Rational and Relational

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” –Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)

Rabbinic teaching and debating focused around asking and answering questions. When the Sadducees and Pharisees asked Jesus questions, they were not treating Jesus poorly, they were engaging Him in formal debate.

The question “what is the most important commandment,” was a standard way of discerning where a rabbi stood theologically and to what quality of rabbi he was. If Jesus did not know the answer, it would have been very easy for the Pharisees to discredit Him. Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 respectively.

In the parallel passage of Mark 12:32-34 the Pharisee who asked the question acknowledges that Jesus answered correctly.

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

So the most important doctrine to know, the objective truth, the proposition that needed to be known more than any other is Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. And what do these truths teach? They teach that the most important thing is that we be in a loving community: community with God and with one another. The truth directs us into relationship, first with God, and then with one another.

Why did Jesus say that the Pharisee who asked him what is the most important commandment was, was not far from the kingdom of God? He knew the right answer but he was still not there. He was on the right track but he was still not in the kingdom. Knowledge is necessary but it is not everything.

To understand the law, one must understand that it is relational. To know the law means both correctly interpreting it, and correctly living it out in our relationships. Christianity is both rational and relational. Healthy doctrine leads to healthy community. Christianity involves truth, it involves reason, but this truth finds its ultimate expression not in a creed or doctrinal statement, but in relationship. If there is anything that can mess up biblical community it is in not understanding this truth.

Christianity is both rational and relational. Healthy doctrine leads to healthy community. Christianity involves truth, it involves reason, but this truth finds its ultimate expression not in a creed or doctrinal statement, but in relationship. If there is anything that can mess up biblical community it is in not understanding this truth.

Jesus’ taught that people with the right doctrine would be recognized by their life producing the right fruit in relationship.

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.—Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV)

The fruit that Jesus is talking about in this passage is not doctrine; it is the living out of doctrine in relationship with one another. Jesus’ chief criticism of the Pharisees was not their doctrine, but on their failure to correctly live out their doctrine in relationship.

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.—Matthew 23:1-4 (NIV)

What He goes on to say in the seven woes is that their relationships: both professional and personal, did not match up with their teaching. Jesus is saying, “Beware of orthodoxy that does not lead to orthopraxy.” Jesus was saying that the kind of community the Pharisees were cultivating made it clear that they were not pleasing God. Knowing the doctrine is not the goal. Living it is. You can’t practice it without knowing it, but you can know it without practicing it.

Perhaps Jesus’ strongest statements of this truth are in Matthew 7:21-23 and 25:41-46. In Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV) Jesus says,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Having the gift of prophecy, being able to drive out demons, and performing miracles are wonderful things, but they are not the things that prove we are in the kingdom of God. Then in Matthew 25:41-46 (NLT) where He is telling the parable of the sheep and the goats He says,

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me.
I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

What separates the righteous from the wicked was living a life that showed you not only understood the Law, but you lived it and produced the fruits of generosity, mercy, and compassion. To know and not to do is not to know. If our doctrine does not lead to practice, the doctrine counts for nothing. Christianity is both rational and relational. It is a way of thinking that leads into a way of life. The proof of the saving power and presence of the Spirit is not in the doctrine but in the life together of those who believe it.

The point of discipleship is not to learn but to live. Is learning involved? Yes. Is study involved? Yes. But the goal of the knowledge is wisdom. The end of discipleship isn’t to gain mastery of the Scriptures but to master a life of love. To be a disciple is to be a person whose life is the incarnation of Great Commandment. Because it is about living a life of love there is no set time when discipleship takes place, it takes place all the time. It is not a role, it is a life. It is not something that we can turn on and off. It encompasses all the roles and relationships we have.

