My Body, His Temple

Guy’s night

2019-07-12T01:52:00.001-05:00

I just sat down on my bed, having just gone in and given my son a last kiss, making sure he was covered up well. He’s sound asleep, he has no idea I was there. I love seeing him sleep, I’ve said it many times, but that little dude sleeps so peacefully, and with a look of pure contentment in his face. He actually has a slight smile while he snoozes. It’s truly incredible.
His bedtime tonight was not so peaceful and content, in fact it was tearful. We had a guy’s night tonight. It’s something that has become a thing in our time here in Seattle. He actually initiated it, because whose (then 5 year old) son doesn’t start inviting grown ups to come over to his house for his 6th birthday? Then, after watching the LEGO Movie with his new, adult friends, finds out that none of these guys has seen the LEGO Batman movie... but that's the heart of this little man, and it’s incredible. He organized our first guy’s night. Tonight, was our last here in Seattle.

My, now 7 year old, invited over his best friends (guy’s aging from mid-20s to kid-50s) to watch LEGO Justice League be Bizzaro League, eat burgers, play Sonic Mania, and hang out. The men who show up to these are equally amazing, investing their time and love into my son, listening to him talk about super heroes and his video games. We hang out, until it’s time for him to go to bed, then we watch a guy movie, and just enjoy being together.

Tonight at bedtime, we had a tough time, as we both realized this would be our last such night like this with these men. We shared several hugs and some tears, and he went to bed. I was worried about him, but now, as he’s sleeping, there’s that slight smirk on his face, contentment and peace.

Looking back on our time here, and what it has meant to our family, and how God has used this little man as the catalyst to connect these guys together has been truly remarkable. I can’t wait to see how this continues to happen in the future.

Walking in rest

2019-06-18T09:36:00.001-05:00

If the words of the Bible are to be believed to be true, trusted to have the authority they claim, and is to stand as the only rule of faith and practice for the believer, then we must be willing to see and accept that the words Jesus spoke are in keeping with these characteristics. We must read the words and claims spoken of by this man and see him claiming to be God incarnate, the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecy.

If Jesus is not who he claimed to be in the recorded accounts of his life, if he is not the only Savior of the True Israel of God, if he is not the Good Shepherd, the new and better Adam, then all we do as Christians is in vain, we stand without reason of hope. If we live our life according to a lie, a hoax, a manipulation, then we stand to be mocked, pitied, reviled, and rejected.

But, if Jesus is who he says he is, then Jesus is in fact God.

And if God, then Jehovah; if God, then Lord; if God, then Master. If this man is God, then everything in our world must be seen through the lens of what has been revealed to us by his Word. And in this word, we find a man, a seemingly normal man, making outlandish claims. This man claims to have the authority to forgive sin, he claims to be the Lord of the Sabbath, he claims that no one can come to God unless they go through him. This man claims that he and the Father are one, that he is the eternal bread from Heaven. He even proclaims that he can prove it, that if the authorities of the day will crush him, destroy his flesh, wring out every last drop of his life upon the cross, that he will rebuild it in 3 days. He claims that he has the power over sin and death, and his is the will of the Father. He claims that through this tortuous death, and through his promised resurrection that the True Israel will be saved. He claims that before time, the Father gave him a people for his own, and that all of those whom the Father had given him he would lose none, that he would raise them up with himself on the last day. But that first, he must die, first he must be laid in the grave, first he must defeat sin and death.

And so they killed him, they laid him in the grave, but the story goes on. The empty tomb three days later is the pinnacle, the turning point of the history of humanity. What we believe about what best explains the empty tomb should direct our every step on this side of history.

For the Christian, the empty tomb is there because Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. The resurrection of Jesus fulfills the promised joy and peace found in the Old Testament prophets to the people of God. For those of us who live on this side of the resurrection, we look back and see the perfect completion of the words of God to Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets. We see confirmation of the promises of Isaiah, we see hope.

From the vantage point of the Resurrection, Scripture stands as truth, the culmination of the Old Testament promises, and the affirmation of New Testament authority. It is only by the resurrection that the words of Scripture are able to breath into the life of its reader anything but despair. There is no hope to be found in the Bible without the reconciliation purchased by Christ. But through the power of the risen King, we see the path of Scripture illuminated, we see the only hope of joy in this life being found as the promised Messiah calls to his sheep. Sheep hear the voice of their shepherd and they come, knowing that protection, care, and love are found in the presence of Him who gives his life to them. For the Christian, the only source of the everlasting joy that is our soul's deepest longing is being in the presence of God. It is only by the light of the glory of God that we can persevere in this life to seek peace and joy. It is our heart's longing desire to seek and find the presence of the Lord, and once tasted of, it becomes our joy to continuously press on into the presence of God that we would find in Him life abundant and pleasures that are but foretastes of the beauty to come.
So, we set before us the counsel of the Lord, trusting that our regenerate heart of flesh was rightly inscribed with the statutes of our loving Shepherd, we trust that the Spirit of God has firmly planted us upon the path of life and truth in this world, called to good works, called to the proclamation of these truths to the nations.

And we walk.

We walk in assurance of the deep knowledge and trust that these things are true. The Spirit testifies to our spirit that these things be true. And we dwell securely in our tattered flesh, knowing that our God has never abandoned nor forsaken his True Israel, that he will not allow his chosen to see eternal corruption. Walking sure that our Savior defeated death and sin, that he cannot fail, so neither then shall we.

We walk, not as toil, but as rest. Rest that our path is the narrow way of life, on this path there is fullness of joy, at the right hand of God, there are pleasures forevermore. We walk in delighted rest. And we call out to others along the way, "come, all you who are weary and heavy laden."

Seeking joy

2019-04-02T22:04:00.000-05:00

I am, by nature, a fairly private person. Especially in respect to current and active happenings in my life. I have no problem sharing about past struggles, and sharing how God has been with me through those struggles, and relating those experiences to others in an attempt to encourage, or to promote openness and vulnerability within a group. Most people who know me have a solid understanding of past struggles in my life, but only a select few know about the inner struggles that are actively raging in my life.

I'm not going to suddenly change this quirk and become someone whose emotions are worn on my sleeve. But I am going to say this: its been a really rough few months in my life. Over the past few days, thanks in large part to honest, hard, cutting conversations, and a phenomenal wife who speaks Biblical truth into my heart, there has been a definite shift over the last few days.

Among the wisdom that has allowed some small steps forward this week has been an application of Paul's advice in Philippians 4:8-9:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me -- practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

So, if you are reading this, and you are struggling, let me stand beside you today and speak these words to you too. Each and every day, even among the fingerlings of darkness that work throughout life, there are moments, times, and happenings each day that can fit into these categories from Paul. Those things have to be sought out, it must be an intentional part of your day, you must engage the glory in each day. It is an experiential truth, as well as revealed truth in the Word that when we seek the things of God in every day that God will be there with us.

Find people in your life who love you enough to speak hard, true, and soul-satisfying words into your life.

People sometimes mean us harm... what then?

2019-03-21T21:06:00.000-05:00

Over the last couple of days, I have been reading through the introduction to Paul's letter to the Philippian church, and Paul has an astounding bit of teaching on the reality of preaching the Gospel from different hearts, for different purposes, and what it ultimately means for the Christian.

Paul speaks about the growing confidence of those who proclaim Christ, and that this confidence has grown out of Paul's imprisonment for the Gospel. He exhorts these brothers that they would grow in boldness and to speak the word without fear. But Paul also recognizes that not all those who are energized with this newfound zeal for Christ are preaching and sharing truth from a heart of love and good will, but rather with a spirit of envy and rivalry, that these are speaking more boldly in an attempt to increase the affliction of Paul's imprisonment. So, some are speaking truth with the intention of fulfilling the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, to be peacemakers, to be labors in the field ready for harvest. Others are speaking from a heart that says that maybe if they speak boldly, if they proclaim this stumbling block of the cross, perhaps they will rise above Paul's status, be seen as the next great man of God.

Our initial response to this is that one of these groups is right, one is bringing glory to God, while this other group is clearly wrong and working outside the will of God. But Paul, the Apostle and upholder of God's sovereignty in all things... whether we see them as good or bad... reveals an astonishing truth:
"What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:19-21)

Paul says that it is not the intention at the heart of man that will determine his life. It is not a matter of who preaches, or the intention of why they are preaching, but it is the truth of Christ that they are preaching that truly matters. Paul knows that freedom in Christ is this, that in the life of the Christian there is never one thing that occurs that is not intended for the everlasting good, joy, and peace of the Christian. That God works all things together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) And Paul recognizes that the eternal good to which God is working all things for His children is bringing forward the image of Christlikeness in us. God will use all things, all schemes of man, all kindness, all heart-wrought desires (good and bad) that lie in the intentions of man, all things to sanctify His sheep. Paul doesn't simply settle for mental ascent to this reality, but he rejoices in it as truth. He hears what is being said, and he understands the intentions at hand, but he does not worry, he does not get angry, he does not desire vengeance, he rejoices in the surpassing knowledge and understanding that he belongs to God. In this, though he be slayed, not a hair on his head can be harmed.

We spend entirely too much time worrying about what other people are saying, how other people are living, and what other people's intentions and desires are. We are called to speak truth in love, and to trust in faith that our ultimate good and God's ultimate purpose will always prevail, whether in life or in death.

Gospel and family

2018-08-20T08:43:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday. 34 years old now. It was the first birthday I have ever spent away from home. I didn't realize that until this morning, but it remains true. Growing up, having a birthday in Mid-August meant my birthday was the last thing that would happen before school started back up. Even when I moved away from home for that first run at college, we celebrated my 18th birthday the day before I moved into my dorm. My birthday was always a day surrounded by family and friends. As a kid, it meant mom making me whatever I wanted for dinner... usually manicotti, whatever kind of cake I wanted... cheesecake or black forest cake were always in the running, and a day doing whatever I desired. As time went by, those things changed, as life often does. This was my 8th birthday without mom, 12th birthday since Z and I got married, 9th birthday as a dad, 16th birthday since that day before college started... the first time.

This year, it was a birthday in a different city, in a different state, in a different time zone... birthday wishes from friends and family come from 3000 miles away. And yet, it was the most with family feel I have had in many years. Its funny quickly God creates family. In a home that we've lived in for a month now, in a city that has only been home for 7 months, with people we had never met before January, we had a birthday dinner with 7 new family members. We sat together, we talked, we watched baseball, we ate food, we did what family does.

Shortly before we left on this journey, I was studying in the book of Acts, and I wrote about sacrifice. The idea behind it being that when we read scripture, and we read biographies of missionaries, or martyrs, we often come to a common theme, the idea that when we sacrifice all we know and all we are for the cause of Christ, then we find that we truly have sacrificed nothing at all. (You can find that post here) As I sat in my living room Saturday evening, I didn't feel the distance between me and my family, I didn't feel the strife of selling our home. I didn't feel the sting of leaving behind the path we though we had laid before us. I didn't feel loss. I felt love, and comfort, and home.

That is the power of the gospel for believers. We so often stop with the gospel at salvation and leave it there, mistakenly thinking that it only the power of God unto salvation. Or, more correctly, we mistakenly believe that salvation has to do with a single, momentary flash of light bringing the sinner from death to life. Salvation is an every-present, growing reality in the life of those who have been, are being, and will be saved, and thus the gospel is not simply the power to begin this process, it is the power and life-blood that courses through the beating heart of the now-living Christian. The gospel does not lose power or benefit after one professes belief, rather that is only beginning of it's power! The power of the life-giving word of God is desperately needed among the church, in the midst of the believers. The gospel has the power to bring you to new places, to meet new people, and to LOVE them... you cannot love them without it, you're not that strong, that good, or that powerful. Without the power of the gospel, my home wouldn't be full of people I didn't know before the calendar flipped this year. Without the power of the gospel, they wouldn't be my family.

