Blog »  A Purpose for Living

Thursday, June 13, 2013 Jeff Lampl

NOTE: Can you find a way to sneak in one more reading of Philippians chapter one today?

“Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  . . .. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith. . ."                             Philippians 1:18-26 (ESV) 


Okay, I do believe this. I believe that God will use anything at all for my and your good. Do you believe this? The key is to believe that whatever is happening is being, at any given moment, used by God for good. So I must be able to believe this, stand on this and say this to other people. In that way God is honored and I am living above my circumstances, not under them. It’s important to realize that this is not psychological as in “choose a positive attitude”, rather it is simply acknowledging what is true and aligning your life with that. 

Are you willing and able to align your life with what is true? In what ways do you do so? 

Paul then explains a hard but simple truth. God’s working everything together for good may mean that I die, which means that I will be resurrected with a new body to continue my life on a renewed earth. Actually this is something I practice every day simply by going to bed, losing consciousness, and trusting that I will wake up to the dawn of a new day full of infinite possibility. Furthermore, I go to sleep (the Bible’s way of talking about death), trusting that my loved one are safe and accounted for in God’s trustworthy hands.

So why do Christians seek to continue to live? Of course lots of reasons exist. But here’s the big one: to live for the sake of others’ “progress and joy in the faith so that they will have ample cause to glory in Jesus”.

Blog » Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

Wednesday June 12, 2013 Jeff Lampl 

NOTE: 

Read Philippians chapter one again today. Mark up your Bible. People whose Bibles are worn  out aren’t (get the play on words?)



I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
                                                           Philippians 1:12-14 (ESV) 

Philippi has an interesting history. It was founded by Philip, father of Alexander the Great, in 368 BC. It lies at the juncture of Europe and Asia, where Turkey meets Greece today. More than 300 years later it was the site of a great battle. Julius Caesar had been assassinated by Brutus (“et tu Brute” on the Ides of March). Mark Antony, Caesar’s heir and “boyfriend” of Cleopatra, went after and defeated Brutus, where? At Philippi in 42 BC.  

But Philppi, this city of legendary historical figures, has its greatest glory in the fact that it is here that Christianity found its way to the western world. On his second missionary journey Paul had dream beckoning him to come to Europe (Acts 16). Paul did so, met Luke there (note the first use of “we” in Acts 16) and the rest is history (literally!) 

It is from prison in Rome to this little church that Paul writes words that in a sense rewrite history. He writes that empires and prisons and military power are only pawns in the hands of God to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today Philippians is best remembered around the world as a letter of joy, a statement that confidence in God, not in the circumstances of life so dependent on power or lack thereof, is the solid rock of the good life. 

“Salvation is confidence in God” (Dallas Willard), no matter what comes your way.  

Would you say that your life can be described as confidence in God?

Blog »  Do You Delight in Others?

Tuesday, June 11, 2013 Jeff Lampl

NOTE: Read Philippians chapter one over and over this week. Mark up your Bible with notes, highlights and asterisks. Then bring it to worship on Sunday. I promise you that you will grow in your relationship with Jesus. If you don’t I’ll give you your money back.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness,  how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God”            Philippians 1:3-11 (ESV)

 Okay,  so I googled “delight” so that I could find a picture for today’s blog that might reflect Paul’s obvious delight in the believers in Philippi. I was surprised to find that the first entries were all about delighting in others’ failures. Here’s the first one that came up.

Schadenfreude i/ˈʃɑːdənfrɔɪdə/ (German: [ˈʃaːdənˌfʁɔʏdə]) is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. This word is a loanword from German, the direct English translation is 'Damage-Joy' or 'Fail-Joy', it is the feeling of joy when one sees another fail.

What do you think of that? Do most people delight in others or in others’ failures? How about you?  

Think of how Paul delights in the Philippians;

     “I thank God because of you”
     “I yearn for you with the affection of Jesus”
     “I’m sure what God began in you, He will finish”
     “I remember you in prayer with joy”
     “I pray you stay focused on what is excellent, pure and blameless”
     “I pray you get to enjoy the fruit of your godly living”

Perhaps one of our greatest tasks as Christians is to give others a taste of Christ delighting in them. He is for people, not against them. Paul gives the Philippians this tastes by his (Paul) delighting in them.  

In what ways do you or do you not give others a taste of Christ delighting in them? 

Blog » “Your Family can be Superheroes”

Monday, June 10, 2013 Jeff Lampl

Sometimes I make a visit to a “city” ministry like the Lighthouse in Oxford where one or two poorly paid but highly competent staff plus many but not enough already busy volunteers give of time they don’t have so that kids who are under-resourced both relationally (parents not around) and materially (poor) can get meals, tutoring, an adult who cares and be introduced to Jesus. 

Each time I come away thinking, “those are a real Christians”. They are my heroes. They are on the front lines. It is they who care the most. It is they who are bringing hope and justice to the world one child at a time. 

Philippians 1:6 tells us that God has begun a good work in you and your family and He is working to bring that work to a flourishing finish and one of the important ways that God wants to finish His work in you is  by taking you and your family together beyond yourselves.  

          “There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this
          great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day
          Christ Jesus appears”.     Philippians 1:6 (MSG) 

Just as God intended that Israel would go beyond itself and reach the world,

          “I'm setting you up as a light for the nations so that my salvation becomes global!"
                                                      Isaiah 49:3-6 (MSG)  

God wants every believing family to go beyond itself to reach those who need you.  

