Culturally Irrelevant

Here’s a song by Charlie Hall that I recently heard for the first time. The words speak for themselves.

“Celebrate his death and rising. Lift your eyes. Proclaim his coming!
Christ has died and Christ has risen. Christ will come again!”

Also, a Christian production team called The Work of the People just released an Easter video for Mystery. Very powerful. Click here to see it.

a load – part 2

In a previous post I talked about a yoke. The yoke connects an animal to a load in the best way possible. In the same way, Jesus’ yoke fits well and gives us grace for the load we’re pulling. By that I mean the yoke of intimacy with Christ makes pulling the load he gives a joy and a passion.

Paul tells the church in Galatians 6 to “carry each other’s burderns” (v. 2) and that “each one should carry his own load” (v. 5). We’ll look at burdens tomorrow, but for now, what does Paul mean by each one carrying his own load? This word “load” means the freight or lading of a ship. It’s a measured load and the ship being loaded is desiged to carry it. In the same way, there’s a “load” I was designed to carry. This is the same word Jesus uses when he says, “for my yoke is easy and my “load” is light (Matt 11:30).

God has given me gifts and talents and a desire to carry a specific load. But there are also false loads that I’m not designed to carry. Maybe it’s someone else’s load, but I’m tempted to pick it up. Maybe it’s a good thing, but it doesn’t belong on my yoke. And maybe it’s a load someone else is trying to put on me, but Jesus hasn’t put it on me. This is what was happening in Matt 22:4. The Pharisees were putting heavy religious requirements, or loads, on  people that God never gave. They were the traditions of men and not God. The loads were unmeasured and unappropriate for the ship they were being loaded to.

One load that I’m pulling right now is my role with The Harbor, a church plant in Pensacola, FL. God has given me very specific things to do in this season, but as soon as I wander from that narrow place of what I’ve been given to do, I start straining. It’s deceptive, really. It comes in as a sense that I need to do something extra to push things along or maybe a simple distraction that starts pulling me away from time with him. And the next thing I know, I don’t have time for everthing, I start feeling dry inside and then I wonder where the grace went.

OK, putting the cookies on the bottom shelf. It’s like this. If I stay in that intimate place with Jesus, keeping at his feet and staying in his word (his yoke), then it’s a joy to work (the load) because I’m not sweating the “stuff” of life. All the sudden the load becomes…well, easy. Believing is easier. Being patient with my kids is easier. Loving my wife and others is easier. But if I get outside that place and get loaded up with other interesting or “necessary” stuff, the journey starts getting hard. 

Here’s the BIG TEST I use for everything: if it distracts me from and pulls me out of that place of intimacy with Jesus, then it has to go.

All I can say is God bless the guy or gal who discovered this stuff. Guaranteed, Starbucks will never carry this product, but it beats Tazo, Earl Grey or Twinnings by a mile on this cleanse. OK, so I promised no TMI. But to say the least, the Master Cleanse works! Definitely not easy, delicious or fun, but it has major benefits. Say goodbye to allergies, bad complexion, caffeine addiction and feeling sluggish. We feel great! Still have some days to go, but we’re not too hungry or tired at this point.

That said, I can’t WAIT to sink my teeth into a huge steak and some garlic mashed potatoes!

part 1 – the yoke

 

yoke-making, old school

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:29)

I’ve taken on so many different yokes in my life. While my yokes are very different than those others have carried, they’ve been burdens nonetheless. Legalism: I served God for many years thinking I had to be disciplined enough to earn his approval. Fear of man: I served leaders for years with a deep need for their approval. Criticism: still struggling with this one. But why? When Jesus says his yoke is easy. Following him, being in relationship with him, being obedient to him is supposed to be “easy” in a sense.

The best picture I’ve gotten lately of Jesus’ yoke is in John 15. Here, Jesus is the true vine and we are the branches. My job is to remain in him, to stay put in his love by being obedient to his commands. That’s it. Intimacy with Jesus through constant remaining and obedience as he speaks. This intimacy is the yoke I wear. Sounds simple, but it’s the place where life comes from, where direction and power come from. And here are the promises if I stay in this place of love and intimacy: I will bear much fruit (v. 5), I will ask whatever I wish, and it will be given (v. 7) and his joy will be in me to complete my joy (v. 11).

