Advent 2015 - Day 25

"The babe of Bethlehem appears to be manifestly with us in weakness and in poverty. Let us not forget that He is equally with us in His glory and honor. Faith clasps the child, and love kisses Him with the kisses of her lips. Oh, for true spiritual fellowship with Immanuel all this day!" (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

Prior posts:

Day 24 | Day 23 | Day 22 | Day 21 | Day 20 | Day 19 | Day 18 | Day 17 | Day 16 | Day 15 | Day 14
Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Advent 2015 - Day 23

"On this fourth week of Advent, we declare our awe of your matchless glory and measureless grace.  Continue to open the eyes of our hearts to behold even more of your incomparable beauty; expand the chambers of our hearts to make room even more of the wonders of your love. Free us to be generous and joyful as the Magi. Liberate us to love as you love us, to forgive as you have forgiven us, and to pursue others as you so faithfully seek us. So very Amen we pray, in your trustworthy and worship-worthy name. " (Scotty Smith)

Prior posts:

Day 22 | Day 21 | Day 20 | Day 19 | Day 18 | Day 17 | Day 16 | Day 15 | Day 14
Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Advent 2015 - Day 14

"We are to groan for glorification, but we are to wait patiently for it, knowing that what the Lord appoints is best. Waiting implies being ready. We are to stand at the door, expecting the Beloved to open it and take us away to Himself. This “groaning” is a test. You may judge a man by what he groans after. Some men groan after wealth—they worship money. Some groan continually under the troubles of life; they are merely impatient. But the man who sighs after God, who is uneasy until he is made like Christ, that is the blessed man. May God help us to groan for the coming of the Lord and the resurrection that He will bring to us." (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

Prior posts:

Day 13 | Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Reliant on God through Prayer

(link to audio here)

Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In his book "Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God", Pastor Tim Keller states, "[Prayer] is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life. We must learn to pray. We have to." Elsewhere Keller says: "To pray is to accept that we are, and always will be, wholly dependent on God for everything." 

Both of these statements by Tim Keller expand, to some degree, LEFC's value statement: We are reliant on God through prayer. However, if you're like me you a statement like this probably leads to some questions. What does this look like in real life? Does this apply to all things or just the "big" things? Does this affect us all the time or just on Sundays, at meals and when the in-laws visit?

But, perhaps your questions go a little deeper. How should I approach an all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly holy God? Can my prayers really be effective if God is truely sovereign over all things and knows the end from the beginning? Does God really care about my small time needs when there are so many bigger issues around the world (and even in this congregation)?  The questions go on and on.

As you can probably sense, these are just a few of the prayer related questions I have wrestled with over the past 24 years. And, I have to admit that I'm still wrestling. I'm still learning and growing especially in regard to prayer. It seems every book I read on prayer or sermon I heard about prayer, while they may answer one question, the usually raise 2 or 3 more. But, what I've come to realize and rest upon, is that there is a foundation for prayer presented in Scriputre that we can rely upon despite our questions. This is the beginning. This is where we need to start. So, my singular goal for today to describe this foundation to you.

The text God has for us this monring is Eph 3:14-21. While there may be a few other passages that help lay the scriptural foundation of prayer, I was drawn to Paul's prayer in Ephesians for a couple of reasons. First of all, Ephesians is a fairly concise book. Paul has 3 chapters of theology followed by 3 chapters of application. This prayer sits at the hinge point between the theology and the application.  Because of this, Paul is fairly clear that both our doctrine and our practice are dependent on prayer. That theme plays out in the prayer itself.

On top of this, and perhaps more importantly, is the nature of Paul's prayer here in Ephesians 3. He doesn't dance around. He doesn't even worry about specific issues. He goes right to the bedrock reality of our true spiritual need. So I want to help us lay a foundation for prayer based Paul's approach here in Ephesians 3.

As we dive into the text this morning, I think it will be helpful if we break it down into 4 basic elements. While each of these aspects may not be present with each and every prayer we pray, upon reflection we should be able at least identify how their presence could improve our prayer lives.  The four facets of prayer that flow out of this passage are 1) the reason for our prayers, 2) the one to whom we are submitting our prayers 3) the nature of our prayers and 4) the anticipated result of our prayers.

