Philemon 16 “He is no longer like a slave to you. He is more than a slave, for he is a beloved brother, especially to me. Now he will mean much more to you, both as a man and as a brother in the Lord!”
Paul writes this little letter to his friend/brother Philemon concerning Philemon’s slave, Onesimus. Paul tells Philemon that Onesimus has come to know the Lord and in that conversion he is no longer a “slave” but considered a brother. Paul appeals to Philemon to view Onesimus in this different light upon his return. Paul makes sure that Philemon knows that Onesimus is a beloved brother in the Lord and should be treated that way. Considering the practice of slavery during Paul’s day this is a radical claim of change in identity through Christ that is at the very heart of the gospel.
Its hard for me to read this text and not become completely frustrated with white Europeans that settled in America who supported their view of slavery through the bible. How in the world could they read the bible so unfaithfully? Easy, the same way we can read it so unfaithfully today. They read it for their own agenda and wanted to use it to shape the world into what they wanted the world to be instead of allowing the bible to shape their lives and the world into what God wanted it to be. You can’t help but hear Galatians 3:28 in the background as Paul writes this letter and know that through Christ God sought to destroy those barriers of class and race through the gospel. I wonder what it would mean for a community of people to not pick and choose which scriptures they read for their life together and which ones they ignore. I wonder what would happen if a community of people decided to allow scripture to form their lives instead of them using scripture to form their own view of their lives…….my hunch is we would get to see Church as God intended.
Lord Jesus, I come to you today asking forgiveness as a white man for what my ancestors did in their treatment of native Americans and African slaves. I pray that you would help other white men (and women for that matter) to see that responsibility and the effects of those decisions that are still present today in the black and native American community. Lord, may you continue to give me and Crossroads the same passion for the least, lost, last, and lonely that Paul has for Onesimus. Strengthen me to raise my children outside of the umbrella of racism and classism; help us to be a family that hears the call of Paul in Philemon in our interaction of the world around us. Free us from the slavery of the world that tries to keep those boundaries of race and class ever so present in our lives. Amen!
There is no longer slaver or free, jew or greek, white or black, male or female, rich or poor…..we are all one in Christ Jesus.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
July 3, 2008
Isaiah 4:4 “The Lord will wash the filth from beautiful Zion and cleanse Jerusalem of its bloodstains with the hot breath of fiery judgment.”
In Isaiah 4-5, the prophet is speaking of God’s judgment upon Israel. Isaiah uses a number of different images. The image of a vineyard is used to speak of how God will stop caring for the vine and allow it to wither, over grow, be trampled upon, go without water, etc. The Lord has had enough of Israel’s disobedience; they have forgotten they are the same people the Lord led from Egypt and made covenant with to be their God. Israel has rejected this covenant and become dirty. God announces the time for a cleansing bath that will take place through God’s judgement….exile.
As I read this text this morning I can’t help but think of the Church today and our continued rebellion and forgetfulness of the covenant God made with us through Jesus Christ. We’ve widdled down the covenant to a one sentence statement that we must make sometime in our life while we at the same time continue to pollute our lives and the Church with more and more of the world. There is all this concern and talk about why the Church isn’t growing and how we can turn that around through different areas. I can’t help but wonder if God is fed up with the Church in my culture today and that until the Church repents before God there will be no renewal. I can’t help but wonder if the reason the Church isn’t growing today, being the force it should be is because God has sent us into exile. Why would God want others to learn the faith that the modern Church of America is practicing? Why would God want this vine to continue to produce more disobedient fruit? Perhaps, we should take heed of Isaiah, fall on our faces, and ask God’s grace to bring us back to life and be the people God has called us to be in Jesus Christ.
Lord Jesus, I come to you this morning begging for forgiveness of behalf of your church that has forgotten it belongs to you. I pray that you would continue to poor out your grace upon your Church that she might respond to that grace, repent of her sin, and fall back in love with you. I pray that you would give Crossroads the strength and mercy not to fall prey to the disobedient ways of the church around us but help us to be a voice in the wilderness crying out for a day of repentance that we might all experience the resurrecting power of your grace. Keep me focused upon you and protect me from evil’s attempt to get caught up in the disobedient vineyard. Thank you for Isaiah and the call to come back home. Amen.
