The Doc File

The Last Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:50:00 +0000

This past weekend, our youth group went to Ponca, Arkansas to float on the Buffalo River. It was a great trip and we had a ton of fun.

I wanted to document the trip with pictures, but was concerned about water damaging my nice camera, so I brought my old camera instead and carefully kept it wrapped inside a double layer of ziplock bags.

Unfortunately, when we went to hike to Hemmed-In-Hollow, I slipped on a rock and fell, jacking up my back and breaking the LCD display on my camera (once again causing me to reflect on the benefits and limitations of planning ahead).

Still, I was able to get some pictures of our trip. A few of them are posted below (you should be able to click on the pictures and see larger versions).

Obligatory group photo in front of and on 1940s fire truck.

The part of the Buffalo we were floating was bordered by bluffs that were hundreds of feet tall.

Several from our group enjoyed jumping off of bluffs.

A closer look at the tops of some of the bluffs.

Hemmed-In-Hollow Falls, the highest waterfall between the Rockies and Appalachians (209 feet). My own fall took place just after taking this picture.

We had a great weekend! It was great to spend time in such beautiful country, and I was reminded yet again that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19.1).

Naaman and the Commands We Don’t Understand

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:15:00 +0000

As a kid, one of my favorite Bible stories was the story of Naaman in 2 Kings 5. I think I had some sort of children’s storybook version which probably influenced my preference, but it has remained a story that I enjoy as I’ve gotten older.

Do you remember the story? Naaman is an important man, the commander of the army of Syria, but he has leprosy. An Israelite slave girl who works in the service of Naaman’s wife suggests that Elisha, a prophet from Israel, could heal him. Naaman relates this to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, and then the king sends him to Israel, laden with gifts, to seek a cure. Eventually, Elisha gets word of what is happening and sends for Naaman, who arrives at Elisha’s house with his horses and chariots.

But Elisha doesn’t even come out to see Naaman; instead he just sends a messenger to tell him that his health will be restored if he goes and washes in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman is enraged by this response. He had expected Elisha to come out and do something dramatic, and he doesn’t even begin to understand how washing in a dirty little river could cleanse his leprosy. Furious, Naaman prepares to depart for home, but his servants basically point out that he has nothing to lose by obeying Elisha’s commandment, and so Naaman goes to wash and sure enough, his leprosy is cured.

Grateful for his healing, Naaman renounces Rimmon, his former god, and accepts the God of Israel, pledging to worship no other god in the future.

By personality, and by heritage as well, I like to understand things. If someone makes a decision that affects me, I want to understand why the decision was made. If I am told or required to do something, I want to understand why it is a good thing to do. The same thing is true in my approach to Scripture as well. I come to Scripture wanting to understand it, wanting to figure out what it means, and wanting to discern the correct interpretation of a certain passage.

And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, except this: even when I don’t understand Scripture, I still have to obey it.

And honestly, there are a lot of things in the Bible that I don’t really understand. Why does God choose to save people the way He does? Why is He so particular about some things and not about others? Why are some practices so abhorrent to Him? How exactly does the Trinity work? I have some ideas, but ultimately, I don’t know.

But I don’t have to understand everything, I just have to obey. Just like Naaman.

God is more interested in my trust than my knowledge.

He is more interested in my obedience than my understanding.

Football Teams and Church Commitment

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Mon, 06 May 2013 16:09:00 +0000

More good stuff from Mark DeVries’ Family-Based Youth Ministry, Rev. Ed., pp. 148-49 (emphasis added):

“I have often wondered what would happen if football coaches approached their work like most youth ministers are expected to. For example, I wonder what would happen if, when a player was too busy to show up for practice, the understanding coach simply said, “We’ll miss you. I hope you’ll be able to make it next week sometime. ” Imagine the players leaving practice and hearing the smiling coach say, “Thanks for coming. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow.”

If a football team operated like a typical youth ministry, we might expect concerned parents to call the coach, saying, “Can you tell me what’s been going on in practice? My son says it’s boring, and he doesn’t want to come anymore. I was wondering, could you make it a little more fun for them? And by the way, you might want to talk to the coach at the school across town. He seems to have the right idea.” The coach might send out quarterly questionnaires about what the players would like to change about the team. (I can just imagine the answers: “shorter practices,” “more winning”).

Responding like a typical youth minister, this coach might first feel guilty that the practices were not meeting the boy’s needs, and he would try to adjust his program to suit this boy (and every other boy who complained). Between trying to keep everybody happy and giving every student a good experience, the coach would squeeze in a little football practice. And what kind of season would this coach have? It’s a safe bet that the coach wouldn’t be the only one who felt like a loser.

But this is the very way that most churches expect to run their youth ministries. To expect that youth be committed to the church with the same level of commitment that would be expected of them on an athletic team would draw the charge of legalism and insensitivity. Our culture has been so carried away by the current of religious individualism that the expectation of commitment to the church has become implausible to most Christians in our culture. Because the god of individualism pressures us to program to the lowest common denominator, we seldom raise the expectations high enough for teenagers to experience real community.

Real community means real responsibility for each other. It means a commitment to be there for each other even when the schedule is tight and the motivation is low. But the typical Christian adult in our culture knows little about commitment to community.”

How true this is! I would love to be able to count on the same sort of commitment that a football coach expects. An unfortunate by-product of the extreme individualization of Christianity is a de-emphasis on the importance of Christian community, specifically in the context of the local church body.

The Christian life was never meant to be lived in isolation.

Destroying the Works of Satan

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 03 May 2013 14:56:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at a youth rally and my topic was the purpose of the church. I talked about how the church is God’s vehicle for saving the world today (through the preaching of the gospel), for influencing the world and trying to make it a better place (through service), and equipping Christians for those first two tasks (through education and discipleship).

And those are all pretty standard ideas—we hear about those things a lot when we talk about what the church should do. But the church has another important purpose that is often neglected in such discussions: the mission of the church is to oppose and destroy the works of Satan.

In 1 John 3.8, John said that Jesus came to earth so that “He might destroy the works of the devil.” In Ephesians 6.12, Paul says that our struggle as Christians is not against flesh and blood, but against the forces of darkness.

These verses make it clear that as the church, we are a part of a spiritual battle against Satan and his influence. Moral corruption and sin are the works of the Devil (and we focus on things like that a lot), but so are things like disease, starvation, poverty, terrorism, and racism.

When you look at all the sad and messed up stuff that happens in our world—do you think God likes that stuff? Of course not! Children starving to death in the developing world, or innocent people being killed because of racial wars, or bombs going off at marathon finish lines—those are works of Satan, and when we take part in efforts to fight against those things, we are fulfilling the purpose of the church in opposing and destroying the works of the Devil.

