Running With God

Abandoned?

If you like a good story, read the following by my friend and teaching team compadre, Brad Olson:

Imagine what it would be like to like to be betrayed in such an unthinkable way that in your pain and confusion, you wondered "Where is God?" or, "Has God forgotten about me?"... whether it was by a friend or family member,  imagine being betrayed by the people who you are supposed trust, people who you would never think might do you harm, maybe it's a brother, maybe a parent, maybe a trusted uncle... perhaps they lied about the business deal, or stole something meaningful to you? Maybe they hurt you by telling your secrets? Or, worse yet, maybe they abused you in some way? 

Now, imagine what it would be like to be the second youngest of a big clan of brothers- 11 brothers- you got teased- you were the one picked last for baseball- you got all the "hand-me-downs"- you never got to do the cool stuff they did- or the grown-up stuff, 'cause you were just a kid- "hey Joe, fetch me another bucket of water"... you got tired of hearing them boss you around- you often had to do the grunt work- and, though you seldom received it, you sought after your brother's approval and praise every day... when you were younger, you even wanted to be like your older brother "Levi"-  he was a leader with a heart, unlike the others... But now, they don't seem to care for you much- they pick on you- they tease you more- and the more they tease you, the more determined you become.

You are a guy who wants God's favor and you seek God with all your heart- though you are young, you know what you're good at and what you're not good at- you have a charismatic personality- people like you.  It is clear that your Dad is proud of you... maybe more proud than he is of your brothers... you're beginning to see this...  One night, after being teased and slugged by your brothers, maybe more so than usual, you become angry and want to fight back- but you cannot- you're just a kid...and there are 10 of them- all older than you... "one day... one day...", you tell yourself as you fall asleep...

God seems to speak to you in ways that are special- he seems to be doing this more and more- when you dream, you just "know" what a dream means- you know what God is saying through a dream- even if the dream sounds like a crazy mixture of random events of your day and that late night movie you watched... the dreams make sense to you.  One night, in your dreams, 11 stars bow to you and sheaves of wheat belonging to your brothers bow to you... you are clear about the meaning from God, and this dream satisfies your desire for revenge…  one day, they'll be sorry they ever treated you poorly.  So, you announce to your brother’s the next day at the breakfast table that God spoke to you in a dream again last night.  The dream was clear and its meaning even more so… "One day, they will all bow to him! He will be the leader... He will tell them what to do... He will have the power... God says so."  Your brothers chuckle and mock you. They do their best to disregard your pronouncement, but you could tell, that one got to them... they did not like it at all.

On a cloudy and cool afternoon, you hear your brother Levi calling to you.  As you walked around the barn, you notice they all were quieter, as if they had a secret they were keeping from you. But you were used to them excluding you from "adult talk", so you didn't think much about it. Not even in your wildest dreams did you see what was coming next. When you approached, your brothers seemed to slowly circle like a wolf pack trapping their prey. They didn't look at you the same way- they had a look in their eyes void of any brotherly teasing, some of them couldn't look at you at all- they looked more like determined animals- ready to take something, or someone by force. By the time you realize that YOU were the prey, you turn to run, but it was too late. You feel the blows to your head and stomach and try to fend them off the best you can... but there were 10 of them. The last thing you remember was Levi ripping off your favorite jacket you got from your Dad for your 16th birthday last year, then everything becomes numb and blurry... you lay there... unconscious.

You wake up in a cage, in a foreign land, chained to a post. You are unable to see out of one eye because of the swelling. There is dried blood on your torn up clothes. Your head hurts; your lip is still bleeding a little. You are cold, hungry, confused, and in shock.  You think to yourself, "I must be dreaming"...

In the story of Joseph, we think of the multi-colored coat, the rise to prominence, and the happy ending. But we forget that Joseph was the victim of a brutal, cruel and violent act- delivered by the family he trusted and loved. We don't think of him as a kid. But he was. He was just a kid when his brothers secretly attacked him and sold him into slavery. He was just a kid when he was faced with the likelihood of never seeing his home again. The likelihood of never seeing his friends, never sleeping in his bed, never eating his favorite home-cooked meal, never talking to his younger brother, never getting a hug from his mother, and never seeing his father again... ever.  Joseph's story is one of violation, abuse, and utter abandonment... abandonment that went on for years. If anyone shouted "Why me!?" or wondered "Why has God forgotten about me?!", surely it was Joseph. 

