I like this image because it literally turns things upside down.  The tower of Babel is correctly interpreted as a real and symbolic act of the pride of humankind.  “Come let’s build a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves”.

Are you trying to make a name for yourself?  If so, you’re like these people crawling toward the upside down tower.  That tower has no chance of standing.  It’s goal is upside down.

Are you building so that you can make your name great, or are you building so that God’s name might be seen in your life?

This week we met here for our first session of Letters from Dad.  One of the points that came through in the teaching portion was that God has incredible blessings in store for people.  Those blessings take on different shapes for different people, but we all receive the greatest blessing, God’s grace.

Then Greg Vaughn brought home an interesting point to follow up on that- the job of parents (he was focusing on dads) is to make sure that we keep passing on that blessing, that we keep building up our house, not for our own name, not to make the “Borkenhagen” name great, but so that people can see the “Borkenhagens” know that God’s name is great.

I hope and pray that in building my family, we’re building toward that goal.

A thought that wouldn’t even occur to most of us, yet those were the words of Liu Wei, as he shares his story in what appears to be a Chinese version of the “America’s Got Talent” compettition.  Watch his story and his skill as he plays and overcomes the challenge of playing the piano without arms. 

What I find interesting in this story isn’t just that he has overcome so much, but the way in which he had to overcome.  He had to completely change his way of viewing the world and what was possible and how something would be possible.  “Thinking outside the box” is almost too mundane a phrase for this.

It makes me think about challenges I face in life and ones you probably face as well. Maybe it’s your workload.  Maybe it’s challenges with relationships or crazy family schedules.  Maybe it’s something different. Sometimes the Christian answer to big problems is to say, “God must be closing a door”.  Sometimes that is a case, especially when another one opens.

But. . .

Maybe, just maybe sometimes God is telling us to play the piano, but to do it without arms.  Maybe God isn’t completely closing a door so much as he’s telling us we’re going to have to reimagine how something is to be done.

One area that this continues to push me on- prayer.  I’ve got so much to do, but. . . it won’t get done unless I give God some more time in prayer.  It’s not logical, but I think it’s true.

So I’m done blogging now.  I’m going to pray.

These are some of the issues that this book, a team effort by Bill Peel and Walt Larimore, wrestle with in the chapters of their book, Workplace Grace.

They come out with an unequivocal “yes” which probably makes most people immediately fearful.  And yet, what’s great about this book is that they completely understand that.  They recognize the very real fears that so many people have in relation to evangelism, especially in the workplace.  At the same time, they state that we need to be witnesses there.  There is such a spiritual need in the world and the place Christians spend more time than any other place is at work.  The need is there, the supply, God’s grace is there, what we need is the means of delivery.

So how do we deliver grace to our workplaces?  Well, the answer is not found in most of the prototypical evangelism approaches.  This book certainly mixes in elements of these, some of which I’m not a fan, but what makes this book such an important read is what it does differently, and in the ideas it develops that help a person see a real hope for witnessing at work.

First, it speaks about authenticity and lifestyle. This is pretty common in evangelism texts, but is recognized as essential groundwork.  If you don’t live a Christian lifestyle, no witness will work, and no one will ask questions.  While some manuals on evangelism would then stop and simply say, “your best witness is your actions” while others would then order you to jump into diagnostic questions, this is where Workplace Grace offers a different path.  It develops the idea of “faith flags”, little statements you can naturally insert into conversations that express faith and can elicit questions.  They move on to discuss faith stories, not the long witness yet, but short stories that show how an element of faith impacts your life in relation to where the conversation is at.  What’s important here, is that they’re natural, not overly aggressive, and allow the idea of faith to rest on the other person’s heart.  This is an important step in witnessing, one that’s often missed, and one that can finally make people feel somewhat comfortable in the process of sharing the faith.

Another key to the book is it’s discussion of teamwork. Many text speak of the importance of multiple people witnessing, but this book really helps a person understand this in the workplace setting.  It recommends that we develop a network of Chrsitian coworkers, bosses, customers, suppliers, pastors, etc, all of whom we feel we can reference a person we’ve begun the conversation to.  These people can then naturally take up this conversation.  This helps us realize the whole thing is not on us, and just as importantly, it reflects a reality of the workplace we all feel, the press of time.  We have work to do and so do the people we’re talking to- not every day is an opportunity for an hour-long conversation in the middle of the work day.  If we network people to whom we’re sharing with other believers, the conversation can continue in many places and times, rather than simply with us.

