Stuffed with Stuff

Adrienne was watching the show "Hoarders" last week while feeding our youngest. I had never seen the show before, but knew what it was and was intrigued with the people who live that way. The questions of "how" and "why" grabbed my attention enough to stop what I was doing to stop and watch.

It took 2-3 minutes for me to walk out of the room, full of an unexpected anxiety. There was a tension in me as I watched a man climbing over pizza boxes on the stairs to get to his second floor: I both like "stuff" and cannot handle "stuff." I felt over stuffed thinking about a life of accumulation and had to walk away. But, I still like my things.

In Luke chapter 12, Jesus speaks to the crowd with words that may seem too personal when he says "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Now, I don't know what makes other people hoard, but I know what makes me want more and more stuff; Jesus calls it covetousness and he tells us to be vigilant against covetousness.

Why? Because stuff is bad. No, because it isn't where abundant life is. Living a life to obtain and hold on to and to treasure possessions stuffs us full so that we aren't hungry for Jesus' abundant life.

There is a remedy to that longing. A spiritual practice (discipline) that frees us from our hunger after stuff and the security we find in having stuff: giving.

Are we free to be generous? Do we have so much of Jesus' abundant life that we abundantly give of ourselves like he does?

Or are we stuffed full of stuff that we are stuck?

Fasting to be Filled

After a surprisingly overfull week, I (Wes) sit writing this on Saturday morning knowing I want to write something to you. Next to me is my (now) daily bowl of oatmeal for breakfast with the luxury of blueberries to sweeten the meal. I keep pausing in my writing so I can eat what is in front of me...to get the sweet spot of just exactly the right temperature with every bite before it cools off.

I like to eat and I like to be full. That is why fasting doesn't make sense to me at first. Why would a person deny themselves something that is so necessary? Why would someone like me risk the chance of being empty and (I admit it) hangry by abstaining from food?

We live in a "follow all of your desires" world. To abstain from anything we might want seems strange to most. In the search for the most abundant type of life, we tend to consume to find fulfillment, devouring whatever food or entertainment is easily accessible. We long to be full, but can't seem to feed ourselves enough to escape our emptiness.

Our first thought when we think of "fasting" is being empty, but Jesus fasted to be filled. Talking to his disciples as they returned to him after getting his food, Jesus didn't grasp desperately for what they brought him, but he told them that he had "food that they didn't know about." What is this food? What is this fullness?

Fasting is not about merely choosing to be empty but to be more full of what really fills us. Oatmeal is filling for a couple of hours, but we were made for more.

Let's celebrate together that our God is a God who emptied himself so that we can enjoy him who is to us like a soul feast of the richest foods.

Festival Joy Doesn't Need a Festival

Our three month old just did something dramatic and profound. I don't want to be one of those out of touch "the whole world revolves around what my child just did" dads, but I have to tell you about it. I just have to!

She smiled at me when I said good morning to her.

It is hard not to smile when an infant smiles. It seems like everything else that is on our minds melts away when she looks into our eyes and notices (happily) that we are there. There is something that wells up in us, and takes over everything else we are feeling, and we smile back at her!

It is hard not to smile back at her.

Remember what Dallas Willard said: "True Christlikeness, true companionship with Christ, comes at the point where it is hard not to respond as he would." (Spirit of the Disciplines, 8)

One thing that is startling about Jesus is that he was invited to the party. He was welcomed to weddings and to dinner parties. Oftentimes, when he left a people or a town there was "much rejoicing." (Think of a once-lame man going from standing for the first time in his life to leaping and praising God!) The Man of Sorrows also lived in joy!

Though we are living in days where parties are not welcomed and the uncertainty in our lives can weigh our hearts down, we can follow Jesus' lead into celebration joy. Though it is a deliberate act on our part to celebrate, it flows from Jesus' deliberate heart to share his joy with us!

We Are Together in This...for Now

Fellowship

Maybe you have noticed what I (Wes) have noticed. There are a lot of signs that say "we are in this together" showing up around us. At the grocery store, at the park, on ads that pop up on news websites. The threat of the virus does bring us together, in a sense. Every person and every culture in the world is more on the same level than we ever have been in our lifetime.

