Telos Xelot

be bRave

2012-02-15T22:50:00.001+07:00

The world is what it is, and any true guide cannot make itwhat it is not. Truth will lead methrough bizarreness and cruelty and banality. I have to face that when I look for that soaring feeling ofresonance when looking through lenses of science, faith, patriotism ornostalgia. Disappointment isinevitable as the ubiquitous intrusion of frazzle, frump and junk demandsattention. The grand unifyingtheory of experience and meaning stays elusive. And it might well be remembered that such a truth is a principalpiece of the puzzle.

Experience, taking in perceptions corporally, is ourstarting point. Thought, eventhought that aims for pure transcendence, climbs upward through the brambles ofsensual input. The pain andpleasure, the annoying and the numbing, all of the stuff we bump into andthrough, provide the substance by which we project a hope of somethingbeyond. And then we are grievedwhen our ideals do not just soar; they do their time trudging.

The discouragingly unentertaining book of Numbers is whattriggered this thought. Cleversermons can more or less truthfully be preached about how the record of realpeople, and real counts of real things, mean God is the God of our detailedlives. He knows us, and knows whatwe do. There is accounting. And that is true enough, but itpunctures an unjustified wish for some Bible believing Christians: that theBible is the pure and unsullied source of transcendence. That goodness and clarity are evenlydispersed, numbered line by line, throughout the sacred canon. That the warning of the Apocalypse, toneither add to or take away from this book, implicitly include the Book. That reliability (inspired-inerrant-infallible)also means accessible-relevant-reassuringly sensible.

But there are really weird and disturbing things to dealwith. Apologetic responsessometimes dodge this or that accusation about slavery, killing rebelliousteens, joyfully smashing baby skulls of other tribes. But the essential question is more ruddy. Why is my book on transcendence soearthy?

A true answer to this is a brave answer. There is a quick answer (it’s nottranscendent, its tribal thought slowly developing from tribal to universal,and not that smoothly). At times Ican see the allure in that. Cynicism at his level almost always moves toward a feeling of bravehonesty and a belief in science. But that is seldom enough. Brave science like that leads to amorality, at least from atranscendent point of view. Everything is functional and the top of the Truth pyramid is power. Not maniacal power that revels issuperiority; just cold force ofwhat is. Rock – paper – scissors. Stuff happens, including delusions ofmeaning and transcendence. Butthere is another brave answer.

What bravery to believe that the transcendent reality,self-existent Personhood, actually works through tribal bizarreness and badkoine and clumsy communities of provincials trying really hard to believe theyare living the Ideal. What if Godhas indeed spoken, I really can trust the Bible printing in my hand to lead meinto a deformed paradise that careens toward destruction moment by moment butis pregnant with promises of the invasion of everything great we ascribe to Transcendence. Everything and more.

Be brave.

preachin'

2012-02-15T05:42:00.000+07:00

some guys from a church wanna talk to me tomorrow. they may just want pulpit supply, but might discuss and interim role. so, i need to think. what do i have to offer a medium-large suburban church?

since being back in the US, i've been to a variety of churches and listened to a range of preachers. the first thing i've noticed is how light on substance most messages are. there is very little looking intently into the text. there are little hand outs with blanks to fill in. "This is a good __________ style for adults".

sometimes i just can't make eye contact, cuz i don't want to show how uncomfortable i am. especially when humor is used badly, as when it puts someone down. or when there is an urge to sound like a 'powerful preacher' and the guy just scolds people. happens too often.

i have heard some decent messages, and a couple of good ones. i've been impressed by a lutheran guy with a very traditional style who just handled the text well. and, i have enjoyed the mega church pastor where we have been who tends to have a lean but fit message. there isn't a lot of time to work with, and he needs to be clever and pro, but he still manages good substance. respect.

so what do i have? i'm not sure. i know i don't have a stand up comedian thing to offer. and i don't have very good fill in the _____ sheets to hand out. the best i have to offer is a willingness to draw out the flow of the argument in a book and try and let the book talk for itself. at least that is what i have been able to do in the past. am i up for it these days?

Back online

2012-02-14T22:32:00.001+07:00

December 11th we closed our internet account. We moved out of a condo to make room for someone else who needed it. Since then we've stayed in a couple of other places, and eventually came back where we started. It has then taken 10 days for AT&T to get us back online. Wow.

The funny thing is how my writing slowed when I wasn't also blogging. There is something about jotting down a short note that is passively public; just out there. It starts up the hope of connection which then encourages a braver effort and writing in private for a future time of sharing.

The point? Connecting. We need to connect with one another. We need unity and diversity all the time. We need to be distinct, personal, private; to experience solitude. But we also need to be unified, affiliated, incorporated; to experience community.

The seemingly bizarre doctrine of the Trinity (if you ever read Jehovah's Witness stuff) is actually quite familiar. Unity, One God; diversity, Father/Son/Spirit. Unity and diversity as the highest ideal, the divine... God. Unity and diversity as daily calibration of living well. Me and We. Imago Dei.

Quietly mind your own business

2011-12-30T22:59:00.001+07:00

"Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you..." 1 Thessalonians 4:11

What version of church growth did the apostles use? I've had some teaching which says if people aren't aggressively evangelizing, they are essentially disappointments to God's kingdom. Granted, they are anticipated, as the 80%, give or take, who produce little or no fruit. "How about Bob of Thessalonica? Is he multiplying?"

In fact, the Thessalonians did have expansive impact. Their way of life was noteworthy:

" 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it," 1 Th 1:6-8

Apparently there is less of a split between living a quiet, fairly normal life, and being effective for the Kingdom than might be assumed. Yes, there are heroes living very unusual and sacrificial and effective lives focuse on "kingdom advance", but those stories are not meaningful for their drama. Paul told the Corinthians as much in his great treatise on Love that there is something more than standing out as specially knowledgeable, gifted, sacrificial. The issue is in love, which he exposits as a type of embodied shalom; contentedness.

not bragging. not keeping score. looking for good, for themselves and others.

Living a quiet life, miniding one's own business essentially is the mission for all Christians. The bridge between aggressive evangelism and private faith is not in tactics it is in treasures. When our business is treasuring God, and those he has created and the world in fallen frustration looking forward to a day of freedom, then our big and small ways matter and are enough.

and then he wants Isaac

2011-12-29T23:12:00.000+07:00

"and then he wants Isaac" wrote a friend working overseas. I cannot get the challenge of impermanence out of my head. I see it everywhere. My friend describes it in light of sacrificially going to the unreached, leaving a dynamic career to do it, and being on his fourth major assignment, partly due to being punished by repressive governments forcing him out of where he really wanted to make a difference. Now he serves faithfully, away from what was familiar when he started serving overseas but also away from the dramatic ideal of upg (unreached people group) that was the identifiable treasure he launched out to pursue. Now, more ministry than 'm*i*s*s*i*o*n', the Isaac of clear significance is on the altar.

Trust and obey, there is no other way. But trust and obey is not a threshold, unfortunately, to pass on through to the other side. It is a moving challenge, it is a part of anicca, havel, impermanence in a fallen world of rebellion. It is the burden of counter revolutionary loyalists. It is the story we must live if we are to live well. It is hard.

Christmas impermanence

2011-12-27T02:32:00.000+07:00

We did it. We shopped, cooked, pressed through traffic, went to a service, socialized; we Christmassed. Now it is boxing day in a land without boxing day. It's just the day after Christmas and a week before New Year. Anicca (impermanence) is a teaching easily accessed on a day like this, and yes, it can lead to oppressive clouds of dukkha.

In Christian work there are missions and their are ministries. Ministries are open ended, ongoing service efforts. Missions are objective defined, an accomplishment to strive for. The Christmas holiday time functions like a mission, but life is more of a ministry. Today I want to find a mission to pursue, if for nothing else to elevate faith in something better than the present existing safely, even if it's harbor is beyond the next hill. I don't want to be forced to feel that the mix of good and bad around me is more or less all there is. I need to believe that the limitations of the good of the day and the impositions of the troubles of the day are what is temporary, and that a future reckoning will show a boon of goodness.

Pulling back to the broadest view, one of eschatological completion and grandeur, delivers that idea, but it is so difficult to access with feeling in tow. Shorter cycles of deliverance through exodus and entrance in to abundance through conquering and holding are needed. I need a mission, even if that mission is to get to where ministry ebbs and flows in unashamed contentment.

After _______ ....

2011-12-24T19:47:00.001+07:00

I can detach. I have had to at times. I've lived in Spain, China, Thailand, England and a variety of US states. Leaving has meant detaching from friends, not only during the days before facebook, or even e-mail. Detaching is often necessary in order to free up focus to attach in a new place, with new relationships, tasks and experiences.

But detachment is never comprehensive. There are always aspects of connection, all the more apparent since electronic social media expansion. As years accumulate, so do partial detachments. Midlife, then, is not just a rethink of what could have been etc., it is also a rethink of what needs to be more thoroughly detached vs. what has been neglected and needs attention. My crisis of focus during my sabbatical is on this puzzle.

I want simplicity, but I'm not ruthless. I hope that part of the reason is some degree of kindness and not just weakness. I care about most of the interrupted projects and relationships I've left scattered.

What I do know is that part of my inability to achieve simplicity at this point is lack of clarity of what is next and how to pursue it. My life is looking more like a bush than a tree. Branches shoot up and out from the ground in every direction. I want to be more like a tree with a trunk that raises the branches up; a central pillar of purpose and identity with diverse implications.

The next step toward that is too much like the last few steps. I think about getting through whatever is current, either by determination or delight, but delaying definition. After ________ I'll focus.

As Christmas becomes the _________, I've decided to decide. I want to write. Writing is like language learning, you have to go through poor fluency to get to good fluency. And so, I will write and write and write. I need it, and if it ends up being fluent, all the better.

say something.

2011-12-17T02:12:00.002+07:00

This Sunday I get to speak at a church outside of Austin. Leander: "The population was 7,596 at the 2000 census. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the 2008 population at 25,424". It sounds like a place that will have a mix of old timers who were living in a small town now swallowed up by newcomers. Transience; impermanence; change. Very Buddhist concerns.

Currently I'm reading Karen Armstrong's BUDDHA. She is very enjoyable to read, touching on facts with good insights, her own views shared but not stressed... she is helpful. What I've gotten today is that there was massive shift going on towards urbanization and mercantilism with a focus on individualism, over and against agrarian traditional cycles. The Upanishads were a reworking of Vedic thought to express the idea of the ethical life over and against ritual. "How to live a good life, how to be a good person" sort of thing. I keep coming back to that.

So Gotama is living on the edge of flux and was rather bold to launch off in this innovative pursuit. That's the tone right now in the book. I'm reading it because I'm wanting to keep refreshing my understanding of Buddhism and of questions of how to live well.

What are the questions that the folks in Leander are asking? Not sure. What do they want to hear from the guy who went of to Asia? That every day in every way things are getting better and better? Typically what I hear from other cross-cultural workers who speak is that they wrestled through the decision to leave home and go serve the Lord, it was a struggle coping with living one stop from the end of the world, but that God was generous and they had a couple of personal breakthroughs. I've lived that, so I could go with that. But I'm kinda wanting to do something more.

I have an odd way of using preaching not as a way to underline truth as much as a way to explore questions. Like writing this obscure blog, I do slightly better thinking in front of others than just inside my own head. There is some stabilizing effect by involving others (sometimes).

So the big question for me is how to contain the whole (unity) in the personal (diversity). How do I live my own life in a way that does not presume to solve the over-arching questions of the world (delusion, that.), but does not simply avoid them and settle for amusement and personal happiness management (also helped greatly by cagey delusion).

The next big thing for me is to tidy up my understanding of the intrinsic limitation of knowledge. That is then combined with the inescapable responsibility to go forward with acting in life in real time and space. How do I bumper-sticker that? "Ignorance is no excuse for inaction". Too bad Nike has already taken the ultra-concise version.

BIBLICAL truth of limited epistemology. I'll make that it's own post I suppose.

5 Columns site to be launched

2011-12-07T00:56:00.001+07:00

The Easter Story Board is something I worked with "CStanley" to get an idea up and going. It has since become "The 5 Columns" and "Crown Heart World". Next week we are going to get together and try and give an adequate web presence from which to share the simple telling and some more intricate aspects of looking at the world through this little pictogram.

http://crownheartworld.com/

Mississippi Mud

2011-12-06T22:04:00.000+07:00

Drove from Houston to Baton Rouge. From Louisiana to Hernando, Mississippi. Had a free day and drove to Memphis. Drove over to Arkansas and back. Drove to Lafayette. Now in Houston.

Crossed the Mississippi a lot. Walked beside it. It was the same and different. It was anicca; impermanence displayed. Same old river as Huck Finn stories. Same Same but Different.

Took a moment at this monument for a man who could not swim, but could pilot a boat. He bravely rescued a bunch of people when a luxury boat sank. He was black, so it was particularly noteworthy (apparently).

I wondered if the folks in Memphis were at all uncomfortable with the wording of the monument. Negro. Worthy Negro. A Very Worthy Negro. Well done Zev.

The Book of Micah

2011-11-29T22:23:00.001+07:00

Written (at least the first 3 chapters) around 730 B.C.

The pagan world was dominating and people ordered theirlives and worship increasingly around sex/power rituals of Assyrian gods. Micah is distraught and has a dramaticmourning, naked and an howling.

Chapter 1 says God is bringing judgments and disasteragainst the pagan ways of his people. His threat is that the children of the sinful generation will be takenaway in captivity.

Chapter 2 Reiterates “woe” to those who do bad because theycan. Some will be stunned and askhow God can be good and bring such harsh punishment, but the prophet’s answeris that God brings good to the good, but yes, will bring punishment to evildoers. What kind of prophet do thepeople need? One who prophesiesbeer and wine in abundance. But apromise is made that a remnant will be flocked together under King YHWH.

Chapter 3 Contrasts men of God who learn how to make aprofit from God’s word vs. true men of God who are filled with God’sspirit. The fakers, and theirempty promises of safety, will know destruction.

Chapter 4 shows a vision of hope when the house of YHWH willteach people how to live. Solvingproblems wisely will make war obsolete and people will be able to abide insafety in their own place. Now thenations do their own thing, but a day is coming when God’s people will bebrought to safety. It will beafter a humbling exile, but the captors will offer their wealth back to God.

Chapter 5 promises a surprise from Bethlehem. The Shalom will eventually be globalbut a great fight will precede that peace. A diaspora will be involved but will end in creationworshippers being confronted by the creation Creator.

Chapter 6 What has God done? Rescued his people. How shall we respond? Lovejustice and mercy in humility before God. People must change from their tricks of maximizing wealth. Investments will be lost andsatisfaction not found. Creationworship will not work, it will be brought down.

Chapter 7 The world will be filled with tricksters andliars, the relatively good people aren’t even good. Our own relatives will be enemies, not help. But there is a remnant of those whowatch and wait for YHWH and who endure rough times, knowing that eventuallyGod’s wrath will pave the way for God’s right. God will fulfill is covenant promises.

So HANG IN THERE, TRUST GOD AND DON’T BE A WORLDLY GRABBER

That’s what I saw in Micah this morning.

writing as a discipline

2011-11-15T21:08:00.001+07:00

I've descended back into rough journal mode. No problem. Just write and see what happens.

I joined a writing club with an atheist sparring partner from the UK. Actually it took me a while to convince him that I wasn't ready to persuade him, I just wanted to understand him. The tricky part was for him to get to where he could answer my questions without trying to guess how my question was some kind of setup. After conceding a few points regarding religious delusion he finally relaxed a bit. Interestingly we got to the point that is the crux of my own understanding of neutral's position on the whole God vs. Nature debate: determinism.

For personhood to be real in any familiar sense, there seems to be the necessity for the concept of personhood to transcend the material. In ultimate terms that would the the I AM, pure personhood. Matter/Energy, then, comes from personhood, not the other way around.

For my atheist friend he was hovering around the question by reasoning that consistency should make him a determinist. He even had vague convictions from partly remembered articles on current brain science to suggest the same. But it just didn't seem like how he experiences life. The apparent illusion of active personhood, real choosing, was just too compelling. It is a problem for him.

I'm off to write on my combo book: Hope without Hype~ finding the meaning of life without becoming a weirdo. Journey + Perspective + Perscription

achieving

2011-11-15T00:00:00.001+07:00

Easy answer: I want ETERNAL achievements, not temporal ones.

Actual answer: What was the question??

I have to figure out my AT&T bill. Don't want to start the debate till i get my facts straight. Can't figure out the facts. Should just talk to them directly. But I don't want to start the debate till i get my facts straight.

etc.

Should I want eternal achievements or temporal ones? Yeah, I figured that was the question. The problem is that I live in the temporal world and am squeezed by it. How to I abide in the eternal while actually abiding in a temporal mind, body and context??

QT is one answer. Old spiritual disciplines is a slightly deeper answer. But the fundamental challenge is using temporal dynamics to direct oneself to trans-temporal ideals. Hungry, fidgeting, perceiving, wondering and wandering. The naturalistic identity is rather loud. Sometimes hard to find the the transcendent identity. Quite the fight, actually.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (I wonder how hard it was??)

Greg Matte's sermon on Jn 15 ABIDE

2011-11-14T23:42:00.001+07:00

Followers of Jesus are not meant to live in the muck. We are meant to be lifted up onto the trestle where we can live clean. Our objective is to be unhindered in our connection to the vine. By focusing on abiding in the vine we are fulfilling our purpose. Productivity is a by-product.

Application: distinguish identity and role. Abide in Christ, find identity in him, frees us from the tyranny of productivity/achievement. And, it tends to result in ample productivity anyway.

Problem aspect: unproductive burned up.
Answer: 1 Corinthians 3 judgment of works, we are still saved, but as through fire.

IF we don't abide in Christ all of our self produced achievements will be burned up in an instant. The only way to have lasting achievements is to abide.