We are a Vineyard in need of desperate pruning.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
July 2, 2008
Titus 2:12 “And we are instructed to turn from Godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God.”
The heart of this scripture is that followers of Jesus Christ are to live differently from the rest of the world. They are to turn away from living as if God doesn’t exist; to turn away from living a life devoted to satisfying their own pleasures. Followers of Jesus are to live within this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. In living this way, followers of Jesus offer a different way of living and being in the world that is in sharp contrast to the ways of the world. There should be a distinct difference in the lifestyle of followers of Jesus and non followers so that there may be a space created for the work of God’s grace to reach those non followers and that their lives might be transformed.
What if we changed our language in the Church from non believer to non follower? Isn’t belief only so we can now follow? Isn’t belief only a means that opens up a door for God’s grace to create us into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ? Following Jesus means to turn from the sinful desires of this evil world and to live lives with complete devotion to seeking wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God. To only claim “belief” and for that claim not to lead to a transformation of lifestyle then that claim was nothing but wasted breath. I come this morning realizing that there is so much that I do not know about the faith; I come this morning sensing that God is doing something new in the world but yet unsure what that is or how it applies to me and my ministry but desiring to be a part of God’s continual revelation. I desire to seek wisdom and righteousness; I desire to be devoted to God today that I may become a more devoted follower.
Lord Jesus, I am sorry for the ways I have rebelled against your love and sought the ways of the world instead of following your ways. Please forgive your church for looking more like the church of the world instead of a church after your heart. I pray that you would give me the strength to proclaim your truth in the face of the world and that you would give me the grace today to be a fully devoted follower of you. I pray that you would give me the grace today to seek wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God; may these things be the driving force of my life today. Be active in my life today and give me the grace to recognize and respond to that activity. Amen!
In my culture there is a difference between being a believer and a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 30, 2008
Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.”
God lays His call upon Jonah’s life and reveals His plan for Jonah’s life but God’s plan is not what Jonah has in mind. Jonah immediately goes in the opposite direction trying to escape God’s call upon His life. And what Jonah finds is that he cannot escape God’s call; God pursues Him to the point that even those others around Jonah are pleading for Jonah to submit to God because His unsubmission is effecting their lives in a negative way. Jonah submits by abandoning the ship heading for Tarshish and God makes a way for Jonah to live into his call. Jonah learns that he cannot escape God or God’s call upon his life and that any other attempt at life will only lead to being miserable and causing those around you to be miserable as well.
How often do I head for Tarshish? How often do I head for a land that is beyond God’s reach? How often do I head for land where I can’t hear God’s call upon my life? The trouble is that this land doesn’t exist. Tarshish is an illusion. There is no land beyond God’s reach and there is not any place where God’s voice cannot be heard. In fact, trying to find such a place only sets up my life to make others miserable around me and ultimately going to the belly of a fish for a few days and even there I am within the reach of God. No matter how hard I try, I cannot escape the call of the Lord on my life and it is only in submitting to that call that I stop pursuing a make believe land and begin living the life God designed me to live.
Jesus, I come to you today acknowledging that there are those times in my life that I run to Tarshish as if it is a real place and I can escape you there. Thanks for reminding me today that there is no place I can go where you will not be with me or stop loving me. May your love consume me today and empower me to live out your call upon my life. Give me the grace to remember that this is not about me but about what you desire to do with my life. Thank you for your call and the reminder of it this morning. Amen!
I cannot escape the call and grasp of God.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 26, 2008
2 Timothy 1:9 “For God saved us and called us to live a Holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from the beginning of time—to show us His grace through Jesus Christ.”