Imperishable seed

2018-08-08T09:41:00.004-05:00

I often find that I pay much more attention to Paul than I do other authors of the New Testament. Obviously, by sheer volume, Paul pretty well dominates the NT landscape. His gifts of writing and crafting sound reason build a strong frame onto the foundation of Christ for our faith. The last couple of mornings, however, I turned to Peter.

Among the many reasons I love the Bible, and believe it to be the living Word of God, is that, though the words themselves remain the same, their impact and the way they pierce the heart change throughout our lives. The meaning of the text is always there, the original, bedrock purpose for which the authors put pen to paper, but in certain times, on certain days, the light shifts in our eyes. The analogy of scripture being like a multi-faceted diamond holds true. The reality and substance of this gem does not change, rather, if you were to place a diamond to be held up in an open field, as the sun rises, crosses, and sets across the sky, the reflection and brilliance of the diamond with shift to show its beauty in new ways. This is what happens as we read scripture throughout our lives, revisiting familiar words, but with ever-changing circumstances... differing angles and balance of light and darkness that flash through the words and the pages with new brilliance that we would not see if it were not for the circumstances of our momentary sight. This is what it was for me today, visiting 1Peter 1.

As I was saying, I am particularly fond of the Pauline descriptions and arguments of faith. They bolster me and throw ballast in the depths of my soul. But this morning, Peter's reminder to his readers of what the Christian life is, and how salvation looks, was a searing reminder of the importance of joy, the reality of suffering, and the hope that lies only in the imperishable seed of Christ:

He starts, reminding his hearer that all that Peter is about to share of the blessed hope of salvation has come from the great mercy of the resurrecting God of Jesus. We are born again, by the power of this resurrection, to a living hope. (v. 3) But just what is this living hope? Peter states it another way, for the sake of clarification in verse 4, calling it an inheritance. He tells us of an imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, an inheritance that is being kept for us in Heaven. But lest we think that this inheritance is for any who claim to be of this "rebirth", Peter cuts off the though with a qualifier. Who is the inheritance being kept for? In verse 5, it is those who by God's power are being kept, being guarded through faith, awaiting the revelation of their salvation in the last time. So, who has access to the rebirth, the living hope, the inheritance? Those whom God is guarding, through faith, as they await their salvation. This sounds an awful lot like Matthew 24:13 where, after laying out the coming trials and tribulations that will be faced by those who bear His name, Jesus tells his disciples, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Peter is reminding us here that it is not mere words spoken, or even deeds done that measure a man's salvation. Man is not born again simply because he says he is. We do not gain the unfading, imperishable inheritance of God simply by claiming it as our own. Rather, this inheritance belongs to those whom God has caused to be born again (v. 3 again).

Okay Peter, but how can we know if we are being guarded by faith, born again of Christ's resurrection? How can I know if my salvation is ready to revealed in the last times? Peter says, "In this you rejoice." (v. 6) The Christian does not scoff at or cry foul at the though that his salvation can not truly be revealed until the end comes. The Christian lays all trust at the foot of the cross, saying that our only hope of salvation is through the blood of Christ and the propitiation for our sin is found only in his death. We grasp the sovereign will of God, through the resurrection of Jesus, and say not that we are born again, but that we trust that the only way to become born again to this living hope is by grace through faith. We do not claim, only, a salvation that has been accomplished in us, but also a salvation to be revealed in us. We, to use Peter's words, rejoice in the faithful guarding of our salvation. We rejoice through whatever means by which our God has chosen to reveal our salvation. This is the process of sanctification, the revealing of our salvation. Peter tells us that our rejoicing continues, even through momentary trials. Though we may be grieved by these afflictions, and troubled by these tests of faith, we rejoice in the knowledge that it is by these wounds, by this weakening of our flesh, that our faith is made stronger, more pure, refined by the fire (v. 7). And Peter tells us that if we are indeed born again, and if we can lay any claim on the promised inheritance, then we come into and through these trials with praise, singing the glory and honor of Jesus Christ. Though we no longer see him physically on this earth, though we might have struggled to see him active in grace through our trials in this momentary pain, the Christian believes in him and rejoices with an inexpressible joy, and glows with the glory of Christ. By this, Peter says, we obtain the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls. (vv. 8-9)

That's great Peter, but how, practically, do we do this? I'm willing to buy in and believe that what you're saying is true. I mean, you did walk, literally, with Jesus, there is probably no one who has lived that can say with more authority what Jesus taught his disciples. So, I guess I should just take your word that this is true, right?

I think this is what really stuck the chord with me this morning, Peter could have just made this claim on the veracity of his own testimony and life. He could've, and I think we would still take it as the authoritative word that it is. But Peter doesn't do that. He goes further, in providing a more sure footing in the historical texts that his hearers knew, Peter drives a stake, a firm foothold of faith, into the whole of redemptive history:

"Concerning this salvation..." (v. 10)
Peter shows that the prophets, those who first wrote to us about the grace and mercy by which we would be saved, these prophets have been revealed to be not writing to just themselves, for themselves, by themselves, they were not serving only the prophets of God through their preaching, teaching, writing... they were serving us, the Christians to come, through those who have announced and preached the good news to us by the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven. (vv. 11-12) Peter is saying, "Don't take my word for it, for this is the truth of the prophets. This salvation is the salvation that has been spoken to you from Abraham down through all those who have faithfully heard and preached the good news of God." Peter could've staked the claim of true regeneration, and true adoption, true inheritance on his own authority, but instead, he turned back to the source of his authority, the living Word of God, revealing to his hearers truths that "angels long to look" into.

Peter, that sounds good, but as a 1st Century Jewish man, I'm not sure I quite grasp this salvation you speak of...

In verse 13, Peter prepares the recipients of his letter to receive a concise, cutting, piercing reality that Jesus Christ is the only source of living hope, not an addition to their faith, but the culmination of the faith of their fathers. These people have been waiting centuries for the inheritance of their fathers, and Peter is about to unload on them that that inheritance is through the risen Messiah: "Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (v. 13)

Hold on to your hats, folks:

"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who has called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, 'You shall be holy, for I am holy.'" (vv. 14-15)
-- You want the inheritance that was promised to our fathers? It is found only in God, and to be with God, you must be holy. Not good, not even faithful... holy. Not just pretty holy... holy in ALL your conduct.

"And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot." (vv. 17-19)
-- If you want to go to him with only the holiness which you can muster through your deeds, you must approach with fear. It has been revealed to you, that the ways that your fathers approached God has now been made futile. You neither need to, nor can you, approach your Father in the ways that you had inherited from tradition. Rather than the perishable sacrifice, you can approach through the precious blood of Jesus.

"He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God." (vv. 20-21)
-- This Jesus is Eternal God, made manifest here in our midst, as the promised Messiah. For the sake of those, such as yourselves, who claim a belief in God. This Jesus was raised from death, shown in the fullness of glory, so that your faith and hope are truly in God. Jesus is the way of salvation.

"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God, for 'All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.'" (vv. 22-25a)
-- The hearers of this letter had a desire to claim a salvation from Christ, they simply were not going about it correctly. Peter, having relaid the foundational truths of their new faith, and the exclusivity of Christ as the only path to the holiness that is required to be in the presence of a holy God, finishes with the greatest commandment: since you have been saved, born again, love one another.

"And this is the good news that was preached to you." (v. 25b)
-- Tying it back together, Peter launched into this sermonette as an explanation of how his hearers can be born again to a living hope and the promised inheritance of God's people. Peter's answer was to live the life that had been preached to them. Peter reminds them that this is the life that has been preached, the good news of the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, and the foundation of the new, built upon the blood of Christ. It is not to be mingled back with the old traditions, but set apart, called out of the old, and made new. Peter tells us that because of this, we can trust the abiding, imperishable Word, that if God has caused us to be born again, then we will be guarded through faith, desiring to rejoice, even in the trials, shouting praise and glory of the only begotten of the Father. Our faith is not dependent on that which can been seen, but on the knowledge of the truth of that which is unseen. And yet, it rests on the revelation that has been given throughout the entirety of human history, recorded by the prophets and preached to God's people.

So, what does the Christian life look like?

According to Peter, it looks like obedience to the truth that has been revealed, loving one another in grace, persevering in the trials, praising God and rejoicing with inexpressible joy throughout our lives. It looks radically different from anything that is not the Christian life, drawing daily sustenance from the imperishable seed.

because of me

2018-08-01T09:35:00.002-05:00

"And they glorified God because of me."

This is the statement by the Apostle Paul at the end of Chapter 1 of the book of Galatians. It stood out to me this morning as I was studying. I think there is a very real struggle in the life of the Christian that we desire that through the life we live, others (namely other Christians) would glorify God because of us. We struggle because this seems counter-intuitive to the life we feel called to... we are to be humble bondservants of the Lord, not a self-seeking, self-aggrandizing braggart. But, in Paul's words here, it would appear that there is a sense in which we can indeed live out our faith in a way that causes others to glorify God because of us. There is a way to satisfy this that is not only not sinful, but is worthy of the glory. These were not new-convert Gentiles, or uninformed "nobodies" who were glorifying God because of Paul, it is the churches of Judea of whom Paul speaks in Galatians 1:24.

Paul spends this first chapter reasserting to the Galatian churches who he is, and in what way he has been established as an Apostle of the truth. He feels he must repair a foundation within this church that has begun to falter in his absence, stating his astonishment that there are those among this church who are deserting the true gospel for a twisted entanglement of truth and lie. Paul is setting the stage for a treatise on the establishment of faith in the life of a believer, the wellspring of grace that erupts in the heart of the true convert, and the practical walking in the spirit that must be sought by those who lay claim to the adoption as sons and heirs of the promise. And, as he often does, he is starting by establishing himself as an example of the life to be lived by the Christian... he is calling this church to live a life so saturated by the gospel that the true Church would glorify God because of the life of these saints.

I think what Paul lays out here is one of the clearest representations of Jesus' parable of the treasure hidden in the field from Matthew 13:44 ("The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.") Paul lays out the short version of his life, and conversion in such a way that seems to parallel this parable. After recapping his persecution of the early church and establishing himself as a enemy of the faith, reminding the Galatians of who he was as he set forth to Damascus (a man walking through a field), Paul says, "But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me..." (a treasure hidden in a field, found, or rather revealed to, the man)..."I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me,"... (and covered up the treasure.)... "but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem..."

Not a lot is written or known within scripture about the time Paul spent in Arabia, and the timeline of when he began teaching in Damascus, and when he went to Arabia, or when the three years before Jerusalem is not clearly delineated. But we do have words speaking to Paul's strengthening, and deepening in understanding. In his vision to Ananias, when Jesus told the believer to go and pray over Paul, Jesus tells Ananias to go to Paul because he is "the instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." (Acts 9:15b-16). From this, it would seem possible that in his time after his conversion, in Damascus, and in Arabia, that Paul received further teaching and visions from Christ himself. Paul alludes to much as he tells the churches that he did not receive his gospel from flesh and blood but by the Spirit. Having seen the glory of Christ revealed, and being taught by the Spirit, it is easy to see how Paul, as the man walking in a field, found a revealed treasure, covered it up as not to reveal what he had found too quickly, then in his joy of coming to see the glory of the revelation, and under the teaching of Christ, understanding the cost of the field, sold all that he had to obtain the treasure. Jesus told Ananias that he would show Paul the cost of his calling, Paul, tasting of the beauty and glory of truth, sells all that he has... his citizenship, his upbringing, his education, his standing as a Pharisee, his reputation among men, the health of his physical body, the satisfaction of the flesh, material desires... he bets it all on the treasure of the field being worth it.

