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Who Is This Man? [Luke 8:22-56] [ January 3rd, 2011 • 5:41pm ] [ mood | cheerful ] Happy new year, faithful readers.  Last Sunday, we studied Luke 8:4-21, where Jesus reveals that we become members of His true family, with hearts of fruitful soil, able to impact others by shining His light, when we receive & retain His Word, & practice it in our daily lives; listen to: “Let Them Hear” (Jan 2, 2011) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. This week, we’ll continue by reading and reflecting on the next passage on your own: Luke 8:22-56. [Luke 8:21-25] Jesus is exhausted at this point, showing Himself to be genuinely 100% human. He’s been doing increasing amounts of preaching & ministry & is wiped out; He's at the limits of His human endurance. His only recourse to take a break from the crowds of hundreds (possibly thousands) of small-town folk who gather to see & hear Him is to get His disciples to row Him out into the middle of the giant Sea of Galilee, where He falls into a deep sleep of exhaustion. He’s not being mean to the people; He knows they’ll be there when He gets back, but the dude needs a nap, alright? Their boat is overtaken by a raging storm, where even the seasoned fishermen (whose livelihood is on the sea) panic, and they at last awaken Jesus to rescue them. Jesus arises & rebukes the storm, immediately calming the winds & water, then rebukes the disciples for having a lack of faith. Why? The answer is two-fold: (1) They attempt to cope with the wind & waves by their own human knowledge as experienced sea-goers, & come to Him only as a last resort, when they should have turned to Him first for help. (2) In their humanness, the disciples assume they’re done for; they proclaim: We're dead meat, “perishing” [Luke 8:24], showing the limited scope of their understanding of who Jesus is. Up to this point, He’s been God’s prophet & a teacher, possibly the Christ King, with some miraculous powers, but this storm must be too big even for Him; we’re dead men. Their biblical understanding of the situation (rightly) is that only God has power over nature, particularly over storms: “O Lord God of Hosts, who is might as You are, O Lord, with Your faithfulness all around You? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them” [Psa 89:8-9]. Their gut reaction is to be filled with fear over the situation & fear of Jesus for what He's done, so they ask a profound question, the right question: [8:25] “Who then is this, that He commands even winds & water, & they obey Him?” [Luke 8:26-39] Finally reaching the other side of the sea, does Jesus get a day off? Nope; He’s immediately greeted by a man running around naked, exhibiting unnatural physical strength. It turns out this guy's physical body has been overtaken by a legion of spiritual beings, what we call demons (for more information on demons, read: “With Authority” (Nov 17, 2010) at: http://goshjoshsays.livejournal.com/56197.html).  Demonic beings know exactly who Jesus is, and begin to answer the question posed by the disciples by fearfully shouting: “What have You to do with me Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” For those unfamiliar with Ancient Near Eastern culture & familial patterns, the firstborn son is regarded as equal to his father in authority: If your dad was rich & you carried his signet ring, it was equivalent to having a credit card with access to all his financial wealth; if your dad was a man of power, you had authority to command his servants or lower folk, etc. You & your dad would be regarded as one by all who recognize him. For fallen angels to acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God was a recognition that He was in fact one with His Father, wielding the same power & authority as God. Jesus demonstrates that this is true by rebuking the spirits (in the same way He did the storm), driving them into a herd of pigs that end up rushing headlong into an abyss where they drown, a foreshadowing of their eternal fate in Hell (originally prepared for Satan & his angels; cf. Matt 25:41). [8:35-37] Again, witnesses are struck with fear [same word as 8:25], & react by telling Jesus to take a hike because of their superstitious fear of His “mystical” powers, or afraid that He’ll cost them some more pigs. It’s sad; they saw something miraculous, an act of God right in front of them, and their response isn’t one of worship & rejoicing for this man or for themselves being able to witness something so amazing; they cower & shun it; they count the cost to themselves rather than the blessing to another. And in the process, they reject the God who has revealed Himself  right in front of them. [8:38-39] Only the man who has been cleansed of the demons recognizes the mercy, grace & power that Jesus has shown him that day: In being told to “declare how much God has done for you”, he goes out “proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.” You see what Luke did there? Dr. Luke (our Gentile/non-Jewish physician & author) is just reporting the facts, but it’s a clever way of showing what the man thought of Jesus: The healed man sees Jesus as God. [Luke 8:40-56] Jesus returns to the crowds He’d left behind, and Jairus (a pastor from a local synagogue) falls at His feet, imploring Jesus for help with his only, dying daughter, 12 years old. Along the way, the crowds press in on Jesus, all with their own needs; this is how it often is in ministry, having to wade through so many needs, even while trying to get to one in desperate need. A woman sneaks into the crowd with some kind of blood hemorrhaging (perhaps menstrual) that’s been incurable for 12 years, as long as Jairus’ daughter has lived. She would’ve been considered religiously unclean, a social outcast, and not allowed to be around the crowds, not allowed to touch anyone. Probably on her knees in humility & desperation, she touches the bottom of the hem of Jesus’ robe. This is an act of faith: simply reaching out to Jesus. And in touching Him, she is made clean, physically healed & spiritually renewed. Note: He is not made unclean by her; she is made clean by Him. She has no champion, no dad like Jairus, to bring Jesus to her, so Jesus turns to her, addresses her as “daughter (the only time He ever calls anyone this), your faith has made you well.” This seeming distraction holds up Jesus just long enough that He apparently does not reach Jairus’ daughter in time [8:49]. Jesus tells the people of the house “do not fear [same word as in 8:25 & 8:35] any longer, only believe” in Him, His power, & what He’s about to do [8:50]. They laugh it off, but Jesus tenderly takes her by the hand, & again shows His power… the same authority that commands storms & rebukes demons, tells the child to arise from the dead… and she does. Everybody’s jaws drop, so Jesus sets people into motion, instructing them to give her something to eat; she’s weak & drained, kinda had a tough day; you try being dead & coming back.  This is a foreshadowing of what Jesus will do for us: If we too are willing to turn from fear & turn toward Jesus in faith, by believing in Him and reaching out to Him, He will raise all of us who call on Him as Lord, Savior & God from the dead, and seat us at His table, feeding us at the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. We will all be in the place of this girl; we will all die, because we've all sinned [Rom 3:23], & all sinners die [Rom 6:23]. We were all unclean, just as the bleeding woman, & death comes for us all, as it did for this girl, but Jesus comes to show His authority, His power & His love for us to heal & raise us. This time, the parents reaction is one of amazement [8:56], not fear that runs from Jesus, but awe that worships Jesus. These are all amazing miracles. Yes, Jesus performed miraculous things before, but here we get a glimpse of His unbridled authority, power and majesty as God Himself. He is the only Person in all of time, history & eternity who has 2 natures: He is 100% man, 100% God, and we get glimpses of both in these historical accounts.  In each situation, people respond to Jesus’ power & authority with amazement: Some turn tail, running away from Him in fear or self-interest, rejecting Him; but some are amazed & bow at His feet, coming to worship Jesus as God. Who is this Man to you? Reflection Questions: (1) During storms of life, do you turn to Jesus first or as last resort? Do you know who He is, especially when troubles come? Are you aware of the reality that Jesus is God in your life? How about when troubles come, do you remember that His hands are bigger than the most daunting circumstances?  Do you trust that He is more powerful than the strongest enemy? Do you know that He cares for you as the best Father in the universe? Remember to turn to Him first when storms come; you can trust in Him & His Word because He is a big God. (2) When Jesus does something amazing (in your life or others’ lives), how do you respond? Sometimes, it's easy to get caught up in focusing on the anxiety of the car-wreck (literal or metaphorical) we just missed, rather than the amazing fact that God delivered you from it.  Do you ignore what God has done right in front of you? Do you get distracted by fear of the situation & circumstances, or fear the cost to yourself? Or are you amazed & want to tell everyone about how He is God, & what He has done in your life, like the ex-demoniac? (3) When storms come into your life, do you believe, trust & worship Jesus as God? Who is He to you, really?  It’s easy to say we believe in Jesus when everything is smooth sailing, but when storms come, that really shows us how much we trust & believe in Jesus: We can either respond to our circumstances with fear, or we can put our trust in Jesus [Luke 8:56].  He is Lord, Savior, King, God.  Worshiping Jesus is the right response & the opposite of fear when storms of life come. 4 comments | reply | edit | memory

Parable of the Brats [Luke 7:18-35] [ December 24th, 2010 • 10:41am ] [ mood | cheerful ] Hey!  A Merry Christmas (Eve) to you.  Last Sunday, we studied Luke 7:1-17, where Jesus reveals that He, as King over the Kingdom of God, has power to overcome death; listen to: “Season of Hope” (Dec 19, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. This week, we’ll continue by reading and reflecting on the next passage on your own: Luke 7:18-35. John the baptizer is in prison, & having a little bit of a crisis of faith, so he sends his disciples to talk to Jesus. Jesus reaffirms to him that He is indeed the Christ who has come (as demonstrated by the power of His miracles & authority of His preaching), & that John’s trust in Jesus are not misplaced [Luke 7:18-24]. Jesus then teaches the crowds that are following Him that John is the greatest of all men who have lived up until this point in God’s Old Covenant relationship with people (see the reflection on “Greatness”; Sep 19, 2010 at: http://goshjoshsays.livejournal.com/54082.html), but those who follow Jesus into God’s New Covenant relationship are even greater because they will live in the fulfillment of the coming Kingdom of God through Jesus [Luke 28:30]. This is amazing & counter-cultural, because the ones Jesus is calling great are all the lowly, “sinful”, common folk & even the despicable tax collectors [verse 29] who were baptized by John & follow Jesus, versus the people you’d expect: the Scribes & their disciples (AKA the Pharisees), who “rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by John” [7:30]. The dividing line: Whether or not you were willing to confess you were a sinner compared to Jesus / God, repent of your sin, & come follow Jesus. The mark of those willing & committed to turning away from sin to Jesus was a symbolic act known as baptism: being dunked in water to represent cleansing of sin, & death, burial & resurrection through Jesus. Nothing magic about it; it’s a symbolic act (see reflection on “Isn’t baptism just more religion?”; Oct 18, 2010 at: http://goshjoshsays.livejournal.com/55281.html). But it takes a lot of guts to publicly identify with Jesus, as all the religious folk were up in arms about it. There’s a lot we could talk about from this passage, but I want to focus on Luke 7:31-35. [7:31-32] Here, Jesus continues offending religious people; and He did so in love, to point out their sin & folly for their good. One commentator calls Jesus’ comments “the parable of the brats.” It boils down to this: if you watch small children, they tend to observe big events in life, & then mimic them. They reenact Blockbuster action movies with their toy swords & toy guns, they play house with dolls & tea sets, etc etc... all the notable things they observe & absorb like a sponge. In that day, the two big events that happen for these small-town common folk were funerals & weddings. Funerals are dark, weddings are light; funerals are grieving, weddings are celebrating.  In the funerals of their day, everyone would get dressed in black, the processional would leave town, & head out to the cemetery. The designated wailers would wail, mourners mourn & flute players would play. In a wedding, everyone would stay in town; there was often a multi-day feast, & the bride would come out in all her glory, dressed in white. There’d be dancing, singing & celebration. So what the little kids would do is get together & either play funeral or wedding. Emo kids & punk rock kids would play funeral; all the pop kids & hip-hop kids would play wedding. There was always a group of kids who wanted to play funeral, & another group who’d want to play wedding. And Jesus is saying there’s another group of kids who wouldn’t play anything; those were the religious kids. They’d say: “We don’t want to play funeral; it’s too sad. We don’t want to play wedding; it’s too happy.” What do you want to play then? “I want to play miserable critic”; and that was their game. They’d never join in & participate. [7:33-35] So Jesus is rebuking the religious folk, because they’re like that; they’re consistently negative & critical. They criticize John & Jesus for opposite reasons. Jesus basically says that these critics are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, because they don’t make any sense. They look at John & declare: We don’t like him because he’s gluten-free & alcohol-free; he must be some kind of demon-possessed hippie Baptist. Well, what do you think of Jesus? We don’t like him either.  Why? Because He does eat bread & drink wine, & seems to enjoy it. What?! Yeah, & today’s too hot & it’s too cold. And you’re too tall & too short. Uh-huh. This is the heart of a critic. They’re impossible & insane; they don’t make any sense. “We don’t like John, & we don’t like Jesus.” Why? “One eats bread, one doesn’t. One drinks wine, one doesn’t. We don’t like either of them.”  A critic is someone who defines themselves by who or what they’re against. All you know about them is who or what they’re against, not who or what they are for. And they’re not pointing out real sin; critics often make wildly outlandish claims. For those of us who are followers of Christ, I pray that you wouldn’t be known as the critics. There’s a world of difference between calling someone to repentance because you care & are concerned about them (which is what John & Jesus do) and falsely accusing people of things that are not true.  They accuse John of having a demon, a horrible, false allegation. Matthew 11:2 adds that at this point in John’s ministry, he’s in prison. He can’t come out & meet & correct the critics; he’s in prison, defenseless. When we hear someone say really bad things about someone, & someone else say really good things, some of us tend to think: The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. It’s not. The critics say John is demon-possessed; Jesus says he’s the greatest man who’s ever lived. The truth is not somewhere in the middle. The truth is John is a godly (not perfect), remarkable, great man, by the grace of God. Instead of running with that lie, people checked with Jesus: “Okay, we’ve heard these terrible things about John.” And Jesus would respond: “Greatest man who’s ever lived.” “Wow, that’s a really different take on John. Glad we didn’t run with the smear campaign & double-checked the facts.” Don’t believe everything you hear; don’t believe everything you read; don’t believe everything you think. Check the facts. If there really is sin or heresy, calling to repentance is a good thing. But if there’s not, don’t be a liar, and don’t bear false witness. We have commandments against these sorts of things. It’s a big deal, and especially in this age of media & lasting digital records, (Jesus says in Matt 12:36) we will be held accountable for every word that we utter. We’re all in grave danger; we don’t want to falsely accuse people in general, and spiritual leaders in particular. That’s exactly what’s happening with John. Some of us are like these critics, even when it comes to church: This church is too big; that one’s too small. This one’s too serious; that one’s too irreverent. This one’s too organized; that one’s too disorganized. This one’s too formal; that one’s too casual. If you’ve ever known a kid who’s a really picky eater, it is one of the most draining games in the world: Do you want a sandwich? No. Eggs? No. Cereal? No. Pizza? No. These are the kids where it doesn’t matter what you propose: No.  They’re always negative. Some of us are like that. You find something wrong with everyone & everything; you refuse, crossing your arms: “I’m not becoming a member. I’m not joining a fellowship or small group. I’m not getting involved. I have lots of reasons that I’m unhappy.” You’re always unhappy & negative; you’re Eeyore. For those of you who trust in Jesus & follow Him, you have this God-given opportunity to do a little of what John did: to call people (beginning with ourselves) to repentance of sin. But not to falsely accuse people of things that are not true, not to speculate, gossip or be a busy-body; not taking bits & pieces of information, & building a case to attack someone without checking the facts & the other side of the story to confirm it. I’ve made those mistakes at times too, & have had to repent of it. Even as we call people to repentance (turning away from self-destructive / other-destructive sin toward Jesus & life in Him), by the grace of God, we don’t have to be religious brats.   Reflection Questions: (1) Are you negative & critical? Are you generally known for what you are against (rather than what you’re for)? Are you always against someone or something? Do you always have a reason or excuse why you’re not going to get involved with God’s people, a church community, or be actively involved with being on-mission? (2) Have you wrongly criticized someone without getting your facts straight? Do you tend to make assumptions about people, their character, their motivation? Are you that person who takes bits of information, and enables the worst kind of self-righteous & religious people through gossip? Do you need to confess it & repent of it to God?  How do you need to apologize & make amends?  What will you do differently next time?  Take into consideration Jesus' warning in Matt 12: 36 & practice the biblical principles in James 1:19. (3) Do you actively call people to repentance like John & Jesus? We still need to care about the self-destructive & other-destructive choices of people around us (not ignore it).  Do you confront people’s sin out of genuine care & concern for them, with gracious, humble, kind words (vs. frustrated, angry, bitter, critical words)? Are people able to see what you are for, as a Christian? Are you known as a humble, loving, gracious, concerned, caring Christ-like person?  Food for thought.  May you reflect the attitudes, words & actions of Christ toward others as we celebrate Him this Christmas season.   1 comments | reply | edit | memory

