Sycamore

From WORLD magazine:

Thousands of Iraqi Christians have found threats like this under their front doors or stoops, in stairwells or shoved through their courtyard gates: “Be informed that we will cut your heads and leave your dead bodies with no organs and no heads in your stores and houses. We know your houses and we know your family. We will kill you one after the other. Depart the Muslim areas.”

Others have received text messages in Arabic like this one sent to a Christian family in Mosul earlier this month: “When your head is put over your back [an expression describing how sheep are slaughtered] then there is no chance to feel sorry for you. It will be too late. Allah is the supporter who gives swords to his warriors.”

Don’t forget what life’s about and get too comfortable.

Okay, that’s a much better title than this post is going to be.  I’m at the Novel Cafe on Ocean Park, which is awesome, hanging out with free wifi and my buddy Steve Kennedy who is learning Latin (after finishing the 1,200 page unabridged Count of Monte Cristo - seriously, he finished that one and picked up a Latin book all inside of an hour).

I am fried.

My brain as of late has been trying to wrap itself around the idea of the Kingdom of God as presented in Scripture.  (I’ve got to write a paper on it).  Which is hard, because people all over the place have been presenting it however they’d like it to be.  We’re “building the kingdom,” “doing kingdom work,” “citizens of the kingdom,” have “kingdom ethics,” etc.  It’s like you slap the term “kingdom” in front of something and you give at least five extra holy points.  Problem is, few people can explain exactly what it is without ending up sounding like some new age hippie (”Well, it’s, like, when God is totally in control, and, like, in your heart completely, and, umm, all people around the world are united, you know, and there’s shalom in the world, with liberty and justice for all.”  Wow.)  Unfortunately, Jesus was pretty vague when talking about the Kingdom, even though he talked about it all the time.  The Kingdom is “at hand,” it’s “near,” it “has come upon you,” it “is amongst you,” it is “not of this world”… and I haven’t even gotten to the parables yet.  So, needless to say, I’m in overdrive to write this paper.

On top of that, I’m thinking long and hard about lying.  The message on Sunday is about honesty, and I’ve been struggling to not just preach a sermon on having integrity but get to the heart of the idols that motivate stretching the truth.  It’s hard in an ironic sort of way - trying to get an honest answer out of a deceitful heart to preach a sermon on honest.

Plus, wedding planning is pretty crazy.  There’s a whole subculture that I’m sure I’ll be writing about more as I go down the road.  For a sneak preview, read up on Chrissie’s blog.

Seriously.  It’s funny and informative.

Found this list of 10 Ways to Ruin Your Day Off.  It’s written by a preacher for preachers, but I think it applies pretty well to anyone.  Here’s a reprint of the list:

1. Don’t do any planning about how I’m going to rest, relax and reflect - assume that ‘resting well’ just happens when I stop working.

2. Sleep in.

3. Spend most of the day talking about work related things.

4. Spend most of the day silently thinking about work related things.

5. Spend most of the day planning for work related things.

6. Neglect the spiritual disciplines practiced on the other six days.

7. View the day as one to solely satisfy my personal needs, rather than a precious period for quantity-quality time with family.

8. Don’t read Christian books (especially biographies) that nourish, soothe and refresh my soul.

9. Watch TV.

10. Revolve the day around me, rather than fix my eyes on God, the gospel and my Saviour Jesus Christ.

So I don’t really know who Carl Trueman is.  But I looked him up, and the dude is a scholar.  And scholars abound, but scholars who can write well are hard to find.  That’s why I’ve particularly enjoyed Carl Trueman’s articles over at Reformation21 lately, and I thought I’d share some of his insight (instead of caving in to the temptation to pass them off as my own).

Trueman on maturity:

Numerous incidents over recent years have brought the sad effect of all this home to me.  As a professor at university and seminary, I have had too many run-ins with students who act like five year olds and, when held to account, express all the pouting resentment that one comes to expect from a generation that demands respect but refuses to put in the time and effort to earn it.  You see them on the blogs, screaming their abuse and demanding to be heard, carrying on their tirades long after the threshold of Godwin’s Law and any semblance of decency or credibility has been passed for the umpteenth time.  They have achieved nothing - but they demand that you respect them!

…You are, of course, what you worship, as Psalm 115 reminds us, and thus, as long as we idolize our children and the culture of youth, we can expect to - well, be just like them: pouting, irresponsible, hormonal, unpleasant and, frankly, as creepy as those sixteenth century portraits of little children with adult faces.  Trapped in Neverland with no hope of escape.