Paul took the truth and the beauty of the Gospel that had be revealed to him, and he poured himself out fully on the behalf of those to whom he was sent that they might see and savor the Christ who was worth everything. To drive home the validity of the visions and teachings by the Spirit that Paul claimed to have had, he did not seek out the established Apostles in Jerusalem, spending 3 years teaching and proclaiming. Even then he only sought out Peter, meeting James along the way, spending 15 days, before heading back to Syria and Cilicia. Paul makes the point here that in all of this, he did not visit or make himself known to the churches of Judea, relating to us only that it became known to him, that those churches had become aware that "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." (Gal 1:23). The zeal with which he once sought to end the teachings he saw as a threat to what he had then understood as truth had now been turned and levied into the revealed treasure of the field. The veracity with which Paul taught throughout the region, even in this early period of his Christian life became quickly recognized as something different, special, and set apart even from that of the Apostles. Not as a different faith, but as a faith that was not reserved to the biologic heirs of Abraham, but as a faith that was to be spread to the true heirs of faith, the adopted sons of the promise.

And Paul holds up this story, this redemptive Magnum Opus, to show and remind the Galatian churches (and the Church throughout the ages) that the power that brought him from death into life, the light the blinded him to the point of giving him true sight, that the blood by which he had been washed, that a life which sells all that it has so that it can lay hold of the treasure, is not done to the praise of himself, or the praises of men, but to the glory of God. Because when the churches of Judea heard that the enemy of their faith had miraculously began to preach the faith, once for all delivered to the saints, they did praise the redeemed sinner, but they glorified God for the work that had been done.

And thus, Paul starts into a practical outlaying of how we are brought into faith, how we grow in that faith, and what the end of that faith promises. Having reestablished for these believers the foundation on which their salvation rests, Paul seeks to steady the trembling house. He reminds them that the true gospel, the gospel he preached to them was not received by man, and in reminding them of where and how he received the true gospel of Christ, he points not to himself, but through himself to the Glory of God alone.

So, how do we live a life that allows us to say, "And they glorified God, because of me."?

We stand and say, "The only thing that's good in me, is Jesus". We lay ourselves open, and in the right time and place, we show the treasure we found in the field. We live a life that says that that treasure was worth everything I owned. We proclaim the revealed truth, nothing more, nothing less.

1-year ago

2018-06-14T08:40:00.002-05:00

1-year ago today, I flew into Sea-Tac for a 2-day stay and an interview. I was so relieved that my waiting was close to over, and my family and I would soon be moving to Seattle...

I met Stuart Bell for breakfast, we shared testimonies together, we walked the market, we prayed throughout the downtown.

I felt I had come home.

But then that job didn’t happen. And neither did any other. For nearly another 7 months...

Those were hard months. It became a burden when people told me they were praying for us, or asked us when we’d be going... we became homesick for a place that we’d never lived in. We knew no one in this city, yet we missed them dearly. We began to feel like Paul in his letter to the Romans:

For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you- that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." - Romans 1:9-17

Brothers and Sisters... I can’t tell you that I understand better now why we were prevented from coming to Seattle sooner. I can’t tell you anecdotally the mystery of God having us wait. I can’t tell you with any true certainty what the purpose behind some of the hardest 7 months of my life was... I have some ideas, and I can see how God used that time...

What I can tell you is that God told us to go to Seattle.

Joy and Pleasure in the body of Christ

2018-04-26T23:10:00.001-05:00

Weekly, a group of us gathers at a local coffee house and we read scripture together and discuss it. This week was my turn to lead in the discussion. I thought I would share here some of the thoughts and observations I had in studying the text, as well as some of the insights offered through our discussion.

Col 3:1-17

Context:
As we have been seeing throughout this letter, Paul is writing to the believers, in the church at Colassae. A relatively new gathering, of relatively young Christians. Paul, having never met this church, is writing a letter exhorting their faith, holding up the preeminence of Christ, warning against false teachings from spiritual mystics, Judiazers, and others who would add to the addition of anything to the salvation they have in Christ. In particular in chapter 2, Paul issues an admonition against (specifically) the practice of asceticism, self-mutilation, and other ritualistic cleansings in an attempt to make oneself holy. It is a warning against trying to undo the destruction of our spirit by our sin through our own physical ability and worldly powers. Paul rails against teachings that seem to promote that the life of following Christ is to be a road without joy, pleasure, and satisfaction. Leading to the unspoken question Paul is addressing in Chapter 3.
"If in the path of the Christian life, we are not to indulge the desires of the flesh to our own satisfaction, yet we are likewise not to abandon all joy and pleasure, how in the world is the Christian supposed to live?"
So, how does a Christian not seek the pleasures of the flesh, and yet pursue the "fullness of joy" and "pleasure forevermore" we find in Psalm 16?

Observation/Meaning:
One important observation of this text is right at the beginning, Paul qualifies every instruction he is going to give as pertaining only to those who have been raised with Christ. Therefore this is not instruction for those outside the church. The antidote to lostness is not found in these verses... this is instruction on how to live as one who has died, whose life is hid with Christ, to be raised as he was raised, to those who have died to the elemental spirits of this world.
If, then, this describes us, then these words from Paul are to be instructive for how the Christian can deny the false teachings of our world, and rather seek our greatest joy in God, as well as how we are to pursue that holiness without which none will see the Father.

In verses 5-10 Paul lays out a list of deprivations, sins in which we all have once lived. Afflictions common to all, creating an atmosphere whereby there is universal guilt among the congregation. Wrath was due on all those receiving Paul's words. Therefore, none within the family can hold shame or guilt over another member of the family. In the same way that none can boast in the grace through faith by which they were saved, neither are we to utilize shame and guilt to create a hierarchy of righteousness within the church. We do not chastise our brothers, questioning their salvation, heaping shame on them when they struggle. I see this in how Paul speaks against lying about who they now are in Christ. If we affirm that a brother has put on the new self, and we affirm that we likewise have put on this new self, then we recognize and encourage each other when we struggle. We speak truth to one another through the process of being renewed, as we are being made into the image of our Creator. This is among the essence of sanctification.
In verse 11 we get a free reminder from Paul that as new creations we are not to judge or be judged by traditional, ritualistic measures, but by Christ and the process by which he has, is, and will be cleansing us.
From 12-17: "Sure, that's great Paul, but seriously, how?"
"Put on then, as God's chosen ones..."
- Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness... above all else, love.
-Love binds all things together, creating harmony
- Let peace rule your hearts
- Be thankful
- Let the Word dwell in you, teaching each other.
- Admonish one another in all wisdom
- Sing together
- Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus.

So, that instruction, if the context of instruction given to the church, not to individuals, we start to see things in concert. "By this will all men know you are my followers, if you love one another." Love is what binds us together as a church, using the many individual members, and the unique notes each of our lives produces, love brings them together to create a harmony. You cannot harmonize alone. The call is to teach one another from the Word, to admonish one another in wisdom, to sing together... to live in community with one another seeking to do all things in the name of Christ.

Application:
So then, how do we put to death the deeds of the flesh, without the Christian life becoming a life devoid of pleasure, joy, and satisfaction?
It is not through:
- Ritualistic, masochistic efforts to mortify our flesh
- Open shaming of those whom we see as "lesser" Christians because they struggle with different sins than we do.
- Going it alone, seeking to try harder, to be better, to sin less, and appear holy

Rather, it is through the realization that Christ has defeated sin in my own heart, that it is no longer I, but He who lives in me, to will and to work to His good pleasure. To realize that Christ has done this same miraculous work in the lives of the others in the church as well. To then realize that it is Christ who called you out of your collective bondage, beginning in each of you a good work that He will bring to completion, and the ministry of the church is a means by which He will accomplish this work. He accomplished this work through individual sanctification, done in a corporate setting, giving us the responsibility of "acting the miracle" of our sanctification, through keeping our eyes on the things above... doing this together through:
- Loving one another, with kindness, patience, and compassion
- Reading the Word together, filling each other's minds, and admonishing one another with the wisdom and truth found within.
- We sing together. We raise our voices together in corporate acknowledgement of the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ.

In this, we can find joy, pleasure, and satisfaction in the Christian life. Through the submission of all we do as individuals to the worship of Him by whom was everything made that has been made. We, as a church, must refuse to allow joy and pleasure to be removed from a life following Christ.

Childish understanding

2018-03-26T07:15:00.000-05:00

We're trying to get back into the swing of "normal" since our move. Its been difficult, but there are glimmers of normalcy amongst the crazy. One area that is still far away from normal, is our church... though I should say our local gathering of like-minded people with a common vision to covenant together and become a church. But, in the name of brevity, our church.

To try to start feeling some sense of that normal church experience again, we have slowly been transitioning our kids back to their normal Sunday morning tasks. We are staunch believers and supporters of kids (once they have the ability to sit relatively calmly) being a part of the corporate gathering of the church. We want them to be with us to sing worship, to pray, and to hear the Word preached. To this end, our kids have previously been instructed on focused listening during church, with the intention of being able to discuss what was taught. We let them engage by allowing them to draw/color pictures pertaining to the sermon, and other such tasks. Now that they have gotten a little older, we decided that this Sunday, they would be tasked with answering 2 questions, with words instead of pictures:

What words from the songs, scriptures, prayers, or sermon are new to you, or you don't know what they mean?

What was something new you learned today, or a question you have about today?

Here is the point of my writing this today, to those who disagree with children being present in the corporate services of the church, or who think it is unfair to immerse children in teaching that is so far above their understanding, this simple exercise led directly to the following conversations over dinner last night:

Lydia, who is soon to be 8 years old, and has been sitting in "big church" for 4-5 years at this point, wrote down three words that she didn't understand as well as she wanted to: Mortal, Chronological, and a third one that we couldn't decide what it actually said. These words led us to a discussion on the temporal nature of our flesh, and the infinite nature of God. It led to the image-bearing immortal part of each individual. We talked about what it means in Romans 6:12 (she remembered the scripture reference that caused her to write down the word), what Paul meant about letting sin reign in our mortal body. It was a good conversation. Our look into Chronology, which netted a more practical discussion about the way the Bible is organized, and different ways we can go about studying God's Word, and the benefits of that.

Ben, who just turned 6 and has been sitting with us for 3 years now, wrote down no words. I teased him by asking what transubstantiation meant (a word used in the service). He of course didn't know, and actually didn't recall the word being used. But, even that allowed us the chance to talk about really cool words that he didn't get to learn about because he was struggling to pay attention.

But even cooler than any of that, when asked about new things that they both learned:

Lydia, a discerning Berean in her little body, picked up on something the pastor had said about Jesus' baptism, and how Jesus looked up into Heaven and saw the sky open up and view the Spirit. She was concerned because none of her experience with that story ever mentioned Jesus looking up. She was concerned about the validity of what she was being taught because it rang a different bell in her mind. We went through the New Testament accounts of Jesus' baptism, and she is right, none of the accounts actually say that Jesus looked up to see the Heavens open... simply that the heavens were open to Him. I explained that our pastor looked at those passages, and knowing that Jesus was here on Earth, and the Heavens are somewhere else (up from where Jesus was), that when they were opened to Him, he likely would have had to look up to see them. Ben had questions about this process too, questions of how God could open the heavens, what if God poked a hole in heaven so Jesus could see in, but then God accidentally fell into the hole? Such questions are, of course, silly to our adult minds... but it was a real concern for Ben, and allowed for deeper discussion of God's sovereignty.

Ben, for his part, picked up on hearing that none of Jesus' bones were broken. He wanted to know if that was really true. What a wonderful conversation about Old Testament prophecies, and Jesus' fulfillment of those prophecies. We talked about the likely search for Jesus' body by the Romans following the resurrection, and how no body was found without broken legs. We were able to relate that Jesus' body was never broken outside of the plan and will of God. In fact, the first reference we really see to Jesus being broken is at the institution of the Lord's Supper, when Jesus Himself broke the bread, declaring it to be as his body, broken for us. No one breaks the Son of God, but the Son of God who Himself breaks it. No one takes His life, only the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.

