This is Church

Affirmation and Trial

mikey — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 03:33:59 +0000

Talk about kindness and trials, grace and suffering as primary means of sanctification. 1 Peter 1:6-7, Romans 2:3-5. God affirms us so that me might refine us, and he refines us that he might affirm us. It seems to be that the point of our life is to look like him (Ephesians 2:10, Romans 8:29) but also to be with him and simply enjoy him.

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Heart Cultivation

mikey — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:45:47 +0000

The Bible often talks about our hearts as soil (parable of the sower). I want to talk about how to tend that soil that it produces spiritual fruit. We will be held accountable for every careless word (Matthew 12:36), but it is out of the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34), therefore we must learn to guard and tend our own heart. If our heart is pure, so will our mouth be (James 3:8-13). Don’t just protect from people hurting it, but protect from the world corrupting it, busyness, etc.

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Humility Before Honor

mikey — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:09:12 +0000

Most people know the first half of Proverbs 18:12. You know it if you’ve ever been warned “Pride comes before the fall” but I’ve much more rarely heard the second half, “But humility comes before honor.” I have to admit that in the YouTube generation, I want/expect instant honor. I want pure meritocracy where the smart ones get all the glory. It’s because I’m wounded.

But I’ve been thinking a lot about the second half lately, especially because I feel like I’ve been in a period of humbling for some time.

Here’s Donald Miller’s take

Grace Avoidance

mikey — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:18:40 +0000

Internal grace avoidance: Either shame (I’m not worthy of a clean slate) or Defensiveness (I didn’t do anything that needs grace).
External grace avoidance (in community): Let’s learn how to move from “It’s no big deal, I didn’t do it perfectly either” to “I forgive you; will you forgive me also?”

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The Dark Trinity

mikey — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 12:45:53 +0000

Nouwen: We false define ourselves by: What we have, what we do, what people say about us.
Look at temptations of Christ in the desert.

1 John 2:16 – Lust of the flesh (temptation to feel), lust of the eyes (temptation to have), the pride of life (temptation to be) according to Rick Warren.

Also look at Genesis 3:6 as a play on this, and Matthew 16:24 as a rescue from this.

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This is Church?

mikey — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:10:31 +0000

I recently ran by this video, put together by The Foursquare Church, and wondered how much it hits home with my generation. As you watch this video, do you find yourself shouting in agreement with the ideas implied, or do you push back against them? I’d love your thoughts, because I want to think more deeply about how these two approaches to church and ministry (often named “attractional” and “missional”) resonate with our culture, specifically campus culture.

Sheepology 103: Shepherding, Part 2

mikey — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:43:25 +0000

This is the third of a three part series on the role of God as our shepherd and we as His sheep. So far I’ve presented two aspects:

1) That sheep are dependent, defenseless, and directionless—and we are like sheep [1 Peter 2:25].

2) That when we understand what shepherding was like in biblical times, our trust of & intimacy with our Shepherd God will change.

In this post I will share two final passages and concepts about biblical shepherding that hopefully will shed further light on our “sheepish-ness” and God’s goodness as our Shepherd.*

The first has often brought me hope when I’ve needed it most: our Shepherd is a passionate healer. God reveals His attitude toward our pain in Lamentations 3:32-33:

“Though He brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.”

God does not want to cause pain, but He will if it is the way to save us. Consider the following:

If a sheep strays habitually, she is a danger to herself and all those who follow her (remember, sheep seek a leader). The shepherd could just let her go, but he is fiercely protective [1 Samuel 17:34-35]. He doesn’t want her or any of the others to suffer fatal harm by wandering into danger. So instead, he breaks her leg.

Wait a minute.