So, for me, what does that look like? Abiding seems to be settling in, taking up residence; unpacking. For me to abide I need to unpack my stuff. Ideally I will sort through things, getting rid of clutter and ordering my space. But even if I'm a bit slobbish, abiding still means I'm at home. Belonging is not undermined, not fundamentally, by being messy. Essentially it just impedes enjoying the goodness. Reasonable tidiness is much more efficient, pleasant and courteous than sloppiness.

So the metaphor pushes toward experiencing Shalom in the Father's home as a legit son, full stop. From that security, not seeking for security, tidying up stuff is a wise and good pursuit.

As for productivity, the critical decision is do i want eternally lasting achievements or will temporal achievements be enough?

writing

2011-10-11T20:51:00.001+07:00

i'm going to try and write a book. i have written a short easy-going commentary on Philippians for our house church in Thailand, and I have written an article for a Buddhist/Christian focused book. But now i think i am ready to start a book. i have 3 book ideas:
1) the Sermon on the Mount- a pattern for life. the idea of this book is that the sermon is laid out in a way that shapes a way of living that is on the one hand basic enough to be memorable, but deep enough to be inexhaustible.
2) the 5 columns - big ideas about the big story of life in our daily lives. this is an effort at philosophical questions about good and bad and hope being connected to daily living.
3) hitchin' - a trip with humanity. this is a story about me hitchhiking from Seattle to Houston. Too weird to be believed at times, it is just strange, but really happened. Not sure how to go about that one, it is not a very safe story.

So, the first step in my goal in writing is to just get back to writing. I need to write daily, about anything. I just need to keep the discipline of thoughts being clacked into words and such. then I can start to shape the projects and see which one will come first.

Nietzsche v. Jesus talk by Dallas Willard

2011-08-10T22:04:00.002+07:00

Nietzsche v. Jesus Christ from The Veritas Forum on Vimeo.

Choosing Church - from Colossians

2011-05-22T09:46:00.000+07:00

What is church? Colossians 1:2

What is the goal of church? 1:9-10 (onto 1:13) and restated in verse 28.

What should church NOT be about? Colossians 2:16-23

What should church be about? Colossians 3:1-17

What is church? Colossians 1:2

brothers and sisters = a family whose common relative is the Messiah of God

What is the goal of church? 1:9-10 (onto 1:13) and restated in verse 28.

The goal of church is to be increasing wise in relating to God and life such that we live well, with gratitude, as we grow up more and more.

What should church NOT be about? Colossians 2:16-23

Church should not be about rules, including what you consume or when you have 'services'. It is also not about following a guru. Lot's of that kind of stuff seems spiritual, but doesn't work. ('Work' refers back to the goal of the church, to grow in wise and grateful living in God's world.

What should church be about? Colossians 3:1-17

treasuring - Christ as your real life and hope [3:1-4]

put off - Dead and dirty ways of the world [3:5-11]

put on - Love in all its characteristics [3:10-14]

live out - Gratitude in community [3:15-17]

The rest of the book describes what that looks like. The Story of Christ and his church (Colossians 1:15-23) is displayed in relationships. Colossians 3:18 and following describe how people should relate to one another, including a list of personal names Paul and others are actually working with to see this happen.

church is about the messiah of God forming a family that works toward God's ways in a world that doesn't.

So what makes a church a good one? What is necessary? What is optional? How is your church doing? What part are you playing in that?

moving forward into the fog

2011-04-18T09:58:00.000+07:00

The #1 concept rattling about for me right now is life with limited knowledge. Delusion (a huge fear of mine; partly because I dislike being around delusional people and don't want to become one) is overconfidence in regard to knowledge. Delinquency, the danger of anti-delusion, is my other big fear. Somewhere between over-zealous belief and the dropout pattern from despair is the realm of 'ought-ness'; the course of action based on information as best as can be discerned at the time. That is what I have to get more comfortable with.

So does that mean grading knowledge? I believe this is true at a level A, that at a level C... etc? Or is it all more fluid than that? Too fluid pools in pointlessness, too resolutely confident snaps under the weight of inconsiderate circumstances and other intrusions of reality.
Internalized Kung Fu metaphors. That's the answer. OK, on with the day! (nothing like the power of limited insight!!) No time to explain, must act on limited knowledge.

Developing the doctrine of limited knowledge

2011-04-11T10:31:00.000+07:00

Daniel 12, Daniel did not understand. Job didn't. Angels don't. Paul says we look through a rough mirror. We don't see it all. Our knowledge is limited. Being clear on muddledness is a good idea.

Because how I ever got to you, I have no idea
It's like some secret door, well, it just appeared
So, no matter what I do from now on with my time
You will always stay here in my mind
I am certain of this and I am not certain of anything

So I want to get myself attached to something bolted down
So that these winds of circumstance won't keep blowing me around
To when I land to when I leave there is enough time to sleep and sing
I keep running when all I want is to lay motionless ~ Bright Eyes: Motion Sickness

posting

2011-03-22T15:51:00.001+07:00

I've drifted from blogging for a while, but will work on presenting some things I've had on the side. Soon I will launch a dedicated website for the '5 Columns', complete with explanations etc. It will, Lord willing, be part of a book project to be finished over the next year.

I will then develop the 'Transformation Tree' based on the Sermon on the Mount. I'm happy to interact with people about these ideas, partly because they help me understand life and faith, partly so I can do a better job sharing hese ideas broader.

If time/space dimensions are hard...

2011-02-22T11:50:00.003+07:00

Josephus' account of Alexander seeing himself in Daniel's book and honoring God

2011-02-21T10:26:00.000+07:00

According to Josephus, 1st century A.D. writer, Alexander had a dream, went to Jerusalem with an awareness of God, and then had the book of Daniel presented to him. He saw himself as the fulfillment of prophecy from 2 centuries before.

Antiquities" xi. 8, §§ 4-6,

Alexander went to Jerusalem after having taken Gaza. Jaddua, the high priest, had a warning from God received in a dream, in which he saw himself vested in a purple robe, with his miter—that had the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved—on his head. Accordingly he went to meet Alexander at Sapha ("View" [of the Temple]). Followed by the priests, all clothed in fine linen, and by a multitude of citizens, Jaddua awaited the coming of the king. When Alexander saw the high priest, he reverenced God (Lev. R. xiii., end), and saluted Jaddua; while the Jews with one voice greeted Alexander. When Parmenio, the general, gave expression to the army's surprise at Alexander's extraordinary act—that one who ought to be adored by all as king should adore the high priest of the Jews—Alexander replied: "I did not adore him, but the God who hath honored him with this high-priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was
considering with myself how I might obtain dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea, promising that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians." Alexander then gave the high priest his right hand, and went into the Temple and "offered sacrifice to God according to the high priest's direction," treating the whole priesthood magnificently. "And when the Book of Daniel was shown him [see Dan. vii. 6, viii. 5-8, 20-22, xi. 3-4], wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that he was the person intended, and rejoiced thereat. The following day Alexander asked the people what favors he should grant them; and, at the high priest's request, he accorded them the right to livein full enjoyment of the laws of their forefathers. He, furthermore, exempted them from the payment of tribute in the seventh year of release.

Kingdom? Cross? Reading the gospels better (NT Wright)

2011-02-19T15:51:00.003+07:00

Brilliant discussion of gospel meaning. The concern is the CENTRAL STORY of the New Testament, specifically Matthew/Mark/Luke/John and the peculiar ability to miss the point, even among people who are VERY vocal about believing the Bible.

Key explanation is how we develop a particular taxonomy (list of categories which matter) over and against what a natural reading gives.

'how God became King on earth as he is in heaven'

Great figure 8 around the poles of cross and kingdom (in my opinion)

Son of Man in Matthew

2011-02-15T11:51:00.000+07:00

Daniel 7:13-14
13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

Son of Man in Matthew

Matthew 8:19-21
19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
21 Another disciple said to him, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

Matthew 9:5-7
5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 6 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” 7 Then the man got up and went home.

Matthew 10:22-24
22 You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 23 When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
24 “The student is not above the teacher, nor a servant above his master.

Matthew 11:18-20
18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent.

Matthew 12:7-9
7 If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,

Matthew 12:31-33
31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

Matthew 12:39-41
39 He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here.

Matthew 13:36-38
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one,

Matthew 13:40-42
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 16:12-14
12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

Matthew 16:26-28
26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Matthew 17:8-10
8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

Matthew 19:27-29
27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

Matthew 20:17-19
17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”

Matthew 20:27-29
27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
29 As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.

Matthew 24:26-31
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

Matthew 24:36-38
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark;

Matthew 24:38-
38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

Matthew 24:43-45
43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?

Matt 25:31-31
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Matthew 26
1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

Matthew 26:23-25
23 Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”
Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

Matthew 26:44-46
44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them,“Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

Matthew 26:63-65
63 But Jesus remained silent.
The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.

daniel 7 swirls

2011-02-02T11:54:00.000+07:00

(no time set aside to edit. just writing for me, but open to others if they want)

I think in swirls. Maybe that's not so uncommon. I don't know, I can't focus long enough to sort it out.

Daniel 7 is a swirl. So... maybe I don't need to start with trying to sort it out. Maybe I should listen to odd music, read it, swirl with it, and see what odd clarity comes of it all. (ok, that's what I'm already doing, but i tortuously interact with my perception of the "normal" world with misgiving, self-doubt, and efforts of justification) nuff said.

Sufjan: Transfiguration (music i'm listening to while writing)
Daniel goes to sleep in his Babylonian bed. I wonder what language he dreams in? Hebrew? Chaldean? Does he have scrolls from Moses, others? Who does he eat dinner with. Do they make him laugh? Annoy him with pedantic speculation about the next shift in Babylonian politics? Does he try to track what was going on in Egypt? (I try to, but I can't focus, I just get bits which are now on standby for a sudden synaptical connection which has the illusion of careful study and organized problem solving). Daniel dreams. It freaks him out; bad.

4 winds of heaven... blowing over the seas... the Ruach over the Waters.... Genesis 1???
scary weird ramps up... beasts...
Lion, like Judah?, no, with wings, but they get plucked, all 4 of them (why 4???) and the lion is raised to stand, like a man, then given the mind/heart of man... Man formed from a noble beast? What's going on????

(i hit replay on Sufjan Stevens THE TRANSFIGURATION - in the cloud, Son of Man/Son of God... swirling)

New beast. A bear. ((now I remember mumble rumors of a "bear and an eagle in revelations..." from hanging out under the street light on willingham with teen efforts at our own daoistic mysteries of youthful meaning, power, mysteries, insight... significance... secrets))
But the bear is also tagged with a weird number here, not 4 wings, but 3 ribs (tusks?) hanging out of the mouth, mandated to buffet on flesh. (Why 3???)

Next beast. Leopard. 4 wings. 4 heads. dominion. (#s??)

4th beast is scary and strong (iron teeth and stamping feet) DIFFERENT and 10 horns

10 horns, another one, 3 uprooted.

Eyes of man and big mouthed

Thrones, Ancient of days, white with mobile fire throne

Massive crowd of servants before the fire streaming Ancient.

Court to judge according to books

Attn pulled to big mouth horn. Beast killed and burned with fire.

Other beasts lost dominion, but still alive for a while

W/ clouds 'son of man' to Ancient

He gets domion, glorious rule over everyone forever, no end

Daniel: uhhhh, what is all this (to one who stood there)

4 beasts = 4 earthly kingdoms

Saints of Most High rcv Kingdomthat lasts

Ok so #4?

10 horns?

Other horn? Big mouth big shot?

Looked =

Horn warred with saints and was on top

But then, Ancient judged for saints

Saints then get kingdom

4th kingdom is unique, global, and destructive.

10 horns = 10 kings. + 1 (unique)

downs 3 kings

Anti-Most High words

Wears out saints (for t t's, part t)

BUT - court judges

Dominion removed, consumed, destroyed to the end (telous in LXX)

All Kingdom dominion summed up as "under the whole heaven" given to

Snts. Of Most HIGH - doesn't end and rules over subsets (all 'dominions' will serve and obey them)

Conclusion? I was FREAKED OUT, inside and out, but… I kept it to myself.

And for me??? I couldn't keep up with the swirling. Skype started percolating with work reminders... Makes me think the cycle of thinking and speaking is way too short. Dip, speak, dip, speak... not enough plunging. Wonder how that would work, what it would do? What boundaries to employ, or not? Don't want to end up hanging from a street light in Ca., nor sitting in a cubicle, but what is the middle way (that allows for aft. snacks and non-orange)?

What do I think I think? I think Daniel was probably stressing from a series of Babylonian regime shifts, and his VISION of Israel, in exile, then returning, had a John the Baptist unsettledness (or at least the temptation for it). Am I really living the Story I think I'm living? Are we here for 70 years, and then back on course, or am I delusional. The world really is just mean and shallow and void of transcendent meaning and purpose.

I'm convinced those feelings, whether thought in useful words or not, happen to almost everyone (suppose there might be exceptions). The pull to coherence, order, clarity is one pole, the pull to spontaneous, incidental, random, self-sufficient experiential surges (a.k.a meaninglessness) is the other pole.

So Daniel has a dream with details. He thinks it must mean something. Then he has another vision, one with him right in the middle of things, seeing COURT set up with God as an old man with fire. He is told that th3 4 beasts are 4 kingdoms, and i wonder if he thinks of this more or less like the '4 corners of heaven', as in, all summed (not 1, 2, 3, 4 as much as each and every all together). But, there is a massive focus on a last one who is extra scary and global and is summed up by us vs. them. Pole 1 vs. Pole 2. The Transcendent, GOD pole is the true and victorious one, so, don't get sucked over to the despairing side.

In other words, life is really confusing, and it is tempting to think God is not over the world, but a bit of nonsense as a subset of human existence, but don't believe those words, God is over the world and being faithful is the way forward (but not easy). That is what I experience when I swirl with Daniel this Wednesday morning.

Now I need to get to a 'to do' list.

another review of Daniel 1-7

2011-01-31T11:24:00.000+07:00

Our goal is to learn from the book of Daniel directly. Cross referencing later…

The outline I’m suggesting:

Chapter 1, (in Hebrew), tells how the people of God ended up in Babylon. It also gives an intro into the main idea, standing with God, even when in the ‘world/babylon’, by trusting on God’s intervention, primarily in the form of revelation, but also in intervention.

The ARAMAIC “world language” section of 2/3/4 5\6\7

Chapter 2 has a worldly king dream about kingdoms, and then God’s man interprets the dream and says God is sovereign over nations and will rule.

Chapter 3 has a showdown between the world and God’s faithful. God saves and the world is told that God saves.

Chapter 4 has a worldly king proud and then humbled, while God and his faithful are vindicated

Chapter 5 has a worldly king proud and then humbled, while God and his faithful are vindicated

Chapter 6 has a showdown between the world and God’s faithful. God saves and the world is told that God saves

Chapter 7 has God’s man dream about Kingdoms, and then God’s messenger interprets the dream and says God is sovereign over nations and will rule

2&7 = It looks like the worldly ways rule, but they ultimately don’t

3&6 = being faithful to God clashes with the world, but being faithful creates a testimony to others

4&5 = arrogant worldliness will be humbled and God’s faithful will be vindicated

Application so far?

As you get more and more information about how complex and harsh the world can be, don’t be surprised to see lots of evidence for reality to be about power and worldliness. Instead of giving into that, resolve to be faithful to God, even in small matters, and ready to suffer for going against the world and for God. God can and will be glorified through taking a stand, and ultimately there will be judgment for worldly wrong and vindication for being faithful.

Daniel’s Aramaic Message- don’t be fooled by worldly power, God is greater

2011-01-25T09:10:00.002+07:00

Chapter 1 Introduces the Hebrew plight.

Chapter 2 (v 4) begins the Aramaic section, going through chapter 7

Chapters 2/3/4-5\6\7 are in the broader language of the ancient world (Aramaic) and have a basic message highlighted by the structure of this section.

2 – Dream about kingdoms shows that God is sovereign and gives revelation

3 – idolatry vs. God ends in salvation for those who trust God, and broad proclamation

4 – Ruler testifies that he was crazy not to follow the true God

5 – Ruler shows that it was crazy to mock the true God

6 – idolatry vs. God ends in salvation for the one who trusts God, and broad proclamation

7 – Dream about kingdoms shows that God is sovereign and gives revelation

So, in the broadly used language, this is the message people might get:

God is sovereign over history and gives revelation through his prophets.

Trusting God, even when it seems dangerous, is the way to salvation; everyone should hear this.

Some of the most powerful people in the world have made the mistake of not heeding this. Unless they repented, it ended very badly for them.

When we move on to Daniel 8-12, we need to keep the basic message of in mind (God’s Kingdom is greater than worldly kingdoms). Likewise, that is why we read the gospels with Jesus talking about the Kingdom of God over 100 times. The gospel/good news proclamation is that God is the ruler and he is revealed in Christ. Trusting in Christ is bowing to the true King as our rescuer (savior) who is Sovereign (lord). We then actively seek to trust God over circumstances, even when it looks very dangerous to do so. This tends to lead to the news spreading, that God is great, and that ignoring or rejecting God is much more dangerous.

5 Columns as Catechism

2011-01-24T09:04:00.001+07:00

The 5 columns are a graphic showing Creation, Separation, Redemption, Transformation, Completion. I will be working on it over the next few months as part of my work, hoping to share it with experienced Christian workers and new believers from various groups of people in Asia with very few in their language who are also believers.

The goal will be to have a simple organizing view of the Christian explanation of the human response to good and bad in light of Christ's plan. (I'm sure I will edit that sentence, a lot).

