the first problem with a grudge

29 03 2010

Have you ever found yourself in a thought-loop unable to get your mind on something else?  Really its worse than the time I was unable to find my way out of Oklahoma City.  Around and around I drove for what seemed like an eternity trying to find the way out of that city and head back towards Fort Worth.  I was trying to leave but couldn’t find the way.

The problem with a grudge though, is that we aren’t trying to leave.  We harbour, nurse, feed our offendedness with rationalistic reasons for why we are right to feel the way we do and to keep holding onto it.  Before we know it a root of bitterness and resentment has turned into a habitual way of relating in relationships  making us over-sensitive, proud, and very self-righteous.  I know, I’ve been there.

As we have been reading through Mark in our journey with Jesus at Cityview I have been surprised at the way Mark correlates Jesus’ teaching with Jesus’ activity.  This pattern is evident in the text associated with Palm Sunday.

A.  Jesus enter Jersusalem as a triumphant king and proceeds to the temple where he looks around.  Mark 11:1-11

B.  The next day, Jesus examines a fig tree for fruit, and finding none, judges it.  11:1-17

C.  Jesus returns to the Temple and clears the Court of Gentiles, and announces that the redemptive purpose of the temple is not being fulfilled:  Is it not written, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?” But you have made it a ‘den of robbers.’  Mark 11:13-19

D.  The chief priests and teachers are deeply offended and begin to seek in earnest a way to get rid of Jesus.

E.   The Disciples observe the withered fig tree and Peter is astonished.

E.  Jesus addresses two concerns He has for the Disciples:
1.  Faith-full prayer/conversation with God.
2.  Forgiveness in prayer of any people with whom they might hold an offense.

I believe Jesus recognizes a challenge for the disciples that will keep them from realizing their full redemptive potential in His Kingdom.  In the course of the ministry with Him, Jesus’ disciples will run into confrontations with people.  The Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus confronts what is wrong in the world:  unbelief, abandonment to the flesh, idolatry, misuse of God’s gifts, and the abuse of people.  The disciples  had just accompanied Jesus on such a foray and I believe it would have been easy for them to hold “something” against the people who were now planning Jesus’ death.

An enemy thinks the world would be a better place without you.  And clearly these enemies of Jesus were headed down that path.  However, Jesus would have nothing to do with holding a grudge, planting bitterness, and nursing resentment.

In the future, these disciples of Jesus confronting a world of unbelief and opposition at times to the Gospel would discover that the world would not change as quickly as they might have hoped.  The now-but-not-yet nature of the Kingdom of God meant that they must look forward with faith in a good God who does complete what He says that he would complete.  Even Israel in celebration of the Passover where called out in this week to persist in their faith that God would prevail.  They must not retreat into despair or un-believing doubting prayer.  I do not believe the issue here is whether or not the disciples believed God could do something miraculous.  The real issue was in doubting the fundamental nature of God as one who cares.  Faith-full believing prayer maintains the revealed character of God in His Word as fundamentally good.  It is this quiet confidence and faith then that allows us to engage the sovereignty of God with faith in prayer.  His “no,” “yes,” or “wait” can be accepted and trusted.

And it is this observation that brings us to the first problem with a grudge.  We want to believe that a grudge or resentment is first and foremost a problem between me and the person, or me and the company, or me and that race of people, or me and individual in the past.  But Jesus makes a grudge or sensitive offendedness to a first and foremost a problem between me and God.

“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”  Mark 11:25

The first problem with a grudge toward a person is that it is a problem between me and God.  If I am holding something against another person and believing that they owe me, it is a problem between me and God.  And it is such a problem that I will not be able to fulfill the full redemptive purpose of God for my life.  Jesus tells me that God refuses to bless this course of action in my interior world.  A grudge will cause me to be as lifeless and fruitless as the fig tree Jesus examined the day before this teaching.  A grudge will cause me to be as cluttered, busy, and void of the redemptive purposes of God as Israel was in the Court of the Gentiles.  A grudge, you see, is actually an persistent act of unbelief and treats the Gospel of Jesus’ grace, God’s unmerited choosing, as something small, trite, and of little consequence.  God will not bless grudge keeping, bitterness, and nursed resentments.  Unforgiveness keeps me from fulfilling the redemptive purposes of God and limits my generosity, kindness, compassion, patience, gentleness, faithfulness, joy, peace, self-control, and love.