He breaks her leg? What kind of sadistic shepherd does that? Isn’t there another, less extreme way? And don’t we often wonder the same thing about God? I have spent so many nights crying out to God, asking if He sees my pain, asking how He could ever allow it, accusing Him of caring only for His own agenda and not my good. It is in these moments that understanding God’s Shepherding has brought me comfort:

Hopefully it is evident by now that a shepherd has meaningful relationships with his sheep. If you have ever owned an animal, you understand the torment of seeing it suffer. The decision to allow or even cause pain in the life of a precious sheep must be agonizing for the shepherd. Yet he is compassionate in the midst of her pain and healing.

The shepherd will carry his injured sheep on his shoulders while she heals. This is not easy: often these are big, heavy sheep, not little lambs. He feeds her by hand; she poops by his face. The process is lengthy and requires much effort. But he loves her, and she is worth it. I really think the shepherd enjoys the intimacy of this time [Isaiah 40:11].

During the restoration period, the sheep comes to personally know and trust the shepherd. She trusts his hand to feed her; she has smelled his scent daily; she has heard his voice in soft tones by her ear for weeks. She will be the sheep that stays nearest to him after this, because she loves him and knows he is good.

The shepherd often gives this sheep a bell to wear. Other sheep know when they hear the bell that their shepherd is nearby. This “bell sheep” draws the flock to the shepherd simply by being near him. The shepherd doesn’t need her to do this, but he loves to empower her and honor their relationship.

Finally, we can trust our Shepherd because He was also a sheep. Throughout Scripture Jesus is described as “the Lamb” [John 1:29]. This is comforting: who better to lead me than someone who knows what it is like to be me?

Take athletics for example. I want my coach to have at one time been where I am and to have had success. I will respect that he or she knows how to train me, how hard to push me, and when to let me rest. A coach lacking understanding of what it’s like to be an athlete will be ineffective at best, and dangerous at worst.

Jesus was like us. He was deliberately defenseless, directionless, and dependent on His Father [John 5:19]. He says He understands every difficulty we have. His experience as a sheep emboldens us to approach Him freely, knowing He is gracious and merciful toward us [Hebrews 4:15-16].

So now the question: Why does any of this even matter? In my life, the concepts I’ve described in this series have drastically affected my freedom in the world and intimacy with God:

For instance, if God made me like a sheep, then He must be willing and able to lead, protect, and actively provide for me. I can rest in my Shepherd’s active attention to detail, even when I can’t see what He’s doing.

If I know that I am needy and my Shepherd is passionate and selfless toward me, I will turn more quickly and confidently to Him myself & on behalf of other much-loved sheep.

If I am created for a dependent relationship on Someone Else, there is freedom from shame and false independence. I can stop imagining my Shepherd resents me for my neediness and begin thanking Him for that which drives me into His arms. I can stop thinking I can save others on my own and instead entrust their well-being more fully into the hands of One who can actually save. I can stop viewing pain in my life as certain evidence of the Shepherd’s anger & begin seeing it as precious opportunities to be held by Him.

My hope for you is that through more deeply understanding the shepherd-sheep relationship, you may begin to love dependence on Him, find deeper trust of Him, and more freely extend grace to yourself and others for being limited and needy.

I encourage you to consider the following questions in light of this series:

Does knowing what a shepherd is like help you see God’s actions in your past (or present) any differently?

How would your life change if you knew you and everyone around you were sheep?

How would you depend on God more if this is what He is like as your Shepherd? (Obedience, for instance, is often an indicator of our level of trust in someone.)

Dependence is not bad. We are created to embrace dependence on One who Loves us. As J.N. Darby put it,

“Two things are implied with dependence: first, the sense that we cannot do without God in a single instance; and, secondly, that He is ‘for us.’ In other words, there is a confidence in His love and power on our behalf, as well as the consciousness that without Him we can do nothing.”

May we each know the Shepherd’s love for us and encounter His provision for our need.

*Most of my information has come from the Gracestoration Bible Study (www.gracestoration.org) and from Philip Keller’s book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. Keller was a shepherd in Africa for a while, where shepherding is still as it was in biblical times.