If I pull any load from any other yoke, then I’m doing it in my own strength. Picture an ox that takes off the farmer’s yoke and then turns around and bites down on his load and tries to carry it along with his teeth. Wow! Even if it’s a fairly light load, that’s going to be one unhappy ox with no teeth and a load that’s not going to move much. Funny, but it’s what I’ve done with years of my own life.

Farmers used to make their yokes by hand. It takes a huge block of stout wood and a tremendous amount of work and time to make a yoke that can stand up to the pressure a mature ox puts on it. This place of heart intimacy with Jesus can withstand a lot of pressure, which is why God doesn’t mind taking years to form it in me. Once this place is formed, anything is possible.

Here’s what I’m asking myself these days. What are some areas in my life that are not easy or light? What in my life is creating hardness, difficulty and stress? Am I willfully carrying a yoke that Jesus hasn’t given me? If so, where did that yoke come from? Why did I accept it?

What makes me feel at home? What is my comfort and security when I walk through the door? Is it a nice house in a good neighborhood, square footage, comfortable furniture, better colors, good lighting, cool stuff? These are some of the questions my family has been wrestling with.

Ok, so half our house is packed up in boxes in the garage and we sold most of our furniture and “stuff” about 3 months ago in a huge garage sale. For those of you who don’t know, we’re planning to move to Pensacola, FL as soon as our house sells. I remember the first time I came home to a very bare house, complete with couch, bookshelf, TV and a rocking chair (oh, and some lamps). I was unsettled for weeks and couldn’t figure out why until one day I saw it in my wife’s face. She had rearranged the furniture, again, and I could tell she was feeling the bareness.

Over the months we’ve begun to realize why God told us to start packing up so early. Most of it is gone and now we don’t even miss it. What used to make us feel so at home and comfortable has now been replaced with the joy of having people over, the excitement of a board game or a picnic-for-dinner on the living room floor, and the comfort of God’s presence as we pour over his Word together in the evenings sitting on our one couch. I mean, it’s nice to have the stuff…don’t get me wrong. But it’s definitely not what defines “home” for us anymore.

It seems like I’ve read the Beattitudes a million times, but I’ve never seen the common theme like I do now. Those Jesus calls “happy” in Matthew 5 have one thing in common. They are weak. The meek, the hungry, the poor, the persecuted. They all come from a place of natural disadvantage. It might as well read, “Happy are you when you are obeying God and find yourself at a disadvantage before the world and its system.” Hmmmm, sounds like a familiar passage in Paul’s writings:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10). 

God is challenging me with this. “If you have a choice, every chance you get and in every occasion as you follow me, choose the position of weakness; my strength is made perfect in weakness.” If you’re hesitant to step out and obey something God told you to do because it puts you in a place of weakness, take heart and check this out…

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. (Rom 8:26)

For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. (1 Corinthians 1:25)

Hoowee! Somebody get me a snowcone. This stuff is NOT nice. It’s the end of Day Two on the lemonade cleanse, and we’re feeling pretty good. Katy gagged on her saltwater this morning, leaving about 16 ounces untouched so I could ridicule her for her pansiness. Don’t make that face…it’s all I’ve got. She beats me in ping-pong, basketball, cards, and now Pente…you’d be gloating, too.
 
But seriously, the cayenne can definitely clean up. Katy had a head cold and some congestion the day before we started and it’s all clear now. My allergy symptoms are basically gone, especially since I’ve started using the Neti Pot.
 
I went to bed last night exhausted with some pretty sore muscles. Struggled with a pounding headache all day, but I’m assuming that’s coffee withdraws. Other than that, we seem to be over the initial hungry-like-crazy hump and now heading into the feeling tired phase. We’ll be going to bed early tonight, fo sho.

click image

It always helps to get your head pulled out of your…er, out of the sand, so you can look around and see the bigger picture. I watched this new short film by Deidox a few days ago and was suddenly reminded that I’m part of this big family serving Jesus all over the earth. It’s a family full of amazing, ordinary people who are walking in obedience and choosing to love people despite the sacrifices. This isn’t some dramatic story, but it’s real and it hit home with me.