This is what’s covered in chapters 1-7 and I feel they add the most to the discussion of evangelism. What follows in the second half are chapters devoted to important elements of evangelism- creating opportunities for evangelism by maintaining contact with unbelievers, walking through open doors by listening and asking questions, developing your story, the Gospel presentation, answering objections.  These chapters are basically solid (though sometimes they do fall into the trap of being overly systematic and decision-oriented), but much of what’s in these can be found in other texts.  They are necessary to include in a text, but if you’re looking for the gems that make this book unique to bring to those who are too scared to witness in the workplace, the best chapters for focus are 1-7.

This book is one I highly recommend for all readers.  It pushes you to realize that God has given you opportunities to witness- we’re all in workplaces.  It also pushes you to realize we all have the capacity to witness- yes our gifts are different, but anyone can be authentic, put a faith flag out there, or share their story.  It may take some work, but when covered in prayer, God can make you part of his mission.

This chapter on the Diaspora and the era of 70-150 AD was quite fascinating.  While there aren’t copious writings from this time period, there are some significant ones and the book reviews these writings of what are known as the “Apostolic Fathers” and traces how they relate to the Jewish and Old Testament foundations of the faith.

I’ll give a quick overview.  The earliest non-NT Christian writing we have is that of 1 Clement, probably written by Clement, a presbyter of Rome, around AD 96.  While he likely is not Jewish himself, he uses the Old Testament extensively. He clearly has a mastery of the entirety of the Old Testament.  In fact you as you read his writings it’s clear that he simply sees the Christian community as a continuation of the Israelite community.  There is no polemic vs. the Jews, he simply writes to Christians who he regards as the new Israel.  Christianity builds on what God began in the Old Testament and with Israel.

The next earliest document is that of the Didache, which was probably written c. AD 100 and is a book of teachings to those new to the faith.  It contains a catechism and also has comprehensive sections on ethics and morality for new believers.  It is very Jewish in character, but also clearly marks itself off from the Jewish faith.

We also have the writings of Ignatius, a bishop of Antioch, who wrote to various churches on his way toward martyrdom in AD 110.  He writes against those who are trying to “Judaize” the Christian community (though many doing so he says are actually Gentiles) and also against a gnostic heresy.  Here we see a change in perspective on the Old Testament and Judaism.  He is not really anti-OT/Judaism as he is focused on the New Testament and Christianity.  He sees the New Testament and Christ as the foundation of the faith and simply reads back into the Old Testament to find Christ there.  They are background material.

Finally, the chapter discusses the Epistle of Barnabas, c. 130-132, a letter that spiritualizes the Old Testament laws and basically says the Jews misunderstood them when they were given by Moses.  At this time we find him much more distant from the Old Testament sources, finding them important, but seemingly reading them only through secondhand writings.

There are other “Apostolic Fathers” but these are considered the most important.  What they teach us is that as Christianity moved out from Jerusalem both in terms of space and time, the Jewish roots remained important but there were different ways to interpret that relationship.  The best understanding is probably the earliest, that of Clement.  God lays his foundations in the Old Testament, now Jesus is there (as Ignatius pointed out), but he builds those stories up as part of our history.  We are to own them, not just as stories that we can learn little morals from, but as stories which build up toward the culmination of salvation history in Jesus Christ.

Cain breaks relationship with God, and in seeing his brother find favor, he is moved to jealousy.  Jealousy turns into deceit (”let us go out to the field”), deceit becomes murder, murder against his own brother, murder of a good man.  And as with Adam and Eve, he too attempts a shallow defense (”am I my brother’s keeper?)

Most images of this story capture the moment of attack, what I like about this one is that it captures the emotion of the aftermath.  Even before God confronts Cain, he must realize what he has done.  Again, things will never be the same.  There is something new in the world, and this new thing is not good.

Sin is crouching at the door and waiting to overcome (4:7).  Here is a picture of a man who knows he has been overcome.

What do we look like in the moments where we know we’ve been overcome?

While this image is not inspiring, what can be inspiring is that sin is not the only thing there.  God is also there in those moments.  Will we let him ward off those attacks?  When we fail, will we let him apply his grace?

