Keep Calm and Trust the Master?

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Monday, March 31, 1014

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”           Matthew 6:19-21

I don’t think any of us actually thinks that we are really guilty of being greedy.  It’s easier to admit to almost anything other than that.     Here’s how my mind works:   I become a believer.   I find out Jesus tells us to be givers.   I ask how much.   I find out about the 10% benchmark (tithe).  I do that.   I also know I’m supposed to give beyond that so I do that.    Then I figure out how to save and do that.   Then my “default” thinking tells me that out of what’s left I can go get stuff I want, like better electronics, better car, better house stuff, better whatever.    

But it seems to me that this misses the whole point Jesus is making.   I’m still at least somewhat greedy.  I still want more stuff and better stuff.   I’m still not satisfied with “enough”.   In the last sentence of today’s passage, Jesus tells us that the big issue is what we treasure.   I can be a big time giver and still find myself treasuring stuff.   What He’s leading up to is that the thing we most treasure is actually our idol.  The thing we most treasure grabs not just our attention but also our allegiance.   Our hearts follow our treasure.  The more material treasures I have, the more they hold, direct, and control my heart.    

So, I am left with a problem that even my beyond tithing giving has not solved.  I still have an idol problem.    

I’m really glad that God teaches about tithing and giving beyond that and that we’ve got to be a lot better than the legalism of the Pharisees (which is my description of myself above) because all of that at least keeps me aware of my greed.    When I give and I do so beyond what I want to give, at least I’m aware of my cheerlessness and that’s a good sign.  It means there is still some life in me.  

“Lord, prevent me from ever feeling self satisfied with my giving.   Help me never to forget that I am living in the top 1% of the wealth of the world.   Give me gratitude for that and let that gratitude be a motivation for me to live more simply, to live less attached to my stuff, to live in a way that my generosity to others overtakes my desire to take and keep.   Amen”

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Enough

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Friday, March 28, 2014

 

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I  tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast . . .  wash your face, so that it will not be obvious . . . that you are fasting . .  .  and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”
                                                      Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)  

Fasting is a spiritual practice which teaches us over time that what we really need is God.    In relinquishing my claim to fulfill some immediate desire,  I am proclaiming that my true need is God.   It’s interesting that fasting is rarely practiced by Protestants, yet those who do fast as a regular aspect of their spiritual disciplines find themselves “coming alive” in ways nothing else was able to accomplish.  

I think it comes down to a very simple thing.   The prayer, “Lord please give me today what I need”  (line 5 of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount) is a prayer of trust that every day I ask this I get exactly what God deems necessary for me to flourish in His good world.  

Perhaps it comes down to one other simple thing as well.   Fasting in the Bible is not an effort to give up something in order to get something.   That would like trying to earn Grace, an oxymoron.  Rather, in the Bible fasting is a response,  usually to a crisis.   It is a way of entering into the crises, the pain of it.   As God enters into the pain of our world, we can fast (from food - I’m not actually sure that fasting from electronics counts) as our way of being fully present with others in the time of need.   In doing so we are with the other as God is with us.   It is in the with that God’s power is transferred.   In this way fasting, like prayer, obedience, trust, belief, faith, worship and all the rest of Christianity, is profoundly relational. 

“Lord, give me the grace I need to practice simply being in your presence without any other agenda getting in the way.    And Lord, show me if you want me to fast.  Then, if you indeed lead me to to do so, give me the will to do it in whatever way you think will grow my into a deeper love of You and others.   I love you Lord, Amen”

 

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Being Forgiven and Forgiving are the Same Thing

   Blog »    Being Forgiven and Forgiving are the

Same Thing  

Thursday, March 27, 2014

    "For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive

your sins."
 Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV)

Forgiving and being forgiven different names for the same thing.   They are inseparable.   One without the other is impossible.   The heart that refuses to forgive is too hard to receive forgiveness.   Conversely the heart that cannot receive cannot give.  

In Prayer:  Finding the Heart's True Home, Richard Foster notes realistically that "Forgiveness does not mean that we will cease to hurt.  The wounds are deep, and we may hurt for a very long time. . . Forgiveness does not mean that we will forget. That would do violence to our rational facilities . . . Forgiveness is not pretending that the offense did not really matter.  It did matter, and it does matter, and there is no use pretending otherwise      . . . Forgiveness is not acting as if things were the same as before the offense.  We must face the fact that things will never be the same . . ."  