The first aspect of any prayer is the reason it is offered. We can see this clearly in verse 14. Paul is not offering this prayer in a vacuum. He is looking back at what he has just described in verses 7-13. Consider for a moment what Paul has on his plate. He is called to preach to the Gentiles. He is called to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. He is called to proclaim the now revealed plan of God. He is called to help the church display the manifold, multifaceted wisdom of God. Just one of these assignments would probably drive any of us to despair, but all four? Are any of us surprised that Paul is focused on prayer?

However I don't believe the lesson here is to say "Oh look how profound Paul's ministry was, no wonder he needed to be reliant on God through prayer" Rather it should be "Look how profound our ministry could be, if we were reliant on God through prayer" And, perhaps more importantly, "In God's hands all ministry is profound, therefore we must be reliant on God through prayer"

Paul's reason for praying is also intimately tied what makes our prayers possible in the first place. Our access to God and our confidence that our prayers are heard and responded to are grounded in Christ. Think of Isa 6. How could Isaiah stand before a holy God? Because his sins were atoned for. And the same is true of us.

And yet, the reason we pray can easily slip from our grasp. I won't ask for a show of hands, but I want you to consider whether you fall into a similar trap to the one I can fall into. God calls me to do something out of my confort zone, perhaps even out of my real skill set. Because this is out of my zone, I pray. I seriously, fervently, relentlessly pray. God blesses both the obedience and the prayer. Because of this blessing, I'm asked to continue in the ministry, but now I have experience and knowledge. My prayer wanes. And slowly my fruitfulness does as well. Finally I put the ministry "on the shelf", because I feel that I am no longer called or gifted. 

Does this sound familiar? What's happened? Did my calling or gifting change? No. What changed was my reliance on God through prayer, because the reason I was praying changed. I started praying because I was desperate. But once I gained some self-confidence, I prayed because I wanted God's blessing and perhaps this even devolved into simply praying because that's what good Christians do. But what I've found, and perhaps you've found as well, is that Jm 4:3 is true. We ask and don't receive because we ask with wrong motives.

So, the first aspect of building a good foundation for prayer is getting our motives right, that we're desperate and dependent on Christ. But Paul doesn't stop there. He moves on in verses 14-16 to identify the one to whom he is praying. Consider these descriptors: God as Father, God as the originator of every human family and God as the one who has the riches of glory. These three descriptions are not meant to be an exhaustive portriat of God. But each one has a key element in solidifying our prayers.

The whole image of God as Father is especially powerful and helpful in how we approach God in our prayers. You see, we are not bartering with God when we pray. And we are not badgering God when we are in prayer. Rather we are coming to our loving, compassionate Father who wants what is best for us and for all his children. Add to this reality that God is not just our Father in a relational sense. He is also our Father in the creational sense. You see, Christians we have all been adopted into God's family. But that's not all. We've also been created and designed to be in God's family. That means we were meant to be here. Because of this, all that our Father has is ours.

And, the stunning thing about our praying to God is that his riches proceed from his glory. God's riches aren't something he posses, like you or me. I own a car. If I give that car away to some one, it is no longer mine. My riches have been depleted. God is different. His riches are part of who he is. As such he can give super abundantly and never dent his reserves. He is as rich today as he ever was or ever will be.

There is one final item related to this aspect of prayer that I think is important to draw out. Tim Keller points this out in the book I referenced earlier. It is the fact that we are praying to an actual person. We need to be careful, I need to be careful, to not slide into the trap of thinking of God as the Force, or that because he is spirit that somehow he is not a relational person. No, we are praying to a real person, a person who knows us and loves us and enjoys (yes enjoys) spending time conversing with us.

What we've seen so far from Paul is the importance of our reasons for praying that we  are desperate and dependant on Christ and the significance of knowing that we are praying to a loving Father whose riches never end. He moves from laying these planks in the floorboards of our prayers to the third plank which is the prayer request itself. Paul's prayer request has multiple layers, each of which depend upon and feed off one another. 

The initial prayer request is for strength in verse 16. This is not a prayer for physical strength but rather spiritual strength. In fact, this is strength that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Specifically he is praying on behalf of the Ephesians that they would have the spiritual strength so that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith (verse 17). We'll come back to this in a minute, but notice how the next layer flows from this one.

