Culturally Irrelevant

Turtles pull their heads in when faced with danger or opposition. That’s why God compares His people to things like an eagle, a lion, an athlete, and a warrior. Life isn’t about getting back what we used to have or trying to achieve a place of safety or stability. Life is about living obediently in the Kingdom of God. It’s about an ever increasing faith. It’s about participating with a passionate and loving God as He seeks out and saves the lost at all costs. It’s about getting ready for the Day Jesus returns.

Our culture doesn’t live in or for the Kingdom of God, so their reactions are based more on self-preservation than anything else. It’s easy to be influenced more by our culture than God’s Kingdom. Francis Chan captures our tendency in these times to pull into our shell because of life’s pain and injustices.

That’s the phrase in my study Bible’s commentary to describe what Asaph was struggling with in Psalm 77. Ever been there? I am.

“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion? Selah.”

Let’s Selah with Asaph for a second. I know the theology about God’s faithfulness, his never-leave-or-forsake nature. But what about when the overwhelming evidence of the situation screams out against what He said? Did I really hear God? Has He changed His mind? Did I make some mistake, or did He decide to move on? Is He angry, frustrated, disappointed? Will He hear if I pour out my weakness, my insecurities? What is this bewildering inactivity around me? I hear Him behind me, but when I turn around, it seems He has gone. Where are you, God?

“Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.”

Thanks for reeling me in, Asaph. That was a long drop off the edge of that cliff. I will remember the deeds of YHWH, the Ancient of Days, I AM WHO I AM, who I said I will be I will be, the same yesterday, today and forever. I will remember how you gave this premature newborn life after 10 days hooked up in ICU, how you pulled him out of deep waters 3 times and saved him from drowning, how you saved him from 25 years of paralyzing night terrors, how you gave him a woman he didn’t deserve, how you forgave him of religious pride and filled him with Your Spirit and gave him a place in the body. I will remember and never forget.

“Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen.”

What a profound and mysterious statement. The God of all creation passes through the churning sea and heaps up millions and millions of gallons of water, yet He leaves no trace, no footprint, nothing natural by which to distinguish His passing. How is this possible? It is the faith of the righteous, the patient, the trusting, who discern Him. The wicked see nothing. They hear God’s voice from heaven and say “It thundered.”

“As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, till He shows us His mercy.”

Selah

In this journey with Jesus, some things come by faith alone, some by adding covenant relationships to that faith, some by long perseverance in those relationships, and still some things are not for us but for another generation.

I’ve had quick victories that take only days or months by standing in faith on a promise. I’ve also experienced deliverance or blessing because I was faithful to covenant relationships and depended on other people instead of trying to go it alone. In this season of life, faith and faithfulness to covenant relationships have not brought the breakthrough. Sometimes God says wait. No explanation, just relax and let the thing bake all the way through. Getting up earlier, charging up our confession, giving more or praying harder isn’t going to speed up the process.

Beyond this, I can see other promises that we may never experience. These things are for our kids and the generations after them. We’re called to believe these promises just as much, nurture them just as much and persevere for them just as much, even though we’ll never taste them for ourselves. That’s the example I see in the Bible from Abraham to Jesus to Paul. All of them became broken bread and poured out wine, layed out for the service of others, spent for the building up of those who would carry the baton after them. Abraham left his home and everything he knew so that generations after him could have a home and experience God’s blessing. Paul went hungry so that others could eat, was weak so that others could become strong. Jesus gave up his life so that we could have eternal life.

This goes against everything we’ve been taught to expect out of life. Against our hard-wired wants, needs and deep desires. Against what makes us feel safe and respected. Somehow I don’t think Jesus would have used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as part of his PowerPoint presentation for the mature follower!

I wonder what was going through Mary’s mind as she laid the Savior of the world in a feed trough in the middle of a dirty barn. It’s odd, isn’t it? Why didn’t the Father give them more provision to take proper care of his own Son, the Messiah that had been prophesied about for thousands of years? Or at least there should have been room for them in the inn.