Counter-Cultural (pt.2) [Luke 6:37-49] [ December 14th, 2010 • 5:22pm ] [ mood | drained ] Last Sunday, we studied Luke 6:1-36, where Jesus teaches us what identity in the Kingdom of God looks like; listen to: “Counter-Cultural” (Dec 12, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. This week, we’ll continue by reading and reflecting on the next passage on your own: Luke 6:37-49. [Luke 6:37-38] As we learn from King Jesus about His counter-cultural Kingdom & its ethics, we run across a famous passage that people love to misuse: “Judge not, & you will not be judged.” It’s come to mean to us: Even if I do something wrong, that’s just your opinion, because it’s all relative, so don’t be so judgmental. That’s an understandable perspective; if you’re the guy who always goes around finding fault in others, nitpicking & criticizing, & your apparent spiritual gift is “discouragement”, knock it off. But we distort Jesus’ meaning so that, taken to extremes, it becomes a catch-all deflection for responsibility for our own wickedness: “Hey, you messed up.” Response: “Thou shalt not judge.” Response: ““No, you’re being judgmental of my judgmentalism, so you quit it”, & so on… it’s ridiculous. We misinterpret it to mean: you shouldn’t judge anyone. But the truth is, God’s Word is filled with good laws (to protect us & others), but our lives are filled with sin, so when the two meet, there’s a problem. So do we ignore the sin in each others’ lives & the wounds people inflict upon themselves & one another? [Nope.] The key is in 6:37: Notice that Jesus parallels judging & condemning; i.e., He’s talking about the kind of judgmental attitude that usurps His role as the ultimate Judge, that condemns someone as if we have the right to determine whether or not that person is going to Heaven or Hell: “That guy hurt me; I hope he burns.” Don’t do that. And we don’t get rid of discerning “right & wrong”; we get rid of self-righteous arrogant religion that condemns people & has no love or hope for them. People do sin; it is self-destructive & other-destructive; so instead of judging to condemn, Jesus teaches us [still in 6:37] that we are to unmask & point out someone’s sin… to “judge” to forgive. In order to genuinely forgive someone, you have to honestly discern & judge what they did (or failed to do) as sin. We’re taught by Paul [1 Cor 5:12-13; cf. 6:2-3] that Christians should judge one another’s sin; we have a responsibility to lovingly, humbly, graciously approach people &, out of love, point out sin that is destroying them/others, but not in a condemning way that says: “There’s no hope for you; you’re done, worthless, hell-bound.” And when it comes to those who are not Christians, we shouldn’t expect them to act like Christians; the more important need is for them to meet Jesus rather than behavior modification, which is simply religious effort (in a bad way) to make oneself right with God by your own work, when only Jesus & His work can do that for us. Non-Christians don’t know Jesus, so talk to them about Jesus. For Christians who do belong to Jesus, we have higher expectations of them. For those who believe in Jesus, & know the God of the Bible, we hold them to the standards of the Bible; we judge each other in a discerning way, not a condemning way, not to destroy them (“go to hell”), but to help them see: “Here’s where you’re stuck; I’m here to help. We need to get you out of this wreck; it needs to change, & by God’s grace, it can.”   In judging then forgiving, you’re not ignoring sin done against you, nor condoning it or denying it as if “it’s not a big deal.” It is a big deal; Jesus died for it. [Luke 6:39-42] Jesus gives a parable (story illustration): If you’re judgmental in a condemning & unforgiving way towards someone’s sin, forgetting the fact that you also are sinful (forgiven far more by Jesus for all your secret sinful thoughts/deeds, the sum total of which is like a giant log compared to the nitpick you have against them), then you’re like the blind leading the blind into a pit, i.e., you’re not really helping the other person; your intention is not to help, but to harm. You’re bitter & angry with them when you confront them; you’ve decided to take Jesus’ role & play judge. So you become a blind guide & a hypocrite: You haven’t dealt with your own lumberyard of sin before lovingly confronting someone’s splinter of sin, so in your sinful rage & blindness, you lead both of you down a destructive road. Instead, deal with your own sinfulness first; when you do, you’ll be able to see clearly (instead of skewed by your own sinfulness, emotions & self-righteousness) so that you can judge to forgive, not condemn. What Jesus is really talking about is how forgiven people should forgive. We have asked & received so much forgiveness from God through Jesus for far worse, yet we won’t forgive? The Kingdom ethic recognizes the destructiveness of sin (in our own lives & that of others), the amount of forgiveness we have received, & passes on that blessing of grace into others’ lives for their good & to God’s glory. [Luke 6:43-49] What happens when we are blind to our hypocrisy & don’t deal with ourselves/our sin is that we show what’s really inside us: Our angry words of condemnation are the bad fruit produced from & reflecting the true state of our heart: our own wickedness & evil. But one who is able to repent of your own sin, judge accurately another’s sin & forgive… that kind of good fruit reflects the true citizen of God’s Kingdom, someone who is rooted firmly in Christ & produces fruit in line with Him. If we’re willing to build ourselves & our lives on the rock of Jesus, we aren’t simply modified or improved… we’re regenerated from the foundation up, from the roots up, from the inside out. Tying into last Sunday’s message, no matter what the circumstances, no matter how rich/poor, comfortable/uncomfortable, happy/wounded, publicly accepted or rejected, no matter how much someone abuses or wounds or sins against us, your life & heart will stand firm when the foundation is built on King Jesus & His Kingdom.  Hard lessons that I'm learning right along with you, friend.  :) Reflection Questions: (1) What is the goal of someone who is always being critical? How have we been critical of one another? (2) Who do you need to forgive? If you don’t forgive, you’ll become a bitter hypocrite. Bitterness is always the fruit of unforgiveness. Hypocrisy is what happens when we want God to forgive us, but we’re not willing to forgive others. It only takes one person to repent, one person to forgive, and two to reconcile. But you can forgive whether or not the other person ever repents, apologizes or changes. (3) What kind of fruit has your life produced? What fruit comes out of you when people wound you (whether accidentally and/or sinfully)? What excuses have you used to justify sin & rebellion? (4) What would building your house on the rock of Jesus & His Kingdom look like in your life? What areas of your life need renovation? What have you built on shifting sand & circumstances rather than Jesus?  Consider areas of wealth, comfort, happiness, power, acceptance, recognition, or even hurts from other believers that affect how you feel about life when these things go up or down. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Quit Ruining My Day Off [Luke 6:1-11] [ December 7th, 2010 • 3:33pm ] [ mood | inspired ] Last Sunday, we had a guest speaker, so to keep you resonating with Jesus through Luke, I’m challenging you to read the next passage on your own: Luke 6:1-11.  Ever feel guilty taking a day off? How would you feel if people imposed a lot of regulations & stipulations about how to spend it? The passage we’re reading records 2 events that reflect the same issue: What does it mean to honor God in Sabbath rest? God modeled a Sabbath (Genesis 1:2) by working 6 days to create the universe & life, and then rested on the 7th day, not because He’s a wimpy God who gets tired, but because He’s setting a precedent for how we should do life. We know this because He instructs people (Exodus 20:8): I worked 6 days, rested on the 7th; you work 6 days, take the 7th off. That’s a good idea; thanks, God. He wants us to rest, enjoy our friends, family & community, & enjoy worshiping Him. Sabbath gives everyone a day off; it gave slaves a day off, the poor a day off, the land & animals a day off.  And then the religious people come: We need to put together a rule book for this. A rule book for your day off? Yes, then you need to memorize the rules, obey them, or else be disciplined if you don’t, & there may be some more added later; we’ll let you know. Sabbath is supposed to be a good thing, but religious people took it & made it into a hard thing, by adding all these extraneous rules around it so that it wasn’t even fun anymore. The whole point was that it was supposed to be a day off, but they made it into a lot of work, so that people actually had a religious to-do list & job description for their day off: I was going to take a nap, but now I have to figure out whether or not I’m obeying the nap rules for the day off.  Let's see how Jesus feels about this: [Luke 6:1-2] So Jesus is walking through someone else’s grain field on a Saturday (Sabbath Day), & they pick a handful of grain, rub off the chaff & eat it, because they’re hungry.  According to Deuteronomy (Old Testament law from God), there’s a provision that if you walk through someone’s field & you’re hungry, as long as you don’t pull out your harvesting equipment & rob them blind, you could pick a little bit of food & eat it to feed yourself. It’s a generosity provision for the hungry, so Jesus & His buddies aren’t disobeying the law here. But according to the religious people, you’re not supposed to prepare a meal on the Sabbath (you have to do it the day before).   It’s a made-up rule, because the Bible only says: Don’t work on the Sabbath (as a way of honoring God). But religious people came along, put together an addendum (a multiple-point checklist for what constitutes the Hebrew word for “work”). They’re peeping at Jesus (not hanging out with Him, but weirdly following Him around to “catch” Him screwing up), & A-ha! He’s broken some of their man-made rules: He’s technically reaping, threshing, winnowing & preparing food. So they pop up in the grain field & start accusing. Apparently, it’s okay to hassle God on the Sabbath, but it’s not okay to make a sandwich: “Why are You doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” [Luke 6:3-5] Jesus basically responds like this: “You guys have a lot of rules, but your rules don’t agree with the Bible, so you’re in a terrible dilemma. Do you keep your rules & disobey the Bible, or do you keep the Bible & repent of your rules? What're you gonna do?” Using a historical example from King David, Jesus responds with reductio ad absurdum, where you take your opponent’s position as if it were true, & then take it to its logical conclusion, showing how ridiculous it is (because religion is ridiculous): You’ve got a rule that people can never make a meal on the Sabbath, or eat anything that’s not prepared beforehand.  Instead of arguing with your goofy list, let’s look at the book God wrote: Remember in 1 Samuel 21 when Saul was king, went cuckoo & started chucking spears at his servant David (who was chosen by God to be Saul’s successor as the next king)? Dave & his soldier-buddies run for their lives, show up at the tabernacle, go up to the priest, & tell him: ‘Hey, we’re starving to death & we’re out of provisions, running for our lives; do you have anything to eat?’ The priest says: ‘We don’t have any regular food, only the bread of the Presence' (12 loaves, placed on the altar every Sabbath to show that God provides & that we depend on Him). People aren’t allowed to eat that bread, except when it’s taken off the altar after a week, but the priests could eat it because they were holy men of God. So the priest asks: ‘Are you holy men, or not? Are you the kind of soldiers that run around sleeping with all kinds of women, or have you kept your hands pure & to yourself?’ Dave’s response: ‘Me & my men love the Lord. We haven’t been messing around with women. We’re not unclean, sinful & godless, like many soldiers. We’re godly men, serving the Lord. We’re just hungry.’ So the priest takes the bread of the Presence, gives it to Dave & company, and they have a nice lunch. Question to the religious folks: Did they sin in eating the bread? Did the priest sin in giving it to them? Answer: No & no, unless you want to argue with God & His Word that your rules are better than His.  See, legalism makes you unbiblical, when you take it out to its logical, ridiculous conclusions. And Jesus proclaims: “As the Son of Man (a claim to divinity from Daniel 7:13-14), I’m greater than David, & my men are greater than his; the priest allowed them to eat the holy bread on the Sabbath, so surely we can pick a few heads of grain & make a bite to eat on the Sabbath, don't you think? We’re not dishonoring or sinning against My Father. We do abide by the Sabbath law, but our God loves mercy, cares for people, & we’re hungry, so it’s okay to eat.” Religious people become unbiblical people, because they make rules outside of the Bible, enforce their rules, and then trap themselves when they have to start disagreeing or rewriting parts of the Bible to conform to their rules. [Luke 6:6-11] Legalism not only makes you unbiblical, it makes you unloving, as we discover in another Sabbath day confrontation. Since the Bible said: “No work on the Sabbath,” religious people made up a long list of rules about how that plays out, e.g., you’re only allowed to do emergency medical care (as defined by them, not God) on the Sabbath. So this guy walks in with a withered right hand, a condition not on their “emergency care” list.  Most people are right-handed so odds are this is the hand he really needs. He wants to be healed, & the religious people decide this isn’t urgent (come back another day), which is very unloving because it probably seems fairly urgent to this guy. So Jesus has a decision: Will He heal this man publicly in front of the Scribes & Pharisees, knowing that this will be their opportunity to jump on Him? Or does He cave into fear of man & say: I’ll do it tomorrow, privately, so I don’t get criticized? He steps forth, looks them all in the eye, & tells the dude: If you think I can heal you, raise your hand (requiring an act of faith on the man’s part). So he does, & he’s healed. And the religious people are furious because Jesus isn’t playing by their rules: “You can’t heal him! That’s work, & today’s the wrong day, so we’re not happy with You.” Tragic. Religion. The guy just raised his hand for Jesus to heal; doesn’t seem like a ton of work to me.  It probably took more work to criticize Jesus than it did to heal the dude; that’s what religious people are like. They pervert the letter of the Law, while Jesus lives out the spirit of the Law, in rest, in worship, & in loving on this wounded man. It’s easy to get so caught up in rules that you forget to love on people who need it, whom God loves. History lesson: Sabbath used to be celebrated on Saturdays, & then Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday, so the church started worshiping on Sundays as “the Lord’s Day.”  When Roman emperor Constantine allegedly became a Christian in the early 300s, he declared Sundays the new Sabbath. Americans couldn’t decide between the two, so we took both, which is why you benefit from a two-day weekend (I’m not kidding). That’s why Paul basically says in the New Testament: Take your Sabbath day; you really need it. It’s a gift from God, but don’t let anyone judge you based on what day you take off (Col 2:16-17). The principle: Get a day off, rest from your labor, enjoy God & people… yes enjoy your work during the week, but also enjoy worshiping God, & enjoy your friends, your family, your neighbors, your community, practice hospitality, & take a nap, because the sovereign God of the universe has still got it under control, even if you take a day off.  God wants us to grow in rest, and love, and relationship with Him & His people. And religious people come & make a whole bunch of rules that God never put in the Bible, turning delights & freedom into duty & drudgery.  So the answer is not to be a legalist nor a lawless grace-abuser (the other extreme), but the whole point (what the Pharisees & Scribes missed) is that the Sabbath is a day to stop working, and rest in the finished work of Jesus… to stop trying to impress God, and start enjoying Him; to stop doing things for Him, & acknowledge what He’s done for you. Religion & irreligion, legalism & lawlessness, all are just trying to find a way to be righteous in the sight of God (or yourself) by what you do or don’t do. And the truth is Jesus is the only righteous one who lived the perfect life. He died a substitutionary death, & He rose to give the gift of His righteousness to you. So on the Sabbath day, we stop trying to be more righteous, & we receive the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath; that’s what they missed. So those of you who are legalists, repent of your legalism & religion. Those of you who are lawless, repent of your lawlessness & irreligion. Those of you who are unloving, repent of your selfishness.  And all of us, come to Jesus to receive His death for our sin, His righteousness for our unrighteousness. Let Him do a work for us & in us, so that by grace He might do work through us, which doesn’t contribute to our righteousness, but would be an overflow of His gift to us. And go take a nap, guilt-free, alright? Reflection Questions: (1) How are you legalistic when it comes to rest? Do you require (for yourself or others) completion of a to-do list on your day off in order to “earn” rest? Do you feel guilty when things are left undone on your “to-do” list? Are you critical of how others spend time recharging & recovering (even if they’re not engaged in sinful behavior)? What would it look like for you to trust God with your work & productivity, that He would maximize 6 days of work to be more fruitful & productive than 7 days of labor by your own effort? Spend some time praying & repenting of any religion you impose on yourself or others that robs you/them of God’s gift of Sabbath. (2) How are you unloving on your day off? OK, you’re good at not being bound by rules on your Sabbath, but do you take that to its opposite extreme, & refuse to do anything for anyone on your day off? How might that be another form of legalism? Do you ignore enjoying God (in thankfulness & worship) & ignore enjoying people on your day off? Do you refuse to help someone in need because “it’s my day off”? It’s easy for us to legalistically turn Sabbath into a completely egocentric form of selfishness.  Spend some time praying & repenting of any legalistic & selfish attitudes where you refuse to connect in love with God & people on your Sabbath. (3) How do you need to enjoy your Sabbath this week? Think of at least one way you’re committed to enjoying God, enjoying people, & enjoying rest this weekend. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