Here’s a simple and powerful step you can take as a family.  

     1. Attend the Lighthouse picnic on Saturday. All the details are below.
     2. Tell your family that this picnic is a picture of the Kingdom of God where believers are
         gathered for the purpose of bringing everyone to the Party that God wants everyone to
         get in on.
     3. Tell your family that the money raised will go to building a big building in Oxford where
          kids who don’t have what you have can meet Jesus and have help to make it in life.
     4. Make a pledge of any amount and do it as a family.
     5. Jesus. Family. God. Together. Outreach. Holy Spirit. Giving. Fun. These all go together
          when Families go beyond themselves for the sake of others.

Blog » “These Three Remain”  

Friday, June 7, 2013    Jeff Lampl



“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I
shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. “

1 Corinthians 13:11-13 (NIV) 

 This passage tells us we don’t really know as much as we think we know. Most of us are probably a pretty messy mix of naivete' (childlike) and thinking we know it all (childish).  

The brilliance of this passage (at least as it seems to me today) is that it gives us three windows into reality, three ways to see through and past our temporary “all about us” worlds.  

Hope does not mean, “I hope so”. In the Bible Hope refers lives built on the solid reality that what God has done for Jesus in raising him from the dead, He is now doing and will have done for every believer and for  the entire planet. This is a reality that cannot be undone. On that Hope, on that unshakeable reality, we stand.  

Faith means believing. It means choosing to put all my eggs in God’s basket. Faith is confidence in God. God is good. God is for us. I have confidence that whatever happens God will turn it for good. Faith means I am a true believer, even when, especially when, I doubt. It is then that I choose through gritted teeth to believe . .  and never stop believing. 

Love throughout the Bible (‘agape’ in Greek, pronounced ah-gah’-pay) means caring about the highest good of the other and acting on it. It is not a feeling, even though loving feelings often follow acts of love. It is an act of the will. When I love another I am participating in what I was built for. I am growing up. I am becoming Christ-like.  

Question: Where does one learn these things? Where have you learned them . . . not just academically or as head knowledge, but as internalized realities which connect you with God? My guess is that church helps but that family, when working right, is God’s Plan A for passing on “these three that remain”. Is that your experience? How might you make your family’s experience in the near future?  

“Lord , please lead our family one step closer to becoming this kind of family. Lead us to You . . . together. Lord, please reveal the one next step in prayer or Bible Reading or worship or whatever, that you want for our family. Amen”

Blog » “Family: a Beautiful Mess”

Thursday, June 6, 2013 Jeff Lampl

 
Did you know......... 

· You can rent a grandma? If you yearn for the feel of a traditional family dinner, Rent a  
  Grandma will let you shop, cook, talk, and share a family dinner with an older woman of your
  ethnicity.
· You can hire consultants and facilitators for potty training, love coaches who will help you with
  the tactics of romance, and experts who can organize your kitchen, bedroom, playroom and
  emotional spaces.
· You can hire not only wedding planners but also funeral planners.
· For a fee “Family 360” will come into your home and evaluate your performance as a dad or
  mom.  They will even help you to create memories.

Talk about outsourcing! 

Question: Are your best memories the result of the perfectly planned party or vacation where everything went off without a hitch, where everything happened exactly as planned? 

Not in our house. My family remembers the food fight that I started and which ended with a piece of rice stuck on my forehead more than they remember Disneyworld. We remember the joy of spraying the hose through the window into the  kitchen onto siblings and mom. We remember the camping trips when the water resistant tent got filled with water, or the birthday dinner when everyone was yelling at “poor dad” (I remember it that way too!) 

The following passage makes me think that we are way too hung up on getting life and family mapped out, planned out, and done right. All the impressive how to’s of the world will fade, but love, the joy of imperfect but genuine connectedness to those we love, will not.  

       "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
        tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."  
                                                        1 Corinthians 13:8 (NIV)
“Lord, loosen me up. Make me a catalyst for laughter and joy in my family. Release me to release my family to have fun. I’m tired of the all the requirements of your salvation, bring us the joy of your salvation. Amen”

Blog » “Families Produce 'Chests' "

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 Jeff Lampl

In his book, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis writes that modern society is growing “men without chests”.  

By this he means that we are creating people who value facts, intellect, learning, education and practical outcomes on the one hand and we are catering to all the different kinds of appetites, wants and desires and base instincts of people on the other.  

The head on the one side and the stomach on the other. But can life work this way? Can the world work expecting the head to rule the stomach, expecting reason and education to reign over my base desires? 

Lewis then says that the head rules the stomach through the Chest. The chest is where values are grown; loyalty, character, patience, kindness, endurance, faith, hope, humility, sacrifice, perseverance. It is only the strength of the chest that can reign in or redirect the stomach. These things are not learned in school, nor are they learned by “filling our stomachs”. They are learned in loving, interactive, committed, messy relationships, where we have to learn to get along, to find out the world isn’t all about me, to transcend our appetites, to remain committed when we don’t want, to persevere when we want to quit, to believe when it’s easier to give up. It is where we learn to serve, not use others. It is where we learn to believe in something bigger than myself.  

That happens in families. It is in my family that I learned that there are values and those values have shaped me. They still shape me. I have a “chest” because my parents gave me one.  

It is in family, not from a pastor, not from some great teaching guru, not from a self help book,  that I learned, at least to some modest degree,  all the following things. 

       “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” 
                                          1 Corinthians 13:7 (ESV) 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but  rejoices with the truth."    1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)