From seeking the Kingdom to the economy and from C.S. Lewis and pain to Dave Ramsey, Greg Atkinson’s post today on “draw near” really hit the nail on the head in so many ways.

If you have any extra time, I’d encourage you to look through his blog, especially a post from March 9 on “pruning” at the bottom of page two. Here are a couple quick quotes from “draw near”:

On my blog a while back, I spoke of God’s “pruning”. I talked about a situation that was extremely difficult, humiliating, humbling and really put me in my place. At the same time, it was wonderful, Spirit-filled, God-ordained and edifying. Our God takes the tough times and makes something beautiful out of it.

I sincerely believe that it’s in these hard times that God wants us to run to Him and run to Him first. Not to our banker, our broker, our real estate agent or even friends. First and foremost, He wants His children to call on His name and fall to their knees in worship. The Bible teaches us to “seek Him first”. (Matt. 6:33)

Jesus says that we remain in the Father’s love through obedience (check out John 15). Complete obedience is our anchor to the Father’s love. As we obey the word, we begin to experience God’s love and become like him. Through continued obedience, his plans for us reach maturity and become powerful in our lives. However, we can know everything there is to know about the word and yet still remain under the control of our flesh and Satan’s devices if we are unwilling to obey what we’ve been told to do. Another word for willful disobedience is rebellion. When we know what we should do but willingly rebel against the truth, we are literally turning away from God. It doesn’t matter if we’re in church every Sunday. Ask the members of the Laodicean church what God thought about their church attendance, giving record and knowledge of the word (Revelation 3). Our obedience let’s God circumcise our hearts. It’s how he cuts away the extra flesh that desensitizes us and makes our spiritual understanding dull.

Abraham talked to God a lot. We like to think of talking to God as this really awesome and charismatic thing. And it is. But it’s also a painful thing, mainly because so much in us needs to change to become like him. In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham to leave his home and everything familiar to seek a land he’s never seen. In chapter 17, God tells him to circumcise himself and all of the males in his house. Ouch. And then in chapter 22, God tells him to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering. Is it just me, or does talking with God seem painful and costly?

Abraham was able to obey completely because he trusted God. Hebrews 11:19 tells us that Abraham didn’t worry about losing Isaac because he reasoned God would just raise him from the dead if necessary! What was God doing through all of this? Yes, he was taking him on a very practical journey to find a land of promise, build a family and gain wealth. But none of that mattered at all without trust, righteousness and love. God had Abraham on a journey of the heart, continually testing him and telling him to do things that would remove more and more of his stubbornness, his doubt, his fear and any deep-seated mistrust. Why? So that Abraham could become more like God and actually hold the promises when they came, enjoy them and pass them on to Isaac and his sons.

When the Holy Spirit spoke to Katy and I last year, we began a journey of the heart that was years in the making. God spent years preparing our hearts to obey some hard things. Everything had its purpose and timing. He’s asked us to do some hard things recently that don’t make sense naturally. Give things away, sell stuff, pack without selling our house, take part in a church plant that’s spread out across 750 miles. Why? He’s got a good future for us in the natural, no doubt. But along the way he’s having us do it a certain way because he’s cutting away stuff in our hearts. We’re on a journey that can’t be seen in the natural. The “stuff” is really inconsequential. Houses, cars, jobs. They come and go…really…but there are more permanent things that determine all of that. Everything that happens in the natural follows what’s already going on in the spirit. And it’s critical for us to see this. That’s why Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom and all these things will be added to you.” It’s simple, really. But it can also be painful. How much heat can your heart take? It’ll be determined by how connected your heart is to the “stuff”. Ultimately, I’m asking “Which kingdom am I living in?” If it’s mine, then I better get everything here and now that I possibly can, and I’ll have to rely on my own understanding to get there. But if it’s an eternal Kingdom, then it’s got to be done God’s way. And that inevitably means I’m not always going to understand everything until I’m looking back on it. And trust me, we’ve looked back over the past year and realized that God knows exactly what he’s doing.