Don't sell your kids short on what they will pick up from a normal Sunday morning in the church. Don't shy away from allowing them to engage with God in a way that is challenging to their little brains. They won't understand everything, but they don't need to... God has ordained that He makes Himself visible and known to His children through the preaching of the Word. He will reveal Himself to our kids as they are prepared to receive Him, and it is very, very good.

Planted by the Stream

2018-03-12T01:45:00.002-05:00

When I find myself needing encouragement, I like to read the Psalms. When things in the faith start to feel a little too brainy, and my heart is lacking, the writings of the Psalmists provide reality. They screw up, they doubt, they fear, they ask the same questions I find myself asking... they're real life. Tonight, we were talking about struggling. I know that I am feeling some dryness in my faith right now. The culture we've been transplanted into manages to suck life out of you pretty quick, turns me into a cynic even faster.

I'm not feeling useful, not feeling that whatever God's purpose for bringing my family out here is being touched. Momentary blips to the contrary wither and blow away quickly, leaving behind an uneasy, underlying disquiet... I've known deep discontent, and it's insidious assault, suffocating joy. I have neither the time, nor the desire to trod that path. We have the utter resolve that there is no denying that God brought us here, and that His purpose for doing so serves both the purpose of His everlasting glory, and our everlasting joy. So, with that battle raging in my heart tonight, I return to Psalm 1, seeking joy in the Word, comfort in the presence of my King, and rest for my soul.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish."

Not feeling fruitful? Feeling dry, weak, short on delight? What is the answer?

The Word! The man who is like a tree, planted by streams of water... water which yields fruit in its season, with leafs that do not wither, that is the man I desire to be tonight. He is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, who loves the Word of God. He gives his mind to the business of knowing the law. He is the man whose roots grow deep in the streams of living water, he is imbibed by this water, this word, this Jesus. He is a man who seeks after Jesus's promise that "whoever drinks of the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14-15)

The Psalmist knew that the Word of God was the well-spring of living water, and only by rooting oneself in the fertile soil of the stream can a man hope to prosper, to bear fruit. And God desires for us to know that as well.

2 months in

2018-03-06T01:40:00.002-06:00

Two months ago today was the first morning we woke up as a family in Seattle. Two months (and a couple days) since last seeing our friends, celebrating and ringing in the New Year. What was strange at the time was that we had a sense that we weren't leaving home, but rather going home. We couldn't explain it outside of a heart shift, a working of the Spirit within us, shaking the dirt off our roots, preparing us for this new adventure. We were far from certain of what things would look like as we headed out for our 4-day voyage, what "home" would be.

So, two months in, two months of a new job, two months of a new city, two months of apartment life, two months of gathering with our new family. Two months of prayerfully seeking God's will for a gathering of people, seeking to covenant together to become a church. Two months of singing hymns A Capella, two months of meeting in a conference room on the 33rd floor... two months of eternally significant, small moments.

I am not one who is eager to love other people. I do not naturally find enjoyment in being with others. It is Spirit-wrought fruit in my life, evidence of the power of God at work to conform me into the image of Christ that I desire to put to death that fleshly want of solitude. It is by His grace alone that I find myself craving time with this gathering, craving corporate prayer, and by extension wanting to be among the darkness of our city. That last part ebbs and flows with greater regularity than the tides, but it is real. I want to be present among the debauched throngs of men that can be found throughout the streets. I want to hold up the precious jewel of the Gospel before them, allowing the light of the glory of God to shine through it's many facets, striking the hearts of men. I want to witness the resurrecting power call dead men to life. I desire to be an instrument, like Ezekiel, through whom God can breathe life into dry bones.

I want to not allow the stress and demands of my job to be used by Satan to pull me away from the purpose to which God brought my family to this city. I want to stand firm in the practices of daily Bible study and prayer, even though my eyes and brain are often tired. I want to invest into my fellow believers, time, prayers, fellowship.

Lord, help me to love. Help me to love my wife as Christ loves His church. Help me to love my kids and raise them up in You. Help me to love my brothers and sisters, to bear their burdens, and lessen their loads. Help me to love the least of these, your children, for by this will all men know that I am yours, that I would love them. Lord, help me trust your plan. Help me keep your mission, and your purpose as the priority of my life. Allow me the privilege of vulnerability and transparency that others may know my heart and my needs, that I would seek their support, help, and prayers. Lord, help me seek satisfaction in You, glorify yourself in my satisfaction. Lord, cause me to lie down and rest in your green pastures. Lord, I readily acknowledge your word that unless I abide in you, and you abide in me, I am only a fruitless branch, that I can do nothing apart from you. I cannot love as you command, I cannot bear other's burdens, I can not cherish my wife, or raise my kids, I cannot trust, rest, rejoice, not even breathe apart from you. To abide without you is to have myself cast off and thrown to the fire. But Lord, you also promise that if I abide in you, and your words abide in me, that whatever I ask will be done for me. You, Lord, are glorified in the asking of your children for your mercies, for by asking we will bear fruit, and thus prove to be your disciples. This promise is made for the joy of your people, to the full. Lord, I seek and ask for that fullness of joy that is found in your presence, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. --Amen

Scattered

2017-12-21T07:39:00.001-06:00

God scatters His people.

He does so for the sake of His glory, and the building/advancement of His Kingdom.

These may not be the only reasons for the dispersement of His church, but they are two that are opening my eyes this morning.

The last couple of days have been spent looking in Acts 8, and the persecution and scattering of the Jerusalem church. As I was reading, another act of dispersement cane to mind, one not carried on the hands of human oppressors, but by the direct act of God.

In Genesis 11 we find what appears to be the totality of the people of God, settler together in one place. In a short time together, the people devise a plan to construct the great human city. In the midst of this city will be a mighty tower, reaching into the heavens, a monument to their own greatness. It would be a place of such grandeur that all people would be able to see it from far off, a beacon drawing them all together, to preserve their greatness. “Lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Their desire was insulation, and protection of self. They desired the ability to worship their own glory and might.

God, ever zealous for His own glory, unwilling to share it with any other, descends upon His people, speaking in Triune power, “This is only the beginning of what they will do... Let Us go down there and confuse their language, so they may not understand one another’s speech.”

This God disperses His people, scattering them from this place in order that:

1) They do not delve further together into self-gratifying, self-worshiping destruction.

2) To protect and proclaim His power and glory among His people.

So that’s one dispersion, but what about Acts 8?

We don’t read of plans of the Apostles to build monuments of themselves. Rather, we see faithful men, working heartily as for God. We see fruitful ministry among the people. So why does God bring about the persecution of Saul, and the subsequent scattering of the church?

I think it comes down to a few things:

1) The protection of the Glory of God (the humbling of His people):

While the Apostles are keeping to a humble, low self-understanding service, their works often cause marveling among the people. They work diligently to point to the power of the resurrected Christ when people speak of their awe. But, with each passing work, and every glorious act done in the midst of the people, many will begin to be deafened to the words of the Apostles, and blinded to the Glory of God. If left unchecked, it is likely that soon the people will no longer hear the Apostles’ claim that the works done are not of their power, but are of the power of Christ alone. For this reason, it is better to persecute and strike at the church. Better to scatter the brothers than have the Glory of God defamed among the nations.

2) The sending of bold men to preach the Good News, and father the sheep:

From this scattering, we are told that those who went out did so preaching the Word. We are given the example of Philip, who went out and preached boldly, and the Spirit worked effectually in the land of Samaria. Philip went south and taught many, culminating in the salvation of the Ethiopian eunuch. By this example, we can assume that other brothers went to other places, preaching Christ to the nations. God needed to scatter His people to find men to carry through the mission of Acts 1:8, taking the message out of Jerusalem, into Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. To echo Paul later, God scatters His people because:

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?”

We usually read this passage from Romans 10:14-15a when it’s time for a mission trip, a church sending people out. But, in the scattering of His church, God was sending His men out to preach to those who needed to hear, that on gearing they might believe, and in believing they will call. In doing so, they fulfill the mission given by Jesus that there are other sheep who are not of this fold, and they must be gathered.

3) To lay the groundwork for the most powerful display of redeeming grace in the New Testament:

In Ezekiel 36, God speaks through His prophet a vivid series of imagery concerning the lengths and depths He will go to save to the uttermost His children. He goes on to declare that he does this redemptive work, not merely for the sake of the saved, but for the sake of His glory. (For more on this passage: http://templebodyspirit.blogspot.com/2013/07/not-for-my-sake.html?m=1 )

I think, I’m light of this, and many other passages, we can infer that in some respects, the greater the redemption, the more magnified is God’s glory. God is infinitely glorified in the redemption of everyone who believes, and that redemption is bought with the same blood of Christ. But he is forgiven much, forgives much. In saying this, we can see that Saul’s ravenous persecution of the church, and the subsequent scattering of the church, was instrumental in setting the stage for the penultimate display of the applied redemption of God through Christ. In reconciling the self-named chief of sinners, God called to Himself, of Himself, by Himself the praise of His own glory and might.

With these thoughts, I take solace as I prepare for my family to soon be one scattered. I can trust from the Scriptures that God has a mighty purpose in what He has planned. And go now, I rest knowing that God is seeking to keep me, or make me:

1) humbled by His will and mercy in my life

2) bold, prepared to speak His word among the people

3) excited, ready to see the mighty works of redemption He has planned.

Sacrifice nothing

2017-12-19T08:32:00.001-06:00

Prayer:

Lord, incline my heart to savor and desire your Word, open my eyes and my heart to your Glory displayed, unite my soul to your Holy Spirit in Your truth, satisfy me in you. Lord, do these things out of your zealous desire that your Glory and Beauty be made known among your people.

In Christ’s name,

Amen

As the months of prayer and preparation have gone by, waiting on God’s timing for our move to Seattle, many verses have stuck out in my mind. Verses that provide encouragement, verses that humble my haughty mind, verses that sharpen my desires, and so on... but one that has been utilized for all of these has been Mark 10:29-30:

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

These last few days, I’ve been reading through Acts 7, looking at Stephen’s life and martyrdom. And I can’t help looking at this through the lens of Jesus’ words in Mark. What we find in this glance is the satisfied promise of God to a man who sacrificed all, yet could (and I believe would) say he never truly sacrificed a day in his life.

We know little of Stephen’s life before meeting him as a sharp-tongued proclaimer straight from the mold of the Apostles he sat under. We only know him briefly in his bold and accurate, incisive words spoken to the hypocritical religious leaders of the day. His surgical flaying of their hearts leads straight to his being rushed, thrown down, and stoned.

But how can we know that Stephen would say that he had never sacrificed a thing?

The inference from scripture is that we most often see the kind of boldness we see in Stephen, boldness for the sake and Glory of Jesus, borne out of great personal cost of following. I’m willing to assume that because we don’t hear about Stephen’s family or home that he qualifies as one who “left mother, father, sisters, brothers, and lands” for the sake of the Gospel. The immediate promise from Jesus is that “in this time” Stephen should receive 100x his sacrifice in blessing. So what did he gain? An immense brotherhood, one that sought to have no wants in and among themselves. A group that loved one another unconditionally, a family of thousands, held together by the incorruptible love of God. He gained the teaching of the great truths of the sufficiency of Christ and the preciously priceless Glory of God. Realities well worth greater than 100x what he left behind.

Next, Stephen gave up anonymity within this immense family. Anonymity is safe, and comfortable. I’m assuming here, again, that the church had already begun to develop a striata of those who are willing to stay in the unknown ranks. I think we can assume that there are many who came, gave up what they had, but then remained insulated and relatively quiet (especially compared to the boldness of some), and this safer. I assume this because among the thousands upon thousands of people added to the church, we really see few who are leading, serving the many. This is not a knock on the many, the church is built upon the reality of a multitude of individuals with different gifting and callings. But Stephen was called out and he took up that calling to leave an anonymous presence in the church to be recognized as one who was full of the Spirit, and of faith. His is the first name given among those established in the office of Deacon. He sacrificed a life in the church of provision and safety provided by anonymity for a life of bold service.

