Growing health and effectiveness
Sunday, April 17, 2011
If there had been no Good Friday or Easter Sunday
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Osteen Moments
Friday, February 11, 2011
Cultures of Life and Death
As image bearers - no matter how flawed the image by the fall, every individual on this planet has infinite value to the Creator, and therefore to us as His family members.
But just as the culture of Christ is a culture of life in all of its dimensions, the culture of the evil one is that of death and destruction in all of its dimensions. Jesus put it this way in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Christ brings life. Satan brings death.
It should not surprise us, therefore, that the predominate culture of our world is one of the devaluing of human life. Think of all the things that devalue life: pornography, sexual promiscuity, lack of justice, corruption, the sex trade, abortion, the indiscriminate killing of civilians in warfare, spousal and child abuse, slavery, discrimination, and all behaviors that devalue people. Wherever people are marginalized, mistreated, denied basic rights, oppressed, used and denied justice, the culture of the evil one prevails - and that is most of our world.
The Gospel is good news for the soul - and the only route to eternal life - but its implications are far broader than that. Jesus invaded our world to right what had gone wrong in the fall and which will be completed in his return. We are told to pray (and therefore act) that "His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven." The gospel brings eternal life but it also must bring a culture of life to a world that has a culture of death and devaluation of people made in His image.
As Christ followers we are called to live and to promote a culture of life where the dignity of individuals is lifted high, where those things that devalue life are seen for what they are and to the extent that we can have an influence, eradicated.
Think about this: Prison ministry brings a culture of life to a dark place; abstinence education globally brings a culture of life rather than a culture of using people for our own gratification; those who stand up for justice bring a culture of life; those who help women with unwanted pregnancy stand up for a culture of life; those who minister to orphans and widows the same. Every time we act to help those who are marginalized, mistreated, oppressed or uphold the dignity of people made in God's image we support a culture of life.
The thief comes to steal and destroy in every way He can. Jesus comes to heal, save and restore in all dimensions of life. When we join Him in that work we support Him and push back the culture of death with His culture of life.
The Power of Incarnational Engagement
Thursday, December 23, 2010
A Story Stranger than Fiction
This is a story so absurd that it could only have been scripted by a Divine hand. No other writer would have attempted such a script. If they had they would not have claimed it to be true: fiction maybe, but not reality. This is not how the One whose voice had echoed off of a billion galaxies would make His entrance. Without CNN and Fox News, into a hovel known affectionately today as Bethlehem but then nothing more than a tiny village on the path to Jerusalem.
His entrance was marked not by a proclamation to kings but to astonished herdsmen sleeping with sheep. The heavens opened with ten thousand voices – not over Jerusalem the ancient capital – but over a tiny grazing field for a handful of insignificant shepherds. They would be the only witnesses of the grand entrance of a King. No other writer would have written such a script.
No other author would have taken such a chance. For behind this story there are echoes of another story - equally incredulous. Centuries before in the vastness of eternity past – when infinity kissed infinity, The Master of Infinity spoke into being the universe in which we live - 3,000 of whose stars are visible to the careful eye, 30 billion visible from a large telescope, - the other 90% of the universe still hidden from our eyes. Its splendor an eternal testimony to the Author of the story.
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render: O help us to see
Tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.
(Walter Chalmers Smith)
The Author’s heart was restless still, lonely in His perfection. A heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longed to give away infinite love. Again the Author spoke: A planet was expertly crafted. One among billions. A people wonderfully created – in the image of the Author. Free to love, free to experience the infinite goodness of the Author. Free to revel in His infinite Love. But above all free. Love cannot be forced and remain love.
We are not the sole owners of broken hearts. No heart suffered such sorrow as Infinite Love rejected. Image bearers rejected the Image Maker. The story’s characters fired the Author to write their own script. Unmatched, searing pain pierced the Author’s heart as the loved jilted the Lover.
Chaos infiltrated beauty. A planet was hijacked and spun out of control. Poverty of spirit supplanted endless joy. Unfulfilled hearts realized the pain of lost love. Without the Author, individual story lines faltered – and failed. Sadness reigned. Darkness descended in seeming endless gloom.