What to do?

Well we can’t wait to forgive until the other person changes.  To pray is to change.  If I am in conversation with God I am the one called to forgive.  Choose over and over to say, “This person owes me nothing.”  I entrust them to God.  I entrust myself to God’s grace in the Gospel of Jesus.  God has abundantly blessed me…I can afford to extend such grace to others…even to others who wish ill of me.   Jesus has shown us how, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Our challenge is that because most of us who are habitually confronted with our ability to keep a grudge rarely enter into that pain because of our commitment to Jesus’ mission, we fail to make the connection between grudges, grace, and our experience of God’s power.  Our experience of such pain derives mostly from unmetabolized pain in our past and/or from the irritants  that accompany daily relationships common to us all.

When we stand praying and God reminds us of a offense we are holding onto, he is inviting us to a new level of living and relationship in the Kingdom of His Son, Jesus Christ.

It is possible that unforgiveness can become such a mountain in our soul that we are not sure we will ever be free of it.  The 70 times 7 challenges to forgiveness have  shown me that forgiveness is sometimes a  process of growth and experience of Jesus grace.  Thankfulness for the other person(s), Surrender of myself to God, Interecssion for God to bless the other person(s), and then finally imagining what the full redemptive work of Jesus’ grace could look like.  On the later, let me paint the picture I have:  Seated at the banquet table of heaven we raise our glasses to toast Jesus, the King of Kings, but instead he begins to toast us…he makes his way to me and blesses me, toasts me, welcomes me to His table as a loved and cherished son…a tear slips down me cheek and Jesus reaches out to wipe it away…I turn away and find that beside me is one who was an enemy, recognition crosses our eyes in an instant, and all I can think to say is, “Jesus is awesome isn’t He?”


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : discipleship

the compassion of Jesus

19 03 2010

I enjoy Open Table.  When we share the meal and time together as brothers and sisters inThe Compassion of Jesus Christ  on Thursdays at Cityview for our community meal I get really excited about what Jesus is doing in our lives.  Plus we have really good food!  This week we prepared ourselves for the Lord’s Supper by reflecting on the compassion of Jesus.  Its really a bit surprising.  Our cultural disposition is quite accusatory towards those who preach.  But when it came to compassion that’s exactly what Jesus did.

You see compassion is to be moved toward another person by the reality of their condition.  In this case Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake with his tired and hungry disciples seeking a quiet place.  But instead of quiet they found a crowd.  Jesus “saw the large crowd and had compassion on them because they were sheep without a shepherd.  So he began teaching them many things.”

Obviously Jesus was an entertaining teacher; he taught through the day and past dinner.  But more than that was going on.  He recognized that the most desperate hunger of the crowd’s souls could only be met by truth, by Him, by the good news of His Kingdom.  So he taught them.  The truth could set them free.  Now before you shut Jesus and the church off, see what happens next in the account from Mark.

The disciples, probably being really hungry themselves, recognized that the crowds of people where in a desperate situation for food.  They were away from the towns and villages and the families that had spent the day with Jesus were now very hungry.  The Disciples wanted Jesus to send them away.  This is not compassion.  The disciples were not moved toward the people.  Rather, once they recognized the condition of the crowd, the disciples wanted to be done with them.  I love what happened next.

Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd.  When they protested that it would cost eight months of wages, Jesus told them to see “what they had.”  In other words Jesus told them go find out what this community had.  When they came back with five loaves and two fish, Jesus took this community offering and fed them all.  They collected twelve baskets of leftovers.  Now that’s hard to believe.  And in case you are wondering the disciples had a hard time accepting Jesus’ authority of nature as well.  Just notice that even within the next twelve hours they were astonished that Jesus had this kind of authority.

My observations here are about the compassion of Jesus.  1.  He was moved towards people because of their condition:  their interior world was lacking  truth, specifically the truth about Him and the Kingdom; so, he taught them.  2.  He was moved towards people because of their condition the physical reality of hunger; so, he had his disciples gather what was already present in the community and share it beyond what one would have thought possible.

I believe Jesus was nurturing the spiritual motives necessary for His disciples to be a movement:  Complete trust and dependence in Him and compassion for the lost.  If we are to join Jesus in His work we must ask the Holy Spirit to nurture these motives in us.  Otherwise, we will keep our mouths shut in a culture that is suspect of truth proclamations and we will run away from people whose needs exceed what we have in our pockets.  Two aspects of our ministry of the gospel of the Kingdom that must be held together tightly:  proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus’ grace and the sharing of our community’s resources in the name, power, and character of Jesus.  Clearly Glenn Beck is not the first to struggle with Jesus’ ability to hold these two realities together, nor will he be the last.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : cityview, discipleship

Haiti Disaster Relief

18 01 2010

The Vancouver Sun has a suggested list of organizations Canadians can choose for Haiti Disaster Relief giving.  The Canadian government will be matching gifts given to a number of these organizations.  My number one suggestion is to give to those who already had staff on the ground in Haiti.  If you had a relationship with an organization or orphanage before the earthquake in Haiti they will likely need your help now too.


Comments : 2 Comments »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : giving

Identity videos used on the weekend

11 01 2010

I have had several inquiries about the videos used on the weekend in Part 3 of our series, Renew my Life Lord!  This week we are exploring how to battle our spiritual amnesia by “remembering who you are and who’s you are.”  You can watch the videos below.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : cityview, discipleship, live like Jesus, love

The Challenge of Generosity

20 10 2009

Here are the notes from Sunday’s message at Cityview in our series, The New Testament Challenge.  The audio will be available later this week.

“Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  Luke 6:38

The Big Idea:  Generosity relies on the abundance of God.

1.  Jesus believes you can afford to be generous.
2.  Jesus confronts us with an alternative economy.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.   Matthew 6:19-24  NIV

See Luke 18:18-33

22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”    23   When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a   man of great wealth. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!

Common Challenges to Generosity

A.  “I’m not sure I have enough.”

“Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his posses- sions.”  Luke 12:15

Generosity challenges our vision of success.

B.  “I’m in too much debt.”

“The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the
lender.”  Proverbs 22:7

Generosity challenges our addiction to stuff and lack of restraint.

C.  ”I’m not sure the other person deserves it.”

Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!   James 2:12-13

Generosity challenges our judgmental nature.

D.  “I’m overwhelmed; there are just too many people with needs.”

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but   has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15 Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.   James 2:14-17

Generosity challenges us to act now.

E.  “I don’t want to be part of the problem.”

“Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.  But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”  Galatians 6:1

Generosity challenges us to seek wisdom.

F.  “I didn’t know.”

“They will answer, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you.”  Matthew 25:44

Generosity challenges us to see Jesus.

G.  “I just need a little bit more.”

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with every thing for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.  1 Timothy 6:17-19
Generosity challenges our greed.

4. Beware the temptation to make godliness and generosity a formula for this world’s vision of success.  Beware the temptation to make generosity another system of divine credit.

3 If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.   1 Timothy 6:3-10

5.  Next Steps

A.  __________  Enter the Kingdom of Jesus and His new economy of the Abundant Life.

B.  __________  Memorize the verse.  “Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.  For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”   Luke 6:38
C.  __________  Determine to give from what you have.

“Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”  Matthew 5:42

D.  ___________________________________________


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : giving, money, preaching

God’s Economy by Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove

16 10 2009

godseconomy1Author Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove challenges people to enjoy the abundant life promised by Jesus Christ.  Jonathon’s book , God’s Economy: Redefining the Health and Wealth Gospel, is not your typical Health and Wealth Gospel being flogged by many in the Church today.  Rather, it is an attempt to express what Jonathon and others who are living in new monastic communities are experiencing as they take Jesus at His Word.  Jonathon understands Jesus’ call into relationship with Him as a salvation that secures not only forgiveness of sin and eternal life but also a salvation that secures participation in an alternative economy so that the abundant life is lived now.

Each of the “tactics” of the alternative economy presented by Jonathon enliven me and make me nervous.  Fortunately they are not Jonathon’s tactics, but Jesus’ commands to those who follow him.  The alternative economy moves according to these commands:

Tactic 1:  Subversive Service: How God’s Economy Slips In.  ”If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.”  Mark 9:35

Tactic 2:  Eternal Investments: How God’s Children Plan Ahead.  ”Store up for yourselves treasure in heaven.”  Matthew 6:20

Tactic 3:  Economic Friendships: How Real Security Happens.  ”I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves.”  Luke 16:9

Tactic 4:  Relational Generosity: How We Share Good News.  ”Give to the one who asks you.”  Mathew 5:42

Tactic 5: Gracious Politics: How to Live Under Occupation.  ”Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”  Mark 12:17
I only completed my first reading of Jonathon’s book today.  But, I heartedly recommend God’s Economy to anyone who has handled money, to anyone who has been troubled by their own selfishness and greed, to anyone who wonders if Jesus really means for us to live better on less, and to anyone who is committed to being a Acts 2 community with a group of Christians.  God’s Economy is not really a how-to manual.  It is a confessional work, full of stories and testimonies of others who have entered into a generous and abundant life with Jesus and sought out, sometimes painfully–, how to live by faith in the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : book reviews, live like Jesus, money

Radical Love

28 09 2009

Here are the notes from the New Testament Challenge Message at Cityview this weekend on Radical Love.

The Big Idea: Radical love flows from a gracious and just God.

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:44-45

radical:  1) arising from or going to a root source
2) departing markedly from the norm or the culture

3) favouring or effecting fundamental or revolutionary changes

4) slang:  wonderful

1.  Jesus describes radical love as a product of knowing Him.

“A new command I give you:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciple, if you love one another.”  John 13:34-35

“My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.”  John 15:12-13

2.  The Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7 is not another “law” from which we try to gain acceptance from God if we perfect it.  Rather the Sermon on the Mount is descriptive of the lifestyle that flows from a person being transformed (blessed) by Jesus Christ. As Jesus concludes the message the nature of this life becomes more clear:

Ask the Father for good gifts… Matthew 7:7-12
Enter the narrow gate for life… Matthew 7:13-14

Good tree bears good fruit/entry into
the Kingdom of heaven via knowing Jesus Matthew 7:15-23
Wise builder puts Jesus words into practice Matthew 7:43-48

3. The Sermon on the Mount does give us insight on what hinders us from loving people radically.

A.  Contempt for people, the bearers of God’s image.  Matt 5:21-26
B.  Lust, a desire to use people for selfish ends.  Matt 5:27-30
C.  Building throwaway relationships.  Matt 5:31-32

D.  Making throwaway promises, words.  Matt 5:33-37
E.  Vengeful justice-seeking.  Matthew 5:38-42
F.   Smallness, limiting love to those who love us.  Matt 5 43-48
G.  Desiring the applause of people over the applause of God.  6:1-18

H.  Valuing financial security over the works of God.  6:19-24
I.  Worrying over the stuff of earth over the kingdom of God.  6:25-
J.  Using other people’s failure as reason to elevate ourselves. 7:1-6

4. Jesus creates a window for us to see examples of Radical love:
A.  Seeks out a person who we have heart when we realize it.