What did Stephen gain for this sacrifice?

According to Paul in 1 Timothy 3:13, those who serve the office of Deacon well gain a good standing for themselves and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Anyone who struggles with the assurance of their faith will tell you that great confidence in assurance would be worth well over 100x the cost.

Then comes the ultimate sacrifice of Stephen, his physical life. Emboldened by his great assurance, and assured of the blessings to those who sacrifice for the sake of Jesus, Stephen was unwilling to keep quiet, unrelenting in his work. He boldly spoke truth to all, not stopping when encircled by the throng of leaders who came upon him. He refused to deny his teachings. He chose, rather, to stand fast in the truth, at the cost of his life. He went so far as to trade the last of his energy, not to fight, but to speak. He spoke of a vision of Jesus, ascended to the right hand of God. When he was knocked down and began to be stoned, he spoke, resigning his spirit to the presence of Christ. Exchanging temporal life on earth for eternal joy in the presence of God. Then, in his last breath, he sacrificed any desire for vengeance on his murders for grace: “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.”

What did Stephen gain for the sacrifice of his life?

He gained the sure promise Jesus made in Mark 10, eternal life; eternal perfection in the presence of God. The immense value of a human life, exchanged for the incalculable value of eternal Glory. The exchange of vengeance desired for love. An act that seals the persevering faith of this brother, bearing witness for all of us who have come after to the completed sanctification of the transformed life. A sheep called home by its Great Shepherd.

Though he gave up everything, Stephen sacrificed nothing.

Growth through boldness

2017-12-14T11:36:00.001-06:00

In preparing for our upcoming move to Seattle and engaging in helping with planting and discipling of the new Pike Place Church, I’ve been reading through Acts. I want to know and see how the church was first established and grown. Though many things about the modern church are different than the church of the Apostles, their example is still informative and instructive in how to properly build and grow a church.

In the second chapter of Acts, we see the Spirit empowering the Apostles to the bold proclamation of the Word, namely the salvation through Jesus Christ alone. Peter’s sermon at Pentecost gives us a glimpse into this bold teaching. Through the preaching of the Gospel, men were cut deep to their hearts, their sin exposed and their need of a Savior made apparent. And as boldly as Peter had preached Christ’s resurrection, he now extended the mercy and grace purchased by Christ’s blood. The Spirit established the church through the bold preaching of the Christ, and added to their numbers by the extension of forgiveness and mercy.

As chapter 2 finishes, we are told that the Spirit added to their numbers daily those being saved. This statement leads me to believe that the following chapters (3-5) are intended as giving examples of the natural works of the Apostles through which the Spirit was Supernaturally working to grow and strengthen the church.

In Chapter 3 we see that the people of the church, and in particular the Apostles, devoted themselves daily to the teaching of the Word. They frequently traveled to the Temple, and were known among the people there. One day, a lame beggar was in his normal place at the entrance to the Temple. When he saw Peter and John approaching, the beggar asked for a gift from their assumed riches (because who would follow the teachings of poor men?). Instead, the beggar is told that these men have nothing of material worth to give, but what they can offer is Jesus, and on the power and authority of His name, the man was healed. The man rises and, with Peter and John, he enters the Temple to rejoice and worship this Jesus through whom he has been healed.

As others looked on when the Apostles entered, many saw the former beggar walking with them, and they marveled over the healing of his physical ailment. Peter again spoke boldly, pointing, not to the miracle of physical healing, but to the Christ through whom perfect and complete healing had come to all who would believe. Again the Spirit laid bare the hearts of many, and again mercy and grace were extended to all who would believe. So just as it was in Chapter 2, the Spirit convicted through bold preaching, and gathered through grace and mercy. Through this, many more were added to their numbers.

Among those gathered at the Temple were several leaders who did not appreciate the teachings of the Apostles. Chapter 4 begins by showing a contrast from the many who believed and those who sought to question and (if possible) quiet the Apostles’ teachings. Instead of passively listening to the questions of the leaders, they were again emboldened by the inner-workings of the Spirit. They again preached boldly the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Instead of cutting these men, the teaching exposed in them a heart of stone that has not been opened to the beauty of Jesus. But, in demonstration of the promise the God’s Word never returns void of accomplishing the purpose for which it is sent out, the leaders were not unaffected. Rather than conversion, the response from the leaders is an understanding of the reality of what the Apostles were teaching. Now unable to contradict the teachings of these men, the leaders tried to simply tell the Apostles that they must cease their teachings.

This interaction between the church and the world could have caused a deep injury, but instead it drove the followers to prayer for even more, deeper boldness in the proclamation of the truth. They sought intensified fervor for the work laid before them. It was an act of unification, and bonding of one to another, giving of themselves to the betterment of them all through offerings given in faith. And thus the Spirit continued adding to their numbers, and emboldening their willingness to offer of themselves.

Then, in Chapter 5, we get a different kind of example, one not of growing the church, but rather a warning to guard the church, thus strengthening her. Without Chapter 5, we might be willing to believe that continued numeric growth was the goal of the early church. Instead, we see that the Spirit protects the church from the impure heart, and those who are seeking personal gain. The church must be diligent to ensure that it is pursuing the purification and sanctification of her people as premier above and beyond riches. The death of 2 patrons who were more interested with what the church could do for their benefit helped to further unify the church. Having all things in common together, and a unified desire of furthering the Kingdom allowed for increased persevering boldness.

The increased boldness of the church, combined with the increasing numbers led directly to another meeting between the leaders and the Apostles. This time, the arresting of the Apostles and a night in prison allows an opportunity for another miracle among the people. The Spirit’s miraculous opening of the jail cell, and release of the Apostles ends with the Apostles again boldly proclaiming that Christ is the Messiah. The leaders, with their understanding that they could not deny the teachings of the Apostles, and realizing that imprisoning them would not stop the teaching, further reveal the depth of their depravity in deciding they would have to kill them to quiet them. But mercy prevailed again through the words of one of the leaders. Gamaliel spoke, not as a man converted, but as a man of reason, that the leaders need to step lightly lest they find themselves opposing God. The leaders agree to just beat the Apostles instead of killing them. The beatings came with yet another warning to cease the teachings of Jesus as the Christ. These warnings show the complete misunderstand of the reality of life with Christ, persecution leads only to increased boldness of the people of God. Beating the Apostles only worked to allow the Spirit to stoke the flames of their hearts.

So, how do we establish a church, grow a church, embolden the church, and strengthen the church?

“And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Acts 5:42

Calling a Demoniac

2017-11-14T11:05:00.001-06:00

Our church is working through the Gospel of Mark, as I (with a group of men) am working through John Piper’s “Reading the Scriptures Supernaturally”. Recently these two paths crossed as we were reading through Mark’s retelling of Jesus healing the Demoniac of Mark 5, and Piper was instructing through his acronym for prayerful Bible Reading (IOUS). By this acronym Piper suggests a method of praying that fully submits and surrenders oneself completely, to the bare bones of conscious thought, to the in-working of the Spirit. The process leads to the outworking of unveiled eyes to see and savory the Glory of God in His Word.

As I looked to the text of Mark 5, and Jesus’ dealing with a man so dehumanized by his demonic possessors that the text classified him as an animal, unable to be tamed, the Spirit began to teach me something new. It’s a glimpse into the incorruptible power of God’s sovereign, electing grace.

Mark’s gospel tells us that this man “lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.” (Mark 5:3-5) This is clearly a man of a debased mind, totally depraved, a man who was placed out of reach of the rest of men, and viewed as out of reach of anything good. The demons raged within him, seeking to do that which is their utmost desire to do; destroy that which God has made. They worked, tirelessly, to destroy every facet of this man, torturing him. He cuts himself, living in desolate and debauched conditions. Doubtless he lives as he does having had many try to kill him, either out of hate, or compassion to end his suffering. So the question must be asked: why was he not dead?

Why hadn’t the man been killed? Why hadn’t the demons been able to destroy him to completion? I think the answer is this: Jesus’ words in John 6:37-39 “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

This man, though possessed by demonic forces which describe themselves as “Legion”, is of those whom the Father has given the Son before the foundation of the earth. In eternity past, this man is named among those whom Jesus would save. His deliverance from the torment of his possession was secured long before his possession began. He is among those to whom Jesus promises, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name's sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” (Luke 21:16-19)

Why do I believe this to be the case? What makes me think that this text is showing us an example of the truth of unconditional election in eternity past? Really it’s because of what the man does at the sight of Jesus. Mark relays to us that “when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.” (Mark 5:6) This act sounds a whole lot to me like a sheep recognizing it’s shepherd and coming to him. At first read, this strikes me as the demons carry the man to Jesus, and that could be the case. Or it could also be that, despite the demonic forces destroying nearly all this man is, they could not fully extinguish that part of him that recognizes his Christ. When Jesus chooses to step out and reveal himself in the sight of this man, the man runs to him and falls before him. The man, and his demons, are brought low in submission to the supremacy of Jesus. Jesus then casts the demons out and heals the man.

Jesus revealed himself, made himself visible to the tormented, hopeless eyes of the demoniac. The renewed sight of the man captured a glimpse of the glory. The man ran to and threw himself down in front of Jesus. And Jesus cast out the legion, causing the man to stand anew.

Those who had seen the scene unfold, and those who gathered after hearing what had happened stood paralyzed by fear. They begged Jesus to leave. They are those living in and loving the darkness, fearing the light. But the man who had been healed did not fear the light, but loved it. He approached Jesus, begging that he could go with Him. Instead, Jesus commissioned him to a task. "Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." (Mark 5:19) Mark records that this is just what the man did, go so far as to tell us that when the people heard of the love and mercy of Jesus, many marveled.

With this reading and understanding of these events in hand. We are able to see the glory and application of this text for us today. We can trust and believe that IF a legion of demons, bent on utter destruction cannot derail the saving grace, mercy, and plan of God, that we needn’t fear anything this world can throw at us. Those whom the Father gave to the Son to be raised up on the last day, WILL be raised. The destructive forces of Satan do not have ultimate dominion, they are restricted, controlled, and utilized by God to accomplish His ultimate plan. God will and does use everything under His ownership to emit and declare His own glory. Though this world will seek to destroy every last vestige of the image of it’s Creator, it cannot snuff out the redemptive plan of God. We can trust that, in the fullness of time, God will reveal Himself by the Spirit, in the person of Jesus, and that this revelation will not return void, but will be perfectly effective to raise the dead to life. We can trust that upon the beauty of this work, the light will cause cowering among the children of destruction, but joy in those to whom love and mercy will be manifest. And to those of us who have been freed of our demons, we are sent out to a mission of proclamation. This pattern is repeated throughout Jesus’ ministry with refrains of the mighty works of sovereign grace, forgiveness, and redemption. We are called likewise, to go to those who are as we once were and speak deliverance with the promise that some might marvel at our words, seeing the dazzling beauty of Christ for the first time.

Lacking wisdom

2017-08-16T11:23:00.001-05:00

I assume other people are like me, I probably shouldn't. I struggle with reading the book of James. I love Romans and the Pauline epistles. The book of James always seems so harsh by contrast, full of wisdom, but much more tough-love than the grace-filled exhortations found in my more enjoyed readings. I struggle to find grace and mercy in the words that James writes. I generally file the book under the heading that for everything there is a time, and there are times and seasons in life that James' wisdom is more effective in life... but that's a dangerous precedent to set. The word of the Living God is fully authoritative and fully profitable to its hearers in all times and situations.

In reading through John Piper's A Peculiar Glory and now Reading the Bible Supernaturally I have been convinced that I am to earnestly seek the glory and beauty of God every time I open His word. The reading of the Scriptures is to be a savoring of His glory and ignite within me a white-hot worship. Something I have never sought to do from James.