But (and sadly, I have to write that word), even a pandemic is not enough for us to really come together. Though we are all having similar experiences (similar and not nearly the same), the reasons we normally don't all come together are still there, hidden beneath the "oneness" we are experiencing now.

We all long for what the Bible calls "fellowship." People gather in tribes whether in the jungles of Asia or the wildlands of urban Seattle. People gravitate to others who are like-hearted and like minded. Though I risk over-simplifying here, the reality is that we desire to be connected with people because we are crafted into the image of our God who is, at his core, relational. Personal. Being re-la-tive is written into the DNA of his soul.

"We are together"...for now. But what will keep us together in a way where our hearts are engaged with one another? What has to change (in us?) for us to have to have real, abiding, committed, joyful relationships that not only last, but also stand up during trials like a global pandemic or (maybe worse) a grumpy day?

Join us this Sunday evening (virtually) as we explore the deepest longing of the human soul together and how Jesus himself and his good news what what we need to experience the relatedness we desperately look for.

The Model Pray-er

I have so many questions about prayer.

If God already knows what we need then why does he ask us to pray? (He knows better than we know!)

Do I have to say the right words for him to answer? (I don't know what those words are!)

Do I have to pray with a pure heart for him to pay attention? (I am always in trouble if that is true!)

Those are the philosophical questions...the questions I sometimes ask to cover up my real heart questions. The questions that keep me from praying sometimes:
Does he want to hear what I have to say?
Why doesn't he come through for me when I need him to?!
Does he pay attention to me at all?
Is he even there?

Prayer is often a mystery to us, but it becomes less of a mystery when we pause to look into Jesus praying. There are preciously few times when we get to listen in on what he says, but when we do they are packed with meaning. Sometimes, he prays a lot of words (see John 17) and sometimes he says very little ("Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do").

But every time he prays we can learn from the model Pray-er. We don't learn "12 steps to a better praying you" or techniques to twist God's arm into giving us what we want. What we learn from the model Pray-er is that prayer is the overflow of a relationship, with all a relationship's ups and downs and imprecise messiness.

Prayer is the sign of a relationship God is inviting us into, not the work that creates it.

Pause and Pray

[At random times I will send out reflections on who God is and we see Him doing among us. This is the third of those random musings.]

I feel like I often have just enough words to make it through the day, and no more than that. Because of that, I want them to be meaningful.

Maybe, like me, its not always time that keeps us from praying, but the words. Sometimes we are concerned with praying the right words and the right tone and the right attitude.

My encouragement here is the same is it is on the video. Pause. And while you pause, pray.

Pray because Jesus taught us to, commanded us to, but also pray because you have a Father that wants to hear even your imperfect, broken, stumbling, (and sometimes) badly motivated words.

Pause and pray. Even it it is just a few words, like "please help," or "why, Father" or "I love you."

See the video linked below. More soon.

Wes

Click Here to Watch the Video on Vimeo

I Hate Death

“I Hate Death”

Those words came out of my mouth this week. They startled me somewhat, but I have to admit that they are true.

Death is in front of us all of the time now. And I hate it.

We are tired of it. We are tired of hearing about death, but at the same time strangely attracted to the newest statistics. Death is an annoyance to us so it is easy for us to either keep the thought at arm's length or avoid our own mortality altogether. Now, though, we aren't able to hide from our future reality.

One other reason we are tired of death has little do to with a virus: we all know death is just wrong. Yes. I said it is wrong. Maybe even "unnatural." We know it deep down. We know that death (though “normal” to us) is not natural for us.

Grieving the loss of a cherished companion or being there when someone else grieves upends us in ways "natural" things do not. Relationships (by their nature) are so strong that they were never meant to end. There is not supposed to be a shelf life on loving another person.

The claim of Jesus was that death is unnatural. Yes, even then he was looked at strangely for assuming death has an expiration date because it was so normal for his hearers. The attractiveness of the thought tells us something. We all wish death would die and leave us alone. We all hate death.

