Entry time.
I came across an interesting point in the story of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32 that I had never noticed before. When the people demand Aaron to make gods for them, he obliges and crafts the singular object and then says, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD (YHWH)." (vs. 5)
It seems that Aaron tried to rationalize it by saying that it was made in the image of God himself, which God continually addresses through Exodus and seems to make it his first objective many times in listing rules by saying that first you shall have no other gods before me and that also you shall not make images of anything even of things in "heaven above (20:4)." Did Aaron believe they were worshiping God through what they were doing?
The people worshiped this image of YHWH that Aaron had created though they seemed to be a little confused as to the identity of its representation for they say things like, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. (32:4) which then prompts Aaron's decree that YHWH will be worshiped the following day.
I wonder if this is occurring today in the church through the things that are made to worship God. Are we worshiping things like worship bands, sermons, authors, the comfort of Christian circles or places like Christian camps, and failing to recognize the one who is truly deserving of worship? And like the people of Israel, do people that show up know why we are doing what we are doing, or are they confused and can't pinpoint the object of our worship. It seems like the thing that is discussed following services or campus events is how the music sounded, or how "awesome" a certain musician was, or how good the speaker was, and I believe that leads to people leaving the place and having no meaningful, lasting impact in the long run, and sometimes even in the short run. What if instead, the focus and desire of everyone was for the presence of God to absolutely permeate the place, what would happen then? I believe then we would finally be able to "worship in spirit and in truth" and we would be changed, we would not be able to leave and be the same as when we entered, we would reach new levels of intimacy with Christ, we would have lasting change through the Spirit.
Are our religious practices just metal cows or are we on the mountain face to face with God?
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Legally Blind Faith
I have decided that blogging isn't an easy mix with my unofficial ADD.
One thing that I've been thinking a lot about the last couple days is the idea of stepping out and making plans to advance God's kingdom (which is a pretty nifty thing). Lately I have been in the mindset that one should wait until God had specifically(-ish ("-ish" because usually His plans aren't long term, 20 year vision plan specific)) revealed to them His plan for them. Yesterday, a nifty guy Taylor and I had a meeting with kind of a missionary recruiter and at one point the recruiter asked me if 100 missionaries showed up at my door asking where to go, where I would send them (He had earlier spoke about the 10/40 window where much of the unreached people groups are). I was kinda bamboozled and I asked him if these missionaries had any indication from God where they were called, and he said no. I then said "Well, I'd hope that God would reveal to me where they are to go." He then was probably a little frustrated and just wanted me to answer the question and said that God had revealed to them that I would tell them where to go, but apparently God didn't reveal to me specifically where they were to go.
It was a toughie as I have felt that to step out in faith on something that God hasn't specifically revealed can be a dangerous thing. I had believed that it can definitely be a good thing, but I have felt that it can also be risky spiritually as you could be just banking on something based on your own preconceived plans that you have put before God and ordered Him to sign off on.
I had heard a story of how some individuals somewhere in Eastern Asia had been trying to make it to a revival meeting happening on a large hill. There had been a lot of rain and a small river had flooded and was flowing very rapidly. A group of young adults had reached the river and it was blocking their way to the meeting and a few of them declared that they would have faith that God would bring them through the waters and they began worshiping God and then ran into the waters but were swept away and their bodies were eventually found a couple days later. It's definitely a sad story but it carries a lot of lessons in it, that to step out in faith in something that God hasn't revealed to us can be not the best thing for us spiritually and in this case physically. In the book "Adventures in Naked Faith" by missionary Ross Tooley he says that faith exploits like these "had failed in at least one key area. We acted on our own, not at God's prompting. We ignored the fact that God specially spoke to Moses at the burning bush to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. It was not Moses' idea. We forgot that the walls of Jericho fell down because God specifically spoke to Joshua to march around that city seven times. We failed to see that it was God who gave Elijah the idea of calling fire down from heaven." (I hope that's sound, if you disagree, let me know as that would be swell.)
For example, when Peter walked on water, he asked Jesus if he could first and Jesus gave him the go ahead. It would be a radically different thing for Peter to just feel like he could do it, he knew that he should ask first. Tooley said on the subject, "it would be foolish of him to attempt this without some word from God. He needed guidance."
I guess I had applied that lesson to things such as faith exploits in carrying the Gospel around the world, but now I feel like that my reasoning has been off for that category.
The main thing being that we aren't stepping into the water without any prior approval. While God hasn't declared that he wants everyone to go to their nearest bodies of water and go water walking, God has made it clear throughout His word that He desires for the Gospel to be carried to all peoples. I believe that if God hasn't given special revelations to individuals and groups of people to go to a specific place to do a specific thing that it doesn't discount the general revelation that He has given to all believers to make Him known among the earth and that our plans can be used for His glory if we are in the center of His will and are aware that at any second our plans could change by His guidance.