First Choice [Luke 5:27-39] [ December 1st, 2010 • 5:19pm ] [ mood | tired ] Last Sunday, we studied Luke 5:12-26, where Jesus reveals He is able to heal, cleanse & forgive people’s sins, and how that has very little to do with man-made religion; listen to: “Forgiveness Has Come” (Nov 28, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. This week, we’ll continue by reading and reflecting on the next passage on your own: Luke 5:27-39. Go read! You ever play games or sports in elementary school, where kids have captains to select teams? Ever dread being the last one picked? There were a lot of people in Jesus’ day that would be considered “last picks.” The society was very stratified, sometimes along socio-economic lines, but particularly in Jewish culture around religious lines. And by “religious”, I mean that false faith of following man-made rules to earn God’s favor & save ourselves rather than relying on the complete grace of God through Jesus to cleanse us, make us right with God, and save us. So Jesus was ministering to all kinds of people that “religious” folk (the Scribes & Pharisees) consider “unclean”: Got a disease? Must be cursed by God; don’t touch me. Wrecked your life through sinful behavior? You’re definitely unclean; get away from me. And what Jesus does is, He touches & cleanses lepers, He heals & forgives guilty sinners… all the ones that religious people despise & avoid. He continues the trend by crossing the street to an IRS center to approach a fellow named Levi, from another socially-despised group: Tax collectors. Jesus just rubs religious people the wrong way, but not out of spite… He genuinely loves, accepts, welcomes outsiders & outcasts. Tax collectors were very disliked back then (just like today), particularly because they collect tolls & taxes for the “enemy”, the Roman government that is ruling over the Jewish people. He would have had to bid for the position in that area, & the highest bidder would get the job, which means the only way for him to make his money back would be to over-tax people. And to make a profit, he’d have to go beyond that & squeeze people for a little bit more. And (here’s the kicker), Levi is also Jewish; he is corruptly ripping off his own people to fund a godless, overbearing government that has conquered them. You might get rich, but you’re probably not going to win many popularity contests that way, my friend. You might need to get an unlisted address & phone number if everyone thinks of you as a traitor. [Luke 5:27-28] So Jesus actually seeks out Levi, who's sitting there alone & despised at the tax booth.  And Jesus does this weird thing: He extends the same invitation to this hated man, as He did to Simon, James & John (cf. Luke 4:10-11). Essentially, Jesus is telling him: You’re not the odd-man-out; I choose you to be on My team; you’re one of My first choices. Levi’s heard the rumblings of this man who preaches powerfully and heals miraculously; he might’ve even been sitting across the street while Jesus was healing the paralytic man.   And he responds the same way as the fishermen: Leaving everything, he rose & followed Him. Levi wasn’t even looking for Jesus; Jesus came & found him, because Jesus not only forgives sinners, He befriends sinners. And as he’s invited to follow Jesus, Levi walks away from his crooked job & dishonest source of income. Sometimes, becoming a Christian requires walking away from a sinful, corrupt lifestyle, in order to faithfully follow & serve Jesus… and you can’t just ease out of it; you’ve got to immediately walk away from it. [Luke 5:29] You can see the dramatic change in his heart from encountering, being loved & accepted by Jesus because Levi immediately invites all of his friends over to his house to meet Him. As soon as he meets Jesus, he wants other people to meet Him too, so he throws a huge party; that’s his ministry. And he goes to great expense to provide a large feast so that people can enjoy themselves & meet Jesus; Levi goes from being a very greedy man to being a very generous one. There’s a lesson there for us, isn’t there? When we practice hospitality by opening up our homes & lives, we show people something of the gospel by inviting them in for friendship, love, community & conversation. [Luke 5:30-32] So now, the religious folk are a little up in arms, annoyed that Jesus doesn’t keep religious rules about avoiding mixing with sinners like tax collectors. See, Jesus pursued Levi; Levi followed Jesus. Then Levi goes out to his associates & gets all sorts of undesirables, social misfits & outcasts to hang out with Jesus too. Religious folk had a very elaborate system, where highly-educated, well-respected, seminarian-type Scribes create rules & theology in addition to the Bible; they are the religious teachers. They have a select following of working-class, not-as-educated Pharisees who have to pay enough money, serve the scribe well, study real hard, follow all of the scribe’s ways, not forget any of his rules, & live really strictly & obediently to the scribe in order for God to embrace them. Then, they’d go out & teach the same corrupt religion to everyone else. But it was a great honor to be accepted by a respected scribe; you & your family would be allowed to join with other families in the closed community of Pharisees, and maybe even eat with the scribe.  Jesus is seen as a rabbi (religious leader / teacher, like a scribe), whose ministry is exploding with crowds like a rock star, who could’ve selected the cream of the crop to form an amazing school of Pharisees from the wealthiest, smartest, most ambitious kids, who could've charged a massive Pharisee application fee to study under Him & to buy a dream house & vacation home, who probably has tons of religious folk interested in marketing him as the guy who can preach powerfully, heal sick people, cast out demons, cure lepers, restore paralytics. And who does Jesus pick to be His disciple, in front of everybody, especially the religious folk? This very unlikely guy… Levi, a despised tax collector. The Scribes & Pharisees are watching, & they don’t get it, so they ask “Why are You with the sinners?” (i.e., we’re not sinners; they are). And Jesus looks at them & responds:  You say they’re sinners; know what? I agree. They have lot of sin in their lives. The question is: What are we going to do about it? Create a nice little holy huddle, have church & Bible study just for Christians, do life together & create a mini-Kingdom just for Christians, or are we going to go to them (instead of expecting them to come to us), like I went to Levi & to this party, to love them, serve them, help them & heal them, because here’s the deal: They’re sick, but I’m the doctor. Jesus is the great physician; He hangs out with sick sinners to save us & make us better. He forgives sin, changes lives… and religious people need Him too, but they often don’t see it. The truth is, we’re all sinners by nature & by choice; we’re all sick with sin; we all need a Great Physician. And we can’t just look at sin in other’s lives like religious people do: “Over there is all the sick people; we need to quarantine ourselves from them.” Instead, we need to say: “I’m also sick; maybe in a different way. She’s addicted to alcohol; I’m addicted to self-righteousness. He’s addicted to porn; I’m addicted to judging everyone, declaring in my mind who’s in or out of the Kingdom of God.” We’re all sick with sin; it’s just the flavor that varies. The rest of the passage [Luke 5:33-39], Jesus basically tells the religious folk that they misunderstand God’s Word & commands; they misapply it as religious rules instead of grasping that the King & Kingdom have arrived. He provides a symbolic story about why the old ways -- their religious ways -- won’t cut it anymore, because the new has come through Jesus. All their study & training, and they still don’t get it, but Levi will. In fact, Levi goes by another name: Matthew (cf. Matthew 9:9-13). He becomes one of the 12 primary disciples / apostles (along with Peter, James, John, etc) that follow Jesus, lay down their lives for Him, build the Church, and spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. From greedy, despised, tax-collecting “sinner” to generous, sacrificial, loving minister of good news. It’s amazing how God can take people perceived as “last picks” and transform them into His first choice instruments to accomplish His will & goodness for mankind. Reflection Questions: (1) Have you ever felt like last choice with people? Do you know that you’re first choice with God? It’s often easy to fall into the trap of measuring our self-worth through the eyes of others. Instead of being judged through the unstable lens of wildly-varying opinions of imperfect people with volatile emotions, the only solution is to turn toward an objective standard of value & worth that doesn’t change. Do you know that you’re first choice with God? Why or why not?  Read Romans 5:8 and reflect on how that reveals you are God's first choice. (2) Do you intentionally practice hospitality with those who don’t know Jesus? How do you treat “tax collectors” & outcasts in your life? Do you avoid them?  Do you invite people who don’t know Jesus into community with you? Do you invite them into your home & into your life? Who are some people in your life who would feel far more comfortable in your house than in the church… that you might intentionally invite over to bless? Don’t just think about it; do it! (3) Where are you prone toward religious thinking & self-righteousness? Does your response to the gospel in your daily life look more like Levi or the Pharisees? What do you need to repent of, in order to humble yourself before the Great Physician (Jesus)? 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Touched [Luke 5:12-16] [ November 23rd, 2010 • 4:40pm ] [ mood | uncomfortable ] Last Sunday, we studied Luke 4:41-5:11, where Jesus models for us a lifestyle of faith: poured out in ministry, being refreshed through solitude with His Father, & calling other people to join Him in pouring out their lives in ministry with Him; listen to: “Are You All In?” (Nov 21, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm.  This week, we’ll continue by reading and reflecting on the next passage on your own: Luke 5:12-16. Ever have someone you care about face a debilitating disease? Leprosy is a horrendous, painful skin condition caused by a specific kind of bacteria that first infects the nasal mucosa. It starts with red, open sores that erupt on the skin, causing intense pain & discomfort. Over time, it leads to serious nerve damage, which becomes a serious problem if you can’t feel it when you burn yourself while cooking or injure yourself while working. As a result, people living many years with this condition might horrifically cut a hand or foot, and end up losing appendages over time due to severely damaging numb, desensitized body parts. To make matters worse, there was a huge social stigma associated with the disease so when lepers needed compassion & kindness, they didn’t receive it. There were some people in the Bible (like King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:16-23) who were stricken with leprosy as God’s judgment for sin, but not every leper suffered because of a particular sin in their life. But some religious people who were cruel, judgmental & unloving would proclaim that all lepers must be cursed of God and beyond mercy or hope, which made their lives even more lonely. Imagine if you, or someone you love, seemed healthy, then one day you spot a rash developing on an arm that begins to spread. You’d be quarantined quickly for health purposes; you wouldn’t be allowed to live in the city or be part of the community anymore. You couldn’t go to the store, worship with God’s people, have meals with friends, travel freely; you’d have to live “outside the camp”, in exile. Since leprosy can be passed through sneezing, no one would want to be anywhere near you.  You couldn’t hold a normal job (since you’re not allowed to be around other people), so you’d have to resort to begging. Friends & family could drop off money, food & supplies in a “safe spot”, but you’d have to come alone, later, to pick them up; no contact allowed. Leviticus 13:45-46 describes: “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face & cry out, ‘unclean, unclean!’ as long as he has the infection, he remains unclean. He must live alone.” It was isolation, a living death… it was the AIDS, Ebola, West Nile virus, bubonic plague of its day. And it consumed your identity, because any time you were near people, as you approach, you’d have to shout: “unclean, unclean!”, and women & children would scream, and everyone would run. That’s your identity; that’s who you are to them, a leper. People would even throw rocks at lepers to drive them away. Imagine not only the physical deterioration, but the emotional devastation that accompanies leprosy [Luke 5:12] Jesus has come on the scene, and He is at the top of His game – preaching powerfully, healing the sick, casting out demons – and he’s at the top of the charts – crowds are amazed by Him, following Him everywhere to see what’s going to happen next; He’s bigger than the Beatles… & Jesus invited some fishermen to come join Him in catching people for the Kingdom of God instead of fish, when this social outcast shows up. Dr. Luke diagnoses him as not simply a guy in the initial stages of the disease: “there came a man full of leprosy” – covered in open sores & visible bodily deterioration, possibly missing fingers & toes. And when the fellow sees Jesus, “he fell on his face” in complete humility & desperation, “and begged Him” in his hopeless (apart from the grace of God) condition. You can hear the quiver in his voice, & see the tears in his eyes: “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” He recognizes that Jesus Christ is Lord. And in this humble request & prayer of faith, he’s saying: “I worship you as Lord. You can do whatever You want, but because You are kind & loving, I’m making my request to You.” [Luke 5:13] The crowd’s probably irate; this unclean man dares to come into the midst of the throngs of people & expose us to him? The religious leaders made up a rule (not in the Bible), that you cannot touch someone with leprosy, or else that makes you also ceremonially, ritually, religiously unclean. They could quickly turn into a mob that kicks him in his leprous face as he kneels, face down in the dirt, literally to kill him or drive him out of town. What is Jesus’ response?  “Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him.” Amazing. How long do you think it’s been since anyone has touched this man “full of leprosy”, in his advanced condition of deterioration & isolation?  Years?  Decades?  People would run from him, not walk toward him; the greatest fear people had around him was touching him. Yet Jesus touches him. He’s God, come to earth, and he doesn’t look at this man & simply say the words from a distance: “Be clean.” He could have; He’ll do just that in other circumstances of healing. In the middle of this swelling crowd of people (cf. Matt 8:1), in front of His first batch of disciples who He’s training to do ministry to serve God & people, before all the religious leaders & fans, Jesus stops teaching, stops answering questions, and for this moment, devotes all of His attention to this desperate, devastated, outcast of a man. Through a simple act of touch, Jesus shows all these people: “I love him; I’m identifying myself with him.” Jesus is willing, & immediately the fellow’s skin is healed.  [Luke 5:14] He then instructs the guy to go to the priest & make an offering, based on Biblical instruction in Leviticus 14:2-32; Jesus ignores all the goofy, made-up religious rules that aren’t in the Bible, but obeys everything in Scriptures. So the guy would have to make an appointment & go meet with a priest (a spiritual leader & mediator between God & people) outside the city / camp, to verify his healing. So here’s the process: After being examined & declared healed from leprosy by a priest, they’d take 2 birds (one for sacrifice, one to be set free) in a ceremony done over a bowl of clean water, showing that it’s God (by His grace) that cleanses. It’s very much like Yom Kippur [listen to “Family Traditions” (Oct 10, 2010) for more info on the Day of Atonement], where an act of worship & sacrifice symbolizes that you’re forgiven by God & that your sins are taken away. So the person would have to bathe (since they hadn’t bathed in a long time) & have their entire body shaved (since they were unkempt) so that they’d be like a baby, born again, given a brand-new life by God… kind of like when you become a Christian. And finally, he would be welcomed back into the community. Imagine, if he was married, not having seen his wife or held her hand for years… or if he was a dad, not being able to see his kids grow up… or not having dinner at anyone’s home, being hugged, invited to parties, etc… for years. They’d have a week-long party, celebrating, telling the story of God’s grace, & catching up. His whole identity has changed, & he will party for a week, because that’s the result of a right understanding of the work of Jesus in his life. He has a new identity as a clean person. Yes, that healing is amazing, but let’s not miss the complete picture of what’s happening here; sometimes God uses physical healing to teach a spiritual truth. In Isaiah 1:4-6, God describes our condition of sin as being like leprosy: People are sinful; it makes us filthy & unclean… like a leper. Sin is a deep, incurable condition that deadens your spiritual nerves & separates you from real community & God; sin moves you outside His proverbial camp, & it ultimately leads to death. And God reveals that we’re sinners by nature & by choice, so because of our sin, we’re in the same position as the leper, spiritually-speaking. And deep-down, you recognize this is true. You’ve done filthy, dirty, nasty, vile things; you should be walking around shouting: “unclean, unclean!”… or you’ve had horrible, disgusting, vile things done to you, and you feel like your identity is unclean, unclean. But the truth is, Jesus puts His hand on us too, and cleanses us, just like this leper. Unlike those who’ve wounded us, Jesus reaches out to touch us in a safe way, in a loving way, in a comforting way, in a healing way. In Christ, you can be clean; in Christ, you are clean. In touching this man, Jesus takes his filth away; He gives his dignity back; the man gets a brand-new identity to go live a new life, as if he was reborn. That’s what Jesus gives; and He does it for us too. The Savior King & Lord God has come. He heals, cleanses, gives dignity & new identity… and He doesn’t do it from a distance. He does it with a loving, personal touch, no matter how unclean we are. Reflection Questions: (1) Have you ever felt like a leper? When was a time that people treated you as an outsider? How did it feel? How did it hurt? Who reached out to you during your time of isolation? How did that show you what Jesus is like, how He is reaching out to touch you in safety, comfort, love, healing & redemption? (2) Are there people you’ve rejected as lepers? Who do you reject with your words, actions, attitude, avoidance? Who do you look at and internally scrutinize, get annoyed at, judge as dirty, filthy or someone you’d rather not associate with? Who do you avoid so you won’t be “contaminated” by their sinfulness or baggage, so you won’t be annoyed by their neediness or quirks? (3) What spiritual leprosy do you need Jesus to cleanse in your life? We’re all sinful by nature & by choice. How do you need Jesus to make you clean? What sins do you need to repent from… including if you’ve rejected other fellow “lepers”? What leprous old identity do you need to surrender so Jesus can give you a new identity as clean in Him? 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

With Authority [Luke 4:31-41] [ November 17th, 2010 • 4:06pm ] [ mood | determined ] Last week, we reflected on Luke 4:21-30, where Jesus inaugurates His ministry, proclaiming the coming of the King & Kingdom, a time of fresh starts for all who will follow Him. His hometown friends & family reject that, so He goes to those who will listen; read and reflect on the next passage on your own: Luke 4:31-41. [Luke 4:31-32] So Jesus leaves His hometown (Nazareth), never to return, it seems… and heads off to the town of Capernaum, where people had been receptive to His ministry & preaching (Luke 4:23; cf. 4:14-15). He goes to their weekly worship service [4:33] & encounters a man demonized by an unclean demon. This fallen angel has a better theology about Jesus than most people today, recognizing Him as the anointed King (Messiah/Christ)… the “Holy One of God” [4:34]. Apart from Satan, here is the first demonic being we encounter in Luke, and there will be plenty more… it is a spiritual being, not a ghost, originally designed to serve & worship God, but who joined in on Satan’s arrogant little attempt at a coup to set himself up as god, and discovered to their eternal condemnation, that they were like 1-year olds trying to play ball against Michael Jordan in his prime; just so you know, that’s what it’s like trying to overthrow God. But they are powerful & there’s a multitude of them. And if you think you can fly under the radar, here’s a reality check for you too: Clinton Arnold (a New Testament scholar on demons) writes, “A servant of Christ can no more avoid demons than a gardener can avoid weeds.” If you’re going to love, follow & serve Jesus, you will meet demons. These fallen angels serve Satan, a once-proud, mighty angel, also fallen in his rebellious arrogance. He is not equal & opposite of God, but their number is great, and they use temptations of all kinds to play on our sinful tendencies & proclivities. Satan is very smart, & his servants very clever & scheming, but 2 Corinthians 2:11 reminds us that we won’t be outwitted by him when we’re not ignorant of his designs & schemes, i.e., know your enemy. For more info about Satan & demons, read Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Genesis 3, & Ephesians 6. You need to understand him & how he works, otherwise you won’t be able to withstand his assaults & temptations, & he will stab you through your weaknesses. His 4-D methodology: He uses lies & temptations to deceive you, create division amongst you, distractions from listening to & following God, all toward the goal of your destruction. [4:35-37] In that day, there were rabbis who’d try to deal with demons, but it went really bad really fast because they didn’t know what they were doing… they might try out weird incantations, rituals & formulas, and end up like the dorks in Acts 19:14-16 who got laughed at by demons, their clothes ripped off & the tar beat out of them. But Jesus just shows up with complete divine authority & says: “Be quiet; take a hike.” And the people are stunned & amazed that He has such authority & power over these spiritual beings. Jesus doesn’t allow it to speak about Him because it is not its right or place to announce the coming of the King & Savior. So what happened to this poor guy, that he would end up plagued by a demon? How might this happen to us? Jesus later describes in Luke 11 (cf. Matt 12, Mark 3), how your life & body are like a house; you live in it. If you leave all the doors & windows open, & invite all the wrong people over, what happens? They move in, trash the place, do horrible things, torment the original resident, destroy the house & take it over; they take over your life. And we open the doors & windows to that type of influence through sin (unrepented, habitual) and dabbling in false spirituality not of Jesus (e.g., religion, demonism, etc). So if you get involved in the occult, witchcraft, foolishness, drunkenness, lies, gossip (especially in the family of Christ), sexual immorality, all these kinds of things, you’ve opened all the windows, taken the doors off the hinges & invited unclean things in… and it will go really bad for you. Now, if you’re a Christian, they cannot “inhabit” your house, because the Holy Spirit resides in you; God is Master of the house [Eph 1:13-14; 1 John 4:4]. But through sin, rebellion & foolishness, you can quench the Spirit’s presence [1 Thess 5:19-22], giving demons a foothold to torment you. And if you’re not a Christian, even if you’re a nice, “spiritual”, moral, decent person, your house does not belong to God; it belongs to Satan, who tricks you into believing you’re wonderful because he loves pride, & as long as you’re happy being on his team, he won’t bother disrupting anything in your life… at first. So he owns you & then possesses you. He gets you to buy into lies of destructive sin, & then escalates into torment, which can include physical harm & supernatural torture & deception (hearing voices, misleading dreams/visions, false angels/miracles, self-destructive thoughts); he starts to direct you down paths that lead to devastation, because really he hates you (because God loves you), & his work always leads to death. Ultimately, Satan is not only a liar, but also a murderer (Jesus says in John 8:44). But Jesus comes, and He has unparalleled, unequaled authority that even demons must obey. [Luke 4:38-41] Jesus also shows us another aspect of His authority.  After this intense time of ministry at church, right after the worship service, Jesus drops by one of the church members’ home (Simon, more on him later) to take a breather [4:38-39]. Instead, He’s drawn into more ministry as He discovers this simple fisherman has a mother-in-law (which means that Simon Peter was indeed married) who is deathly ill. Luke the physician records that she suffered from a high fever, the kind they can’t seem to get to break, the kind that can kill you. And Jesus comes along, prays over her & commands the sickness to leave (as He did the demon), to vacate the premises (so to speak). And it does. Jesus reveals that He has authority over both demons & sickness. And He still has that kind of authority & power today. Some of us who follow Jesus get healed in this life (as we pray for each other; we pray, God heals), and all of God’s children ultimately get healed when Jesus returns with the resurrection of the dead, where there’s no more sickness, sin, death, pain or tears. Our God is a healing God.  [4:40-41] These weren’t one-time occurrences, we're shown how Jesus continues to exhibit His divine authority as God over diseases & demons. All this is important, because Jesus has officially announced His ministry: the Kingdom of God (as prophesied & described in Isaiah) that will come through the Suffering Servant & Messianic King is here. And He proves it right here, after being rejected by His hometown, His own family, friends, relatives… those who should have known Him. He unveils & unleashes the coming of God’s Kingdom & the dawn of God’s favor & grace on the world through these miraculous acts. The King is here, and He has authority over demons & sickness by the power of the Holy Spirit!  And the great additional truth is that every Christian has that same delegated authority through Jesus (not just pastors or “spiritual giants”). God gives full spiritual authority to all of His children. And we stay humble about it because it’s not our authority, it’s Jesus’ authority. This doesn’t mean you can go out without the Holy Spirit & without the authority of Jesus, arrogantly thinking you’re going to go do some ghost-busting & crack some demon heads. I’m pretty sure you’ll end up like the seven sons of Sceva we mentioned from Acts 19: beaten, bloodied, stripped naked, running for their life. What it does mean is that you & I have the delegated authority of Jesus: If you’re being harassed, you can command demons away from you in Jesus’ name. If you’ve opened up your life to them, you can repent of your sin, ask the Holy Spirit to lock down the windows & doors and command Satan, his servants, their works & effects away from you, in the name & authority of Jesus, and they obey… not because it’s a magic formula, not because we’re powerful, but because Jesus is victorious. Colossians 2:13-15 teach us that Jesus will ultimately go to the cross, suffer & die in our place for our sins, and in so doing, He disarmed the powers, principalities & spirits (i.e., demons). He triumphed over them and canceled any right they have to us. Through our sin, rebellion & folly, we foolishly join Satan in his war against God. But through repentance & faith in Jesus… because of His death, burial & resurrection… our allegiance to Satan is canceled, our freedom in Christ is granted, & God’s enemy becomes our enemy, and Jesus’ authority becomes our authority. And like Jesus speaking the truth of the Word of God, we are also delegated that authority, all of the children of God. If you sense evil at work in your life, yes, the family of Christ can pray for you, & I as a pastor can pray for you… be glad to. But you can & should also pray for yourself. You belong to Jesus; you’re a Christian; the Holy Spirit is in you; you have the same authority that I do.  You do not have to be totally terrified of them. You know they’re real, but so is the resurrection & power of Jesus. [Colossians 2:9-10] “For in Him [Jesus], the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily [Jesus is God, become a man]. And you have been filled in Him, who is the Head of all rule & authority [including powers, principalities, spirits, demons].” Jesus is the highest authority; He is God come to save us, & He fills us that we might have the same Spirit & same authority, His resurrection power & authority over Satan & demons. We believe in Satan & demons, but we don’t magnify them because it’s all about Jesus & the authority is in Jesus. Bottom line: Some of you are not Christians, you belong to Satan. You sense it in a life with cyclical or ongoing torment, confusion & death. Some of you, Satan’s tactic has been to make you wealthy, happy & independent so you have no urgent sense of need for Jesus. Some of you are Christians, you’re not possessed by Satan, but through unrepentant habitual sin, stupidity and false spirituality, you’ve opened all the doors & windows of your life, and invited people & things in that you need to repent of & kick out with the authority of Jesus to lock the door, shut the windows, & be filled with the Holy Spirit and keep your house clean. You fool yourself into thinking you’re the boss over your own life, but the reality is, we all bend our knee to some authority; and if it’s not Jesus that’s Lord of our lives, then it’s sin, the world, self, & ultimately Satan. So what’s it going to be? Who’s going to be lord in your life? Whose authority are you going to trust?  Reflection Questions: (1) How have demons used deception, division, distraction & destruction in your past to divert you away from God? It’s important to know what areas we have been susceptible to the enemy’s assaults in the past, so that we are not caught unaware, flailing our fists at the air uselessly.  Understanding the enemy's strategy against you teaches us how to continue praying for wisdom & strength in specific areas of life with the authority of Jesus & the ongoing power of God’s Spirit at work in you. (2) What doors & windows have you opened for demons into your house & your life? What unrepented sins or habitual sins rule your life? What foolishness, rebellion, occult spirituality or false religion, addictive patterns & behaviors have you exposed yourself to that open yourself up to the influence of demons? Are there any footholds Satan has in your life that are becoming destructive strongholds that you cannot overcome? (3) Who or what has authority in your life? In this passage, we've seen the authority of Jesus as Lord, God & Savior at work in people's lives.  The question is: Who is functional lord in your life? In other words, who do you turn to & trust for help, comfort, satisfaction, guidance... to rescue you, heal you, free you, fulfill you? How does the way you spend your dollars & hours reflect who/what is genuinely lord in your life? Have you ever feared disease or the demonic more than you trust Jesus? That’s also an issue of authority in your life. (4) Take a few minutes to pray.  By His authority, ask Jesus to clean your house. Ask God’s Spirit to search you & reveal anything that you need to confess & repent of.  Ask Jesus to fill you up more & more with His Spirit, who has power to overcome the assaults of the enemy & keep your house clean. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