Fasting

1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NIV)
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

This is a much more personal blog than I usually post. What is posted below is from my prayer journal. I have posted it because I believe that the things that I struggle with are the things many other Christians do as well. This journal entry is my personal debriefing after a fast I did last week. One of the main issues I wanted to pray about during this fast was the fact that I had let personal time I had set aside for the Lord be used for preparing sermons, studies, and prep for work related things. I enjoy doing that stuff. But while I get a lot out of it--and I should--it should not and cannot replace personal study that is done with the goal of filling my cup. This is an easy trap that pastors such as myself need to watch out for.

May 24, 2010
Lord, thank you for being with me in my first fast for You. I want to take the time to think through the lessons that I learned and the insights You gave in it. I fasted for the following reasons:

• To show repentance for being lax about being spiritually disciplined.

• To give up something I freely give myself for comfort—food—in exchange for the desire to have God as my source of comfort.

• To ask God’s blessing on my preaching this summer and to be given God’s wisdom and message for it.

My original intent was to fast for three weeks—the time remaining up to my summer series. One week into the fast I was very short and easily angered. I found that my prayers were short and very pointed---asking for endurance and for God to take my hunger away and exchange it for a hunger for Him. I think one reason it was so difficult was because I am the cook in my family. I still did the shopping, prepared meals, and entertained. Making all that food for family and friends yet not helping myself to it was very hard. It was on the 7th day that I heard God teach me following.

"See how silly it is to work and prepare food for your family and friends and yet not eat yourself? That is what you were doing in preparing sermons, bible studies, and doing care and counseling and mentoring without feeding yourself. Just start feeding yourself."

The clear implication of this word from God seemed to be that God wanted me to stop the fast of food and stop my fast of study and prayer which was sinful and harmful. I shared these thoughts with Mandi who agreed that God was saying one week was good and He had answered me. Beyond that message—which is the central thing I learned I am also coming away with the following:

• I feel that my nature is still very susceptible to anger. My passive nature keeps my feelings of anger under wraps because I do not like confrontation, but when a bit of comfort is taken from me, I am easily angered. This is something I need to work to eradicate in the strength of God’s grace.

• I realized that there is great wisdom in having set times for spiritual discipline. My casualness about it keeps me from falling into legalism but opens me up to neglect them. This is also a thing I need to work on.

• I also realized near the end of the week that I had done precious little to increase my private time with the Lord. Yes I prayed more, but they were more like bullets aimed at relief than a drive to go deeper. This showed me that the fast revealed what I needed to really be doing—getting into the word. One good thing that I did that I aim to continue doing is listening to the Bible in the car. I have the whole Bible on cassette and can listen to it in the car. Better to fast from talk radio in deference to the Word than food which was making me weak and irritable at home and distracting me at work.

• Perhaps most importantly, I had reaffirmed the importance of my Monday afternoon spiritual time for personal prayer, meditation, and edification. It was very wise advice and counsel that lead me to schedule this time in the first place. I need to be more mindful of it. While God may well keep me from it at times, unless He does, I should keep it.

Such is what I am coming away with. I also had a bit of a hard time coming off the fast. While I ate a vast majority of raw fruits and vegetables, my stomach was not ready for it. I had a hard time for about 24 hours. I am still not back to 100%.

Now I need to define this time. I think I should make journaling a regular component. It is a great way to pray and meditate for me. I should look for some books or studies that I would want to do. I think what I will do is talk to Adriane when I see him at the Jonathan Edwards conference at Yale next month. I would like to read in Post Reformation. I ordered a download of Religious Affections. I will listen to it as the other part of my devotional time for now.


I hope that God honors my transparancy in openly sharing these thoughts by impressing the importance of building the spiritual disciplines into your life and in trusting God to graciously guide and direct you when you do seek His counsel.

70

This is what the LORD says:
“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 9:23-24

This weekend I will officiate at my 70th funeral since I entered into pastoral ministry in 2002. Doing all these funerals can get you thinking about death.

What I have been learning through this difficult season is that the only thing worth boasting about is my Lord and God. My health is no surety that I will be here tomorrow. My riches—weather it be money, or friends, or success—can do nothing to keep death from me. There is no amount of wisdom that can extend my life beyond what has already been written in The Book of Life. Jesus is the only wisdom, strength, and wealth that I will always have, and to put my hope in anything else is foolish.