When Jesus invites us into his abundant life, it is the type of life that is stronger than death. This type of life is a life where we don’t have to fear death because death does not have the last word in our lives.

Most of all, Jesus didn’t just talk about the dying of death, he lived it. Easter became the celebration that it is because of the hope it gives us: Jesus overcame death by going through it and coming out very much alive!

The heart of what it means to trust in Jesus is to trust that he is the first of many who will overcome death...and the greatest. It is okay to hate death. It will die.

Everything is Lava

Everything is Lava

I never thought that I would be courageous enough to get up on a weekday morning and go grab food for my family at the grocery store. I didn’t think I had it in me, honestly. I had to brave the wilds of our local Fred Meyer and as I walked around store, we could all feel the tension in the air. That’s when I recognized it: everything is lava.

At home, we often play the game “the floor is lava.” That means…we can’t touch it. Its incredibly stressful to be paying for a floor in the living room that my daughter says I can’t walk on.

You feel it too don’t you. Everything is lava. We can’t touch anything. We can’t even be around each other. For some, our jobs are lava right now. It feels like crisis is the new normal, and our bodies, minds, and hearts were not fashioned to live like that for long.

Here is my encouragement: pause. Rest. We feel more stress in more areas in our lives than we have ever felt. This season of our lives will end, but the uncertainties and uncharted territory we are experiencing demand more emotional energy from us than we even realize.

Everything is lava right now, but rest. Think about Jesus’ words to any who would hear him and take him seriously:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28–30)

Jesus knows that we are living in days of high anxiety and trouble. He knows that simple trips to the grocery store are no longer simple (and sometimes, fruitless…literally). He knows we do not have the capacity to hold up underneath all of the stress that we live under. Jesus knows that everything is lava for us.

Slow down. No, really. Slow down. Slow down before you break down. Take Jesus at his word and come to him to find rest. The kind of rest that will help us not only endure this period of our histories, but will give us a profound sense that he is present with us as we are immersed in crisis.

Jesus is inviting us to rest in him. Its an invitation. Its a welcome. Its also what we long for.

Hungry to Hear

"Teacher, eat."

They were looking out for him since it had been a while since he had eaten. They knew he was tired. His weariness was obvious in the way he sat down determinedly by the well. It was just midday, but the previous days had caught up with Jesus.

The men had just traveled together into town, leaving their master alone to have some downtime. As they came back they were taken aback by seeing the teacher talking to a woman, alone. She abruptly left go into her town, sharing a message that eventually drew the townsfolk to come meet her Messiah.

Sensing Jesus' need to eat, they offered him some of the food they gathered. And, Jesus was hungry, but he was hungry for something more than the morsels they offered him. The mysterious man's response was: "I have food to eat that you do not know about...my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work."

Jesus' food was both to know and do the heart of the Father. It filled his soul and he was hungry to hear.

Though Jesus didn't have a copy of the Hebrew scriptures with him or a Bible he could carry around (God's Word was being revealed as he spoke!), Jesus carried the Word of God in him. He had memorized scripture. He was always meditating on the truth of what His Father said in the Law and the Prophets. What the Father was saying defined what he did...and he was hungry to hear.

We are hungry for more than food, but what are we hungry for? Is the very same Word that Jesus treasured a treasure to you? Does the word that the Father speaks fill your soul or are you content with lesser, emptier words?

The Sound of Silence and the Substance of Solitude

Do something with me. At least consider it. Make time for something that I promise you won't like. (This is why I am not a salesman. ABF: Always be failing )

At least not at first.

Take some time over the next couple of days to be silent. Go to a secluded part of your home (where else would you go now?!) and find a quiet place to be quiet. for 15 minutes. 15 minutes doesn't sound like long, but- if you are like me- the first few minutes of the silence might be broken by my counting- outloud- the number of seconds that have passed.

We have an aversion to silence. Most of the time when I run I have to have music or a podcast to listen to. There are many people who feel like something is wrong if they don't hear the sound of the TV in their room. When walk into a restaurant (when we are able to) we EXPECT music. If there isn't music then we get uncomfortable.

