the gate

The more I read Eugene Peterson, the more I appreciate his unique perspective, insights, and wisdom. In a nation where many (most?) churches follow a business model, Eugene Peterson understands the church is not a business.

In his book, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places, he calls the church “the community of the resurrection.” He says the Christian life is “a resurrection life.” “The resurrection is wholly supernatural. Jesus did not raise himself; he was raised. And we do not raise ourselves: we are raised.”

We participate in Jesus’ resurrection life. “It happens, we do not make it happen. The more we get involved in what God is doing, the less we find ourselves running things; the more we participate in God’s work as revealed in Jesus, the more is done to us and the more is done through us.”

In his book, Living The Resurrection, he offers this resurrection prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, we come to you with a deep sense of gratitude, care, concern, devotion, love for you, and desire to live responsively to you. We sense that we’re with friends in your company of followers—friends who share the life of resurrection and want others to get in on it, notice it, and begin participating at the center of what you’re doing rather than on the periphery. We pray for strength and discernment to understand the culture we are in—the deadening effects, the seductive lures…We ask your blessing on the church—scattered and dispersed and so much of it in despair. We pray that wherever we are and whatever places we go back into—whether it’s pew or pulpit—we may be part of this resurrection life, knowing that you are present and doing your work. You’re not anxious about what is going to happen or whether this is going to work or not. It’s worked a long, long time and will continue working. Mostly, keep us faithful, attentive, adorational, sacrificial, and personal. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Paul prays in Ephesians 1:17-23 that we would grasp the immeasurable greatness of this resurrection power at work in us and around us. I wonder if we grasp it? What would happen if we really did? How would it change our outlook? How would it change the way we live?

Last week I talked about the cross-centered life. But the empty cross must be joined with the empty tomb. I’m just wondering if you think you focus enough on the resurrection of Jesus each day? Do you have any ideas for how we can keep the resurrection more in the forefront of our thinking—especially in the sense of it being the driving force of our day-to-day living?

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In one of my favorite portions of scripture (Acts 17:16), we read about Paul being in Athens. God’s word tells us that the apostle’s spirit was “provoked” because he saw the city given over to idols. Paul did not leave the city but instead he, “reasoned” with people in the “synagogue” and in the “marketplace.”

What amazes me about Paul, is that he exemplifies how we should live our lives. Paul didn’t run from the world like many Christians do today. Where people isolate themselves in their safe and sanitized circle of friends who all think alike.

No, instead Paul went to them. His spirit was moved with compassion, not to condemn them but to bring them the good news of God.

He also didn’t conform to the world’s system or the mindset of these philosophers. He did however understand their culture and knew how to tailor the message of the Gospel  in a way that they can understand. He quoted their poets to reveal the truth of God. He was ”casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.” 

How about you? Is your spirit provoked when you see people in sin? Or are you immune to those that are “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world?”

Have you so compromised your faith that there is no difference between you and unbelievers?

Or are you so culturally inept that you can’t relate to people and thus engage the culture with the Gospel?

May God grant us wisdom and compassion, so that we can be like Paul, who was like Christ. He was compassionate, culturally competent, and bold to proclaim the gospel of the resurrected Christ.

The chapter ends with, “some men joined him and believed.”

So let us “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

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i’m not a blog basher, you guys already know that’s not who i am.  so if this comes off as such, i apologize in advance.  this story is both fascinating and a great conversation point, not an opportunity to pounce.

did you guys read or hear that former USSR leader mikhail gorbachev admitted that he is in fact a christian?  seriously, this blows my mind.  at one point, he was the leader of the largest and most powerful communist nation in the world.  crazy.

anyway, there is a little part of my intellect that gets it.  he would have been a target immediately had he admitted it.  i get it…

but i can’t agree with it.  brothers and sisters of the faith have been risking their lives and/or freedom for centuries to remain faithful and connected to God and the Church, many having been killed rather than betray who they were.