Between that conviction and a continued season of trials, I sat down this morning and altered my normal reading schedule. I opened to James. And let me tell you, the book is dripping with grace-wrought mercy of a God who earnestly desires that His children shall seek His glory and worship Him.

As many know, our family's plan to move to Seattle and assist in the planting of a church has been slowly progressing. The right opportunity has not come along to allow us to say yes and to move ahead. It's a trying process, and a season that often feels unending. So I approached James 1:2-8 this morning needing to hear God speak.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. - James 1:2-8

What powerful grace! What is the purpose of my trials in this time? Why is my faith being so tested? Because God's purpose for me is not only that I would seek to serve Him here and now, but also that I would be transformed, conformed to the image of Christ! It is to increase my steadfastness, because in its fullness, steadfastness leaves me perfected and complete, lacking for nothing! So I look at my current condition and situation, and I find myself lacking wisdom (and many other things). This lack is a symptom, if it were that my trails and testing were to cease, it would signal my finish, my completeness. The fact that I lack simply means that I am still being sanctified, I'm simply still alive! I am not simply failing and flawed because I am in this season. So recognizing my lacking, I am told to ask. "God, I'm lacking _____, please give." But what I am truly asking for? I'm asking that God would reduce my lack, in asking therefore that He would increase my steadfastness. And how has James told us that God accomplishes the production of steadfastness? Through trials and testing of faith! By acknowledging our lack of wisdom, we are acknowledging that we are not yet fully sanctified. And by asking for wisdom, we are asking our God to continue to sanctify us through our trials and the testing of our faith. We are seeking something that no one outside of Christ would ever dare seek. Thus the warning James gives to not ask from a doubting heart. A heart that doubts the desire of God to sanctify His children, to bring them to Christlikeness, is a heart that is ruled by feeling and emotion. The doubting heart asks for wisdom and guidance, but turns away when the next trials and testing come along. They are rocked when they ask God for help, but receive more troubles. And that isn't what God wants for His children. He doesn't want us to be confused or to question His love. So instead, He tell us in James that those who ask with a doubting heart should not ask, and if they do, that they should not expect to receive. It's an act of mercy that God would withhold from the doubting mind. He knows that if He were to give to he who doubts, that that man is likely to be tossed by the waves, possibly unto shipwreck. Instead, mercifully, God simply withholds further wisdom from the doubter until such a time that the current testing of faith produces the measure of steadfastness required to stay the doubting mind.

So, we pray for wisdom. We say, "God, I lack wisdom in what you are doing, and I desire more. I know that seeking wisdom is to seek a path that will further refine through trials and testings. Lord, I know that your desire is my transformation to the image of your Son, and that all paths in the Christian life lead to that end. God, I do not wish to doubt the path you have set me upon, and I place my faith in knowing that your desire is good. I pray that my current measure of steadfastness would provide the stable base of my understanding that in seeking further wisdom I will remained moored to my faith. That I would not be battered and tossed by doubt. Lord, I desire wisdom."

I still don't know how or when God will bring our path together that leads to Seattle, but I do know he will.

Art of Marriage

2017-08-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

This past weekend, our church offered the Art of Marriage. I was grateful that schedules aligned, and allowed Zenobia and I the opportunity to go. Our marriage is, I assume, like many people's, its not perfect, and we have struggles in how to live our lives together and such, but ultimately our marriage is pretty good. I never go into these kinds of things seeking or expecting to find some new information or having some great epiphany regarding life, parenting, marriage, etc. I go expecting to be told may of the same strong truths of what marriage is, and what we should do to try to ensure that we are fulfilling the roles and such that God has ordained for us.

This weekend was different. It wasn't brand new teaching, it wasn't some nebular explosion of understanding, but it was truth. In different times and seasons of life, as Gospel truths are placed in front of us, the Spirit works in our hearts and minds in different ways. Something that we have heard trumpeted over and over again suddenly strikes the heart-string with a different fervor. Reverberations of this start to shine through in a different spectrum of light, falling on our eyes with a beauty that we hadn't appreciated before. We see this happen in different ways, through different mediums, and in different times in our lives, but the formula is consistent:

Spirit unveils eyes, truth shines forth, response is required.

For me this last weekend, the simple, beautiful truth that was espoused as it has been so many different times was this: Marriage exists as a shadow, a type, of reflection of the realities of the Gospel. Marriage is 2 people mutually deciding and choosing to enter into an everlasting and unconditional covenant with one another, before God, that they will love, honor, and cherish one another. In the moment of recitation of our vow to our spouse, we are agreeing (wittingly or not) that we will uphold the doctrinal truths found in the book of Ephesians. As men, we are agreeing to love this woman as Christ loves the church, washing over her with our words, building her up that we might present her beautiful and blameless. Women, devoting themselves to the headship of this man, trusting that he will do all that he does in effort to fulfill his purpose as her husband. An agreement, a covenant to pursue the Glory of God together, as husband and wife, independent of influences that occur and exist outside of themselves and their God, having chosen to leave behind their former lives and to cleave together as one flesh. In their one-ness that will live and pursue. There is utter freedom in this covenant, utter grace. I have promised to love my bride, regardless of whatever merit may exist. I have chosen her to be my bride. She has promised that same love, unconditional, no matter what I do, where I go, or whatever may come to pass, she will love me, submitting herself to my headship.

This last point is what really struck me. The freedom found in an unconditional love relationship is enormous. My wife has quite literally stated that there is nothing I can do that would cause her to leave my side. (This is not the time or place for discussion on Biblical reasons and such for termination of the marriage covenant, the power of sin in our world is real, hurtful, and must be dealt with carefully) The reality of my wife's commitment to me staggers my brain. And it sends my brain into a dual reality, it calls forth the two natures that battle within me:
On the one hand, I have complete freedom to do whatever I desire. I can chase after my lustful wants, and my prideful desires. She's promised to love me, that is on her. My sin nature loves this thought, and it pulses within me with much adrenaline. But, thanks be to God that my sin nature is not the ruling nature of my soul. The reality quickly sets into place that due to the enormity of her promise and the totality of the unconditionality of her love for me, spurs me away from the lustful desires of my flesh, and compels me instead to love her more intently. Because I know that there is nothing that could separate our love, it makes me want to cherish and protect, and foster that love ever more dearly, not test the bounds of it with reckless abandon. I am compelled by the steadfastness of her commitment to me that I desire to be a man who is worthy of such trust, submission, respect, and love. I am not that man, but I am more that man than I was last week, or even yesterday, and I strive to be more that man tomorrow and for the years to come.

It is in this way that I most clearly see the Gospel in marriage. In eternity past, God chose for himself a bride. Jesus chose for Himself a people, His church. He willfully entered into a covenant agreement with His bride, to love them unconditionally. Though His people chase after the lustful desires of their hearts, and seem to try to push through the boundaries of this love, Christ upholds His end. When the Spirit reveals this truth to the chosen bride, their eyes are opened. A new desire begins to stir in them, and they now have a new nature warring within them. On the one hand, they desire to continue running after the pleasures of the flesh that have been their source of happiness, yet the other nature sees a deeper love, a deeper satisfaction, and a deeper joy in the love of Jesus. There is a change that begins to take place that says, "we love, because Christ first loved us." A transformation begins happening in which the fleeting pleasures or this world start to lose their appeal, and the desire to love according to the love by which we were called starts to take hold. We begin to live a life compelled by the unconditional love of our Savior. Our desires begin to change, our pleasures begin to be magnified in Him, and all we desire is to become worthy of His love. He assures us that it wasn't our worthiness that caused His love to start, nor our worthiness that causes it continue, it is rather that He chose us to be his bride. He loves us because He chose to do so, and will continue doing so, because He chooses to. The release from a feeling of needing to work harder, do more, be better to earn this love doesn't cause us to seek after the old pleasures, but rather free us to more fervently pursue more of Him.

Unbind him

2017-06-27T20:35:00.002-05:00

This weekend, I was reading in the Gospel of John. In particular, I was praying and reading as I was struggling with the realization that the next day was the 6th anniversary of my mom's passing. As I was reading I got to the passage speaking of Lazarus' death. Jesus spoke to Mary and Martha (and anyone else who was listening) about the realities of what death is and is not. He makes astounding claims about who he is, in particular his claim that He, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus laid claim that everyone who lives and believes in Him shall never die. Huge promises in light of the reason he had been summoned to this place. Great words of comfort when we think of loved ones who have passed in this life, but, who we can have faith, are living still. The passage gave peace and joy to my spirit and I was grateful.

My eyes continued down through the passage that morning, and as I continued to read this account, something new came through as I read the raising of Lazarus at the words of Christ. It wasn't the power of Jesus words, calling forth life where before there was death, it wasn't the intermingling of strong faith and doubt at play in the loved ones who were gathered. This particular morning, it was the words Jesus spoke to those who were gathered, after Lazarus had emerged alive from his grave: "Unbind him, and let him go."

Its a story of rebirth, regeneration, at the word of our Savior. We lie, dead, lifeless, rotting away under the death linens of our sin. We stink of flesh that has died, is dying, and will die. A dead man thinks no thoughts of life, of God, of anything... and a dead man cannot bring himself to life. But at the call of the Great Shepherd his sheep awake. No matter how far away, how far gone, how tightly wrapped, His sheep hear His voice and come forth. We walk out of the tomb, knowing nothing yet of being alive, knowing nothing about why we walk, knowing only that our God has called us forth and we can do nothing but come out. We stand, wrapped in the burial clothes, stench emanating from our every wound, filth dripping. We are wretched, depraved, debauched, and utterly untouchable, let alone unlovable. Useless, worthless, but somehow standing, and alive. We stand with no knowledge of what to do next, just as Lazarus stood at the entrance to his earthly tomb.

What Jesus does next is massive. He did not look at Lazarus and demand him to go get cleaned up, scrub away his dirt, put on his best clothes, and then come back. He didn't command anything of Lazarus in that moment. He spoke to those who were there: "Unbind him".

Those who stood alongside Jesus, whom John had just written showing some of them as having great faith in Christ. Jesus' followers, disciples, and friends, they are the ones who received a command from their God. "Unbind him", unwrap his bandages, cleanse his wounds, do not turn up your nose at his stench, and stand far off as though you are afraid to touch him. You claim to love me, and you claim to have mourned over this man's death. Here he stands before you, called from death to life by my word and through my love. I love this man, I wept over his death. If you love me, you love him, and if you love, you obey. Prepare this once-dead man for life.

It was a teaching for the Church. It is what we, as believers who claim to love Jesus, and thereby claim to love what Jesus loves, who are being commanded by our God. We should expect to encounter not only dead people, but even more so to see previously dead sinners taking those first, unsure, stumbling steps back into life. We are expected to be at their tombs, grieving the depth of their depraved deaths, calling of Jesus to come, knowing that, as Martha stated earlier, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Saying, Lord, I know you have power over this, and if your will is for this dead man to walk, he will walk. We as the church should not be surprised to see people walk out of their graves, still wrapped in their death. And when we see this happen, we should not fumble around and wonder what we are to do for this newly regenerated life. Jesus told us what to do: "Unbind him and let him go".

It is the work of those who love and follow Jesus to embrace regenerate people, no matter the stench, the filth, the debauchery that encircles them. We are to walk up to them, remembering the days we stood still wrapped in linen, just emerging from our tomb. We should remember the sting of the cleansing salve that was lovingly administered to our wounds. We should tread with grace as we prepare this brother or sister for life. We should heed the teachings from Paul to the church at Ephesus that Christ is the example of how we should love, through His love for the church, sanctifying her by the washing of water with the Word.

