Echurch Blog Posts

The weight of our words

Stephan Joubert — Thu, 17 May 2012 11:00:33 +0000

Language lives. Words have consequences. Just consider how a plain and simple little phrase like “thank you” influences people’s lives. Or a phrase like: “I care!” The two scarcest words on earth, “I apologize,” are just as powerful. Conversely, sharp words cause pain. Hard, loveless language is as dangerous as gunshots. The Book of Proverbs compares it to knife stabs. It injures people. That’s why Proverbs and the Psalms say that we need to measure and count our words every time we speak. We need to understand the weight of our words before we talk or write them.

To speak without thinking is equal to foolishness. The order is always the other way around: first think, then talk. We need to ruminate our words before they fly off our lips in the direction of other people’s ears. Because words that were spoken once have a life of their own. The damage they cause can’t easily be reversed. So, ask the Lord today to dip your words in heavenly grace before they escape from your mouth. Ask Him to change your language into a healing medicine instead of a life-threatening weapon that punches holes into others. Speak words of life and see what happens!

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What if reality was made up of God’s stories, not atoms?

Stephan Joubert — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:07:21 +0000

What if the Bible is God’s story book rather than a Question and Answer Book to solve all those inexplicable hardships and problems people have to face up to…

What if God cares more about people participating in his new stories than in them getting instant answers from his Book…

What if God is more interested in getting people to reframe their values, as well as their questions and answers in view of His Story, rather than in using the Bible as a book filled with instant proof texts to give support to their religious views, or as short hand revelations in answer to their prayers.

Stories matter — God’s official stories, that is! His stories are life-changing, especially those about his new kingdom, as lived and told by Jesus. They are not intended to heal and restore. Especially Jesus’ multi-faceted stories are about participation in God’s new kingdom for all those who were previously excluded from His goodness and grace. (God’s authentic stories should not be confused with numerous religious doctrines at this point!) God’s stories are not about controlling people through fear of eternal punishment. The Bible is the macro-story filled with life-giving stories about God’s plan to restore the world; to lead his beloved lost property back to him and to take care of his creation. God’s good stories form the basic building blocks of his kingdom.

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Twenty clear days!

Stephan Joubert — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:00:27 +0000

I admire people whose lives are sorted out from top to bottom. Really! Also those who pray and get quick answers. Here on my side of the fence things don’t work that easily. I like to identify myself with John Eldredge who wrote in his book Waking the dead that he has about twenty clear days per year where he knows exactly what God expects of him. For the rest finding God’s will feels like driving in a thick mist. Or to drive without a map in the right direction. Maybe you know the feeling. If so, you will appreciate the words of Oswald Chambers — the mission-giant who touched millions of lives through his appearances and writings: “I never see my way. I never have far-reaching plans.”

God doesn’t specialize in five- or ten-year plans. His plans have been finalized long ago. He won. He already sorted out the future. Please read about his future in Revelation 20-22. Since the future — God’s future — is already widely known, nothing can catch Him off guard. That’s why He does things at the speed of one day at a time. Please fall in with his rhythm.

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Is there a purpose to everything (part II)?

Stephan Joubert — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:03:32 +0000

Companies use short tag lines (or one-liners) in advertisements and on their letterheads. Such tag lines help briefly summarize what they’re all about. Some religious people use such a one-liner about God: “There is a purpose to everything.” Or: “What must happen, will happen.” But the New Testament never uses such one-liners. Why not? Well, because they’re not Biblical truths. If you’re looking for Biblical truth, then you don’t have to look any further than Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

The New Testament moves the purpose of life in its entirety to Christ. Everything that happens to us is seen in the context of a relationship with Him. Our lives are safely hidden with Him in God (Colossians 3:3). Christ is with us when we laugh and when we cry. He is Lord when we are rich and when we are poor. He is the answer when we have no questions, but also when we don’t know how to proceed. Christ is our only comfort and hope. From this perspective Paul writes in Romans 8:28 that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him. Wait, these words are not a one-liner that exempts us from our responsibilities.

Paul says in Romans 8 that this life is so hard that even creation and God’s people groan (verse 22-23). But then the Spirit intercedes by taking our deepest needs and our inability to pray to God’s throne. There He groans on our behalf in wordless heavenly language (verse 26). After this comes the miracle: when the Holy Spirit prays for His loved ones, God takes action. He puts his saving plan in action in the lives of suffering believers. He ensures that everything works out to make Jesus visible once again in our lives. Listen again: what is good in terms of the saving plan of God happens. He executes his good plan by forming us in the image of his Son (verse 29). He works for our good by ensuring that we hear his calls more clearly, experience his mercy more closely and get dressed in glory (verse 30).