This is not primarily an evangelism tool. It is more an early discipleship too. However, many early discipleship tools can be used for 'ev' if there is enough dialogue going on with someone who isn't sure what believing would entail. Part of the reason is that the symbols require a willingness to 'see' them. They are not self-evident and compellingly clear.
crown = God as sovereign
heart = human, created in God's image to give and receive appropriate love with him and people
globe = creation, the world, physical and spiritual (angels, demons, etc), on this planet and beyond (cosmos).

stacked in 1st column

crown
heart
globe

This shows the original order of God/man/everything else. The point is man's purpose is to be God's representative to the rest of creation, under his authority in a loving relationship. The aspect of our current experience which relates back to this '1st column' is the experience of 'goodness'; of 'oughtness'. To phrase it more simply, and like a mini-catechism "Why do we experience good?" "Because God is good and created a good world with a good role for us as people".

stacked in column 2

cloud with dotted outline of crown
globe is upside down
heart is upside down

cloud with dotted outline of crown = God is there, but not seen directly

globe is upside down = the world is now over man and not working like it should (sickness, death, storms, demonic, etc.)

heart is upside down = humanity has submitted to creation, specifically to rebellious spiritual powers, which results in love not working with one another as it should, and our desire to worship God blocked by creation, which explains why we are natural idolators.

side by side in column 3

1. heart

2. upside down heart under a cross

3. heart

The first heart shows the incarnation. Jesus is the 2nd Adam, humanity as we were intended to be.

The upside down heart under the cross shows Jesus becoming sin for us, taking all of our column 2 failure as if it were his own and dying as a result; in judgment.

The final heart shows the vindication through resurrection. Righteous Jesus + sins of the world dying on the cross = resurrected Jesus. His righteousness is greater than our condemnation.

Column 4

cloud with dotted outline of crown
globe is upside down
heart is upside right with a cross in it

The only differences between column 2 and 4 are the result of the cross on the heart. Now the cross is turned toward love when it abides in the work of Christ on the cross. This is meant to show a number of things to believers who are struggling with hard circumstances.

1. God is there, but we do NOT see him clearly as we would like.

2. The world was intended for good, but it is NOT working like it should. People do get sick and die, spirits do bully, lie and manipulate; life is STILL hard after coming to faith in Christ.

3. We don't have to have our hearts upside down in subjection to creation. We can be conformed to the image of Christ by resting in his work such that we put off worldly ways and put on Christ's ways.

Column 5

1. crown

2. heart with cross in it

3. globe

This is the final hope, the destination of life which is reconciled with God. God is clearly seen because he is with us. Humanity is restored in authority over creation (including spirits) and everything works the way it should. No sickness, sadness, death remain (all the bad is judged in the transition from column 4 to 5).

How to use it? For personal reference in processing.

1. processing experiences = good? thank God for his good creation. bad? remember the consequences of leaving God's way for the way of idolatry (ruined the world and life). choice? good over bad, in Christ, in me/us, and eventually in all that remains.

2. processing scripture = notice in Scripture God's goodness and intended ways is column 1. Notice the way of death (idolatry, spirit of Babylon, etc.); that is column 2. Follow the plan of salvation, from the beginning of Genesis to the resurrection is column 3. Transformation of someone who turned to God's grace and was changed is column 4 (even in Old Testament stories). Column 5 is Hope revealed, including Psalm 67, 96 and anywhere the final state of restored completeness is described.

3. in choices.

thank God for good.

take responsibility for being part of the problem (we all contribute to sin pollution) when we sadly face evil and suffering in a fallen world.

pay attention to the sovereign plan of God unfolding in promises, events, and examples leading to Christ.

humble ourselves under God by trusting in Christ and his ways. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. That grace is given to transform us to be more like Christ.

stay hopeful, even when things are dark and difficult. Remember where things are headed, and don't be afraid to ask for miraculous glimpses into the final state in the form of miracles even now (healings, etc.). Part of the discipleship process will include explaining miracles as 'column 5 signs and samples', not as any current pattern. In other words, God does do amazing things, but the basic pattern of this world, even in the life of someone living a column 4 life, is hardship, suffering, and ultimately death. Be real (and Biblical), but also be free to call upon God for exceptional provisions, particularly as signs to others of where the future is headed.

This is the general idea to be edited and practiced.

grumpy monday

2011-01-10T10:37:00.000+07:00

Monday. Should be grateful. Alive and well and all that. Hmmph.
ok.... so I need to repent... to metanoia... to rethink.
Alive
well
all that...

ok. doing better.
Life is (including me in process) because ___________.
God is self-existent, and we are contingent... and our contingent reality includes epistemic angst... but there are promises and signs... and so there is hope. So, there is good that is not an illusion, there is cause for gratitude that is wise, not just obligatory.

ok. ready for Monday.

Daniel story of loyalty before idolatry

2010-12-14T11:42:00.000+07:00

It was good to be back in house church with Sojos this Sunday, and it went reasonably well, but was a bit muddled. We are somewhere in size a bit too big for open ended discussion (what I aimed for) but still smaller than a group with a lecturer (though I ended up doing a bit more of that than I prefer).

The goal is to get to clear and honest teaching so we can have clearer and more honest living. But the bigger the group, the harder it is to say things which involve active paradox. Harder, that is, to speak to tension without it being awkward. I imagine there is a sociological/psychological category for this, about communicating in groups according to size and formality, but I don't know enough about that. I just sense that saying something controversial to a dozen people is much more likely to generate intrigue and pursuit of understanding than doing so in a larger group. Maybe there is an expectation in a larger group that communication is packaged more elegantly; effieciently... in anticipation of the reality of too many different hearing situations (each individual adds contextual complexities).

So, now that I have a deadline to do administrative stuff which I'm terribly inefficient with, I suddenly have a burst of energy to think and write (this is a complex Aikido style maneuver to use the negative energy of expense reports for the positive) ((and that was pure rationalization fueled by a lack of discipline, but, oh well))

So, Daniel 3 is the story of the really big idol and the Jewish lads not bowing. Points of interest in the text:

60 x 6 - means it was tall (5 stories) and skinny. It was more like an obelisk (Washington Monument) than a burly statue. The whole obelisk (and the 6's) is part of the Chaldean-Babylonian-Ancient World - astrological mystery world view of Creation as divine which is morphed but active today.
The call is to all peoples, nations, languages to unify under the towering statue in Babylon.
The Jewish lads don't and are persecuted with fierce anger for it. But, they are resolved about the complexity of God as Creator who CAN do anything, but WILL do what He wills (they believe in the imminence of the transcendent God but not in presumption).
tough soldiers die, but the God trusting lads don't
one like a son of the gods... revelation occurs
new mandate: God of gods and Lord of lords is proclaimed (or else!)

So, the story has the ethical example, we should be like those 3 who were clear enough about God that they would rather die. It centers on the question of who/what stands above us? Above all nations, peoples, languages. Is it a military conqueror with spooky astrological symbols and insights into heavenly mysteries? Or is it the Creator revealed in the story of Abraham and beyond?

For many there is an above below conundrum. There is the loyalty issue, often rising from familiarity. I should choose to be loyal to God, that just seems right. But, the big questions of life are harder when I learn a little Chaldean and see how far and complicated numbers and chemicals and quarks and sociologically directive framing works. The overload of 'yeah but...' dynamics can strain one's clear and confident resolve, and when it does, it can lead to compromise.

So how did M,S,A, manage to be fully developed Babylonian educated, mystery informed, privilege enjoying cultural elites and still be loyal to YHWH, even to death?!~!

That is the question.

Should... Can... WILL

2010-12-05T09:30:00.000+07:00

{For a message at the Gathering}

Completing a study on the Navigator's Wheel Illustration
Today's goal is to review what we have been learning and to make a decision about how to respond to Christ and his way. To make it useful, I'll need to talk a bit directly, so if you are really doing great spiritually, couldn't be better, then please don't be annoyed. Just pray for the rest of us who are living a relatively mixed Christian life right now. I'm talking about the majority of us who are living a 'hai keyi' Christian life.

Ok, we'll start the review with a reminder of the "hai keyi" story. I'm in China, learning Mandarin, and being way to intuitive about it. I hear people with skills respond "hai keyi" when they are asked if they have skills.
You play basketball a lot, are you any good "hai key".
You are an English major, so you understand English movies ok? "hai keyi"
etc.
So I get the idea it means something like, "yeah, pretty good". And it sorta does, in some contexts, but not really. I found it out most clearly when I used it in response to my language teacher's wife asking me if I like her cooking. "Hai keyi!" was my effort at being colloquial in complimenting her without being over the top. "Yeah, this pretty good!"
But Zhang Laoshi was not shy. "Hai keyi?!? What's wrong with my cooking?"
huh?
My teacher explained in English, "hai keyi" means "could be better"

So, I'm now taking my Mandarin experience of being 'hai keyi' about learning mandarin, and talking to all of us 'hai keyi' Christians. People who are willing to admit (at least to ourselves) that although there are some really good things happening in my Christian life, in too many ways it is still "hai keyi" - "less than it could be"

Here is the review:

We Should live out the Christian life, we Can live out the Christian life, so... will we?

We should know who we are in Christ (the hub)
We should talk to God in prayer (vertical up)
We should learn from God in his word (vertical down)
We should live the Kingdom way with one another (horizontal right)
We should share the Kingdom way with others (horizontal left)
We should have a pattern of trusting Jesus in learning new things and being faithful to old things, obeying him with confidence in him (circle that makes the wheel).

WHY?

Because Jesus knows life, and offers life and, in very deep ways which require reflection to begin to appreciate in a sense more than just a slogan... Jesus is Life.

The Navigator's wheel illustration is a useful image to remind me how to get more out of life throughout my whole life.

CAN I DO IT?
IF you are a Christian, you already are doing the Navigator's wheel.
You do have an identity in Christ which you have acknowledged at least enough to make a profession of faith.
You do talk to God in prayer, and maybe even listen.
You do take in info from his word, either by reading it yourself, or via sermons, etc.
You do live out Kingdom community when you are a Christian with other Christians
You do represent Kingdom hope when you are around people who are not trusting Christ as King
And you do have a cycle of trusting and doing what Christ says regarding life and love and such...
The question is whether I am doing it as well as I should and as well as I could.

No. We could do better. "Hai keyi!" (the story from last week about misunderstanding the Mandarin phrase to mean 'quite good' when it actually means 'it could be better')

The question for today is... WILL I?

First of all, lets be biblical, instead of religious, and say something odd. Let's say, no Father, I won't do what you ask me. I will continue to drift, and get by and be puzzled when my ability to process life is not up to life's complicated and painful realities.

MATTHEW 21 The Parable of the Two Sons

28“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

So why would I be so cynical? It is prophetic tradition

EZEKIEL 33

30“As for you, son of man, your countrymen are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ 31My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.
33“When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

The unfaithful son fulfills the duty to act AS IF the message from the Lord was good. The faithful son? He counted the cost quickly and realized how uncomfortable it was. He counted the cost deeply and realized how good a deal it was. What about us?

My goal is wrapping up our time together is to move toward Jesus' most simple and compelling invitation to action. We will get ready for the Lord's Supper. I'd invite you to consider not taking it. But after considering not taking it, out of fear that you are too used to lazy, selfish, worldly, compromising ways and that you don't want to be guilty of being a hypocrite... consider a little more deeply.

The story of what you Should do (intentionally following Christ's ways) is actually hopeful because it does not make a big deal of your will power. In fact, it turns it upside down. God opposes the proud, including the religiously 'christian' proud... but he gives undeserved kindness (grace) to the humble. What you should and can do is humble yourself and say, I make no promises, I just confess that Jesus is good and that I want him. "Lord help my unbelief"- better translated - unfaithfulness.

You should and you can come to the Father like the prodigal son, even as a normal Christian at a normal church listening to a normal church message. And you can expect the normal response from the Father: an unashamedly enthusiastic embrace, encouragement... a feast of love from God, from his resources, into your life.

You should.

You can.

You will?

notes on Navigator's Wheel illustration

2010-11-28T09:12:00.001+07:00

I have been invited to discuss the navigator’s wheel, a discipleship tool showing a shorthand diagram of basic Christian living. There are 6 parts to it, and I am discussing the final part. What we want to do is to have a simplified way of checking ourselves, are we doing what leads to a life well lived? Not only is this the question for ourselves, it is also a question for those we seek to influence. Are we helping others know the basics of how to live life according to Jesus?

The hub is who you are in Christ. The vertical axis is relating to God in prayer and scripture. The horizontal axis is relating to other people with the good news. The outer rim ties it all together. How? Obedience?? Isn’t that a bad thing (a.k.a. legalism)?

The two main texts for this part, obedience, are John 14:21 and Romans 12:1,2.

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Romans 12:1,2 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The idea is that Jesus knows what he is talking about regarding life, God etc., and if you really love him, then trust him and do what he says. He promises that if you do you will experience God’s love in more clearly manifest ways than if you don’t.

There is a lot to be said about how Jesus commands us to live, but there is a very short verse to help make sure we don’t stray into some kind of religious rule way of living. John 6:28,29

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

The most basic idea of the Christian faith is that it is a relationship. We are to love God and love people, the 2 great commands, but in order to know how to do that we have to constantly trust, have confidence in, rely on, learn from…. Jesus, the master of living.

So, if we are willing to believe that we should do that (and if we are in church we likely have more or less agreed to that in principle) then why is it so easy for us to drift? Last week some scary statistics were given about how many young people in America are drifting right out of church and giving up entirely on the idea of following Jesus. Why is that? The answer, in part, is revealed in Romans 12.

What I want to learn is how life actually works so I can live it better. To do that I have to understand some things that require some concentration. First, what is the ideal; that which I wish I did? It is summed up in Micah 6:8. What does God require of me as a man? To act justly (be fair, do right, etc.) and to love mercy (to look for ways of peace and reconciliation) and to walk humbly with God (to realize I am not wise enough or strong enough on my own to do this.

How about you? Do you ever struggle with when to demand what is RIGHT (of yourself or others) vs. when to be merciful and let things go (for yourself or for others)? We need God to help us with this because it is so easy to be harsh when trying to be just or being weak and compromising when we are trying to be merciful. God help us to get it right!!

Romans 12 is a turning point in Paul’s explanation about what is wrong in life and how Jesus makes the difference. He starts by saying he loves the good news of Jesus and is not ashamed of it. He states the basic problem is a world that is out of sorts with God as creator. Creation over creator leads to bad thinking and bad behavior. He goes on to warn that just because you are religious doesn’t mean you are any better than the idol worshippers. We have all fallen into the trap of acting without appropriate reference to our creator. He uses Abraham as an example of what we need to do, we need to trust God. After all, God did for us in Christ what we could not do for ourselves. We moved from life to death in Adam, but Christ as the second Adam moves us from death to life. Now when we trust in Christ we are immersed in his mercy and grace with the hope of living like him.
But Paul is honest and says we don’t have it in us to ‘just do it’. The good we wish we did, we don’t do. The bad we wish we didn’t do, we do. He says Christ can save us, because in him there is no condemnation and there is a plan. But wait, didn’t God have a plan with Israel? Yes, and he will complete their role according to his plan. We all need to call upon Christ, and even through Israel’s disobedience God is bringing about good. So….

In light of this awareness of God’s mercies… here is what you need to do.

1. Give your body to God. That is only reasonable, he is the one who gives it to you.
2. Replace world-ordered thinking with God-ordered thinking
3. When you do this, you will know God’s will for maturity. You will know how to follow God.

Let’s refresh for a moment =

Obeying Christ is loving and trusting him.
Loving and trusting him results in knowing and experiencing him.
Knowing and experiencing him results in living wisely.

Have any of us experienced this? Yes. Are we experiencing it now? Some are and some aren’t. For those that aren’t, why not? The basic answer is that the world keeps sending information and ways of interpreting that information that are contrary to God. If we coast in this life, we will have a mess in our souls. Our bodies, mind and will not go well if we don’t actively guide our body and our mind according to our will submitted to God’s will.

That is why the wheel illustration is useful. We study God’s word so that our minds are renewed. We need to keep learning from Scripture as we learn more from life. We constantly need to keep refreshing our perspective from God’s perspective.

What that means is a couple of things. Upgrade and refresh.
1. upgrade – means you need to keep learning about God’s wisdom and ways with corresponding seriousness and sophistication to the things you are learning from the world. As you learn about bio-chemistry’s effects on the experience of desire, rethink advice from proverbs and Timothy about knowing when to just maintain appropriate distance instead of trying to manage a tempting situation. As you mature from a simple view of “we” are the good guys and “they” are the bad guys, upgrade your theology to include understandings of previenient grace among 'them' and rebelliousness among 'we'.
2. Refresh – not only do you need to keep learning new things from God as you learn new things from the world, you need to refresh your awareness of things you have known. What do you need to do to do the works God requires? Believe in the one whom he has sent.

Anti-Christian experiences in Christian communities

2010-11-20T14:50:00.002+07:00

Cross-culture conversions

2010-11-09T16:33:00.000+07:00

hard work helps make a happy soul, if…

2010-10-18T12:45:00.000+07:00

Sometimes I hate hard work. Not too weird, is it? But actually I only really hate hard work if it is missing a few things.

In the same way sometimes I hate not having something to work hard on. Why?

A big part of what I do is look at things from opposing angles, trying to get a sense of contradictions and such so that I can find principles that last in multiple contexts. Single dimension observations aren’t as useful. (note to self- high frequency direction finding /triangulation; dialectics; holograms)

Summer vacation is the more concrete illustration for this thought. “Schools, out, for, SUMMER!” Yeah, no more work, just fun and goofing off and such. That used to be such a great feeling. But then I remember going over to Brett’s house.

“Hey, what ‘cha wanna do?”

“I dunno, what do you wanna do?”

“I dunno know, whatever you wanna do.”

And then we would walk in 105 degree heat, barefoot on asphalt, for a mile and a half to get a coke and spree and sit on an iron cross beam over a creek….

When it was time to go back to school, we tried to act irritated, but partly it was exciting to get back to structured work. For about 2 days.