“A lot of people thought what I was doing was foolish, and they probably were right. In the eyes of the world, I think it is foolish. But God has a different strategy. He tends to choose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”

OK, so we’re going to do it, starting TODAY! 10 days, 80 lemons, 1 and 1/2 gallons of maple syrup, two cups of cayenne pepper, sea salt, lots of laxative tea and 30 gallons of distilled water…everything two people need to get their colons squeaky clean. Woohoo!

Stanley Boroughs came up with this one a long time ago. It’s a classic cleanse. Apparently, 10 days on this stuff and your colon will be happy again, you’ll feel younger, lose weight and think like you did in college (which may or may not be a good thing). Katy and I will be on this diet until the beginning of April. I’ll let you know how it goes (without TMI, of course).

Oh, and if you’re hypoglycemic, have a heart condition or any related stuff, you’ll want to talk to your doctor before trying something like this. Your other option is to try my brother’s famous CB Diet: a special combination of 5 cups of coffee and a newspaper. That’s right, the Colon Blow Diet is a revolutionary diet that has been used by parents for years. Great for emergencies, busy schedules or the person who absolutely hates to go without food!

More Info: Lemonade Diet on Wikipedia

Jesus was both relevant and irrelevant at the same time. Relevant to the sick, the demon possessed, the broken and the lost. But irrelevant, in most cases, to the religious, the politically motivated, the powerful and the wealthy elite. Jesus was relevant because he communicated the only thing that really mattered in life…God’s kingdom, God’s reality. He healed sick people, which was relevant because people don’t like being in pain. He delivered the demon possessed, which was relevant because most people don’t like being possessed or harrassed by evil beings. Jesus was ultimately relevant because he told people that they needed to turn away from their sins so that they wouldn’t suffer the eternal punishment their sins deserved, which was extremely relevant to a few people who didn’t want to be separated from God forever.

Jesus was obviously aware of the customs of his day, the way people lived and what they were going through. This made him relevant to the masses. However, Jesus didn’t think or act the way everyone else in his generation did. The prevailing “culture” of his day was extremely religious, entrenched in generations of traditions that were irrelevant to God’s kingdom. By default, Jesus’ relevance to his father’s kingdom made him irrelevant and even offensive to the leading systems of his day. Jesus was so relevant and irrelevant at the same time that he was both loved and hated, celebrated yet murdered.

So that’s Jesus, but what about us. If we were totally honest, we would have to admit that we’re much better at knowing our culture than knowing God. It’s so much easier to spend money at the mall, play with the latest technological gadget, work late again, get on Facebook, read the paper or just curl up in front of the TV than it is to spend time getting to know God. Why is that? What am I willing to give up for a while so that I can fully know and experience God?”

Dominic Herbst

My wife and I have been spending our Thursday nights watching a DVD series on relational healing by Dominic Herbst, founder of the Bethesda Family Services Foundation (I know, it’s not Heroes or CSI, but it’s changing our lives!). In the first couple videos, he says “The violations of a fallen world are constant and they are endless. It’s all about wounds to the soul. A dead spirit (a spirit that hasn’t been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ) leaves a soul to bounce around and be dictated to by the circumstances of life.” He also notes that for all of its knowledge about psychological problems, the world can’t see the source of inner sickness or the solution to that sickness.

My journey has taught me that the solution starts with knowing God and putting his kingdom first. Everything else in life, my identity, my relationships and my purpose, grows from that life-giving flow of knowing and experiencing God.

By culturally irrelevant I don’t mean shutting out culture, of course. It’s always a balance, but I find that when I’m seeking to know God and serve people, I just don’t have as much time to keep up with the latest and greatest. Sometimes being relevant (which is easily confused with being progressive or popular) doesn’t have anything to do with the latest and greatest. I love what C.S. Lewis says:

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

I want the culture of the kingdom of God to bleed into my own and transform my heart, to change how I interact with my wife, my kids, my neighbors, my friends, my enemies and total strangers. I believe that his kingdom, if I’m truly seeking it first, can’t help but make me more relevant to people, not to what they want but what they truly need. I hope this blog will encourage you as it reflects my journey, as imperfect as it may be, to seek first the kingdom.