Now, a video that I think is pretty powerful:
One thing that I've been thinking a lot about the last couple days is the idea of stepping out and making plans to advance God's kingdom (which is a pretty nifty thing). Lately I have been in the mindset that one should wait until God had specifically(-ish ("-ish" because usually His plans aren't long term, 20 year vision plan specific)) revealed to them His plan for them. Yesterday, a nifty guy Taylor and I had a meeting with kind of a missionary recruiter and at one point the recruiter asked me if 100 missionaries showed up at my door asking where to go, where I would send them (He had earlier spoke about the 10/40 window where much of the unreached people groups are). I was kinda bamboozled and I asked him if these missionaries had any indication from God where they were called, and he said no. I then said "Well, I'd hope that God would reveal to me where they are to go." He then was probably a little frustrated and just wanted me to answer the question and said that God had revealed to them that I would tell them where to go, but apparently God didn't reveal to me specifically where they were to go.
It was a toughie as I have felt that to step out in faith on something that God hasn't specifically revealed can be a dangerous thing. I had believed that it can definitely be a good thing, but I have felt that it can also be risky spiritually as you could be just banking on something based on your own preconceived plans that you have put before God and ordered Him to sign off on.
I had heard a story of how some individuals somewhere in Eastern Asia had been trying to make it to a revival meeting happening on a large hill. There had been a lot of rain and a small river had flooded and was flowing very rapidly. A group of young adults had reached the river and it was blocking their way to the meeting and a few of them declared that they would have faith that God would bring them through the waters and they began worshiping God and then ran into the waters but were swept away and their bodies were eventually found a couple days later. It's definitely a sad story but it carries a lot of lessons in it, that to step out in faith in something that God hasn't revealed to us can be not the best thing for us spiritually and in this case physically. In the book "Adventures in Naked Faith" by missionary Ross Tooley he says that faith exploits like these "had failed in at least one key area. We acted on our own, not at God's prompting. We ignored the fact that God specially spoke to Moses at the burning bush to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. It was not Moses' idea. We forgot that the walls of Jericho fell down because God specifically spoke to Joshua to march around that city seven times. We failed to see that it was God who gave Elijah the idea of calling fire down from heaven." (I hope that's sound, if you disagree, let me know as that would be swell.)
For example, when Peter walked on water, he asked Jesus if he could first and Jesus gave him the go ahead. It would be a radically different thing for Peter to just feel like he could do it, he knew that he should ask first. Tooley said on the subject, "it would be foolish of him to attempt this without some word from God. He needed guidance."
I guess I had applied that lesson to things such as faith exploits in carrying the Gospel around the world, but now I feel like that my reasoning has been off for that category.
The main thing being that we aren't stepping into the water without any prior approval. While God hasn't declared that he wants everyone to go to their nearest bodies of water and go water walking, God has made it clear throughout His word that He desires for the Gospel to be carried to all peoples. I believe that if God hasn't given special revelations to individuals and groups of people to go to a specific place to do a specific thing that it doesn't discount the general revelation that He has given to all believers to make Him known among the earth and that our plans can be used for His glory if we are in the center of His will and are aware that at any second our plans could change by His guidance.
Now, a video that I think is pretty powerful:
Friday, January 22, 2010
Will the real Christians please stand up?
I'm having a lot of trouble with the tragedy going on in Haiti and the responses of people claiming to follow Christ as Lord. This might just be a long vent and I'm not sure if it's all going to flow together too well.
First, it's embarrassing and convicting that it take things like single natural disasters for people to take notice of the everyday disasters occurring in this fallen world and to respond.
I'm afraid that events like this will begin to fade away when the next big news story occurs and I wish to contrast this event to September 11th. Hopefully passion will not only remain, but grow much stronger, to usher in God's Kingdom in Haiti and around the world in hurting places. Following September 11th, the people of the US were united and even were willing to sacrifice their own lives in response to that. While one may or may not agree with any of those wars, it is evident that there was loyalty to what they believed and action took place that took true sacrifice. And that was all based on earthly allegiances. As Jesus said in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." As believers, our allegiances are no longer to the kingdoms of this earth, but to the kingdom of God. And as believers, we have entered into the family of God, a family that includes all covered by the grace of God. These new ties go beyond any earthly ties, such as the bond of "Americans" or even familial bonds. Jesus said that "whomever does the will of God is his mother, brother, sister." This is a recurring theme throughout scripture. And it is also a recurring theme that when one provides help to a believer, they are truly doing that same act of love to Jesus himself, as believers are the body of Christ.
We have brothers and sisters hurting in this world, in Haiti and beyond, and we are ignoring their cries. We hoard our wealth ("To whom much is given, much is expected") and even ignore their pleas in our prayers.