To me, realizing that when we fight against evil, we’re part of a cosmic struggle and are fighting against Satan himself gives us a whole new level of motivation for doing it. The decisions we make each and every day are important because we have the opportunity to stand up against evil.

A cosmic struggle against evil: think about that the next time one of your friends tells a racist joke—are you going to sit there and laugh at the works of Satan, or realizing that God loves all people regardless of race and that racism comes from Satan, are you going to speak up and put a stop to it?

Or the next time you have an opportunity to give to people, maybe people living on the other side of the world who have less than you do—are you going to be willing to use what you have to fight against the works of Satan like poverty and starvation, or are you going to hold onto those things so you can continue to pursue the idolatry of the “American dream”?

Studies show that a whole bunch of teens leave the church after high school, and I think a big reason for that is because it just doesn’t seem like the work of the church is all that important. After all, if we narrow down what church is to only a couple hours of activity a week, of course its importance is going to be diminished. But when we realize the cosmic nature of the struggle we are involved in—saving the world, serving the world, training Christians to do those things, and opposing the works of Satan—we see that the church is absolutely a cause worth giving our lives to.

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The ARK 2013: Fast Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:22:00 +0000

This past weekend was our ARK Retreat, which is an event that I have written about before. Once again, it was a weekend that required a lot of planning, and once again, all the planning was worth it. We had teens from six different congregations represented, and it was a great time of studying God’s Word, building relationships, and having a lot of fun.

This year our retreat theme was Fast Forward from Hashtag Media, and on the whole I was a big fan of it. In years past, I felt like we tended to have a bunch of good lessons, but that sometimes they were lacking in practicality: how should the teens use the lessons they had learned to make an impact in their lives? Sometimes we didn’t do a great job of emphasizing this aspect, and as a result, the lessons were less helpful than they could have been.

The Fast Forward theme was different. The entire weekend was based on the concept that there are things Jesus has already done, and as a result of Jesus’ completed work, there are certain things we are called to do as Christians. The four lessons (Jesus Created, I Will Create; Jesus Built, I Will Build; Jesus Forgave, I Will Forgive; Jesus Rose, I Will Rise) were all highly practical, and included specific times for reflection and discussion on how to apply the material to the lives of the students. Hopefully this will lead to effects that are longer-lasting than the retreat weekend itself.

It was a great weekend and a great theme! If you’re looking for material for a retreat or a summer camp, I would definitely recommend it!

People Are Watching You…And That’s A Good Thing

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:46:00 +0000

Yesterday I was job shadowed by one of my youth group kids. We had a good time hanging out and I got to show him the random and assorted activities that make up my day as a youth minister/associate minister/graduate student.

It was somewhat of a different experience for me, as I was very consciously aware that there was someone watching to see what I did and to act accordingly (as part of his responsibilities for the day, he was supposed to dress similarly to me and take part in my activities throughout the day). Altogether, our time together served as a helpful reminder: although we are not always aware of it, there are always people watching us, and our behavior and actions will have an influence on people either for good or bad.

A lot of people don’t like the idea that people are watching them or looking up to them. Several years ago basketball star Charles Barkley famously declared that he wasn’t a role model, largely because he didn’t like the feeling of responsibility that came with having thousands of kids looking up to him. He didn’t want to have to raise the standards of his behavior or refrain from acting in certain ways (a lot of other athletes have since echoed similar ideas).

For Christians though, this shouldn’t be a frightening realization so much as it should serve as motivation. It reminds me of the words of the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11.1:

“Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

As Christians, if we are people of integrity and dedication, we should be able to invite people to do the same thing: follow our examples because we are following the example of Christ. People don’t follow our examples because we are so good in and of ourselves, but because our lives help to point them to the One who is good. It is a high standard to live up to, but it is the life we have been called to lead.

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Life’s Busyness and God’s Peace

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Yesterday and today have been a couple of particularly busy days in what seems like an unending stream of busy days.

In addition to my regular Friday duties (working on getting the bulletin published, preparing for Bible class on Sunday), there is a lot going on right now which is combining to stress me out:

This weekend I have the opportunity to teach and speak at a youth rally. That’s great, but it means preparing two lessons and the accompanying presentations to go with them.
Since I’m taking my youth group to the aforementioned youth rally, that also means making all the preparations necessary before leaving on a trip.
I have a lot of reading to do for my grad school class. I always seem to have a lot of reading for grad school, and it is one of the first things that gets squeezed out when I have other tasks to accomplish.
Next weekend is the Ark Retreat, a combined youth retreat with several area churches, and one of our big spring events. It’s always a lot of fun, but demands a lot of planning ahead of time.
The weekend after the Ark is our church’s Day of Service and Friends & Family Day—a great weekend, but a busy one that requires a lot of work beforehand from me.
The weekend after that is our youth group Camping & Canoe Trip—more fun, and more planning as well.
The weekend after that will be our Graduation Banquet at church for our High School kids. More fun and fellowship, more busyness.
Somewhere during the time span I have just referred to, I have two papers due for grad school and a final exam to take as well!
What about the stuff going on in our broken world? Bombs and shootouts in Boston? Deadly explosions at fertilizer factories in Texas?
And, to be honest, all of this is overshadowed somewhat by the constant concern I have for my little girl, who continues to have seizures and deal with the daily realities of congenital muscular dystrophy. Daily realities which are physically and emotionally draining.

Sometimes, when I’m really, really busy, I remember the benefits of taking a deep breath, slowing down, and remembering that God does not call me to a life of frantic, breathless activity.

I love the words from the hymn penned by Edward H. Bickersteth:

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark word of sin:

The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed:

To do the will of Jesus this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round:

On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.

It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,

And Jesus calls us to heav’n’s perfect peace.

Perspective is a wonderful thing. I am seeking perfect peace today, and wishing it for you as well.

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Historical World Cultures + Christianity

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:45:00 +0000

A good quotation on the interaction of Christianity with the dominate cultures of Western Civilization from Richard Halverson, former chaplain of the U.S. Senate:

“When the Greeks got the gospel, they turned it into a philosophy; when the Romans got it, they turned it into a government; when they Europeans got it, they turned it into a culture; and when the Americans got it, they turned it into a business.”

(Quoted in Thriving Youth Ministry in Smaller Churches, p. 49)

Don’t Be A Know-It-All!

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:54:00 +0000

People tend to dislike know-it-alls. It’s bad enough to be around people who are extremely intelligent and knowledgable and arrogantly let you know that all the time—it’s even worse to be around someone who acts like they are extremely knowledgable when in reality they are clueless. Being around people like this is one of my pet peeves.