Trueman on Christian personality worship:

What is worse than this, of course, is that such people negate the power of the cross of Christ.  Paul makes the point with ruthless effect in 1 Corinthians 1.  To indulge in a cult of personality is not simply to miss the point of the cross; it is also to empty the cross of its power.  That is why it is not simply incumbent upon students to guard against being sucked in to such idolatry.  How much more is it incumbent upon the professors to avoid becoming the objects of such a cult?  It is often said that you cannot enter into a pulpit and make yourself look like a great preacher and Christ look like a great saviour at one and the same time.  So it is in the classroom, on campus, at conferences: the professor, the theologian, cannot point to the power of the cross and simultaneously encourage a cult of personality.  These things simply cannot stand together.  Indeed, it is surely vital that the professor not only avoid creating such cults but also actively opposes them as they start to arise around him.  To do less than this is, I fear, to empty the cross of its power and to lead others into idol worship.

Trueman on Culture (in an article about Marxism, no less):

Second, am I alone in being sick to death of all the trendy talk about `culture’?   A biblical approach to reality seems to involve, first and foremost, a commitment to the notion of essences.  Culture is very real but, as a social construct it is not the ultimate reality; nor is it, therefore, the ultimate reality.   This seems to me the problem with much postmodernism: it’s obsession with culture at the expense of essence has created moral chaos.  For example, how can one have inalienable human rights when there is no inalienable human nature?  Hence the silliness on the left these days where — surely to Marx’s horror! — moral equivalence arguments are made between feudal genocide, as in Saddam’s Iraq, and poverty in post-feudal democracies.  Any Marxist knows that capitalist democracy, for all its faults, is superior to feudalism in every way.  Christians should take a leaf from the books of the palaeo-Marxists and return to talking about nature and essence, not culture.

A lot of the stuff over at Reformation21 is a good read - clear thinking is hard to come by, and these guys tend to do it well.

It’s funny because it’s true.  I laughed out loud in the seminary library (which is both quiet and holy, so you know this thing is good).

(HT: once again, Jared Wilson)

This morning, I was going through my Google Reader and came across a quick youtube clip that Jared Wilson called a “four-minute shot of theological tequila” to get your week started right.  It’s a video of images paired with a few minutes out of a John Piper sermon.  It’s pretty powerful, you should give it a look.

I rarely watch those videos.  Mainly because I feel like if I need to watch a video to get me fired up about God, something is wrong.  And that sounds good, and it preaches pretty well (”You need a video???  We’re talking about the almighty God!!), but my experience says that most days I do need something to encourage me towards passionate worship.

I almost get ashamed for needing help to get fired up for God.  It’s as though I’m supposed to default to a state of perfect bliss and passionate pursuit of God, and if I need help in that area I’m a second-class Christian (not to mention a third- or fourth-rate pastor).  The idea that I need someone else to get me excited about God seems like the spiritual equivalent of a “resource” class in high school – the class where kids with learning disabilities go to get help with what most other kids can handle on their own.

But the truth is that we all default to a state of sin, not holiness.  And that sin manifests itself in disobedience, pride, but it seems for most of us it manifests most of all as apathy.  That’s why the Bible says that we need to “exhort one another daily, so that we won’t be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”  That’s why we’re told to “encourage one another and build one another up.”  That’s why we’re commanded to address “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Because we need each other.

There are some days when I actually do wake up, and I read my Bible, and I worship from my heart.  It’s not every day.  But it is some days.  And there are days when certain situations arise, or certain conversations are had, that put me in a place of praise and worship, and passionate love for God is present in my soul.  And on those days, I am commanded by God to share what He has blessed me with.  It’s not my default state, and that’s why I know it is a blessing, and that’s why I must encourage others with it, build others up with it, encourage them to sing songs with me, because there is something about seeing someone else worship that can be contagious.

There are some days when I wake up, and read my Bible, and I don’t feel authentic worship in my heart.  It’s not every day.  But it is some days.  And there are days when certain situations arise, or certain conversations are had, that put me in a place of apathy or envy or idolatry, and passionate love for God is not present in my soul.  And on those days, there is someone to whom God has given passion and a worshipful heart, and those blessings are meant not only to give Him praise but to encourage me.  I am in my default state of self-centered sin.  And I need someone to help me get fired up.

Now the Bible is clear that this doesn’t always manifest itself in constant cheerfulness.  Romans 12 says we need to “rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.“  Being super-happy around people who aren’t is almost never the way to go.

But with discernment and love, putting a warm heart on display for those around you is not just desirable, it’s commanded.  And looking to others (especially those close to you, but, in a pinch, distant voices on podcasts will do) for encouragement on most days is the way you’re built to be pointed towards passionate worship of God.   Never be ashamed of doing whatever it takes to warm your heart towards your Savior.