Paul almost presupposes the answer to the first aspect of his request as he makes the second. Since the Ephesians are rooted and grounded in love, presumably because Jesus is dwelling in their hearts through faith, Paul now asks for more spiritual strength. This time the use spiritual strength is two fold. First is to be able to grasp the length and the breadth and the depth and the height (verse 18). The second is to know the unknowable love of Christ (verse 19).

At this point you're probably asking "what was Paul actually praying for?" or "how in the world could Paul's prayers ever correlate to my prayers?" Well, I'm glad you asked since those are the sorts of questions we should be asking every time we read or study our Bibles.

First, we need to remember that the Ephesians were already believers. The first two chapters make this abundantly clear. Thus, Paul is not praying for their salvation in the first part of verse 17.  But, if not salvation, then what? Paul is asking for the strength for us to continue on in our Christian walk. You see Paul knows what we sometimes forget. Salvation is not just a point in time event. 

For those of us who are Christians, there was a moment when the Holy Spirit broke into our lives, our need for Christ became suddenly real to us and we cried out in desperate need. But that was just the beginning. From that moment on, God the Holy Spirit has been working with us and working on us to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ. Call this sanctification, if you'd like. And even though the Sprit is doing all the heavy lifting, our growth in Christ doesn't happen without our cooperation. This requires faith and this requires strength.

But, how does this help us in our own prayers? I would submit there are at least three ways Paul's prayer requests can positively influence our own. The first would be via simple imitation. How do we learn to talk? We imitate the sound we hear around us. How do we learn walk? We imitate the people we see around us? How did my kids learn to love dogs and swimming? They saw Sally and me enjoying these things and imitated us.

How do we learn to pray? We imitate that prayers we read in Scripture.

Additionally, I think Paul is continuing his theme of our incredible dependence on God to accomplish anything of kingdom value. It is possible that our prayers need to reflect less  asking of God and more leaning on God. And that is what Paul is doing here.

One other lesson for us is one of priorities. As important as our present moment needs may be, Paul reminds us there are other, more pressing priorities, spiritual priorities, kingdom priorities. Perhaps the foundation of our prayers can be strengthened as we consider, remember and imitate not only Paul's style, but also his requests.

Interestingly however, as Paul moves into a second part of his prayer for spiritual strength, He basically assumes God's favorable answer from his prior request. Based on this, the next portion of his prayer is to ask for strength for the Ephesians to comprehend the length, the height, the breadth (verse 18).  Now if you're reading the ESV, the NASB or the NKJV you will notice that these translations don't have an object to the four dimensions.  The simple reason why is because there is no object recorded in the best manuscripts.

So what do we do? To what is Paul refering? The NIV takes the tact of most commentators and inserts the love of Christ. This is certainly a legitimate assumption to make since the 2nd part of this request also has to do with the love of Christ.  However, I personally like the ambiguity and here's why. Is the love of Christ multi-dimensional? Absolutely. And we need spiritual strength to even begin to grasp it. But what about the grace of Christ? Isn't it equally boundless? Don't we need the same quantity of spiritual strength to plunge all of its dimensions? And then there is the mercy of Christ and the compassion of Christ and faithfulness of Christ. We need spiritual strength to simply begin to comprehend each of these attributes of Jesus.

Notice also that Paul inserts the reality that we cannot fully comprehend much of anything about Christ or the gospel in isolation. Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would come to this comprehension together with all the saints. And not just the saints in Ephesus, but with the saints in Jerusalem and in Rome as well.  

How are we doing in this regard, La Crescent? I'm not asking about corporate prayer or our willingness to share our prayer needs at a bible study or small group, as important as those are. I'm wondering how often do we allow our prayers to grow beyond ourselves? Beyond our families? Beyond our close friends? Beyond our church? Beyond our gender, race, political party and tax bracket? I don't know about you, I still have a long way to go.

And then there's Paul's prayer request that the Ephesians would know the unknowable love of Christ. How do we process such a request? Is this even possible? According  to Phil 3 the answer would be yes. Its there that Paul states that he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. In one sense then, this is Paul offering a supreme prayer request for the Ephesians. You see, if we know the multi-dimensional, boundless love of Christ and by this knowledge are filled with all the fullness of God, what else is left? And yet, in another sense, Paul continues to demonstrate our complete and utter need to be reliant on God through prayer.