Four brief stories on this topic:

The first story is youth ministry-related. Going back to my summer interning days, I have now been in youth ministry for over 10 years now (yikes!). In that time I have learned a lot, but I still have a lot left to learn. One time a couple of years ago, I was chatting with a college youth ministry student online, and he asked me to describe how I felt about my job. I remember I was dealing with some frustrating issues at the time, and so I told him that while youth ministry was very rewarding, it was also difficult and challenging at times to watch teens who you had poured yourself into make poor decisions which could potentially derail their entire lives.

This particular youth ministry student (who I think was a freshman at the time), proceeded to lecture me, basically saying that I should just love my teens rather than being disappointed by their poor decisions (as if these two things were mutually exclusive) and suggesting that I just wasn’t quite committed enough.

It was an annoying conversation, but one which gained a lot of comic value when I learned later on that this youth ministry student ended up changing his major…

The second story centers on an interaction between two guys I knew well in college. One guy was complaining to the other about his classes—how boring they were and how he struggled to make himself sit through class and listen to his teachers.

“What’s so special about them [his teachers] that I should have to listen to and respect what they say?” he asked.

The second guy couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you kidding me? Your teachers deserve your respect because they went to school for years and years and studied for hours and hours to accumulate the knowledge they are sharing with you in class! Who are you to think you can’t learn from them?”

As you can probably tell from the interaction, the first guy was pretty full of himself, while the second guy was one of the humblest guys I’ve ever known. As it turned out, the first guy struggled through college, bounced around from job to job, and honestly, I have no idea what he’s doing now. Meanwhile the second guy went on to earn his Ph.D. and is now a college professor.

The third story comes from Monday night, when I had the privilege of hearing Jimmy Allen speak at a gospel meeting. If you are unfamiliar with Jimmy Allen, he is a long-time preacher, teacher and Bible scholar whose life has greatly influenced untold thousands of people. He’s now in his eighties, and on Monday night, he discussed how he needed to study the Bible more because there were some topics he just didn’t understand.

And the fourth story comes from yesterday afternoon. I am in Bethesda, Maryland this week at the National Institutes of Health for consultations and evaluations for my daughter Kinsley, who has a rare form of congenital muscular dystrophy. Yesterday we got to meet with a world-class pediatric neurologist and neurological researcher who is so respected that he was repeatedly referred to as a “rock star” by other doctors we met with. He was able to give us some new information and insight that no one else has had, but he was also very upfront about telling us the things he did not know and could not predict.

Pulling all of these random stories together, here are the summary points of this post:

(1) Know-it-alls drive me crazy (see stories 1 and 2), and because of that, I try hard not to be one myself.

(2) A big part of not being a know-it-all is being upfront about the things you don’t know (3, 4).

(3) Even in those areas where you do know a lot, there’s always more to learn (3).

(4) Humble people tend to be impressive, and impressive people tend to be humble. I think the two are inherently related (2, 3, and 4).

Reading and Walking

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:37:00 +0000

I have to read a lot for grad school, and sometimes my reading assignments stack up to the point that I have to spend hours and hours reading in a given day. Sometimes this can be hard to do, because the reading is occasionally not the most interesting material in the world, and if I read while sitting back in my chair or laying down, it’s easy to fall asleep.

So recently, I have come upon what seems to be a great solution: I walk laps in the church auditorium while doing my reading. So far, I have noticed at least three benefits:

Since I’m walking while reading, it’s pretty difficult to fall asleep. Along the same lines, it’s easy for me to read for longer periods of time this way.
Spending my reading time in the auditorium rather than the office tends to minimize distractions (the temptation of having my computer nearby, phone interruptions, questions, etc.).
I get exercise while being at work!

The last point is perhaps more significant than I originally thought. Yesterday I had quite a bit of reading to do, and ended up walking 190 laps around the church auditorium. I also paced off the distance of one lap, and determined that it comes out to about 74 yards. When I did the math, I was surprised (but pleased) to discover that I had walked almost 8 miles!

I am excited about this and hope to make it a habit, at least for those times when I have a lot of reading to do (not all activities can be done well while walking laps). I need to start wearing better shoes to work though!

Churches and Lifesaving Stations

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:34:00 +0000

Pea Island Life-Saving Station crew, 1896. Photographer unknown.

A cautionary parable from Managing the Congregation: Building Effective Systems to Serve People, by Norman Shawchuck and Roger Heuser, pp. 78-79:

On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought of themselves went out day and night tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews trained. The little lifesaving station grew.

Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely, because they used it as a sort of club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do this work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in this club’s decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where the club initiations were held. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boatloads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin and some had yellow skin. The beatiful new club was in chaos. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.

At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members instisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving stations down the coast. They did.

As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. History continued to repeat itself, and if you visit that sea coast today, you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are frequent in those waters, but most of the people drown!

Churches would do well to consider what happens when they lose their sense of purpose. Without a purpose and reason for existence, churches become nothing more than social clubs.

Youth Ministers: Don’t Move Around So Much!

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:06:00 +0000

From Mark DeVries’ Family-Based Youth Ministry, Rev. Ed., p. 87 (emphasis added):

“When a student makes it to mature Christian adulthood, he or she can almost always point to either the influence of godly parents or that of at least one available, durable, nonexploitive Christian adult who modeled for them what being an adult Christian was all about. Sometimes twenty-something youth directors can make this kind of long-term, ongoing investment in a handful of students, but by and large, their age-driven transience severely limits their long-term availability.”

Youth ministers: try to put down roots and invest in the lives of a congregation’s kids for a number of years. If you have to go sooner, keep yourself available to those students with whom you have forged relationships.

This is important stuff we do; it’s not to be entered (or exited) lightly.

Jesus: God In Our Neighborhood

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:02:00 +0000

Who is God? What is He like? What does He want from me? What does He expect of me?

These are ancient questions, asked by countless people over thousands of years. But they are also modern questions which people still wrestle with today. We can get answers to those questions and can learn things about God by looking at nature, and by reading about Him in Scripture, but the fullest and clearest expression of what God is like was made available to us through the Incarnation of Jesus.

The word “incarnation” comes from Latin and literally means “to make into flesh” or “to be made flesh”. The Incarnation is one of the central teachings regarding Jesus, and says that Jesus was the Son of God, but that he “became flesh” and lived life as a man. Jesus was both God and human.

For many of us, that’s an idea that is pretty straightforward because it’s what we’ve been taught for a long time, but it’s an idea that was debated and argued about for a long time in the early church, and a lot of false teachings came up to try and explain who Jesus really was:

Adoptionism said that Jesus was an ordinary man who followed and obeyed the Law so carefully that he became the Messiah and that God “adopted” Jesus as His Son at baptism. So basically this view says that Jesus was a man, but was not really God—it stressed His humanity, but not His divinity.
Docetism said that Jesus was a divine being that took on human appearance but not flesh. It comes from a Greek word which means “to seem”, so basically this view says that Jesus seemed like a man but really wasn’t one. Docetism stresses the divinity of Jesus, but not His humanity.
Arianism said that Jesus was divine in some sense, but that He was created by the Father, so that He wasn’t an eternal being—He wasn’t God in the same sense that the Father was.
Nestorianism said that the Son of God and the man Jesus shared the same body, but were two separate beings within that body with different natures. Almost like Jesus had a split personality.