A Tragic Response [Luke 4:21-30] [ November 10th, 2010 • 12:44pm ] [ mood | excited ] Last Sunday, we explored Luke 4:14-21, where Jesus inaugurates His ministry, proclaiming the coming of the King & Kingdom, in a little, rural church in His back-water hometown; listen to “Fresh Starts Found Here” (Nov 7, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you read and reflect on the next passage on your own: Luke 4:21-30. Imagine meeting Michael Jordan during his historic run to winning his sixth & final NBA championship… or Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron or Babe Ruth during their record-breaking home run seasons… or Albert Einstein in his ground-breaking exploration of the theories of relativity & quantum mechanics. Those would be amazing moments! Question: How would you respond to meeting the greatest person in all of history at the beginning of His life’s work on earth? Flashback: Jesus is about 30 years old, and is unveiled as the Son of God by His Father & the Holy Spirit at His baptism [Luke 3:21-23], then led & filled by that same Spirit to enter solitude in the wilderness to prepare for His mission/ministry, and to face off against Satan, the spiritual enemy who lures people (whom God loves) into captivity & death through sin [Luke 4:1-4:13]. Victorious in this important pre-game battle, Jesus is now empowered by the Spirit to launch His ministry, so He goes on a preaching tour through many little churches around the countryside of the Sea of Galilee, and He’s pretty well-received… hundreds of simple, small-town folk give glory to Him [Luke 4:14-15]. His fame & favor increase, and He wraps up this whirlwind tour at His rural hometown of Nazareth, where He regularly attends worship [Luke 4:16]. He has become an amazing rabbi (a recognized Bible teacher), and is given the high honor of standing to read & preach from the Scriptures. So He reads from Isaiah 61:1-2 & 58:6 (prophecies from 700 years prior to His coming) that proclaim One is coming who will be anointed the Messiah King & Suffering Servant by the Spirit of God to bring good news for those who are physically and spiritually poor, enslaved, blind, oppressed/abused… that a fresh start - the time of God’s jubilee, favor, release, joy & gladness will come. And then, He announces in dramatic fashion: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” [Luke 4:17-21]… this is the Messiah’s mission statement; that day is here, and it’s all about Jesus. So what do the townspeople of Nazareth do with that? How will they respond? They’ve all come to their little, local church for their weekly worship service; they know their hometown boy is quickly gaining renown as a young, fiery, compelling, wise, winsome, authoritative preacher & prophet along the Galilean coast. Their initial response? “Wow, Jesus is amazing; the dude can preach!” But there’s a shift in their attitude: “Wait a minute; isn’t this Joe’s son?” [Luke 4:22]. In other words: “Isn’t Jesus just the son of average Joe, a blue-collar, uneducated carpenter? Isn’t He just a carpenter too, alongside His dad? Didn’t we see Him grow up? Didn’t He play with our kids in little league? Isn’t He just one of the boys who grew up in our little town?” Ultimately, their words/attitudes mean: He speaks well, but we don’t accept His point of view, because we know this guy… Who does He think He is? We know who He really is; He’s just one of us. Who is He to preach at us & call us to repent & act like He’s the big-shot Messiah? It’s like going to your high school reunion… no matter where you’ve been, how much you’ve grown & changed in life, people might not see you as the “grown-up you”; they still see you & measure you through the lens of childhood memories. You may have outgrown braces, pimples, “experimental” hairstyles, social awkwardness, bad hygiene… but sometimes it’s hard for people to see beyond what you were, to what you are. Jesus relates. These hometown friends, family, relatives, neighbors of His… they’re going to have a very hard time receiving Jesus as Lord, God, Savior & King. Anticipating where the crowd’s thoughts are headed, Jesus responds: “You guys are probably about to hit me with the old adage: ‘Physician heal thyself’…” i.e., prove that You’re the Messiah & able to do what You say You can (like a doctor able to treat his/her own ailments)… “you’re going to ask Me to show you some kind of sign like I did in neighboring Capernaum” [Luke 4:23]. Sounds like a reasonable request, right? But here’s how Jesus responds [Luke 4:24-27]: He reminds them how Elijah was sent to miraculously provide for a non-Jewish Sidonian widow outside of Israel in Zarephath [1 Kings 17:8-24], & how Elisha was sent to heal Naaman the non-Jewish Syrian with leprosy [2 Kings 5:1-14]. Read their stories. Question: Were there other widows amongst God’s people that could’ve used help during the famine of Elijah’s time? Yes. Were there other lepers in Israel who could’ve used healing through Elisha (cf. 2 Kings 7:3)? Yes. So why were these “outsiders” given miracles from God rather than the home team? Because both of these foreigners responded to the Word of God (through the prophets) in faith & obedience (even though Naaman did so reluctantly at first). In their little kernel of faith, God responded with miraculous power, & both began believing & worshiping the God of the Bible. Jesus’ point: These outsiders are willing to believe & obey God, but God’s people are often not; in Elijah & Elisha’s day, they were unrepentant, unfaithful, disobedient, defiant… they kept turning away from God to worship Ba’al. And Jesus is saying, you’re just like God’s people in days past & with prophets of old; you are unrepentant, unfaithful, disobedient toward God, rejecting your hometown prophets… so My Father sends Me, His Son, Christ & Prophet, elsewhere. He’s calling all these religious people, who got up early to come to church that morning, who think of themselves as decent, moral, upright people, as sinful as their forefathers who rejected God & His prophets in days of old. Here’s the tragedy [Luke 4:28-30]: They could’ve allowed the conviction of God’s Spirit to humble them; they could have responded in obedience to God’s Word, repentance for their sin, & acceptance of Jesus as Messiah. “Yes, You’re right Jesus; we are sinful. We want good news in our lives. We repent & turn back to God through You as the Messiah King who brings good news.” Instead, the tone in the room got ugly at this point; people don’t like having their failures, faults, flaws & shortcomings pointed out. And they decided to kill Jesus, just like God’s people used to do to prophets of old. So they reject Him, and bum-rush Him out the door, drive Him to the outskirts of town, preparing to toss Him off a cliff. He escapes (miraculously or otherwise), as it’s not His time to die yet. But this is tragic. Question: Is there any record of Jesus ever returning to Nazareth? None; He’s gone; they’re done. He’s a prophet without honor in His own hometown, even to this day. Nazareth could’ve been the headquarters of Jesus’ worldwide ministry, and participated in God’s great redemption plan for all history & mankind, but they rejected Him, unwilling to humble themselves, repent & accept Him as Lord. They didn’t kill Jesus on this occasion, but eventually they did. And we did too; all our sins were hate crimes against Him that reject & murder Him too. And you know how He responds? He loves us; He’s good to the end.  He takes all our sin upon His sinless self & died to forgive us. It’s amazing, and it’s good news. If you’re like me, you might read the people of Nazareth’s response & scoff, thinking: I’d respond differently than these ignorant folks if I met Jesus at the dawn of His Kingdom & ministry. Would you? Here’s some questions for you to ponder… Reflection Questions: (1) Have you ever rejected Jesus out of false familiarity? He says He’s Lord, God, Savior, King & Prophet. But they said: “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” i.e., didn’t we see Him grow up? We know who He is, & it’s not those things He claims. For us, you can grow up in church, hear a lot of Bible stories, go to a Christian school, have Christian family & friends, even go to a Bible college… and feel like you’ve got the whole picture about Jesus, yet reject Him & replace Him with all kinds of weird, funky “insights” about spirituality. You think you know Him, but He has become just a bunch of tedious religious rules & regulations to you, or (just as bad) you’ve added all sorts of unbiblical, false teachings about what it means to know & follow Jesus (made up by other crazy religious people or you trying to force Jesus to conform to your own skewed box). Do you really know & enjoy the real Jesus, as He’s historically depicted in the accurate biography of the Bible? Here’s another symptom of false familiarity: When people “don’t feel like” going to church, because “I’ve heard all that already.” It’s like me saying, I don’t feel like hanging out with my wife or being involved in her life because I already know everything there is to know about her: false familiarity (Pro-tip for the young & single, or young & newly-married: Be a student of your spouse; study & discover new things about them all the time for your entire lifetime together). But when people really meet Jesus, read His Word & meet with His people… when we really know Him & follow Him, we get fired up about being in relationship with Him because it’s GOOD NEWS, it is the most amazing truth & life for anybody & everybody in the history of the world. We don’t get bored with Him or take Him for granted because every day is a new adventure of discovering & knowing & loving & experiencing Him and His goodness and faithfulness more & more. (2) Have you ever rejected Jesus because He wouldn’t give you what you want? Have you ever played this game: “Jesus, if You’re really God, show me ____. Or if You really love me, You’ll give me _____. Or, if You’re really good, then You’ll do _____ for me.” It’s that same mentality as the hometown folk of Nazareth: I’m going to test You; prove that You’re God. Here’s the problem: It’s a rebellious stance that expects God to bow to what you arrogantly dictate (setting yourself above God). “Prove it.” It’s an attitude that wrongly assumes that Jesus is not already Lord, God, Savior, loving, good & faithful, that forgets everything God has already done to reveal Himself to you (in His Word & in Creation), and ignores how He’s already shown His goodness & faithfulness in your life, & treats those blessings as if it is not enough. Is it wrong to ask Jesus for good things? To seek more from Him & seek more experience of Him to help grow your faith? No. Is it wrong to dictate to God what He should or should not do? YES. To force His hand to do your bidding, as if you are Lord & God over Him? Yes. Listen to the message “Round One: Fight!” (Oct 31, 2010) for further thoughts on how to distinguish the difference & how to resist that same temptation that Jesus also faced regarding His Father. (3) Have you ever rejected Jesus because He showed you some unpleasant things about yourself? He loves you so much (cf. Rom 5:8). He can’t stand for you to live in self-destructive & other-destructive sin. He wants to rescue us from it, & all the consequences of it. He sees us constantly move in a direction away from God, out from under His love, protection, holiness, grace & mercy, and it hurts ourselves & Him. So He’s honest; He calls you on it. Like spiritual surgery, sometimes the scalpel feels sharp, & we don’t like the pain of conviction, so we lash out & rage at God, or blame Him & others for our shortcomings & faults, or rationalize why the things we thought or said or did aren’t so bad. You get to choose: You can choose life in Him by humbling yourself & repenting because He is Lord & Savior; He is good & faithful. Or, you can throw a temper tantrum like the people of Nazareth because you are proud & “religious”, but that way always ends in death, in every area of life, and for eternity. 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Spirited [Luke 4:1 & 14] [ November 2nd, 2010 • 4:00pm ] [ mood | working ] Last Sunday, we explored Luke 4:1-13, where Jesus prepares for the inauguration of His ministry in a time of fasting & prayer, and faces off against His enemy – that liar, deceiver & tempter we call Satan; listen to “Round One: Fight!” (Oct 31, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you read the next passage on your own & reflect. This week, let’s spend some time reflecting on two verses from this passage: Luke 4:1 & Luke 4:14. Let’s start tying some threads together that are interwoven throughout Luke-Acts [prequel & sequel], focusing particularly on the 3rd person of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit. You may remember that the Holy Spirit has popped up throughout the early parts of Jesus’ story, even before His incarnate birth as a man, turning people into lovers of Jesus & worshipers of Jesus. But people often have all kinds of weird associations with the work of the Spirit, like preachers in white suits with big hair who manipulate us & greedily extort your money, or out-of-control emotional craziness devoid of intelligent thought or self-control. So how does this Holy Spirit thing work? First off, He’s a Person (remember?), not a thing or a force. Second, why don’t we see how Jesus (the Son of God and 2nd person of the Trinity) relates to Him as an example: As mentioned in last Sunday’s message, Luke records Jesus experiencing 40 days & 40 nights of ongoing temptations by Satan, culminating in these final 3 assaults on His mind, heart & identity. How is Jesus able to resist, being tempted in every way that we are, yet not sin? Recall how Jesus was baptized right beforehand, His true identity revealed by the Father & affirmed by the Spirit [Luke 3:21-22], preparing to launch His earthly ministry. So, in Luke 4:1: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days…”  We learn that He is filled with the Holy Spirit, the One who (in the Bible) is the presence & power of God indwelt into people to regenerate us to faith & life in Christ, to convict, comfort, counsel, strengthen, empower & gift for ministry, sanctify & mature us into bearing godly fruit in our lives [Gal 5:16-26]; these are His roles. And then, Jesus is led by the Spirit, to come to this desert wilderness region to prepare Himself for the beginning of His public ministry, by drawing closer to His Father & drawing strength from the Spirit (in fasting & prayer) to face off against Satan, the spiritual enemy who is gunning for Him.  So here, we find Jesus got to that place by being Spirit-filled, Spirit-led. Luke repeatedly introduces us to God the Holy Spirit. He shows us that Jesus was filled & empowered by God the Holy Spirit, and led by God the Holy Spirit. We believe in Christ-followers being Spirit-filled, Spirit-led too. As Jesus was, (by the grace of God) we want to be. We want the Holy Spirit to fill us, to give us new life & new power, the life & power of Christ. We also want to be Spirit-led (like Jesus), to go wherever the Holy Spirit calls us to go, wherever He leads, not just to those place that are most easy & convenient. Sometimes the Spirit leads us into very difficult circumstances, for the glory of God and the good of others. That is always His goal when He leads people. That’s what He’s doing here with Jesus, as the Spirit brings Him into the wilderness for a time of preparation by relying on the Spirit & facing every temptation, trial & suffering that you and I know personally & intimately [cf. Heb 2:17-18]. Moving on to Luke 4:14-15, we witness the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry: “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee… And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” Jesus began his preaching & teaching ministry as a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, & Spirit-empowered preacher. Today, He is exalted as Lord, God, Savior & Christ but during His ministry on the earth, he came as a Spirit-empowered preacher. This is exceedingly important; it means that the focal point of His ministry started with teaching & preaching (about Himself, God, people, sin, repentance & salvation) out of the Word of God. This is absolutely central, essential & foundational for all that we believe & all that we behave. Jesus did heal, He did feed, He did counsel as part of His ministry, but everything begins with & was sustained by the preaching and teaching of the Bible. It is my deep, profound, sincere hope that the Scriptures would matter to you, hearing the Word of God would matter to you, because faith comes by hearing the Word of God [cf. Rom 10:17].  The way we do it at The Crossing is the preaching of the Bible is monologue, and then we gather in fellowship small groups for dialogue. We want you to hear & talk about the Scriptures; we want you to be on mission as the church; we want you to work through your issues, concerns, frustrations & immaturities, together as God’s people in the Word. Everything at The Crossing ultimately rides on the preaching of God’s Word. Why? Because if God would come to the earth, and make it His first priority to establish His ministry through Bible preaching & teaching, then we want to follow the example of Jesus. And the way He did it wasn’t simply a passive form of being filled with the Spirit in order to become a Spirit-empowered minister of the Word of God. God becomes a man and (filled with the Holy Spirit) has an itinerant, traveling, preaching ministry throughout the region of Galilee. He is preaching in small towns, in their centers of worship (synagogues), where God’s people gather. And instead of being like the burdensome, man-made rules & traditions of many teachers common to that time, Jesus comes as this young, fiery, passionate, wise, life-changing teacher of God’s Word. We read earlier in Luke 2:52 that He grew in wisdom, stature & favor with men & God. He studied, learned, grew; God humbled Himself to identify with us, and He learned & grew, as we learn & grow. He devoted Himself to the study of Scriptures, as we must devote ourselves to the study of Scriptures. And He becomes officially recognized as a rabbi, a Bible teacher. This means He’s educated, literate & learned. Some would say: “I don’t need to learn & study; I just want to follow the Holy Spirit. I’m a simple Christian.” Jesus was filled with the Spirit, grew in wisdom, stature & favor, did study, qualified to be officially declared a rabbi (a teacher of Scriptures). He’s a theologian, thinker, student. And if you want to be like Him, you need to learn how to study the Word and grow in your wisdom & knowledge. And what we read is that Jesus was a Spirit-empowered preacher. He based His ministry on the Word, He studied it expertly to confirm, explain & connect people with Him as the Savior Christ, and He relied on the power of the Spirit of God to do the ministry of connecting people to God through Him; leading people to conviction & repentance; giving freedom, redemption, hope, salvation; physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually. Over & over throughout the new era of God’s story, there is an association with the Spirit & power (cf. Luke 1:16-17, here in Luke 4:14; Acts 1:8; Acts 10:38; Rom 15:13; 1 Cor 2:4; Eph 3:16; 1 Thess 1:5; 2 Tim 1:7; etc). He never cheated through His own ability; He relied on the power of the Spirit to do ministry, as we must rely on the Spirit’s power to minister into the lives of others. Jesus lived His life by the power of the Holy Spirit.  At His baptism, in all 4 gospels, the Holy Spirit descended & rested on Jesus, to show He never left Him.  In our reflection about Luke 2:21-52, we pondered how Jesus emptied Himself of His divine attributes & relied on the power of the Spirit to grow, worship, and say no to temptations & yes to His Father. He did that humbly to serve us & identify with us. And as we read further in Luke & Acts, we learn more about the Holy Spirit & His connection to Jesus: The promise made that Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [Luke 3:16]; Jesus lived without sin by the power of the Holy Spirit; He dies for sinners & is raised by the power of the Holy Spirit; He ascends back to heaven so He & His Father send the Holy Spirit to the Church on the Day of Pentecost. And just as the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, He descends on His people, empowering us to live like Jesus & become more like Jesus, and (as the Church) to continue the ministry of Jesus.  Resonance.   Reflection Questions: (1) What does it mean for you to be Spirit-filled? There’s a lot of wonky, unbiblical ideas & practices around what it means to be filled with the Spirit. We love the Holy Spirit; we worship Him as God. He gifts us for life, ministry & worship. And we are deeply grieved when there is false teaching about Him, when He’s said to be a God of chaos when filling up His people instead of a God of order, as described in the Bible [cf. 1 Cor 12-14, particularly 14:26-40]. What are some of the negative stereotypes you’ve been exposed to? What are the actual biblical roles of the Holy Spirit in dwelling in God’s people? How would that be expressed in your life? If you’re a follower of Christ, His Spirit is put into you. Knowing His roles in a believer’s life (see above & various other sermons in this teaching/worship series), how has He been filling you up? How have you been resistant to that?   (2) What does it mean for you to be Spirit-led? How does the Holy Spirit prompt you to go in a certain direction? When have you been led by God’s Spirit? How do you know if a prompting/leading is genuinely from God (instead of Satan [like Jesus’ temptations], worldly voices not of God, or your own thoughts and/or craziness)? What are ways the Spirit is leading you today? Are you responding in obedience to that? Even if it’s into & through difficult circumstances? (3) How have you experienced the power of the Spirit to minister to others? Have you studied & grown in God’s Word? How has the Spirit empowered you to grow in wisdom & understanding of His Word? How has the Spirit used that to bless, challenge, convict, & encourage others toward Jesus (at home, at work, in your family, in your relationships)? 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Family History [Luke 3:23-38] [ October 25th, 2010 • 6:47pm ] [ mood | cold ] Last Sunday, we explored Luke 3:15-22, where Jesus is baptized by John, revealing His identity, which shapes our new identity in Christ; listen to “Son of God” (Oct 24, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you read the next passage on your own & reflect. This week’s reading is from Luke 3:23-38, so go ahead and read it! Over the last decade, there’s been this interesting phenomenon of online family history websites… With more access to information than ever before, people are able to discover their family roots more easily. But, if you’re like me, you may find reading through biblical genealogies can be quite yawn-inducing. But God tells us that everything that He reveals through His Word is God-breathed & profitable for teaching, reproof, correction & training in righteousness [2 Tim 3:16]; that there’s gold to be discovered if we’ll just dig for it. As an understanding of our own family history tells us a lot about who we are, the same is true about studying the ancestries of lovers of God & followers of God who preceded us in the Bible; they are our spiritual ancestors. We get to see how God is faithful to generations of people over a large span of time, and we learn that we are part of a legacy of faith that comes through that family line. So what’s the deal in Luke 3:23-38? Of the 4 gospels, only 2 of them deal with lineage: Matthew & Luke. Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience, appealing to their history & legacy as God’s representatives & ambassadors to the nations, so Matt emphasizes Jesus’ family connection [Matt 1:1] as a descendant of King David (from whose line Messiah is prophesied to come), all the way back to Abraham (father of the Jewish people & nation, whose prophesied descendant would come to bless all peoples & nations). Message? Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of God to His people in Israel of the coming Savior King. It means a lot to people of Jewish background. In Luke, his primary audience aren’t Jews, but to non-Jews (Gentiles), starting with his patron Theophilus, and ending with people like you & me today. We may not be as concerned about whether or not He’s a direct descendant of Dave & Abe for the covenant promises of God. But we do care about whether or not He’s really God & really a man. Is He really “Immanuel”, God with us? So at the beginning of Luke 3, in Luke’s investigation, he reports back to us the evidence of Jesus being God. In last Sunday's message, we talked about how Jesus’ identity as God was revealed in his baptism as an adult. The Trinity’s presence validates Him & His ministry; the Father’s declaration as His Son means: “He’s the same as Me; as much God as I am, as worthy of glory as I am, to be obeyed as much as I am. His dominion extends where Mine does.”  It is a clear statement & claim of deity. Calling Him the “Son of God” means Jesus is God, made of the same stuff as the Father, and having the same glory, preeminence, power & supremacy as the Father. So when we get to his lineage in the next passage of Luke 3:23-38, Luke’s also presenting the evidence he collected that Jesus is not only fully God, but also fully man. He doesn’t trace Jesus back to Abe (significant only to Jews), but all the way back to Adam, the first man, father of us all; Jesus is the fulfillment of hope for all people, promised as far back as Gen 3:15. Some important observations from the text: (1) Jesus was about 30 when he began doing ministry; He patiently waited for His Father’s timing & also until He had fully grown into wisdom & spiritual maturity in His human life. There’s a lesson there for you & me. (2) The people in His lineage were not perfect people.  Though many were “heroes of faith”, they sinned:  Adam blew it first for all of us, Terah was an idolater, Abram was an adulterer, liar & gave his wife away twice(!), Jacob was a cheater & thief, Judah traded slaves & enjoyed prostitutes, David committed adultery & murder, & so on… but God is faithful to this messed-up family across the generations. You may come from a family & legacy of dysfunction, pain, tragedy & sin, but Jesus can come into your family & redeem it, like He did with His step-dad Joseph’s family, and ultimately, the family of mankind. One more observation: (3) He was adopted into Joseph’s family, which means He inherits as a son the rights & privileges of the family legacy. This includes all the promises and covenants between God and men: With David, an offspring whose throne/kingdom will be established forever in Jesus [2 Sam 7:11-12]; with Abe, to become a great nation, whose Seed (note: singular) will bless all the peoples of the earth in Jesus [Gal 3:16; cf. Gen 12, 15, 17, 19]; with Noah, God will not destroy us future generations for our sin by water as we deserve, but gives grace & patiently invites us to salvation through a new Ark, the Messiah [Gen 9:9-11]; and ultimately, with Adam, through whom a male child comes to crush the head of Satan & redeem us from the death-curse of sin [Gen 3:15]. Listen; it is very important that Jesus is adopted. As adopted son into this family tree, He inherits & fulfills all the promises as a son, but doesn’t inherit their biological nature; He does not have the sins they had by their nature & choice. In showing Jesus' connection with Adam, the author’s saying Jesus is fully human; not a sinner, but human. God became a human being. Just as Adam was initially without sin, Jesus is without sin. [1 Cor 15:45] He is the new, alternate, last Adam (read Rom 5:12-21 & unpack that as a commentary on Luke 3:38). But where Adam failed, Jesus triumphs. In Adam, we inherited the guilt of sin; in Jesus, there’s eternal life. And for us to enjoy the blessings of Jesus and the promises & covenants He fulfills, we must acknowledge that we, like Adam (as his sons & daughters), are all sinners. Like Noah, we must receive & respond to the grace of God given to us in Jesus. Like Abraham, we must respond to God by faith (not our own works or merit), trusting in the person & work of Jesus. And like David, we must receive Jesus as our King of kings & Lord of lords. And in so doing, what happens is that we are born in Adam, but we are born again in Jesus and our names are actually added to the family line of Jesus. It’s called the Lamb’s Book of Life, and upon our death and presence before Jesus, that book will be opened and the list of names will be read (just as this list of names in Luke 3 has been read), and if you’ve received grace from Jesus & have faith in Jesus as your King & Savior, it won’t be just a boring list of names.  It will be your friends & your family & your children & your name read, as those who have been adopted into the family of God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we read Luke, we read of people that God was faithful to. And He invites us to respond to Him because it’s good news(!), that He would be our God, and that we would be His people, in His family. Reflection Questions: (1) What do you see in the adopted family history of Jesus? Read through the names. What names sound familiar? What do you know about them? What stories of faith & salvation do you see in that history (read about Adam, Noah, Abe, Joseph, and even Boaz [as a kinsman-redeemer by choice in Ruth 4], etc)? What imperfections & sin do you see in the family history of Jesus? How does God still choose to be faithful throughout generations & redeem those who’ve sinned yet faithfully follow Him? (2) What do you see in your family history? What stories of God’s faithfulness & blessing have you seen in your family legacy? What hurts & sin are in your generational story? How has God redeemed them, or how is He in the process of redeeming them? (3) What is the significance for us that Jesus is adopted into that specific family tree? What does it say about His deity? About His humanity? About His purpose in coming to us? About God’s faithfulness & sovereign plan for the salvation of people unfolding throughout history & generations? (4) Resonance: What is the significance for you & your family? From Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus, and all those in-between, God carefully unfolded His plan of salvation. The man Jesus is the very center of human history, and represents all human beings. The hope of salvation for all mankind is found in Jesus. How did you learn about Jesus? Who told the person who told you? How far back can you go? How is God using you to share the hope of Jesus with others? How far forward do you think that will continue in the future? Your children? Your grandchildren, your great-grandchildren? Where have you seen God at work in your family as you learn about Jesus together? 0 comments | reply | edit | memory