Thus far we have seen how the bedrock of our prayer needs to be formed by a right motive (our desperate need and complete dependence on Christ), a true sense to whom we are praying (our loving Father who has boundless riches) and the biblical nature of the requests themselves (we need spiritual strength to really know the unknowable love of Christ). That brings us to the result. What is the biblical model for waiting on God? We could go elsewhere in Scripture and find different authors who approached this aspect of prayer somewhat differently. The most notable of these are David, Job and Jeremiah. But all things considered, verses 20 and 21 are a stellar example of how our hearts are to be tuned toward an expectant answer from God.

Let me read these verses slowly again and allow the words and the thoughts to soak into your hearts and minds.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Consider with me what Paul is stating in these verses:

First: Not only can God answer our prayers, not only can he answer all prayers, not only can he answer all prayers that are simply unexpressable groans, he can do so beyond our ability to ask or even ponder. You see Paul's theology of a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient God didn't thwart his prayers; his view of God energized his prayers.

Next: The answer to our prayers will primarily come through the Holy Spirit working in the midst of the people of God. Think about that brothers and sisters. We are the instrument, via the power of the Holy Spirit, by which God provides answers to most of our prayers. Shouldn't this affect how we pray?  Shouldn't this affect why we pray? Shouldn't this affect for what we pray?

Finally: Perhaps it goes without saying, but I always seem to need the reminder, that the end goal of prayer actually isn't us. Even though we are the recipents of the answers and we are blessed as the pray-ers, God's glory is the end goal. But notice how Paul frames this statement of God's glory. It is his glory both in Christ and in the church. As we pray, and as we offer our requests, let's keep this end goal in mind. If we have a need or a burden, Scripture is clear, we are to lay them before the throne of grace. But let's do so with a heart attitude that wants not just the answer, but the glory of the God who graciously gives the answer.

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I want to close with a prayer of Charles Spurgeon because we can all learn from those who are ahead of us in the school of prayer:

"O Lord, that we would cling to you more firmly than ever we have done. We trust that we can say we love you Lord, but Oh that we would love you more! Let this blessed flame feed on the very marrow of our bones. May the zeal of your house consume us; may we feel that we love you Lord with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our strength, and hence may there be about our life a special consecration, an immovable dedication unto you O Lord alone...

"O Lord Jesus, deepen in us our knowledge of you. We would that the Word of God were more sweet to us, more intensely precious, that we had a deeper hunger and thirst after it. Oh that our knowledge of the truth were more clear and our grip of it more steadfast. Teach us, O Lord, to know the reason for the hope that is in us, and to be able to defend the faith against all comers. Plough deep in us, great Lord, and let the roots of your grace strike into the roots of our being, until it shall be no longer we who live, but 'Christ who lives in us' "

The Glory of God in the Mess

(preached Christmas Eve 2014)

Luke 4:16-21

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”


It has been said that other than funerals, sermons during the Christmas season are the hardest to preach. The expectations are high. The common texts are limited. The breadth of the audience is large. Add to this the reality that on Christmas Eve the focus of most of us is on what's coming next. Presents. An evening with family. Presents. Christmas lunch or dinner. Presents. Traveling. Presents.

So here I am, standing between you and...yes, presents. And yet I believe there is something that God would say to us tonight if we are willing to slow down just enough to listen. He may not proclaim it to us by angels. He may not testify to us by royalty. He may not reveal it to us through dreams. However as our value statement reminds us, God speaks to us through his holy, inerrant, unchanging Word.

To make this simple, because I know presents and parties are calling and that all of our attention spans are short, I will give you my single point right out of the gate. In reading through the Christmas narratives and considering how they tie to the rest of the accounts of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, I've become convinced that one of the reasons Jesus was born the way he was and why he lived the lifestyle he did was to demonstrate and declare that God is glorified in the mess. Let me say that again: The manner of Jesus' birth and the way Jesus lived his life was in part to show us that God is glorified in the mess.

