Judges 6:15

Moses:  But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt…suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice… Suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you’…O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue…O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” Exodus 3:11; 4:1, 10, 13

Jeremiah: Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth. Jeremiah 1:6

Isaiah: Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; Isaiah 5a.

Of course, seeing one’s self as inadequate before God and in light of His call is not limited to these figures: Jonah runs, Mary questions how she can carry the Messiah, the Disciples are often showing their own shortcomings, the list goes on. But, what God sets out to do in the lives of these inadequate persons, He does.

I never feel more inadequate in my calling than when I lead a team to the Reservation. When I go by myself to teach pastor-training classes, I am fine. I am in my element. I know how to teach. When I am there to lead a VBS, I am out of my league. I do not know anything about organizing a team, or about children’s ministry. But, it is a calling I cannot escape. And, although I know that God is the one who has called me, and He will lead me through, I cannot help but to object in light of my own flaws, just as those who were called before me.

Before I left, I laid awake for several nights imagining all the possible problems that could arise, or so I thought. Two of the biggest concerns were no kids showing up, or having our vans get stuck in sand, like last year. What happened instead was a series of unimaginable events.

After the team arrived safely to Albuquerque and we all made the 6 plus hour trip to our destination, I thought I was going to be ok. But, that night, Esther, one of the Navajo ladies who helps us out during our week there said: “Tab, you better start picking kids up early, there is another VBS mission across the river that is competing with us.” I smiled and said, “If we are all doing Christ’s work, we are not competing.” She smiled back and said, “Well, they think we are.” That is when it hit me; my worst fear was coming true. No kids were going to come.

In years past, our highest number of kids was 70 on the last day, the highest for the first day being no more than 48, if I remember correctly. I was going to be happy with 30. We left the next morning earlier than expected to see if we could find any kids, by the end of it, we had over 60…on the first day. My number one fear was, even in light of unforeseen “competition,” no concern for God.

The pick up and drop off trips take a little more than an hour and take the drivers to really remote places on long dirt roads where it is easy to get stuck in the sand, but after making it through the first day, I thought my second fear had been done away with. So, after our first successful day of VBS had ended, I took my team for some much deserved sight seeing. Clouds coalesced in the distance, but nothing to be too concerned about. I mean, how much can it rain in the desert, right? When we made it to town to buy groceries for dinner, the bottom fell out.

It began to hail. We hurried to get groceries and rushed to the church, but when we got to the highway leading to the church, the rain and wind was sweeping down the plateau so fast that I could not see ten feet in front of me. We pulled over, but the wind was so strong it felt as if it was going to tip the van. We crept to the turn off to the church, and we turned down the little dirt path. There was a problem. For lack of a better term, a river had formed in front of the church.

I have never been in a flash flood in the desert before, so I thought to myself that perhaps we should wait it out. That is when the road around the vans began to wash out underneath. Sitting still was no longer an option, so I gunned it across the river, Bill, the driver behind me, following. We made it, and just in time. The river, just minutes after we drove across it, began to cut into the desert ground. It created a wash out about four feet deep and fifteen yards across and ran for as long as the eye could see as it swept the earth away, leaving a crevasse between the road and us. There was another river behind the church that met up with the one in front just beyond us. In other words, we were now stuck on an island.

When we got inside, the power was out, and reports came in from across the river, as we yelled back and forth to the locals on the other side, that the black top on the road had been washed out. If there were no road in the direction of the reports, there would be no way to pick up kids for the rest of the week. Moreover, there was no way to drive the vans back over the river. Stranded.

The next day, the sun came out and began to dry up the desert. My team made food for the local village and many were very appreciative since they were without electricity and had no means to prepare food. We also took the time to pack over 200 backpacks for many of the kids on the reservation. Road crews pushed the washed up mud from the road, revealing the blacktop had not washed, it had just been buried, and by the next morning, Bill, found a way to get both vans across the crevasse. The power came back on the next day (and went out again, and on again). We had another day of VBS.

On this day, a kid without a license pulled up to drop off some siblings, not an uncommon thing on the reservation, and he backed over a spigot, effectively knocking out water to the whole church. But, we had bought plenty to last us during our VBS, and Bill, again being the hero, fixed the line before the day’s end. Our final day of VBS went off without a hitch. We had a record number of kids show, many of which never heard the name of Christ until our visit.

The week went on to prove to be the best yet. The team made it home safe, and I stayed to teach and be a part of an incredible pastor training session. And, as I sit here in the airport, I cannot help but thank God for ignoring my objections. While the task and even more so, the disasters, seemed too much to handle, God accomplished what He set out to accomplish. Praise Him!

If He calls you, don’t listen to what your fears say, don’t listen to what the assessment test tell you that you cannot do. Only listen to Him.

Is the Bible a Weapon?

I have said it before, but I want to say it again, if only for my own sake—I certainly need to be held to the same discipline(s) I promote: To fully appreciate Scripture for what it is and what it is for, we need not simply read it against the world around us, but we also need to be able to read the Bible against ourselves.