Isn’t Baptism Just More Religion? [Luke 3:1-14] [ October 18th, 2010 • 9:04pm ] [ mood | cold ] Last Sunday, we explored Luke 3:1-14, where John the baptizer enters the scene, starts his ministry, fulfills prophecy, & paves the way for Jesus; listen to “Religion Is a Lie” (Oct 17, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you re-read the passage on your own & reflect. John was furious with God’s people for practicing “religion”, all the kinds of stuff that drive people crazy even to this day: having to follow man-made rules & traditions to “earn” God’s favor. It’s why people are attracted to Jesus in a way they’re not attracted to religion, while people who are repelled by Jesus love to prove their “goodness” through religious regulations, ancestry, holy places & the like. Religion is always about how can I do good things / be a good person to save myself, vs. will I humble myself to trust & rely on Jesus as God to save me? Religion vs. relationship. John the baptizer rails against religion & teaches people to turn to the coming Christ in a relationship of repentance, demonstrated in baptism. After last Sunday’s message, a wonderful, inquisitive lady took me aside to ask: Well, isn’t baptism just another religious practice? Great question, the right question. So we’re exploring that topic further this morning: Why does Johnny baptize people, then? Isn’t that simply another tradition or religious rule to replace (or add on to) the old ones? In the Sunday message, we talked about how baptism is a demonstration of repentance: turning from sin to God, by faith through Jesus. It could be misconstrued as a new religious practice that pops up in the New Testament, so it'll help if we dig back into cultural history to understand some of the background. For people of Jewish tradition at the time, they would go through ritual purifications & cleansings in ceremonial pools of water on all sorts of occasions to be clean before God. For Gentiles (non-Jews), they would get baptized (immersed in water) to convert to Judaism. It showed that they identified with God’s people, and repented as enemies of God. But for Johnny boy to be baptizing Jews in repentance (as if they were Gentiles) was historically very unusual [Luke 3:3]. It would’ve raised a few eyebrows. He’s not a Levite; he’s not part of the priesthood; he doesn’t work on behalf of the temple (mentioned in the previous message: “Family Traditions”; Oct 10, 2010); he’s not part of the establishment… he’s outside of the system. Johnny just walks out of the woods, preaching as a prophet of old… and many Jewish people come to repent of their sins; he baptizes Jews; it’s all highly unusual. Maybe they thought it was the new, trendy religious tradition to add to their already lengthy collection of man-made religious rules. And as they come, he rebukes them for their religion [Luke 3:7]. I don’t care what culture or era you were born in: Calling people “brood of vipers” = they are bad.  Johnny anticipates that their response will be defensive, using religion as a shield: “Don’t tell me, Abraham’s your forefather” [Luke 3:8], i.e., you think you’re good people in God’s eyes because of your traditions, legacy, ancestry, piety, history & layers of extra regulations you’ve added to God’s Law. Johnny says: No, not really. If God wanted to, He could transform these river rocks into true sons of faith. You’re not good people because you’re sons & daughters of a good & faithful man; you’re wicked & evil (just like everybody else) because you’re sinners, sons & daughters of Adam. You’re not saved because you’re Jewish; that’s not what makes you God’s people. Here’s why: Was Abe a Jew or a Gentile? Answer: Gentile… he came from the same area where those who built the tower of Babel lived, in the land of the Chaldeans, also known as Babylon (the center of self-indulgent, God-defying wickedness). He started out as a pagan, not as a worshiper of God; in Joshua 24:2, his dad & family worshiped other gods first. But then, [in Genesis 12] God came to Abe in grace, He revealed Himself to Abe in grace, and then Abe trusted & believed, by faith, in the Lord. And it was credited to him as what? Righteousness [Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6]. Being right in God’s eyes came to Father Abe the same way that it comes to all of us: By faith, not works; by Jesus’ accomplishment, not our own performance; by Jesus’ perfection, not our tradition. Alright. So being forgiven, accepted, saved & made right in God’s eyes has nothing to do with our own performance, duty, holiness or traditions, right? Then, what in the world is baptism? Why’s John performing this religious-lookin’ ceremony? Here’s the key: [Luke 3:4-6] Johnny was sent ahead of Jesus to prepare people’s hearts… that all the obstacles would be removed, the proud humbled, the sinful changed (fulfilling the prophecies & promises of Isaiah 40)… how and why? Because [Luke 3:6] they will all see the salvation of God given through Jesus. In other words, people will repent in response to hearing good news about the coming of a Savior / Hero / Redeemer named Jesus. They will not earn their salvation / rescue from sin & death by their performance, works, traditions & religion. Instead, when they see Him, meet with Him, learn from Him, love Him, know Him, and accept what He has to offer (salvation)… because of this Coming One that John is teaching about, they should respond in repentance from sin to God through Jesus. And in response to the free, unmerited gift of grace offered by Jesus, they’ll demonstrate their repentance in baptism. It is a loving, thankful response to grace, NOT another man-made rule to earn & merit God’s favor. In essence, Johnny’s telling them: Salvation is coming! You’ll see it, taste it, experience it for yourself from Messiah! So repent in response to that coming free gift! If that undeserved grace is good news to you, respond to the coming Savior Christ by turning from sin to Him through baptism! Repentance & baptism are always a response to God’s free grace, never a way to earn brownie points with God (do good, be good, follow the right rules / traditions). Baptism is an expression of repentance: confessing I am a sinner who needs grace & I want to turn away from sin to Jesus; it’s not a religious person’s way to earn their way into heaven by their own efforts. It’s confessing (instead of denying) that Jesus is Lord, Savior, God, & I need Him to save me, because I can’t save myself by religion. You’re immersed in water, not because it’s a “magic” religious ceremony to make you more holy or save you, but because it came to symbolize identifying with Jesus’ death & resurrection who has saved you [Rom 6:1-4]. When you follow & live for Jesus, your old self (full of sin & self-centeredness & self-worship) is dead & buried with Him (symbolized by immersion in water), & through Jesus’ resurrection, righteousness, victory over sin & death, I am raised to new life in Christ & for God-centered living (represented in coming back up out of the water). He washes you clean & gives you life, like life-giving water. It’s a free gift we receive, and we’re thankful, responsive to it. And John gives people an opportunity to respond to that grace & salvation through baptism & repentance. When we hear about Jesus (that He lived the life you have not lived, cannot live, will not live; that He died the death you should have died; & that He rose to give you the gift you cannot earn), we are liberated from religion. It is good news! And it is worth being thankful & responding to the grace Jesus has given us. For more information about baptism, listen to the message “Baptism: Our Confession” (Nov 26, 2006) at http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermonsarchive2006.htm. Reflection Questions: (1) What do you rely on to make you feel “right” with God, instead of turning to the grace of Jesus? When you sin, or when you become aware of your sinful nature… Do you run from guilt or deny it? Do you grudgingly fulfill your “religious obligation” to repent? Try to earn brownie points with God? Do you beat yourself up to make up for it? Do you ever take your guilt out on other people? Do you go to church out of guilt? Would you ever get baptized, just because “you’re supposed to”? Do you ever obey / serve God out of duty? Do you ever feel “not good enough” to be loved by God? (2) What does repentance mean? What did John mean when he told them to “bear fruits in keeping with repentance” [Luke 3:8]? How do people show they are truly sorry for their sins, as opposed to just pretending?  How do they demonstrate their sincerity, that they’re ready to believe in Jesus and turn from sin? John the baptizer’s ministry was to get people ready for Jesus, who would come and die on a cross to save people from God’s punishment for their sins. But Jesus only comes for those who know they have sinned (thought and said and done wrong things) and are truly sorry. What’s the difference between being truly sorry for sins, and just being sad for getting caught doing something wrong?  What does the “fruit of repentance” look like for each member of your family? (3) How are you responding to the unearned, unmerited, undeserved grace Jesus gives you? Have you gratefully received His free grace & salvation? Are you thankful for all the ways God has saved you? Have you thanked Him for washing away your sin; giving you freedom & victory over bondage, sin & death; giving you new fullness of life; giving you peace, joy, comfort, counsel, strength & power to live in Christ through His Spirit? All gifts that we cannot earn, will not earn, & don’t have to earn. In response to grace, have you made a public proclamation & identification with Jesus through baptism? How will you respond to the free gifts from Jesus today? 1 comments | reply | edit | memory

