What's yours?
What is the "picture on the front of (your) box"? Everyone has one. What's yours?
Why do you do what you do? Why school? Why climb the ladder? Why marriage, or a family...or singleness? Why build the portfolio, travel, experience life? Why anything? Why...it begins the most important questions in life, and demands life's best answer.
When my kids were small, Pamela and I would buy things for them "some assembly required." Most times the assembly became an adventure (given my lack of mechanical skills). Invariably, I'd get into the middle of assembling a toy or a bike and something wasn't going according to the "some assembly required" instructions. Helpful quite often was to look at the picture on the front of the box in which everything had been packaged--the front photo of what the project should look like if the instructions were carefully followed. The big picture would often reveal that I was trying to put together two parts that were not meant to be put together, or some such mistake. Every now and then, in the process where it is quite easy to get things wrong or out of order, the big picture was the key to final success -- the joy of my kids using the new toy.
All of us are in some kind of "some assembly required" process. Sure you are. Generally, we call it life, but virtually every one of us wants that life to look like there is some purposeful design to it. The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates). The outcomes of life are too important, the stakes are too high, simply to force-fit parts of it wrongly together. Such a living just goes badly and ends the same way.
So what big-picture do you refer to now and then, especially when you get stuck or befuddled, to start putting the pieces together rightly again?
I would contend that it is a life lost, given up, spent for the sake of the gospel (cf. Jesus' words at the end of Mark 8). A life in which Christ -- the Greatest Person in all of Reality and Life -- is central. A life where Jesus is everything to you, and is given His rightful place in putting all the pieces of your unique life together in a purposeful, beautiful, and rightly working way. He is to have, Scripture insists, first place in everything.
That was my word, a 2nd Wednesday night running, to our First EFC HS Seniors last night. Best expressed in a song by Sara Groves, "This Journey is My Own" (album Conversations).
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
HS Seniors: Danger (morally) Ahead!
Toward the end of each school year, I get asked to meet with our High School Seniors on successive Wednesday nights for what might be best described as a "fatherly" chat, or "Advice from the Sr. Pastor." Sounds rather stuffy at first blush. Still, I love the opportunity.
To be sure, for several years, if they have been a regular part of First EFC's youth ministry, our kids been mentored and shepherded well. Jonathan and Mark give these developing young adults every opportunity to forge a character in Christ and a relationship with Christ that can navigate anything up ahead.
They are kind to give me a final shot each spring with these great HS seniors.
The urgency of right-headed and hearted preparation is well illustrated in a Wall Street op-ed piece today (4/26/11, A15), William McGurn's "Sex and the College Dean." "On campus," he writes, "lawyers rule. Civility doesn't." The article catalogues the mess public and private universities are in over the lack of moral, sexual behavioral restraint. The secret taping of a gay sexual encounter leading to a student committing suicide. The rape of a Saint Mary's College co-ed by a Notre Dame football player. Yale frat boys standing outside a women's dorm chanting, "No means Yes and Yes means anal!"
For years upon years, the lack of clear ethical teaching (grounded in a solid, indisputable standard of "right and wrong") have led to the moral chaos in American society at-large, and on university campuses specifically. McGurn is surely correct when he writes, "The real threat to civility and common decency is this: the substitution of codes and committees for responsible adults exercising humanity and judgment....as deans and presidents surrender what little moral authority they have left to their in-house counsel and off-campus government authority. Pity the young men and women who are left to make their way through this minefield on their own."
Paul catalogued the tragic, moral spiral downward in timeless words found in Romans 1. Failure to acknowledge God as God, to be humble and thankful before Him, leads to increasing perversity and human disintegration.
As I sit with our HS Seniors heading into the moral mess which is the public university campus, needed is a word both of caution and commitment. Romans 12:1-2 can hardly be improved on. "Don't let the world pour you into a mold and shape you like itself. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and then prove in your living what the will of God is - that which is good and acceptable and pleasing." It's Jesus in you, gang. In Christ, stand and live, solid and strong.
PreacherHound
To be sure, for several years, if they have been a regular part of First EFC's youth ministry, our kids been mentored and shepherded well. Jonathan and Mark give these developing young adults every opportunity to forge a character in Christ and a relationship with Christ that can navigate anything up ahead.
They are kind to give me a final shot each spring with these great HS seniors.
The urgency of right-headed and hearted preparation is well illustrated in a Wall Street op-ed piece today (4/26/11, A15), William McGurn's "Sex and the College Dean." "On campus," he writes, "lawyers rule. Civility doesn't." The article catalogues the mess public and private universities are in over the lack of moral, sexual behavioral restraint. The secret taping of a gay sexual encounter leading to a student committing suicide. The rape of a Saint Mary's College co-ed by a Notre Dame football player. Yale frat boys standing outside a women's dorm chanting, "No means Yes and Yes means anal!"
For years upon years, the lack of clear ethical teaching (grounded in a solid, indisputable standard of "right and wrong") have led to the moral chaos in American society at-large, and on university campuses specifically. McGurn is surely correct when he writes, "The real threat to civility and common decency is this: the substitution of codes and committees for responsible adults exercising humanity and judgment....as deans and presidents surrender what little moral authority they have left to their in-house counsel and off-campus government authority. Pity the young men and women who are left to make their way through this minefield on their own."