That all might start to sound somewhat confusing, and that’s okay, because it is confusing, and I think it illustrates an important point—sometimes we get ourselves into trouble by trying to explain things that we really can’t explain. The Bible really doesn’t try to explain in detail how the Incarnation ‘worked’—how it was that Jesus was both God and human at the same time—it just affirms that that’s who He was. He wasn’t part human and part God, he was completely human and completely God at the same time. So while I can’t fully explain how the Incarnation worked, I can say that the ‘isms’ that we mentioned before are not true, because they deny that Jesus was both fully human and fully God.

What I think is more important than completely understanding how the Incarnation worked is understanding what the Incarnation means to us as Christians—how Jesus living as a human shows us what God is like and what He expects from us.

The classic passage on the Incarnation is in John 1. There in v. 14 it says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

A lot of times when speaking about the Incarnation, we talk about that first part, “The Word becoming flesh” and that’s an important concept (all of arguments and debates and ‘isms’ mentioned above are based on the first part of the verse), but I want to focus on the second clause, “The Word made his dwelling among us”.

Here John is using Old Testament language from the time when the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and God dwelt in the tabernacle to explain how God, through Jesus, came down to be among His people in a new way. A more literal translation of the end of John 1.14 would be something like, “he put up his tent among us.”

The Message, which is a paraphrase translation of Scripture in modern language, says in John 1.14 that the Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood, and I love that idea—through Jesus, God is no longer Someone who is unknowable or impossible to figure out, because He lives right down the street from us—we can see what God is like for ourselves!

Shah Abbas the Great of Persia

There’s an old story about Shah Abbas, the great king of Persia who came to the throne in the late 1500s. Shah Abbas was beloved by his people, and he loved them in return, and in order to understand them better, historically we know that he would often disguise himself as a common man and mingle among them.

The story goes that one day, while visiting a bathhouse, Shah Abbas went down into the cellar and sat down next to the poor man whose job was to keep the furnaces burning to heat the baths. The king quickly struck up a friendship with this lowly laborer, who welcomed his company without having any idea who he was. They became friends and the king returned often to visit the furnace keeper. When mealtime came, the peasant would share his meager food with the king, and the two came to be close.

At last, one day the king revealed his true identity to the man. Shah Abbas expected the keeper of the fire to ask him for a special gift or some favor. Instead, when the man recovered from his shock, his request of the king was for neither wealth nor favors. He simply said:

“You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat of my coarse food, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry. To others you may give rich presents, but to me you have given yourself, and all I can ask is that you never withdraw the gift of your friendship.”

Like the Shah of the story, God put on a lowly disguise and through Jesus, moved into our neighborhood. From there, right down the street, He offers the gift of friendship and as our friend, we are never left to wonder what He is like, or what He wants from us.

You want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus. You want to know how God wants you to live? Look at Jesus.

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Planning Ahead Is A Good Thing, Except When It Isn’t

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:52:00 +0000

Last week, in what was an entirely unplanned and spectacular display of clumsiness, I managed to spill a cup of water on my MacBook.

Most likely, this will result either in the death of said MacBook or a significant “doctor’s” bill to replace the water-logged and destroyed components (the MacBook is currently drying out in a bag of kitty litter. It’s theoretically possible that it will turn back on when I try it in a few days…that would be nice).

I was frustrated when this happened, but ultimately, it was more of a major annoyance than a tragedy because I had planned ahead. It was an annoyance because it disrupted my week and forced me to devote a lot of time I didn’t really have to retrieving files and ordering and setting up a new laptop. It was not a tragedy because I had been faithfully saving up money for over a year to get a new MacBook anyway (and let’s be real: it’s a computer, a thing. Losing it wouldn’t actually be a tragedy, but it would be tough considering how integral a computer is to my life in 2013).

Some people are better planners than others, but in general, planning ahead is a good thing. It is a form of good stewardship of our resources to plan for the future, and planning ahead was what downgraded my water-spilling escapades from a tragedy to an annoyance.

But a word of caution: planning can be a dangerous thing as well, because it can give us the illusion that we are in control when we really aren’t. Consider James 4.13-16:

“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”

So while planning is a good thing, it is essential that we recognize its limitations: it can help us better respond to situations that arise, but it doesn’t give us control over those situations.

How Do You Read?

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

I enjoy reading and write about books quite a bit. Growing up I read a lot, but that slowed when I went to college and got busy with a lot of other things. After college I settled into adult life, and picked up the habit again.

When I started graduate school in 2010, I knew I would have a ton of school-related reading to do and I was afraid that this would cause me to dislike reading, but instead, the opposite happened: I now want to read all the time, and I have a long list of books to read in addition to my required reading for school.

For most of my life, I have been a guy who read one book at a time. This trend changed in grad school where time constraints required me to overlap the books I was reading, and gradually I have come to enjoy reading multiple books at once. That being said, I realized last week that this Reading Multiple Books At Once thing has really gotten out of hand.

Concurrently, I was reading:

Two books on ministry in small churches
Two books on youth ministry (actually I finished one and then immediately started and quickly finished another)
One book on the history of Churches of Christ in the 20th century
One book on biblical exegesis
One book on Genesis
One book of daily devotionals
One book based on the sermons and writings of Archbishop Oscar Romero
A lesson book on Ephesians for my Sunday morning Bible class
The Bible (specifically, I am in Psalms right now)

Let me just say: this is a terrible way to read. My attention is so split that it is particularly difficult to remember exactly where I read something. I am also completely out of bookmarks (which are very necessary, since I have no way of remembering my place in 11 different books).

Furthermore, reading this many books simultaneously is not a sign that I am smart for being able to balance them; it is a sign that I am dumb for trying to do so in the first place!

By nature, a few of these books are part of my daily or weekly routine (Bible, devotionals, Bible class), but other than these, I’d like to get back to just reading 1-3 other books at a time.

Marriage is Humanity’s “Restoration to Wholeness”

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 17:27:00 +0000

Dr. Dwight Small on marriage:

“When a man and a woman unite in marriage, humanity experiences a restoration to wholeness. The glory of the man is the acknowledgment that woman was created from him; the glory of the woman is the acknowledgment that man is incomplete without her. The humility of the woman is the acknowledgement that she was made for man; the humility of the man is the acknowledgement that he is incomplete without her.

Both share an equal dignity, honor, and worth. Yes, and each shares a humility before the other, also, Each is necessarily the completion of the other; each is necessarily dependent upon the other.”