B.  Interacts with people with out using them for selfish pleasures.

C.  Values people and seeks to maintain covenants even when tough.

D.  Speaks clearly and sincerely about one’s intentions.

E.  Gives people more good than they deserve.

F.  Pursues the highest good possible even for enemies.

G.  Doesn’t mind doing good without earthly recognition.

H.  Treasures what is close to the heart of God and invests in that.

I.   Trusts God with the details of life in order to realize God’s
Kingdom and righteousness.

J.   Recognizes one’s own desperate need from God’s mercy and
grace and humbly participates in His healing and restorative work
in another person’s life.

5. Jesus is The Source for Radical Love:

10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.   1 John 4:10-17


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : cityview, live like Jesus, preaching

Personal Thoughts on Dalai Lama Center, Peace Summit, Vancouver 2009

23 09 2009

In a few days Vancouver will be inundated with people who have demonstrated with their life a commitment to improving the lives of others and building a life of peace.  The Peace Summit, Vancouver 2009, sponsored by the Dalai Lama Center in Vancouver has drawn together an extraordinary group of people for dialogue in both public and private conversations. The Epoch times has an informative article listing and describing the participants which include the Dalai Lama, and Noble Peace Prize Laureates, Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams, and Mairead Maguire.

I was recently asked what I thought about the event.  Here are a few personal observations and the perspectives that shape them–just looking in before it gets started:

1.  The Summit is a remarkable celebration of LIBERTY.  As a philosophical construct informed from a Christian worldview, liberty demands that people be free to hold exclusive and divergent positions or truth claims while maintaining the dignity and high value of all humanity in respectful interactions.  Where liberty is most graciously practiced tension abounds–especially for those who observe people with divergent truth-claims getting along and planning to do good together.

2.  The Summit promotes the difficult task of PEACEMAKING.  The values and competencies required to make peace in a world of hostility will be discussed and made available through the event.  Relational reconciliation begins in our own neighbourhoods and cities.  To break dividing walls of hostility is not an easy task and requires “wisdom from heaven.”  Jesus calls his followers to respond to His grace with lives that promote peace; he said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”  And James writes,

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.  NIV (James 3:13-18)

3.  The Summit is a reflection of COMMON GRACE.  From the perspective of a Christian worldview I see the Peace Summit as a possibility only because of God’s gracious kindness toward all humanity who desires that all would come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  Notice the gift of peace for people that Christians are to seek in prayer as described in 1 Timothy 2:1-6

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time.  (NIV)

2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time.
NIV

4.  The Summit is a RELIGIOUS event.  Participants, including the Dalai Lama come to the Summit from their own worldview and construct of faith either in themselves, or a set of principles greater themselves, or in a god.  If we understand spirituality as the pursuit required to integrate what we see with what we don’t see then one could say this is a SPIRITUAL event as well.  James, the half-brother of Jesus, writes to the churches that “Religion God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27)  Religion though is most often an exercise in self-justification, self-righteousness, and self-awareness.  When either of these selves is threatened it turns quickly to the desires for power and control in order to maintain this idolatry or balance of a self-satisfied life.  A spirituality flowing out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be categorically different in its realization that justification, righteousness and awareness are secured in Christ.  As a resident of a City (Vancouver) that has many who long to be good, I can observe with the Apostle Paul that God has worked in the hearts of humanity a record of His Law or way:  ”Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing , now even defending them.”  (Romans 2:14-15)  One of the stated goals of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education is the “education of the heart;” participants will be encouraged to explore and develop personal peace from which will hopefully flow compassion for others; that’s religion at its best.  Not a GOSPEL event but a RELIGIOUS event.