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Sheepology 102: The Shepherd

mikey — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:41:53 +0000

In the Bible our relationship with God is likened to that of a shepherd and his sheep. In the first part of this blog series, I examined what the nature of sheep is like. They are dependent, defenseless, and directionless. God created incredibly needy animals, and then declares repeatedly that people are like sheep [Ezekiel 34:31].

As I’ve learned more about sheep, my view of what God means when he calls himself a Good Shepherd has also changed: for a needy sheep to thrive, a shepherd must be a constant provider, leader, and protector. Unfortunately, Middle Eastern, biblical shepherding was quite different than the Western style today. This discrepancy affects our understanding of God as our Shepherd.

In the next two posts of this series I’d like to share four passages about shepherding that, when understood in context, give precious revelations into God’s shepherding role.* My hope is that as aspects of God’s shepherding heart toward you are explored, you will recognize more moments in which God has been your Shepherd, and your trust of and intimacy with Him will deepen.

I’ll start with that which has been the most surprising to me: our Shepherd is a warrior. In 1 Samuel 17:34-35, the shepherd David describes his attitude toward the care of his flock:

“David persisted… ‘When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death.’”

If I were a shepherd and a lion stole one of my lambs, I’m pretty sure I would accept the loss! David displays a drastically different attitude as a shepherd: He is not sedate and passive. He is fiercely passionate. As our Shepherd, God will risk everything to ensure our peace and freedom. He is dangerous on our behalf. We can describe our Shepherd God as C.S. Lewis described Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: He’s not tame, but He’s good.

Secondly, our Shepherd is compassionate, and His compassion moves Him to action. Matthew 9:36 says, “When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and [downcast], like sheep without a shepherd.”

The word “downcast” is a term that comes from a common event in the life of a sheep: becoming “cast.” A sheep becomes cast when it has somehow fallen on its back, a deadly situation it usually cannot escape on its own. There are four ways this can happen:

Over-eating. The sheep may get heavy and bloated, and roll over too far on its back when it lies down for its after-dinner-nap.

Over-burdens. If a sheep isn’t around its shepherd much, its wool can accumulate brambles and the sheep can easily lose its balance.

Overconfidence. A sheep may stray from the prepared pasture into land that seems more appealing. Often, the taller grass hides hollows into which the sheep might roll. (There was reason the shepherd didn’t choose that pasture. . . .)

Victimization. Becoming cast isn’t always the sheep’s fault. You’ve heard of cow tipping. Think: sheep tipping.

Poor sheep. Just watch a few seconds of this for a great visual:

Lying there, the sheep struggles. All the gas in its belly moves to the top, organs shift, blood drains from its legs, and if it is not found quickly it is likely die from the trauma, dehydration, or predators. If other sheep find it, they are not able to help the sheep to its feet either. The only way to help their friend is to cry out for the shepherd.

Even if the sheep-friends could right their buddy themselves, it wouldn’t be good. If a sheep has been cast for any significant period, it cannot simply be turned over or it will suffer, fall down again, or possibly even die because of how its innards have shifted during the time. There is an intimate process that must happen for each sheep every time it is cast:

First, the shepherd finds and calms his sheep. He speaks to it, reassuring it that he is near, that it’s going to be okay. As he comforts it, he massages its belly, restoring the organs to their proper place. He moves on to the legs, rubbing them to restore the circulation so it will have a strong footing when he turns it over. When it is safe to do so, he will set it on its feet but does not yet let go. Holding it securely between his legs, he makes sure it can stand; if over-burdened wool is the cause of the casting, he will use this opportunity to sheer it. Finally, the shepherd takes the first few steps with his sheep, carefully, lovingly restoring it to freedom.

The shepherd will do this every time it’s necessary. To him, each sheep is precious and worth the effort. I love the intimacy of the process – the commitment of the shepherd to his sheep, the tender attention to detail, the willing patience. . . . It is a beautiful glimpse into the heart and actions of our “good shepherd” [John 10:11].