Daring and Determination in the Christian Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

As any regular readers of The Doc File know, I am a huge fan of Jackie Robinson. In addition to being a world-class athlete, Hall of Fame baseball player, and, behind Martin Luther King Jr., the most influential player in the American Civil Rights Movement, he was also a man of great personal character.

I recently came across the photo at the top of the page of Jackie on the base paths. It’s a picture I love because I think it so well captures two of Jackie’s characteristics which were integral to his success and are also necessary in the daily life of the Christian: daring and determination.

Daring

Integrating Major League Baseball left Robinson open to constant torment and abuse. Racist fans heckled and berated him constantly, opposing managers would threaten not to play the Dodgers if Jackie was in the lineup, and baserunners from other teams would try to spike him with their cleats. None of that was a surprise—Dodgers GM Branch Rickey had warned Robinson in detail of the kind of abuse he would face if decided to take part in the “Great Experiment” and become the player to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball—but Jackie Robinson was willing to take the risk.

In addition to his daring in integrating the big leagues in the first place, Robinson was also daring in the way he played he game. Bringing the style of the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball, Robinson was a terror on the basepaths, stealing bases, distracting pitchers, and stealing signs.

Christians need to be daring as well. To a large degree, I believe a Christian’s influence in the world is nullified when she or he refuses to be daring. Doing things that make you feel uncomfortable like sharing your faith with a friend or co-worker or taking an unpopular moral stand when others refuse to requires daring. Being willing to attempt great things that you’re not sure you are capable of doing like adopting a child or teaching a Bible class also requires daring. Attempting to fulfill the mission given to us by Christ of seeking and saving the lost requires a great deal of daring!

Author John Augustus Shedd once famously said, “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” It is a great quotation! Too often, I think that Christians look at the church as a safe harbor, and because they like the safety, they fail to venture outside of its (figurative) walls. Certainly the church is a safe place, but it should be a place where Christians are equipped to engage, change, and save the world, not where they can hide from it.

It’s not “safe” out in the world, but it is where our light is most needed. Christians must be daring!

Determination

In the picture above, the look in Jackie’s eyes oozes focus and determination. On the basepaths, he was completely locked in to his psychological and physical battle with the pitcher, and was determined to defeat him.

It’s interesting—baseball really wasn’t Robinson’s best sport. In college at UCLA, Jackie lettered in four different sports. In track and field, he won the national championship in the broad jump in 1940. In football, he led the nation in punt return average in 1939 and 1940 and led UCLA in rushing, passing, total offense, scoring, and punt returns in 1940. In basketball, Robinson led the Southern Division of the Pacific Coast Conference in scoring in both 1940 and 1941. Baseball was his fourth best sport!

Later on, after spending some time in the military during WWII, Robinson honed his baseball skills playing in the Negro Leagues, but here’s the point I’m getting at: I’m really not sure that Jackie Robinson should’ve been a Hall of Fame caliber baseball player, but he was just so determined to succeed! Robinson knew that he carried the weight of the hopes of Black America on his shoulders, and he was determined that he would not let them down. So his determination led to great success.

Christians also need to be people of determination. You can’t accidentally live a faithful Christian life—it requires the determination on a daily basis to live a life of discipleship regardless of cost or consequence.

That’s counter-intuitive for us today (especially the part about cost or consequence) because we live in a consumer culture where different products are constantly vying for our attention and loyalty—if you’re not losing enough weight on your diet, quit it and try a new one. If you don’t like your cell phone plan, drop it and switch over to a competitor. If going to church doesn’t seem to be improving the quality of your life, cut it out and try something else…when taken to the extreme, we become people devoid of commitment or determination, and, quite simply, people who give up too easily.

It is not easy to be a Christian, but Jesus never promised that it would be. Faithful discipleship requires determination!

Jackie Robinson’s ability to change the world certainly involved his natural talents and abilities, but equally if not more important were his character traits of daring and determination. If Christians, as citizens of the Kingdom of God are going to engage the world and change it for good, then we have to possess those same characteristics in abundance.

Wanted: Role Players in the Body of Christ

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 15:51:00 +0000

Joe Kleine was one of the best basketball players in Arkansas Razorback history. An All-Conference Selection in 1984 and 1985, and Kleine also played on the 1984 Gold Medal U.S. Olympic team. In a game against the 2nd-ranked Houston Cougars in 1984, Kleine led the Razorbacks to victory, snapping Houston’s 31-game conference winning streak and outscoring future Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajawon 22-10. During his career at Arkansas, Kleine averaged 18 points per game—more than Michael Jordan averaged during his career at the University of North Carolina.

But, after completing his collegiate career and joining the NBA in 1985, Kleine went from being a stand out all-star to an average, back-up, role player. In the late 80s and early 90s, Kleine played for the Boston Celtics. While he was there, he was overshadowed by a number of very famous and very good players—Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Reggie Lewis, and Robert Parrish. Parrish in particular overshadowed Kleine, because Parrish played the exact position that Kleine did—center. Robert Parrish is considered by basketball experts to be one of the greatest centers who has ever played the game, so Joe Kleine got to be Parrish’s backup.

It's not easy being a backup, a second teamer. Backups are called things like “substitutes” and “bench-warmers” and “role players”. Backups don’t get to play on the Dream Team; they don’t get to play in All-Star games. Their basketball cards aren’t worth very much, and they don’t get to make many commercials. It would seem that being a backup isn’t a very important job.

Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Consider the following description of Joe Kleine from an article by a Celtic sportswriter a few years back:

“He is what he is. And he knows exactly what that is—the backup center on an NBA team. Every NBA team would love to have Kleine be what he is, which, in addition to being a competent NBA center, includes being a first-rate person.”

The article goes on to quote one of Kleine’s former coaches:

“When we had him here, Joe was our lug. Now, he’s your lug. But you know what? He’s a good lug, I wish we still had him.”

Why is Joe Kleine, a second-string backup center, the kind of player that every coach wants on his team? Why is he the kind of player that coaches don’t want to give up? Because he is willing to accept the role he is given, and give his best performing that role, even if it is not exciting or glamorous.

Paul talked about role players in 1 Corinthians 12.14-18:

“Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”

We don’t each fill the same role, but Paul goes on to tell us that we each have a role to fill. Moreover, he tells us that God bestows an extra measure of honor upon those who fill roles that seem unglamorous:

“The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don't need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’ On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think of as less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”

Just as role players are an integral part of any NBA team, they are also indispensable within the church. Unfortunately, this is often a difficult lesson for Christians to learn. Even some of Jesus’ apostles struggled with this concept—in Mark 10, James and John asked to sit at the right and left hand of Jesus so that they could receive special recognition. This request was made because they did not understand the role that God had given them. In Mark 10.43-45, Jesus explained to them that “whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

Are you willing to be a role player in the Body of Christ? Because that’s the kind of player that God is looking for on His team.