If my Scriptural reflection only produces a sense of agreement, a collection of nods and “amens,” and never produces a sense of scandal or proffers a challenge against the self, then I am not approaching the text correctly. The Scripture, in conjunction with the Spirit, is meant to work towards the transformation of the self, at least for the truth seeker, much more than I, or any other truth seeker is to work to transform others by the knowledge of the Word that the individual has gained. In fact, I have no such power, even with all the Scriptural information I can muster.

This is not to say that my being transformed by His Word has no social dimension. To suggest such would be too selfish and antithetical to the Word itself. Even so, Scripture is not mine to wield, as I will.  I can work in love, as the Holy Spirit leads, to sow seeds by speaking Scriptural truths, but I am not the Redeemer. Too often, both the Spirit and the Word are seen as mere weapons to smite, not the Kingdom of the World, but those persons within. Too often both the Spirit and the Word are seen as weapons, not against the sin in myself and in others, but merely against others that I do not agree with.

The Bible is too often used to bash others, to merely criticize their lives. However, admonishment without love, without hope, without His guidance, is mere critique, for it offers nothing of a real solution. We are meant, not to attack our enemy, but to fight for them in love, to reach out by the proclamation of His Good News. Instead, verses of Scripture are wielded against others, and the sad fact is that many—and I have been guilty of this manner of abuse as well—who wield these fragments of the text do so without ever looking up the context for themselves; that is they do not research the author’s intent for saying what he said.

Many simply Google: "What does the Bible have to say about..." They then find the article that best suits their needs, the verse that they did not even know existed, but confirms their own opinion, and then without making sure that the segment the text is set in confirms the text itself, they attack. The verse is never used for reflection upon the self or for transformation, but instead is used merely as an argument.

 Don't misunderstand, there is nothing wrong with an internet search for that ever-elusive reference, but to find it and then scurry off to whatever blog wall we were wanting to comment on, without as much as looking it up in our own Bibles, meditating on it, and seeking His counsel upon it, that is nothing less than a sin, bottom line. We are not the sole interpreters of Scripture. We are called to read in the presence of others, not least the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit works in and through us, and without Him, we cannot truly operate. If we find a verse on our own and use it on our own, it will become as good as any work we do on our own, worthless. Again, I confess, I have worked on this level many times, simply to protect my own statements and worldviews when challenged. The Bible is not meant to simply insulate us from a sinful world. It calls us out into that world, for the sake of others.

The Bible is not merely meant to be the means by which I can say that I am right and others are wrong. It is meant to transform me so that I can lovingly serve those of the world who are in need of the same healing of which I am now a part by the renewing nature of the Word when the individual submits to it. 

The Spirit will not submit to me, nor will the Word. I can pretend that they can and do, but I will suffer for it. Moreover, the world will not submit to the Word, no matter how much I try to force it upon them. Instead, the Spirit will work through my own submission, and, as He transforms me to His Word, I can be a light to the world, so that some might forsake their old ways, leaving the world behind, and they too might join me in submission to Christ’s rule.

The Bible is a sword of truth, but the battle we fight is not like worldly battles. This sword is for my enemies. I am to fight for the lost and dying world. If the sword pierces the heart, it does not bring death, but life. 

The Unexpected Gift of Easter: The Risen King

This is God's plan, His great gift to us? 

This young Jewish man went and met that enemy of every man, that enemy that eventually wins every battle fought, and that enemy is death, the inevitable offspring of sin. Here this man stood, in the face of our enemy and He did so without any discernable defense. He allowed the beast to inflict its finishing move, its checkmate. So, death crawled upon this seemingly insignificant life that hung upon the Roman cross, and delivered its fatal sting, that sting that has taken out every person before, that sting that was always known as final, and Christ drew His last breath. Christ died, even Christ.

What gift is this?

God has given us a man, and before He makes any real impression on the world, other than in the hearts of a few Israelites, He is stripped of His dignity before His servants and of His life. Can you imagine the horror that must have washed upon the shores of the disciples' hearts? We see it in Peter, even before the crucifixion, when he denied Jesus three times (Matthew 26: 69-74). Even this miracle worker, this man Peter, on behalf of the disciples, acknowledged as the "Son of the Living God," (Matthew 16:14-16) died, and He died before accomplishing anything that human history would have acknowledged as an accomplishment. In other words, if the story had ended at the cross, there would be no story to tell. This Man through whom they drew so much strength had, in an agonizing moment, been separated from their midst.

How dare these apostles think so highly of their Rabbi? They hailed from a remote nation ruled by a mighty emperor a world away. They could have no real bearing on the world, even if they tried. A man more powerful than anyone they had ever met, a king of kings, ruling the earth from his Roman throne, the emperor, had no idea of their existence. They were insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Israel might have been a mighty nation at one time, but that time had gone, lost to antiquity, and every great hope that had come down the line had been defeated; why would this Jesus be any different? Why would He matter to Caesar, or any other mighty ruler to come into human history?

Here the gift hung, a lifeless corpse? What gift was this?