As C. S. Lewis notes "I find that when I think I am asking God to forgive me I am often in reality (unless I watch myself very carefully) asking Him to do something quite different. I am asking him not to forgive me but to excuse me. But there is all the difference in the world between forgiving and excusing. Forgiveness says, 'Yes, you have done this thing, but I accept your apology; I will never hold it against you and everything between us two will be exactly as it was before.'  If one was not really to blame then there is nothing to forgive.  In that sense forgiveness and excusing are almost opposites."

"The first thing that you have to do if you're going to forgive that person is to receive the grace of God. Until you receive grace from God and His forgiveness of you, you will not be in a position to forgive somebody else.  The second thing?  Acknowledge the wrong. Name it, whatever it was.  Name it in the presence of Christ.  Be straightforward with Him.  Number three, lay down all your rights. Forgiveness is the unconditional laying down of the self.  And now, number four? . . . If that person asks forgiveness, forgive . . . if he does not . . . forgive him anyway in a private transaction with God . . . ask for grace to treat that person as if nothing had ever happened. Stand with Christ for him."

“Lord,  I’m done.   I’m done with holding grudges.  I’m done with avoiding those who’ve hurt me.  I’m done with hurt, anger and wanting bad things to happen to certain other people.   I’m done with what all of that does to me.   Yet, Lord, please deliver me to a higher plan than that of wanting to forgive others for my sake only.   Give me your love for “my enemies.   Amen”

 

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The Best Prayer Guide Ever Published

Blog »    The Best Prayer Guide Ever Published 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

 "This, then, is how you should pray:

'Our Father in heaven,
 hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
 your will be done 
 on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today our daily bread.
 Forgive us our debts, 
 as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
 but deliver us from the evil one.'"   Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV)  

It’s always good to have a guide.   If you are a right brain scattered, ADD, never on point kind of person, then this prayer guide is good news for you!   If you are a left brained perfectionistic rationalist who can’t believe anything can work other than within a logical format then this prayer guide is good news for you too!  

It’s comprised of 10 lines, each covering a crucial aspect of God and your actual real life existence in His good world.    

Line 1:  “ Lord, you’re the Father my human father (well or poorly) was tasked to represent.   So, Father, I believe you’re here (in the heavens surrounding me as close as the air I breathe) and that you are the consummate Father, at every moment giving me exactly what I need”.  

Line 2 “help me today to be a reason for others to want to know You”  

Line 3  “Lord, bring it on.   Whether it brings me peace or whether it rocks my world, Lord, bring it on."  

Line 4  “Lord, I want what I want . . . . . nevertheless, Lord, not my will, Lord, but Yours be done."  

Line 5  “Lord, lead me to concrete acts of love that are part of your ushering in Your Kingdom now."  

Line 6  “Lord, I believe that you are providing me with exactly what I need for today."  

Line 7  “Lord, my sin is ever before me.  Yet again I ask your forgiveness.  And I receive it!  Amen!"  

Line 8  “Lord, I am beginning to see that forgiving and being forgiven are the same thing.   Forgive me when I delude  myself into thinking that I can receive your forgiveness without giving it."  

Line 9  “Lord, I’m being pulled away from you by forces beyond my control every day.   I need your help to avoid these powers."  

Line 10 
“And Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you for your victory over all evil and over the evil one on the cross.   You exhausted his power and trumped the worst that he can do to us.  You have done so by means of your resurrection from the dead. The worst that can happen is never, never, never the last thing that will happen.  Thank you Lord, that in Jesus, the worst that can happen is always, always, always follow by resurrection, renewal and restoration.  Amen"
 

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Do My Prayers Count?

  Blog »    Do My Prayers Count?  

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and  on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your  Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."           Matthew 6:5-6 (NIV)  

I have always found prayer difficult.   It’s hard enough connecting with another human being whom you can see, much less connecting with God, whom you not only cannot see, but who ‘s greatness makes you wonder what you could say that would be worth his while.  

Further I often find myself disliking not only the public prayers of others, but I don’t even like most of my prayers, be the private or public.   It’s hard to pray out loud.   Am I trying to be theologically correct so listeners know what I’m talking about?  Should I raise my voice, add Amens, pray what I think others need to hear (which is probably preaching, not prayer), be solemn, be happy, be joyful, be empathic, risk being naively trusting? .  . . and on it goes.    

Jesus tells us that if we pray so as to look good before others, well it might work, we might look spiritual and therefore be “rewarded” by how good we think others think we are (but I don’t’ think so . . . most people are not so easily faked out).     