The same is true for solitude. We can sit in a coffee shop together, but alone and that is normal. But, stark solitude is scary even for the most introverted of introverts. There is a reason why prisoners behavior is shaped by the threat of solitary confinement.

But, what if both silence and solitude are means to living Jesus' abundant life. What if these practices that we might reluctantly agree to (if lead by God's Spirit) are actually healing to our soul and life-giving. What if it is in solitude and silence we meet with the One our souls' are made for in new, and full ways?

Out for a long, out of the way, walk yesterday on the way to the grocery store and I (Wes) thought I would share some of the thoughts that are on my mind with you from Day One of our Lockdown.

Jesus’ people are the picture of a topsy turvey world being made right again. Perfectly? Not even close, but we are a living sign of what the Lord can do and will do. What our Creator (and re-Creator) does in his world- that which is most important- is always through relationships.

Click here for video

Soulish Security

“And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool!…” Luke 12:19-20a

The man was wealthy and entrepreneurial, but he was a fool. Don’t get me wrong, the farmer knew his stuff. Before the above verses it said “The land of a rich man produced plentifully…” and he was shrewd enough to think through what it would take to store the crops.

He knew business, but he didn’t understand life. He was a fool.

He wasn’t a fool because he was wealthy. That’s not the point. He wasn’t a fool because he stored the food. That’s not a bad idea. (To be honest don’t we all want a stockpile of food right now?)

He was a fool because he convinced himself (his “soul”) that he was safe and also secure because of his wealth and his shrewdness. He did not (want to) recognize that his produce came from the Lord of all Creation and the Giver of all good things.

When we get to the heart of it, he wanted to be secure apart from the security that comes in relationship with God.

Its is addictive to read the freshest news report to find out about the societal damage the virus-that-shall-not-be-named is causing. The fear it brings with it is more infectious than the microscopic invader itself. The stock market fell (again!) today. If you have a 401k, it is worth significantly less today than it was worth 3 weeks ago. Small businesses and their employees are hurting already with mandatory shut downs.

And, to top it all off, it seems like toilet paper is so rare it will soon be used as currency.

But, I don’t have to tell you these things. You know them don’t you? You feel the uncertainty. We sleep lighter if we really get to sleep at all. The insecurity we feel is because what we find our security in (“Soul…relax, eat, drink, be merry”) is being taken from us.

Right now it seems that we are in the beginning of it all.

Though there is much more that Jesus says about this heart condition of seeking Soulish Security coming up, he pauses to make us ask the hard questions: Where do I find my security? Where does my heart go to find rest in uncertain times? What do I really put my trust in?

The rich farmer was not a fool because he wanted security and rest for his soul. He was a fool because he looked for that rest and security in barns that fall down and grain that will perish.

Jesus offers himself as the rest and security our souls need. So that we can confidently say to ourselves “Soul, you have a Father who has ample goods he loves to lavish on his children. Enough for the rest of your years. Rest in him. Eat his good gifts. Drink of his living water. Be joyful and secure!”

Though it doesn’t feel like it, our insecurity and uncertainty right now is a gift. A gift from a Good Father who is drawing us to real security in him.

Real Reasons to Worry...and Not To Worry

Can I confess something with you? I tend to be an anxious person. To some it is obvious when they are around me. Sometimes it is unnoticeable. (Or at least I think it is!)

There have been times when people have come to me and said "Just stop worrying." The response that I often keep to myself is "You don't know what you are talking about! I have real reasons to be worried!"

isn't that right though? We have reasons to be worried. Real reasons. We might make those reasons bigger than what they really are, but they are reasons. Nice platitudes of "everything is going to be okay" have no power against those reasons.

One of those reasons may be the threat of an unknown virus.
One of those reasons may be the threat of a lost relationship
One of those reasons may be the loss of job, or money, or livelihood.
Almost always that reason is the loss of control.

Those reasons are like summer heat to a tree. We think of heat this time of year as a good thing, keeping us warm from the long cold of a Seattle winter. But, we know that too much heat- too many real reasons to worry- can dry our souls out.