He came into the world, from the world's perspective, in less than spectacular circumstances. Yes, we know the miracles that took place to bring about the incarnated One, but if one simply observed the physical circumstances without much thought, Christ would seem less than extraordinary, a star being the only real recognizable phenomenon, and only by those who paid attention to the stars. His parents, at the whim of Augustus, their emperor, had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, while Mary was nine months pregnant. In other words, He was not the direct descendent of powerful parents, but to people who obeyed the rule of another, and He never takes a thrown, not once, while He walked the Earth, other than the throne of His followers' hearts.

His birth was eventually recognized by some wise men, and even noted by Herod, but this was some time after His actual coming into the world. At the time He was born, He was delivered into a stable, amongst the beasts of the field, and the only persons to be heralded by the angels concerning the arrival of the baby happened to be shepherds, a lowly group of men indeed. The elite of society looked down on shepherds, and these men, as Luke tells us, were in the fields at night, which more than likely meant that they were homeless.  And so, we find this child, born amongst animals, visited by the homeless, to a insignificant family in an insignificant part of the world, and He would grow up only to die by the hands of the same mighty empire that He was born under. At the time of His death, He had changed nothing that matters to humans as they write history. Some were privileged enough to witness His miracles, but the vast majority of the world in which He lived, He was a nobody by their standards, a nobody like everyone else.

How, then? How did He start such a movement? He was nobody, was He not? And, after all the miracles, He still died a nobody, did He not? He shook Pilate to His core, but who was Pilate in the grand scheme of things?

Yet, this man is known. He is not only known, but He generates interest. He not only generates interest, but He is still studied. He is not only studied, but He is followed. He is not only followed, but He is worshiped. How? Why? What made the difference? His life ends in tragedy and defeat, or so it seemed.

In short, Christ proves great because God orchestrated a great surprise, a surprise that we would have scoffed at if we were in the planning room, a plan we would have said of, "I would do it differently." He used an insignificant nation to bring about this insignificant man, who would eventually be realized to be the greatest gift ever given to man: Our Messiah, Our Savior. While this seems odd, it was not so unexpected. That Messiah would come from such humble and forgotten history was prophesied long before His arrival, and it is in this knowledge that people in retrospect begin to understand the significance.  Against such odds, God said it would be so, and it is undeniable, practically speaking, that this is phenomenal. Some bow in worship, and others act in fear, trying to snuff out this light from Israel, but all hear...and one day, all will take notice:

             " But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

                  Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

                  Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

                  The One to be Ruler in Israel,

                  Whose goings forth are from of old,

                  From everlasting."

                  Therefore He shall give them up,

                  Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth;

                  Then the remnant of His brethren

                  Shall return to the children of Israel.

                   And He shall stand and feed His flock

                  In the strength of the LORD,

                  In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God;

                  And they shall abide,

                  For now He shall be great

                  To the ends of the earth;

                   And this One shall be peace. Micah 5:2-5

From nowhere, amongst a little group among an insignificant people, will come a king that will be from everlasting and will have the strength of the Lord. Just as His coming was an unexpected expectation, so the life He lived was an unexpected expectation.  What do I mean by an unexpected expectation: It something foretold and acknowledged, but so unbelievable it was unrecognizable to many who knew of its eventual coming and paid its realty lip-service alone. He was to be the suffering servant, and although this was known of Him, it angered His fellow Jews that He would not take a more political rule that typified human power and might, ruling with a heavy hand. Instead, He walked everyday towards a submissive death, the death on the cross, and while His death was foretold years and years before His coming, and He even spoke of it often, when He died, His followers felt defeated. If they had only known...

And God looks down on us and says, "This is my Son, whom I give to you." This unknown man, He is our gift. The greatest gift ever given, and we must, at times, wonder why. Why is Jesus the gift of God? What does He offer me...which is the typical human question, not always without warrant, but often ungratefully asked nonetheless.

We ask because we often think to ourselves, “If I were God, I would have done it a different way…How is this the best God could do? How is this a gift for me?”

The reality of Jesus unexpected, expected reality teaches most about ourselves, that what God would plan would not be our plan. God did not send His Son in such unexpected ways just for surprise, In fact, He told us exactly what He planned to do, and it made all the sense in the world to our Father. It is our own unbelief and twisted ways that lend to our surprise. Why would God come as One who would not use His might to punish others into submission? Why would He not rule from a human thrown? Why would He be so different? Because God is different. God does not rule and provide peace like Rome, or any other fallen nation for that matter. Through heavy-handed rule and power humans reign. God rules in love, and Christ is that ultimate gift of love.

Let us indulge the human question: How is Christ a gift for me?

Jesus' coming in human flesh is a gift on so many levels. First, it is a demonstration of God's self-giving character. God's love for His Son extends throughout eternity past, present, and future. Throughout eternity, up to the point of the incarnation, God the Father had enjoyed complete unity with Christ, the Son, but the Father had to give Him up to send Him to us to die (John 3:16). Not only did the Father give away His Son to live on earth away from the intimate Triune community He had always enjoyed, the Son also sacrificed. He gave up His divine rights in order to walk amongst us (Philippians 2:6). He gave up His power in order to walk as we walk, so that we might know Him.... So that when we ask the question, what would God have us do as humans in this or that situation, we can look to Christ, God in flesh.  Just as written Scripture is God's Word in language we can understand, so too the Son comes in a form understandable to our mind, human form. He teaches us that our path is through Him, in communion with the Holy Spirit. He is our model.