Do I like my work now? Not as much as I should. I have such a good setup I almost feel guilty for not enjoying it more. Then I read something that got me more focused than my usual daydreaming about life, meaning, satisfaction, hope, disappointment, food and soccer.

p. 173,4 of Malcom Gladwell’s OUTLIERS (regarding poor immigrants in NY developing a garment business)

When Borgenicht came home at night to his children, he may have been tired and poor and overwhelmed, but he was alive. He was his own boss. He was responsible for his own decisions and direction. His work was complex: it engaged his mind and imagination. And in his work, there was a relationship between effort and reward: the longer he and Regina stayed up at night sewing aprons, the more money they made the next day on the streets.

Those three things - autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward – are, most people agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.

Bingo! A relearning happened for me (which is why I am reluctant to write; everything seems obviously ‘nothing new under the sun’ once stated).

I have dropped in natural enthusiasm currently because I have allowed a bit of disconnect in one of these categories. Solution? Add it back in. Make things possible to succeed or fail, risk/reward, in meaningful ways. Is there no risk or reward currently? There is, but not in meaningfully coherent ways.

Scripture?

In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

(Proverbs 14:23)

The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

(Proverbs 12:24-28)

A righteous life includes a wise and just pursuit of productivity with reward. Other truths have covered this up in my mental clutter. I’m glad to have come across it again.

4 questions on doing stuff well and being glad about it

2010-10-15T11:20:00.000+07:00

Should I?
Can I?
Will I?
Did I?

(repeat)

Should I? - What is good and right to do?? Treasure wisely.
Can I? - What would it take to be able to do this good and right thing? Train for it.
Will I? - When will I take what I could do and make it what I actually do? Aim it purposefully.
Did I? - What have I actually done now? Celebrate

(repeat) keep treasuring wisely, pursuing that good, and celebrating when it is actualized.

groove shark radio and walking round the corner right into quirky

2010-10-15T08:55:00.000+07:00

I used to use this version of Yahoo radio to play songs I chose, and set it to find similar songs so I could expand my awareness. Then they blocked it. A similar site was 'grooveshark'. A friend mentioned it recently and I got back to it. So, I started the input process, trying to remember what songs I like enough to hear a lot.

The interesting bit, to me, was after that. Now I listen to songs I remembered I liked enough to type them in, and I try to remember why? #1 quality? Quirkiness.

What's with that? Why don't I have a list of my top 50 'noble' and 'meaningful' songs. Why quirky?

(hint: option1 = absurdity option 2 = playfulness)
obfuscation implies there is something worth hiding
and seeking

So just added Juno soundtrack, Sun Kil Moon, Sufjan, Pretenders, Dylan, Elvis Costello, even Devendra Banhart (which reminds me to get some select Beatles choices added).

Tai world story

2010-10-13T16:42:00.002+07:00

http://deidox.com/films/pii-chui/

"no one ever told me"

2010-10-13T12:45:00.003+07:00

I corrected myself during a teaching session last Sunday. I started saying "No one ever taught me..." but then I paused. I corrected myself "I don't remember learning...". Why?

I've been noticing some examples of people not remembering ever having been told things that I know they were told. Quite simply communication failed and the easiest hypothesis for why a message was not received is too often "no one ever told me".

It isn't a terrible hypothesis. It does happen sometimes. But I'm losing confidence in it as a default explanation for communication failure. More likely a number of things are going on, including "I wasn't ready to hear that when it was told to me".

Effective communication is much more labor intensive than we would like. Because we sometimes are able to experience the appearance of understanding and being understood with little effort, we like to think that is the norm. Of course, those who are ready to hear this already know this, and those who aren't won't remember reading it. ;-)

Five Streams of the Emerging Church | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

2010-09-27T11:08:00.000+07:00

Five Streams of the Emerging Church | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Good discussion.

same space, same time, separated by great distance

2010-09-17T08:18:00.000+07:00

The phenomenon of superposition and entanglement, where photons share the same space at exactly the same time enabling them to be directly connected to one another even if separated by a great distance, are the hallmarks of a quantum computer, Prof O’Brien explained.

So... how does reality work? The more I learn the less I knew.

near or far or both?

2010-09-14T15:55:00.000+07:00

If God is greater than the universe how/why would he care for me?

The thing is, things are in things. We can go up or down, right or left, and a variety of other dimensional options. But doing more of one is doing less of another.
The idea of being near (in a focused attentive way) and far (in a focused attentive way) seems impossible, and is for us.
There is a fairly common struggle in relating to this. How can God (say something about broad scope) also care about me?
Answer? By being the Creator, not a creation.

    [8:1] O LORD, our Lord,
        how majestic is your name in all the earth!
    You have set your glory above the heavens.
         [2] Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
    you have established strength because of your foes,
        to still the enemy and the avenger.

    [3] When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
        the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
     [4] what is man that you are mindful of him,
        and the son of man that you care for him?

    [5] Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
        and crowned him with glory and honor.
     [6] You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
        you have put all things under his feet,
     [7] all sheep and oxen,
        and also the beasts of the field,
     [8] the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
        whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

    [9] O LORD, our Lord,
        how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(Psalm 8 ESV)

[30] But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
(Matthew 6:30 ESV)

Goldilocks and the futue

2010-09-13T09:37:00.002+07:00

A little girl wanders into a bear family's house. She helps herself to their food. It makes sense when you are a kid; I wonder why? Anyway, it is a story about comparisons. The porridge (oatmeal? congee?) in one bowl is"too hot!" in another it is "too cold." and finally in a third bowl it is "just right," So she just eats it up.
Speaking about the future we can be 'too hot' 'too cold' or 'just right'.
Too hot = arrogantly claiming how the future will play out (too much confidence in MY will)
Too cold = irresponsibly not engaging the future, just assuming it will all play out (not using my will)
Just right = intentionally taking in God's wisdom and applying your will in trust to your understanding of God's will, always open to his redirection. (Made in God's image, using my will in humble and hopeful trust under His will)

[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— [14] yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. [15] Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” [16] As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. [17] So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
(James 4:13-17 ESV)

poem of the day: Age of Men?

2010-09-08T09:25:00.000+07:00

Is this then the Age of Men?

Spandex doesn't hide anything

with it's breath-tight grip.

That's why the heroes wear it

to show they have nothing to conceal.

No gaping wounds, no trick knees

not even the ridge of a scar

to tempt thoughts of mortality.

So here they come

flying to the rescue

without even the dust upon their feet.

Congratulations.

How great to be the Untouchables

saving the untouchables.

What happened to the knights of old

carrying their virtue like a weight

across their shoulders in iron?

They knew what a dangerous thing

it was to claim to be

anything more than human.

To come thundering instead of gliding

with the hours of travel behind them

weary and worn with armour chafing

but arrive ready for battle.

What sacrifice in defense when

your smile is kevlar thin

and if you seem to die it's only

in order to emerge alive again?

Rather ride with mortality astride

looking for the red dawn

for justice and for peace

and the fear that would freeze

the best of these

if they could ever feel it.

So here to the weary warriors

who have seen too much of dark

here to sharpened swords and dulled armour

to truth and justice and fear

all wrapped in one.

Hail.

And for the invincible, the sure

a suit of spandex with nothing to hide

and nothing inside.

James' thesis

2010-09-07T09:16:00.000+07:00

[12] Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
(James 1:12 ESV)

blessed = makarios, happy, well off, fortunate...
this is the same 'blessed as in the sermon on the mount (also in LXX for Ps. 1).

Who is well off?
"steadfast under trial" - things are not easy, but this person does not give up

Why is not quitting when it is hard 'well off'?

when the time of testing is over, if one is still standing, he will receive life's award (goal, prize, point)
That is God's promise to people who love him (and don't quit when under trials)

What i see is James making an argument for his people that fidelity to God, in spite of short term losses and hardships, is the best long term investment of life.

Everything in the book expounds on that idea.

Withdrawals from junk (processed food, heroin, selfishness...)

2010-09-03T08:29:00.000+07:00

[7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
(James 4:7-10 ESV)

Submit to one, resist the other. That is clarifying.

Draw near to God
   Cleanse hands (you sinnners)
   Purify your hearts (you double-minded)

   Be wretched and mourn and weep
   Let you laughter be mourning, joy gloom
Humble yourselves before the Lord

HE WILL EXALT YOU

hands and hearts? Actions and Attitudes. Clear enough: don't sin and be double minded, change your actions and thinking.

But, why all the sad stuff? MT 5:4, blessed are those who mourn. Luke 6 mourn, weep etc.?

It is a sickening feeling to turn from a corrupt coping system to get back on a healthy system. In other words, DON'T EXPECT A WASHING LIGHT TO DESCEND WHEN YOU ARE SORRY. You can receive grace IMMEDIATELY to reassure you, but the painful withdrawals will take time and, well, will be painful. But its worth it.

He will exalt you (lift you up from the muck).

clarify loyalties

2010-09-03T08:19:00.000+07:00

[4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? [6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
(James 4:4-10 ESV)

Circling back...

Covenant is with God
We live in a world in rebellion to God
We have desires with options for fulfillment in the rebellious world
We just need to befriend the world in rebellion to pursue those desires
When we do so... We betray our beloved, defile our covenant, and become part of the rebellious camp and thus 'enemies of God'.

So what should we do? CLARIFY LOYALTIES

God gives grace, go get some. Draw near to God and away from the adversary. Make it unambiguous: Yes to God, no do the leader of rebellion against God.

God will take that humility, that acknowledgment that we need him, and will graciously help. He is 'jealous for the Spirit he has made to dwell in us'. He gave us his Spirit to be able to live his way. It is troublesome for us to neglect that. When we return and walk by the spirit, we can learn to have appropriate desires met appropriately, as much as can be done in a fallen world.

World or God - desire, adultery and puzzles

2010-09-01T08:56:00.002+07:00

[4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
(James 4:4-5 ESV)

Adultery?

    [5] For your Maker is your husband,
        the LORD of hosts is his name;
    and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
        the God of the whole earth he is called.
(Isaiah 54:5 ESV)

The Bible is the record of the love story of God and his covenant people. He made us, cares for us, pursues us, redeems us, etc. etc. And we? At times we try to get what we want without reference to him.

Is desire bad? No. Desire is good. The whole question is of loyalty and propriety.

WORLD ( )
WORLD god
( ) God
GOD world

The first option is wanting things in the world and going to the world without reference to God.
The second is wanting things in the world and trying to use God/religious stuff to get the things you want.
The third is only wanting God, and nothing in the world etc. This is monasticism, withdrawal, and so on.
The fourth is desiring God as the categorically greatest good, and following him in how to approach the good desires in the world he has created.

4 options of desire world/god and the JAMES 4 strife issues via a party with pizza delivered:

first option: My temptation is to just get what I want without reference to God; its nobody's business. If I want the first piece of pizza at the party, I just maneuver my way up to the front and get what I want.
second option: My temptation is to just get what I want, but 'god' can be useful. If I offer to pray for the group maybe I can go up next to the pizza and be the first to get it.
third option: I don't care about pizza, I just love God. I don't even need food, or people, or anything. I'll just go to a room by myself with God and forget about pizza, and people, and parties and everything.
fourth option: be grateful to God to be alive, enjoy the pizza when it is my turn, but don't be undone if my favorite kind is already taken, look for ways to grow in contentedness and graciousness, whether through receiving pizza or not.

That is my reconstruction from Sunday. The deal is God created the world, has us in the world, so loved the world he sent his Son, will recreate the world... the 'world' is not bad, the 'world' in rebellion, the system of good/evil outside of God, that is what is bad. That is why what follows in James is:

1. don't despair, God is gracious if you will just humble yourself (admit the desire dysfunction)
2. clarify your trust/loyalty: move toward God and away from the devil

God's grace will sort out our loyalties and habits towards desires if we persevere in humility and trust. Again, that is the whole point of the book, helping this group not to lose hope in the face of big problems, rather to gain confidence to patiently endure in doing right even when it is not obvious or easy.

Why can't we all get along?

2010-08-31T08:12:00.001+07:00

After a drugged up out of control driving spree through L.A. The police finally stopped the defiant driver, Rodney King, and then in spectacularly controversial fashion beat him into submission. Hugely irrational responses followed (understatement). Rodney asks for peace, in the form of a question:

No Rodney, we can't all get along.
But why not?

James [4:1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?
(James 4:1-5 ESV)

The flow of the book of James has been to persevere when things are tough. Persevere in what? Faith that changes how we talk and act. True justice and mercy, from the heart, even to where we don't maneuver for advantage with people who are able to help us ($$$).
Now, he challenges the group to ask themselves? "Why can't we all just get along?"

The answer is the same as what Siddhartha observed: DESIRE. Here it is 'hedone'. For Sid it was Tanha. Allegiance to our cravings shapes our ethics. Loyalty to lust, over fidelity, restraint, whatever... that is what makes us dangerous.

I want it SOOOOOOO badly! (that I will __________)
James says we are ready to murder. This may well be an allusion back to his brother's way of talking, as in Matthew 5:

[21] “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ [22] But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
(Matthew 5:21-22 ESV)

The act of murder is the decision to negate someone's 'made in the image of God' status and judge them to be unworthy of life. The dramatic use here probably doesn't involve literal daggers and such, just the decision in the heart to X the competitor out and attack them in what ever ways best help one to get what they want.
Said again: I quarrel because I want my way so bad I am willing to change my view of people, more or less like a murderer does, in order to get what I want.
The next option is to not be so aggressive, rather, take one's desires to God. But James has to deal with people who have 'tried' this and still weren't satisfied. He explains that they are just trying to use God for their desire, not really being submissive to God and willing to have their desire met, or replaced, or whatever God would wisely decree.

Now, the interesting bit is what follows. By doing this we are called: Adulterers.
Tomorrow I will look at that. Why 'adultery'?

wisdom from above

2010-08-30T11:24:00.000+07:00

There is a description of a mature, composed person:

James 3
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

The contrast is between harshly driven 'self' vs. granted (from above) poise. Wise enough to be:
pure - not mixed
peaceable, gentle, open to reason - not fearful, willing to consider options
full of mercy, character (good fruits), impartial, sincere - not hollow, already defined by transcendent good, not just a personally defined 'good' (e.g. 'good for me')

What is gained by being someone who receives and applies 'wisdom from above'?
a crop of 'righteousness'
again, what is 'righteousness'? Things as they should be. Copacetic, and all that ;-)

How should I pursue this 'rightness', this shalom, this sukkha, this 'yeah baby, that's what i'm talkin' 'bout!', this 'yesssss'?

be at peace and go about things peacefully (not unilaterally, e.g. selfishly, connivingly).

How does that happen? Circle back to 'wisdom from above'. The GOSPEL is that Jesus is Supreme, which personally means his offer of reconciliation to God (supreme good and great) is real and applicable to me without costs (e.g. 'gratis').

So....
I should not be grabby and aggressive.
I should turn upward to God and receive his gracious wisdom.
That should calm me down, mainly due to feeling safe, loved, provided for, informed, etc.
Then I look at opportunities with a belief that there is a healthy, shalom-type outcome to pursue
That makes it easier not to get defensive, anxious and weird
Then I learn more and am able to better reconcile concepts (beliefs, ideals, etc.) and actual experiences.
Done rightly this goes from peace (at rest with God), through peace (not anxious when encountering options) to peace (actually good outcomes, or contentment with challenges if things don't work out).

That seems to be what is going on in the end of James 3. James 4 will describe why that is so hard to achieve.

James 4

2010-08-28T08:12:00.000+07:00

    [4:1] What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? [2] You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. [4] You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [5] Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? [6] But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. [9] Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. [10] Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
    [11] Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. [12] There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
    [13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— [14] yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. [15] Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” [16] As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. [17] So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
(James 4 ESV)

Thailand struggles; Red Camp

2010-05-14T15:20:00.002+07:00

The situation in Bangkok is serious. As an outsider I have a limited understanding of the situation. For that reason, primarily, I do not intend these photos or comments related to them to be advocating more than a call to be aware and to pray.
These are snaps from an iPhone while walking through the 'Reds' protest camp in central Bangkok on Sunday evening, May 9th.
The photos in this post and the next show barricades, blocked off streets, markets set up inside the camp (including a very stylish monk cart), issues of rubbish piles (though the was surprisingly tidy considering), some information walls with photos from recent violence and appeals for help, and big screen projections of the main stage from which leaders called for government change in front of a banner declaring they were 'peaceful protesters, not terrorists'
The crowds were quite large with an odd mix of families, vendors, focused activists and some serious looking men looking toward a serious clash. Last night that clash accelerated, and today the camp is being pressured by government forces. I have no idea how shalom can be formed in the near future, but I'm certain it is needed urgently and deeply.

Thailand struggles: View in the Red Camp

2010-05-14T15:16:00.000+07:00

Proverbs 14:23 talk vs. work

2010-05-14T09:29:00.000+07:00

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty

Plans don't work- people do. Or not. Frequent scheming about doing things this way or that can take the place of actually zeroing in on something and getting it done. Do I want to profit? In what ways? How hard am I willing to work to pursue that profit (treasure, thing that is valued)?

Monday, fresh start

2010-04-19T09:33:00.000+07:00

I've suspended writing for quite some time. It is largely due to my move and change in role. I am going to see about starting back up. Partly because it is a good discipline for thinking, partly because I need to work on writing in general. I have 1 book I need to write within the next 2 years.

Monday- Why is there good? God is self-existent, God is good, God created a good world. So, we find good throughout creation; sometimes only a remnant of good, but good none the less. Devotionally it is good to start the week acknowledging goodness is from God. Pursuing God, incidentally, is the best way in which to pursue good.

There. Post written. Now get on with Monday and see what goodness is waiting.

On the pursuit of honey

2010-03-12T09:36:00.001+07:00

“Hevel. a chasing after the wind.”
“It’s all anicca”
“It’ll just run out, anyway”

Sol, Sid and Eeyore. Inescapable insights.