Friday Summary Report, February 15

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 17:45:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I have read some good articles lately that I would like to share with you:

(1) This article, “Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church”, has been talked about a lot over the last few days, but it is an important one. The author makes some outstanding observations. One of his important points is about the church always trying to be “relevant” (notice the quotation marks). The church should always be relevant because the Gospel is relevant, but we have to be careful of trying to be trendy, (which is what churches often try to be instead). Being relevant is crucial; being trendy is lame.

(2) This post is now a month old, but is hilarious: it stereotypes youth ministers based on the type of facial hair they sport (or don’t).

(3) Here is an excellent post and video for parents on how to teach priorities to your children using a family calendar. Don’t be alarmed by the attention-grabbing title of the post—this is an excellent and practical idea for Christian families. Listen to the video all the way through, as some of the best stuff is his discussion on priorities leading to identity and the realization that sometimes living according to our values will come with consequences.

(4) This post I wrote on Hashtag Media has gotten some attention. If you haven’t yet gone to check out the good work these guys are doing, please do so.

Controlling the Flames of our Tongues

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:48:00 +0000

On Sunday, October 8, 1871, a fire broke out in Chicago, Illinois. It started in a small shed (no one really knows how) and quickly spread throughout the city. The heavy use of wood for construction at that time, a drought which had occurred prior to the fire, strong winds from the southwest that carried burning rubble toward the heart of the city, and poor reaction by city officials and citizens all combined to create a devastating inferno. The fire burned for two days, but even when it was over, the smoldering remains were still too hot for a survey of the damage to be completed for days.

Eventually, the vast destruction from the fire was determined:

An area four miles long by three quarters of a mile wide, or more than 2,000 acres
More than 73 miles of roads and 120 miles of sidewalks
17,500 buildings
$222,000,000 in property, which was about 1/3 of the city’s total value
Of 300,000 inhabitants, 90,000—30% of the city’s population—were left homeless
200-300 people were killed

What began as such a small flame was transformed into a catastrophe.

In James 3.5-10, James compares the human tongue to a raging fire:

“Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

James compares the tongue to fire because just like fire, if our tongues are out of control, they can cause a great deal of damage. Gossiping, talking behind people’s backs, saying hurtful things, putting others down, spreading falsehood…all of these actions of the tongue can cause far-reaching damage. When we’re careless with our words, we can destroy a friendship or a reputation.

A lot of times when we talk about moral problems, especially with teens, we tend to focus on the “big” issues: things like drinking, drugs, sex, etc. Those issues need to be talked about, but the harm we do with what we say is a much more common problem—I hear people using their fiery tongues all the time (even in church!) with little regard for the collateral damage they could be causing.

Read James 3.9-10 again:

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.”

Our speech can be a problem or it can be pleasing to God. What’s it going to be for you? Your tongue can be as dangerous and destructive as a fire. Use it carefully.

Hashtag Media: A Creative Solution to a Common Problem (Curriculum Confusion Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:59:00 +0000

Yesterday I talked about the difficulty that youth ministers and others face who have the task of choosing Bible class curriculum for teenagers. I discussed three different common approaches to finding curriculum, but also mentioned that each of these has significant drawbacks.

Today I want to write a little about Hashtag Media, which is a new effort that I see as a creative solution to the problems I talked about yesterday.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may remember me talking about the Hashtag Youth Series, which was a free video-based youth summer series which was released last year. Hashtag Media was launched in early October as a companion project to the Youth Series, and proceeds from Hashtag Media’s resources are reinvested in future Youth Series and other projects.

All of this is pretty exciting, because the products that Hashtag Media have released so far have virtually all of the advantages I talked about yesterday from the different curriculum types without any of the drawbacks:

The material is created by youth ministers from churches of Christ, which means that distinctive doctrines aren’t ignored—I don’t have to worry that the significance of baptism will be diminished or that the lessons will implore teens to come to salvation through a sinner ’s prayer method which isn’t talked about in Scripture.
Written by professional ministers also means that the content of the lessons is high quality.
The material is created to be Christ-centered, which means it still has a “big picture” focus that is very important for teens.
The lessons are fundamentally biblical; the current series we are studying is from the Book of Ephesians and uses an expository verse-by-verse approach which encourages the students to really dig into the text (it is excellent).
More than just the content of the lesson, the overall product is very good: the graphic design is excellent, and the lessons come with starter activities and illustrations which help bring the biblical message to life.
It is affordable. The longer quarter-length series are only about $50, and they have recently rolled out the option of buying a year’s subscription which means that you can get all the new material which comes out in 2013 for only $200. These prices are very competitive (read: cheap), and knowing that all of the proceeds go toward creating more material makes it even easier to justify.
The creators of Hashtag want to increase the size of their curriculum library, and solicit the help of others who would be interested in submitting Bible class series to them. I appreciate the collaborative spirit of this project and will likely send them some of my own material at some point.

The only drawback I really see at this point is that currently, Hashtag’s offerings are a bunch of stand-alone class series which aren’t connected as part of a larger curriculum plan. To me that isn’t a huge problem (right now I am just using Hashtag products to fill in the gaps of other curriculum plans that I have), but perhaps as this project continues, they will put more thought in this direction.*

On the whole, I am really excited about the potential of Hashtag Media, and am grateful to the team of youth ministers behind its creation. If you are a youth minister or the person at your church in charge of selecting Bible class material for teens, I would encourage you to take a look at what they have to offer.

*Also, all of Hashtag Media’s resources are exclusively in an electronic, PDF format. Some people might see this as a drawback, but I don’t: you can get the resources immediately through email once you order them, and everything is going digital anyway. Before we know it, “class books” will be a thing of the past.

Curriculum Confusion Part 1: Different Approaches to Bible Class Material for Teens

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:06:00 +0000

If you are in youth ministry or are involved with organizing Bible class curriculum at church, you are likely aware of how difficult it is to select quality Bible class material for teenagers (in fact, I’ve actually written a bit about this before). If you find yourself in this situation, you basically have three different options:

(1) The “Do It Yourself” Model

This option is actually pretty self-explanatory: you want Bible class curriculum for your teens? Write it yourself.

There are several advantages to this approach:

Theoretically, you should know your teens pretty well, so you ought to have a good idea of what they need to study, and on what level they need to study it (generally speaking, 12th graders are completely different than 7th graders and need to be taught differently).
If you are producing the material, you can be confident in the content—you don’t have to worry about something being taught that you disagree with or think is unbiblical.
This is a cheap way to go about acquiring Bible class material—aside from the small cost of making copies of handouts, basically the only cost is your time.