Jesus’ coming was an intimacy not yet known by sinful humanity. Not only could God be approached as He was in the Holy of Holies, He could be touched. He could be held; He could hold. He could be kissed; He could kiss. He could be seen; and we could see Him seeing us. He would come to be with us, and would forever be closer than ever before (since Eden), through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was here. God was walking amongst us once again, and because He came, He is still here.

Perhaps the greatest part of this gift is that He has opened a way back from exile. The exilic human race is on a path to once again be the Edenic people of God. We are going home, back to the garden, which will be a beautiful city once we finally get there, New Jerusalem. Once sin entered the world, a gulf was formed, a non-negotiable ocean born.

When we say, "I would have done it a different way, God might just reply, "And who would you suggest die for your sins?"

God could have manifested Himself in countless ways, but He came as a human, for sin demands human death. And if He had not died, we would be forever hopeless. Instead, He came, and death has been split in two, and we walk in its wake by His grace, back to God's Kingdom.  That death that had defeated all men before, in its spreading upon the Christ, met its own demise. By taking Christ, it dragged into its depths a being too powerful to contain, and He burst forth, leading the captives out of captivity. 

It is true, if the story had ended at death, it would be no story. But there was a big surprise; death has died, for it met a man too powerful to destroy.

Christ is the gift of life, the promise that God still loves this fallen race. Our story is a tragic tale without Him. We are hopelessly lost without Christ. Ours would be a life not worth having, if that great gift had been never given. The gift of the baby boy that would save the world came into a world in a less than magnificent manner when we reflect upon the whereabouts of His family in physical and social standing, but then again, knowing the supernatural nature of His birth, it is the most amazing story ever told. We still tell it. And even with all the mundane, less than elite people involved, His coming still drew the wisest of men to see the child. His birth still struck fear in the heart of Herod. Imagine Herod's thoughts. Here a child is born to a couple of no real import, yet somewhere deep down Herod knew this child represented real opposition to His rule, to the rule of tyrannical men. And for some unknown, seemingly illogical reason, He lies awake at night in cold sweats, knowing the boy is alive, and growing in stature.

Herod would not succeed in killing Him on behalf of the empire, but the empire would kill Him nonetheless. He would have the audacity in His own lifetime to speak of His gospel, to suggest it would one day be told worldwide. How foolish this must have seemed, no more foolish than at the time His body hung lifeless on the cross, and, yet, somewhere deep down they knew it to be true, and they had killed Him for it. The centurion knew it, and we all have to face His reality. In this death, His message would become concrete. His death would complete exactly what He came to accomplish, to die so that we do not have to die as well. By the time of His death, His story had just begun. Christ is that gift we look at and at first think, why would I ever want that. There is nothing special here. But once opened, the gift becomes the greatest possession we can know. 

He is the difference between having nothing and everything, not just because He died, but because he also rose!

On Friday, the veil was torn in two because of Christ’s work on the cross. As it ran down from top to bottom, the tear continued downward, creating a fissure down into the depths of Death and Hades, but Death did not notice. In swallowing up Christ, death unwittingly sealed its own fate. For three days, death silently and smugly boasted in its victory, as it had defeated even the most perfect Man to ever walk the Earth. Just as it swallowed up the first Adam, the second Adam had been defeated as well, or so death thought. On this day, Satan watched as His child, Death, was defeated, and he as well was delivered a mortal blow to His head. Today, Christ rent death into, becoming the first fruits of the resurrection.

When He rose, He reminded us all that the Messiah was to be crowned King, as it was written:

“I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14).

For a time, Christ humbled Himself to serve us through suffering, but that was finished. Now, He has taken back His rightful place. Thus, He states:

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

We have a King! Happy Easter…

Reactionism: How our attitudes might kill our local churches…

Humans are reactionary creatures. When we confront a current issue that is damaging to something we hold dear, our disdain for its effects often lead us to do the opposite of what is being done. It is out of one ditch and into another. There are several examples I could give, but I will give two from the political world and then discuss one example from church world.

In the wake of a national tragedy that involved a gunman, many liberally minded folks have come to the conclusion that the solution is as simple as getting rid of guns. Reactionary? I would say so. Conservatives are guilty as well. Conservatives have perceived recent talks of environmental concerns to be propaganda, and because of such, they are wholly unwilling to talk about environmental concerns at all. They just say, “Everything is fine.” Reactionary? Yep.

Now, how about church world? In the wake of a collapsing Christendom project, many Christian leaders are seeing a failure in our current church model, which has historically little to no interest in missions, domestic or abroad.  A lot of rhetoric has emerged from current leadership concerns in regards to our post-Christendom context:

“We need to be more missional.”

“The church is not what just what happens on Sunday.”

“The church needs to go out.”