Consider with me the events from the Christmas story. The first thing we see in Matthew's account is Joseph's relational turmoil over Mary's pregnancy. Say what you will about Joseph being a righteous man, what emotions did he have to face when he discovered Mary had apparently been unfaithful? Undoubtedly, many of us can relate to what I'm sure Joseph thought of as betrayal. But even in the depths of Joseph's emotional struggles, we see God at work. Joseph shows compassion and kindness where none was required. He shows a heart for the spirit of the Law rather than using the letter of Law to eliminate all pain from his life. And perhaps most God glorifying of all is Joseph's willingness to listen to God when he is told the most unbelievable thing. Here, in the midst of relational chaos, true fatherhood is displayed and God's glory shines all the brighter.

Next, consider the journey described by Luke from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Either walking or riding on a donkey some sixty miles with Mary nine months pregnant, this was not an easy journey by anyone's standards. Luke doesn't mention it, but what did they do about food, water, sleeping, and dare I ask, potty stops? Yet, here is a young couple being obedient to the civil authorities over them. Here are two Jews with complete trust in God, despite all the inconveniences he is allowing to pour into their lives. But, God used them and this less than desirable journey both to fulfill the prophecy from Micah 5, but also to establish Jesus' credentials as God's chosen messiah.

And of course Luke also gives us the whole stable, manger, no place for a nine month pregnant woman adventure. The entire scenario simply begs for "are you kidding me?" The lack of hospitality, risk to both Mary & Jesus' health and the shear humiliation of being put out with the cows or sheep is almost too much to handle. Yet, despite all of this, God is massively at work. In the stable, perhaps better than any place in the gospel accounts except for the cross, God is showing us just how humiliating it was to become human. Ever wonder how broad and wide and deep and high is the love of Christ? First look at the blood soaked instrument of torture then look at the manure filled stable.

We can't forget about the shepherds. What you may not know about shepherds is that despite the Bible's high view of the role and task of shepherding, the 1st century cultural view was much different. Shepherds were viewed as a disreputable lot. They were not able to hold any kind of public office nor could they testify in court. They were often accused of stealing from the flocks they tended, so when they were paid in sheep, they had difficulty in selling those sheep to feed their families. So when God chooses to disclose what he has just accomplished in the birth of Jesus, he does so to the most unlikely, disreputable, untrustworthy, unsophisticated people around. God is glorified by using these outcasts to proclaim what he has done. And he is glorified by showing the value of all people despite what society might say about them.

Back in Matthew's account, when the magi come through Jerusalem on their way to worship Jesus in Bethlehem, Herod's wicked mind kicks into gear. His slaughter of the innocents sets off a pair of situations that were so much less than ideal.  First, Joseph, Mary and Jesus need to pack up quickly and flee to Egypt. While maybe somewhat less difficult than the journey when Mary was pregnant, relocating on the spur of the moment and moving to a foreign country with a less than two year old child is definitely something most people would avoid. Add to this the innumerable families that lost a child for no purpose other than Herod's insatiable quest for power and we have a mess that is both personal and societal. But even here God is glorified.  He is glorified as Jesus is protected and sustained by an attentive and obedient guardian. He is glorified as sin and sinner are shown in their true colors and we are given a glimpse of where we might have gone without God's intervening grace. And, he is glorified in the demonstration that no opposition can thwart the sovereign plans and purposes of God.

Do you see that God, in orchestrating everything around Jesus birth, did not choose the easiest path. All the struggle, all the turmoil, all the mess was to show that God knows and cares about our mess as well. And not only does he care but he can be glorified in it as well.

And what about us? Can we find our own mess in the messes of the Christmas accounts? Are there any broken or strained relationships in the room? Any lives that are just plain hard, with no relief in sight? Do we know rejection or humiliation for no real reason? Have our lives turned out so much less than we've expected that we doubt God's ability to use us for any noble purpose? What do we do with unplanned, inconvenient disruptions in our lives? And how do we process the chaos resulting from Furgeson MO or New York City or the Middle East? All of these situations are here, in the Christmas narratives. And all of them can be used by God for his glory and the ultimate good of his people.

As interesting and relevant as all of this is, what I really want to consider tonight is Jesus' ministry beyond the early days of this life. Luke records Jesus inaugurating his ministry by reading from Isaiah 61. From the very beginning Jesus was declaring that the messiah would be different than what the religious leaders expected. His mission would have a scope and a breadth that no one would have anticipated. He came for people that society had no use for. He came to rescue and redeem people that had rejected God. And he came to give people the one thing they couldn't give to themselves.