5.  The Peace Summit reminds me of the SUPREMACY OF CHRIST.  The followers of Jesus even from the first century have entered into the real and sometimes figurative Areopagus (See Acts 17:16-34)  in order to proclaim the reality and the meaning of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The exchange of ideas in the marketplace is exciting and sometimes costly.  Love and Truth do mix.  Our Vancouver- Canadian apprehension of conflict will be challenged by the public exchange of ideas that the Peace Summit elicits.  From the Christian worldview, Christians live their lives in response to Jesus Christ because of His “work” on the cross and His resurrection that confirmed and completed His work.  Jesus is our Prince of Peace.  He brings a peace that the world cannot give.  He brings a peace with God that transcends all other realities.  I don’t want to pretend about the realities of conflict like those who say, “Peace, Peace, where there is no peace.”  (See Jeremiah 6:14)  The claims of Christ are in direct conflict with the dominant messages of spiritual self-sufficiency.  The Apostles who functioned in a world of diverse ideas and claims to truth show us how to live as followers of Jesus Christ:  test the spirits, discern the truth, act in love.    See 1 John 4:1-21 below.

4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.  NIV

Recent articles:

Vancouver Sun writer Douglas Todd explores the three goals of the Peace Summit.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : live like Jesus, vancouver

integrity test: resolving the clash of wills

7 04 2009

In the last of the Integrity Test series, we considered what happens when there is a clash of wills.  Human life under the creative hand of God means that we live with the power to choose the attitudes and actions of our lives.  Jesus had a share in this trait as well.  In Luke 22:39-46, Luke presents his audience with Jesus’ conflict of will between what he wanted and what he understood his Heavenly Father wanted.  In the journey to the cross we must understand that Jesus did not have a death wish nor a desire to enter into the anguish of humanity’s sin and guilt–the very product of our lack of integrity with God.  However, Jesus did intend to live in union and obedience with His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.  Like Jesus, I find myself in a clash of wills when my intention to join God in what He is doing in the world conflicts with my natural inclination to preserve myself, to avoid pain, suffering, and discomfort by holding onto comfort, ease, the familiar, the safe, and the secure.  Here are few examples of when you might experience this kind of clash of wills:  when you know honesty with a parent or spouse will transform the relationship, when you are going to have to give away or sell your stuff in order to give to another, when you need to change your career path to pursue a passion and opportunity to serve that God has shown you, when you must parent with patience a child who is struggling, when you need to tell him or her “no,” when you are going to intervene in a conflicted and angry situation as a peacemaker, when you have to use your holiday to go on a mission trip, when you must wake-up every day and enter into routines with love, when you must keep investing in a covenantal relationship when you don’t feel like you are getting anything out of it, when you need to add a new discipline to your life in order to pursue God.

Now it is a different thing when the clash of wills is because of what I am doing in the world as an act of rebellion or even thoughtlessness of what God wants.  This message is really concerned with what happens when we have the good intentions required to join God in what He is doing in the world.  Jesus shows us that the clash of wills is resolved in prayer.  (You can listen to the audio of this message, When you have a clash of wills, later in the week from Cityview.)

Text:  Luke 22:39-46

Big Idea:  The clash of wills is resolved in prayer.

Unpacking the Text:

1. Jesus lived his life in communion with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit and in the company of those He called.

       “Jesus went as usual to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed him.”  Luke 22:39

2. Jesus’ conflict with the will of the Father arises from His Trinitarian communion and from His intention to do the will of the Father in the face of painful and terrifying realities.

      “Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”  Luke 22:42

Jesus has already made reference to His Father’s will on this very evening by casting a look back to the Old Testament.  Here, Luke 22:42, “this cup” brings to mind the prophetic announcements of God’s cup of judgment for sin.  It is now finding its fulfillment in Jesus and the cross.  In Luke 22:37, Jesus quotes Isaiah 53 and identifies himself as The Suffering Servant, “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors;’ and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me.  Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

We must beware the path of least resistance.

On Sunday I did not mention Alex and Brett Harris.  However I include their material here as a good resource to anyone who would like to explore further the idea of “doing the hard thing.”  Though they are writing and targeting their message for a generation of teenagers, I have been inspired and encouraged by the revebelution they envision.  Check out their website & blog, read their book–Do Hard Things, and watch the following video to get the gest of their message.