This verse gets right to the point in a number of different levels. The author first points that being saved is for a reason and purpose, not for a destination. We are saved and called through that saving to live a holy life. The author wants us to know that the call is a holy life but that can only happen if we are saved. The next level is the reminder that this saving and calling is not because we deserve it but happens because it is God’s plan. God’s plan for our lives and this world is to show us His grace through Jesus Christ and this grace saves and calls us to live a holy life in a restored relationship with God.
In my world nothing is for free and getting what you deserve is the American way. For better or worse, we affirm this self destination that every person gets the life they deserve. In fact, to get something you don’t deserve often comes with strings attached because nothing is for free. The last thing we want to be in is debt and to receive a gift often means that we incur some kind of debt in the process. But yet God completely turns this kind of thinking up on its heels. God saves us and calls us to live a holy life for the sole purpose that this is His plan to reveal His grace to His creation through Jesus Christ. God is the chief actor and we have nothing to do with it; we are only the objects of His grace. This grace in turn saves us from our “deserving friendly” world and calls us to live a holy life.
Lord, its hard for me to wrap my mind around this gift of saving and calling that I do not deserve. Help me understand. Amen.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 25, 2008
One thing I have learned over the last 8 years of seriously following Jesus Christ is that belonging to a men’s accountability groups is essential. “Iron sharpens Iron”
This morning I met with another man and we came together to talk about the different areas of our lives (Jesus; Family; Work), confess sins, and talk about what it means to be fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Needless to say, my battery is recharged……..after a few days of being disconnnected, this morning made a space for me to confess my sin, recieve forgiveness, and connect with a God that wants nothing more than for me to be the man He has called me to be.
If any men read this who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and think that they don’t need an accountability group, their idiots (I say that in love). An accountbility group is a necessary means of grace if we are going to be the men God desires for us to be…………………………………
Peace
June 22, 2008
I Kings 22:14 “But Micaiah replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, I will say only what the Lord tells me to say.”
this is a story of how Ahab desires to go to war and he ask the king of Judah (Jehosaphat) to join him. Ahab consults his prophets that tell him what he wants to hear; they speak pleasing thoughts to Ahab and affirm that he should go to war. Jehosaphat then suggests that they consult another prophet (Micaiah) about the situation. Ahab doesn’t want to hear from Micaiah because he always prophesizes against Ahab. Sure enough, Micaiah prophesizes against Ahab and speaks of his death. There is this sense that many “claim to be spokesman for God” are actually speaking words that are pleasing to men instead of speaking the truth of God. There is also this call to pick up the mantle of Micaiah to be a person that speaks truth even when it is not the popular thing to do.
What a poignant word for my culture today and especially for pastors. Everywhere I look it seems to be Ahab prophets proclaiming sermons that are pleasing to the ear. Time and time again, I hear preachers proclaim words that feed right in to what the world wants to hear all in the name of Jesus but really for the result of popularity, approval, money, etc. I wonder where the Micaiah’s are today. In a broken world that rationalizes its brokenness through the likes of Joel Olsteen and others I sense that God is desperate for the Micaiah’s to step up and proclaim what the Lord desires. I desire to be a proclaimer of what God desires and desperately pray that God protects me from falling into the temptation to be an Ahab prophet. I hope with all that I am that God will give me the grace to speak for Him and His truth in spite of the world and so that the world may hear His truth and come to repentance.
Lord, I pray that you will give me the grace to follow in the foot steps of Micaiah and not give into the temptation to be of the likes of Ahab’s prophets. I pray Lord that your grace would inspire all proclaimers of your Word today to speak truth that is pleasing to you and not speak words to please the world. Give proclaimers of your Word the assurance that speaking your truth is what matters regardless of how the world reacts. Give proclaimers of your word the conviction of knowing that speaking words that are pleasing to the ear only leads to death for the listener as with Ahab. May we be proclaimers of your truth that leads to life. Amen.
God’s invited me to join in the legacy of Micaiah
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 18, 2008
Colossians 3:5 “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshipping the things of this world.”