How Human Was Jesus? [Luke 2:21-52] [ October 12th, 2010 • 2:08pm ] [ mood | refreshed ] Ready for some scattered thoughts that will somehow (by the power of God’s Spirit) come together? Let’s reflect together!  Last Sunday, we explored Jesus' first encounter with the temple of God in Jerusalem as a human being; listen to “Family Traditions” (Oct 10, 2010) at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you read the passage on your own & reflect. The question we’re exploring this morning is: What does it mean that Jesus became a man? Did He really experience the kinds of stuff other people do? Isn’t it easier to deal with being human (including all the growing pains of life and suffering in life) if you’re God? You’d have the ultimate “cheat code” (video game reference, older folk) if you could call on the omnipotence, omniscience and authority of God, don’t you think? Read the entire historical excerpt about Jesus from infancy through pre-teen years: Luke 2:21-52.  These are the only snapshots we have of Jesus as a young person. Both specific occasions are signficantly recorded because they reveal Jesus’ interaction with His Father’s house built by human hands. In a nutshell, when Jesus & the temple come together, it is the fulfillment of the old covenant, & the inauguration of the new relationship between God and people, a monumental change because Jesus has come to fulfill the functions of the temple. Listen to last week’s message (I know; I sound like a broken record) for a deeper explanation of the significance. But in today’s reading, there are two interesting phrases that stand out regarding our reflection this morning: Jesus’ Childhood: [Luke 2:40] And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon Him. Jesus as a Pre-Teen: [Luke 2:52] And Jesus increased in wisdom & stature and in favor with God and man. What’s that mean? The historical record details that Jesus did indeed “grow”, in physical maturity and wisdom. That means He increased in physical strength & stature/age/height, just like other boys. It also means He grew in mental maturity & spiritual wisdom by reading Scriptures, memorizing it, and praying to His Father, dependent on His mental capacity at each stage of life, just like other boys. He didn’t exert all the knowledge, power & wisdom of a full “God-brain” in a tiny infant body; He didn’t pop out of Mary’s womb proclaiming in a thunderous, manly voice: “I am God” & spouting supernatural, life-changing spiritual truths from His tiny mouth. He cried, He cooed, He slept, He was hungry & happy, He didn’t have deep thoughts as an infant, just like other babies. He came as a real baby with a real baby’s brain, growing into a boy’s body & brain, with its same capacities & limitations, and learned & grew just like any other boy.  He was aware of His identity & purpose at age 12 (Luke 2:49), with amazing wisdom, but still limited to a 12-year old brain's growing understanding of that.  And by diligently maturing physically, mentally & spiritually like other boys can, He grew in favor… in His Father’s eyes and that of people. People respected Him so much, that even though He was in a small town, they called Him rabbi (teacher), even though He wasn’t formally educated as such in the traditional sense.  In His town, there’d be a synagogue that housed maybe 20-30 people; simple, rural folk would get together for prayer and readings. Nearly all of the women would have been illiterate; a handful of males literate (Jesus being one of them). Mary & Joe did a great job raising Jesus; they taught Him, loved Him, served Him, protected Him, got Him an adequate education as their son. And in the temple as a boy, He talks with the scholars & they’re amazed at His knowledge. He grew in stature physically, wisdom spiritually, & favor to the degree that He was allowed to read the Scriptures & in His small synagogue in His hometown, they called Him rabbi. Paul describes this later in Philippians 2:5-11 (read it!), in a process theologians call kenosis, meaning Jesus “emptied Himself” (Phil 2:7 describes it as “made Himself nothing”). It means that He is fully God (Phil 2:6, literally, He is made of the same essence as His Father & equal to Him), but chose to humble Himself and divest Himself of the powers, rights & attributes that belong to Him as God to become (same Greek word) in essence/literally a servant & human. It means He came in real flesh, subject to feeling cold/heat, tummy aches if He ate spoiled food, catching colds, morning breath, feeling tired, having to go through puberty, getting stumped on homework that a 10-year old brain wasn’t complex enough or didn’t have the knowledge & experience yet to understand, getting bored when preachers drone on too long, facing all the same temptations common to mankind, and having to learn & grow in spiritual wisdom. No cheat codes. So He went through all the pains of growing up and life, but He didn’t sin. He was perfect in sinlessness, but not because His circumstances were perfect or easy. He came completely human; He did it the hard way. So how did He become so wise, perform miracles, etc., if He wasn’t cheating and using His personal “God power”? There are clues dropped throughout the gospels, and particularly throughout Luke: After defeating Satan, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan” [4:1]… As He begins His public ministry, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee” [4:14]. OK, so Jesus was empowered by the third person of the Trinity by constantly being in close relationship with His Father (for more about the Holy Spirit, listen to & read the notes from the message: “Worshipers of God”, Sep 26, 2010). He didn’t personally “cheat”, but He had outside help, right? Isn’t that still a cheat? We don’t get to do that as “normal” human beings? Here's why it’s not a cheat: That same power is available for you… for all who believe & follow Jesus. Listen to the end of the first message in this series (“Resonate” Sep 12, 2010). Luke 24:49, Acts 2:32-33, John 14:11-12, Romans 8 all talk about how we can experience life to follow Jesus, grow in knowing Him & His Father, become more & more like Him, and do great things to serve & honor Him… through the power of the Holy Spirit. Can we live a  sinless life too? Too late; we’re born with the spiritual virus of sin, passed down from our forefather Adam; it’s already part of our nature. It’s why Jesus had to come & be born of a virgin, to live a sinless life as a worthy & righteous sacrifice to die in our place for our consequences. But we can & should experience the power of God in our lives to grow in maturity, holiness, wisdom & life through Jesus & His Spirit, whom He promised & sent to us. Let’s tie this all together with a neat little bow, and connect it to last Sunday’s message (told you, need to listen to it!). Not only does Jesus get rid of the temple, as He inaugurates a new epoch in human history & human relationship with God, He replaces the old traditions with something new. Let’s talk resonance: What difference does all this make? Getting rid of the temple, Jesus being human in all ways (growing, relying on the power of the Spirit), & our ability to tap into life through the Spirit? What’s the impact? What happens if we’re able to tap into the same power of God through His Spirit? Everything changed when Jesus, God, came as a man to earth. See, we no longer go through the old temple of God, because Scriptures teach us in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple & that God’s Spirit dwells in you?... God’s temple is holy, & you are that temple.” Through the grace of God, the death & resurrection of Jesus (our high priest, temple & sacrifice), we become the temple of God that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in as sons & daughters of the Most High God; He makes us the Holy of Holies.  He chooses to dwell in us, so we don’t need to go to Him; He has come to us.  We don’t need to go to a holy place, but that through Jesus’ blood & the Holy Spirit, we could be a holy people.  This is why the Bible says [in 1 Peter 2:9] that all Christians are a priesthood of believers, that your whole life is about ministry, that people can meet God through you, experience the forgiveness of sin through Jesus from you, and discover life/faith/worship of Jesus with you. You are priests & the temple of God in Jesus through His Spirit. You have that power in your life. The temple of God isn’t a building of brick & stone, Ephesians 2:19-21 teach us that it’s people; you (the Church) are built on the foundation of the apostles & prophets, and ultimately on Jesus Himself as the cornerstone, from which everything is built up (our church, our life, our family, our home, our ministry, our legacy) on Him, in whom the whole structure & organism (called the Church) is joined together in community, & grows into a holy temple of the Lord.   What’s Jerusalem/the temple called? A city on a hill. In Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus says, if you follow Him, you are “the light of the world”, the new “city on a hill”, whose light should “shine before others, so that they may see your good works & give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Jesus’ life (on earth as a man), death and resurrection all matter. Since Jesus became a man, He relied on life/power through the Spirit of God, showing us how we could live through the power of His Spirit too (which He promised, sent & gave to us), so that we could experience His power, goodness, transformation, life and impact/ministry, and share that with others. Our life should resonate with His life in the Spirit. So. Still think you’re “just human”, and that “normal people” can’t experience the power of God in their lives? Reflection Questions: (1) What does it mean to you, that Jesus became a person, and literally had to “grow up”? What “cheat codes” did you erroneously believe Jesus was using during His earthly life & ministry? What are some growing pains or circumstances in your life that you thought Jesus might not relate to? How does reflecting on Jesus emptying Himself of His divine attributes and going through life & circumstances like us change your misconceptions? (2) Where do you need to experience the Spirit’s power in your life? Now we know that Jesus became a real human (like us), didn’t cheat using His divine attributes, and relied on the power of the Spirit, like we’re able to do if we follow Jesus. God teaches us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, & He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” What areas of sin & struggle do you need to turn to Jesus to receive power from His Spirit to overcome & endure? (3) Though we are normal, everyday people, how do you need to experience the Spirit’s power to minister to others? Like Jesus, we’re born into limited, finite, human abilities & strength. But also like Jesus, we can tap into the power of the Spirit of God to affect incredible life change, impact and ministry so that people can meet God & bring glory to Him. Who is someone you’d like to minister to? How can you pray for them today to experience the good news about Jesus through you? Ask God to give you boldness, wisdom & power through His Spirit to have an eternal impact on someone’s life, and then act on it out of obedience.  My fellow, limited, human friend, be the temple, be a city on a hill by the power of Christ's Spirit! 1 comments | reply | edit | memory

Those Lowdown, Dirty Shepherds [Luke 2:8-20] [ October 5th, 2010 • 3:49pm ] [ mood | ditzy ] Last Sunday, we explored Luke 2:1-20… it’s a monster of a message, but listen to it anyway at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm. It’ll provide some context as you read the passage on your own, & as we share some thoughts together for reflection.  As we examine another aspect of the incarnation (God coming in the flesh), we want to dispel any rumors that the virgin birth was borrowed from outside sources or pagan myth. Do you know when the earliest prophecy with intimations about the virgin birth appeared?  Way back in Genesis 3:15: After the Creation of the world & mankind, Adam & Eve choose sin & death over God & life. So after the Fall, God tells them what the natural consequences of their choices are, but also promises that there will come a Savior child, a boy, who will be born of a woman… note: no mention of a dad. If you know anything about Jewish culture and history, this is highly unusual and very significant in a patriarchal book that typically traces family history through the male lineage. But there is a promise of a child born of a woman who will be wounded by Satan, but He’ll crush Satan completely, victoriously. Death on a cross? Excruciating and horrendous, but Jesus considers it simply a heel wound. Overcoming the power of sin, death, and Satan’s grip on the world? Crushing Satan’s head completely. So let’s turn back to the announcement of this coming Savior. Read Luke 2:8-20 on your own again. [Luke 2:8] So we have an unidentified angel who shows up in a field to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds.  To who? Shepherds are very unlikely to be chosen for important stuff. If you ever played the role of one in your church’s Christmas play, you got the worst part. It’s like being a background tree; you’re lucky if you get a speaking line. See, shepherds are weird: They live by themselves, outside of town, they sleep out in the open instead of a house, with animals all the time; it’s weird. Think you’re an outdoorsy kinda guy, that the life of shepherd sounds good? Try life under the heat of the Palestinian during the day, and sleeping out in the bitter cold at night. It’s just a step above being homeless; at least you get a little spending cash, but you only pal around with animals. A lot of times, they were simply hired-hands, low-wage workers taking the undesirable, leftover work. This is not a job you shoot for; it’s the job you end up with. They couldn’t make it to church [temple] for worship, sacrifices or feasts because they can’t abandon their flock, so they weren’t able to maintain their religious devotion as the rest of God’s people. Many regarded them as crooks and thieves, a suspicious bunch. They couldn’t even testify in court, since they were perceived as weirdos of shady character with poor social skills who interact better with animals than people. They were considered lowest of the low. So when the angel shows up, it’s surprising; no one ever showed up to hang out with shepherds. When he proclaims good news has come, they’re the last people in the region to expect to hear a message from God via angel. Yet they do. Let’s take a look at another shepherd. The angel mentions that there is “good news of great joy for all people… born this day in the city of David,” (referring to Bethlehem, in Luke 2:10-11). Dave is the most famous Israelite king in history. To this day, archaeologists are still uncovering remnants of the influence & impact of this God-fearing, God-loving, God-anointed ruler. Despite his great failings (as God doesn’t hide from us Dave’s sins of adultery & murder, and the consequences & repentance that follow), he stands as a spiritual giant who politically & spiritually guided Israel to turn the corner from a ragamuffin band of immigrants into a mighty nation belonging to God.  And like Jesus, he started out humbly: Jesus started off as a humble carpenter; and Dave? You guessed it: Lowly shepherd boy. He was the youngest of his brothers, the runt of the family. So while the big boys were off training & fighting as soldiers in King Saul’s army, David’s kicking around with sheep. Where? His family settled in Bethlehem [1 Sam 17:12-16].  Ahhhh, now the picture’s starting to come together, all that prophecy stuff [Micah 5:2; Isaiah 7:14]. What did God do with this shepherd? Dave grew to be a great king, like Jesus grew to be great King. David was anointed king before he was appointed king. He had to fight for his throne; it was a great battle. Prior to Dave’s appointment to his throne, he was king but not yet ruling & reigning from a throne. So during that season, he collected faithful followers, members of his kingdom, preparing for his inauguration as visible king.   Jesus is just like that. He's the Anointed King (which is what “Christ” or “Messiah” mean), and right now there’s a great battle between Satan/demons/kingdoms of the world, and King Jesus. He’s gathering His faithful subjects, saving men and women from sin, death and Satan; we call that the Church.  And one day, He will fully assume His throne here; He’ll return to establish His Kingdom here forever, where Satan, sin and death are no more. We’re citizens of His Kingdom here in the midst of a horrendous battle on earth. And what we think of this man, Jesus, determines how we’ll live (including how we deal with suffering in this life) & how we’ll die. Jesus’ coming is good news; it causes great joy; and God wants to get this good news out to you and all the people, that Jesus (like Dave) is anointed King, and he’s coming again to be appointed King. And then there’s Jesus, who the angel calls “Savior (Hero, rescuer), Christ (King) the Lord (God)”. But despite His mighty heritage, Jesus also chooses to call Himself the "Good Shepherd” [John 10:1-18]. C’mon Jesus, why would you associate yourself with “those kind” of people? Sure you were born in a backwater, hick-town, in a feeding trough, amongst stinky animals. Sure, Your family was poor, uneducated, blue-collar. Yeah, you were blue-collar too, working as a humble carpenter and becoming a homeless preacher. Oh. Well, how are You a “good” shepherd, then? [John 10:1-6] Like a good shepherd, He makes Himself known to His sheep (people who follow Him); He wants to be your safety, comfort, security; He wants you to be familiar with Him; He’s speaking to you, and if you’ll listen, you’ll come to know His voice. [John 10:7-10] As a good shepherd, He lays across the doorway to the sheep-pen to protect the sheep & give them freedom to explore. While other false shepherds try to lure you away to steal your devotion and destroy you, Jesus came to give you the fullness of life as it was meant to be with God. [John 10:11-14] He’s not just a hired hand/rent-a-shepherd, who doesn’t care about a flock that’s not their own; He’s a good shepherd who cares for and loves His flock. [John 10:15] So much so, that He will lay down His very life on a cross, & not just for some people, but all kinds of people, backgrounds, nations, languages and cultures [John 10:16]. It’s fascinating how God comes in a humble way (born in a manger) to humble Mary, and announces His coming to humble shepherds. God takes lowly people & lowly things, and works with them for His glory, by His grace.  Moses was a shepherd; King David started out as a shepherd boy; Amos the prophet asked God: “Why do you want me to preach; I’m just a shepherd?” And Jesus comes as the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep. Peter calls Him the Chief Shepherd [1 Peter 5], the senior pastor of the Church. So God redeems this unpopular, insignificant profession, and shows He’s humble and willing to look after us sheep, not the most brilliant of animals. They’re altogether defenseless; no one’s ever been scared of sheep. The Bible tells us we’re like that: Defenseless, silly, wandering, not real sharp. Some of you think: “I’m pretty smart & proficient.” For a sheep, you are. And just like a good shepherd tends to his sheep, is devoted to his sheep, and is willing to lay down his life for his sheep, Jesus comes as the Good Shepherd. Is this good news to you? What do we do with it? How should we respond to it? Here’s some thoughts to wrap up: Jesus is the Savior, the Christ, the Lord, i.e., the Hero/Rescuer, King, God. And as we hear about this (like the shepherds in Luke 2:10), it’s good news, isn’t it?  “Of great joy.”  So our response to this good news, then, is joy. Let’s see how others respond to Jesus’ coming: [Luke 2:13-14] After the announcement, a multitude of other angels burst on to the scene, singing of His goodness & grace; they worship Him. They’re not even getting saved; they never sinned, but they worship the coming of God as the Christ. Mighty ones sing just because Jesus is so great, greater than them; He’s the Savior, Christ the Lord. [Luke 2:19] Mary sang previously (in Luke 1:46-55), but here, she’s just overwhelmed. It dawns on her that her hero, her rescuer, deliverer, dragon-slayer, kingdom-giver, “He’s here in my presence; my son Jesus, Immanuel, God’s here, to be with us & to save us.” And she’s a contemplative one (like some of you who are reading), so she just dwells on those thoughts & treasures them with heartfelt joy. It’s mind-bending, heart-wrenching, history-altering; we need to sit down and think about it and treasure it and give thanks & praise. That’s worship in deep joy. Contemplative ones ponder and treasure all this good news about Jesus in their heart.  [Luke 2:20] Then there are our boys, the shepherds, who “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen” about Jesus. They’re not as contemplative at the moment; they’re active, full of joy: The Savior’s here, our sin forgiven, the King and Kingdom have arrived!   So they celebrate with gladness and joy, because it is good news for them and “for all the people.” They worship too. Lowly ones celebrate the Hero who has come to rescue them, who is King & God. The Savior, Christ the Lord has come; worship the Hero, King, God with joy, because it is good news!  We’re excited about Jesus; we love Him; we want other people to meet Him; we want to live like Jesus, for Jesus, through Jesus, to Jesus. So we respond to Him by worshiping with joy: Sing, ponder, treasure, celebrate the good news! Reflection Questions: (1) How are you a lowly shepherd? When have you felt outside, unrecognized, unappreciated, unwelcome? How does it make you feel, knowing that God loves lowly ones: He welcomes them, knows them, loves them; He lifts them up & makes them great (like David), and even becomes one of them (in the person & work of Jesus)? How has God exalted this lowly position in your own life to become one of His shepherds… to tend & care for someone else as His sheep? (2) How has Jesus been the Good Shepherd in your life? How does Jesus make Himself / His voice known to you? How has He protected you personally? From what has He set you free? How has knowing Him brought more fullness of life? Be specific; journal it somewhere and/or share these thoughts with others. What is the significance of Him laying down His life for you? (3) Who do you see as a lowly shepherd, one of “those people” in your life? Everybody does it; it’s easy to reject people who are different from you. Yet, Christ creates a new community (called “Church”), where weirdos/shepherds of all backgrounds get together, worship together, grow together, do life together, rub each other the wrong way and then have to reconcile & forgive each other together. How do you need to accept, forgive, and/or love someone who’s like a shepherd (an unlikable outsider) in your eyes? Do you need to repent and make it right with Jesus & that person? (4) Whether you are feeling like a mighty one, a contemplative one, or a lowly one, how will you respond to the good news about Jesus’ coming by worshiping with joy today? 1 comments | reply | edit | memory

Magnify (second chances) [Luke 1:57-80] [ September 24th, 2010 • 5:54pm ] [ mood | humbled ] This week, we explored Luke 1:39-56 in the Sunday message (which you should listen to at: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org/sermons1009.htm). Next week, we’ll start on Luke 2, but I didn’t want to skip over this precious piece of Scriptures in-between, so go read Luke 1:57-80 and let’s talk about it, ok? Go! Back already? Great. So here we have the birth of John the Baptizer (not “the Baptist”; he’s not affiliated with any denomination), greatest of men that precede the arrival of the Kingdom of God through Jesus (cf. Luke 7:28). Quick recap: The angel Gabriel came, visited Zechariah (John’s dad) & Mary (Jesus’ mom) independently, but with the same pattern: Zech: Angel appears [Luke 1:11], Zech is troubled [1:12]; the angel comforts him, saying: “Do not be afraid” & that he’ll have a son who will be great before the Lord [1:13-17]. Mary: Angel appears [Luke 1:26]; Mary’s troubled [1:29]; the angel comforts her, saying: “Do not be afraid” & that she’ll have a son who will be great because He is the Lord [1:30-33]. Both of them ask questions. Zech asks for a sign of proof from God out of faithless unbelief [Luke 1:20]; Mary believes God & asks how it’s going to work [1:34]. One of them gets a sign of proof, & is made to be quiet for 9 months for the entire duration of his wife’s pregnancy. Mary visits Zech’s wife (Liz), since they’re family, and they have fellowship, girl-talk as impending mommies, & worship God together in awe of His goodness & faithfulness to them & through them to all people. So now we're all caught up.  Moving on... I love Mary; she is great among women because this young, poor, rural, teenaged girl believes God, trusts Him, serves Him, regardless of the potential cost to her future marriage, family relationships, reputation. Simple, profound, legendary faith. Love it. She’s a role model in that way, and I want to be like her. Unfortunately, more often than I care to admit, I make choices like Zechariah. I choose NOT to believe, not to obey, and end up suffering the natural consequences of my choice and/or experiencing loving discipline from God (cf. Hebrews 12:3-13). As we pick up in Luke 1:57, baby John is born… but Zechariah’s still mute! What’s the deal? I thought he served his time? That would be sad if that's it for him: He screws up, he's disciplined, & he's done.  But what I love about this historical biography of Zech is that his story doesn’t simply end there. After 9 months of learning how fast his tongue gets him in trouble and re-learning that God is powerful, faithful & trustworthy, Zech confronts some disagreeing viewpoints in the family about what to name the baby, communicating via handwriting. Aligning with his wife Elizabeth, in obedience to God, our temporarily-mute friend settles the debate by writing down: “His name is John” [Luke 1:63]. Everyone’s astonished, and Zech’s humble obedient act to God seems to mark the moment when not only the “sign” he asked for from God would be lifted (according to the angel’s words), but also when his heart was right with God:  humbled, repentant, trusting, obeying. It’s important; I don’t want you to miss it. He gets a second chance, & this time he gets it right.  Trust, obedience, humility, repentance before the Lord. And the first thing out of his mouth, after 9 months of silence? Not, “Finally!” nor, “Get me a beer!” There’s no sigh of relief, no bitterness, cursing or complaint against God or his situation. Instead, “immediately his mouth was opened & his tongue loosed, & he spoke, blessing God” [Luke 1:64], i.e., he praises God, he worships. And, like John & Liz, he gets filled with the Holy Spirit (told you to listen to last Sunday’s message; then this would make sense!) [Luke 1:87; cf. 1:15 & 1:41] & speaks truth from God and praise about God. More worship. He gets to join Liz [1:42-45] & Mary [1:46-55] in worshiping how great God is & how worthy of praise, not just for the great things He’s done for him personally, setting him free from the consequences of his own sinfulness & giving him a baby boy, but also as a great Redeemer, Savior & promise-keeper for people [1:68-75], and that his son John gets the privilege of preparing people’s hearts to receive this Savior who will forgive sins & give mercy, light & peace [1:76-79]. This is important too. He comes out of the hard side of godly discipline in his life, and he worships. He gets a second chance, & this time, he joins John, Liz & Mary in blessing, praising, magnifying, worshiping God because God is great and Zech still gets to play a part in the great redemption story of people through Jesus. Not disqualified; not left out. Second chances to magnify (make great) the Lord in his own life & in his service to Him. At our best, we’re like Mary: Trusting Jesus, responsive, obedient (regardless of the cost/suffering ahead; knowing we are blessed & will be blessed by God), & we worship Him for His goodness and the privilege to live for Him & serve Him.  But sometimes we’re like Zech: We want to patiently trust God & serve Him, but sometimes we blow it. And there are consequences, and it stinks. From there, we can go one of two directions: Run even farther away from God, becoming even more rebellious against Him, spitting in His face, full of bitterness, cursing & complaint against God (even though we’re the ones who’ve removed ourselves from His protection & blessing). Or, we can turn back toward Him, humbly. This is called repentance. That’s what Zech does. And when we do, Jesus releases us from the prisons we’ve created for ourselves, & get filled with freedom & joy through His Spirit to worship Him for His goodness, faithfulness & love. This is who Jesus is; this is what He does.  This is true love: He gives us what we need the most, when we deserve it the least, at great personal cost to Himself.  He’s why we’re happy and why we sing.  Because He’s a God of second chances, for everybody.  Reflection Questions: (1) Do you need a second chance because of sin & unbelief/distrust? How have you doubted God’s goodness & faithfulness this week? How have you chosen to not trust God, & go your own way (even when His Word has instructed you otherwise)?  Do you need to turn back, toward God, in repentance?  How is it encouraging to know God gives second chances to those who follow & trust Him? (2) Do you need a reminder that you’re still loved by God? Are you going through a time of natural consequences of poor choices, or even godly discipline? Are you struggling to remember that God still loves you & is for you, even in the midst of discipline? Read Hebrews 12:3-13. Consider how God is like a parent that disciplines us to protect us from self-destructive & other-destructive ways (i.e., sin), & like a good parent, He disciplines because He cares what happens to you. You are His son or daughter; not a "bad" servant, not a mere employee; you are His own child whom He loves. His discipline is never unfair or out of proportion; He never flies off the handle or loses control; His goal is always your correction, your benefit, your good.  Because He loves you, and He died for you. (3) Do you need a second chance to worship? After hard seasons of discipline or recovering from sin, we may choose to become bitter or full of complaint against God. How do you need to choose to worship Him instead? How might you recognize God for who He is and what He’s done, in your life and in the lives of others?  How might you view the discipline or humbling circumstances of today as things to actually give thanks & praise to God for?  1 comments | reply | edit | memory