Are those very real reasons the very last word on the subject?

In Jeremiah 17:7–8, the Lord says to his people:

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (ESV)

The person who trusts in the Lord flourishes in the midst of the heat that causes the drought. The heat is real (!), but the heat is not enough to make the faith-filled person fearful or anxious or barren. There is something about letting the Lord be in control and trusting that he is good at being in control that causes a person's real reasons to be anxious to dry up instead of their soul.

We need a reason greater than the reasons that make us anxious in order to trust a Good Father. God himself knew what it was like to live in the heat. Jesus lived a life where fear surrounded him, where threats were waiting on the periphery to destroy him, where brokenness and sin were the air he breathed.

Experiencing what we experience, he did not fear. On the contrary, he was so full of life (like a tree planted by water) that no worry could hold him back by acting out the fullest expression of love anyone has ever expressed: giving his life for the sake of those who counted him as an enemy. He took the heat of the punishment of sin in order to draw us close enough that we might trust him and be one of these "blessed" people.

The love that God demonstrated at the cross in the life of the Son is a bigger, more powerful reason not to worry than the lists of reason we have to worry.

Drought will come. The inescapable heat of summer will come. The reality of our short existence on this planet is that our desire for comfort and safety will be interrupted by the reality of the unknown, the uncontrollable, and the uncomfortable. Microscopic, unseen invaders will attack our bodies and threaten our "normalcy."

But, perfect love casts out fear. Knowing God's abundant love drives out anxiety when we realize that his love does not dry up in the heat of the real reasons to be anxious.

Disruptive

The Temptation to be Obnoxious
On a bus full of strangely quiet people. The goofy side of me wants to start talking abruptly and loudly on this number 40 bus to draw their attention away from their phones. I’m on mine too writing this. That's probably better.

I’m usually not the guy who disrupts... or at least try not to be.

But as I see the status quo and grow weary of how Jesus has no place in the lives of the people around me... it makes me a little more desirous to shake things up. But that’s not my job. (Good thing) Mine is to treasure Jesus and walk in his Spirit.

Jesus is the Right Kind of Disruptive
The thing is: Jesus is humbly disruptive. (I would be obnoxious) His life among us showed it. He was never satisfied with the status quo. He knew our sinful status quo just keeps us bored and selfish all the the way to our destruction. 

Picture Jesus walking into the temple courts with a zeal that consumed him for what his Father's house should be. (see Matthew 21:12-17) There was nothing weak or fearful about him, no false politeness or capitulation to the "way things are," but only a resilient passion to see His Father honored by his people enjoying prayerful fellowship with the Father rather than seeking unjust gain. So he drove people out of the temple. He disrupted their day, their business, and their lives by acting on what mattered to him.

(Also notice that even as he drove people out with authority, the broken and the weak were not afraid to come to him. They still saw tenderness in his eyes. I long to be like Jesus in both!)

Disrupted the Stranglehold of Sin
Jesus' authoritative love saturates all he does. That love- along with the strength of his humility- is always disrupting our lives..showing us a life better than the sin we think is real life and shaking up our definition of joy. Like C.S. Lewis said “we are far too easily pleased”with the muck of sin and unaware to the playful satisfying joy of all he has for us that sin blinds us too.

Distrupted the Passing Reign of Death
How wide eyed must the disciples have been to see a once-dead man waking? Startled into faith. What is starling is that the most “natural” and widespread of all human functions was not just pushed around but overcome from the inside out.Jesus was living proof to those fear filled men that death isn’t the final word. Death reigned until Jesus did. Because of that, if Jesus is our master than death is not.

Our Desire for Our Lives to Be Distrupted
Now I’m standing in the rain at one last bus stop before I get home and kiss my favorite people in the whole world goodnight. Its raining on both me and the anonymous people standing with me waiting for the 31 bus. Though these neighbors are anonymous, I have met so many people like them who have no room (yet) for new life...no desire (yet) to be disrupted. But that’s my prayer for them now as I type on my phone...that Jesus would graciously disrupt their lives that someday they would worship him for doing so.