When Paul writes that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, he means it from the perspective of God. Nothing will ever prevent Him from reforming and renewing his loved ones, his chosen children, to reflect the image of Christ. As soon as we learn to look at life from Christ’s perspective, our one-liners change dramatically. Then our own suffering is no longer an opportunity to use all those fatalistic one-liners, but to confess “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).

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Can you teach stones to talk?

Stephan Joubert — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:41:24 +0000

Stones aren’t dead. They have ears, as Joshua will tell you when he delivers his last sermon to the people of Israel (Joshua 24). Stones can even cry out, as Jesus will tell you when he enters Jerusalem just before his crucifixion. So how do you then teach stones to talk? Perhaps the following quote from Annie Dillard (Teaching a Stone to Talk. NY, Harper-Perennial, 1992:87-89) shows the way.

“Now we are not primitive. Now the whole world seems not holy.

We as a people have moved from pantheism to pan-atheism…

It is difficult to undo our own damage and to recall to our presence that which we have asked to leave…

We doused the burning bush and cannot rekindle it. We are lighting matches in vain under every green tree.

Did the wind used to cry and the hills shout forth praise? Now speech has perished from among the lifeless things of the earth and living things say very little to very few.

And yet it could be that wherever there is motion there is noise… And wherever there is stillness, there is the small, still voice.

God’s speaking from the whirlwind, nature’s old song and dance, the show we drove from town.

What have we been doing all these centuries but trying to call God back to the mountain, or failing that, raise a peep out of anything that isn’t us?

What is the difference between a cathedral and a physics lab? Are they not both saying Hello?”

Perhaps the secret lies in hearing God’s voice everywhere again.

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The competition is over

Stephan Joubert — Fri, 04 May 2012 08:21:48 +0000

Some see life as a full-time competition. In traffic they need to stop first at the next stoplight. In any queue they need to be at the very front. In any exam they need to finish in the top ten. To them, every conversation is an opportunity to win some debate. When someone does something better than they do, they become green with jealousy. But when they celebrate a victory, then they’re filled to the brim with themselves. Often such competitions are out in the open; at other times it transpires behind closed doors. Still you always know when such competitors have chosen you as their latest target. They constantly want to know how you are “performing”. The solution? Don’t participate.

The Lord made you a person in your own right. You don’t have to defend yourself constantly, especially not against competitors. Be content with who and what you are. Indeed, the Lord made you who you are! You are unique — like Psalm 139 teaches. Go and live out your talents and strengths in unique ways. As long as you try and live up to the expectations of others or try and compete with them, you will only be the second best you. In any case, the competition is over.

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Inflated reality

Maxie Kamalski — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:43:04 +0000

[Redefining Poverty, Restoring Humanity Part 2]

Greed. We think it’s only applicable to those who are stingy and don’t share. Lately I’ve realized my world is set up to push my heart into my wallet and into my greed. I’ve been reading Andy Stanley’s Enemies of the heart in which he addresses four main emotions that drive you to destruction, of which greed is one. Here are a few powerful lines:

“In this country (America) we all enter adulthood with the assumption that our lifestyle should keep pace with our income… The result of course is artificially induced financial pressure. ‘Artificial’ you say, my financial concerns don’t feel very artificial. They don’t feel artificial because the costs associated with maintaining your lifestyle is very real — you really do have to pay your cable TV bill, your cell phone bill, your credit card bill. But those bills exist because you have chosen a lifestyle that keeps pace with (or outpaces) your income. You’ve convinced yourself that all these luxuries are necessities — things you can’t live without. Your inflated sense of what is essential has created financial pressure… That’s the essence of greed. You don’t have to actually have extra to be greedy. As long as you plan to spend whatever comes your way on yourself you’re a candidate.” (Enemies of the Heart, Andy Stanley, p. 150)

Boom.

In this hustle-bustle, bigger, better, faster, smarter world, we’ve lost touch with the reality of what real necessities are. What do we truly need to be fully human? If this gets messed up, it not only creates greed in our hearts but also distorts our giving into destruction. It creates in us a false reality of what people, rich and poor, need to live a good life, a meaningful life, a true life. It creates unrealistic expectations of what we are supposed to do to change the reality of the poor.

Living in the reality of fast-paced technology, we sometimes run too fast to keep up with this insanely-paced, information-filled world that it distorts our reality. It distorts our faith. It distorts our understanding of what life is really about.