Thankfully, this story does have a happy ending, not just because of what happens to Joseph or his family, it has a happy ending because in the story, God makes clear just exactly what kind of God he is: A God with a plan. God ALWAYS has a plan. And, in his plan, God somehow factors human messiness into his best equations… using our worst predicaments and our selfish plans to accomplish his purposes.

So, has God abandoned you? I doubt it. I doubt it very much. It’s when I feel abandoned that God’s purposes to grow me and grow his kingdom are never more evident.

"God meant it for good" (Genesis 50:20)

For more great stories, go that are being written at South Park Church, go to http://vimeo.com/channels/spcstory

Eating Books

I need to read like I need to eat. If I go very long without consuming ideas that expand my mind, I get really hungry. It’s not always been that way. But the more quality books I read, the more I want to learn.

The Bible should be our primary book of choice. But I have found that my understanding and love for the Bible often grows as I learn from the writings of others. Here’s a partial list of books that I have found helpful.

I dare you to pick at least one and read it. Then leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Spiritual Disciplines

• The Life You've Always Wanted by John Ortberg
• Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster
• The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard
• The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg
• Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas
• Desiring God by John Piper

Understanding the Bible

• For the Love of God by Don Carson
• The Handbook for Personal Bible Study by William Klein
• Knowing Jesus through the Old Testament by Christopher Wright
• The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey

Loving God with Your Mind

• The Reason for God by Tim Keller
• The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
• Knowing God by J.I. Packer
• The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman
• The Hole in our Gospel by Richard Stearns
• Crazy Love by Francis Chan
• The Emotionally Healthy Church by Peter Scazzero

Just because you know how to read the words doesn’t mean you know how to study. To learn the rules that govern successful study, check out this excellent resource: How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler. These principles can help you no matter what your course of study.

 

LiveSTRONG

There is one spiritual discipline that has risen to the top of the list for me recently. It was practiced by Jesus. And I have learned that it is central to the life of others whose life I want to imitate.

Author and professor Dallas Willard was speaking at a conference I attended a couple years ago. During a Q & A session I asked, "What has been most influential in your spiritual growth." Without hesitation he said it was Scripture memorization. When you memorize Scirpture, it gets inside of you and works deeply. 

(To learn more, go to  http://magazine.tiu.edu/2010/11/03/the-use-of-scripture-in-spiritual-formation/)

I have found this to be true. I invested time a couple years ago memorizing Ephesians 3:14-21. After committing the words to memory, they were available to me at any time and in any place. It created in me a desire to "experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully." These words transformed my prayers for myself and others. I am still learning to apply this passage as a husband, father, friend, pastor, and child of God.

I am challenging the people of South Park Church to memorize the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10, NIV) in the month of January. We're providing verse cards with beautiful images for each verse to help you. What might happen if these profound words of Jesus worked themselves into our hearts and our life together? I dare you to join us.

I'd love to hear from you as you practice this discipline and others. Share with us your successes and failures, your discoveries and questions. 

 

Why do Christians try to change others?

Here’s how the question came to me? “Why, if Jesus was so accepting of all, do Christians try to change all who do not believe exactly as they do?” As with all of these questions, I wish this question came in the form of a conversation so that dialog could lead to greater understanding on both sides. I fear at times that I may be answering something that wasn’t asked. Nevertheless, here’s my response.

On a rather philosophical level, all communities exist because they hold to specific beliefs or practices. A Harley Davidson biker club expects you to have a bike with a rumble. A book club expects you to read the selection of the group. And Christian communities have standards of belief and practice that hold them together.

Yet it is appropriate for us to examine how a group’s shared values influences its treatment of those outside the community. Do they treat people of other communities with respect and love or do they argue and attack? “We should criticize Christians when they are condemning and ungracious to unbelievers. But we should not criticize churches when they maintain standards for membership in accord with their beliefs. Every community must do the same” (Tim Keller in The Reason for God).

But Christianity does not create clones. One of the most beautiful aspects of Christianity is its love of diversity. The biblical vision of heaven includes people “from every nation and tribe and people and language” (Revelation 7:9). God does not destroy cultures but has a way of redeeming the good in them. It is in this diversity that we will live out our future in heaven. And this should influence how we relate to each other now even as Christ and the Scriptures provide the common ground.

As we build community and relate to those outside the community, we should follow a maxim shared in our membership class: “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity (love)” (often attributed to Augustine).