Look with me briefly at Luke 4. Here is what Jesus read from Isaiah at the beginning of his ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

Certainly Jesus worked all these things out through the physical miracles he performed. But beyond the physical, which is here today and gone tomorrow, I think Jesus and Isaiah both knew that the messiah would do more than treat a few physical issues; he came to live and glorify God in the mess.

Good news to the poor? What good news? That God had come. The angels proclaimed there was a savior, a deliverer, a redeemer born in Bethlehem.  The people were not abandoned. We are not abandoned. That neither physical nor spiritual poverty could keep the love of God at bay. There is light in the darkness. There is hope in the hopelessness. There is mercy and grace in the face of hatred and despair. In fact there is no situation too dark, no sin so bad, no relationship too toxic for God's grace to overcome and overwhelm. God is glorified in the mess.

Liberty to the captives and those who are oppressed? Think about what sin does to us. Even if you don't call it sin, everything we do has its effect. We may feel good for a moment, but then we are under its weight for a lifetime. Slavery, bondage, guilt. And it doesn't have to be the big sins either. Even our respectable sins like anxiety, pride, envy and impatience will eventually ruin our lives. These are just some of the ways sin controls and captivates us. But Jesus declared that he is here to free us from this bondage. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free and if Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed. And God is glorified in the mess.

Sight to the blind? So much of this life, both the good and the bad take our eyes off of God. We become blind to what is right and true. We make up religious rules to keep us safe and comfortable. We get swallowed up in our despair and can't see what God is calling us to or what he is doing all around us. But Jesus steps into this mess to remove the scales from our eyes so that we can see both God's love and his mercy. Jesus allows us to see that every good gift is from God and that even the broken dreams around us serve as stepping stones back to him. He is glorified in the mess.

The year of God's favor? We often think of ourselves as blessed by God and rightly so. But when Isaiah first wrote and when Jesus claimed his fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, God's favor was not upon his people. Think of the pharisees. Their focus was not on God, but upon their own religious system. The Romans, they had their pantheon and couldn't care less about the one true God. And everybody else? They were perfectly content in their own spiritual bubble. They were all lost, wretched, poor, pitiable, blind and naked. But this mess too serves as the stage for Jesus to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. And it allows God to be glorified in the mess.

The reality is that Jesus' life continued to be one of bringing God glory in the mess. Over the course of his ministry he really had no home. He was often low on resources, depending on the generosity of others. He was quite often misunderstood, even by the guys he was training. People were following him not because he was the messiah or even a good moral teacher. They simply wanted food to eat and their diseases cured. Most of the religious leaders wanted him shutdown and even killed. And even his birth family thought he was insane.

That is the mess Jesus lived in. That is the mess Jesus glorified God in. He hung out with the outcasts and brought glory to God. He touched the untouchables and brought glory to God. On Good Friday he stood unjustly accused and died on a bloody cross and brought God glory. Mess at the beginning, mess in the middle and mess at the end. And God was glorified in it all.

So, the presents are waiting. The food is calling. Many of us will leave here and have a truly joyous Christmas season. But some of us won't. Some of us are neck deep in the mess. To the joyous, Jesus says "I am the source of God's favor. Rejoice in me and declare my goodness to those around you" To those in the mess, Jesus says "I have walked where you are walking. I have been rejected. I have lost all things. I have been tested to the extreme. I came in the mess. I lived in the mess. I died in the mess. And because of all this, even now, even if you don't see it, I am bringing God glory and I'm working for your ultimate good in the midst of the mess."

Merry Christmas

Too Small A Thing

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
      and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
   that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.  -  Isa 49:6

Update 9/24

A few weeks ago I heard a sermon by Kevin DeYoung that caused me to look at Isa 49:6 and thus spur the blog post below. This weekend, DeYoung published an excerpt from that sermon on his blog. By the grace of God, it was the very portion that dealt that referenced Isa 49:6. So, if the implications of the words below or more likely the verse above cause your heart to stir, I would encourage you to reflect on DeYoung's thoughts here.

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Honestly, I had to let the implications of this verse sink into my soul.