We discovered two videos that are very different, but share a common theme.

In the first video, you’ll meet the store manager of a cell phone shop who was being robbed.  In most circumstances, our first reaction is to hand the guy with the gun the green stuff.  She takes a different approach.

In the second video, we hear the story of a Christian comedian who is overcome by how horrible his surroundings are- everything from a 15 year old hotel manager, to a stinky room, to the hairy guy jumping into his hot tub, but then is taken completely aback by a question out of the blue.

After you’ve taken some time to watch these videos, it really gets a person thinking.  How many situations are we in on a daily basis, how many chances are there if we’d open our eyes.  Who’s your hairy guy or robber that you’re overlooking because of what’s going on on the outside?  How can you look for the inside?

You may not get a chance to give a full witness, but are there ways our example can open doors?  Are there little comments or pieces that we can throw out that help people know we are open to spiritual conversations?

We all think about the consequences- serpent crawling on his belly, Eve with pain in childbirth, Adam having to toil on the ground, and of course, death and getting kicked out the Garden.  It’s truly the worst day imaginable, no overstatement.  The image captures the despair, but as I’ll be speaking of in my sermon this Sunday, there is also some grace.  Now some of it is best understood by us because we have the cross and Jesus.  But there are also peeks of grace that Adam and Eve had as well.

Notice this image, it’s very dark, but. . . there is that blue sky peeking through the clouds.  And while that isn’t in the text, what Adam and Eve are wearing is- clothing provided by God. He clothed them.  When you think about their previous clothing, some leaves they put on to hide the nakedness that suddenly shamed them, this clothing provided by God must have been comforting.  It may be subtle, kind of like the cloud, but it is a strong statement of grace nonetheless.

Do we also experience subtle signs of God’s grace?

I think that’s an intriguing question, and one that is touched on in a number of different chapters in this book, but I highlight it now.  In chapter nine Skarsaune is most conerned with telling the story of early Jewish believers as revealed by different sources- archaelogy, ancient writings, etc.  His main point is that these early Jewish believers continue to be a profound force in Israel, not just in the immediate years after Jesus’ death, but for a few generations thereafter.  This is important knowledge, as sometimes we do think of the church as being taken over by Gentiles right away, but I think it’s important to go to a point he’s been touching on in a number of places-

What makes a place holy?

He has spoken before about the reverence for the land and especially for Jerusalem.  In this chapter he speaks of some of the holy sites to Christians in Jerusalem.  He shows interesting evidence that it was early Jewish believers in Christ who helped point Constantine to the place where he would build the Holy Sepulchre (image to the right; the basic evidence being that Constantine did an incredible amount of digging for his church site and unless he just got really lucky there must have been some people telling him that he would find a big hill and a carved out tomb under all that dirt and rock).  He also speaks of the likelihood that early Jewish believers were those who helped build holy sites and churches at the possible site of the Upper Room, the house of Peter in Capernaum, etc.  What’s interesting to me here is that these are sites built not by Jewish people who we knew were linked to place and Temple, but by Jewish believers.  The same ones who worshipped at the Temple but who shook up the world by saying that the Temple was no longer necessary.  If they weren’t attached to a place like the Temple anymore, why still focus on places?

I think this moves us to two important pieces.

First, ours is a faith that stands out from others because it is founded in real people, places, times, and events.  We believe that Adam was real and actually died somewhere.  We believe that Abraham actually followed God to a real new land, Israel.  We believe that Solomon actually built the first Temple.  And we also believe that Jesus was actually born in Bethlehem, actually lived in Nazareth, and actually died on Golgotha, and rose up out of a rich man’s tomb.  So we are linked to some real places, and when we walk to those places, and stand on that ground, there is an amazing feeling when you’re connected, even if it is across thousands of years, to a place where something significant to our faith actually happened.  Jesus really died for my sins in this place.  He really rose here.  There is something holy and awe inspiring about that.

Second, holy is about something being set aside for God’s purposes.  And some things are used for more incredible purposes than others.  All things are holy.  I don’t want to play a game here.  My home is holy.  God makes it holy with his presence there.  But the reality is that he also comes to my church in a very special way on Sunday, a way he doesn’t enter my house.  And he came and lived and died in Jerusalem in a way he doesn’t in my church.  Places are set aside with holy purposes, with God’s purposes.  And it is good for us to honor that.