Paul catalogued the tragic, moral spiral downward in timeless words found in Romans 1. Failure to acknowledge God as God, to be humble and thankful before Him, leads to increasing perversity and human disintegration.
As I sit with our HS Seniors heading into the moral mess which is the public university campus, needed is a word both of caution and commitment. Romans 12:1-2 can hardly be improved on. "Don't let the world pour you into a mold and shape you like itself. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and then prove in your living what the will of God is - that which is good and acceptable and pleasing." It's Jesus in you, gang. In Christ, stand and live, solid and strong.
PreacherHound
Friday, April 22, 2011
Loving the Flesh-Driven
Responding to an emergency phone call, I found myself sitting first with a despairing father, and then with his flesh-driven son. I could not dismiss the powerful sense that I was actually in the presence of the father spoken of in Luke 15:11f and the boy who wanted to obtain, and then squander, his inheritance.
The father did not know how to love his son anymore. Affection, and misplaced enabling, have run their courses. The checkbook is overspent, and everything is worse. Affection begs to become Agape. Sourging, not sympathy, is the needed remedy (cf. Hebrews 12).
The son still wants to remain in control of his destiny. "Yeah, I want help...but." The "but" of pride, which slams shut the door on the help that only God can give, and only will be given when control is relinquished.
My bet is on the flesh. It is likely to win in this case, at least in the near term. I didn't sense the boy has come yet to realize how stupid sin is. Sin makes us stupid--all of us. The kindness of God can lead us to repentance once we get sick of sin. Eating pig-slop is humbling.
It is tough to rightly love someone who thinks he/she is in control, though the truth is that he/she is uncontrollably flesh-enslaved. Paul said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." What an understatement!
This is offered to encourage patient, tough love for someone you may know whom you are enabling. Stop it! It's not love. What is needed is fervent prayer for freedom. Christ can set anyone free from everything that enslaves and keeps someone dining with swine. There is a Father who kindly waits for each wandering son to "come to his senses" and brokenly come home. In His open arms are where life begins anew.
PreacherHound
The father did not know how to love his son anymore. Affection, and misplaced enabling, have run their courses. The checkbook is overspent, and everything is worse. Affection begs to become Agape. Sourging, not sympathy, is the needed remedy (cf. Hebrews 12).
The son still wants to remain in control of his destiny. "Yeah, I want help...but." The "but" of pride, which slams shut the door on the help that only God can give, and only will be given when control is relinquished.
My bet is on the flesh. It is likely to win in this case, at least in the near term. I didn't sense the boy has come yet to realize how stupid sin is. Sin makes us stupid--all of us. The kindness of God can lead us to repentance once we get sick of sin. Eating pig-slop is humbling.
It is tough to rightly love someone who thinks he/she is in control, though the truth is that he/she is uncontrollably flesh-enslaved. Paul said, "The flesh profiteth nothing." What an understatement!
This is offered to encourage patient, tough love for someone you may know whom you are enabling. Stop it! It's not love. What is needed is fervent prayer for freedom. Christ can set anyone free from everything that enslaves and keeps someone dining with swine. There is a Father who kindly waits for each wandering son to "come to his senses" and brokenly come home. In His open arms are where life begins anew.
PreacherHound
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Give us this day our daily...RAIN
I lead a Wednesday evening class of people who are helping each other establish a praying life. At the beginning, I ask them to commit to praying 15 minutes a day. In the 1st week, they find it surprisingly hard to establish even that short period daily. But within a few weeks, they find themselves praying about everything. The 15 minute daily assignment becomes a non-issue.
Prayer is not about a daily appointment; it is about an ongoing conversation.
We consider together Paul Miller's book A PRAYING LIFE. In Part III, he reminds us that we live in a word which has been fragmented. Since the so-called Enlightenment (or Age of Reason, in the 1700's), God has been asked to step out of the real world and be a Bystander. Considerations about Him, and dependence upon Him, are regulated to what man feels, rather than what can be understood as fact. Thus, it is good to pray to Him at church, just don't list prayer as Step #1 in a research assignment for school. As Miller's daughter explained, "They (the teachers and others who guide the educational process of our kids) wouldn't want us to say that." God doesn't get to do science with those He's created.
Today, the Governor of Texas has called for prayer for rain. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42705038/ns/weather/# He has proclaimed a 3 day period, this Friday through Sunday, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the state. 70% of Texas is in extreme and exceptional drought. God, Governor Perry believes, could help us with our need for daily bread.
Of course, that is what Jesus taught us. That we should pray for our every day food. That we should not assume that it will be automatically there. James remembers that Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed that it would not rain for 3 1/2 years, and it didn't. He prayed again that it would rain, and it poured.
Fact is, God should never been asked to step aside from involvement in the real world. It belongs to Him. Perhaps He will be gracious and step back in, and send some rain.
Lead on, Governor Perry. Let's pray
Prayer is not about a daily appointment; it is about an ongoing conversation.