I am growing more and more enthralled with the book of Isaiah each time I read a portion of it. So, when I heard a reference to Isa 49:6 in a sermon I listened to this weekend, I had to look it up. But as I prayerfully read it this morning, I was struck some uncomfortable realities.

Reality 1:  God (Father, Son & Spirit) is really beyond me.

This was the point in the sermon I heard as well, but reading Isa 49 just served to solidify that thought in my mind. We probably all give lip service to the verse that says God's ways are not our ways, but that is often the reality. But consider this: our service to our neighbor, our kindness to a waitress or barista, our integrity at work or school, our faithfulness to spouse or girl/boy friend or a thousand other things can be used by God to push His glory to the ends of the earth. Do we really believe that the Word of God never returns void, but always accomplishes what God intends for it?

What is so cool about this, at least for me, is that it means God is constrained by me and my conceptions of Him. He really is at work 24x7 and not just in America. Not just in middle class white people. Not just in people how had a reasonably "good" upbringing. Any of these categories is too small for God.

Reality #2:  My prayers are not too much for God.

I'm not saying stop praying for a Honda and start praying for a BMW. I'm saying why just pray for the salvation of one neighbor? Why not the neighborhood? Seriously! Why are my prayers so timid and iffy? Isn't this the God who delights to bless His children? Isn't this the Christ who said you will receive everything you ask in my name? What else could be more in the name of Christ than the salvation of lost souls? Remember Lk 19 or Mt 9? This Jesus wept and had compassion on the lost. All of the lost.

Maybe we should try pushing the boundaries of prayer. Not for more stuff to waste on ourselves (see Jm 4). Instead asking God to demonstrate in our day the reality of Isa 49:6. I, for one, am willing (the flesh may be weak) to give it a try.

Reality #3: Our God is glorious, really glorious.

Read through the remainder of Isa 49. It is like wave after wave of God declaring His expansive saving plan. I may not know how to craft my next sermon or blog post, but God knows how He is going to engrave his people on the palms of His hand and how He will put us on like an ornament. I may be worried about speaking to a friend about the gospel while God knows how He will cause the heavens to sing and the mountains exult. Some, actually most, of this causes me to simply want to stand back and say wow!

I will wrap it up here but I think there is more. The allusions to Jesus in Isa 49 are the biggest. God's non-dependence on us is another. Maybe I'll touch on those another day. For now let's just rejoice that verses like Isa 49:6 have been given to us to set our hearts on fire and call us out of our own spiritual lethargy and into glorious service of the One whose salvation will reach the ends of the earth.

To God Alone be the Glory

Light & Momentary?

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor 4:17-18)

There is a risk in commenting on any verse in the Bible, especially the well known ones. Many people, much wiser people have probably weighed-in on what the verse means and how it can apply to our lives. What can my words add to the long history that has preceded me?

The answer is, maybe nothing. Or, maybe something, that by the grace of God, may touch a heart or a life.

Each time I read these verses (and really all of 2 Cor 4-5) I walk away with the sense that my focal point is all wrong. Paul refers to our "light momentary affliction". For me at least, the affliction I am experiencing does not seem light or momentary. But when my life is compared to others, my affliction is not as bad nor is as enduring as what they are experiencing. And then take whatever we may be going through (as bad as cancer or killer tornadoes) and compare it to eternal life with God, and suddenly our perspective changes.

For me, I don't wrestle with the truth of these verses. They make sense. We endure small pains for great gains all the time. What I wrestle with is getting my heart and soul to the place Paul was when he could look at the struggles and the trials and the setbacks and the beatings in his life and say they were all light and momentary when compared to the eternal weight of glory that God is preparing for us.

I guess it all comes back to focus. When my focus is on me and my life, my struggles will seem big and probably insurmountable. But when my focus is on Christ and the fact that He has orchestrated my struggles so that I can glorify God and grow in Christ-likeness and that there is a payoff in the end, then maybe whatever I'm going through, whether its cancer or martial strife or job loss or simply a bad day at the office can be viewed as slight and momentary.

And we all need to remember (and be reminded daily) that what is seen (i.e. the cancer and the strife and the  job loss) are transient. Whatever I am facing, whatever you are facing, even if it is as bad as Job's ordeal, it won't last forever. What God has for us, even though it is currently unseen, it is eternal.

To God Alone be the Glory