Cori sustained an injury a few years ago that left parts of her wrist and hand crushed and weak. She wasn’t able to continue in her profession because of it. One night after a teaching on healing, we laid hands on her hands and prayed. She felt nothing, but later that night she noticed that she had been holding her huge study Bible with her hand for a really long time. And it didn’t hurt! God led her to a personal trainer who worked with her on some exercises for her wrists. Previously she had a 10 pound weight restriction on her hands and wrists and couldn’t push herself away from a wall. Within just a few weeks of continuing to trust God and be faithful to her trainer’s instructions, she was able to do multiple sets of bench presses as well as floor push-ups. Here are some texts we’ve received from Cori over the past couple months: “Another wrist triumph! I did 3 sets of 10 girl push ups! Watch out Jack Lelane!” “A shout goes out to Him who sits on the throne! I did 3 sets of 10 bench presses using two 15 pound weights!” “Guess what I did? I used a kettle ball today! I am also doing 30 push ups off the floor. So much for that 10 pound weight restriction!”

Ben – I was in the bathroom for two hours straight (try not to laugh at the nature of my infirmity here:) The pain in my gut was worse than it had ever been in my entire life, worse than the gastritis I had as a kid or the hour long spasms I’d had off and on since college. It had been years since I was able to drink a cup of coffee or eat a steak or cheese pizza without serious consequences. This time the pain was only getting worse instead of better. But I sat there doubled over and said, “God, I won’t believe this pain more than I believe your promises. It hurts, but even if it never goes away, I’m not going to let it convince me that you’re a liar or that you don’t intend to heal me. God, I believe you want to heal me and I accept it regardless of what I feel.” I got back in bed, but the minute I laid down I shot back up and doubled over groaning. Katy woke up and began to read Scriptures and pray over me in the Spirit. I sat like this for about 10 minutes and then began to get really cold. I laid back in bed to see if I could get warm. My body began to shake and twitch uncontrollably. It felt like my appendix was about to burst or my stomach was coming apart. While she was on the phone getting some advice, I laid in bed and told God the pain didn’t matter. It actually made me mad and I refused to doubt. Suddenly, as we were seriously considering going to the ER, my whole body went limp, warmth returned and I fell asleep. It was days before I realized I’d been healed. Just to test it I drank 5 cups of coffee. When I didn’t get sick (not even a twinge of pain) I ate an entire steak along with a potato and biscuits. Nothing. No pain or discomfort. I slept like a baby and woke without even a sour stomach. Praise God! After years of what I believe was probably an ulcer, I was set free!

God is good and he is still in the healing business. He wants to heal and deliver people more than they want to be healed and delivered. Why? Because he’s reconciling the world to himself through Christ, and that reconciliation involves our whole person. It will ultimately be complete when Christ returns for his bride and the world is judged with righteousness. Only then will the fullness of our salvation be realized. But until then we’re experiencing a daily salvation of our whole man, more and more and from glory to glory according to our faith.

If you’re not totally sure this is true, read through Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts and John in one sitting. It might take a bit, but it will probably be one of the most eye-opening experiences you’ve ever had. Healing and power encounters (supernatural deliverance, authority over demons and various other miracles) are part of God’s kingdom, part of how he continually testifies to his body and to the world that Jesus is alive, that the Holy Spirit is at work in the earth and that the gospel is a relevant message of power and hope.

Water that down even a drop and you’ve got less than he intended, less than is in his heart and less than what he promised through Christ. Believe it in its entirity, and let go of everything else, and you’ll see and experience it for yourself.

We’ve been experiencing God’s healing for a while now, and I just can’t shut up about it. I’d like to take the next few posts to tell you some stories. These are stories about physical and relational healing that are nothing short of God’s miraculous touch in the lives of broken and dependent people. I hope you’re encouraged by them as I have been.