Though the Bible says God is a warrior and a compassionate master, depending on Him to come through daily is still terribly difficult. It can be easier to trust Him when we remember the times we’ve been cast and seen our Shepherd restore us, or been attacked and seen Him fight for us. Take some time to remember the ways God has fought for or restored you in the past – in big and small ways. Thank Him for the goodness you have experienced, or cry out to Him about that which still makes no sense to you.

In the final part of this series, I will share two other passages which shed light on the shepherding heart of God. May you see Him ever more clearly as He cares for you.

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Sheepology 101

mikey — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:12:45 +0000

I’m glad to introduce a three-part guest post series by one of my very favorite people, Sarah Draves.

Sarah w/ a sheep

Sarah has been an incredible friend to my wife and me over this past year. This series, which explores the biblical use sheep and shepherding imagery, is close to her heart, and it’s my hope that God gives you as much insight through it as He’s given me. Without further ado, Sarah’s Sheepology series:

A friend gave me an unexpected gift the other day. I love gifts, so I was excited before I even opened it. I got even more excited when I pulled out an adorable, hand-made stuffed lamb.

Apparently, I’m a person with a very specific “Thing.” You know what I mean: Once, you mention casually to your family that you think unicorns are pretty neat, and for the rest of your life no one ever passes anything “unicorn” without purchasing it for you—all the while assuming the gift will bring you supreme happiness.

Unlike most twenty-somethings, my Thing is not a sports team or a band or even a unicorn but, rather, Sheep. And unlike most people who come to dread receiving their Thing year after year, I joyfully welcome anything related to my Thing.

Several years ago a mentor shared with me her passion about God’s identity as our Shepherd and our identity as His sheep. In order to understand the profound meaning of the relationship God is ascribing to Himself as our Shepherd, I had to understand two things:

1) the nature of sheep, and
2) that our Western shepherding is not the kind of shepherding Jesus was talking about.

The nature of sheep must be explored first, in this post, since shepherding is based on the needs of the sheep. The next post in this series will compare Western and Eastern shepherding; much shepherding in the East today is still quite similar to biblical shepherding. When we begin to paint a picture of what a relationship between a shepherd and his /her sheep was really like, we can really begin to view God, ourselves, and His heart toward us in new ways.

The New Testament alone references people with sheep close to forty times. I really think God created sheep as a reflection of our human nature. Learning about them has been both sobering and hilarious.*

Before we start looking at what sheep are like, allow me to step on my soapbox for a minute to address what sheep are not: sheep are not dumb. They are extremely needy and, in attempts to meet their needs, can be driven to do some pretty dumb things. (Soapbox over.)

Sheep are actually quite relationally intelligent. In studies, sheep can visually recognize up to fifty individual sheep by photo. They also have strong emotions and frail hearts: sheep feel pain over the pain of other sheep in their flock. In fact, when one of its sheep-friends is in distress, a sheep can literally kill itself with worry because it can’t do anything to help. All it can do is to cry out for its Shepherd to come rescue its friend.

Sheep are Defenseless, Directionless, and in all ways Dependent.

No other animal is so dependent on someone else to take care of it. Its wool, for instance, has to be sheared regularly, or it becomes matted and overgrown, and debris accumulates in it. As a result, the sheep can become overheated and topheavy; and when a sheep gets topheavy, it easily lose its balance and falls over—a position from which it is unable to escape on its own. Once a sheep is on its back, it is stuck there until someone finds and rights it, until it starves to death, or until a predator puts it out of its misery.

All sorts of things can cause suffering for a sheep. Flies will gather on its face and can drive the sheep insane. In an effort to relieve itself of the constant annoyance, a sheep will hit its head against tree stumps or fence posts, sometimes causing its own death. To prevent this, the shepherd will smooth oil around the sheep’s eyes, nose, mouth and ears to repel the tiny Death Files.