To this, I can only say, “Amen!” However, I feel the need to warn against reactionism. Correctives and reform do not totally replace already in place systems. We are not to replace coming together with going out. Instead, we are to make our existence more than just coming together. Our coming together should be means for us to then go out.

Now, I am not under any delusions that when churches begin to talk about “going out,” as if it is a new idea, that they will then be urged to discontinue Sunday worship service and the like. But, what can happen is that leadership focus is totally drawn away from the care of the flock and redirected solely to the reaching out to the world. This can lead to feel good church, with little care for the growth of members, but the world needs the flock to be well kept.

The writer of Hebrews urges his audience to avoid discontinuing their coming together (10:25). Now, in context, the danger was not that the church wanted to go and do something else. Instead, they were in real danger of disbanding altogether, but the principle stands:

In order to remain courageous, we must do well in coming together and lifting each other up.

Our commitment has to be to the body and then to the world. For the body is to reach out, and if they are exhausted from all the “going,” then they have no impact. Remember, reaching out can be difficult and scary. We need to be sure we are feeding the flock so they can feel empowered to go and do.

Churches must be highly aware not to allow the renewed interest in missions to take away from pastoral care. If the leadership at the church becomes overly reactionary to their excitement upon missions, then they run the risk of exhausting their efforts in what the church is called to do in outreach, neglecting the congregants. But, what the leadership might be forgetting is that their primary job is to lead the flock to reach out, not to be the only ones reaching out, which is what happens a lot of the time. The leaders either are frustrated with inactivity or are discouraged concerning how long it might take training people to go, and they instead do all themselves, using the congregants as an audience.

However, it is better to have a whole body reaching out than a small group known as the “leadership staff.”

It is best for the leadership, the congregation, and the lost world that we not become overly reactionary to all the current issues concerning our missional obligations. We must take a deep breath and keep pressing on and growing, not totally renovating and starting over.

As Christian leaders, we must remember that those who look to us for leadership need good example so that they might draw courage and strength from us (see Hebrews 12:7). Let's not ignore our bodies.

Just some thoughts as I was reading Hebrews today…

A Reflection On Small But Forgotten Victories

Today I joined a group of Christ followers who wish to live to make a difference in the world for His sake. We came together to learn more about discipleship and forming disciples. Things got very real very quickly. In the course of our dialogue, we spoke of the need to grow, to continually repent from our own ways and to move towards His. As we discussed, one way in which we listen for God’s reminders in our lives, those biddings to move forward in our trust in Him through life-changing sanctification, is through our reactions to the situations in life that take us off guard, those bumps in the road that cause us pause and reason to ask questions about our selves and the sort of lives we live. What is going on? Where is God? What does it all mean? What is He trying to say to me?

Sometimes, the situation can be a self-induced failure, a series of decisions that have led us to a place of despair. At other times, it might not be the situation itself, but our reactions and feelings in light of the situation that remind us of our deep need to draw ever close to him. Illness, loss of loved ones, and the like might be examples of “the uncontrollable” being a catalyst that reminds us of our deep and utter need to rely on Our God.

What was most refreshing about the discussion was the praxis. We did not simply touch on the topic, as if it was simply something to keep in mind. Too often Christians encourage each other to do this or that, but we do not spend the time to model for each other what we say must be done. But, in this case, we spent much time exploring the issue at hand. We explored learning from everyday experience in order to see the areas of life we have yet to give over or have not fully matured in, areas in which we need to repent and do things God’s way. As a matter of cementing the lesson in our mind, the leader of the small discussion asked if someone would step forward to share something God was sharing with his or her heart so that we all might explore what it might mean to repent and move forward in this situation.

One brave soul stepped forward and shared. Life had thrown many hardships and times for grief into her life in recent years. As she looked over the past few years of her life, she saw many highs and many lows. She shared how when things first began to unravel, her resolve was strong and sure, dedicated to the knowledge that God was in control, but as time went on and one sadness followed another, and one issue led to the next, frustration arose. Put all together, she was frustrated that what had started out so well went so wrong, and it all seemed for naught.

Aren’t we all like this? Aren’t we all tempted to look at the big picture and because we see failures within, or we are experiencing hardship at the present, we equate the whole thing as failure, or as if, at least for the moment, we are failing and throwing away all that we had gained? Guess what! It is okay to feel this way. Lament is actually a good thing, for we find answers in lament.

Oh how her words began to resonate in my soul, reverberating to those points of sadness and concern in my own life. I knew the sounds being sung, the chords being struck on the strings of her heart, because my heart was singing them too in a heavy and melancholy lamentation. As I heard the sad melody, I reflected on how many times I had heard the songs before. They are sung all the time, in our own lives and the lives around us.

As a culture, we do not handle lament well. We see it as a fully negative experience, but, for ancient Israel, lament was a desperate cry to the Lord that was most often followed by His sweet answers. Lament often led to true repentance. Just look at their history. Just look at their psalms. Lament is to be embraced, for it is in our brokenness that we most often find clarity. Lament was the place to which this person who was sharing with us was taken today, and because she was able to admit her pain, she was also able to hear from the Lord.

