Following Christ

"You must have the same attitude 

that Christ Jesus had.

Though he was God,
 he did not think of equality with God
 as something to cling to.
 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
 he took the humble position of a slave
 and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
 and died a criminal’s death on a cross."

Philippians 2

These few verses are some of the most difficult in the Bible.  They begin with these words, "have the same attitude..." and what follows is the model for how we are to live out our lives.

Instead of glory we are to choose obscurity.

Instead of the first place we are invited to sit in the lowest place.

Instead of ruler we are invited to be the servant, the slave.

We are invited to humbly serve God and the ones he puts in our path....just as Christ Jesus did.

This is the most difficult call to discipleship in all of scripture.  This invitation challenges us to put to death our pride, our desire for glory, fame, success and humbly serve.

And to what point? To what outcome?  The example Jesus gave us is to the death, to the point of giving all we have and are for the souls of those around us! This is our model, this is our invitation, "you must have this same attitude..."   It's the attitude of a servant not seeking anything except the approval of the master.

Everything about following Jesus is counter to the way our culture works.  It's a call to being nobody in this world so Christ can be seen through you.  It's an invitation to put pride to death and serve without a "thank you", without acknowledgement, without reward....to the death.  

That's our model.  Setting aside everything we want, desire or claim so that God can work though us and glorify his name.  This is the highest calling in all of human history...the call to be nobody so that Christ can be seen and glorified through us.

How wonderful it would be to be completely unknown, living a life of anonymity so God can be seen through us, so those who watch us want to know this God we serve.  Could there be a richer life than that?

Really?

 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

All things?  

Really? 

Have you seen my car? 

Yesterday morning I went to coffee with one of our guys.  As I pulled into the restaurant I saw one place to park in front of the restaurant, but then thought, "No, I'll park over there where there aren't any cars. That will be better." And so I changed direction at the last moment and went right instead of left.

My friend and I had a great visit and then, halfway through coffee, a man comes into the restaurant asking, "Who has a white Ford Fiesta?"  

I replied, "I do."  

He then, a bit sheepishly, said, "I hit it."  

I couldn't help it, but responded, "Why did you do that???" 

We both went out the parking lot to inspect the damage on my new little car.

He gave me his insurance info.  I gave him my business card, you know the one....the one with "pastor" on it.

We went back into the restaurant and my friend and I finished our coffee and paid the bill.  But before we left I went over to the man who hit my car and thanked him for being honest.

As I thought about it later I realized a lot of people were watching me....my young friend, the man who hit my car.  The waiter was looking as well.  What were they watching?  

My reaction.

They were watching to see how I responded, how I reacted to my new car being hit.  

The man who hit me was surprised, I'm sure, that I didn't get angry, didn't raise my voice, didn't act "normal" as our culture would expect.  

You see,  years ago I decided that people are more important than things and so my response was already set.  I value this man I didn't know more than my new little car.

Here's what I know already-  my young friend watched my reaction, the man in the big truck who hit me saw something different, the people in the restaurant were watching......and out of it all I know one thing.....God will work in this little small situation to glorify his name and bring people to him.  Who knows, the man who hit me may have had a divine appointment with God to hit my car so we could talk about important things in the days ahead.

Yes, God works all things together.....even my little dented car....for good and his glory.  I can't wait to see what he does with this small little event in the days ahead because "ALL thinks work together....."

To Him!

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us...."  Ephesians 3:20

How small our God is!  

We Christians worry about almost everything, don't we?  

We worry about what the government is going to do next. We worry and fret about what will happen in our country.  We worry about money, about health, about what others will do...what they will think...what will happen to us. 

We have such a wee little God that I sometimes wonder why we continue to believe in him at all.

I so wish we could capture a vision of the God who is!  In fact, that's why he made the stars.  He made the stars to show us how big he really is, but we have blinded our eyes to his glory with the lights of our cities.  Now, if you live in a city, you can't see the majesty of what he has made.  

He made the stars to remind us how big, how grand, how powerful he really is!  

He is GOD!  Creator of heaven and earth.  He has had to say to several men in the bible, "Is anything too hard for me?"  And the obvious answer is, "NO, NOTHING is too hard for the one who made the stars!" Why do we still doubt him so?

And yet we cower with fear at what man is going to do to us. But what about God?  The God who made everything....isn't he in charge? Isn't he able to watch over you, to care for you, to meet your needs?  Isn't he big enough?  Or have you been worshipping a small God so long you can't see how glorious he really is?

Let's rediscover the God of the bible, the God who made heaven and earth.  Let's rediscover the God who Paul proclaimed, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us...."

To Him be glory, praise and trust now and into eternity.  The great God, the only God, the God who is able!

To Him!

You are safe with me

^{Psalm 46:1} God is our refuge and strength,
    always ready to help in times of trouble.
² So we will not fear when earthquakes come
    and the mountains crumble into the sea.
³ Let the oceans roar and foam.
    Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! 

"You are safe with me."  

I heard these words last night in the testimony of a man as he described the influence of another believer in his life.  The words came from the man he was talking about.  They were profound words for him and they resonated with me as well.

In these days of chaos we wake daily to new fears and worries.  There is the constant threat that all we trust in will be stripped away.  We, as humans, too easily find our security in our jobs, what we have, all we have accumulated and when the threat of losing all of that comes fears rise.