Greatness [Luke 1:1-38] [ September 18th, 2010 • 3:46pm ] [ mood | relaxed ] This week, we’re journeying through Luke 1:1-38. Lots for you to read, study & reflect on to hear God speak to you through this wonderful piece of Scripture. Listen to Sunday’s sermon on this passage first (if you haven’t already), as it’ll provide some context for you. Here’s some further thoughts, some things that I didn’t have time to cover in the message, but how God really spoke to me personally through His Word about what it means to be “great” in God’s eyes. HEROD “THE GREAT” As we get past the introduction to the recipient (Theophilus, “lover of God”) and purpose of the gospel of Luke (“that you may have certainty concerning the things you’ve been taught” [Luke 1:4]), Luke 1:5 opens with a throwaway line: “In the days of Herod, king of Judea…” Herod was appointed by the Roman emperor to be one of 4 sub-kings, who rule a province under Caesar. His domain stretches across much of the Middle East, covering Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Perea & Idumea, which makes him the provincial “King of the Jews.” Herod is an Edomite, a descendant of Esau (the combative brother of Jacob, forefather of Israel), and not true Israel (God’s people), & is pretty much a puppet of the Roman government. Edomites were always trying to kill Israelites, and Herod continues the tradition, as he sets out to kill any potential rival (slaughtering all the boys in Bethlehem under the age of 2 [predicted in Jeremiah 31:15] when he learns of the prophesied birth of the coming Messiah King [Matthew 2:1-16]). He had a nickname for himself, which caught on with the population (because if you’re the king, & you say that’s your name, nobody in their right mind is going to disagree): “Herod the (wait for it)… Great.” And he was (pretty great), in a worldly sense: He raised tons of money, built lots of marvels, invented a quick-dry cement to build a harbor where there was none (in Caesarea). He didn’t really care for Jewish people (nor did they care much for him), but he rebuilt God’s temple… marking every 36 x 12 ft stone with his insignia (as archaeologists discovered), so if you were a 1st century Jew, every time you go up to the temple, you’re reminded whose magnanimous power built your place of worship. And he also went & built his palace next door to the temple, so in this neighborhood, there’s only two homes: God’s house, and His only neighbor on the block, Herod. The ego on this guy: “You can rule the people spiritually, God; I rule them politically & economically.” His paranoia wasn't limited to murdering infant boys in Bethlehem (as if that wasn't maniacal enough), he also outlawed free speech & free assembly, had secret police spying throughout cities for dissidents, & made people he didn't like “disappear.” When complaints arose, he had another palace constructed with an amazing fresh-water pool on a salt-water beach. Since he took a lot of heat every time opposition voices were killed off, he started inviting political enemies to his home & they’d “accidentally drown” in his pool. Pastor Mark Driscoll paraphrases it this way: Public outcry: “You need to stop murdering people!” Herod: “I don’t murder anyone; I just have a very dangerous pool, & friends who can’t swim.” I guess it’s easy to have high self-esteem and call yourself “the Great” if you have lots of accomplishments, wealth, recognition, influence, authority. None of those are bad things per se, but Herod is both brilliant & fairly evil.  And he uses all these potential blessings to feed an insatiable, insecure ego that sacrifices everyone & everything around him to worship at the altar of "self." Great? I don’t know about that. JOHN THE GREAT Back to Luke 1:5… From Herod the Great, the story flips to a nobody priest & his wife, from a nowhere-town that’s not even mentioned, who wins the big ticket lottery for small-time priests of God: He gets to do the temple service he’s been waiting for his whole life, into his old age [Luke 1:7]. And we’re told this faithful couple loved God, served God, walked with God, even as their 2 prayers remained unanswered for a long, long time: For a child of their own, and for the Messianic King to come and redeem, save, liberate, set free God’s people under the oppression of empire after empire. Then, God answers both requests through a chain of events: Win the lotto for priestly service, send an angel with good news: You'll have a son [1:13], you (& many others) will rejoice [1:14], for “he will be great before the Lord” [1:15]. How will he be great? He won’t be rich, successful or powerful. He’ll give up alcohol (which is not sinful when consumed in moderation so that it doesn’t cause yourself or others to stumble) as a sacrificial way of honoring God and being set apart for Him… And he will be really connected to God by being filled with His Spirit, and he’ll do ministry like the prophet Elijah (as prophesied 400 years earlier in Malachi 4:5-6) to call people to repentance & prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. "He will be great before the Lord"... in his personal lifestyle of worship, his relationship with God, and in the way he serves God. Herod “the Great”? The angel basically says, “No, not really. John will be great. Herod will make more money, build more monuments, rule more people, have more followers… but he won’t give his life to humbly serve God. Your son will; he’ll be the great one.” Don’t let greatness be defined by the standards of the world or people like Herod. “Before the Lord”: If you love God and serve God and walk faithfully & obediently with Him, you are great in the sight of God, the only important measure that really matters. JESUS THE GREAT Then, we jump next into Mary’s parallel story… this wonderful, uneducated, peasant teenager from Nazareth (another rural nowheresville town; population: 50-100 people; a pit-stop between 2 other cities) will conceive (as a teen virgin) & give birth to a Son they’ll call Jesus or Y’shua, which means “God is salvation” [Luke 1:31]. And… “He will be great” [1:32]. How will He be great? He will be “called Son of the Most High” [Luke 1:32b], i.e., the Son of God. In ancient near-Eastern culture, family ties are viewed a little differently than ours; a son represents the very essence of his father, in character, authority. He is the fulfillment of a prophecy 700 years old, of a son born from a virgin, who will be called “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). He’ll be great because He will be a descendant in the line of King David as the prophesied Messiah or Christ King [Luke 1:32c], who won’t just rule for a little while, but “will reign over the house of Jacob forever, & of His kingdom there will be no end” [Luke 1:33], fulfilling the prophecies in Daniel 2:44 & Daniel 7:13-14. Where John the Baptizer will be “great before the Lord”, the Lord Himself surpasses John; Jesus is simply “great”, without condition or limitations. He’s great as God, as prophesied Savior King, & as one who rules an everlasting Kingdom.  Let’s unpack that a little bit more: He's God, and He does stuff that surprises us as God.  Where “religion” teaches people if you try hard enough to be a good person, by your own efforts live up to impossible standards of righteousness, maybe you can reach up to Heaven, Jesus is GREAT because He is God who reached down from Heaven & came to us, to draw us to Him. He’s the God who meets us where we are, in our hurts, brokenness, & sinfulness (all the junk that we choose that separates us from Him). Because He led a sinless life & is a Savior King, He’s GREAT because He can (& chooses to) take all our baggage on His own shoulders, pay for our consequences, & suffer so we can be with Him… because He loves you and values you; you’re worth it to Him. He’s GREAT because through Him, He fulfills all the biblical prophecies of the coming Messianic King, validating all of the Word of God as true. [Sidebar: The biblical (& rational) test for prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:22 [paraphrase]: “Does it come true? Then it really is prophecy from God; if it doesn't, it's not.” (duh)]  And He’s GREAT because He’s not a temporary fix-it, He is an everlasting King whose goodness, righteousness, justice & mercy reign eternal without end. That gives us a future hope we can bank on, to help us persevere when life today (a drop in the bucket of the ocean of time & eternity) seems hard. There are no outsiders with Him; anyone & everyone who genuinely turns to Him as God, King & Savior is welcome into His everlasting Kingdom. He’s the good news, and He’s genuinely great, in every sense of the word! Reflection Questions: (1) Do you define greatness as Herod? What makes you feel great? Would your life be great if you had lots of money or stuff? What about lots of accomplishments, recognition, pleasure, influence? Would you feel great if lots of people looked up to you or had to do what you say? What if you left a lasting mark on the world or even history, but without Jesus in the picture? (2) Do you define greatness as John? Is your greatness defined by being “before the Lord”? Do you value & express a lifestyle of worship? Do you put your relationship with Jesus first? What if your deepest pleasure & fulfillment in life is supposed to come from Him?  Are you willingly, humbly & intentionally serving Him with your whole life (not just at church, not just in “compartments” of your life)? Are you willing to give up all the things that the world or people like Herod define as a great life (comfort, security, etc) to pursue greatness in God’s eyes? (3) Do you define greatness as Jesus? Do you recognize Jesus for who He is? Not simply a nice religious figure, a good moral teacher, or a homeless preacher born of questionable parentage; do you know why He’s so great? Dwell for a few moments on these qualities about Him: Consider Him as (a) mighty Creator-God; (b) as the fulfillment of hundreds of years of prophecies forged out of love for you, to reach you, to rescue you from sin & death, to restore you in relation to Him; (c) as a good, loving, perfect King. Do we treat Him with the honor due someone so great? What does that imply for your life? For further reflections, also read the gospel of Mark 9:33-37 to discover a hilarious squabble amongst Jesus' disciples about "who's greatest", & Jesus' amazing, humbling rebuke, and another definition of greatness in His eyes.  BE GREAT! 1 comments | reply | edit | memory

Witness [Luke 24:44-49] [ September 10th, 2010 • 4:41pm ] [ mood | hopeful ] As I was reflecting on a passage for my sermon this week [Luke chapter 24, verses 44-49], some thoughts really struck me.  As the resurrected Jesus meets with His followers, as they connect with Him & really tune into His frequency, He enables them to understand how all of Scriptures (from the Old Testament all the way through His current teachings) form one huge, whole picture of the redemption story that points to Jesus as God & Savior.  What are their minds being opened to understand [verse 45]?  That Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection from the dead fulfills God's sovereign, history-wide rescue plan for all of us. Where I hear God speaking to me most is in verse 48: "You are witnesses."  After shoving Lebron James' advertisement thoughts out of my brain, I ask God: "I know it's important; what does that mean?"  Notice that He calls them witnesses after telling them "see [the scars in] My hands & feet... touch Me & see", and He even sits to eat some seafood (mmm... broiled fish) with them (to overcome their superstitious fear that he's simply a ghost.  Silly disciples).  I don't think He simply means it in the casual, dispassionate, disconnected, bystander eyewitness way, but as one who sees, tests, touches, and experiences the situation, the person, the relationship for yourself.  Is that me?  Am I a witness?  Not just in the past (when I first came to know Jesus personally), but on a regular, ongoing, daily, moment-by-moment experience? Then in verse 49, He blesses them with a promise: "I am sending the promise of My Father upon you... [which will cause them to be] clothed with power from on high."  What in the world?  Ah, but if you study Luke-Acts (prequel & sequel written by the same non-Jewish investigator named Luke), you can make the connection in context... [Acts 1:8] "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth." [Acts 2:32-33] " This Jesus, God raised up & of that we are all witnesses.  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, & having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing & hearing" the gospel through Scriptures in a miraculous, supernatural way, as each person was hearing it in their native tongue at that time & place.  Connection? Jesus instructed His followers in verses 46 & 47 to proclaim good news to all people & nations about rescue, redemption, forgiveness through Christ, if people will turn away from our self-destructive, self-centered wickedness and turn toward Jesus instead.  Putting the pieces together, a witness, then, is also one who testifies to what they have seen & experienced with Jesus & about Him as Lord & Savior through the promised power of God's Spirit.  Do I experience that kind of power to live, breathe & demonstrate the reality of the gospel? Not there yet, but chasing it.  Jesus rocks, & greater things await [John 14:11-12].  I want to witness that. Reflection questions: (1) Are you a witness? Do you spend time with Jesus & in His Word, allowing Him to transform your heart & life as He opens your mind to understand Scriptures?  Has the great redemption story unfolded for you? (2) Are you a witness?  Not simply a casual observer, but one who sees, tests, touches, experiences the resurrected Jesus for yourself, & His teaching in your life? He wants to write an amazing story into your life.  Is His great redemption story being written into your life story? (3) Are you a witness? One whose experiences of Christ's power through His Spirit have transformed your lifestyle, your words, actions, character/integrity to testify to the nations (whether in foreign countries or in the cubicle or cafe next door) the reality & goodness of the gospel? 1 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Hero this Christmas Is WALL-E [ December 14th, 2008 • 3:27pm ] [ mood | hopeful ] I was watching WALL-E last night, & loving it.  What's not to like? It's intelligent & heavily-layered, weaving together themes like environmental consciousness, the ability to overcome our programming (whether robot or human), the ability to inspire others to overcome their programming, and, of course, pursuing love with a fierce, self-sacrificial perseverance.  And who doesn't love a good underdog story?  He enters the scene equipped with less resources & ability than the average joe.  But I love it when someone ignores their supposed limitations or handicaps to overcome the role in life that others have assigned to them.  It takes the stinging insult & weakness of being the underdog, wears it as a badge of courage, and turns it into even greater strength & victory. And what I love about WALL-E is that, despite being a tiny, simple trash-compacting bot, he supercedes his programming... to develop deep appreciation in finding beauty in random things... to bumblingly pursue the more hip, more powerful, sleek, high-end, Apple iPod-esque EVE... and to persevere through crushing trials to become the hero for robots & mankind.   He is a total gangsta.  And how cool is it that he gets the girl?  I feel him; I often feel like a simple, small pastor-bot pursuing a girl as wonderful as Melissa (who is totally my Apple-esque EVE).  WALL-E gives hope to the rest of us underdogs.  =] I think that's what I like about the Christmas story too.  Jesus pursues us with such deep affection and love, like WALL-E pursuing EVE.  But instead of winning our hearts with a polished act & cheap tricks, like some slimy poseur pimping a big bankroll, shiny sportscar, expensive gifts & flowers & dinners to impress a girl (until he gets what he wants), Jesus chooses a much harder path.  Instead of rolling up with the riches & power of God, He chooses to come in weakness, in poverty.  No flash, no shortcuts.  Born in the stink of an animal stall?  To teen parents?  Hunted throughout childhood by a king (Herod) insecure enough to slaughter every boy in Bethlehem because he felt politically threatened by the whispers of One to come [Matthew 2:13-18]?  You must be kidding.  Tough break, kid. I like it though.  It shows the lengths He's willing to go, to be together with us.  He risks everything, vulnerable & destitute... and not just as an infant, but throughout His whole life.  Isaiah 53:2-3 describes Him as one who "grew up like a tender shoot, like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering... and we esteemed Him not."  And still He pursues us, endures, sacrifices everything, overcoming every limitation to reach us, out of deep, fierce love and affection for us.  He's the underdog hero, my WALL-E. 2 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Obsession [ October 28th, 2008 • 10:00pm ] [ mood | grateful ] My name is Joshua Lee, and I am a Transformers addict. Really the problem started when I was 12, in junior high, when my brother & I graduated from our gateway drugs of Star Wars & G.I. Joe action figures into hardcore Transformers collecting.  As we grew older & our interest in "playing with toys" waned, my brother sold off all our Generation One TFs online.  I've always liked action figures, as expressed in a few superhero toys I still keep along with my comics collection, but have been clean & sober from Transformers for the past 20 years. Then there was last year's Transformers movie, rekindling passions I thought long-dead.  And once I caved in and bought my first TF last summer, they once again had their hooks in me.  Game over. Now, I mostly collect Japanese imports from the Transformers Henkei line (& a few from its American counterpart: Transformers Classics line).  I prefer the Japanese ones because they most closely resemble the Generation One cartoon Transformers of my childhood from the 1980s (in their robot form & in color scheme).  I not only collect them, I constantly pose/transform them on a daily basis, have long boring conversations about them with anyone who will listen, surf websites about them at night, and read comics & articles about them.  I talk to my girlfriend about Transformers, giving detailed histories about each character, show her how to transform them, and make her watch youtube videos about them.  In short, I am a total geek for Transformers.  I even take pictures of them if you'd like to see: Transformers Photo Album. Why do I <3 Transformers so much?  I think my love for them goes beyond how cool it is to see/play with giant robots that fight each other.  It's more than a grown-up's admiration of the engineering that goes into making slick-looking robots that transform into awesome vehicles.  It's more than childhood nostalgia (though that's present & strong too).  There's something about the idea of transformation that really hits home with me.  There's an optimism to it, the smell & taste of freedom.  The worst thing that could happen to a TF robot (since it was taboo to be killed in cartoons of the '80s, until Optimus Prime bit it in the '86 movie) was for them to experience "stasis lock", where they lost the freedom & joy of transforming into a different shape/vehicle.  Transformation is the hope that one can transcend what we are or were, to become something else... something better. Unlike robots (other than fictional, movie ones who seem to do it all the time), we exist with the possibility to move beyond our innate programming, genetic dispositions or animal instincts/urges to change.  Even the most jaded atheist or biological behaviorist holds out hope that they might grow, and change.  See, that's one of the things I love about the Christian faith, a message of hope that teaches even though I fall flat on my face time & time again, I do not have to be a slave to my faulty, societal & sin-cursed programming, that I don't have to live in the endless cycle of insanity that expects a different outcome when I'm only repeating the same brokenness & behaviors again & again.  The gospel message is one of personal transformation & life transformation: There is a way out of the cage/labrynth/hall of mirrors that we, mankind, have built with our own hands.  There is a way out, & His name is Jesus. It is my deep desire & joy to experience intimate, personal life change in Christ, especially if you know anything about my past & background.  It's my deep hope & passion (& obsession) to see you experience transformation & real life in Christ as well. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." [2 Corinthians 5:17] 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