Our culture wars with each other on finding the right answer to pain. We have all sorts of psychological theories and treatments for overcoming our issues. We have pills we take to completely alter our feelings so that we do not need to face our pain. We are told that we do not need to change. We are perfect the way we are. The American avoidance goes on and on, to greater and greater lengths to avoid our real issue, our utter need for God. However, in our avoidance, we miss out on His often, quiet voice, reminding us of the freedom He has given us.

I can think of a fairly clear example of our own confusion in our culture, and it comes in the form of alcoholic reform programs. Whether we have been to such treatments or have seen them modeled on television, we are aware of how they often work (and many times to great success). The treatments and theories are as numerous as there are experts. In other words, they each have their own system that is supposed to be better than the next, and certainly there are some practices better than others. I know healed persons that will testify to this.

Nonetheless, we see one common theme with each program. They make room, whether they want to or not, for relapse. Too often it is a real issue. How each program views relapse can differ, and no matter what the counselor tells the man or woman that relapsed, often a sense of tremendous failure follows. It is this sense of failure I want to reflect upon for a moment. Again, many programs share with the persons in the program that relapse does not mean failure, but too often, these words of hope are lost on the one suffering. The person in relapse might say, “I thought I was beyond this. I thought I was cured. Was all this for nothing?”

At the core, the person identifies his or her biggest failure, his or her biggest (if not only) character flaw, as alcoholism. In other words, the person thinks, “If only I get past my alcoholism, I will be okay.” Is this so? Most certainly not… In all our lives, our big issues are numerous and tangled with all the little issue, so that when one is jostled they are all jostled. Like a box of unattended Christmas light, we do not simply sort them all separately and at once. Often, we sort them out together, often finding the points of tension between two or more strands so we can move forward. Yes, we might find real victory once we have untangled many feet of chord, but there is much to go. And, failure to tend one chord for too long can cause it to ensnare other chords we have worked on for far too long to go backwards.

So, what happens with many alcoholics when they forget the other areas of sin in their lives? They blame every failure back to one source, to their alcoholism, but drunkenness might not be the root of every failure, but the go to response to any and all failure. If this is not seen, the relapse will bring about a sense of failure. The alcoholic will say, “I must not have fixed anything at all. All the years of sobriety were fake victories.” No, a thousand times, no! This is wrong, especially when the victories were sought with God. What we often find is that as we grow in sanctification, we dig up deeply buried sins that we have not yet dealt with, as we deal with them, if we are not careful, we can let them pull us down. Thus, the alcoholic might revert, and what they do not realize is that this is not the same old thing; a new trigger has been uncovered.

Let’s say that an alcoholic’s trigger is his worry. That worry drives him to hide in the bottle. What the person might not realize is that all those years ago, what brought him to worry no longer brings him worry. Perhaps he had distrust in relationship, and when a relationship was strained, he moved to drink. He prayed for God to heal him, and God, working hand-in-hand with the man, uprooted the sins that brought him pain in relationship. As he untangled the strands with God, he was able, through sanctifying grace, to completely untangle the chord of relational distrust. He has had victory.

Years pass, and nothing brings him much worry, but then he loses his job, and he worries about his finances for his family’s sake. He is then driven back to his old friend, the bottle, and he drinks. The next day he awakes, feeling like a failure and a fraud, and he forgets that God has healed his big flaw of distrust in relationships and the sins that caused them to fall apart. For him, sanctification is real, but he has equated all his failures to one character flaw, instead of realizing that throughout life, God will bring him to various points of brokenness, that often manifest in the same way, but are only new opportunity to have victory in life.

This does not excuse his reaction. He should have turned to God and not to drink for comfort, but, it also does not mean he has been fooling himself. That his sobriety has not been real, that it cannot be really regained is a denial of what God has already done. (Let me also note that I do believe that alcoholics can be truly healed from alcoholism and do not have to be forever afraid of new triggers, so that it is not even a go to comfort in light of various strains, but I am simply using this particular scenario as a case study.)

While our stumbling block might not be alcohol, we can often feel like the relapsed alcoholic. When we find ourselves feeling a certain negative way, as we might have at another juncture of life, we might think we are back at square one, but, perhaps we are simply reacting to a new issue as we did the old. Certainly, if we see the reaction itself as negative, we need to ask God to not only fix our current situation, but our go to reactions as well. That comes in time. My friend that shared today moved from feelings of victory to frustration. Perhaps frustration is your go to stumbling block. Mine is anger. Whatever it is, God wants it. He wants victory for you. Let him redeem that area, and move forward to identifying other areas where victory is needed.

How many times in the midst of their lamentation did God have to remind Israel of the victories He brought to them? All they saw was their failure, but He reminded them that He was the God that delivered them from Egypt, that brought them out of the desert, that led them to victory over their enemies, and brought them out of exile time and time again. And when they forgot their God-given victories, they were led back to self-reliance and sin.

He reminds them to count their blessings. In the midst of our sorrow, we must not look back at all the other times in which we were able to overcome and say of them that they must have been fake or by chance. No they are victories. Count them. Sins run deep, but they do not negate the fact that God has done much to untangle the web of sin in our heart and continues to do so, so that there is real change, and it certainly does not mean that when we fall that we are forever stuck. Instead, we should be reminded that the God who has delivered us from our slavery will do so again and again.