Paul begging people in the church not to fall for the trap of bitterness

2010-03-08T15:15:00.003+07:00

For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure--not to put it too severely--to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

(2 Corinthians 2:4-11)

What happened? Someone in the church did wrong. They justified gross immorality. To make matters worse, the church was too casual about the situation. Paul told the church (1 Cor 5 and 6) to hand the guy over to Satan as part of a process of sorting him out. It worked. The guy realized he had done wrong and he was repentant. Unfortunately, the church was still feeling the adrenaline of moral outrage against the guy who had definitely done wrong, and now they were in danger of going too far the opposite direction. The trap of Satan is to get us to have too much focus on mercy "don't worry about it, no big deal" or too much focus justice "I can't forgive him until he pays for what he has done", neither of which are truly humble before God.

The church must be strong against stubbornness. Christ says one thing and someone says and does another, while calling themselves a Christian, is not ok. That seems reasonably sensible to us when we are talking about doing bad stuff and justifying it: bad stuff like perversion, violence, stealing. But what about the more subtle evils? What about defying Jesus and his teachings on things like forgiveness?

Jesus teaches stuff about forgiveness that we are tempted to resist:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

(Matthew 5:43-46)

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

(Matthew 6:12-15)

Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'

(Matthew 18:32-33)

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

(Matthew 18:21-22)

And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

(Mark 11:25)

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
"Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;

(Luke 6:35-37)

Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him,
and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

(Luke 17:3-5)

Don't do it; don't resist the lordship of Jesus and his difficult teachings about forgiveness!

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

(Colossians 3:12-13)

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

(Ephesians 4:30-32)

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

(Hebrews 12:11-17)

"church" description from The Crowded House

2010-03-07T09:10:00.001+07:00

Here is a nice, short description of the church:

As those welcomed, forgiven and accepted, we become a community of those who welcome, forgive and accept. We respond to the gospel in baptism, expressing that we have become part of the people of God. The Lord’s Supper is the meal we regularly share together to celebrate the work of Christ and express that we continue to be part of the people of God together. Our shared life proclaims the Lord’s death until he returns to make good the invitation to his eternal banquet. - The Crowded House

guest post from Bob Butler's monthly article

2010-03-04T13:37:00.003+07:00

Gatecrashers, Inc. March 2010
He is not a tame lion.

“Ooh!!” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe.
But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Reading through the Gospel of Mark this past month, I was drawn to see how often people were afraid of Jesus. John the Baptist was afraid to baptize him. Peter was scared stiff when Jesus called him to be an apostle. Unclean spirits were always terrified of Jesus because they knew who he really was. Jesus’ family was afraid for him. Herod was afraid that Jesus was John the Baptist’s ghost returned to exact revenge.
I find it interesting that after Jesus’ miracles, the reaction was often fear. When the villagers saw the Gadarene demoniac “sitting and clothed and in his right mind’, rather than rejoicing, “they were afraid” (Mark 5:15). When Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples’ panic of drowning quickly changed to awed fright at the power of their rabbi to control even the weather. When the resurrected Jesus appeared to his followers, their response was fear.
This is hardly a kinder, gentler Jesus. He isn’t the “easy touch” who will see that we are prosperous and comfortable whenever we upload a request to him. It certainly is not an undemanding, inoffensive Jesus. Our Lord expected negative and even violent reactions to himself, saying “Blessed are those who are not offended because of me.” Direct encounters with the severe glory of God are always terrifying. “‘Course he isn’t safe.”
Looking at how Jesus was feared led me to the answer to a mystery I had never fully understood. Why did the religious leaders hate Jesus so violently? Mark 11:18 says it so clearly (How did I miss it all these years?):
“And the scribes and the chief priests heard it and
sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him….”
They hated him because they “feared” him. Jesus is awesome and his enemies understand that well. We should never be surprised at rejection and persecution and hatred. Fear generates and drives hatred, especially when a person’s status and authority are threatened. And Jesus is an enormous threat to this world order. He is no tame lion; no one is his equal; no one is his competition. He is dangerous…not a tame lion.
Why did they kill Jesus? They were indescribably afraid of him. As sent ambassadors of this all-powerful King, we must simply tell his message. Most will respond with fear. Some may want to “kill the messenger” because of the message; others will consider it cautiously; a few will respond gladly. Those who may hate us really only fear Him. Jesus understood this and warned that we would be persecuted and hated because of him. Are you afraid of them? Remember that they are much more afraid of HIM.
He is not safe but he is good. He’s the King I tell you.
Bob Butler from Texas

4 questions for Feb 28

2010-02-28T09:38:00.002+07:00

What is the foundation of the church? Jesus is Lord. Anointed = Christ, Messiah. What is anointed? Marked as ruler.

What will not overcome the church? Gates of HADES. Hades=place of the dead. This is not 'gehenna/hell'. But people say it all the time. Wrong view is that Hell is Satan's home base. Not at all biblical, so why do we think that? (there are answers, but I'm just complaining). The very simple point is that separation from God is death, but death can't win because Jesus is forming a community that is greater than death, particularly because he defeats death and all that is associated with it (sin and the adversary included).

Mt 18 is instruction for the church to be disciplined in our trust/loyalty to Jesus as Lord. Rebellion in the community of those loyal to Jesus must be addressed. The progression is from AS DISCRETE AS POSSIBLE to AS PUBLIC AS NECESSARY. The point is to keep the church a community of people who are grateful that God is changing them to live out their loyalty, and disloyal people should not be allowed to set up camp among the loyal. It is not to punish our clumsiness, it is to keep us humble and honest with one another.

What does it look like when discipline works? The church is the gathering of sinners saved by grace trusting Jesus as Lord to forgive them and change them, individually and corporately. When we make sure that no one claims to be a Christian but is reckless in their attitude toward Christ's authority, the church is a safely imperfect place where honest growth occurs.

Jesus discusses The Church, foundation and focus

2010-02-27T21:04:00.000+07:00

Hi Sojourners,

The point of last Sunday was primarily to focus on how Jesus brought together Old Testament truths of Justice & Mercy in very practical ways. This week follows that up with the idea of church looking at the only 2 places in the gospels where the term church is used:

Matthew 16:13-20

13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
14They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

15"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

16Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,[b] the Son of the living God."

17Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you that you are Peter,[c] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[d] will not overcome it.[e] 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[f] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[g] loosed in heaven." 20Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Matthew 18:15-20

15"If your brother sins against you,[b] go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.'[c] 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be[d]bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.

19"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

The questions will be:

What is the foundation of the church in MT 16?

What will not overcome the church?

What is the church taught to do in MT 18? Why?

What does it look like when this works?

BHUTAN, NEPAL: CHRISTIANS FACE HOSTILITIES

2010-02-27T20:55:00.001+07:00

Intercessors.Network@Comhem.SE
Thrust from their homes in Bhutan after Buddhist rulers embarked on an ethnic and religious purge, Christian refugees in Nepal face hostilities from Hindus and others. In Sunsari district in southeastern Nepal, a country that is more than 80 percent Hindu, residents from the uneducated segments of society are especially apt to attack Christians, said Purna Kumal, district coordinator for Awana Clubs International, which runs 41 clubs in refugee camps to educate girls about the Bible.

“In Itahari, Christians face serious trouble during burials,” Kumal said. “Last month, a burial party was attacked by locals who dug up the grave and desecrated it.” Earlier this month, he added, a family in the area expelled one of its members from their home because he became a Christian.

Bhutan began expelling almost one-eighth of its citizens for being of Nepali origin or practicing faiths other than Buddhism in the 1980s. The purge lasted into the 1990s. “Christians, like Hindus and others, were told to leave either their faith or the country,” said Gopi Chandra Silwal, who pastors a tiny church for Bhutanese refugees in a refugee camp in Sanischare, a small village in eastern Nepal’s Morang district. “Many chose to leave their homeland.”

SEW applications: Getting IT done part 2

2010-02-04T06:42:00.002+07:00

The word from Peter= if you believe Jesus is trustworthy, the make it your priority to learn to live the way he says. Don't be lazy, don't be fooled, don't be discouraged: grow!

Lazy = "I believe, but... I dunno... I guess I believe, maybe... I dunno.... "
(energy and resources go to other 'stuff').

Fooled = Hey, this teacher helps me find ways to believe and not change! Sweet...
(all talk no character; many polls show this is a huge problem in many Christians)

Discouraged = I thought I would see changes quicker and easier...
(lose hope and give up when things don't go like they wished)

instead -

be diligent (not lazy) = take the gift of your forgiveness and your relationship to your creator and work and learning how your heart is supposed to work. Work to understand how grace can and should transform you into the kind of person you are grateful to be. Eagerly want the freedom that comes from being trustworthy to do the wise and loving thing.

be wise (not fooled) = read the text! Just look how many times in the New Testament writer after writer urges us on to make decisions to put energy into character transformation. The point of God's grace is to empower us to live like he intends, not to be passive. Don't be fooled by teachers who explain away the theme of book after book in the New Testament. Learn what is taught by Jesus and his students and you will see that there is work for you to do, not to get saved/born again..., but because you have been saved from sin and now are empowered by grace to have your efforts at living well be effective!!!

be hopeful, (not discouraged) = change takes time. Christ has promised to set the world right. Ultimately it will be through a dramatic act of judgment against wrong and an establishment of right. We often hope it will come soon, so it will all be done. But if it hasn't come yet, then stay diligent as an agent of justice and mercy patiently press on!

OK, now what?

1. Make sure you understand that you cannot 'earn' your salvation. It is a gift of grace, received through trust/faith in who Jesus is and what he has done.

2. Make sure you understand that salvation means being part of God's family and God's purposes. That means you now have a bigger agenda. You need to apply God's grace to your character and be used by God as he sees fit.

3. Treasure God by realizing every good thing in you, in others, in the world, and worth hoping for is from him. ACTIVELY DEVELOP THE HABIT OF GRATITUDE. Learn to voice 'thanks' to God all the time. It doesn't have to be for others to hear, necessarily, but from your heart, in your head... intentionally say thank you to God more and more often for more and more types of things.

4. Treasure 'godliness'. The stuff you treasure should be for the way it helps you give and receive appropriate love. That is what being human, created in the image of God, is primarily about.

5. ideas?
treasure chest
- write out gratefulness and store it.
- read responsible biographies of people worth emulating
- notice and reflect on goodness
- start doing what you can do and step by step learn to do more (from being friendly to being sacrificial)

Getting IT done

2010-02-04T06:21:00.003+07:00

What are we to be about, according to Peter? Growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How? Start with faith and then add the implication of faith by diligently applying the grace of God to your character.

IF you do = you will live a fruitful and effective life now and be at home as you enter the Kingdom.
IF you do not = you will not see the point of your salvation and will waste your life and be left wondering...

Then Peter goes into detail about why his version of faith is true = he saw it in personally miraculous ways, but ultimately it comes down to scriptural authority. He then warns his people to not be fooled by people who do not understand and teach such diligence. He says they are false teachers who find ways to use their preaching and teaching to justify their desires.

Finally, he says to be patient, that history doesn't always play out the way we expect, but that doesn't mean God isn't before us. There is coming a time of account, and we should therefore be diligent to be sure we have ordered our lives around God's grace and the habitual knowledge of Jesus as the teacher, guide, forgiver, comforter, exhorter and Lord of our lives.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Wednesday Preview: diligent effort to live out the Treasured life

2010-02-02T11:20:00.001+07:00

Monday: Life is short, we need to decide what matters most. What do you treasure?

Tuesday: Good is what drives us to choose things. The issue is whether we treasure the Source of good. God is the treasure from whom all lasting treasures come. Treasure God.

Wednesday: Treasuring God starts with simple faith (confidence, trust). Trusting that in his goodness, revealed in the person and work of Christ, he has accepted us into his family, we now ought to diligently seek to grow up in understanding and applying his goodness.

2 Peter 1:5-15 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, (6) and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, (7) and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (8) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (9) For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

(10) Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (11) For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (12) Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. (13) I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, (14) since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. (15) And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

Notice that FAITH is first. Salvation is by grace through faith in who God is and what he has done for us.

Having been saved from trying to live for ourselves, how do we live for God? We do so diligently.

Faith is believing that God is our treasure, and that all lasting goodness comes from him. So, we build on that by acquiring a delight in goodness.

make every effort to add = haste, top priority, seek ye first, etc. time and resources (energy, focus, money, status… whatever)

Virtue = what the soul was made for… goodness, wholesomeness… rightness (which is better than wrongness)

Knowledge = interactive relationship; doing good because God is good helps you to personally know God in real ways

Self-control= ability not to fall for what seems good but isn't

Steadfastness = patient endurance

Godliness = familiarity with God

Brotherly affection = real appreciation of people, seeing them from God's perspective (e.g. redeemable)

Love = empowered to do great acts of sacrifice without having to think about it

I'll explain more tomorrow ;-)

Tuesday SEW

2010-02-02T10:00:00.002+07:00

Tuesday
Skit = take a risk at loosing good in order to do the good God calls you to do.
talk = TREASURE THE SOURCE OF GOODNESS is the wisest way to Treasure!

God is where goodness comes from.

Where does bad come from??? Seeking 'good' in wrong ways. Example? Dictators who want good food and other good pleasures. Step 1, gain power. Step 2, use power to gain wealth. Step 3. use wealth to indulge in pleasure.

So what's wrong with that? Answer: go to a refugee camp. "Goodness" taken the worldly way is at the expense of the goodness of others. Remember step 1? When we try to take what we want, without reference to God and his goodness, it is evil in that it destroys good from others (and in us). That is a dramatic example. A more immediate example is being cruel to someone in order to look good to others. We enjoy the 'good' of being liked by our friends, but that is because we abused power (mocking someone else). That's bad.

For Wednesday: 2 Peter 1:5-9
How can I treasure wisely????

Monday -SEW

2010-02-02T09:56:00.002+07:00

Monday - Treasuring Wisely.
We don't know how many days we have. Life is short. Don't let it pass by. Choose what matters and live for that.
thelastletter.og is a site where the video is from. It is a project done, in large part, by a friend of mine. Great imagery and challenges. The point is this:

Peter's 'last letter' was to tell those he cared about to focus intentionally on God's goodness and the promise of God sharing that goodness with us. When we do that, we diligently work at living out the gift of salvation. This is not working for salvation, but is also not wasting the gift. WE HAVE WORK TO DO IN ORDER TO LIVE WISELY.

What do you treasure? Why? How are you adding to your treasures?

Spiritual Emphasis Weak

2010-01-31T10:06:00.002+07:00

Last night I went to music mania. Lot of fun. Gave me an image of the crowd I'll be speaking to this week. A bunch of MKs with some weird taste in music (and humor). So, what will it be... a week of cheesiness, or is there a way to spice stuff up a bit? I thought of asking the Tenacious D - or the Zombies of the Apocalypse... (is that right) to do the warm up bit for our music before speaking. Hmmmm. Wouldn't be weak!

What we will do is consider what the apostle Peter has to say after all the stuff he experienced. Miracles, visions, conflict and all... what advice does he give? Hint: It isn't "How to walk on water and not get distracted by the waves in 3 easy steps". 2 Pt 1 will be our text Monday morning.

ALSO

thelastletter.org will be a reference point. What are we on about?? That'll be the question.

Deciding quickly but correctly vs the damage of delays or mistakes

2009-12-22T10:42:00.000+07:00

Last night was odd. A friend’s son had a painful emergency procedure at a local Chiang Mai hospital. After midnight I was driving the friend’s wife back to the rest of their kids and sitter. Right before we got to the hotel a motorcycle with two young men cut off another motorcycle and began beating a man who had been riding it. I stopped the car and got out, unsure of how aggressively to handle the situation. Recently I have been teaching on the intersection of justice and mercy in humility before God and was keenly aware of too many variables.

Who were these guys fighting? Is this the continuation of something previous? Are there more? Is my responsibility to get involved or to stay with the lady I’m escorting back? If I step in, do I do it cautiously or decisively? Is it worth risking a knife being pulled, or even being thrown in jail if things go sour? How much danger is the guy in who is getting beaten by the other two?

I ended up walking toward them telling them to stop, but doing so much more slowly and cautiously than I historically would have done. The result was mixed. The guy getting the beating ended up with a dozen more kicks and punches than he would have received if I would have intervened violently. The attackers were able to get away when I did pull the victim from them and try and help him. By then other Thais showed up and began to help. That is when I left him with the others and finished taking the lady to her kids.

What I was left with was the uncertainty of caution. My mind kept picturing how to take out the two assailants, and how it would have protected the victim better and brought judgment to the seemingly drug deranged attackers. Then my mind swung to things going badly and being asked later: “what were you thinking?”

The intensity of the episode made me think of how my life in so many ways has been crowded, and subsequently clouded, by endless mitigating ‘what if’s. In my concern not to make a big mistake I have become vulnerable to dangerous delays which allow more damage than a quick good decision, though admittedly less than a quick poor decision.

should/can/will

2009-11-29T09:38:00.003+07:00

An idea about how things get done:

Should = something comes to your mind and you value it, treasure it, in some way. Don't confuse this with reluctantly conceding to someone else "Yeah, I know, I should do that, but..." This is not necessarily to someone else. This is you talking convincingly to you. Hmmm, yes, all things considered, I really do think that doing that is better than not doing that. I want to do that. I really should do that! {also = Vision)

Can = this is the means by which something actually happens. I 'should' save money. If I use SKYPE instead of calling long distance, I CAN actually save money. In our discussion of the cycle of change, this can includes positive (put on) and negative (put off) things which by adding or subtracting actually make it possible to achieve progress toward what we should do; what we treasure. (also = Means)

Will = actually connecting what you treasure (what you should do/be) with what you actually "do/don't do" over time. This is 'live out'. It is also what is meant by enduring, persevering, not quitting, letting ______ keep happening. (also = Intention)

VIM = Vision Intention Means, as per Dallas Willard (should/will/can)

VRM = Vision, Resources, Momentum as per TelosXelot (Should/can/will)

The point I am focusing on is primarily the importance of knowing the reality of how people do stuff. That is a fairly basic and universal process.