Footfalls

"Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel...To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law...that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law...that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might will the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some."

1 Corinthians 9:16, 20-22

Snowmageddon 2019
The snow that has inundated our city for the last few days is melting, slowly. People are coming out of their weekend hibernation and starting to move around again.The snow is turning to slush which will turn to streams sometime soon. At some point I'll be able to dig my car out and brave the hill by our house that has recently been used more for sleds than cars.

Walking is my main mode of transportation while the snow is on the ground and I noticed something interesting as I walked out of our house to meet a friend for lunch: raccoon footprints. They were clearly the footprints of a nocturnal neighbor looking for something to eat at our front door. Poor guy. Nothing to eat here.

But what was more interesting is that it made me notice other footprints...where people had walked. Most (non snow) days we can't tell if someone came up to our door to scavenge some discarded food, but when the snow is carpeting the sidewalks and driveways those footfalls are obvious.

What I Don’t Notice

As I walked to the pizza place we planned to meet at, I noticed people's footsteps like I had never had before. I could see where people had been and, because of the direction of their shoe prints, could tell which way they were going.

Normally, I don't notice. But, I want to.

The more I spend time with friends who are not-yet-believers in Jesus, I realize again a truth I need to hold on to: I need to watch their path of life in order to walk with them. 

When We Never Cross Paths

The reality is that most of our friends who haven't yet trusted Jesus are not going to walk my path; their footfalls will not go the same direction as mine for the most part, metaphorically speaking. 

If we are going to have a meaningful conversation about meaningful things (i.e. Jesus and the gospel) then I cannot expect them to follow the way I am going, I need to walk with them.

I must look to see where their feet fall and go with them. 

Life Interrupted

There are some sinful places I won't go, but most of the time that's not the real issue...the real issue in walking with someone is how much it interrupts my life.

Jesus lived a life interrupted. I imagine that he would start off going one direction during the day and then see someone who the Father had appointed for Him to meet with. Jesus "heard" the heart of the one's around him and responded to that person and that response was not a canned response. There is a sense in which Jesus' life was full of interruptions and changes of plans, but all of it planned by the Father before the beginning of time to draw people in and be enamored with his glory.

Jesus learned our (human) languages. Jesus learned (and joined in on!) human customs. Jesus followed a woman at a well down a path of discussion that went from literal thirst, to her scandalous love life, to who the Messiah should be, to- the heart of it all- who she treasured the most. (See John 4) Jesus became all things to all people pleasing them- not for his own advantage- but to disadvantage himself for them in love.

Or maybe better said "Disadvantaging himself for US in love."

Love that Compels to Walk a New Path

That very same love compels me...even if it is a weak love. I look at my friend whose salvation is ahead of them (God willing) and wonder what will it take for them to hear the gospel in their own language- to get the truth even if they don't receive the truth. What will we have to rearrange or rethink in order to make the gospel accessible to people through play dates, lunch meetings, baseball games, and neighborhood work projects? Those are the places their feet are already falling.

Oh, I want my friend to follow my footsteps and go with me along my path of life, but, if they won't, I have to ask myself "Am I enamored with Jesus so much that I will walk where I have to so that they will be enamored with Jesus?"

There is joy in seeing the paths in which are friends are walking, but it takes courage to reorient life to walk with them- a courage I often wonder if I have. But what if the path they are walking is the very same path that Jesus is walking in order to both win their heart, and strengthen our faith?

Tomorrow, the snow will be gone (I hope anyway) and people's footfalls won't be as easy to notice. God, please help us to learn our friend's "paths of life" by being with them, asking questions, and letting the Spirit help us see their heart questions.

The Just Do Justice (the final part)

The Response that Leads to Justice

If you look at Jesus’ story, it is in response to a discussion with a man steeped in Old Testament law. This man knew what the Torah said. He could quote it. He could teach Sabbath School about this and many other things!

But, it hadn’t yet affected him at his core. How do I know that? Because “he sought to justify himself.” That’s the response of one who has only heard the truth and not been affected by it.

Jesus makes the point that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything and the second is the overflow of the first: we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Or, to unpack part of what that means: do justice.