As she shared her lament, the thoughts I just shared came to mind, and I spoke them forth before the group. It was as if God was saying, "You just had to see the frustration in someone else and how it can take away joy in order to see that the joy is actually still there, even while the pain can be blinding." I felt a great measure of peace in His reminder, and, as I shared, so did the person who had so generously shared. She thanked me later on, but how much more should I thank her. If she had not been willing to lament, I would not have been able to identify with her forgotten joys and, in turn, see my own forgotten joys.

God is good.

Small but forgotten victories are all around us. Let us not forget them any longer, for they bring us the courage to move forward.

Do We Have the Correct View of God's Wrath?

Wrath seems to be a term that many modern theologians now smack their lips over. It is a word that they cannot keep from their lips when speaking or from their fingertips when typing. In today's popular theology, wrath has come to be understood as an almost insatiable appetite of the Most High, something that, at all cost, God must be appease.

There is an image being given of the Trinity in which the Son stands between the Father and the redeemed, defending us from His wrath. Where the Spirit is in all of this is not always fleshed out, which is another telling mark of today’s popular theology. In light of this view of Christ's grace, many talk about Christ's work as appeasing to God's appetite for wrath instead of a ransom paid for our sin, but what does this mean?

This is a question never really answered. Instead, ideas of God's wrath seem assumed or carelessly formed with no real theological consideration. Instead of seeking Scriptural understanding, ideas like the fact that a God of infinite love is also a God of infinite anger are assumed to be self-explanatory. Taking all this into consideration, what view of God is given by this popular theology?

Without giving qualification, it seems that God ends up being a very angry and divided being, simply waiting for a chance to deal his retribution upon an ungrateful people. The fact that wrath can be expressed from the Almighty can remain true, and yet, it might elicit a very different set of views of God if we take a step back and define our terms. Otherwise, we must join in with many of the more modern and popular theologians in defending a God that seems petty, vindictive, and retributive.

 It is natural to assume we know the meaning of simple terms like wrath, but I would argue that we have assumed the term to be much flatter than it actually is, and we have tarnished our vision of God's character in the process. While God is revealed in human terms, we must allow Him to redefine them when they are used of Him. Any term that is first understood from a purely humanistic standpoint cannot hold up to His divine character.

We must not begin to talk of God's wrath before we properly understand wrath. Let's go back to the popular expression: "A God of infinite love must also be a God of infinite anger." Even when we think of this anger as righteous anger, an anger forever beset against evil, sin, and death, it can be worrisome. Once again, with proper perspective, this might not be so troublesome. While the above statement seems logical enough, it often elicits an unwarranted conclusion: Contrary to the assumptions of popular theology, love and anger are not two equally powerful and separate expressions of God's character.

In other words, we are not warranted to suggest that if God is described as being loving and being angry at separate points in Scripture, then we too must say in the same breath with, "God is Love," that "God is anger." Imagining love and anger as being two separate feelings God forever emotes is too dualistic. It is the sad result of allowing too much Greek philosophy into our theology, which would be better viewed through a Hebraic lens. Unfortunately, much modern theology has been developed from more Greek perspectives than Hebraic, Augustine being a champion of such theology, and a hero to many of our modern writers.

 The truth of the matter is that the Bible says, "God is love." It does not say, "God is anger." However, this dualistic perspective in which all of God’s qualities are forever emoted is often the view of God's love and anger. One might want to delve into a bit of logical philosophy and argue that if God is ever angry in the course of human history, then he must be angry all of the time for God is unchanging. This, of course, being the inevitable question of Greek philosophy concerning “the perfect,” since Greek thought teaches that perfection is static and unchanging in any way.

If this were true, then we would also wish to affirm that God is forever disappointed, for there were times in which humanity obviously disappointed God. Of course we would not wish to think this of God, but if this is the sort of "logic" we use, then this is necessarily the case. This is too flat an understanding of emotions, and simply is not the Scriptural view of God, who is not simply a static perfection, but is a perfection that is also personal.

Simply put, God is love, and from that Character, he has the potential to express His love in various ways. Love expresses itself in various forms depending on the situation. If your child demonstrates great love by standing up for a friend, your love might express itself in praise. However, if your child demonstrates great selfishness by bullying another child, your love for your child might express itself with admonishment. The love for the child has not changed; it simply responds differently. In the case of where the child expresses good qualities that will be of benefit as he or she matures, love affirms, and, in the case where the child expresses self-destructive qualities that will damage him or her as he or she matures, love discourages.

So that which we often affirm as a positive expression of love is not separate from a negative expression of the same love, they are simply varying and appropriate expressions of that same love. To think that for God to have a characteristic it must forever be kinetic, in other words, it must be active, is too simplistic. Instead, we must understand that some abilities of God are potential, always existing as a capability, but only expressed at logical points in which they need to be expressed through personal response. To think of God as a static being, always and forever exuding certain expressions is a Greek view that has permeated Western Christian thought, and is problematic when imported into a more Judeo-Christian understanding of God. 