My New Post [ September 23rd, 2008 • 11:15pm ] [ mood | sleepy ] Wow, it's almost been an entire year with no new posting; I wonder if I have any readership left?  I'm sure you're sitting at the edge of your seats every day, wondering, when will he post again?  Yes, I've had to fend off many an angry email from agitated fans of this blog.  Life is indeed tough; my advice:  Walk it off.  Rub some dirt on it. Anyway, today's title refers more to my new job post... shifting into the lead pastor position of the English ministry at CFCC Hayward.  It's not that new, since Tim & Penny left in June... let's see [gimme a sec to count]... 4 months now.  I'm still a newb [alternately spelled: noob, by Einsteins around the world like Desmond Toy], but enjoying the learning curve, as steep as it is.  If you're interested in seeing what we're up to, I had time this week to update the website: http://thecrossing.cfcchayward.org.  It's been a rough transition at times; a week ago, there was one day I worked for 17 hours straight; no joke.  I would say my average work week roughly breaks down like this: - Research/Prep study for messages: 8 hrs; - Actual message writing: 14 hrs; - Prep work for fellowships: 2 hrs; - Participating/serving in fellowships: 9 hrs; - Visitations/driving, phone calls, email, follow-up: 5 hrs; - Non-Sunday ministry meetings: 4 hrs; - Pastoral staff meeting: 1 hr; - Vision-casting: 3 hrs; - Prayer: 2 hrs; - Administrative work: 4 hrs; - Church on Sundays (from prep & worship, to classes & meetings): 6 hrs. - AVG TOTAL: 58 hrs. Hopefully, some things will take less time as I grow more experienced.  Outside of ministry, I'm trying to ruthlessly carve out enough time, energy and attention each week to invest in personal friendships and in Melissa, but sometimes it's hard.  That is depressing sounding.  Let's end on some fun stuff: Current favorite things... - TV Series: Battlestar Galactica (Yes, the Heroes premiere was HOT, but just recently got into BSG) - Action Figures: Takara Transformers Masterpiece MP-04 Optimus Prime & MP-05 Megatron (THEY LOOK JUST LIKE THE 80's CARTOON!) - Internet Entertainment: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog (I've been singing along all summer) - Song in my iPod: The Academy Is... - "About a Girl" (Download it.  Legally.  Support the artist) - Worship Song: Lincoln Brewster - "For These Reasons" - Board Game Craving: Carcassonne (with expansions 1, 2 & 5; I want to play Shadows Over Camelot expansion but no one wants to play) - Personal Passage of the Week: Hosea 3 6 comments | reply | edit | memory

My/Our Anniversary [ November 28th, 2007 • 8:11pm ] [ mood | loved ] so mon night (11/26), melissa & i celebrated one year of dating.  that may seem like small potatoes to the long-married or the "we've-been-dating-six-years-and-God-knows-why-we're-not-married-or-engaged-yet" set, but it was a significant marker in our journey thus far. after work, melissa & i went to massimo's, a white-tablecloth fine-dining italian restaurant down in fremont.  signficance?  a year ago, for our first date, i planned on taking her there.  day of, i call, & turns out they're closed on sundays!  good job.  after some last min quick-thinking, got us into a less fancy-pants italian place, which turned out to be just right for a 1st date (not too casual, not too formal).  still, i'm happy to find redemption in finally being able to take her there a year later.  i don't know how to describe the fellow, but the waiter was very well-trained... articulate, kind & professional, my epitome for what a waiter should be like.  after working our way thru appetizers, wine & very nice entrees, we were too stuffed for dessert.  but knowing we were celebrating a one-year anniversary of sorts, the waiter surprised us w/ a free slice of ice cream cake!  free cake, you say?  i accept.  i give the place 2 thumbs up [for service & food]. afterward, we came home & embarked on a cool, creative activity melissa came up with, based on a passage in joshua 3-4.  basically, as the israelites prepare to cross the mighty jordan river & take jericho, God causes the waters to part [a la moses] so they can cross, but only when the ark of the covenant [representing His presence] is carried by priests into the middle of the river.  [biblical] josh tells the ppl to gather 12 stones, one representing each of the tribes of israel, from the dry ground mid-river.  he sets them up at gilgal so that "in the future when your descendants ask their fathers, `what do these stones mean?'  tell them, `israel crossed the jordan on dry ground. For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you crossed over... so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful & so that you might always fear the Lord your God" [josh 4:21-24]. in the same way, melissa came up w/ the idea of gathering 12 stones [one representing each month we've been dating], gluing them to cardboard, drawing a rushing river around them, & for each month, describing how the presence of God has gone before us to part rivers for us to cross in our relationship.  as we delved into our memories, journals & email history, we were surprised to discover the many ways & cool themes that God developed in our relationship to cross into new territory.  each month, there were patterns where He was helping us cross rivers together: ministry synergy, family issues, relational issues, moving closer to each other, seeing God's provision, etc.  neat, huh?  in this season of thanksgiving, it's always good to look back, see what God has done, & give thanks. we also tried pulling a practical joke on her housemate annie... to no avail.  melissa has a beautiful diamond ring passed down to her by her grandma, so she put it on her engagement finger, & excitedly told her housie that we have something to show her!  her reaction?  cynical face & "nice try."  i was so looking fwd to her saying "OMG, really?!" and me: "no.  not really."  >=[ i love this girl.  pics posted on facebook.  =] 4 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Waste of Time [ October 20th, 2007 • 11:07am ] [ mood | hungry ] i don't know why i'm wasting so much time this morning, but these facebook grps struck me funny, so i'm posting for your amusement: 1. " i am fluent in sarcasm" type: sports & recreation - college sports 2.  "i don't care how comfortable crocs are, you look like a dumb@$$" type: common interest - philosophy 3. "i cheated at heads-up 7-up in elementary school anonymous" type: common interest - sexuality description: you lie, head on desk, arms wrapped around to conceal your face, which is pressing against the surface that you realize later was prbbly sneezed on several times by a classmate only mins earlier.  & your thumb is up, high & proud.  you begin to sweat, & the air you breathe gets heavier & heavier.  all of a sudden, you get a tap on your thumb.  it shoots down.  instead of waiting for the round to end, you sneak a peak at the perpetrator's shoes, or maybe even the bottom of their shirt: a red, striped shirt & white keds.  when the round ends, & it's time for you to pick from a row of suspects, you know exactly who to choose...  you hesitate for a few secs & scan the other suspects to make it seem like you really didn't know all along.  then, you point.  now you are a champion in your own right.  & you did it by cheating...at heads-up 7-up.  if this sounds like you about 10 yrs ago, or in my case, 10 mins ago, then you belong in this grp where you can finally come out of the heads-up 7-up closet & admit your wrongdoing. disclaimer: this game might also be known as heads-down, 7-up; thumbs-up, 7-up; heads-up, thumbs-up; heads-down, thumbs-up, etc.  those names sound crazy & foreign to me because at my school we always called it heads up 7-up.  but i did my senior thesis on the origin of this worldly game and apparently the name differs depending on regional & cultural factors.  for example, the ancient babylonians called it "thumbs up, your butt".  the rules were pretty disgusting & nobody ever cheated. we are an elite group of men & women who dominated the sport that is known as heads-up 7-up.  we may have bent the rules slightly, but at least we didn't use performance-enhancing drugs to win.  well, at least some of us didn't.  unless you count ecto-cooler hi-C with slimer on the cover a performance-enhancing drug.  in that case, i'm guilty too. my name is andrew, and i cheated at heads-up 7-up. [and my personal favorite of the day] 4. "i secretly want to punch slow walking ppl in the back of the head" type: sports & recreation - extreme sports description: either walk faster, or get the F off the sidewalk.  if you can't walk & talk at the same time, get off the phone.  if you & your friend decide to have a conversation in the middle of the sidewalk, you my friend, are retarded.  there is grass on the side.  ludacris - "move B, get out the way"; follow that rule. yoiks!   0 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Sabbatical [ October 10th, 2007 • 3:21pm ] [ mood | chipper ] last weekend, i went on my 1st vacation in 2 yrs.  melissa & i headed down to LA for a whirlwind visit.  fri: after tons of caffeine & talking for hrs, we met up w/ a girl melissa discipled as an undergrad at UCSC.  afterward, we arrived at my brother jeff's house (where we stayed all weekend) & had dinner w/ him, his wife, my cousin deedee & her hubbie, & stayed up late watching "children of men" on jeff's ginormous home theater projector.  sat: we had lunch w/ my bro & sis-in-law, & headed off to angela lo's wedding (now officially mrs. nguyen)!  fast ceremony w/ lots & lots of familiar faces from the old-school crowd of CFCC hayward.  it was so fun!... lots of food, wine, dancing & friends (pics posted @ facebook).  sun: had breakfast w/ jeff & jenn at a fancy-pants place (i ate a french toast croissant covered in peaches, pecans, melba sauce & vanilla bean ice cream w/ raspberry sauce.  i am indeed a fatty), checked out mega-comic book stores in hollywood, & caught an early show of "wicked" (loved it!  you gotta see it).  melissa even spoiled me by buying the soundtrack to listen to on the long drive home.  we stopped at harris ranch & splurged on a prime rib dinner (yay) & pulled over on I-5 to look at stars.  all-in-all, a great sabbath.  =] i love that God commands us to take sabbaths.  my theology of it is 4-fold:  (1) God wants us to rest from work (exo. 16:23-30); He designed us to work hard & work honorably, but also to need to chill & be refreshed, & even models it at the dawn of creation (though He don't need it).  (2) God wants us to be renewed thru a time set apart to honor & worship Him (exo. 20:8-11).  they're related functions (day of rest, day of worship; lev. 23:3).  (3) it's a symbol; each time we rest, experience joy & intimacy w/ God, it regularly reminds us of the salvation we receive thru Jesus (heb. 4:8-11; cf. matt. 11:28-30).  (4) lastly, it's a faith issue, just like giving an offering.  God doesn't need the cash (psa. 50:8-10).  in sacrificing 1/10 of my income, i learn to trust God & experience how He richly blesses me thru 90%  even greater than i'd get out of 100% on my own.  He even challenges us to test Him & see if it ain't so (malachi 3:8-10)!  similarly, in sabbath, i sacrifice 1/7 of my time each week, to trust God & experience how He richly blesses 6/7 of my time to be even more productive & fulfilling than i'd get out of 100%.  the issue in both cases is making a sacrifice out of love-trust (what we call "faith").  do i love Him?  do i trust Him?  test Him on it; i triple-dog dare ya. 4 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Musical Choices [ January 21st, 2007 • 8:02pm ] [ mood | drained ] it's funny what God uses to speak to you.  i was watching last week's scrubs musical [season 6, ep 6] on youtube, when i had a profound God-moment.  the show revolved around a patient who hears everyone around her singing, as if her life had turned into a musical.  silly song-&-dances ensue.  i love it.  turns out she's abt to have a ginormous brain aneurysm, so she goes under the knife to unblock the artery.  in the end, she survives (minus auditory hallucinations), & JD wraps up w/ an internal monologue, commenting on the decisions made & the changes that result in ppl's lives... [sub-plots] elliott's decision to move out yet missing JD, carla deciding to go back to work but miss out on time w/ her 1st child, & [main plot device] the patient missing the music in her head.  JD reflects w/ the thought: "in musicals, there's always a happy ending... but in life, sometimes when you get what you want, you end up missing what you left behind."   in light of recent, difficult convos, i felt God remove the veil to help me better understand how ppl feel.  in some ways, i empathize w/ what they're going thru [end of 12/4/06 entry], but it wasn't until i watched this ep that God really opened my eyes to grasp more fully the impact these personal struggles have on beloved friends... the pressure of decisions that lead to change, wrestling w/ the pros & cons, & a touch of sadness at possibly having to let go of the life they had come to know & love (financially, socially, expectations).  if you get a chance, youtube the scrubs musical; it's only 23 min, well-worth the entertainment & heartfelt insight (esp the last 3 min).  i'm thankful for God giving me a small window into a friend's mind & heart.   w/ most decisions, there's a real sense of "either-or"... & we all wonder, at least a little bit, if the grass is indeed greener on the other side.  it brings to mind last sun's msg (1/14/07), when the speaker talked abt indiana jones & the last crusade & our skewed view of God's will... how the point in decisions isn't always if A or B is correct, but are we willing to submit our will to join in on what God is already doing, & that God is not honored in either choice if we're not living for His purposes.  many of us are paralyzed in our decision-making b/c of fear of the unknown, or fear of regret... as great as new things God brings into our life can be, it's hard to let go of what we might be missing out on.   my comfort lies in knowing that God designed us for change.  we weren't meant to maintain the status quo... in ministry, in life, in love.  we hold on b/c we fear "missing out", but that's the deception.  we cannot attain God's best for our lives, nor experience the wild ride of God's great adventure for us, if we fearfully cling to & stagnate in our personal tower of babel.  we'll miss out.  w/out change, there is no growth.  as wonderful as today is, God loves to grow us (becoming more & more conformed to the likeness of His Son; 2cor 3:17-18), to move us onwards & upwards... toward Him, in maturity, in relationships, in life stage, in direction, purpose, ministry, experience, endurance, fulfillment, in love, joy, peace (& all the fruit of the Spirit; gal 5:22).  choices. 4 comments | reply | edit | memory

My 2006 Year in Review [ January 11th, 2007 • 11:31pm ] [ mood | cold ] well, hello there.  it's time for my procrastinated year-end wrap-up of all things favorite (to josh) abt 2006. it seems i've lost a great deal of readership since summer (due to my own negligence in updating), but as always, i'm thankful for you,  the 2.5 ppl who faithfully read.  really though, you should quit surfing the web during school/work/hw.  tsk tsk.  on to the good stuff: best album:  honestly, this wasn't a big music year for me... i'm starting to lose interest in keeping up (uh oh, signs of growing up).  anyhoo, despite great albums from quietdrive, snow patrol, keeping last year's sherwood on play-repeat, & recent releases from this day & age, switchfoot, chris tomlin & jay-z, my fave album of the year was "beauty in the broken" by starfield.  the evolution of their sound & style rocks my socks off. favorite song:  really loved todd agnew's grace like rain, but the song that stuck w/ me most this year was "from the inside out" by hillsongs united.  there was a period where it drew me tearfully into the presence of our intimate, almighty God every time.  definitely my personal worship & theme song for 2006. a decent movie:  this was a mediocre year of theater-going for me.  if i had to choose, i enjoyed end of the spear; it really drew me into the true story of the 5 martyred missionaries (made famous by elizabeth elliott's written acct in "thru gates of splendor") & their families who continued to work w/ the waodani tribe in ecuador, & won them over w/ the love of Christ. best comicbook story:  tons of great contenders: an allegory of native perspectives in iraq told thru the eyes of lions in pride of baghdad, the 2nd gen asian-am experience in  american born chinese (also worth mentioning: shenzhen: a travelogue in china), & following up the absolute best run & perfect story/art team on daredevil, the new creators punched me in the face & kept me coming back for more w/ " the devil in cell block D" (not to mention other quality titles like fables, ex machina, runaways, astonishing x-men, etc blah blah).  but the one that was more innovative than anything on the shelves & brilliant in reinventing the very concept of heroes & comics was grant morrison's 7 soldiers of victory.  seven unrelated, B-list characters' fascinating, independent stories, each reinventing a genre (mythology, mystery, magic, urban legends/social commentary, science fiction, etc).  each drew me completely into their world to forget abt the rest of the stories, but all along giving pieces to an overall, interwoven grand tapestry... & these 7 characters doomed to save the world NEVER MEET!  utter genius. fave book:  most important read this year was "the end of poverty" by jeffrey d. sachs. (i loved peter pan in scarlet too!) fave TV show:  heroes.  watching the 1st mini-season was like tv/superhero crack. fave DVD rewind moments:  chicken dances from arrested development, & howard dean impersonations on dave chappelle.  byaaah! fave online article/blog:  last year (05) was definitely downward mobility (by urban connections); this year (06), a tie btwn learning the truth abt the headless chicken (it's true!), & the blog article on the fall of ministry leader ted haggerty... not simply addressing the impact on christian evangelicalism but also b/c of its refreshing, moving discussion of grace & our own fallenness.  sigh. fave hang-out spot:  despite the fact that it is always 1 million degrees below zero in there (& i am in hate w/ coldness)... live happy, be happy, bo happy! biggest addiction:  playing settlers online.  oy. fave ministry moment:  fasting for a week w/ 10 awesome youth counselors.  so proud of them for loving God, loving youths, & interceding in powerful sacrifice & seeking the Lord. fave ministry project:  tie btwn summer youth prayer sessions, & tag-teaming w/ melissa 'til 3 in the morning (even when she was 850 miles away) to write a sermon. fave side project (non-ministry-related):  tie btwn helping to build a mousetrap race car and helping w/ drawings! most fun person to laugh with:  ex-youth counselor matt phu; he laughs even more easily than i do, no matter how dumb the joke, & no matter how much other ppl tell him not to encourage me (hah).  "shh... all's quiet on the western front." biggest joy:  getting to know melissa... & seeing God lovingly, intimately, powerfully, playfully involved in the midst of our process.  =]   biggest heartache:  watching beloved young adult brothers & sisters lose sight of their first Love, sleeping with the world, & missing out on the richness of God's best for them. fave practical joke:  hehe... mine!  drawing mustaches, eye patches, afros & missing teeth on me & PT's pics on the official church pastoral staff photos in the main sanctuary.  you'll have to be more creative next year, kids! fave date:  though each one w/ a certain someone has been better than the last... the first date on sun nov 26, 2006 is my most memorable (so far).  discovering someone who is so enjoyable & "impressive" enough to make me want to move beyond dinner to keep talking for hrs & hrs (i must've really enjoyed the company b/c i hate sitting in the car in the cold)... for once, not being able to read a girl at all... & despite her godly & warmly communicative nature, experiencing some of that famed punkiness!  wow, someone who can keep up w/ me.  =] thanks for tuning in, in 2006.  keep your eyes peeled; more nonsensical rants ahead... 5 comments | reply | edit | memory

My Sighed [ January 4th, 2007 • 10:09pm ] [ mood | determined ] unfortunately, even adults can say and do unproductive things that are self-destructive & hurt others deeply.  you can always tell when someone like that passes thru others' lives; it's disappointing seeing the amount of emotional wreckage such ppl leave in their wake.  i feel so lucky... so BLESSED by God... to have met someone who is incredibly emotionally intelligent, able to articulate her thoughts & feelings w/ wisdom & affection, who has a highly developed sense of self-awareness & self-understanding (but isn't insane in self-consciousness), who enjoys processing her internal mental & emotional state w/ me, & who's even able to talk out & work thru difficult issues or convos w/ me thru her attentive listening, sensitivity & ability to communicate & compromise. i'm a fiery person; i like to fight for what i believe in, stand up for what's right (esp in God's eyes), & to protect the ones i love.  i particularly have difficulty holding my tongue in the last case.  sigh.  i'm just arrogant enough & self-righteous enough to feel entitled to defend myself.  thankfully, God's been teaching me what it looks like to see others thru His eyes, even hurtful ppl... who are really likewise hurting, in need of Christ, & loved by Him.  i'm learning what it looks like to turn the other cheek... to win others thru humility & Christ-like compassion, servanthood, sacrifice, & sometimes even suffering (romans 12:17-21). God is my shield, my refuge, & will be my vindication (psalm 91). it always makes me sad to see grown-ups say childish or hurtful things.  but even if they do, we must learn to see behind the garbled words to understand the genuine needs & desires they're trying to express.  and most of all, they need us to cover them w/ the bountiful, beautiful love of Christ.  i'm giving myself permission to feel all discombobulated tonight. 2 comments | reply | edit | memory

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