But there are significant problems to this as well:

It is very time-consuming to write every lesson for your teenagers from scratch. I have written lots of Bible class material for my youth group and invariably, it takes a lot of time. If you happen to have a lot of excess time, that’s great, but I don’t: realistically, with other ministry responsibilities, grad school, and family concerns on my plate, there are only a few quarters a year when I have time to produce original Bible class material.
Your Bible class material will only be as good as you are. What I mean is that if you are great at doing research, writing lessons, and putting together attractive powerpoint presentations, then your students will be in for a treat…but if this just isn’t one of your strengths, then subjecting your students to quarter after quarter of mediocre material is less than ideal.

(2) The “Least Common Denominator” Model

This option involves purchasing curriculum from a large company which specializes in producing it. I use the term “Least Common Denominator” because usually, in an effort to appeal to as many potential customers as possible, this material presents a very generalized, inter-denominational Christianity that offends no one.

Purchasing material from a large company like this does have its advantages:

Curriculum like this is written by professionals, and is usually well planned and very professional. It will usually come with supplemental materials like activities related to the Bible lesson or videos for your students to watch.
Sometimes it will be planned so well that it integrates with children’s and adults’ curriculum as well; it is a neat thing to have everyone in the church studying the same lessons at the same time.
By its inter-denominational nature, this approach it tends to focus on “big picture” biblical themes that everyone basically agrees with (Jesus, grace, sin, etc.) and which really do need to be emphasized to and understood by teens.

Although this is a very popular model, it comes with multiple problems as well:

It is usually very expensive: a quarter’s worth of material could cost hundreds of dollars, and if you follow an entire curriculum plan, it could be thousands of dollars each year. A lot of churches (mine included) simply don’t have the education budget to afford this year-round.
There are a lot of disagreements within Christianity (about things like salvation, the relationship between faith and works, the way the Bible should be read, the way we should worship, etc.), but the Least Common Denominator approach tries to ignore all of them by presenting a simplified Christianity that few find objectionable. Maybe that sounds idyllic, but ultimately, a diet of only this type of material produces students who haven’t thought deeply about (and potentially aren’t even aware of) any of these issues. To me, that’s a significant problem.
Also (and related to the last point), going along with the Least Common Denominator approach, oftentimes these studies are topical rather than textual, and focus on moral issues that virtually all Christians agree about: the dangers of drinking, drugs, premarital sex, etc. While these topics are important and need to be discussed, too much focus on them leads to the already-too-prevalent idea (among teenagers and the church as a whole) that being a Christian is nothing more than following a particular moral Do’s and Don’ts List rather than living a redeemed life as part of the Kingdom of God. In other words, curriculum should focus on the Gospel, which includes, but is much bigger than, the fact that Christians should behave in a certain way.

(3) The “Brotherhood Material” Model

The third option is to purchase material from within your particular religious fellowship. In churches of Christ, we don’t like being referred to as a “denomination”, so we tend to refer to publications put out by members or companies affiliated with churches of Christ as “brotherhood material”.

Advantages to this approach include:

Theoretically, getting material from within your own fellowship should mean that it is doctrinally agreeable.
Usually, the cost for this type of curriculum is considerably less than the Least Common Denominator model.

But once again, there are multiple problems:

A lot of times, these materials are produced by smaller companies, and frankly, the quality is sometimes lacking. In my experience, I have found this to be especially true on the presentation side (i.e., it doesn’t look that good), but it can also be weak on content as well.
Even “brotherhood” publishing companies want to make money and sell lots of their products, so they too can fall victim to the temptations to publish very general material that appeals to as many people as possible. When this happens, it is subject to the same problems as the Least Common Denominator model mentioned above.

So each of these models, although possessing strengths, is also characterized by significant disadvantages. I guess the major takeaway from all of this analysis is this: it is a challenge to find quality Bible class material for teens. So what is the solution? More on that in the second half of this discussion…

Pity for Those Who Do Not Know: The Story of Jonah, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:19:00 +0000

If you’re coming late to the party, be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2.

So far, we’ve seen that Jonah was pretty mixed up about what was important—he valued a plant which provided him with shade more than he valued the lives of the people of the great city of Nineveh. We’ve also seen that as the people of God, we can get similarly mixed up.

God’s response to Jonah at the end of chapter 4 is an attempt to correct Jonah’s perspective on things. He says,

“You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from the left, and also much cattle?”

God tries to get Jonah to see how He pities the people of Nineveh. A lot of time we have a negative connotation with the word “pity”, but it really just means to feel sorrow over someone else’s condition (The New American Standard Bible says “compassion”; The NIV uses “concern”). God points out how ridiculous it is that Jonah felt sorrow over the death of the plant, but feels no concern at all over the 120,000 people of Nineveh “who do not know their right hand from their left”—basically, people who don’t even realize how bad of a spiritual condition they are in.

It’s interesting—the Book of Jonah ends with God’s question. We don’t get to hear how Jonah responded; we don’t get to see if he corrected his attitude. But really, that makes sense, because the Book of Jonah isn’t really about Jonah—it’s about God…and God’s concern for all people…and God letting His people know about how much He is concerned for all people! So it makes sense that the book ends with God sharing that concern with Jonah.

It is our understanding of God’s pity for the lost—His feeling of sorrow for their condition—that can provoke a similar sense of concern in us. You know, a large part of Jonah’s problem was that he didn’t understand the value of the Ninevites. To him, they were worthless, less deserving of his concern than a plant which sprung up overnight.

What about us? Do we understand the value of those who are lost?

Most of my readers know that I am a huge baseball fan, and when I was younger, one of my favorite hobbies was collecting baseball cards. I would spend most of my allowance buying packs of cards, I would collect and trade for my favorite players, and I would spend a lot of time looking at and organizing my cards.

Another thing I would do with my baseball cards was try to figure out how much they were worth. They would put out price guides every month that would supposedly tell you the value of each card. I remember I would look up my cards and I would take them and brag about it to my dad: “Look Dad, this card is worth $2; this one is worth $5; this one is really rare—it’s worth $30!”

My dad was never impressed with my claims though, and I remember that he would always look at me and say:

“Son, that card is only worth what someone will pay for it.”

You know, that definition of value makes a lot of sense to me. And if the value of something is determined by what someone will pay for it, God made it abundantly clear for once and for all that the lost are worth more to Him than anything—because He paid for them with the death of Jesus on the cross.

That price was paid even for folks whom we don’t like very much, people who make us uncomfortable, or people who have hurt us in some way.

That price puts all of the distractions in our lives—the other things that seem so important to us—into perspective.

As I said at the beginning of this series, I’m really not a big fan of Jonah, because he reminds me too much of myself:

I’m not always eager to do what God wants me to do…
I make the mistake of thinking that I am somehow more worthy of God’s grace than someone else…
I get distracted by unimportant things and forgetting the value of the souls around me…

Maybe some of you can understand where I’m coming from.