i’m reminded of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

i’m reminded of Paul and his crew.

how about some of these guys?

consider for a second how much of what we consider to be the sacred scriptures is written to us from a prison cell.

when i believed in jesus for the first time, my world turned upside down.  i found out very quickly that my faith and my decision to follow him was pretty hard to hide.  as long as i was being obedient, i was squarely stepping on the feet of the people around me.  in other words, as i walked away from improper situations, as i was questioned about my new standards for life because i wouldn’t participate in certain activities, as i made decisions that went against the conforming values of this world, it was obvious that i was not like them.

how did he get away with leading a communist nation as a christian?  i can’t help but imagine years of deception and compromise.  i can’t judge him, i wasn’t there.  but it sure doesn’t look good.

i have met some closet christians in my life.  some who, for one reason or another, hide who they are.  but this is completely unbiblical.  we are called to be the salt of the earth, we are told to let our light shine among the people.  seriously, how do we fulfill Jesus’ final command to us in the closet??

the Kingdom of God is here.  and a war in the spiritual realm is waging all around us.

are you helping your friends/family/coworkers understand the message of the gospel, or are you hiding in a closet somewhere?  are you choosing obedience over comfort?  are you setting yourself apart for the work of the Lord, or are you, by omission of effort and prayer, aiding satan in his work?

there is no such thing as a closet christian.  that is an oxymoron in my opinion.  perhaps a better label would be an overt hypocrite.

authors note (march 26 4:30pm): after writing this post, mr. gorbachev decided that he wanted to clarify his position on his faith…or lack thereof.  unfortunately for him, he chose atheism.

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“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14, NIV) This scripture moved Isaac Watts to write this great hymn.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

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Songs are a powerful means of teaching and reminding us of important truths. Martin Luther said, “next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits….” In fact, he felt so strongly about music that he said a person who “does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs.”
(Gotta love Martin!)

John Calvin taught that there are two kinds of prayer—one with words alone, the other with singing. He said that “singing has great force and vigor to move and inflame our hearts to invoke and praise God,” and that songs can be like “spurs to incite us to pray to and praise God, and to meditate on his works in order to love, fear, honor and glorify him.”

I want to encourage you to listen to and sing songs that focus on the cross of Christ (this week especially, but throughout the year also). Sovereign Grace Music has produced a CD entitled Songs for The Cross Centered Life (also available on iTunes). C.J. Mahaney says, “A Christian’s heart should be brimming every day with the song of Calvary.”

Some of my favorite cross-centered songs are:

• Mighty Is The Power of the Cross, by Chris Tomlin
• The Wonderful Cross, performed by The Passion Band
• Once Again, by Matt Redman
• For Me, by Sovereign Grace Music
• At The Cross, by Terry Butler
• Jesus Paid It All, performed by The Passion Band
  
• When I Survey The Wondrous Cross
• Nothing But The Blood
• Hallelujah What A Savior, arranged by Tommy Walker

Do you have one or more favorite cross-centered songs not listed here?

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“with the veil removed by the rending of Jesus’ flesh, with nothing on God’s side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without?  why do we consent to abide all our days just outside the Holy of Holies and never enter at all to look upon God?…we sense that the call is for us, but we still fail to draw near, and the years pass and we grow old and tired in the outer courts of the tabernacle.  what hinders us?”

“the answer usually given, simply that we are ‘cold’, will not explain all the facts.  there is something more seious than the coldness of heart….what but the presence of a veil in our hearts?  a veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us.  it is the veil of our fleshly, fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated….it is not too mysterious, this opaque veil, nor is it hard to identify.  we have but to look into our own hearts and we shall see it there…an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress.”  - a.w. tozer ”the pursuit of god”

any hindrance to our being in the presence of God is…us.

the Holy of Holies is right in front of you.