The next point is focusing on the uniquely Christian aspects of "treasuring" compared to other views of what to treasure. Correspondingly, the whole cycle of following through from our treasuring becomes important.

An issue: Some Evangelical obsession with 16th century debates have at times undermined our awareness that 'sanctification', spiritual maturity, seeking first His Kingdom, etc. is not significantly different in process than any other human process of change. The fear of 'works righteousness' has lead to confusion on what to do with the un-earnable gift of salvation. Far too often we undermine maturation processes with the excuse of being loyal to grace. But grace is God's generous empowerment to receive and do what He wants us to receive and do. In other words, actively processing this Should/Can/Will in our pursuit of spiritual maturity appropriately will require an ongoing experiencing of grace in every step. God graciously illumines our understanding of what is truly worth treasuring. God gives us the strength to say no to things which undermine our treasure, he graciously provides what we need to put on to achieve the treasure and he graciously provides the power to endure over time in pursuit of that treasure.

more to follow

Choose something small, ask why SHOULD you do it? How CAN you do it? And then How WILL you do it to completion?

For everyone who intentionally overcomes, in almost any challenge, this is how it happens.

Colossians 3:1-17 NIV with highlight on you being plural (Y'all)

2009-11-25T10:56:00.001+07:00

Colossians 3:1-17 NIV

TREASURE your position in Christ

1Since, then, Y’ALL have been raised with Christ, set Y’ALL’S hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set Y’ALL’s minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For Y’ALL died, and Y’ALL’S life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is Y’ALL’S^[a] life, appears, then Y’ALL also will appear with him in glory.

PUT OFF the old way of thinking and acting like you have to look out for #1

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to Y’ALL’S earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.^[b] 7Y’ALL used to walk in these ways, in the life Y’ALL once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from Y’ALL’S lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since Y’ALL have taken off Y’ALL’S old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

PUT ON the new way of belonging in lasting love

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe Y’ALL’S-selves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances Y’ALL may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave Y’ALL. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

LIVE OUT habits of gratitude which reinforce and apply the shift in thinking and living

15Let the peace of Christ rule in Y’ALL’S hearts, since as members of one body Y’ALL were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in Y’ALL richly as Y’ALL teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as Y’ALL sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in Y’ALL’S hearts to God. 17And whatever Y’ALL do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Christ Is Your Life - Eugene Peterson's translation of Colossians 3:1-17

2009-11-25T10:16:00.001+07:00

^1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.

^3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

^5-8And that means killing off everything connected with that way of death: sexual promiscuity, impurity, lust, doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it, and grabbing whatever attracts your fancy. That's a life shaped by things and feelings instead of by God. It's because of this kind of thing that God is about to explode in anger. It wasn't long ago that you were doing all that stuff and not knowing any better. But you know better now, so make sure it's all gone for good: bad temper, irritability, meanness, profanity, dirty talk.

^9-11Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

^12-14So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

^15-17Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

another skim through Colossians

2009-11-22T16:39:00.001+07:00

We are looking to understand how life rooted in Jesus as Lord will grow into the best possible life as we increasingly apply his wisdom and strength to get better at practical love.

How the Jesus life works, as recorded in Colossians

Chapter 1:1-8

Faith – trust in Jesus as the reference point for your life

Hope – an image of what trusting in Jesus as the reference point of your life will look like/result in

Love – the essence of how a life rooted in Jesus works (and what it is)

V Faith is the roots
V Hope is a dotted line sketch of a full-grown fruitful tree
V Love is the growth actually happening season to season

Chapter 1:9-14

Paul’s vision of the growth cycle. He briefly explains the sequence of growing from a wrong view of life to a healthy view of life.

God gives spiritual understanding >We live out the understanding>That produces results (fruit)>Those results enable us to understand more

The cycle continues because God gives us the strength to keep it going.

When it works we understand and apply the difference between life outside of the Christ’s Kingdom vs. life inside Christ’s Kingdom.

Chapter 1:15-23

Christ is the Creator stepping into rebellious creation to reconcile effectively.

Chapter 1:21-2:5

The reconciliation process is very painful in that it is against the grain of a world in rebellion. However, it is worth it to endure pain for the benefit of seeing people grow up in Christ like the should be.

Chapter 2:6-15

The greatness of Christ must be understood so that you don’t settle for a copy (and end up not escaping the rebellious world).

Chapter 2:16-23

Since Christ has overcome oppressive rules and oppressive spirits, don’t get sidetracked into issues of rules and spirits; focus on Christ.

Chapter 3:1-17

Focusing on Christ works by treasuring a vision for a completed life with Christ, putting off what isn’t in accordance with that, putting on what is in accordance with that, and living it out intentionally. The essence of the challenge is to rely on the Creator (revealed in Christ) instead of relying on some form of cleverness or intensity in you or elsewhere in creation to get what you want.

Chapter 3:18-4:1

This is how your faith in Christ, with a hope of full reconciliation to your creator, works in practical relationships that give and receive appropriate love.

Chapter 4:2-18

Be aware that you are one of many people living this out personally and helping others to live it out as well.

Colossians 3 thoughts in progress

2009-11-18T11:27:00.001+07:00

Life is experienced as an interaction between desires and satisfactions.

Understanding the relationship of desire and satisfaction is at the heart of philosophy, religion and psychology.

Very basically the biblical contention is that there are two fundamental perspectives.

Cosmos: The predominate pattern of human behavior is to notice that there are all sorts of resources in the accessible creation which can have various degrees of success in meeting desires.

Creator: The biblical exhortation is to trust that the Creator is not only the source of every good thing in creation, he is the only reliable hope of ultimate resolution of the desire/satisfaction dilemma.

Colossians makes this argument (Creator over creation) this way.

Because the people in Colossae trust in a few things (the gospel and it’s implications) they can grow to understand life better and live life better. They are told that the key is Christ. The explanation is that Christ is the Creator in creation and that he has shown that the Creator at his weakest (suffering death on the cross) is greater than the creation at it’s strongest (killing the Christ). This is demonstrated by the resurrection, which is declared ‘good news’. The ‘good news’ is that the Creator has demonstrated that trusting in the Creator over creation in this life (right here and now) is the right way to think and live, even if it seems very difficult.

The challenge is not to get distracted by the things which accompany faith in Christ (rules and experiences and such) but to constantly live in a way that is fundamentally what Jesus did: trust God to provide and to guide even when choices are very difficult.

Now, Colossians 3:1-17

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Christ overcome the problem of death (cosmos without right relationship to God). Identification with him via trust (faith) demonstrated in baptism etc., means identification with his status. If you trust all that, then you are trusting that where he is you are. Subsequently order your thinking, your perception of reality in a way that is consistent. That way, when history concludes (your’s or the world’s, whichever comes first) you will have lived in such a way to experience that conclusion as a good and glorious things. As per the them of desire/satisfaction, your deepest desires will be gloriously satisfied when the separation from your Creator is completely removed.

So what should we do in the mean time?

5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

The dismantling of the wrong way of thinking. To use gardening imagery, putting to death is pruning. You don’t allow life to flow into branches of thought and actions which do not bear good fruit. You select the branches which drain the plant of productivity and you cut them off. What are the branches of our lives which need to be pruned? There are a couple of lists, and some explanations.

The first list of branches of thinking and living in our lives is our nature in normal action without appropriate reference to God:

 πορνείαν, = Porneian = non-married sexual gratification

 ἀκαθαρσίαν = akatharsian = mixed up impulsiveness for gratification regardless of ... whatever

 πάθος = pathos = passionate drives (doing stuff "just because I really want to and that is enough justification)

 ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν = epithumian = cravings (desires running all through you)

 τὴν πλεονεξίαν = tein pleonexian = greedy scheming (finding a way to get what you want... no matter what)

These are all idolatry= not acknowledging God as the source of Good, but trying to hack into pleasure without paying for it   Prune off these forms of piracy. God is angry with thievery. You are tempted to be a habitual pleasure pirate but now you need to stop it.

Also you need to prune away:

 ὀργήν = orgein = angry character

 θυμόν = thumon = fury

 Κακίαν = kakian = meanness

 βλασφημίαν = blaspheimian = violent speech (fightin' words)

 αἰσχρολογίαν = aiskrologian = nasty talk

The fundamental idea is one of fending for yourself. IF God is not to be trusted, then you need to use whatever you can to get what you desire (want/need). This can be bullying, seduction, manipulation, bargaining, etc. etc. The forms vary but the idea behind them is the same: the source of satisfaction in this world is you figuring out how to get what you want/need from others in this world.

The shift from this thinking to redeemed thinking is explained:

12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Because of a covenant with God, you no longer need to be like the prodigal son. That son used his resources (inheritance) to find his way in the world. Satisfaction was temporarily found when he had more resources than apparent needs, but when the ratio changed he found himself filthy and humiliated. When he was received back by the father, as choice, holy and dearly loved, he was provided fresh clothes to represent his fresh status. For Christians that would include:

 compassion = σπλάγχνα οἰκτιρμοῦ = splayxna oiktirmou = merciful guts

 kindness = χρηστότητα = Chreistoteita = usefulness / kindness (helpful vs contrary)

 humility = ταπεινοφροσύνην = tapeinophrosumein = low mindedness (not full of yourself)

 gentleness = πρᾳότητα = praoteita = meekness (not demanding)

 patience = Μακροθυμίαν = makrothumian = great ability to undure discomfort without freaking out

How do we get to have these habits instead of the others? Essentially by calibrating our perspective relative to Christ. If we trust Christ, then we will do what he says bravely, without freaking out and grabbing (through manipulation, slander, seduction, or whatever).

A life of forgiveness, love (agape), peace (irenic character), and gratitude are fostered by collectively learning the Word, challenging one another constructively, singing about this way of thinking and living and essentially being intentional to connect God to everything you choose to think, say or do.

test

2009-11-18T08:57:00.000+07:00

In the Mean Time   Kill off (prune) pirated actions of pleasure stealing

" πορνείαν, = Porneian = non-married sexual gratification

" ἀκαθαρσίαν = akatharsian = mixed up impulsiveness for gratification regardless of ... whatever

" πάθος = pathos = passionate drives (don't do stuff 'just because', implying - "just because I really want to and that is enough justification so, "hey, you, get off of my cloud*" *MickJ

" ἐπιθυμίαν κακήν = epithumian = cravings (desires running all through you)

" τὴν πλεονεξίαν = tein pleonexian = greedy scheming (finding a way to get what you want... no matter what)

Colson article

2009-10-24T09:15:00.001+07:00

CONTRA MUNDUM

When Atheists Believe

The confounding attraction of the Christian worldview.

Chuck Colson with Catherine Larson | posted 10/22/2009 10:11AM

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/october/33.58.html

Prayer for new Christian fellowship

2009-09-25T08:21:00.001+07:00

What was prayed? Something like: THANKS GOD revealed in Jesus, who is the rescuer now in charge. These folk trust Jesus and love those he has claimed because they now see that the most important treasure for them is stored in the unseen realm. They heard this truth, like so many, and are growing just like all different sorts of people who hear about the powerful generosity of God. These people heard it through a guy named Epaphras, (we love that guy) and he is the one who told us how real, and supernatural (Spirit led), their love is.

Then Paul wrote to the Colossians to tell them what he prayed:

Colossians 1:3-8 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, (4) since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, (5) because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, (6) which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, (7) just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf (8) and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

What can we pray when we hear of a new Christian group?

Thanks God! (Not just any God, but the one revealed in Jesus as our Father). We heard about these people trusting you and caringly loving for others who trust in you. They do it because they believe that the best is protected for them in heaven. This is the same story that is happening in every nation imaginable, where real change and growth takes place. Someone actually was faithful and obedient in Christ to tell them, and they then reported about how real spiritual love is showing up in this new group.

…

Colossians

2009-09-24T21:10:00.001+07:00

Paul is in prison and he is checking in with a new church plant. He wants to give them some encouragement and direction, but first he needs to show how he is connected with them. He will introduce himself, explain his understanding of the Good News they share in common, and then tell the church how to live life. So, the first bit: building trust with the Colossae community of believers (the church) by describing the Good News:

Colossians 1:1-4:18 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, (2) To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

(3) We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, (4) since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, (5) because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, (6) which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing--as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, (7) just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf (8) and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

Paul introduces himself, and Timothy and connects their work to the Colossians via Christ, the one who graciously gives peace with God their Father. The description of prayerful gratitude is now aimed at showing how a faith community works: hope. "…because of the hope laid up for you in heaven". A HOPE, a conviction about where GOOD is to be found, gives these people the ability to confidently trust Christ and to love others who also align with Christ. Christ solves the problem of life needing connection back with our source and our destiny. His solution not only connects us, it does so with reason to believe that what is wrong will be right (physically,relationally, spiritually) and that love is a worthwhile risk.

(9) And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, (10) so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. (11) May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, (12) giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. (13) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, (14) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The link Paul is praying for is understanding so people can make good, active decisions which lead to an experienced awareness of God. His prayer is that God will in some way respond to requests given by people (like him) so that other people (church at Colossae) will 'get it' in relation to God, man, spirits and stuff. By 'getting it' the people will live out appropriate decisions on how to act. This will be productive in what they do and how they in turn know God better and better. To do this, there is also a need for energy not to give up doing what is good. A way has been opened, (thank God), for a life that is defined by light and not dark. Forgiveness and empowerment make it possible to live differently. This was accomplished through Christ.

When we say "Christ" what do we mean?

(15) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (16) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. (17) And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (18) And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (19) For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, (20) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Head over creation, both physical and spiritual. He is the source (past), the purpose (future) and the sustenance (present) for everything; everything. Not only that, he is the head over the growing list of people who submit their lives to God in Christ, specifically because he leads the way in 'new creation', resurrection. All of God-ness in him and all of creation reordered to God through him and his ultimate choices and actions (sacrificialdeath).

(21) And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, (22) he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (23) if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

How does this affect the readers? They used to be outsiders. God was not a meaningfully approachable reality and subsequently people were ruled by other forces in their lives. The hope, that Christ really is the solution to our failures, hurts, loneliness, and mortality; is what has the power to progressively bring about change. That is what must be focused on. That is what Paul does:

(24) Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, (25) of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, (26) the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

Paul is happy about his purpose, even when it brings pain and hardship, because he is carrying out the purposes Christ started with creating the community of reconciled people. By explaining things in such a way that people come to be set free in Christ and get to grow, Paul is fulfilling his purpose and destiny.

(27) To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (28) Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (29) For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (2:1) For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, (2) that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, (3) in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

(4) I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. (5) For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

Paul really wants these people, and others connected to them, to trust him so he can help them grow up in their faith. That is everything to Paul. He is convinced that all the good available to these people is ultimately found in Christ. He also is concerned that they will be fooled by poor substitutes; ideas which seem to make sense but aren't real and won't satisfy. He is glad they seem to be on course.

So what have we seen so far? Paul says that he has an appropriate place in the life of the Colossian people following Christ because he was sent by Christ. He now has information for them to understand that there is no way to overestimate the significance of Christ; he is everything. He recounts the story of what Christ has done, including how Paul is now sent to help explain things, for the following reasons:

(6) Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, (7) rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (8) See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

(9) For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, (10) and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

(11) In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, (12) having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

(13) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, (14) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

(15) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Receiving Christ means believing that he is the one to reconcile Heaven and Earth, including us. Other efforts at making sense (or avoiding) heaven and earth reconciliation issues (what's the purpose of life,etc.) are dangerously wrong. Why? Because Christ is God revealed. He is also the fulfilment of the long story of Promise given through the Jews. Since He is 'all that' and we are 'in him' we are alive in acceptance, peace, shalom with God. Not only that, but he details that being 'in Christ' also means we don't need to fear religious rules or bullying by spirits.

(16) Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. (17) These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (18) Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, (19) and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. (20) If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-- (21) "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (22) (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? (23) These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

If we understand what we have in Christ, we don't need to get sidetracked with weird rules or weird stories of the supernatural. Besides, they don't work in our battle against directing our body to submit appropriately to our will.

(3:1) If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (2) Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. (3) For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This is the key bit of advice Paul has been trying to communicate. Shifting from whatever one used to trust in, to trusting in God revealed in Christ, means that life is totally defined by Christ. By realizing this and focusing on this makes all the difference. Life=Christ eventually, our relationship with Christ should = ife now.

(5) Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (6) On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (7) In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. (8) But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. (9) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices (10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (11) Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

On the other hand, that which is against Christ, pursuit of satisfaction without real reconciliation with God, is idolatry; worshipping creation instead of Creator. This is THE essential problem with the cosmic order. Creation rebelling against Creator. The Self in us does whatever it can to get what it wants. This is the problem. One wrong begets another and so on. The decision for Christ is supposed to be against selfishness. That is the biggest challenge, practically speaking, in daily living. That is also why we look at people, ourselves included, based on the groups they belong to. The challenge is realigning our identity relative to God first, not our earthly culture or any other lesser identity.

(12) Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, (13) bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (14) And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (15) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. (16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. (17) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

What we should be actively investing in is a way of life that is restrained by mercy and forgiveness and empowered by love. This is what we receive in Christ and accordingly what we should extend from being in Christ. Again, the investment of understanding 'what is' guides us in know 'what to do'. Here it is unity from the heart with gratitude, informed by the word of God shared in expressive ways so that everything we all do is consistent with Christ. What does that look like? Examples are given:

(18) Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

(19) Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.

(20) Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

(21) Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.

(22) Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. (23) Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, (24) knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (25) For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

(4:1) Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.

(2) Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (3) At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison-- (4) that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

(5) Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

(6) Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

The idea, again, is that the 'mystery' is everything. Understanding it and sharing it, in deed and word, is what we should be about. That is exactly what is happening with… all the people mentioned below.