Fortunately, the God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love with the Ninevites is also that same way with me. Fortunately, that same God decided that my soul was worth enough for Jesus to come and die for it.

Pity for Those Who Do Not Know: The Story of Jonah, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:00:00 +0000

In Part 1, we summarized the story of Jonah and noted that Jonah’s attitude toward his mission was very disappointing and not what we would expect from a prophet of God. Jonah was all mixed up about what was important.

But then I think: what about us?

There are over 7 billion people in the world today. Christianity is the world’s largest religion (though not the fastest-growing) with a little over 2 billion adherents. Now, even if we could take that number at face value, that means there are over 5 billion people—16 times the population of the United States—who don’t claim to have a relationship with Christ at all.

And of the 2 billion who claim to be Christians, a lot of those are people that you work with and go to school with and see everyday—people who say they are Christians, but who make no real attempt to be obedient to what God says in his Word. For them Christianity is not something that affects their daily lives, but is rather a box that they check on a census survey. We know that the number of real, faithful Christians is much, much smaller.

It is staggering when you realize just how many people in our world need a relationship with Jesus Christ.

And yet, for the vast majority of us, we hear those statistics, and perhaps we think things like, “That’s too bad” or “What a tragedy” or “I really should do something about that”, but that’s all we do. Why is that?

Maybe there are some people who we just aren’t concerned about. We talked about how the Ninevites were the enemies of Jonah and his people and how this affected his view of them. What about us? You might not have enemies in your life in a classic sense, but you certainly have people who you don’t care for as much. What about your boss at work who treats you unfairly and acts like a jerk? How motivated are you to share Jesus with that person? Or the person at school with a bad reputation, or perhaps the unpopular kid that no one likes—how likely are you to talk about your faith with that person? Let’s be honest—there are some people that we just don’t care about very much!

Maybe our culture has made us feel bad about sharing the Good News of Jesus. In a postmodern culture where people argue that there’s no such thing as absolute truth and that one person’s beliefs are just as valid as another’s, evangelism has almost become a dirty word. People who share their beliefs with others are regarded as pushy, nosy, Bible-thumpers. We’ve all heard the jokes about religious groups who go door to door to spread their faith—we don’t want people making jokes like that about us! It’s actually reached the point that most churches have to have a special Invite-a-Friend Day in order for their members to make much of an effort to reach out to others—what’s up with that? Do people have less of a need to hear the Gospel at other times? Or are we just so impacted by our culture that it takes a special occasion for us to work up the courage?

Maybe we get so distracted by other things that we just forget. You know, Jonah was so concerned about the precious plant that grew up over his head and gave him shade that he didn’t really have enough concern left over for the people of Nineveh! We as a people are so busy; we have so many things going on in our lives that it’s easy for us to get distracted and lose perspective. When we’re so concerned about issues going on at work, or our squabbles with our spouses, or our children’s athletic careers, how can we have concern left over for those who are lost?

As the people of God, I think we can get mixed up too. Just like Jonah was.

Pity for Those Who Do Not Know: The Story of Jonah, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Luke Dockery) — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:11:00 +0000

Jonah is not one of my favorite characters in the Bible, and I think it’s because he reminds me too much of myself.

The story of Jonah is a familiar one—it’s a story that many of us have known since childhood when we learned it in Sunday School.

God calls Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites, but Jonah doesn’t want to, so instead he goes down to Joppa and hops on a boat bound for Tarshish in the other direction. Of course, the boat has trouble at sea, the sailors become afraid and go and wake up Jonah, who was taking a nap, and implore him to cry out to his God. Then they decide to cast lots to see whose fault it is that this storm has come upon them, and the lot falls to Jonah. Jonah confesses that he is running from Jehovah, the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land. At this point, the men become terrified and they ask Jonah what they should do in order to make the sea quiet down. He tells them that they should throw him overboard into the sea, and after the men unsuccessfully attempt to row back to the land, they reluctantly throw Jonah overboard.

Then comes the most famous part of the story, where God appoints a great fish to come and swallow Jonah, and Jonah is stuck inside the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. There, Jonah prays to the Lord, and then God has the fish spit Jonah up on dry land.

And from there, Jonah goes to Nineveh, and preaches to the city, and the people believe him! They begin to fast and put on sackcloth and the king of Nineveh covers himself in sackcloth, sits in ashes, and commands that no man or beast be allowed to eat or drink. And when God sees the repentance of the Ninevites, He decides not to destroy them after all.

And you know, in Sunday School, that’s where we tend to stop…with a happy ending.

But that’s not the ending, and Jonah isn’t happy at all. Rather than being happy that his preaching has led to the repentance of the Ninevites and has saved them from destruction, he is angry—“exceedingly angry” the Scripture says.

So he prays to the LORD and says, “This is why I ran away in the first place, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in love…I knew you would forgive them!” Then Jonah goes on to say that he is so upset that he would rather die than live.

And God asks Jonah an interesting question: “Do you do well to be angry?” And obviously, it’s the sort of question that isn’t meant to be answered, but is supposed to make Jonah think.

You know, people have wondered why this seems to make Jonah so angry. We know from 2 Kings 14 that Jonah was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Assyria (of which Nineveh was the capital city) was a long-standing enemy of Israel. In fact, it would ultimately be Assyria who conquered Israel in 722 BC. So it makes some sense that Jonah would be hesitant for the Ninevites—his enemies—to be saved. He didn’t think they deserved it.

At this point, Jonah goes outside the city and makes a little booth for himself there so he can watch and see what happens. Perhaps he wanted to see if the Ninevites would remain faithful in their repentance or if they would turn back to evil and maybe God would still punish them. And while he is there watching, God appoints a plant to grow up over Jonah, so that it provided him with shade and made him comfortable. Scripture says that Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.

But then the next day, God has a worm come to attack the plant so that it withered, and then a scorching east wind comes and beats upon the head of Jonah and Jonah is miserable again. Once again he tells God that it would be better for him to die than live, and once again God asks him a question: “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”

And all of this language brings into clear comparison Jonah’s reactions to the salvation of Nineveh and the destruction of the plant:

Jonah was “exceedingly angry” about the salvation of Nineveh, but “exceedingly glad” about the appearance of the plant.
Both when the city was spared and when the plant withered, Jonah was so upset that he said it would be better for him to die than to live.
And after both episodes, God tried to get him to reflect on his attitude by asking him if he did well to be angry.

And this second time, Jonah answers the question, belligerently stating that he does do well to be angry, angry enough to die! The plant shaded him from the sun; its value is clear to him. But the Ninevites, on the other hand, why would God want to save them? They’re worthless!

What a disappointing attitude for a prophet of God to have!

Jonah is mixed up.