Culturally Irrelevant

Most people glaze over when someone starts talking about the kingdom of God. We get the general idea, but the word kingdom isn’t appreciated since it’s outside our experience. For a voting democracy, the idea of life under a dictatorship is too foreign to carry any practical significance. But there’s a really great reason why Jesus’ first sermon topic was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” We’re easily caught up in the “kingdoms” of men because they’re all around us, and they’re pretty amazing, naturally speaking (Dubai comes to mind). It’s what we can see and hear. But God’s kingdom is so different. It’s not observed with looking or listening.

Some years after the flood of Noah’s day, a bunch of people got together and moved to a cozy little plain in Shinar (Babylonia). They baked up a ton of bricks and built a city with a massive tower in the middle (a ziggurat). Their motivation was to band together, muster their collective strength and wealth and make a name for themselves. Oh, and they wanted to build something that would reach to heaven, representing their amazing mad ”skills”.

On the surface you might think that these people were just acting on common sense. I mean, isn’t that pretty much what everyone does? You get together, build a city, put up a wall, pool your resources, fight off the bad guys and live happily ever after with your family and a little garden out back, right?

The catch is that they knew about God, the history of the garden, the fall and the flood. They knew God had a way of doing things, but they deliberately chose to leave God out of their plans. They wanted their own thing, something great that would be a monument to what they could accomplish without him. Of course, you know the rest of the story. God takes one look, doesn’t disagree that they have amazing skills, but foresees the danger of their rebellious independence and in mercy stops it before they have a chance to pull it off and self-destruct in a lifestyle of arrogance and self-indulgence. At the end of the day, they got off pretty easy.

A little segway. Clarity by contrast is a beautiful thing. Bite into a Gala apple from Wal-Mart and you’ll think you’ve got a really crisp, refreshing apple. But then sink into a Pink Lady from a local health food store and strap your taste buds down, cause it’s a world of difference. Or take that blue shirt you bought 2 years ago. It’s still a deep blue in your mind, even though you know you’ve washed it a million times. You wear it over and over, thinking it still looks great. But then one day you see it in an old picture and realize how faded it has become.

Ok, the point. Tomorrow I want to contrast the “Shinarites” from Genesis 11 with the story that immediately follows in Genesis 12. This is where it gets good.

The Riverwalk is always a great place to celebrate with friends. Last night we got together with Rick & Cori and Josh & LB for a night of good food, fun and fellowship to honor Rick and Cori’s 10th anniversary.

Rick and Cori, we’re celebrating with you as you remember the last 10 years of marriage. And we’re excited to walk forward with you into many, many more years together. We honor your faithfulness, to God and to each other. Your relationship is a reminder that this journey is filled with surprises and seasons of all kinds, and through God’s grace we can find him in each season and overcome any obstacles. Katy and I love you both and your family!

Frosted Flakes, a Curious George DVD, a tent of blankets, a cold, windy morning and a 3 year old. The perfect Saturday morning for this Dad. 

Now that we’ve had a few adventures (the park, camping and Saturday cartoons), I need more ideas. Any of you Dads out there got some adventure ideas we can try?

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Another story from Deidox that steps on my toes. It’s an eye-opening look into the life of a police officer on Skid Row in LA. As a follower of Christ, he’s called to love people and see them like Jesus sees them. Listen to the way he describes Skid Row.

He isn’t increased in glory by my worship or decreased by my turning away. He is abundant always. And those hidden in Christ are as immovable as he is.

If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him? 
If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand? 
Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only the sons of men.
(Job 35:6-8)

There is nothing lacking in the godhead. Ok, I’ve known that in my head, but it’s starting to make its way into my gut.  The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are and always have been perfect in unity, in love and in relationship. There’s nothing anyone can do to add or take away from God. He’s eternally existent and unchanging. My worship or lack of it can’t change him at all. The only thing that changes is me. Whether I enjoy him or despise him, worship him or denounce him, need him or reject him, he never changes. His love is constant, his glory is abundant and his mercy is always available. 