(7) Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. (8) I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, (9) and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. (10) Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions--if he comes to you, welcome him), (11) and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. (12) Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. (13) For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. (14) Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. (15) Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. (16) And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. (17) And say to Archippus, "See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord." (18) I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Summation? Creation trying to satisfy itself is what is wrong. We don't naturally understand that. We generally realize the problem with selfish living and indulgence, we just can't seem to figure out how to move beyond it. We try different rules and secret knowledge and such. We also try grouping people as 'good' vs 'bad' along ethnic or economic lines. This doesn't work. We still end up grabbing and struggling to get what we want or need and can't figure out what is wrong.

What we need is real peace with our real creator. This is done by our creator doing for us what we could not do. As a human he suffered the curse of human rebellion but did it with loyalty. That is the massive great mystery, the same one that stumps the smart people and rings true to the humble people. Somehow God fixed man's wrong by suffering man's wrong and extending God's right. That is Christ.

If that is true, that is everything to us. Everything we interact with us ultimately defined by Christ (God in man reconciling creation to its proper order and goodness). So, our thinking should be restructured away from the common way and toward the peculiar Way. That practically means doing right regardless of what we seem to miss out on or get mistreated for. It means doing that right with confidence that is where freedom is found. Lot's of people, including those listed in the letter, and loads of people since then, really do reorder their lives around Christ.

Should I?

How I became a Jesus follower...

2009-09-22T09:32:00.001+07:00

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2007

Ken’s curiosity about “the story of what moments or events led you to Christianity”

Ken is one of those friends you make in life that just sticks. I haven’t heard anything from Ken (or him from me) since we were marines in the ‘80s. He is now in New Mexico. We recently reconnected via the web and were interested in who each of us have become in the last couple of decades. I sent this blog address and a brief description of life with Karla (http://www.marinekar.blogspot.com/) in reply. He responded with starting his own blog http://theluskreport.com/ . He also shared that he was “curious about the story of what moments or events led you to Christianity”. Friends are awesome. No fears, just ask. Ok, friend, here is the straight up account as I remember it. I will write it in a series to keep it in short, readable bits.

It starts with a simple observation. Life hurts. It hurts because we sense it should be beautiful and wonderful, and in fleeting moments it is more beautiful than we can describe. But those moments only make the other moments, moments of frustration, misunderstanding, emotional and physical pain, tedium, anxiety and general dissatisfaction so much more painful. Why do we have such a longing for beauty and such a hard time satisfying that longing?

This question, along with many others, set me searching. Ken, when you met me I was testing a possible answer. “We long for beauty because we were gullible to stories told by wishful thinking people.” I went into the USMC in part because I believed life had no meaning and nothing really mattered. Beauty had ceased to be my hope. I was willing to just try living on adrenaline. It didn’t work. The question of beauty and belonging would not leave me alone.

Part 2 to follow…

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2007

Ken’s Q2 – the Man

So, Ken, the story brought me to Spain. I lived for adrenaline, like partying in general, running with the bulls in Arcos, getting in bust ups with CBs at El Rancho’s. When there was no adrenaline I used cynicism and sarcasm to hold me over to the next fix. Occasionally it made for great stories; some quite funny if the people in them would have just been cartoon characters. Too often it was just lumpy and unsettled. I don’t mean to betray the past; I just can’t forget the toxic side of it all.

1985 in Israel things started changing. There were personal things that were my fault but also my pain. There were also events that made me more aware than ever. We were going to the sigint for a hostage rescue. While deployed the Israelis hit the PLO in Tunis with a surprise air raid. That made things tenser. During that time I was able to travel down from Haifa (Mt. Carmel) to visit Bethlehem, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, Jordan River and more. The whole Bible shifted in my awareness. Suddenly the question was not about religious people I had met; it was about Jesus the man. Even if the Christians were wrong about who he was, he still was somebody. Who was he? Why was such a poor, unimpressively educated, politically dodgy character such a big deal so long after his death? That got me willing to learn about the man.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2007

Ken’s Q3 – the messengers

Recap:

KenQ1 – atheism did not account for the craving for beauty and meaning

KenQ2 – being in Israel got me thinking: Who was this man Jesus, really?

Now, the messengers to me were quite diverse. Do you remember Deon Stauffer? He was big as a tank and gentle as kitten. He used to talk with people about God and all during mid watches. I loved to give him a hard time and ask him complicated questions I had developed back at Catholic school. He would just smile real easy and say something like “Russell, that’s a tough question. I don’t really know how to answer it right now. But I do know this, Jesus has meant everything to me and he loves you.” That was frustrating, and a little uncomfortable. I didn’t let on that it affected me, but it did. It kind of rattled around inside me, but I worked hard to ignore it and get back to the Cruzcampo.

As I was getting out of the Corps I had a couple of weeks leave so I took off for Amsterdam. Karla arranged to meet me up there a bit later, so I just kind of wandered around enjoying the improved beer. It got weird, though. Everywhere I went people stopped me to talk about Jesus: rednecks from Arkansas, Asians, African; even people from places that don’t start with “A”. I tried to ignore them, pretended I couldn’t speak English, but they were everywhere, even singing on the tram cars! I later found out that it was the Billy Graham world evangelism conference and I was one of gobs of people with encounters like that.

Then there was Greg. I got back to Texas and saw him right after he graduated with a degree in anthropology. He talked about going to church and I couldn’t believe it. He was a black belt in some really hardcore off brand Japanese martial arts, wore clothes like an Arapaho and played guitar in a surf-punk band downtown. Didn’t seem like a church guy. I challenged him as a scientist (anthropology degree and all) about Noah’s ark and all that stuff. Surely he couldn’t be serious. But he was. He basically said he had some good answers but to those questions, but he had a better question. What should be done with Jesus? Well, that depends, what does Jesus really mean?

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2007

Ken’s Q4 – the message

Ok Ken, sorry for the delay. I am traveling in China right now, but that’s not what is holding me up in answering your question about how I became a Christian on mission. The problem is that I became more conscience of the fact that I am speaking through you to a variety of audiences. I imagine you knew that since I am using a blog instead of e-mail. The point is supposed to be to have a greater responsibility of integrity by being public and open. Actually, that is the cause of the delay.

The simple answer of the message is in fact Jesus. Not that helpful of a statement by itself, I agree. Let me expand. Life felt like (and still does frequently) a nauseating crush between the Ideal and the Real. I want to live in beauty, hope, nobility, fascination, energy, joy, etc. That would be the ideal. Reality? I eat more than my body needs. I get confused but hide it by being more assertive (or just withdraw). I have to make a living. There is traffic. My body is moving toward death and my mind can’t quite figure that out. The Ideal and the Real intersect, but not in satisfying ways. The message I locked onto was that in immediate and ultimate ways Jesus is the hope for bringing the Ideal and the Real together. In him Heaven and Earth, Justice and Mercy and all things real and wonderful meet and arrive at shalom.

I wish that cleared everything up J! So, why not just spell it out? Religious complexity and social complexity. Some ‘insiders’, fellow Christians, are full-time quality control freaks (I am a recovering one). If I say part of the message, but not in the right words, proportion etc., they will lose it. Sorry religious control freak friends! But the social complexity is the cliff on the other side of the road. If I am clear and say what I really believe, that Jesus is uniquely the Lord that integrates the Ideal and the Real in legitimate ways, my out of control stay broad control freak friends will lose it. Fact is I hold to a narrow road. But, here goes.

Starting point: We were created by a Creator to be in the Creator’s image: creative. That is why we love art, or if we are unable to love art directly, we love sports. Sports are an accessible form of art. The creativity of motion, expression, drive etc. excite us. Why? We are created by a Creator.

Enter the problem: But nothing is ever enough. Beauty and wonder excite us but fear and irritations incessantly invade us. Some would deny this, but hey, read your e-mail again, anyone. We all have struggles in relationship (giving and receiving appropriate love) and in general well being (money, health, etc.). The creation is broken. We are broken. We need help.

Intro of solution: Religion is the basic old story of frightened humanity looking for hope and escape. As prosperity and sophistication developed thinkers arrogantly deride that fact. Western positivism and and scientific/economic confidence has led us to a world of Realism that guts the hope of any Ideal. “Get REAL” ends up ringing in my ears as: there is no Ideal. But what if we are frightened and really do need hope? Moreover, what if there really is a way of hope that provides escape from despair and entrance into wholeness? Well, that would make sense out of our (humanity’s) chronic striving for spirituality. But how do we know which solution is a solution and not just wishful thinking? What I came to pay attention to was the idea of the prophets of old.

The Hebrew prophets stand out among spiritualists. As one who has lived in the far East for over a decade, I have to say that most prophets outside of the Hebrews are more Ideal than Real. Kongzi (Confucius) is the exception but he was all about pragmatism with no transcendent Ideal to offer, by his own admission. No offense to Hindu friends intended but the essence of their thought is that the Real is in fact Not-Real. Everything we struggle with, mucked up relationships and irregular health and well being, they are all an illusion according to Hindu based thought. Hmmm. I don’t see an integration of Ideal and Real, I see the Ideal smothering the Real.

The solution revealed: The Hebrew prophets point to the need for life to work and that the answer will come in a man. This man will show how life works and pronounce judgment on what is broken and salvation (rescue) on what was intended to be. The message I got hooked on was that Jesus was/is that Man. He was so much an integration of the Ideal (Kingdom of Heaven) and the Real (the creation) that he even blew the minds of those waiting for him. He was tricky. He showed power and grace in ways that were so very other to what spiritualists often went on about and he did it with people tangled in very immediate, real problems: insanity, sickness, chronic bad choices and more. All the while dealing with individuals Jesus proclaimed a view of how life should be shifted back to understanding that the Creator never left the creation, the creation has gone blind and worships among itself as if the Creator were absent. Jesus’ message: Change your view of reality, God is actually in charge here and now. He developed that message with what you may have heard more often.

The solution executed: Jesus proclaimed the victory of the Ideal Reality over the less-than-ideal realities of this world. That is the cross and beyond. Here is how it works. Broadly, religion (the priests who conspired to kill Jesus) and politics (the Empire who expediently gave Jesus a dose of reality) were confronted head on. Jesus asserted that he was the Ideal (contra religious control systems, Hebrew or other) and that he was the Real (contra human efforts to control this life). Familiar saying of Jesus: I am the way, the truth and the life. The religious (human effort at controlling the ideal) and the political (human effort and controlling the real) set to prove him wrong. They humiliated him, tortured him and killed him. The cross was the human rejection of Jesus as the hope of the Ideal and Real.

Now, let me make sure and get this in. I have rebelled against the True Ideal and the Genuine Real by being foolish. That’s what sin is; being spiritually stupid and mean. I have made fun of people who needed kindness. I have grabbed for what was not mine. I have shut myself off where I should not and imposed myself where I should not. I have done nice things, and I’m certainly not the worst guy to ever live, not even close. That’s not the question for me, though. My question was: How can I enter into the Hope if I am always undermining the Hope by my selfishness? The short answer: Jesus not only did the macro-thing, he was also extremely personal. What I came to understand from the Scriptures was that he died with my foolishness on his soul and received the just punishment for my abuse of the heart, mind, soul and body the Creator entrusted me with. Translation: Jesus died for my sins.

The Ideal is Real: Dead Jesus meant that even his followers needed to try and find another hope (or just give into despair or delusion). But Jesus stunned everyone by showing the he was the Ideal and that he was Real. He came back from the dead, not in some ghostly way. He walked, talked, ate and made it clear: we have not been crazy to dream that there is an Ideal that could overtake our Real. There is HOPE. Jesus told his disciples: It has begun. Now carry it forward to others. Relive the story of the Ideal invading the Real by being vulnerable, rejected, but amazingly victorious in actual (real) success of hope. That’s the missionary thing. Talk with people about the Ideal/Real question and explain how I believe Jesus is the answer to that question with words, yes, but most importantly with reenactment of the way of love over selfishness in the Name of the Creator.

The Real will be Ideal: Where does it end? I used to have a view pretty much like the famous/infamous “Left Behind” series. I don’t anymore; too much speculation. I believe that Heaven (the Ideal, the reign of the Creator) comes to earth (the Real, the visible creation) and things will work better than even our wildest spiritual gurus have imagined. I believe that Jesus is the way to that reality (and will be revealed in his own time) and that he is the Lord of that Ideal Reality, the Kingdom of the Heavens right here among us. Not so sure about all the details but sure enough to invest my life in that direction.

That is my effort at explaining the message this morning. Lots of room for clarifying; so feel free to ask, add, challenge etc. (on the blog or in e-mail: russellm@pobox.com).

May the Shalom of the Ideal, the God the Hebrew prophets promised, be yours in Christ!

TUESDAY, JANUARY 01, 2008

Ken’s Q 5 – the Mission

That is my account of how I became a Christ follower, and a bit about what I understand his message to be. The final part of your question was regarding me being missionary about my faith. I am on a mission, but I don’t know as much about it as I wish I did.

When we started off signing up for the Marine Corps we were converts to the Marine way. We were hooked on the idea of being the best, the toughest and so on. I remember showing up in Rota and being hit with cynical Marines. The dream and the reality weren’t working out so well for quite a few. To some degree I became like that. I enjoyed being the short-timer with the stick of dog tags at the end of my term reminding the retention NCO that not all of us were buying into the whole story: once around the block was enough.

For many in the US Christianity has been like that. It may have been a broad part of cultural understanding, or even a very strong part of childhood. And then, somewhere along the way, the vision lost its allure and we turned our backs on finding any meaning and fulfillment down that road. To some extent that happened to me very early (13). But, as I shared, I really caught the vision for Christ in a way I had never previously understood when I was 21. That vision has been matured, even battered a bit, but it has strengthened through adversity. I am more convinced than ever that God revealed in Christ is the answer to the mystery of life.

Since I want to live out the mystery of my life well, I keep plunging forward in decisive times, plodding forward in others. I have not maxed out the depths of wisdom, beauty, justice, mercy and hope found in the life of Jesus yet. So, part of my mission is to live in such a way as to learn and grow more. That is usually through service.

What service do I have to offer? My specialty is in asking the fundamental questions about life:

Where did we come from? – origins

Why are we here? – purpose

Where are we going? – destiny and the afterlife

How can we know? – epistemology

I find that there are people everywhere who are either asking these questions or looking for questions like these to ask. I listen to what they have discovered and I tell them what I have discovered. I offer my understanding of the answers to these questions. When people want to learn more about the answers as I see them, I train them in reading Scripture and at reading their life and the world in which they live. I invite them to journey with me and others who see Jesus as the Hope worthy of our full confidence.

Practically that has meant forming small communities. In Dallas I formed a church for Spanish speakers who were trying to get a better life. We shared life together. When in need we shared food, found work together, had celebrations, prayed, learned and lived. The same happened when I moved to North Carolina for graduate studies; this time with migrant workers. I came to Asia and did similar things with communities without access to the way of life in Christ. We have seen a decade’s worth of changed lives as people have learned Christ’s way of love and peace, the Shalom of contentment through serving others.

Now my kids are growing up and I am looking at the world and seeking to see my place in it. The common phenomenon of aging is happening to me like it happens to most: the more I learn the more I realize how much I don’t know. I am still on a mission. I want to know Christ and do that by seeking to live more and more like him. I want to be appropriately loving toward God and people, and I am prayerfully considering how to do that next. As I discover what is next I will let you know.

The LOVE passage and the Story

2009-09-08T08:29:00.003+07:00

The yearning for love being lived out wisely is repeated often at weddings:

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

But the Story helps explains why it

is only a partially successful experience:

1 Corinthians 13:9-13

9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect (teleion/complete) comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Column 1 = love focused. God is love, creates man in his image, and creation is good.

Column 2 = the loving order is broken through rebellion and creation stands between humanity and the Creator.

Column 3 = the Creator demonstrates his love in Christ suffering death, and in the victory of the resurrection.

Column 4 = humanity still only sees God incompletely and indirectly. We have spiritual gifts to compensate for our separation, but they only exist until the separation is over.

Column 5 = love restored and matured; completed; made perfect.

We are created for love, to give and receive it wisely. We can and should love, but we cannot do it directly and completely like we sense wee should. We, and our world, is out of order. Love is out of alignment and struggles to drive a straight course. Spiritual gifts can help us in our efforts, but ultimately we need a complete overhaul: a re-ordering of the cosmos in relation to the Creator.

That is what we do in church (help one another to keep realigning toward God and the genuineness of Love) and to invite others in to understand the urge for love and the hope that it can be done.

the tale from gethsemene *(tentative title)

2009-09-07T08:12:00.003+07:00

you came to me in an eclipsed world

where the memory of the sun

still burnt but faded

turned under the weight of years

into a fantastic thing, a child tale

a dream talk and a fool's hope

you came in the greys of the day

like a neighbor who has been traveling

far beyond the arm of the familiar

and so I recognized you and did not

for behind the face of the next door over

beat the strangeness and it was hungry

for me and i for it

but afraid because it was so strong

and burnt in your eyes like a passion

it flooded your skin and arced through your movements

and the tastes of it i found

in the words from your tongue

were sweet and bitter

stinging my tongue with its bristling courage

and soothing it again in its glow

and how hungry i was for it

for the whole from which your words flowed

i could be content no more with the fruit

but must have the seed myself

you were so hungry to give it

that once reaching out my hand you took it

and carried me across the grey streets

up the grey mountains along the grey streams

i was not tired carried as i was

and upon the mountaintop you set me down

i was crying for the hunger

the need you had awakened in me

you stood tall upon the mountain top

and carful as Atlas beneath the earth

spread your arms wide and cried out

and the sun came bursting through

an explosive wave that struck like a shout

sweeping through me and carrying me away

lighting me up through my skin

you gave me the world as it should be

as it once was

i have tasted this love and it is good

-HMM

Creation to Creator declaration

2009-09-06T22:11:00.001+07:00

Titus 2:11-15 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, (12) training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, (13) waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (14) who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. (15) Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Saved from – ungodliness and worldly passions = rescued from creation oriented life

Training to renounce = clarified loyalty

Godly lives in this present age = being loyal to Creator over creation in spite of the seeming rule of Creation

Blessed hope = the invisible Creator is no longer invisible; he appears

Why? To complete the redemption (buying from obligation to dying creation and rebellion) so that we belong to the Creator and are useful, diligent.