What does this mean? Quite simply, this means that anger is not a characteristic of God that is to be juxtaposed to love. They do not belong on the same plane. Moreover, this means that love is not simply a characteristic of God, but is the summation of His character. In short, anger is not an equal quality to love, but is an expression that love takes in its position against those things damaging to that which love directs its service. In other words, anger is a form of love as it relates to that which is evil.

Moreover, anger has to be understood in its highest sense. We cannot think of the anger that we often experience that makes us petty, retributive, and vindictive. God is none of these things. Even while God is angry at sin and evil, he is also a joy-filled God, happy in the knowledge that He has dealt with sin in an everlasting way through the atonement of Christ. Therefore, we must not import our common experiences of being angry that are often accompanied by emotional turmoil and fits of rage. From a human perspective, anger is often an uncontrollable feeling, but to God it is a very controlled response to sin, and wrath is only a response of anger when necessary.

Since God is love (I John 4:16), he cannot be slow to loving. Whatever He does, He does in love, for that is His very character. But, the Bible clearly states that God is slow to anger (Exodus 34:6). Moreover, while God's love can never be lessened by the actions of men, His anger can (Numbers 25:11). Clearly love and anger are not equal emotions or characteristics of God. Moreover, God is not divided by His love and His anger.

Christ does not stand in the way of a Father who wants nothing more than to lash out at us. This is an unfortunate idea of popular theology that must be discarded. If the Trinity teaches us anything about God, it teaches us the equality of the Father and the Son, as well as the Spirit. It teaches that each member is working hand-in-hand to accomplish the will of the Godhead. If Christ's love is demonstrated in the cross so that we come to understand that Jesus love is selfless, outward-focused, cruciform love, then we must understand that what is at the center of Christ's heart is also at the center of the Father's heart.

If the Son is selfless, the Father cannot be vindictive and retributive. Christ was not the only member of the Trinity to make a sacrifice for us. So, once again, God's wrath becomes a position that Holy Love (the Character of God) takes in light of evil. Love is the defining characteristic of God, not anger. Without evil, love need not be wrathful. Yet, until evil is fully dealt with, wrath will be expressed when needed.

What does all this mean? It means contrary to the assumptions of popular theology that God does not intrinsically need to appease an appetite for wrath. It means that He has not simply created subjects to punish as an expression of His character just as He has created subjects to love out of expression of His character. It means we were all created as an expression of God’s character, which the Bible tells us is love.

It also means that the Father and the Son are not in opposition when it comes to how they each wish to treat humanity. Finally, it means that love and anger are not equal, dualistic forces, but that anger is an expression of love. Just as we would be naturally angered at that which means harm towards the ones we love, the God of Love is moved to anger against that which is set out to harm that which He loves. Wrath is not simply about making sure God gets the glory He deserves; it is about taking on that which God selflessly loves.

Does this mean that the world can breath a sigh of relief since anger might not be as big a deal as popular theology has suggested? If this is a relief for Christians who, in light of this confused theology, could not fathom a God of wrath ever loving a sinner like them, then yes. However, this should not give relief to any human that gives his or her self over to evil. While this person was created as an expression of love, if this person gives him or her self over to evil, God will, in His patient timing, eventually exact wrath in order to stop evil.

God's wrath is directed towards that which is harmful to that which He loves, and placing yourself in the camp of evil is placing yourself in the wake of God's wrath, and we must understand the sheer determination of God when it comes to dealing with evil. He is so against evil that He would subject Himself to death on a cross in order to defeat it. If an all-powerful God would subject Himself to such, we must not be mistaken concerning the extent He will go in utterly destroying evil. Hell fire and brimstone is an utterly fitting discussion to have when considering our future states if left in sin. It is a warning to not give one’s self over to evil, but over to love. The saying: "A God of infinite love must also be a God of infinite anger," is very true in the sense that God's love is forever against evil.

We must be forever mindful to respect and uphold the character of God. Popular theology would agree with this by saying that God is most concerned with His glorification, more so than His concern for the salvation of humanity. This stems from this dualistic view of God's characteristics. God is not a glory monger who also happens to be merciful to some. He is concerned about His character namely because He loves us. When we misunderstand His character, we misunderstand our place in reality.

We are made to serve God, for being under Him is our protection. To place our selves outside His rule is to place our selves in harms way. His concern to right our misconception of His glory deserving character is an expression of His Love. Respecting God's character is much more about being good representatives of His character for the sake of others over being a benefit to the Almighty. If I misunderstand God, what does that do to diminish Him? It does nothing at all to diminish Him. He does not need me to do or understand anything in order to be complete in His joy. Instead, it is a detriment to me to misunderstand God, for if I do not take His glory seriously, I misalign myself from that which provides me life. Moreover, when I misrepresent God, I run the real risk of leading others astray. Such mistreatment of God's character is evil for it is a harm to those whom God loves, and this means I am in real danger of God's wrath which is set to make right those things that are perverted and bent out of shape and cause harm to the beings and things He loves.