I think our best prayers are prayed when we just get alone with God and take the time needed to just be there and conclude that God is present and that you need Him.   And before a word is spoken the most powerful aspect of prayer has already occurred.   What parent, when I child comes to him or her in need and with humility would not give that child exactly what that child needs.   After your dependent approach to God, then you may have some things to say, but frankly those things are far less important than your dependent presence.   Show up, in private, taking whatever time you need to see your need, and then listen, giving God the space to get a word in edgewise.

“Lord, forgive my need to always figure out what to say to you.    Help me to know deeply that what you really want from me is my “want to” to be in your presence.   Help me to see my need.    Help me to listen, to trust that you have spoken, and then to actually trust you enough to actually do what you are leading me to do.  Amen”

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Does God Reward Generosity?

  Blog »    Does God Reward Generosity?  

Monday, March 24, 2014

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.  So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”
                                                         Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV)  

Why do you give?   Why do you give financially to your church?  Why do you give to the needy?  

In his “discourse on the hill” Jesus asks us to examine our motives.   Jesus knows us and our temptation to look good to others.  Yet, wonderfully, He tells us that generous giving reaps a tremendous reward that has nothing to do with looking good to others.    It’s just that each of us needs to learn where the rewards lie, which actually both satisfy and last.   Take a moment to read one of the most quoted passages ever from C.S. Lewis.  It is from The Weight of Glory.  

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. . . .  

“We must not be troubled by unbelievers when they say that this promise of (heavenly) reward makes the Christian life a mercenary affair.  There are different kinds of rewards.  There is the reward that has no natural connection with the things you do to earn it and is quite foreign to the desires that ought to accompany those things.  Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money.  But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it”. . . . The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation . . . . . An enjoyment of Greek poetry is certainly a proper . . . . reward for learning Greek; but only those who have reached the stage of enjoying Greek poetry can tell from their own experience that this is so.  

. . . . enjoyment creeps in upon the mere drudgery, and nobody could point to a day or an hour when the one ceased and the other began. But it is just in so far as he approaches the reward that he becomes able to desire it for its own sake; indeed, the power of so desiring it is itself a preliminary reward . . . .

Now, if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already in us”

 

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Be Perfect?

  Blog »    Be Perfect?

Friday, March 21, 2014



        Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
         Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

Jesus said it, so let’s deal with it.  

The New Testament was written in Greek, which translates the words of Jesus which were spoken in Aramaic, a ‘street language’ form of Hebrew spoken by the average Jew.  The Greek word, teleios means something like, “mature, adult, completed, perfect”.  Jesus probably used the Aramaic word (salem or tamim) which meant “whole, unblemished”.  So far so good, but it probably doesn’t help much.  What is Jesus telling us?  

For every 100 interpreters there are 100 explanations.   I find it interesting that Luke’s parallel rendering of this sentence is “be merciful as your Father in Heaven is merciful”.    Maybe that plus the word “as”  in both Mathew and Luke give us the clue to what Jesus is saying.    Beginning in verse 43 Jesus had told us  “love your enemies”, “pray for those who persecute you”, “the sun rises on the good and evil alike”   Could it be that “perfect” means that we are to seek to love everyone as God loves everyone, no one excluded? Of one thing I am sure.   Jesus is not telling us to be sinless.  Jesus doesn’t make new laws,  he came to complete the meaning and intent of the law and to forgive our failure to achieve it.   

I hope you take a moment to watch this video again, and again, and again.  Watch it until you “get” the shocking, extravagant, scandalous, promiscuous, undeserving love and grace that God offers to everyone, no one excluded.   Even I am included in the Love of God.  You too.  When we “get” that, we then understand what kind of person Jesus is urging us to become.  

Watch:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnaZlwme8Sw

 

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Pastor's Blog

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Thursday, March 20, 2014



"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven”   Matthew 5:43-45 (NIV)  

What does it mean to “love your enemies”?    Scott McKnight puts it this way, Love is “a rugged commitment to be with someone as someone who is for that person’s good and to love them unto God’s formative purposes”.

“With”      “for”      “unto”  

If this is correct and I think it is, then it would mean that avoidance is not a good option.  Although a cooling off period is often necessary, separation doesn’t normally contribute to love.   Avoidance usually builds more walls.  I need to commit myself in some way shape or form to be around or with or attentive to or somehow sometimes to be in the presence of those I’m at odds with so that I can demonstrate that I long for and am working for the long term good of that person.    This is an ethic, or behavior that far, far surpasses today’s American ethic of tolerance.   People don’t need tolerated, they need loved.   My goal should be not to tolerate enemies, but to strive for them to become the sort of person God wants them to be.  

