Growth

Run in the path of His commands.

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Every one of the 176 verses in Psalm 119 speaks of God’s Word.  Each verses is a  testimony to the psalmist’s very personal engagement with God’s Word.  Each section of eight verses composes a prayer.

25 My soul clings to the dust;

give me life according to your word!

26When I told of my ways, you answered me;

teach me your statutes!

27 Make me understand the way of your precepts,

and I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28 My soul melts away for sorrow;

strengthen me according to your word!

29Put false ways far from me

and graciously teach me your law!

30I have chosen the way of faithfulness;

I set your rules before me.

31I cling to your testimonies, O Lord;

let me not be put to shame!

32I will run in the way of your commandments

when you enlarge my heart!

 

As I pray through Psalm 119 I’m reminded:

God’s Word is a gift.

God’s Word is a revelation of Him.

God’s Word draws me into His character.

God’s Word gives voice to the Spirit’s work in my life.

God’s Word shows me how much I need Him.

Oh Lord, I will run in the path of your commands

for you set my heart free!

So Praise Him!

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Worship is response.

When the conscience has been awakened

to the stark contrast between who God is

and who I am

despair and avoidance are options.

Seeking to appease God is an option too.

So we may be tempted to strike up a deal

and try to make things “even with God.”

Thus we have religion.  Thus we have denial.

Who thought we could really achieve our way?

When our vision of God is informed

by God’s grace through Jesus

we have praise.

6So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. 7He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.   Ephesians 1:6-7 NLT

Praise is a joyful response

to God,

for who He is,

for what He has done.

So praise Him!

Where Discipling Happens

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Recently I read that disciple-making is akin to including people in your family because Jesus has included them in His.  That’s a good reminder for the university crowd since we tend to think that most knowledge is gained in the classroom, the lab, or from the books.

 

Genuine discipling though has to break out of those walls.  Jesus was including people in his life.  There in the course of His life they “heard the word of God” and he showed them how to “do it.”  Being a disciple of Jesus is not just an exercise of individuality.  Its also an exercise of being connected with others and being willing to learn from them, with them, and for them to do the world of God.

 

19 Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”  Luke 8:19-21

Suffering, Injustice, and Faith

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“John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”  Luke 7:18-19

John the Baptist had a crisis of belief.

Faith always has an object, a “who.” Who is your faith in?

Arrested for speaking critically about Herod’s relationships, John sat in prison and had time to wonder. He wondered, “Is Jesus really the one?”

I would have wondered, “Are you the one who is going to rescue me?”

Jesus sent the two disciples back with this message, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good new preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  (Luke 7:22-23)

Not a technical or a theoretical answer. Yet for the ear trained by the Scripture there would be echoes of the prophets.  (See Luke 4:16-21)

The Messiah had come. Jesus is The One.

Suffering can create intense self-awareness. Suffering can bend faith away from the One who loves us and for whom we were made. Jesus did not think less of John for this crisis of belief. In fact, Jesus went on to affirm John and to call him one of the greatest persons ever born. (Luke 7:28) Jesus called John to consider the Scripture and the evidence. Implicit in Jesus’ words is the call to remain full of faith even through the trials.

Respecting the Old and the New

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36He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, “The old is good.”   Luke 5:36-39

Both are valuable.

New wineskins and old wineskins.

Because of what they hold: wine.

Jesus tells this parable as His new community is under attack.

I believe He conveys the value of both the old and the new.

Put new wine in old wineskins and you spoil both.

Those who have partaken of the aged wine prefer the old rather than the new.

Most people who have experienced good times in community don’t really like change.  We want to hold onto those moments when we experienced God’s grace together.

The church is Jesus’ discipleship movement. But our assets like buildings, culture, music, books, and websites distract us from the fluidity of His Kingdom.  We are seduced into illusions of permanence and legacy that have little to do with His Kingdom.

We require the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit in order to live in the tension of honouring people graced by Jesus in the old and in the new. I know… I’m a church planter. I’m living in-between; sent from the old in order to plant seeds and gather the new. I’m learning that our critique of either will lead to sin if we fail to cherish the people He has and is drawing into the family of Jesus.