But then comes these words from the Lord, "You are safe with me."  In those few words is a profound and important change in trust.  It's the invitation of many of David's psalms. Instead of trusting all we have, the securities of the world, we are invited to shift our trust to the unchanging one, the Lord of creation, and find in that moment the safety we were always trying to find as we build our fortress of security and money.  

Now, without anything else in our hands, we discover safety against every threat.  Suddenly fear subsides and we see, maybe for the first time, that God is all we need.  "You are safe with me" are words that calm any heart in the midst of the chaos of our world.  "You are safe with me."

He is the only place you will find the safety you seek.  Run to him!

^{Psalm 46:10} “Be still, and know that I am God!
    I will be honored by every nation.
    I will be honored throughout the world.”

¹¹ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;

    the God of Israel is our fortress.

Worry

Don't let worry ruin a perfectly good day.

The Jonah Principle, part 4

Not much has changed in the nature of man.  We still want evil men to be judged (those we consider evil).  We want God to give us justice, to execute those who have done wrong.

Jonah wanted that too.  He hoped it would happen.  He found a shady spot and watched to see the wicked city of Nineveh destroyed.  

But he missed the heart of God.  God wanted the people of Nineveh to change their lives and seek him.  They did!  And God gave them mercy.  He forgave them.

In this last chapter of Jonah, after God had wonderfully worked in Nineveh, he still had his prophet to deal with.  Jonah wanted justice, revenge.  God wanted mercy and grace.  How do we change the heart of this last rebel, Jonah?  How do we get him to see that God wants everyone saved, even the ones we consider wicked terrible sinners?

Jonah was angry that God had forgiven these people.  Much like the older brother of the prodigal son he didn't think it was fair.  They deserved judgement, not mercy.  But don't we all deserve judgement really?  Aren't we all guilty?

In this final chapter of the book God gives  us one more principle- God is a God of mercy and grace.  He wants everyone to be part of his family if they will only trust him.  He is not a vengeful God.  He's a God of grace, mercy and forgiveness.

How do we get the prophet to see that?  At the end of the story that question is left unanswered.  We don't know if he ever got the heart of God on this.  It's left unanswered because it's the question for us as well.  Principle #4 is this- God is merciful, gracious and full of lovingkindness.  Are we?

Of all people on the earth God's kids should be like their father, but more often than not we are like Jonah.  We want God to nuke them all!  God wants them to seek him, to trust him and to find his love just as we have done.  How could we want anything else for the lost man?

Yes, there will be a day when God will judge those who refuse the gift he has given, but today, as in Jonah's day, he wants men to turn to him and find forgiveness and mercy.  Oh that we had that same heart.

Dad

Father's day is coming this Sunday.  


It's a day when we remember and celebrate dads.  

It's a day when we go out to lunch to celebrate dad and let him buy the lunch.

I've been thinking about my own dad and my role as a dad as well.  My dad died a couple years ago.  I miss him.  He was the one who taught me most of what I know about being a dad.  He was a great dad and did his best to help me grow into a godly man and a dad my kids would remember fondly.  

No dad is perfect.  Mine wasn't. Neither am I.  We are all broken, fallen, trying to be what we know we should be and often failing, but my dad lived well.  He finished well.  He loved God, loved my mom and loved us.

I am trying to do the same thing.  

I'm trying to live in a way that my kids and grandkids will smile when they remember me.  

I'm trying to live out my faith in a way they will know I loved God and showed them how to do it as well.

Of all the things my dad had I only have one thing.  I have his pocket knife.  It's a small swiss knife he bought in Europe and he carried it all the time.  It's worn.  The blade has been sharpened many times.  It's in my pocket.  I think of dad when I reach into my pocket for something else....there it is.

It's not the knife that's important, but who owned it.  It belonged to my dad.  I'm honored to be his son.  I hope I live out what a dad should be and know my kids are thankful I was their dad.

Happy father's day.

The Jonah Principle, part 3

Once Jonah found himself on the beach and no longer in the belly of the fish he obeyed.  It's funny what three days in the belly of a fish will do for a stubborn heart, a rebellious prophet.  

He must have looked quite the mess.  Bleached skin, smelly clothes, disheveled hair.  What an odd site to see.  When he finally came to the city of Nineveh he began to proclaim the message God gave him...at least he proclaimed part of it.  He said, "In 40 days God will destroy you all!"

I'm sure he was hopeful of that outcome.  I imagine the people were shocked because although he had only gone a days journey through the city the word had spread citywide. The people repented and God extended mercy.

Jonah had offered them no hope.  

He promised no mercy, only judgment.  

I'm sure it wasn't at all the message God had given him, but it was the message he hoped would happen to this wicked city.

God had other plans.  Plans for mercy and grace.

Here's the third principle in this story of Jonah- God can do amazing things with even half-hearted obedience.  

Clearly, in the story of chapter 3 in Jonah, the prophet was reluctant, grumpy and hoping for fire and brimstone when he gave the message God had given him....at least he gave part of it.

The truth of scripture is that God works with broken, cracked and reluctant servants like Jonah to bring him glory and extend grace and mercy to lost men.

God can do amazing things with reluctant half-hearted obedience.  All he asks is that we obey.  He will do the rest and it will be amazing.

In the end....

In the end sin will not win.  

It will not win in me or in the world.  

In the end the only one who will triumph 

will be Jesus Christ, 

King of Kings, 

Lord of me.