Truth can be stranger than fiction. For in the pained heavens the grieving Author plotted love’s revenge. An awesome revenge that only Divinity could contrive – that only Divinity would contrive. Having lost His loved, the Lover would send His most loved to reclaim His heart’s desire. The rejected Creator would kiss the unfaithful created. Tender mercy in place of deserved destruction. An astonished heaven broke into unbelieving applause. Image bearers would be reclaimed by the Image Maker. Light would once again prevail over darkness. Brokenness would be made whole. Peace would triumph over chaos.
All was silent in the heavens on the chosen night. Angels held their corporate breath. For nine months the Son had been absent, resident in a young girls womb, coming to us not as a king but incognito, just one of thousands of children that would be born on a lonely planet that night – into the darkness that our word had become. Placenta covered the Son of the universe arriving to claim back His beloved: this time, one by one, heart by heart. Tender mercy arriving in disguise: one of us, one like us. On that night, the Author personally entered our story.
Such humility our world has never known. A stunning reversal for a world gone astray. A Heart full of love is not easily satisfied. Transcendent goodness longing to give away infinite love, arriving under cover of night in order to “shine on those living in darkness…to guide our feet into the path of peace.” (Luke 1:27).
When an author writes, each character is unique; each has his or her own storyline. We, each have a story – unique, unrepeated, singular. Each story has its own joy, its own pain, its own pathos and unmatched quality. But each shares one singular, astonishing feature. We are made in the Author’s image, and He will not rest until we have invited Him to join in our story.
More astonishing than the script He has authored, the story we celebrate today is that He also wants to enter into your story. This is the most ancient of stories but it is also the most contemporary of stories. The Christmas story is but one chapter in the Author’s divine script. The Author is still writing. And every person who invites Him into their story becomes a separate and unique chapter in His unfinished book. And into each story He brings His light and peace.
“For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” (John 3:16-17.)
Have you invited Him into your story?
Sunday, December 5, 2010
A tiny town, welcome homes
It was in this town that a resurrection took place - before the resurrection in Christ himself - the friend of Jesus, Lazarus. In this town he invited Mary to sit at His feet where only men were supposed to be. In this town, Jesus dined at the home of Simon the Leper, something others would never have done. And while born in Nazareth and crucified in Jerusalem, it was in this town that Jesus ascended up into heaven after his resurrection.
A tiny, insignificant town. It was poor, it housed those who lived from paycheck to paycheck and more than a few disreputable types. But it had one thing that has preserved its name for all eternity - it was a town that welcomed Jesus. There were homes where He could come and spend the night and where he felt at home. There were homes where friends ministered to Him rather than He ministering to them. Here he was loved, here he could rest, here he could be ministered to, here he could be away from the crowds who only wanted something from Him. Here people like Mary just wanted to be with Him in His presence.
In Ascending from this town He paid it a great honor. He came to a family who loved him. He ascended from a town that loved Him.
Bethany: a place where Jesus was always welcome and at home. I want my home to be like the home of Mary and Martha. And I want my town to be a place where He is welcome because He has many friends in the neighborhood: who love Him, want to be with Him and honor Him with all that they are and have.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Hearing God's Voice
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Incarnation
In becoming a man, in taking on our humanity, everything changed in how we could relate to God for in becoming like us and living with us for a season we could touch, hear, learn from and relate to the unapproachable God. The Apostle John put it this way, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Never again could men and women say, “I cannot understand God” for now they had met and can continue to meet the Lord of the universe through the person of Jesus Christ.
When at thirty years old, Jesus started his ministry he was clear about one thing. The only way to the father, the only way to salvation, the only way to know God was through him. He declared, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me” (John 14:6). There are no alternate routes, there are no other spiritual guides, he and he alone is the route to the Father!
This is not politically correct and never has been. If you read the gospels and the life of Paul you discover it was not well accepted in that day either. For the religious officials in Judea, Jesus could not be the awaited Messiah because he came in poverty and died on a cross in shame. For the Greeks and Romans with all their various “new age” type religions including statues to “unknown God’s” (just to stay on the safe side), a savior who died and rose again was nothing less than foolishness on a grand scale.
In our day, Christianity is vilified and marginalized and alternate spiritual routes are explored and embraced no matter that they contradict one another and have no basis for truth. I am intrigued by how quickly people grab on to numerous alternate spiritual routes that have no validation in history and no internal consistency, but only vague and foggy spiritual language but it is believed as truth while Christianity with its historical grounding, Scriptures and internal consistency is rejected as foolishness.