Perhaps you have someone who fits into the broad category of “enemy”.   What might be your starting point if you are ready to actually believe that . . .   1.  Jesus knows what he’s talking about.   2.   What He says actually leads to a more blessed life than I’m living now. ?    Can you find ways to simply be around that person or those persons on some regular basis so that your interactions can be at least more normalized?   Can you set aside regular time to pray for that person?  

“Lord, forgive us for our avoidance.   Forgive us for creating in our minds persons who are “other”, who are “against us” or against whom we find ourselves.   Lord, lead me into the presence of my enemies, not to feast in their presence (the bad part of Psalm 23) but to pray that they will feast in Your presence, and with that to “surpass the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees”.  Amen”

 

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Pacifism?

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Wednesday, March 19, 2014

“But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. 
If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also”.
Matthew 5:39 (NIV)  

Some believe that Jesus is talking here only about how the Christian handles personal injury.   Others believe that Jesus is giving a rationale for Christian Pacifism.    What do you think?   Those who believe Jesus is arguing for a Christian Ethic to guide a nation face the following dilemma;  

“This is the dilemma: on the one hand going to war causes terrible evils, but on the other hand not going to war permits them. Whichever horn one chooses to sit on, the sitting should not be comfortable. Allowing evils to happen is not necessarily innocent, any more than causing them is necessarily culpable. Omission and commission are equally obliged to give an account of themselves. Both stand in need of moral justification”  Nigel Bigger “In Defense of War”  

However, to write off pacifism as naïve, unrealistic and impractical is (I think) disrespectful to Ghandi, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and early Church martyrs.   Further it seems to me that Just War Theory (Augustine) is used as an easy way to justify the violence of war when my comfortable world is threatened.   I think that we 21^st Americans are way, way, way to comfortable with violence.   Just last night I heard a commercial for the new movie “300”.   The promo said, “Watch it in 3D, it will leave you screaming and hungry for more”.   It appealed to our thirst for violence.   Do you remember Presidential Candidate John McCain singing to the tune of “Barbara Ann”, “bomb, bomb, bomb . . . bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” on Television?  

Would Jesus advocate the demilitarization of America?   Would Jesus tell you to defend yourself if your home were being invaded?   I do think these questions should at least make us think.   I also think that whatever our conclusion about going to war as a nation or defending oneself personally, we should not ever allow ourselves the comfort of knowing we are right.  Instead I think the best we can do is follow Jesus, repentantly, asking forgiveness for whatever self justifications are present in our actions.  

What do you think?

“Lord, forgive us all for our over the top tolerance of and even participation in things which glorify violence against persons of any sorts whom you love and who are your children.   Lord, bring to mind ways that I can reject the world of violence and enter your world of peacemaking.  Amen”

 

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Don't Get Mad, Get Even???

Blog »   Don't Get Mad, Get Even???  

Tuesday, March 18, 2014   Jeff Lampl

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."
                                                     Matthew 5:38-42 (NIV)  

What do you do when someone harms you physically, emotionally, economically or in some other way?  

Jesus continues teaching us how to flourish in God’s good world.   In the Beatitudes He taught us that the good life of the Kingdom is available to anyone who wants it.    Not only that, whoever accepts His offer finds himself among those make the world work (light and salt of the earth).   Jesus then tells us how anger, lust, wrecked marriages, and verbal manipulation ruin our joy.    Basically Jesus is saying.   Trust me on this.  I won’t be easy but it will be good.    

Now He tells us to skip revenge.   The old way was “eye for an eye,”  reciprocation through equalization, responding to an injury in kind, nothing more, nothing less.  But as always Jesus rejects “at least I didn’t act on my anger” by telling us that the Kingdom of God is not about what we don’t do.  

The Kingdom of God is about a new heart and that new heart, new love, new other-centeredness is achieved through practicing Kingdom practices.   People who are alive in God’s Good Kingdom see themselves in God’s hands.  They see the humanity and limitations of their enemies and see them under God.   They are learning to view others as Jesus did (“Father, forgive them because they don’t know what they are doing”)  

"Lord, I need help with this.   I want to see others as you see them, out of touch with the reality of the Kingdom, even as victims of life under the control of the 'Prince of this world'.     My emotions get in the way and simply choosing to “not do” something doesn’t work.   Help me to act in some concrete loving way toward “an enemy” this week.  Thank you Lord.  Amen"  

 

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