Tony suffered from years of intense, chronic back pain. He had been going to the chiropractor regularly for months and couldn’t sit in one position for more than a couple minutes. It was exhausting him and stealing his joy. We prayed for him multiple times for weeks without seeing any changes. Finally, we just rested in the assurance that God knew and that he would heal him in his own timing. Weeks later, one of the guys laid hands on him at a meeting and the joy of the Holy Spirit filled the room. We laughed as Tony’s back was effortlessly, miraculously and permanently healed. He was running around the room and rolling on the floor like a kid! The best part was when he realized he could tear up his cold pack.

Rick is a master mechanic whose ribs had been popping out of place multiple times a week. He was stiff, in chronic, excruciating pain and wasn’t able to do his job properly. God spoke to him about some lifestyle changes and he immediately obeyed. Soon after that we laid hands on him and prayed. God gave one of the ladies a word of knowledge about a specific muscle that needed to be healed. She spoke to it to loosen and he immediately gained several inches on his stretch. A few days later he attended a healing service and God touched him again in a powerful way. It’s been a couple months now and Rick’s ribs have stopped popping out of place, he can easily touch his toes for the first time in years, and he’s been to the chiropractor maybe once or twice since then. Ask him about how God healed him and you’ll see a huge smile break across his face. Then just sit back and relax. He’ll gladly tell you all about it.

Katy sat on the floor in one of our meetings, having dealt with mild skulliosis most of her life. Hands were laid on her and she immediately felt a physical shift in her back. Since then she hasn’t noticed any of the discomfort or pain she had before, and her posture has improved.

Allen is my next door neighbor. I was out talking to him recently and he told me how he had suffered from neuropathy of the feet for 15 years. He said it felt like a severe 24/7 sunburn on the tops of his feet. One day he prayed and asked God to remove the pain. The next morning he noticed that his feet didn’t hurt. It’s been two pain-free months now. His eyes welled up with tears as he told me about how personal God has become, how grateful he is and how much he realizes now that God loves him.

The contrast between the ”Shinarites” in Genesis 11 and Abram in chapter 12 is a perfect example of kingdom vs. Kingdom

The Shinarites ”said to each other, ‘Come, let’s make bricks’” while Abram left his home behind and struck out into the unknown “as the Lord had told him.” They “settled” in the plain while Abram “traveled” from place to place. They said, let’s build ourselves a city with a tower to heaven, but he built a humble altar of worship and pitched a tent. They said “let us make a name for ourselves” but he “called on the name of the Lord.” They didn’t want to be scattered all over the face of the earth, while Abram followed God from Ur to Haran to Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan.

Here’s the incredible irony. Everything they desperately wanted God freely gave to Abram, and much more. Everything they feared came upon them, while God settled Abram’s fears and carried him through difficult times into abundance, promise and legacy. They wanted to hole up away from the wide world while God thrust Abram out into the world and made him a blessing to many nations. They wanted a name and got nothing but confusion. God gave Abram a new name that lasts to this day.

Abram trusted God without evidence. He put his family, his fortune, his faith and his future into God’s hands, trusting an unsubstantiated promise. He went out not knowing where he was going, but he had a living word from a living God. He wandered in tents, exposed to the elements but full faith, fully surrendered. In exchange, God gave him protection, peace and favor with those around him, a great name and eventually a place to settle and call home. His only monument was an altar of surrender, and what did God have to work with in the natural? A barren woman who laughed at the promise and her 100-year-old husband.

Man has kingdoms. Lots of them. And they’re impressive, no doubt. I have kingdoms. Mostly little ones. In reality, we all tend to have our own little kingdoms we’re working on. But God has a great big Kingdom, and he operates his differently than we do ours. 

Here are some questions I continually ask myself. Whose kingdom am I building? Am I settling somewhere, getting comfortable and surrounding myself with protection, or am I letting myself get thrust out for the sake of others? Am I building any monuments to myself, even little ones? Am I helping someone else build a monument to themself or to a group’s hard work and smart planning? Am I still willing to risk everything to follow Jesus, to go whenever and wherever he might lead?

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.

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!