Parasites will burrow into the folds of skin beneath the sheep’s wool, lay eggs and cause infection. The shepherd must investigate every inch of his sheep’s’ bodies, and will pay that same tender, meticulous attention to each one.

Sheep are also prone to overeating, over-drinking, and slothfulness. The shepherd carefully weeds dangerous plants from the pastures to which he leads them, and often wakes them early in the morning when dew is on the grass so that they can hydrate and eat all at once. He takes individual walks with those he notices have been inactive.

In their dependence, sheep are also directionless. [1 Peter 2:25] They seek a leader to follow, even if it’s just another directionless sheep. (In Turkey in 2005, 1,500 sheep followed one wayward sheep off the edge of a cliff while their shepherds were having a lunch break!) Sheep also get overwhelmed and paralyzed when given too many options to choose from while traveling to new pastures, or when the path seems scary. The shepherd knows to show them clearly which opening to go through and which steps to take.

Sheep are dependent on a shepherd for defense as well [John 10:12]. They have neither defensive nor offensive weapons; they don’t even have front teeth. (If attacked, a sheep could perhaps gum its attacker to death . . . .) Sheep are prone to heart attacks if terrified, and can become too scared even to bleat. Should the sound of a predator be heard, the eyes of all the sheep will flash to their shepherd. [Exodus 14:13-14] They know they are helpless without him.

Sheep may be the most wholly dependent creatures I’ve ever heard of, but God says people are no different. Our world and our own Selves cry out, “gain independence; you shouldn’t need anyone/thing; defend yourself; figure it out on your own!” But Jeremiah 13:11 says differently: God created us to cling to Him. Our neediness is nothing to be ashamed of; we were created for it [Psalm 100:3]. God could have said, “You are the lions of my pride,” but he didn’t. God could have made us any way He wanted to, and yet He chose to make us like dependent sheep. Our God is aware of our need and, further, is prepared and willing to provide for us in every way.

If we are created dependent, then there must be no expectation that we would be able to handle life on our own. So often I am reluctant to engage with God because I think He won’t protect me, won’t guide me, doesn’t care about the details of my life. But if God knows I am a dependent, defenseless, directionless sheep, then He must be paying attention to me. If I am simply a sheep, a Good Shepherd would never abandon me to care for myself, defend myself, or figure out my own path.

In light of this knowledge, I begin to be more merciful and gracious with myself. And I draw near more confidently to this actively attentive God.

If we are sheep, we can abandon the stubborn independence that drives us away from intimacy with God, the shame that comes when we sense our neediness. Instead we can embrace the limitations of our nature and be drawn more joyfully into his arms. We can delight in being His sheep [Psalm 23:1] – like this little guy:

As I’ve learned about what sheep are like, it has redefined my concept of what a good shepherd would be like. In the next post, we’ll look at four passages in Scripture that especially illustrate the kind of Shepherd God calls himself.

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their peace.
— Micah 5:4-5

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A Gospel Worldview Part 5: A Theology of Vulnerability

mikey — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:37:24 +0000

In my last post, I promised you a sort of “lab exercise” where you can practice this concept of viewing the world through the story of the Gospel, and assessing what things are true and false based on their agreement with the greatest story ever told. In this post, we’ll consider the topic of vulnerable or intimate self-disclosure, and see how the Gospel of Jesus might affect our attitudes on this.

With the aid of my friend Tim Courtois, I recently came across probably the most concise treatment of the topic of vulnerability and its benefits that I’ve seen to date. I wanted to show it to you, because it just might change your life. Seriously, this will only be 20 minutes of your time; and heck, I’ll just go ahead and say I guarantee it’ll be worth it. But I want to first give you a warning: it’s incomplete. In fact, anyone who ever talks about something good or true or beautiful without demonstrating its origins in the cross of Jesus will be incomplete. In this case, Ms. Brown gives us some of the “why’s” of vulnerability, but not much in the way of “how.” I’ll share more after you watch the talk.