Lazarus walked out of his tomb at the call of Jesus. He stood, unable and without knowing of anything else he could do. He simply responded to the command to come out. And as he stood, Jesus commanded his people to do exactly what Jesus himself does for the church, he commanded them to unbind him, clean him, wash over him with the water of the word, allowing the Spirit to do it's work. Having been raised by the Spirit through the word of the Son, by the power given by the Father, Lazarus now stood. Jesus then extends the blessing of this work to his people, allowing them the opportunity to now do for someone else what had once been done for them. All of this to emphasize one over-arching reality:
"So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.'

Risk in the Christian life

2017-06-10T22:42:00.000-05:00

i had the opportunity to share with a group of men this evening. I enjoyed the chance to speak, and I wanted to share the manuscript of what I spoke on. Of course, I lost my place part-way through, so a lot of this didn't get said the way I had planned it...

As men, we take risks. We are wired to be risk-takers. Its bred into us through our ancestry when risk was a necessary means by which we protected and provided for our families. This inherent adrenaline-loving, risk-seeking, inner-primal urge that we have is a God-given reality in our lives and should be handled carefully in our pursuit of Biblical manhood. When combined with our natural man, our sin nature, this desire for the thrill of risk can often be the fuel behind our sinful desires and actions. For me, the thrill of risk, and the desire for every more dangerous undertakings fueled a life aimed at and entrenched in sexual immorality of many flavors. The continuing fight of putting to death these sins makes me immeasurably grateful that my salvation is not based upon any one act, or any gathering of actions in my life, but is secured solely in the blood of Christ. To quote Spurgeon, “I am grateful that God chose me before I was born, because he surely wouldn’t have accepted me after.”
Maybe your flavor of sin is different, maybe you look at people like me who struggle with what I do as being gross, or degenerate, beyond help… but I posit to you the realization that the force that drives my struggle is not so different from what drives yours. You like the taste of risk, it somehow energizes you, makes you feel alive, makes you feel like a man. But how could something so inherently ingrained in our being, so hard-wired into what we are as men, how could it be so bad? What is its purpose in our lives? If we reason out the logic Paul puts to the Romans in chapter 8 of his letter to them, if all things happen to the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose, and if we identify as being those who love God, and we see ourselves as belonging among the count of His elect, then why do we have the earnest desire in our heart to engage in risky behaviors? CS Lewis states a similar question in his book Mere Christianity much like this, “if I possess in my being a desire for something, then there must be a reason for and a way to satisfy that desire.” So, this desire for risk exists, and we seek out ways to satisfy the desire, yet nothing does. So, Lewis goes on to say, “If I discover within myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” So, therefore, we find that we have a desire for risky behavior that needs to be satisfied, and we have sought out worldly pleasures to satisfy that desire, and we have fallen to sin… but because we love God, and we are called according to His purpose (Namely the purpose in transforming us into the image of Christ), then there must be something that can satisfy our manly urge for risk, and it must not be anything of our world.
How do we find that which will satisfy our desires, if that satisfaction must be found outside this world?
We need to do a couple of things, 1) resist our natural male urge to forge ahead on our own; and 2) seek a community of men who can help you as you go.
When I first began trying to climb out of my own sin-drenched pit of despair. I worked hard to make sure no one else knew what was happening, or what I was going through. It was a sad, lonely, arduous pursuit. All I knew was my goal was to stop what I was doing and seek after God. It wasn’t until I had been further broken through an epic failure of trying hard that I finally opened up about my struggle. I did this first to my wife, who tried her best to be understanding and supportive. In the end, she gave me some of the most difficult and best advice possible, she told me that I needed to bring it to my men’s group. At this time in my life, I was present in my men’s group, but not deeply engaged. But she was right, as great as she had been with it all, she isn’t a man, and she didn’t understand what I needed. Through allowing myself to become open, vulnerable, and transparent with these men, I found something new, a different kind of risk, and one much more in step with the picture of Biblical masculinity. Having a group of men who know my particular predilection proclivities, and being known at a deep level and cared for deeply by these men became something new to me that I never realized I needed before. In giving up the lonely fight, and locking arms with my brothers, the Spirit was able to work through this ministry to aid me in putting to death the sins of my darker nature.
As the desire for the old risks began to wane, I found in myself a discontentment starting to grow. I needed risks, that part of my created being still needed to be satisfied. I knew what the longings felt like, I recognized the need, but rather than run to the old attempts of fulfillment, I now had the counsel of men to seek out how to fulfill the needs of my manliness. I walked onto a limb and began leading the group sometimes, and from there, leading discipleship classes, sitting on church committees, and from there seeking other ways to build on new, refreshing ways to take risks that were actually glorifying God, and seeking to advance His kingdom. But, parallel to the way these behaviors respond and react in sin, I started to feel like I needed more risk, I wasn’t finding contentment even still. Then an opportunity to join a new group of men came along.
Early in the development of this group, we were sharing with each other prayer requests. Real stuff that this group was going to specifically pray for in that moment. I mentioned the growing disquiet in my spirit that God seemed to have something different for me, and that my preoccupation with what this change could be had caused a great deal of the discontentment in my job and life in the recent times. What I wanted more than anything was a clear vision for what God would have me to do in this life. This was another time in my life that I learned that you shouldn’t ask God a question unless you really want to know the answer. Having recently finished reading John Piper’s “Desiring God” I was certain of a few things: 1) I wanted to experience the fullness of Joy that is offered only at God’s right hand; 2) I needed to be certain that God was the supreme treasure of my life; and 3) I was falling short of both 1 & 2. This new small group selected a few books to get started on, one of which was a book on my shelf at home that I had never opened.
“Don’t waste your life” by John Piper. I made the mistake of trying to read this book at work one night, and found myself in tears. Piper was using the Word of God, and the truths of the Scriptures to speak directly into my soul. I read as he laid out a framework for fulfilment in our life’s work and marrying that work with the work of God. I screamed at the book, demanding that it just tell me where and how to find that! I needed it! It was the refreshing spring of water for my risk-parched soul, where could I find it?!?!
Piper went on to explain the steps of living a life that is not wasted. And he settled on the words of Paul as he proclaimed one of his more famous arguments that to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Piper worked through the logical progression of the necessity of Christ being treasured above all things, and the logical inference then that if Christ is to be magnified above all else in our death, he must be supreme over all things in our life. As though that statement wasn’t stirring enough, Piper goes on to list things in our life that we must be willing to give up in favor of the glory of Jesus; in order that our life be lived as it should be, in order for life to not be wasted… the pathway out of discontentment would take us to a place that requires that the glory of God be treasured above all things: our job, our friends, our money, all things that I generally have no trouble cheering on, but then Piper said something the undid me that night: A life lived to the fullness of joy, means a death that is preferable to hugging your children. Somehow, in this moment, God cleared some fog, if I truly desire to live a life of true joy, if I wanted the best life for my family, my kids, myself… I needed to be able to say that to live is Christ, to die is gain. I needed to be able to say that as awesome as my kids are, their sweet embrace is nothing compared to the eternal glory of the only begotten of the father. I needed to understand that the best thing I can do for my kids is show them that Christ is supreme in my life and that I am willing to anything God calls me to do to advance His glory and His Kingdom on this earth. Because they need to see the life of their father displays that:
The beauty and reality of Jesus, His atoning death upon the cross. The propitiation of my debt, and the fulfillment of my ransom completed by His life, death, resurrection, and ascension is so monumentally glorious that I am called, compelled, into a life that says: if today I die, I will rejoice in an eternity spent in the loving presence of my Lord. And that eternity is so immeasurably glorious that it is better than a lifetime spent here on earth.
The beauty and unashamed, unbridled love by which our children hug and cling to us is a sweet foretaste of the totality and perfection of the unconditional love that God has for his children. In the moments of deep satisfaction in the embrace of our children, I am getting a glimpse of the eternal embrace my father has for me.
My kids need to see that I not only ascent to a head knowledge of the glory of God, but that that glory is truly worth something to me. The works of the Spirit through the ministry of John Piper’s words and the ministry of the men in this particular small group helped me to work through these tumultuous realities. The solution was to start doing things in my life that everyone, my wife, my kids, my friends, my employers, strangers would look at and say, “The only explanation is that there is something that that man values more than anything else. And that something must be Jesus.”
So, to that end, at the beginning of this year, I was able to travel to Cuba. I was going to engage in the most basic, New Testament style of work. Knocking on doors and proclaiming the name of Jesus to any who will listen. Completely, utterly outside of my introverted, discipler comfort zone, I was going to try to evangelize. My wife and I sat down with our kids, and (as we often do) discussed with them the Apostles’ words concerning Jesus as they goal of all that we do, and that we must go into the world and preach His name that the sheep who are scattered and not of this fold would be gathered back with the Good Shepherd. We explained to them that it was one thing for us to tell them these things, but we are also called to be doers of the Word, not just readers. So, we went. We shared the Gospel with the lost, with the confused, with the poor, sick, and needy. We showed them love and grace, we extended mercy where we could, and we advanced the Kingdom. It was awesome, I highly commend the trip to anyone.
But that was not all that God had been showing and teaching as John Piper continued to kick me in the gut. Cuba was a short-term burst… God was working something else within our family. Last year, our church partnered with a missionary and his wife who are planting a church in Seattle. Looking for the opportunity to embrace the un-wasted life, we will be relocating our family to the Pacific Northwest as well to be of any help and assistance with the planting of the church, ministering to the people, and hopefully reaching the nations through daily life in an international city. It is yet another opportunity to show our kids the reality that Jesus is worth more than anything else, even the comforts of home, the friends of a lifetime, and the family we grew up with. We don’t know at all what Seattle will bring to us, only that it is the next stone in the path that God is leading us down. To which we say, wherever He calls, we will go. We don’t know where, when, or anything else, but we know that the glory of God is beyond worth whatever we have to give up to serve him. It is a risk, just as it should be.
We, as Christians, are blessed with the endowment of the Holy Spirit. We have the counsel of God made evident through the witness of the Spirit, with the Law and Will of God etched on our regenerate heart. Thus, we do not face the risky decisions of this life unarmed. We are able to make calculated risks for the advancement of the Kingdom. We are not called to be the bringers of victory or the cause of defeat, we are called to be the obedient servants. We are co-laborers, adopted sons, and agents of an eternal kingdom.

refined by fire

2017-04-10T08:00:00.001-05:00

In my reading this morning, I ran into 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. - 1 Corinthians 3:12-15

Through the first couple of chapters in his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul is repeating a theme to this young church about the importance of the centrality of Jesus in the teachings they have received from him, as well as other teachers. We find in these chapters common verses concerning Paul's decision to know nothing among them except Christ and him crucified, as well as warning against focusing on those who were teaching rather than the object of the teachings. and then we come to this parable-like teaching from Paul. We know from the preceding verse that the foundation Paul is speaking of in this passage is Jesus himself, so we are seeing here a restating of subtler points in Paul's letter. Our lives, the works we do, must stand on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. In this way, on the final day, we stand to either gain reward for those things accomplished by Christ through our works or our fruitless attempts will be burned away as dross. Paul has been warning these Christian infants, through spiritual milk, against adding anything to the work of Christ for their salvation, or attributing the works of any other teacher to their salvation, Christ alone was their sure foundation. So here, Paul is answering questions we don't see being asked, but that he anticipates are running through the minds of his readers. Paul explains that there is a difference between works being done by the power of the flesh and those works being done by the power of the spirit. Paul assumes that the Christian life is a life of works being built upon the unshakeable foundation of Jesus. He is showing the distinction between the bedrock of salvation through Christ alone, and a salvation sought after through human effort and things added on top of Christ's foundation.

For the Christian, it is true, known, and eternally sure that our salvation is found only in the life, death, and resurrection of Hesus Christ. Our life, then, is a series of works done upon that foundation thatcare fueled by the spirit and performed by the spirit to be used for the advancement of the Kingdom. Our works are the voice of crying out in the wilderness by which the Shepherd is calling out to His sheep that they may come to Him and find their rest. The good works we Christians are called into are not fleeting, unimportant efforts of our will, but rather are the works of God that He graciously allows us to be a part. And the promise of this passage is that those works done by God in His people are not burned away off of our foundation, but are rather refined on that day and their true, eternal reward is revealed for us. We find, remaining after the fire, the purified, perfect remains of the truth of our works, the glory of God's reward to His servant.