And here’s that Piper video, in case you changed your mind:

As a pastor, I have the unique privilege of meeting new people and freaking them out when they ask me “So what do you do for a living?”  The responses come in four main categories:

1. “So you can’t get married?” (”No, that’s priests. I’m like the dad on Seventh Heaven.  Except with actual beliefs.”)
2. “Oh…um…that’s great. God…um, yeah, that’s great.”  (”Thank you.  You’re overwhelming support makes my choice of vocation totally worth it.”)
3. “Really?  I hate organized religion, I think it’s the root of every problem in the world and should be classified as a contagious disease like SARS.”  (”Excellent.  I can tell you’re open to having a discussion on this issue that will be very helpful for both of us.”)
4. “…….. (walks away)”

I’m great at dinner parties.

The problem is that no one out there really knows what a pastor is, so they grab whatever definition comes to mind and use that.  For some, I’m a priest, because that’s all they know.  For others, I’m a guy bent on taking over the world and making sure school children recite the ten commandments before every math quiz.  Unless I clearly explain to them what a pastor is, we’re not communicating - we might as well be talking to ourselves.

Oddly enough, most Christians don’t fare much better with the “I’m a pastor” question.  One faithful church-goer thinks I spend my time counseling people and visiting hospitals.  Another thinks I spend forty hours a week studying Greek and Hebrew so I can speak on Sundays.  One more thinks my time is spent with community leaders working on social action projects in Santa Monica.  A fourth thinks I split my time between leadership seminars and golf games.  What exactly is a pastor?

And, more importantly, what’s a pastor supposed to be?  Which is kind of the first lesson about a pastor - they’re human.  Being a pastor isn’t a 9-to-5 job, but being a pastor doesn’t turn you into a different species either.  What some pastors are is very distant from what pastors should be.  Some pastors do spend forty hours a week with their greek New Testament, and others do golf five days a week, and others blog all the time.  It’s not what I do.  But I’ve got my own host of ways I need to improve to be a real pastor - the way God designed the job.

So, haphazardly, I’m going to be posting on different things the Bible says about being a pastor, with an eye to helping readers get a better picture of what it’s like and getting myself more in line with what God wants for me.  (I’m sure Scott will be helping out along the way).  It will be fun (I’ve got lots of good stories) and really messy (women pastors, anyone?), but I’m looking forward to it.

Christians have this habit of saying things that don’t make much sense, but saying them really sincerely, and totally getting away with it.  For example: the word “Lord.” I hear all the time, “Lord, would you please make me feel better,” or “Lord, I’d really like this situation to change.”  Or, as we say in Christian circles, the “prayer cadence” - “Lord, if you would just help them, Lord, and, Lord, if you could just, Lord, bless them in that situation, Lord…”

But if Lord means “master,” and that makes us slaves, then it seems like saying the word “Lord” should as a general rule be followed by queries as to what He wants.  That’s how servants speak: “Lord, what can I do for you?  Lord, what is your desire?  Where would you have me go today, Lord?”  Of course there are some times when, in desperate need, we appeal to the Lord on the basis of His Lordship - that is to say, we go to Him because He’s the only one with the power to get things done.  That’s why He’s the Lord.  But putting requests before your Lord more often than you submit your life to Him…well, at some point, you become the Lord.

But, if said with enough passion, misusing the word “Lord” (or the words “bless,” “worship,” “living sacrifice,” etc.) goes relatively unnoticed.  It’s as though because it moves us so deeply, it must be okay.  And what’s important is that we’re sincere.  Earnest.  Fervent.  Zealous.  Making sure we actually know what we’re saying falls pretty quickly by the wayside.  And it seems that in most Christian circles I’ve been a part of, our main spiritual goal is to be passionate.  When someone is passionate, they’ve made it.  And as long as their passion stems from anything involving ideas of Jesus, God, faith, gospel, etc., we don’t ask too many questions.  (Besides, the questions might get in the way of the passion - and who wants to be a buzzkill?).

The Bible has a phrase for people like that:

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (Rom. 10:2)

The Jewish people in Paul’s day were very passionate, very earnest, about God.  He was a motivator for them, and the Bible tells many stories about Pharisees who would tear their clothes or pray loudly or make a big deal about how they were fasting.  They were a passionate people.  But it wasn’t according to knowledge - it was according to whatever they wanted it to be.  And so, really, all their religion boiled down to them just being emotional, instead of being emotionally in love with the true God.