 

3. Jesus knows the disciples lack the resources in themselves alone  to be victorious in the clash of wills and commands them to pray.

       “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”  Luke 22:46

4.  If you intend to join God in what He is doing to love the world and restore people into fellowship with Him, you will have to do the hard thing.  If you intend to do the hard thing, you will have to constantly realign your will with His through the communion, conversation and cry of prayer.

 

In the preservice count down at Cityview we showed a video featuring Steven Curtis Chapman’s redition of Matt Redman’s song “Yours.”  In it he includes a verse written after the devasting loss of his adopted daughter Maria, when she was struck and killed when his 17 year old son was backing the family car out of the driveway.  After much prayer and counsel Chapman returned to his tour to promote his newest album.

Notice how Chapman found resolution to his clash of wills.  How could he join God in what He was doing in the world when his own heart was so grieved and torn?  Elizabeth Diffin, a reporter who attended one of Chapman’s concerts writes:

“Blessed be your name” was the first song Chapman sang May 21, the day of Maria’s death, when he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to sing again.  Inspired by the story of Job, at one point the lyrics repeat, “He gives and takes away.”  ”As I sang this song…it wasn’t a song, it was a cry, a scream, a prayer,” Chapman explained to the audience.  ”I found an amazing confort and peace that surpasses all understanding.”

Chapman also shared that after Maria’s death, he’d reconsidered the words to all his songs and whether he could still sing–and believe–them.  Instead, losing his little girl brought the meaning of some of those songs into sharper focus.  One example was “your” which addresses how everything in the world belongs to God.  ”In this song in particular, I had to come to a new realization” he said.  ”There’s not an inch of creation that God doesn’t look at and say ‘all that’s mine.”  As a result of that realization in conjunction with Maria’s death, Chapman added a new verse to “Yours”:

I’ve walked the valley of death’s shadow
so deep and dark that I could barely breath.
I’ve had to let go of more than I could bear and
I’ve questioned everything that I believe.
Still even here in this great darkness
a comfort and a hope comes breaking through
as I can say in life or death
God we belong to you. 

Steven Curtis Chapman Explains the new verse

“Yours” as seen Sunday

 

The clash of wills is resolved in prayer.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:6-7


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : cityview, prayer

centering prayer

31 03 2009

Last night Ellen and I watched Tony Campolo on DVD from his Sunday talk at  Mission Fest 2009.  Just as I was moved at his Friday night talk I was moved in this one on the topic of prayer and missions.  Tony spoke of a return to “ancient prayer” models that had been developed and taught in the Catholic stream.  Centering prayer has been most helpful to him.  In an article for Beliefnet he writes:

Today, some of the most spiritual people I know claim to be without religion.

I relate to their problem. I have experienced an unspoken dissatisfaction with own my spiritual life that has only been allayed over the past few years as my prayer life began to change. Believing the gospel was never a problem for me, but during times of reflection I sensed that believing in Jesus and living out His teachings just wasn’t enough. There was a yearning for something more, and I found that I was increasingly spiritually gratified as I adopted older ways of praying–ways that have largely been ignored by those of us in the Protestant tradition. Counter-Reformation saints like Ignatius of Loyola have become important sources of help as I have begun to learn from them modes of contemplative prayer. I practice what is known as “centering prayer,” in which a sacred word is repeated as a way to be in God’s presence. 

If you would like to know more continue reading his article or listen to Thomas Keating teach on the topic.  I have found that some songs helpful to me in centering prayer and I have posted, Jesus-be the centre, below.  Meeting with Jesus, sitting with Jesus, is often hard for the activist bent I live with.  While working on my Dmin, Dr. Nelson said that Baptists must learn to be “active contemplatives.”  I’m still learning.

Thomas Keating on Centering Prayer
 

Jesus, be the center…


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : prayer

« Previous Entries Next Entries »


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.