But there is another profound message here: we will only do justice from a pure (singularly focused) heart when ours has been affected, struck dumb, wowed, and quieted with the love of a just God.

Awakened to Worship

We don’t do justice because it earns God’s love. No. Not that at all. We do justice as a love response to his love. When we see the injustice Jesus absorbed so that we would not get the justice we deserved from our Just God, and by faith we accept that grace, the natural response of a heart awakened to his love is worship…

…worship that manifests itself in the very same joyful sacrifice of the Samaritan. 

More about Jesus than the Samaritan
As we look deeper into the story of the Samaritan, we can see Jesus is telling us more about himself than the story of the Samaritan. Jesus is the real definition of a neighbor in our lives. Though our sin leaves us destitute and spiritually dead, Jesus came to us. He spent, not his money, but his entire self on us in order to bring us into his life. The Samaritan risked his life in the wild lands between Jericho and Jerusalem in order to save this unnamed man, but Jesus knew that our salvation would cost him both the beatings of men and also the just wrath of his Father. It wasn’t a risk. “Risk” implies that he might not lose. Jesus knew he would lose. He knew he would suffer a just wrath that was on him rather than on we who created the injustice.

The more I understand those truths, the more my heart is broken to joyful worship. Whole hearted. Sometimes that shows in my life as singing. Sometimes, praying. Sometimes, doing justice..

Finally…

It is the ones who have been made just by the Justifier of our souls who do justice. The reality of the cost of justice doesn’t drive them away; it emboldens them to look to God for his resurrection power. And, God willing, both the victims and the perpetrators are transformed to be the next worshippers…who do justice.

The Just Do Justice (part three)

The Resurrection Power to Do Justice

Many of the churches around us focus their attention on social justice. I am very grateful for those who are willing to spend their prized time, their limited energy, and money they don’t have to get their hands dirty to serve the hurting. We need more and more people who will see that serving the oppressed and marginalized is worth their effort. May it be!

But, how will it be? I need to bring up a question. Knowing my own heart and my tendency to doubt God’s goodness in a painful world and his power among a people who thrive on dominating each other, I need to question whether or not this is all that the Father wants. Is following Jesus merely doing good deeds in Jesus’ name or is there something that defines his people that is deeper, more primal, and more central to his heart?

On its face, that kind of “social justice” Christianity looks like a helpful “Christiany” thing. But what often lies underneath the surface is a system of disbelief- or at least a lost hope in the power of Jesus to transform lives at the core of who we are. It is possible to do justice, using Jesus’ name, and the motivation behind the doing is a belief that social justice is the most meaningful part of what it means to be a Christian. Doing justice (though a beautiful thing) is emphatically NOT the core. 

Doing justice is the fruit of something more profound: just people do justice. Or, to say it another way, “people resurrected to be just” do justice. People who have been transformed by the resurrection power of Jesus are transformed out of the death of radical selfishness (even manifesting in good deeds) and into the life of empowered love and self sacrifice.

The Samaritans’ compassion was a God- fueled compassion. This God-fueled compassion is shown in his both his sacrificial help on the road and the joyful endurance in coming back to the inn the next day to help some more. Is is not mere human willpower; it is the resurrection power of Jesus’ life that indwells every believer. 

This resurrection power is the power of God to change one person’s life. This must come first. This must not be left out. We don’t emphasize “at the root of our soul spiritual conversion” because we want to make people feel “less than” or condemn them. No, we focus our attention on what the gospel can do to transform someone’s life so that they can find the deep, resonant, fulfilling joy in doing justice with the very same heart that Jesus did.

Then we don’t have to guilt people to volunteer; we unleash people to be the change agents in the world they already are.

It is this personal transformation to not just doing justice, but being just that changes the world. But, there is one more part to this…and it might be the most important part of all. (more…)

The Just Do Justice (Part two)

The Reality of Doing Justice

Doing justice is often glamorized in our culture.  At least some forms of it are. But, the reality is that the man lying on the side of the road (see Luke 10 again) represents the lives of many people.