Paul gets to the very heart of the issue with us in this verse. He explains that becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is to put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within our lives. Paul suggest that becoming a follower of Jesus is a form of suicide. It is killing those things in our lives that seek to pull us away from becoming like Christ. Paul urges us to have nothing to do with these evil desires and that giving into these desires is actually choosing to worship the ways of the world; it is idolatry.
I am feeling so convicted this morning. I find myself falling into this trap of these evil desires; its like I desire to rid myself of them but they creep up into my life…..it is a constant battle. I wonder if I have put these things to death in my life……I wonder if putting these desires away are a daily task and I should never be so naive as to think that one time of repentance will cure me of these desires. The fact is I am screwed up; I’m infected with this disease of sin and it is a daily task to try to stay in remission and there are those times of relapse in my life. I fall before Jesus in these moments and say God, I have sinned against you and I am in desperate need of your forgiving grace and sanctifying grace that will put to death those evil desires that I may be fully equipped to serve you today without distraction.
Lord Jesus, I am desperate for you today. I know that I need cleansed. I daily need you to come into my life and crucify my sin and resurrect me to new life. I give my life to you today and ask you to cleanse me. May I never be so arrogant as to think that I have arrived without sin and if that happens may you kill that sin of arrogance and raise me up into new life. Give me the grace to die and rise with you on a daily basis that you continue to mold me into the man you desire for me to be. Protect me from complacency and a false assurance that ignores the constant need of repentance in my life. May I experience more and more each day your reality and may each day I grow farther and farther away from the world’s unreality. Amen!
In Christ I am called to die and rise on a daily basis.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 17, 2008
Colossians 2:11 “When you came to Christ you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
Paul is certainly wanting to draw a comparison between the old covenant and the new covenant. He uses this image of circumcision to describe the new covenant to relate the image to the old covenant. This helps the reader to understand what is truly happening in Christ according to Paul. I find it also fascinating in comparing the two “circumcisions” in the very act of the circumcising and want to spend time today thinking about this comparison. As Paul states…..”the cutting away of the sinful nature” I think it makes room and invites this discussion of the very act especially in light of my culture that desires not to be rid of its sinful nature (both in and outside the church).
I tell you one thing, I’m glad I was an infant when I was circumcised and that I have no concept of that pain. Just thinking about being circumcised and the pain that comes with that is something I don’t even want to fathom as a man. And yet, Paul uses this image to describe what happens when we come to know Jesus…..there is a cutting away of the sinful nature. Could it be that the cutting away of the sinful nature is as painful as old testament circumcision? Could it be that the reason so many in our culture refuse to completely give themselves to Christ is that they are afraid of the pain of cutting away their sinful nature? Could it be that their sinful nature is as close to them as their foreskin and the thought of cutting that skin, of separating themselves from this piece of their life that has been intimately tied to them forever is completely terrifying? Am I tied so tightly to my sinful nature that the thought of cutting it away is terrifying? The other side is that when someone is not circumcised there are a number of health risks the older they get and often men have to be circumcised later on in life which is much more painful because of the health risk that are a result of not being circumcised. Could the same be said of our circumcision of the sinful nature? Perhaps there are a number of risk that are involved in not being circumcised from our sinful nature? I’m kind of rambling at this point but my point is that giving our lives to Jesus and asking Him to cut away our sinful nature is not always a pretty picture and it means us cutting away a nature that is as intimately tied to our lives as a man’s foreskin but is something that must be cut away for us to live into this new covenant through Jesus Christ.
Lord, I come to you today asking for you to continue to circumcise my heart. Continue to cut away that sinful nature that seeks to pull me back into the old chaos of my life. I pray today Lord, that you would be the Lord of my life and that you would use me as a instrument of your new covenant. Thank you Jesus, for the cutting away my sinful nature at the cross and giving me the opportunity to live a new life through your grace. Continue to give me the grace live into this new covenant and to allow you to be that intimate piece of my life that replaces the sinful nature that sought to destroy my life. Amen!
Through Jesus my sinful nature is circumcised away.
Click here for Crossroads Church!
June 16, 2008