There was so much I loved about this talk. I loved how she named and dismantled our culture’s obsession with being someone else (someone “better”), and the shame that both produces and results from that message. I loved her thought that making yourself vulnerable opens you up to shame, rejection and exclusion, but is also a precondition to receiving love and acceptance and experiencing the authentic joy that results. I loved the insight that emotions are not selectively numbed (if only someone told me that in middle school!); only whole persons can be numbed. I loved her description of blame as a “way to discharge pain and discomfort.” I loved the exhortation to allow us to be deeply seen and love with our whole hearts. And she was funny; I think I’d rather enjoy hanging out with her.

But there was one element of this talk (or non-element) that left something to be desired for me; it can be seen at many points, but each instance ties together with the others. First, in her analysis of religion, she says, “Religion has gone from a belief in faith and mystery to certainty; I’m right, you’re wrong, shut up. Just certainty.” She decries certainty in a belief as an evil form of invulnerability resulting from the fear that accompanies a personal sense of unworthiness. She seems to imply that people are only ever certain about a belief because they are too insecure that maybe they’re wrong to actually consider others’ views.

Elsewhere, she discusses the necessity for the courage to be vulnerable, so that we can experience authentic human existence, but says little of the source of this courage. Most importantly, her central thesis is a commendation of a mindset of worthiness; she even ends her talk by saying the most important thing is to believe “I am enough.” But she fails to provide a basis for this important, yet extremely difficult belief. I think all of us want to believe it, but we struggle to know it, to really believe it with all of our heart.

Now, here’s the crazy part. The very certainty of faith she dismisses at one point later ends up being the very thing we need in order to believe “I am enough!” Now, I won’t fault Ms. Brown for a single careless word here; I don’t actually think she meant to say that there’s something wrong with being grounded or certain of your faith, but rather that there’s danger in a dogmatism that is fearful and unwilling to listen to other viewpoints or embrace the mysteries of faith. Jesus agrees, and he had some pretty harsh words for the fearful dogmatists of his day (Luke 6:41-42).

But my question here is, what is the basis for having the courage to be vulnerable? If it comes from me believing I’m worthy of love; believing I’m enough, and that kind of faith seems to be incredibly hard for just about everyone (hence all the world’s problems she mentioned), then what is the radical solution that allows me to believe this so firmly? How can I be so certain of my worthiness that I’m willing to lay my heart bare before another person, to initiate sex with my spouse, to say “I love you” first, etc. (to use her examples)? If vulnerability and joy are the ends, then what is the means? On this, at least in this talk, she is silent. If she had an answer, I hope she would have shared it here since it would unlock everything she teaches as being necessary for a fulfilling life.

But there is an answer. Jesus is the answer. He’s always the answer. A God who sees and knows us perfectly, and still chose to love us, proving so by pay the highest possible price, his only son, that we might be reconciled to Him…He is the only one on whom I can fix my eyes and have certainty that I am worthy of love. He is the only one who could ever empower me to a life of true vulnerability; a vulnerability powered by God’s supernatural affirmation of my soul as I continue to trust in Him. Telling myself I’m worthy, or even hearing it consistently from others (if that were possible in this world), would be too shaky a foundation for me to truly know my worthiness. The dark moments too easily convince me that I and those around me must be mistaken regarding my worthiness. But an all-knowing God paid the ultimate cost in a public and historic manner in order to bring me back to Him when I was at my worst…now that is just enough for me to risk being truly seen by another.

If you’d like to hear more on this, I go into this topic in depth in “What You’re Worth” series of posts from February and March of 2010, particularly Part 2.

I hope this gives you a clearer example of how a Gospel lens helps us process ideas. I hope this is also further evidence that while our culture’s most prevalent worldviews are quick to tout the evidence for a claim like “Vulnerability is good,” they lack the theoretical framework for the claim. The Gospel is our framework. May you claim and experience the freedom from condemnation that Christ bought for you with his blood (Romans 8:1) by living vulnerably in an invulnerable world.

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