What happened to Old Testament Believers?

One of the struggling faith questions posed this spring dovetails with the Heroes series we began yesterday. “What happened to the ‘God followers’ (Moses, Abraham, Aaron) that lived before Jesus came to earth? Did they go to heaven, purgatory, nowhere?” Let’s look at this a step at a time.

1.    The only way for our broken relationship with God to be restored is through trusting that Jesus Christ’s death atones for my sins and his resurrection gives me new life (Acts 4:10-12; Romans 10:9-10).

2.    Our faith looks back to the historical appearance of God in Christ’s cross and empty grave. The faith of the believers of the Old Testament looks forward to the same event. Quoting from Genesis, Paul explains it this way:

In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.

What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would declare the Gentiles to be righteous because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. (Galatians 3:6-9).

3.    Speaking of all the heroes in Hebrews 11:16, we are told they were looking forward to their heavenly home. “But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Considering how little revelation they had to go on, this is amazing faith.

4.    According to the Roman Catholic Church, purgatory is a temporary place of punishment and cleansing before entering heaven. It is a major component of Dante’s Divine Comedy, but the concept is not supported by the Bible.  

5.    Old Testament and New Testament believers go to a place often referred to as the “intermediate state.” This is where the souls of those who die believing go awaiting the final resurrection. Jesus refers to it as paradise and tells the thief on the cross that he would go there immediately (Luke 23:43). And Paul longs to leave this world to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23).

6.    Heaven will be a place on earth. God will renew this fallen world. And we will dwell forever with Him in resurrected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Revelation 21:1-7).

One of the great realities of heaven will be enjoying the community of believers from all ages, including the era before Christ. Together we will experience the ultimate joy of God’s presence.

VBS Thank You

We had a great week of Vacation Bible School last week. My 11 year old daughter, Hannah, took the initiative to write the following to express her gratitude. As she read it publicly on VBS Sunday, I couldn't be more proud.

Dear Actors and everyone who helped out with the dramas, supervisors, storytellers, food servers, craft helpers, game helpers, classroom helpers, tech people, everyone else who helped with VBS in some way, Ms. Iris, and all of the kids who attended VBS. I would like to give a big thank you to all of you. I am going to say (really this is the truth!) this has been my favorite VBS out of the six I have attended here at SPC.

It’s not just the dramas, crafts, and fun games that will make it memorable (which were all amazing by the way—congrats to all the actors who did an awesome job!). But what made it memorable is feeling the presence of God throughout the week. Whether it was singing and dancing, hearing the Bible story, or just hanging out with other VBS kids, I could just feel God watching over us.

Part of this feeling was seeing all of the kids in my 5^th grad class get along so well. After the first day of VBS, I asked one of my friends what she thought of it, being her first time. She replied by saying she really enjoyed it and appreciated how people called her by her name. I think that’s true. When the leaders are able to call us by name, it makes us realize these people really care about us, and that at church, you can feel loved.

Plus, being part of Kids’ Worship team, I got to help out with worship for part of the time. When I’m up there, seeing rows upon rows of smiling, excited faces, there’s no way I could ever feel nervous or scared about performing.

 

I cannot thank everyone involved in VBS enough for making this week possible. Five days may go by fast, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t make a big impact on a lot of people’s lives.

 

Sincerely,

 

Hannah Flood

 

 

 

Honoring Dad

An interesting question was posed recently when I asked members of our congregation to share their honest questions about faith. Is it an unforgivable sin when you do not honor your father and mother?

There is one sin that the Bible says is unforgivable. And it is not disobeying your parents. Jesus said, "So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven" (Matthew 12:31). In the context, some were saying that Jesus was empowerd by Satan rather than God. By doing this, they lining up in oposition to Jesus and shutting themselves out of forgiveness.

What the Bible does say about parents is found in the 10 Commandments. "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12). This was spoken to the nation of Israel as they left slavery in Egypt. The command and the promise was given to them as a group. Thus a community or nation that wants a long history must be one in which parents are respected and honored.

On this Father's Day weekend, focus on the best qualities of your dad. Express appreciation to him. It will be beneficial to him and to you. If you need some ideas for accomplishing this, join us for worship this Sunday or go to http://fathers.com/

How Can God Allow Suffering?

Why did God create man knowing what was going to happen?  Human history is filled with large scale atrocities like Rwanda and the Holocaust. And many of you have stories of personal suffering due to abuse and neglect.  The presence of evil and suffering is the biggest obstacle to faith for many people.