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American Idol is in full swing, and Paula Abdul thinks they’re all stars this year (so I hear). I never cease to be amazed at the beginning of every season how many horrible singers think they can sing, and do so horribly…with pride. But every year, the judges dish out a little reality check. Yet, some of these horrible singers think it is the judges who are horrible hearers, and refuse to accept a dose of reality!

I want to offer a little reality check for those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. Today, I’ve got three quotes and a few questions.

“We need Jesus far more than he needs us.”
- Dr. Joel Gregory (as quoted in the North Carolina Biblical Recorder, 6/25/04)

“The Christian life consists mostly of what God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is and does.”
- Eugene Peterson, Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places, p. 41.

“There is a fundamental question we must ask … What is the Bible really about? Is the Bible basically about me and what I must do? Or is the Bible basically about Jesus and what he has done? Do you believe the Bible is basically about you or basically about him? … The Bible’s really not about you – it’s about him.”
- Tim Keller, Gospel Centered Ministry

• Do you ever think Jesus needs you more than you need him? (Do you ever talk like he does?)
• Do you ever think the Christian life is more about what you do, or must do, than it is about what Jesus has done and is doing?
• Do you ever think the Bible is more about you than Jesus?
• Who is at the center of “your” Christianity — you or Jesus?

We probably don’t want to answer those questions on a blog. But here’s a question you can help me answer:

What are some symptoms or indicators that we’ve started thinking the Christian life, and/or the Bible, is more about ourselves and what we do than it is about Jesus?

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last week at college group, we started reading the book of isaiah.  here is an interesting passage for you to think about:

isaiah 1:16-20
“wash yourselves.  make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.  cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless; defend the orphan, plead for the widow.  come now and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are as scarlet the will be white as snow; though they are red like crimson they will be like wool.  if you consent and obey you will eat the best of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”  truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

“here come those pesky orphans again!  those darn widows…can’t they help themselves?”  not really, that’s the point.  reading that, i was also reminded of other passages regarding the orphans and widows.  or how about the passage that we discussed at the Alhambra House Church this weekend?  there are so many passages of Scripture that are going through my brain right now about priorities.  in haggai chapter 1, God is essentially calling out His people for having their priorities all mixed up.  they are going home to their own homes while God’s home lies in ruins.

life is all about priorities.  are your priorities all mixed up?  do you care more about what you want out of life than what God is concerned about?

i’m sure all of you that read this blog know that the countdown has begun for sonia and i (and mini-G) to begin our real world endeavor with fostering children through l.a. county social services.  august is just around the corner.  i am not writing about this stuff because i want you guys to think we’re great for doing it.  we’re not even the first in our local church to do it, others have already chopped that path into the jungle.  but i write about it because the more i do, perhaps the more inclined someone else will be to follow suit.  maybe even you young people that read this blog will consider it as a possibility for your future as you read about our experiences.

i’ve been preaching for years on the soapbox of social justice, doing things in our local communities that will make a difference.  not that i haven’t acted in the past, but this may be the most extreme way that i can think of in terms of acting on my beliefs.

this is an open rebuke/encouragement to the hypocrite that lies in each of us.  what do you believe in theory that you are unwilling to actually do?  what do you encourage others to do but then conveniently excuse yourself from?  what are you telling people not to do and are doing yourself?  what items that God is calling you to do you need to give higher priority to prove that these are values and not ideals?

these questions are potentially rhetorical, there is no need to put yourself out on al gore’s internet for the world to see.  repent, confide in a brother or sister and change.  but if you want to talk about something here (about YOURSELF, not about other people), please feel free.

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Manuel Sanchez, a member of our church, has a friend from his son’s baseball league that has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His name is Robert Garcia. He is married and has three young children (the youngest is 5-years-old). Please join us in praying for his complete healing.

(Here’s a story of how God answers prayer for healing — to read about Caelan’s story, click these links: March 5, March 6, March 10.)

Also remember to pray for our friend and brother, Ed. Pray especially that the God of hope would fill him with joy, peace, and hope (Romans 15:13).

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This video is very funny. A must see.

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