It is the Burmese woman who was fleeing her oppressive country and was (almost) captured at the border to be sold into slavery by those who were paid to protect her. If she didn’t have cash on her she might not have been able escape to Austin, Texas where she told me her story while cutting my hair. It is the children who are taken from their homes because they are abused, only to be put in situations where they may be able to be abused again. There are almost as many stories like this as their are people in our world.

To the man lying on the road, the Samaritan’s compassion was necessary. To the Samaritan, his compassion was costly.

The reality is that there are men lying on the side of the roads due to other’s selfishness, and the robbers may be lying in wait for the good Samaritans, also Doing justice is dirty, messy, and costly. It comes with the possibly of compassion fatigue caused by pouring our lives into people who need much more than we could ever give.

Then there is the truth that all opression and injustice is backed and empowered by the principalities and powers bent on destroying anyone who reflects the glory of God to the world. That’s too much to write about now, but chew on it by reading about it here: Ephesians 6:10-20

The reality needs to be looked at for what it is so we don’t live naive. Let’s run from naiveté onto the dangerous dirt road that the Samaritan walked. With that being said, the reality of what it takes do do justice leads us not to be afraid, but to embrace the truth that the very same Jesus who has been raised from the dead empowers his people to do justice.

We don’t walk that dark road alone. And we don’t walk heartless or powerless. More to come…

The Just Do Justice (part one)

Will you be part of my (Wes’) sermon preparation for this week? I need a sounding board to remind myself of what we talked about 2 weeks ago so I can see where we go next with our text.

But, because I haven’t written in a while, you probably don’t know what the text is.

It is Micah 6:8. And we are spending 4 weeks on it. Yep, its one verse. But it is so worth it.

So, I’m going to go with you are willing to read along. 

The title of our message was “The Root of Justice: The Just Do Justice.” The first part is our series. The second part is the part unique to this sermon. I have to remind myself of this part too.

We focued on the very simple command “do justice.” The command is short but the meaning is profound. What is “justice?” How do we do it? With every person one could ask (and I have asked a few) we will get a different definition of what “justice” is. Then, if we are not careful, we could subtly communicate that this command is merely about action alone, and not the heart behind it.

To deal with these questions we also look at Luke 10 and the story of the Samaritan who stopped to serve a wounded man, left for dead. Stop and read it. Here is a link: click here. It starts in verse 25.

But, here is the point: the gospel of Jesus is the root of all true and full justice. Let me say it again because I need to grab hold of it: the gospel of Jesus is the root of all true and full justice. That may be the most offensive thing I said all week, but I say it, not only because it is true, but because it is necessary and good.

Hold on to that. It brings hope when looking at the reality of injustice. More to come soon…

"An Identity that is Ours in Christ"

In preparing for our sermon this Sunday evening, I found myself going back to one of my favorite books, “Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community.”

I have read a lot of books that have “Church” in the title and, though each is very helpful in its own way, many of them start to sound the same. More about the “how” of doing church stuff than the “who” and the “why.”

Total Church gets to the “who” and the “why” in ways that are both refreshing and challenging to me.

I share the following just because I think it is worth sharing. I will quote at length because I think many who would never purchase this book would be helped by this portion.

Answering the question, “What would it mean to be both gospel-centered and community centered?” Tim Chester and Steve Timmis propose these ideas:

Being both gospel-centered and community-center might mean:

• seeing church as an identity instead of a responsibility to be juggled alongside other commitments.

• celebrating ordinary life as the context in which the word of Godis proclaimed with “God-talk” as a normal feature of everyday conversation

• running fewer evangelistic events, youth clubs, and social projects and spending more time sharing our lives with unbelievers

• starting new congregations instead of growing existing ones

• preparing Bible talks with other people instead of just studying alone at a desk

• adopting a 24-7 approach to mission and pastoral care instead of starting ministry programs

• switching the emphasis from Bible teaching to Bible learning and action

• spending more time with people on the margins of society

• learning to disciple one another-and to be discipled- day by day

• having churches that are messy instead of churches that pretend

(Total Church, page 18; emphasis mine)