Now, in this context Paul is talking about how the Jews had so little knowledge that they weren’t saved.  If their zeal was based on knowledge, they’d have a vibrant relationship with Christ, not their own righteousness.  But I think the same principle applies to the believer - if you get passionate during a worship song, what are you passionate about?  If you’re in a conversation and are being totally authentic - is it the kind of authenticity that’s according to knowledge?  Because I get worried sometimes that we trade being earnest for being clear.  And all we end up with is a big muddy pool of emotion.  We’re like cotton candy - all bright colors, and all empty calories.  By the end, you’re just sticky and still hungry for something substantial.

I’m a big fan of passion.  But I’m also a big fan of not confusing what we’re passionate about.  Let’s make sure our passion comes from knowledge, and not the other way around.  The Lord is someone we ought to represent clearly, and the clearer He is the easier it is to be passionate about Him.

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to, possess, and enjoy by redemption. He is the highest good and the sum of all that good, which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints. He is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, and food, and life, their dwelling place, their ornament, their diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God. He is the great good that the redeemed are received to at death and which they are to rise to at the end of the world. The Lord God, He is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem and is the river of the water of life that runs, and the tree of life that grows in the midst of the paradise of God. The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will enjoy, indeed enjoy other things. They will enjoy angels and will enjoy one another. But that which they shall enjoy in angels or in one another or in anything else whatsoever that shall yield them delight and happiness will be what they see of God in them.”

-Jonathan Edwards

Chrissie wrote on her blog a while back about a show called Pushing Daisies, in which a lot of witty dialogue and oddly existential storylines take place in a crazy, larger-than-life world where people can be brought back to life, but only for a minute.  Seriously.

At the end of an episode, the large Private Investigator (and what show couldn’t use a large Private Investigator?) reunites a mother and daughter who are at odds, and he remarks that it is a beautiful moment that they should cherish.  Apparently the moment was lost on the two women, who were rebelling quite hard against the natural emotion of being reunited.  Unwilling to let the point go, the PI looked at the two of them and said, “love…it” - his voice rising slightly at the end, and then, slightly more ominously, repeats, “LOVE it” his voice dropping for emphasis.  Third time’s a charm, and the mother and daughter break out of their individual stubbornness and decide that loving each other in that moment isn’t so bad after all.

Studying theology proper (the study of the person of God) this semester in school has brought up some interesting conclusions about emotion, and how God deals with things like love.  And, oddly enough, Pushing Daisies has nailed the large-scale theological conclusion that I’ve reached about God’s love in the Bible - it’s a choice.

Not like DC Talk’s Luv is a Verb.  Well, maybe kind of.

When you look through the Old Testament and the New, you find that the same words for human love are given to God.  (This is the same thing we do in English.  We love each other, love pizza, love our spouses, love music, and then we use the same word to describe God loving us, loving the church, loving humility, etc.).  So, naturally, your first conclusion is that if we’re using the same words, then we must be talking about the same thing - when we say God loves me, it’s the same thing as me saying I love someone else.  But the Bible makes it clear that even though we’re using the same words, some things are different.  The Bible paints a picture of humans loving other people or things because that person or thing is desirable.  “I saw her, and she was beautiful, and charming, and I fell in love” - that sort of thing.  Essentially, we love something because we think it’s worth loving - it looks good to us, and so it’s almost like it controls us.

God, on the other hand, gets the same words of love, but without the part where He loves people because they are desirable.  Instead, the Bible makes perfectly clear that even though God is experiencing love in much the same way we are, it is without the part where something incites His love.  The best example of this is in Deuteronomy 7:7,

7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples…

Notice - God’s love for Israel didn’t show up because He noticed Israel one day and thought, “Dang, that’s attractive and powerful.  I think I’m falling in love.”  In fact, it was the opposite - God looked at Israel and saw that they were undesirable and not powerful.  And yet, God chose to set his love upon them, and choose them, and so initiate this covenant relationship with His new people.

That’s God’s style - He loves, but He loves in such a way that He is sovereign.  He set his affection upon a people not because they deserved it, but in light of the fact that they didn’t.  And the New Testament says it’s the same with us (Ephesians 2:1-10).

The upshot of this is that God really does love us, but His love isn’t conditioned upon our worth.  And the Bible tells us all the time that we are to mimic God, especially in His kind of love.  Do you have a spouse?  Love him or her.  Do you have a friend? Love him or her.  Do you have an enemy?  Set you affection upon them.  Are you in a place where you feel stubborn and rebellious about a situation, a person, a thing?

“Love it.”

And that, my friends, is theology. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Ephesians 5:1-2)

(part 2 to come later…)