The other side of this coin is a Christian who never moves on from an infantile understanding of his faith. This Christian has spent life doing works, trying to gain salvation through effort and works. This Christian enters that final day feeling tired, weary, and in need of rest. He arrives at the house he has built in life to find his effort piled upon the foundation. At first, his dwelling looks awfully similar to the other, it's foundation is just as secure, it's dwelling rests upon it in the same security. But then the fire comes, and all the works are burned away. When the smoke clears, all that remains is the foundation. The life has been fruitless, without reward, wasted. In the immense sense of loss and regret, this Christian wipes away the sadness to see the last glorious reality, the foundation remains, his salvation is secure. His dwelling no longer looks like that of his neighbors, but it remains.

Both scenarios given to us by Paul here show Christian realities, two ends of the spectrum of true Christianity. Both ends show eternal security for the believer, but a much different eternal dwelling. The reality is that our eternal dwellings are still being built throughout our lives, and on this last day, will be a combination of these two realities. We will come to realize that much of the effort and work we put into our faith are fruitless and wasted endevours, but we will find that much of what we have done have been Spirit-wrought true works having been prepared for us with eternally lasting significance. Our dwelling will be a mixture of purified gold and burned up waste. Your dwelling may not look the way you imagined it, and it surely will not look the same as everyone else's. But your address is secure, your foundation has been poured, if you are in Christ Jesus.

What you do in this life matters, how you do it, why you do it, and by what power it is done, each of these gave eternal importance in the life of others, and in your eternal existence.

We are a Christian

2017-02-22T10:43:00.003-06:00

This past weekend, our church held its annual marriage retreat. It is generally one of my favorite weekends of the year; I get to have a weekend off of work, I get to spend time with my wife, time with friends, etc. With our life in the midst of transition and craziness, we were unsure if we'd be able to attend this year. We committed to trying to make it work into our schedule, and I'm so glad that we did, the time to focus on us and God's plan and design in marriage was a soul-satisfying salve.

The overarching theme that has stuck in my mind as we have moved through the teaching of the weekend and re-entered real life is the reality of the description of marriage found in scripture. We find it first in Genesis, and again in Ephesians, this image of a man leaving his father and mother to be joined with his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

As we pressed deeper into this reality, what became apparent to me was that my wife and I, through the covenant bond of our marriage are very truly bonded together to the point of being a single flesh. We are a Christian. We are still unique individual persons, we have our own unique thoughts, responsibilities, and lives, but nonetheless we also exist as a singular entity in the sight of God. As such, it is possible to read through the covenant promises found in the gospels and throughout the New Testament as relevant in a marriage relationship, just as much as they are in an individual life. As a biblical, covenantal married couple, we reap the benefits of God's sovereignty to bring to pass our sanctification unto glorification in our relationship to one another, and to our God. We find that we have been brought into a triune relationship: God(fully manifest in His own triune glory), husband, wife. Within this relationship, we find that we can cling to the promises that are generally only applied to individual believers as being true within our marriages as well.

I'm challenging myself, moving forward, to read my Bible for not only my individual growth and sanctification, but to see and feel the promises of God for my marriage as well, knowing that God does not fail to bring His work to completion in His children, be they singular individuals or dual-flesh combined, covenantly-bound believers.

Be fed

2017-02-05T13:19:00.002-06:00

A simple conversation with my soon to be 5 (no way can that be right) year old son during the Lord's Supper at church this morning created a connection in my mind that had never occurred to me. I'm awed at the ability of the Holy Spirit to speak truth into our hearts and minds through these kinds of moments. While I was focusing on helping him to better understand the importance of the Supper, the Spirit was using my son's childlike understanding to reveal to me a new facet to a familiar story. A brief snippet of the conversation we were having:

Me: so, why did Jesus allow his body to be broken?
Son: so He could give Himself to all of His friends.
Me: just His friends at that table with Him?
Son: No! All of us here too!

As we talked about this, brought to my mind was the miracle that we generally refer to as Jesus feeding the 5000. During a long day of teaching a vast crowd, Jesus disciples have asked if a break should be taken, and the people sent away so that they can go home and eat. Jesus tells the disciples that the people don't need to go home, and tells his followers to give them something to eat. Ultimately they are given a boy's small lunch consisting of a couple fish and a few loaves of bread. Jesus prays over the food, breaks the bread and tells his followers to take it to the people. As the people began to take of the bread, they found that there was still more available. Everyone who desires to take of this food was given their fill of food, even more than they could've wanted. After the crowd of 5000 men (and who knows how many women and children) were satiated, the disciples gathered the leftovers, filling multiple baskets with food that wasn't eaten.

Thinking of that story in the context of my son's response that Jesus allowed His body to be broken like bread so that He could give Himself to all of His friends, I'm simply blown away by the sign Jesus gave in this miracle feast. Having offered Himself to be broken, crushed for our iniquities, He calls out to us to take of His body and blood. He promises that any who find in them a hunger or thirst to come to Him and find their desire fulfilled by the bread of His body and the fount of His blood. His followers carry with us the miracle bread of life, broken and offered to any who will take of it, and we are commanded to take it to the people of this world who are dying of starvation for want of an unending feast. Jesus gave himself up that he would not only satisfy the needs of His people, but that they would have an abundance, that the grace could be gathered back up to continue to fill new needs. His call to the thirsty, the hungry, the weak, and the dying is to come, feast at the table of the Lord.

Known

2017-01-22T22:00:00.001-06:00

I remember a sermon I heard years ago that was titled something along the lines of "The most terrifying verse of the Bible." It was a sermon that was focused on the interaction between Jesus and different "followers" of His. The message was based on the text found in Matthew 7:21-23

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' - Matthew 7:21-23

The warning of this passage was voiced strongly from the pulpit and its intent was leveled with authority in the congregation. The message is clear: what we do, what we say, any and all work we do on the name of Jesus will not save us. We are not guaranteed salvation because of any efforts we put forth. These men did, in their own estimation, great works under the power of Jesus' name, and yet the Lord of Lords told them in direct, calculated words that they had not made the cut. Their failing was not a lack of good works, it was nothing of their doing at all, it was that Jesus did not know them, thereby making their use of His name for the doing of works nothing more than a deceitful manipulation of power intended to make themselves great, and a seeking of their own name and glory by using the power that was never theirs to posses. The warning of this text hit its intended mark of causing believers to recount the path of their salvation, reexamine the sign posts along the way that point to the surety of their regeneration, and their walk as a new creation in Christ. It's a good exercise to undergo from time to time, and the warnings found throughout scripture should cause us to tremble, thus driving us back to our reliance on the cross for our sole hope of salvation. But these warning texts should also have further facets to be examined.

As I have begun reading and studying through JI Packer's work Knowing God, I think I am beginning to see the facet of this text that balances, and ultimately transcends the warning. The facet is cut through Jesus' words, "I never knew you." Jesus taught that the manifestation of eternal life is the knowledge of God the Father, and of Jesus Christ whom He sent. Our knowing God is predicated on His first knowing us, as He proclaimed to Jeremiah when God told His prophet that He knew him before Jeremiah was in his mother's womb. God knows His children from before they are, He creates us in His knowledge of us. God knew His children and named them before the foundation of the world, and wrote their names in His book. He etched the names of His children onto the heart of Christ, our names are graven on His palms.those whose names are known from eternity past are not forgotten by the Son. By this knowledge alone, when these men come to Christ proclaiming their works in His name, He identifies them as not being named among His children, and therefore are not workers of righteousness but of iniquity. The stand condemned in the midst of the Holy begotten of the Father.

We who have been called out of darkness into light by the familiar voice of our Good Shepherd can take heart and courage in our being known by Christ, and therefore we cling to the truth that no tongue can tell us thence depart. We whose names are known by the Father and given over to the Son for redemption in the Glorious Mercy of the eternal Creator will never hear the words spoken by Christ to these men. When we approach the throne of grace, ours will not be claims of works done on the behalf of His name, it will be the call of reliance on the righteousness of Christ alone and the redemption purchased by His blood alone. We tremble when first we hear and heed this warning of scripture, but we fall back to rest in the everlasting embrace that is found only in the arms of a God who knows His beloved.

To Seattle

2016-11-17T11:48:00.000-06:00

Its been several months ago now, we were sitting around our kitchen table, playing games and having conversations with friends. Our Pastor, Tim, and his wife, Ashley, had come over for dinner and game night with their kiddos, and we were enjoying our fellowship. We have a loosely established rule for our fun times spent together, we don't talk church. I can't really think of a time that we have gotten together that Tim and I have actually followed this rule, but its there nonetheless. One of the reasons for our inability to spend an evening together and not start discussing the church is because of a deep, passionate love that we both share for our church. On this particular night, we were talking about things that we were hoping to see happen with the church in the next year or two. It was as we were having this discussion that Tim told us about a pastor that is the father of some friends. This pastor was going to be heading to Seattle to plant a new church. We spent a little while that evening just talking about the job to be undertaken, and the amazing impact a Christ-exalting church could have in downtown Seattle. It was an exciting and interesting thought.

The week that followed was filled with more of the same in my life, growing disillusionment over an inability to find advancement in my career, a desire to find a calling, and a desire to not waste my life (thanks John Piper). I found myself daydreaming about the thought of working with this church in Seattle. I kept it to myself, it was too crazy of a thought to share. My wife and I had been discussing for the last year thoughts of moving, going into missions work, my going to Seminary, or trying to find something. We had a strong sense that the stonewall I was running into professionally was to prevent me from getting into a position that would inhibit the work that God was preparing my family for. Even with these talks, it was one thing to play around with the idea of it, it was another to blurt out one day that I thought God was presenting us with an opportunity.

Then, one day, I got a call from Tim. We talked about a couple of things, and then he said something along these lines, "I can't tell you what you're supposed to do, or that I heard God say this, but I can't get this thought out of my head, what if your family is supposed to go to Seattle?" I was floored. The creeping sense I had been having about Seattle was being confirmed in the heart of someone else. If my mind couldn't get away from it, and the thought was gripping someone else, then it needed to be brought to light and discussed with my wife. I got off of the phone and found my wife working on dinner. She asked me what Time wanted, and I told her that we had discussed a couple of things, and also he asked if we would consider the possibility of moving to Seattle. I wasn't sure what to expect from springing this news on her, but she turned to me very calmly and said that that would be something to be thinking and praying about, but that we probably really could.

The pastor that is planting the church visited our church that next Sunday, He sat down in front of us, turned, and politely said hi before turning to our daughter and having a quick exchange with her. There was something comforting about this, seeing how easily my kids could interact with him. By the end of the service, it was clear to us, we needed to sit down and work through how we could get from where we were to making a decision on moving. As we sat that night, discussing between the two of us, my wife and I took turns discussing our fears, our encouragements, and everything in between. But two things started to become clear,
1) All of our "reasons" not to go were not legitimate reasons, they were excuses to not trust God.
2) We wanted to go

This all came through over the last couple of months. We have been working through telling family the news, and discussing it with friends, mentors, etc. But this much is known, we are moving to Seattle. We are getting rid of most everything we own, selling our house, taking with us only what will fit in the back of our car, and we are headed to the Pacific Northwest to help in any way we can with the planting of a new church in Downtown Seattle. Our house will be on the market in mid-January, I'll be signing on with a nursing agency to find work, and we will leave.

It is an overwhelmingly emotional process, but it is good. We are sad to leave our families, our home, our friends, our church, but we cling to the promise Jesus gives his disciples in Mark 10:29-30 and Matthew 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life."

Pray for us.