If God doesn’t need anything from me then why am I here? Isaiah 4:6-7 says that we were created for his glory, to showcase who he really is. It’s not that we’re increasing his glory; we’re just reflecting it to others. In other words, I was created to be a unique expression of his nature so that others can see him clearly. He expresses all of the facets of his abundant nature through his creation. I’m here to be a living, breathing, walking, talking expression of him. And when I’m being that, being completely true to what he put in me, I’m happiest. Worship, then, is the expression of my life as it reflects his glory. My work, my play, my talk, my thoughts, they all express his glory. But I can’t bring him glory in my own strength.

We’re conditioned to believe that value comes from productivity, what we can provide for others or what we can give to God through service or devotion or worship. Martha was doing the most work, yet it was Mary who was commended for sitting, listening, receiving and being. Peter couldn’t imagine that Jesus would want to wash his feet. “No, I need to wash your feet, Jesus. You’re God, so I should serve you. I should be the one doing, like the way all good subjects serve their king.” But Peter could not add to Jesus or take from him. It was Peter who needed, who lacked. So Jesus said, “If you don’t let me wash your feet, you can’t have any part in me.”

It’s why the kingdom requires only that I believe, which to me is simply the act of receiving. Jesus said, “Come, eat my flesh and drink my blood.” Yes, at some point I will serve him and do for him, but not before I’ve died with him, received from him, been filled with him, healed by him, hidden in him and know who I am in him.

Activity that doesn’t flow from an abundance of Christ is like trying to cut down a tree with a spoon. Sometimes I feel useless at his feet, like I’m not helping anyone or being productive. But when it’s Christ who lives in me then every little thing I say and do is a true expression, a powerful seed, a light of hope, a healing outflow of his love and character. That’s what the world and the body needs, and it’s ultimately what makes me the happiest.

God, forgive me for my pride and my feeble efforts. I’m ready to receive like a child. To take you in without fear of what I’m not. There’s no shame in my weakness, only glory in being covered by you!

Sometimes God is quiet. I don’t know why. I used to panic at the first sign of spiritual dryness. Quick, pray and read the word and confess your sins and put on a worship CD! Maybe God won’t ignore me if I surround myself with good Christian disciplines. Then I discovered Hebrews 3 and 4 and the concept of faith-rest. Now the quiet times are times of rest, of pruning, of patience and stretching. But, like any good coach, God continually takes me beyond my comfort zone in order to stretch me and condition me for what’s coming. Extended times in a shadowland are tough. For me a shadowland is a place of not understanding his purpose, not hearing or seeing his perspective. The waiting room seems to last too long. These places are usually new territory, places I haven’t been before, where I have to trust and just keep walking, being faithful with what’s in front of me, what’s in my hand.

I’m stuck in Genesis 2-3 right now. Among several thoughts that are marinating is Adam and Eve’s shame at their own nakedness and the knee-jerk desire to cover themselves and hide. Inevitably, in times of dryness and not hearing, all kinds of insecurities surface. There is always this temptation to hide feelings of shame and weakness. Throughout my life, in those key moments when I realize that I’m weak, broken, imperfect, vulnerable, inadequate, wounded…whatever, I begin to invent ways to compensate, to hide what is naked and exposed to criticism. I even use God-given gifts, talents and resources to cover up or distract from the areas where I’m vulnerable. Instead of going to God naked and hurting, I’d rather study more, pray more, talk more, work more. Anything to bury that sense of vulnerability. But God wants me to come as I am so he can hide me in Christ, clothe me in his grace and wisdom, lead me to still waters and fill me up with his love. I hear the essence of this kind of vulnerability and raw exposure in David’s songs to God. I’m just getting to that point in my life where I realize God is big enough to take it. To hear what I really feel. To listen to the reality of my life and not walk away.

But back to the silence. God is not in a hurry. I am, but he’s not. Trees don’t spring up quickly, but once they’re full grown, they’re powerful, fruitful and lasting. Early on, I felt more useful the faster I was going, the more I was doing. But that changes the more I take risky journeys into the Father’s heart. Sometimes those journeys are exciting and eventful. And sometimes they’re painfully quiet. Here are some words written in my notebook in all caps:

TIME  PATIENCE  SLOW TO SPEAK  LISTEN  WAIT  ASK  RECEIVE THANK  BELIEVE  SOAK  BE  WORSHIP  SEE  LOVE

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked!  They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1)