The reasoning for rejecting God often goes something like this. God has allowed evil and suffering to exist. So he might be all-powerful and able to eliminate evil, but he chooses not to, so he can’t be all-good. Or he’s all-good and wants to eliminate evil, but he can’t so he must not be all-powerful. Therefore the supremely good and supremely powerful God of the Bible does not exist.

I’m ready to admit that the existence of evil and suffering is difficult to address. But it may prove even more difficult for people who don’t believe the Bible. Outrage at suffering, destruction, and oppression assumes that there is a different way that we are supposed to live. Where did that standard come from? It didn’t come from evolution or natural selection. That process depends on the destruction of the weak by the strong.

Philosopher Alvin Plantinga put it this way:

A [secular] way of looking at the world has no place for genuine moral obligation of any sort… and thus no way to say there is such a thing as genuine and appalling wickedness. Accordingly, if you think there really is such a thing as horrifying wickedness (… and not just an illusion of some sort), then you have a powerful… argument [for the reality of God]. (quoted in The Reason for God 27)

Even more compelling is how God personally responds to suffering. The Christian story pivots on the entry of God into the very depths of human misery. He has not kept himself immune. Jesus not only suffered unspeakable violence, he also suffered the excruciating pain of abandonment. In the process of carrying the sin and rebellion of humanity, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 27:46). Christ, our Lord, can be with us in our suffering as someone who understands.

Out of this most tragic death of an innocent man, God accomplishes the most wonderful good. The death penalty for sin is paid by Jesus. And the way back to God’s original design for love and peace within his creation is provided. This illustrates that God is able to bring good out of bad even when we can’t see how from our perspective.

We must also keep in mind the future hope of a renewed heaven and earth. Wrongs will be righted. Death will be no more. And as Pastor Tim Keller writes, “Everything sad is going to come untrue and it will somehow be greater for having been broken and lost” (The Reason for God 33).

I’m sure I’ve left many questions unanswered about the presence of evil and suffering in the world. But I hope I’ve helped you doubt your doubts. Unbelief provides little to no resources for dealing with evil. It is in the message of the Bible that we find tremendous resources to deal with suffering.

Why Pray?

Why should we pray if God already knows what what He plans to do? Let's consider this from two angles.

First, Scripture seems to indicate that God does respond to our prayers. James says, "You do not have, because you do not ask God." (4:2). And Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7). In both cases, things happen when we pray that don't happen when we don't pray.

Second, what would happen to any relationship without communication? What if my daughters decided that they didn't need to talk to me because the bills were getting paid without their input. They knew that I would provide for their needs without them weighing in on it. They would be treating me as a landlord rather than a father.

It's clear from the Scriptures that God wants our hearts. Any healthy relationship requires healthy doses of uninterrupted, two-way communication. That is also true of our relationship with God. And it is in the process of this conversation that we come to value what He values.

It is as we pray that we come to know God personally. "Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete" (John 16:24).  

True Faith

Many people are trying to follow Christ yet wonder if their faith is genuine. How can someone be sure that the prayer they prayed was accepted by God? How can we tell if conversion is more than an emotional high?

I was very young when I first trusted Christ as my Savior—just four years old. To be honest, I don’t remember most of the details. But enough happened that my parents found out about it and reinforced it. But as I grew older, I couldn’t help wondering if it was genuine. How could I be sure that I had experienced a spiritual rebirth? I recommitted my life to Christ at 12 because I wanted to be sure.

Thankfully there is a book of the Bible written for just this reason. The purpose of 1 John is stated as follows: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life” (5:13). If you want to have assurance of eternal life, read 1 John.

Author and Pastor John Stott summarizes the message of 1 John as a series of three tests:

1.    The Moral Test (How are you handling sin?)

2.    The Social Test (How are you treating others?)

3.    The Doctrinal Test (What do you believe about Jesus?)

 

If you really want to understand this book of the Bible, start by reading it through in one sitting. Then go back and look at it more slowly. On your second or third read, list the verses related to each of the above tests under the appropriate heading. Pay special attention to the “if” statements. For example:

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see. (1 John 4:20).

 

This would belong to the “The Social Test” category. Continue until you have several verses listed for each category. Then ask yourself how well those verses describe your life. Though no one is perfect this side of heaven, and we rely on grace alone for salvation, a follower of Christ has a new identity to live out.