In Ephesians Paul writes this beautiful line “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for” (The Message). Maybe our journey into dealing with the immense pain, poverty and destruction all around us is not one of strategies and checklists of how to get people to have all our luxury-necessities, but rather one of finding out who we are because of Christ.

Once we start to unclutter our hearts of greed, we start finding the true meaning of loving our neighbor, of generosity, of living a selfless kind of life that Christ not only spoke about but lived out Himself.

May our eyes may be opened to find the true meaning of being human.

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Is there really a purpose to everything?

Stephan Joubert — Wed, 02 May 2012 10:04:26 +0000

One of the general perceptions in the world is the idea that there is a purpose to everything. O yes, and that we will understand it all one day. By the way, this is not a Christian idea. Homer developed such views as long ago as the 7th century before Christ. The idea that everything happens with a purpose is still spread far and wide today in New Age circles and many other religions. In Christian circles, Romans 8:28 is often quoted where Paul writes that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him. Yet, what he is referring to here is that the Spirit intercedes for those who do not know how to pray (8:6-27), which, in turn, causes God’s closeness and comfort to be victorious in their lives (8:31-39). The correct facts are:

God does not create human robots. If everything happens on purpose, by implication that means we are robots without any choice. Then we are just the result of a pre-manufactured DVD that plays in heaven. Then it does not help to pray because everything has been predestined, even our sins. But this is not how God reveals himself in the Bible. He tells his people in Jeremiah 18 that He is busy making plans for them. At other times He aborts certain plans when people repent (Jonah 3-4).

God is the God of relationships. His one and only will is Jesus Christ (John 6:38-40). God’s one will for each one on earth is that we, with our unique gifts, aptitudes and talents, believe in Christ. His will for everyone in Christ is a holy life (1 Thessalonians 4:3), generosity (2 Corinthians 8:1-5), joy (1 Thessalonians 5:18) and to suffer for doing good on behalf of Christ (1 Peter 3:17).
The blame for bad things fit squarely onto our own shoulders (James 4:1-10). Sin is to choose against a living relationship with Christ. In such times no one who chooses incorrectly can get away with the excuse: “What must happen, will happen.”
All good things come from God (James 1:16-18). Everything that is faith-creating and uplifting, is God. Everything that is bad and that brings death and destruction is ourselves.

We serve a living God. Our comfort is not that we will understand later (like God owes us some explanation), or that everything happens for a reason. Our only comfort is our relationship with Christ. Nothing can separate us from Him. Nothing can grab us from his hand. Nothing or no one can steal our love for Christ from our hearts. He is our only answer, our only reason to live. He is our only reason for being. Only when we truly grasp the greatness and majesty of Christ will we stop using incorrect clichés as though they are biblical principles.

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Hey, there’s a wedding!

Skillie Jacques Botha — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:23:25 +0000

As a wedding photographer, I have the privilege to go to a wedding almost every weekend. It is such an inspiring thing to experience.

It’s so awesome that Jesus’ first miracle described in the Bible was turning water into wine at a wedding, and even more amazing that we (the bride of Jesus) will be meeting the Groom of Life at the most epic wedding party of all time in the end!

I’ve recently read Donald Miller’s book A million miles in a thousand years, and there is a line in the book I’d like to share with you that inspired me a lot and opened my eyes to the beauty of life even more:

“One of the things that gives me hope is that, even with all the tragedy that happens in the world, the Bible says that when we get to heaven, there will be a wedding and there will be dancing.”

Boom!

Despite of all the hurt, there is always a master wedding waiting.

Weddings mean life, and the wedding in heaven means eternal life.

Never lose hope, because “Hey, there’s a Wedding!”

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Preserved for a long rack life

Stephan Joubert — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:57:16 +0000

To be brave is to continue doing what’s right before God in the midst of fear, uncertainty and opposition. Scot Bader-Saye rightly shares the following words: “We become courageous when we learn to live for something that is more important than our safety.” Unfortunately, for many people God became that Someone whose work it is to provide safety, health, comfort and prosperity to everyone. It’s almost as if we need to be preserved like jam that has to stand around on life’s shelves with as long a rack life as possible. But is that really the sum total of an effective life in the Name of Christ? Do we really want to go through life untouched and preserved, only to be quietly removed from the scene on our expiry date?

The real question is whether we heard Jesus correctly when He said that those who follow Him has a cross to bear? And that our fate would not be different to his? Only when our choice to follow the Lord is burned deeply into our souls will our own benefit move to the background and his honor to the foreground! Then we are being lived up to his honor. Then we make the right kind of impact.

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