I am questioning whether things like eating at a nice restaurant should even be a possibility for followers of Christ for we have brothers and sisters who don't even know where there next meal is coming from. It begins to take on new meaning when you actually think of them as your brothers and sisters, for who would ignore a starving little sister and go out to eat at Applebees? And yet we do it all the time. I have also heard from some Christians who seemingly don't really care about what is happening, I have a hard time seeing how that can possibly occur for those adopted into the family of God.
One last thought of mine was in regards to the involvement of the celebrities in raising funds and awareness of the Haiti earthquake. Am I the only one that feels like the Church is getting blown out of the water in their passion for reaching out by Hollywood? What are we doing!?
I will end this with Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats.
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
First, it's embarrassing and convicting that it take things like single natural disasters for people to take notice of the everyday disasters occurring in this fallen world and to respond.
I'm afraid that events like this will begin to fade away when the next big news story occurs and I wish to contrast this event to September 11th. Hopefully passion will not only remain, but grow much stronger, to usher in God's Kingdom in Haiti and around the world in hurting places. Following September 11th, the people of the US were united and even were willing to sacrifice their own lives in response to that. While one may or may not agree with any of those wars, it is evident that there was loyalty to what they believed and action took place that took true sacrifice. And that was all based on earthly allegiances. As Jesus said in John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world." As believers, our allegiances are no longer to the kingdoms of this earth, but to the kingdom of God. And as believers, we have entered into the family of God, a family that includes all covered by the grace of God. These new ties go beyond any earthly ties, such as the bond of "Americans" or even familial bonds. Jesus said that "whomever does the will of God is his mother, brother, sister." This is a recurring theme throughout scripture. And it is also a recurring theme that when one provides help to a believer, they are truly doing that same act of love to Jesus himself, as believers are the body of Christ.
We have brothers and sisters hurting in this world, in Haiti and beyond, and we are ignoring their cries. We hoard our wealth ("To whom much is given, much is expected") and even ignore their pleas in our prayers.
I am questioning whether things like eating at a nice restaurant should even be a possibility for followers of Christ for we have brothers and sisters who don't even know where there next meal is coming from. It begins to take on new meaning when you actually think of them as your brothers and sisters, for who would ignore a starving little sister and go out to eat at Applebees? And yet we do it all the time. I have also heard from some Christians who seemingly don't really care about what is happening, I have a hard time seeing how that can possibly occur for those adopted into the family of God.
One last thought of mine was in regards to the involvement of the celebrities in raising funds and awareness of the Haiti earthquake. Am I the only one that feels like the Church is getting blown out of the water in their passion for reaching out by Hollywood? What are we doing!?
I will end this with Jesus' parable of the sheep and the goats.
31"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
I pray that we would rise to righteousness and be the hands and feet of Jesus ushering in the Kingdom of God, no matter what the cost.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
"Join Me"
Some background- it's Sunday morn, the congregation is singing some tunes, and then I hear God say to me 'Come, join me.' I take in the divine moment and think it's pretty cool and think to myself, 'Yeah, I'm going to join You, I'm going to join You later this summer where you've called me to Brazil.' And I give myself a pat on the spiritual back and return to singing songs.
Monday evening I'm walking back to the dorms and thinking that the frosted trees are looking pretty sweet and then it hits me. I (and you also) have been called to follow after Christ, not just following after Him in times and seasons of specific 'ministry' but everyday of our lives. I begin to wonder: what would it look like for me to follow after Christ in my everyday life? What if I walked into the dorms following in the footsteps of Christ who is present in all situations? What if I followed after Him into my dorm and focused on Him during my interactions with my roommate-brother and the others I run into each day? What if I followed after Him and sat down behind Him in class? While driving? While eating? While alone? I believe if I (and we) began to truly do that, we would see a world seeing Christ in us and we would be able to come to a grasp firsthand of how the early Church was labeled as 'little Christs.'
Trebuchet Font is some pretty cool stuff
Monday evening I'm walking back to the dorms and thinking that the frosted trees are looking pretty sweet and then it hits me. I (and you also) have been called to follow after Christ, not just following after Him in times and seasons of specific 'ministry' but everyday of our lives. I begin to wonder: what would it look like for me to follow after Christ in my everyday life? What if I walked into the dorms following in the footsteps of Christ who is present in all situations? What if I followed after Him into my dorm and focused on Him during my interactions with my roommate-brother and the others I run into each day? What if I followed after Him and sat down behind Him in class? While driving? While eating? While alone? I believe if I (and we) began to truly do that, we would see a world seeing Christ in us and we would be able to come to a grasp firsthand of how the early Church was labeled as 'little Christs.'
Trebuchet Font is some pretty cool stuff
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