We consider together Paul Miller's book A PRAYING LIFE. In Part III, he reminds us that we live in a word which has been fragmented. Since the so-called Enlightenment (or Age of Reason, in the 1700's), God has been asked to step out of the real world and be a Bystander. Considerations about Him, and dependence upon Him, are regulated to what man feels, rather than what can be understood as fact. Thus, it is good to pray to Him at church, just don't list prayer as Step #1 in a research assignment for school. As Miller's daughter explained, "They (the teachers and others who guide the educational process of our kids) wouldn't want us to say that." God doesn't get to do science with those He's created.
Today, the Governor of Texas has called for prayer for rain. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42705038/ns/weather/# He has proclaimed a 3 day period, this Friday through Sunday, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the state. 70% of Texas is in extreme and exceptional drought. God, Governor Perry believes, could help us with our need for daily bread.
Of course, that is what Jesus taught us. That we should pray for our every day food. That we should not assume that it will be automatically there. James remembers that Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed that it would not rain for 3 1/2 years, and it didn't. He prayed again that it would rain, and it poured.
Fact is, God should never been asked to step aside from involvement in the real world. It belongs to Him. Perhaps He will be gracious and step back in, and send some rain.
Lead on, Governor Perry. Let's pray
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
C. Donald Beckman is in Heaven
Don Beckman was my friend. Today, he is in heaven.
Don laid tens of thousands of bricks during his career as a mason. He worked hard, loved long, remained unmoved when it was important, changed when God convinced his heart.
Don snoozed through many of my sermons between 1982 and 1993. Working long hours in outdoor air meant the eyes might droop when sitting in a warm inside. No matter. At the door of the Mountain View Church, he made sure just about everyone knew they were welcomed and worth remembering.
Don loved Jesus Christ, the gospel, the church, Beverly, David and his family, Julie and her family. He loved Colorado, and hard work, and making a difference around the world when he could.
Don is now absent from his well worn body, and present with his well loved Lord.
We will miss you Don, but we will see you soon. Thank you for loving me, my friend, and my bride, and my kids Cameron and Briana.
Welcome home. Take a well-deserved snooze.
Don laid tens of thousands of bricks during his career as a mason. He worked hard, loved long, remained unmoved when it was important, changed when God convinced his heart.
Don snoozed through many of my sermons between 1982 and 1993. Working long hours in outdoor air meant the eyes might droop when sitting in a warm inside. No matter. At the door of the Mountain View Church, he made sure just about everyone knew they were welcomed and worth remembering.
Don loved Jesus Christ, the gospel, the church, Beverly, David and his family, Julie and her family. He loved Colorado, and hard work, and making a difference around the world when he could.
Don is now absent from his well worn body, and present with his well loved Lord.
We will miss you Don, but we will see you soon. Thank you for loving me, my friend, and my bride, and my kids Cameron and Briana.
Welcome home. Take a well-deserved snooze.
Getting It Right for Passover - Wed 4/20/11
Rabbis in NY these days are blowtorching restaurants and food processing plants. They are (Wall Street Journal, 4/18/11, A1,A12) working 24/6 "to get the leavened bread out of the Kosher Kitchen." Observant Jews still believe, at some level, that God is more pleased if they observe Passover without any leaven in any of their food during the celebration. In the effort to ensure that all consumed food is absolutely OK Kosher, the inspecting and scouring is in full fury.
There is something fun and good about this. Why not bring history to life with the same kind of ritualistic intensity that (presumably) ancient Israelites brought to the observance thousands of years ago? Not sure if they used blowtorches, but they must have been careful.
Yet still, is God more pleased today when Jewish people eat absolutely kosher food during religious holidays? In what sense pleased? Do such observers have more of a shot at being accepted by God, today, and in eternity? Can one earn or become righteous with such extraordinary effort at religious law?
Not according to the former rabbi, Saul of Tarsus. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe" (Romans 10:4). Righteousness today, it seems, is not acquired through undaunted obedience to ancient Jewish Law. It comes through faith in Christ, and through Him alone. It is a gift of grace, not a task for completion. Even Abraham, the father of faith (and of the Jews) found this to be true, before he was circumcized. His faith was reckoned to him as righteousness (Romans 4).
Preacher Hound
There is something fun and good about this. Why not bring history to life with the same kind of ritualistic intensity that (presumably) ancient Israelites brought to the observance thousands of years ago? Not sure if they used blowtorches, but they must have been careful.
Yet still, is God more pleased today when Jewish people eat absolutely kosher food during religious holidays? In what sense pleased? Do such observers have more of a shot at being accepted by God, today, and in eternity? Can one earn or become righteous with such extraordinary effort at religious law?
Not according to the former rabbi, Saul of Tarsus. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to those who believe" (Romans 10:4). Righteousness today, it seems, is not acquired through undaunted obedience to ancient Jewish Law. It comes through faith in Christ, and through Him alone. It is a gift of grace, not a task for completion. Even Abraham, the father of faith (and of the Jews) found this to be true, before he was circumcized. His faith was reckoned to him as righteousness (Romans 4).
Preacher Hound
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