One of the lies of the evil one is that life is about us. There is another lie: that we can choose our path to God – which is a grand lie indeed since it elevates our wisdom above God’s and allows us to create our own God, our own path and our own spirituality. That is a greater lie than the first one because now life is not only about us but we have the ability to determine its destiny.
If Jesus was trying to create a popular religion he failed miserably. God does not appear as a baby, make furniture, live itinerantly without a home, befriend prostitutes and the sick and the poor and sinners. He does not allow himself to be nailed to a cross so that he can bear our sin on his own body, naked, bleeding, diminished and alone. He would not choose twelve followers who would not qualify for anything other than blue collar work and tell them to change the world (which they did). He would not choose ordinary people like us down through the centuries to keep on changing the world – which he does.
Jesus did not come as a religious guru, or to found a popular religion. He came as the Lord of the Universe, took on our bones and flesh and with truth and grace pointed us to himself as the one who could save us from our sin, give hope to the hopeless, heal the sick and lead us into a relationship with the father – through him. And Jesus and the message of the gospel have been transforming individual lives, one at a time ever since. Not in religion but in relationship.
Anyone who is serious about a relationship with Jesus Christ must confront the claim he made that he is the only way to the father. There are no alternate routes. If he is wrong on that he was not God. If he is right on that he is the only God.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Ways of seeing
You remember the account in the gospels where Jesus and the disciples are overwhelmed with the crowds of people hungry to meet Jesus and desperate to have their circumstances changed. The disciples were tired and it seems a bit cranky and saw the crowds as a distraction and a hassle. But Jesus, "looking at the crowds was moved with compassion for they were like sheep without a shepherd." The disciples saw from human eyes while Jesus saw with kingdom eyes.
Human sight is at its core selfish. It sees those things that either help us or hinder us, are to our advantage or disadvantage, give us power or rob us of the same. Kingdom sight is utterly unselfish. It is about giving rather than receiving, it is about serving rather than being served - as the disciples who asked for the honor of sitting at Jesus' right and left side when in heaven found out. Or as those listening to the parable of the good Samaritan discovered.
There is also a time perspective to human versus kingdom seeing. Human eyes are concerned about how the circumstances of life impact me. Kingdom eyes are concerned about how the circumstances of life build God's kingdom, even if to our temporary detriment.
Those who are martyred for their faith understand kingdom sight. They realize that there is something far more precious and significant than even their own lives and are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of Christ and his kingdom. Hebrews 11 is a testimony to those who lived their lives with kingdom vision rather than human vision.
How we see deeply impacts how we live. Our world is driven by fear and a desire to protect ourselves and our interests at any cost. Following Jesus is driven by faith and a willingness to pay any price to be where Christ wants us to be - realizing that to be where Jesus is - is both the most dangerous and most safe place we could ever be. That is why some Christ followers can see circumstances from a perspective of faith, while others see the same circumstances from a perspective of fear.
How we do something as mundane as assimilate the news on CNN or Fox is influenced by whether we are watching with human or kingdom eyes. Human sight assumes that the news is all bad, that the world is going to hell in a hand basket and is pervaded with a sense of gloom and fear.
Kingdom eyes see the same news and they realize that God is still sovereign and that in fact, God uses all the events of the world, good or bad to build his church. They know that no event occurs in our world, good or bad that does not first pass by the hands of God and that he does not use to build his church.
How we view people around us depends on which eyes we are seeing them through. From a human perspective many people are simply losers who have little value to us or society. They may lack the education, sophistication, status or whatever it is that gives one "value" in our world.
Kingdom vision sees the same people and it instinctively says, "this person is precious to God, Jesus died for her, and I will honor her." A study was done of hierarchies of value in a hospital setting. Surgeons were at the top, janitors were at the bottom. The level of respect, eye contact and interaction were highest at the top and lowest at the bottom.
Recently I was waiting in the TSA line at the airport. The TSA agent looked at my license and said, "Do you know a Dr. Addington who was a surgeon?" I said "Yes, it's my dad." He said, "Dr. Gordon Addington"? I said "Yes, that's him." He said, "years ago I was a janitor at United Hospital and your dad befriended me. He even invited me to spend Christmas with the family."
My father had been using his kingdom vision and in doing so upset the value proposition of human vision.
It is an intriguing exercise to go through one's day asking "How would Jesus view this person or this circumstance? How would kingdom vision differ from human vision?" They are very different and they yield hugely different responses.
Which way of seeing is your default?