That is what to declare fearlessly.

= - = - =

The problem is Creation in rebellion to Creator vs redeemed people trained in effective loyalty to the Creator even while waiting for his final restoration of God/Man/Creation where eager productivity/service will be done.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper in The STORY

2009-09-01T11:18:00.003+07:00

Actions make sense in relation to a story. Sports are that way. When you watch your kid play a sport, every movement is meaningful. Why? It isn't necessarily because kids' athletics are such high quality entertainment in and of themselves, it is because it is part of the story of their lives. You see them facing their fears, expressing themselves; all a continuation of their story, which you know so well.

The same is even true of professional sports. To really enjoy a game you almost need to know some of the back story of the teams, the players, the coaches and the decisions and expectations leading up to the match. Then the drama of every effort is so much more than just watching athleticism; it is watching people live life in an encapsulated environment.

Religious stuff is that way too. Sometimes the mechanics of religious acts are thought to be significant directly, but they shouldn't be. Their significance is relative to the story of which they are a part. The Passover is an obvious example. Eating the Passover meal is a way of remembering a past story and connecting one's current life, and even future, to that story. The same is true of Christian baptism and the Lord's supper.

The basic Story is God created and put man in charge of His creation. Creation lured man away from loyalty to the Creator and now things are out of order. Man is under creation instead of under God and over creation.

GOD/man/creation is seemingly replaced with God/CREATION/man

Humanity no longer relates to God directly, nor do we have healthy dominion over creation. Instead, creation stands between humanity and God. Now creation and man are fallen from their proper order and are deeply dysfunctional as a result. Everything is broken. Suffering, separation, sin, and death are all a result of a loyalty shift. Humanity became enslaved to the Satanic (adversarial) by being disloyal (untrusting) to God.

Experientially our slavery is self validating. We see a tragic world but we do not see God clearly. He is there, but we have allowed creation to stand in our way of Him. Now our created desires to worship our Creator don't make it past the creation. Humanity typically worships the creation instead of the Creator because that is what we experience.

The promise of God is that he would bring blessings to fallen humanity culminating in our liberation from captivity and restoration of the original order: CREATOR/humanity/creation. By faith (trust, loyalty), we accept his provision for our need. Abel trusted, as did Noah, as did Abram and so on. Our expressions of that trust are part of the story. Sacrifice shows the horror of our betrayal and its consequences, but that is not unique in human religion. Everyone seems to get the idea of portraying the horror of life as it now is via sacrifice. The difference is in loyalty. Sacrifice which God accepts is contrition, a heart that realizes the error is idolatry and that only the Creator can undo humanities sin which has led to enslavement to the creation (including the spiritual rebels who actively seduce humanity to direct idolatrous worship towards themselves).

What does this have to do with 'baptism'? Everything. Baptism is the act of declaring loyalty to the Creator and his redemption from rebellion. John the baptizer called people out East of the land to reject their acts of rebellion and declare their loyalty to God's rule.

Matthew 3:1-3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, (2) "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (3) For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'"

The way of the LORD = the return to rightful acknowledgment of YHWH, the I AM, the uncreated Creator. The crookedness, the perversion of our ways of thinking and acting, have obscured the reality that the creation is not the Creator. Our sin is always idolatry; refusing the honor and glory due the Creator for anything else (an image, a person, and idea, a spirit, ourselves… anything created).

John warned that God's wrath is coming against rebellion and the evil and suffering it has brought. He called people to actively decide against rebellion and for loyalty to God. Baptism was a declaration against idolatry/sin/rebellion and a declaration for worship the trust and obedience.

Jesus arrived and there was tension. Should Jesus be baptized? If baptism was zoomed in and perceived in the short story, it would seem inappropriate.

Sinful rebellious guy believes John's message, is sorry, wants to be loyal to God, gets baptized. Then another, then another… then Jesus. ???

But, if the bigger picture is kept in mind: rejection of idolatrous thinking and behaving is displayed in person after person, then Jesus' actions make more sense. The common action is declaration of what one is against and what one is for. Jesus numbers himself with the transgressors in declaring the need to reject rebellion and affirm loyalty not because he was rebellious but because rebellion was the human problem. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness by fully identifying with the cause: rejection of rebellion for fidelity to God.

When Jesus did get baptized, there was a temporary unveiling of the True reality = God/humanity/creation in the right order.

Matthew 3:16-17 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; (17) and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."

Then Jesus was put to the test like the first Adam had been. The difference? Adam and Eve gave into temptation, seeing that what was offered to eat was good, that they would not surely die and that they could become like God. Jesus rejected the food that was offered, did not test God to see if he would die and refused the enticement to worship the creation (e.g. Satan) in exchange for godlike privilege and pleasure.

Having endured the temptation, Jesus preached the same message John had preached:

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

The gospel of Matthew then reveals Jesus confronting distorted ways of talking about and serving God that ultimately are still part of idolatrous control outside of God. He is faithful unto death and in doing so reverses the curse of humanity. He shows his resurrected life to his disciples showing them that sin, Satan and death have been defeated in Christ. He then tells them to make apprentices of this way of thinking and living, by immersing them in The NAME, the Triune Creator, and teaching them how to live with a Creator/humanity/creation pattern of life, like Jesus did. He reassures them that He is with them through it all.

When we preach the gospel, we are calling people away from the deceptive idolatry of turning to the creation for our hope and instead trusting the Creator for our hope. We only enjoy the creation by means of and for our Creator, we are not to indulge in what creation offers without reference to the Creator. We are to be loyal, grateful and trusting. We die to our old way (working the system to get what we want) and are raised to walk in a new life, the life of God/humanity/creation.

The epistles show doctrinal explanation of how we were enslaved but now have been freed and raised to our proper position, without condemnation, so we can serve the purposes of God like we were created to do. Subsequently we are to actively put off our old self, the idolatrous, rebellious, sensual self, and put on the proper way of living wisely from the Creator in all things.

Simply put: Baptism is the rejection of rebellious idolatry and the acceptance of God as our rescuing Lord.

So what is the Lord 's Supper? It is the remembrance of how God brought us from slavery to rebellious creation to the freedom of our proper place as his royal representatives over creation.

How does that work out practically?

One hears the proclamation that they are living in an enslaving rebellious creation and they must renounce that rebellion and receive forgiveness and acceptance into the True order. The Story of God and humanity, focusing on Jesus and the rescuer, brings them to a decision. Will the break loyalty to their old ways and have loyalty from the heart, mind, soul and strength to the new way? If so, they get in water, confess their own rebellion and their rejection of that rebellion, their trust in Jesus as the loyal one who paid the price for their rebellion and their faith in his victory. They then show that by going under the water and back up from the water. They are visibly showing a new life that is loyal to Christ as Lord.

But what happens when old ways of thinking and acting sneak in? We have to choose. IF we confess that the Christ way is right: Creator/humanity/creation and we were wrong to be unfaithful, we are forgiven and accepted:

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we avoid dealing with our sin, there is a problem that must be faced. Those who are around us seeking to be loyal to God over creation try to help us. Starting as privately as possible, but adding clarity with more people as necessary, the choice to be loyal or rebellious is made more and more clear.

Matthew 18:15-16
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
(16)
But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

The goal is always restoration to the side of loyalty, by means of forgiveness when rebellion is confessed and renounced. However, if someone insists on rebellion, treat them like a rebel:

Matthew 18:17-20
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
(18)
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
(19)
Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
(20)
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

When those who have been immersed in The NAME unify around loyalty to God as King, the distinction of loyalty and rebellion is made clear. Paul has to deal with this very situation with the church in Corinth. A man claimed to be part of the church, the loyal to God, but he was rebelling against God's ways in a perverted sexual relationship. The church was told to practice what Jesus had taught. They were to call the guy to be clear as to whether his behavior was a failure to live up to his beliefs (confession and repentance) or if in fact the guy was committed to his rebellion (insisted on justifying or persisting in rebellious pursuit of his own desires).

1 Corinthians 5:4-8 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, (5) you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (6) Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? (7) Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. (8) Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The church is supposed to be a place of loyalty to God. The issue is not perfection, it is direction. When one fails are they willing to renounce it and seek what is healthy and right? If so, they partake in the celebration of the rescue done by Christ. If they are still trying to get the pleasure found in the old system, rebellion of getting desires met in creation without God, they should be treated accordingly: handed over to their own declaration of loyalty. The goal is to have defiance acknowledged and dealt with.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- (10) not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. (11) But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one. (12) For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (13) God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

The problem is not a fear of 'naughtiness'. It is fine to associate with all sorts of sinful people; in fact it is our vocation! The issue is one of not ignoring someone's declaration of disloyalty to God.

Likewise, this does not mean investigation into people. The parable of the wheat and the tares should help us with that:

Matthew 13:24-30 He put another parable before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
(25)
but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
(26)
So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
(27)
And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?'
(28)
He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
(29)
But he said, 'No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
(30)
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"

The mixed nature of our effective loyalty to God makes it nearly impossible for us to sort out who is struggling versus who is committed to rebellion. The issue of church discipline is related to explicitly rebellious people. Blatant rebellion can't be ignored.

1 Corinthians 5:11-13 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler--not even to eat with such a one. (12) For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? (13) God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."

The implication is that church fellowship, ultimately expressed in the Lord's Supper, is not to be made available to those who will not renounce their rebellion. What happens if the confrontation cause the person to become adamant they do not want to be rebellious? What then?

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure--not to put it too severely--to all of you. (6) For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, (7) so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. (8) So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. (9) For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. (10) Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, (11) so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

The battle is between those who celebrate God as sovereign over creation according to His own ways vs. those who defy the Creator for alternative ways live. Our will, the ability to choose one action over another, was given by God to spiritual beings, including humanity. The redemption of our will, from slavery, is the stunning good news. It should be amazing to us, it certainly is to spirits:

1 Peter 1:8-25 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (9) obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (10) Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, (11) inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (12) It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (13) Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (14) As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, (15) but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (16) since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (17) And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, (18) knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, (19) but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (20) He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you (21) who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. (22) Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, (23) since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; (24) for "All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, (25) but the word of the Lord remains forever." And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

buying and selling treasures

2009-08-27T09:23:00.002+07:00

Matthew 13

44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

What do I have that is worth selling? What is worth buying?

Kingdom of heaven is the pearl. It is hidden. It can be found. Then it is ‘covered up’. In a real story it would be so that no one else gets it. The point being that the guy wants to make sure he does get it. What pops into my mind is Mt. 6:1

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

I imagine myself going through life, maybe even being like the merchant studying different philosophies of life, then I find IT. IT is so good that I hide it to make sure that I really get it.

I sell what I have (irresponsibility, arrogance, drama, pettiness, indulgence)… to whom? Not the point. The point is liquidation. They become dead to me. I no longer own them, nor do I need to tend to them. Now I have resources freed up: time, focus, energy, attention.

I go back to that hidden treasure and get it. With what currency? What I freed up by releasing. Time, focus, energy, attention. Will I spend what I have on the treasure of the Kingdom of heaven?

Wednesday – redemption.

2009-08-26T21:27:00.001+07:00

Romans 5:18-19

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.

Wednesday – redemption.

Humanity chose to defy God.

Humanity lives in a God defying world.

A God defying world is encased in death.

God in Christ is God’s gracious response to humanity’s defiance.

Defiance is overcome with sacrificial obedience

Righteousness overcomes sin.

Life overcomes death.

by the sweat of my thorn scratched brow

2009-08-25T10:48:00.006+07:00

Creation: God is good, humanity is good, and work is good (ruling over a good creation). Then came the fall. That is what I am noticing today, not just because it is Tuesday in my 5 day devotional reflections scheme. It really is fallen Tuesday.

Genesis 3: 17-19
He told the Man:
"Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
'Don't eat from this tree,'
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
you'll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you'll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself,
dead and buried;
you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

Hmm. Guess that explains a good bit about what is not good in this life. I keep feeling like work should be invigorating and fun and fulfilling, and at times it is. BUT. Man, there are some long stretches of stress and chaos, and if not thorns, at least paper cuts (or carpal tunnel syndrome).

What do we do with the Biblical teaching on a fallen world? We realize that 'positive mental attitude' is not enough. Work is hard because things don't work the way they should. People are unstable, systems are unstable, things are unstable.

Though we must work, and work hard, and work hard at being cheerful at working hard... it isn't going to work. Effort is necessary to have a productive life, but we need more than that. We need a systemic overhaul. The whole cosmos needs a deep and thorough correction. Wrong must be removed and right must be reestablished thoroughly and reliably. Creator, image bearers, creation (in that order).

Today, when I feel overwhelmed by things not going right, I am to remember the big picture reason: creation vs. Creator, the only wise choice is Creator. Our ancestors chose poorly, and too often I do as well.

More faith and obedience in my Creator is my wisest choice this fine and terrible Tuesday.

Take Dominion

2009-08-24T10:01:00.001+07:00

Monday: focus on creation, the biblical explanation of why existence includes good.

Genesis 1:28 says humanity is to take dominion:

And subdue it: subdue translates a verb meaning ``to tread or trample on'' and is used in Josh 18.1 with the sense of the land being ``conquered, overcome, overpowered.'' See also Num 32.22, 29; 2 Sam 8.11; 1 Chr 22.18. tev translates ``bring it [the earth] under control''; spcl says ``Fill the earth and govern it.'' Subdue and have dominion over are parallel expressions with reference to the plants and animals that God has put on the earth. This is not a command to go to war, but for the first people and their offspring to ``take control, be in charge, have direction over.'' Have dominion over . . . is translated by frcl ``Be masters over . . . ,'' and by tev ``I am putting you in charge of . . . .'' In some languages subdue is expressed idiomatically as ``make everything in the world come underneath your hands,'' and have dominion as ``you will be boss . . . .'' UBS handbook on translation

Monday starts of a fresh week of dominion taking. This week I will be seeking to "conquer, overcome, overpower" expense reports and budgets and other admin things in my 'non-admin role'. Lord help me to enjoy the opportunity to step up and bring things into order and completion. It is good to have the ability to work and work to do.

Colossians and the Story

2009-08-24T08:39:00.006+07:00

Colossians 1:15-29 is a good example of the Story: Creation Fall Redemption Transformation Completion are all there:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,
25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
So why do I exist (and the world in which I exist)? Through and for Christ. What has happened? Alienation then reconciliation, through death, the formation of a community of hope laboring in a painful world toward being telos.
My existence, and the world in which I exist, have a source. Today, as I start the week of 'to-do' lists and appointments and opportunities for success and failure... I frame my awareness with Christ.
The goodness of existence and opportunity is personal

incomplete completion

2009-08-23T18:04:00.002+07:00

I'm trying to get a schedule reestablished after the big move. Not easy. One of the things that did not get completed was my devotion on completeness. ironic.

Practically speaking "for the joy set before him" is not easy. The idea of enduring incompleteness in a world mixed with good and bad, enduring a soul that is declared righteours but struggling to live that out, and confidence in the greatness and goodness of the unseen God can be overwhelming. Energy levels, personalities, distractions can all drain the vision which is meant to give strength.

What recourse? Romans 12:1,2 keeps showing up:

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect (telos) will.

Resist physical and social distractions and be focused on God as revealed in Scripture with the hope which lies ahead.

Self justifying

2009-08-20T08:41:00.002+07:00

People get defensive. We know we are vulnerable to some accusations, so we avoid those areas whenever possible. Then someone says something implying we are vulnerable in some other area. Almost out of a twisted transference of anxiety from our indefensible failure, temptation launches us into a vigorous defense of ourselves in the area of perceived accusation. It can really freak out people who get the defense without ever realizing they have accused.

Galatians 2:17-21 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! (18) For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. (19) For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (21) I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Why do we want to be justified? There is a sense of 'ought-ness' we all carry. Nature and nurture foster this. Yes, community gives us expectations, yet there is traction in those expectations partly because of the inner sense of who we should be. We should be righteous, but we aren't.

Righteous is better than wrongous, yeah? Of course. Righteous ultimately just means appropriately correct. We get all wound up about the word though. Same with "sinner". Missing the mark, as in an arrow failing to hit its target, just means: "no, that's not right." Sin vs. righteousness is the same dynamic but not in weapons management, rather in soul management. When I sin, I mishandle my soul (body, mind, will). Righteousness is properly handling the soul I have been created to be.

I was born flawed and I do not fly true. I am un-righteous arrow. The warning from Paul is twofold. 1. Don't use "Christian" terms to do the old trick of trying to draw the bull's-eye around where we strike. This happens when we adjust scripture, doctrine, missiology, gossip or whatever to make sure that what we just did was the right thing to do, regardless. 2. By the grace of God in Christ, work out your gifted salvation such that you become a more righteous, straight and reliable arrow.

I'll type it out for myself again.

Less energy trying to look good by lawyering definitions.
More energy in releasing who I have become so I can be transformed by Christ's wisdom and power

I need to treasure Christ, and his righteousness. Life can work. Jesus managed his soul quite well.

I need to not protect my unrighteousness. If it gets exposed, it will have a hard time surviving. So be it. Didn't like the unrighteousness anyway!

I need to crave actual righteousness. I want to add into my habits the habits of thinking and acting that Jesus employed so well. By his grace (and all that means) I want to enjoy the freedom of forgiveness so I can learn to live well.

Dark vs Light

2009-08-19T16:56:00.002+07:00

It appeared that DARKNESS had overcome LIGHT.

Luke 23

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, Certainly this man was innocent! And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts.

It appeared that DARKNESS had overcome LIGHT. How devastating. Should those who saw hope die look for it elsewhere? Or resign to the miserable evidence that life is futile and suffering, evil and death are inevitably victorious?

Luke 24

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

LIGHT overcame. Hope in Christ, the LIVING ONE was displayed.

Today? Darkness is real, but Light is greater. Identify and invest in LIGHT.