Speaker Jerry Meadows once said, “What are you going to do today? Yesterday is gone. There is no guarantee of tomorrow. All you have is today? What are you going to do with it?” If you knew that tonight you would be called home to heaven, would you live differently? Would you treat people the same? Would you talk to your wife or husband in the same manner? Would you spend your time the way you are spending your time now? You see, the truth is, there are no more yesterdays. Tomorrow may not come. What you have is today.

Do not waste today. Do not miss the opportunity to boast in the knowledge and understanding of the Lord. Do not put off saying to the people in your life,

I love you.

I forgive you.

I was wrong, please forgive me.

Have I ever told you about the love of Jesus Christ?

Tomorrow may never come for you or for the person you need to say those things to. So when you finish reading this blog, pray that God would give you the habit of living only for the Lord and only in today. Then get up and start living like you would want to live, loving like you would want to love, forgiving like you would want to forgive on the last day of your life. You’ll be glad you did, because one day you will be right!

The Spirit and Forgiveness

A few weeks ago I did a conference call with a group in Mississippi that has been studying my book Forgiveness is Tremendous. I had a great time talking with them and answering questions they had about forgiveness. What really stood out to me as we were going along was that almost all the questions they had came out of the chapter titled “How God’s Forgiveness Is Applied.”

All three Persons in the Godhead are involved in the gift of forgiveness. The Father is the orchestrator of forgiveness and accepts the substitution of His Son in our place. The Son willingly became a man so that He could live the perfect life in obedience to God that the Father requires of all people, and paid the price that God’s justice required of us in His death on the cross. For many Christians these ideas are familiar and are things we hear if we are in evangelical churches.

What I have been learning is that the role the Holy Spirit plays in forgiveness is a new idea to many people who have read my book. The Holy Spirit is what Christ purchased by His life and death and is what the Father gives to all people who ask for forgiveness. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ so that His life counts as ours and His death pays the price for our sins. To be forgiven means to be united to Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

This seems to be the teaching of Galatians 3:13-14 (NLT), But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. As well as Acts 2:38 (NIV), Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

In Forgiveness is Tremendous, Charlie and I wrote;

This union with Christ means several things for God’s forgiveness. First, this union is what makes God’s forgiveness of us possible. Since we are one with Christ, and Christ paid the penalty for our sins, we honestly don’t have to. In Christ we already have.

Second, it is through the Holy Spirit that we receive forgiveness and it is through the Holy Spirit that our forgiveness from God is made real to us.

This union is important to understanding our forgiveness to others because it is the union we have with Christ through the Holy Spirit that enables us to really offer forgiveness. The union we have with Christ and therefore the union we have to His work on the cross is what provides the divine supernatural power that makes our forgiveness of others real and effective.

It is the offender’s connection to the cross that makes receiving forgiveness possible. The work of the cross is constantly being more and more realized in the receiving of forgiveness.

Understanding the role of the Holy Spirit is essential to understanding biblical forgiveness. We pastors and teachers need to do a better job communicating this. We are often afraid to tackle “big theological ideas” because we think we will never be understood, or that the people we are teaching are not interested.

We need to get over that. As James 3:1 (NIV) says, Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We have a responsibility to struggle and strive so that we can pass deep truths to our people in ways that they understand and can incarnate into their lives and relationships. Jesus lived the life He did because of His connection to the Father through the Holy Spirit (Luke 4:1, 10:21; Acts 10:38). If we are to become like Christ, we need to have that same dependence. Dig deep. You’ll be glad you did.

Through the Roof

The world is constantly inventing; genius serves all the purposes of human desire: cannot faith invent too, and reach by some new means the outcasts who lie perishing around us? It was the presence of Jesus which excited victorious courage in the four bearers of the palsied man: is not the Lord among us now? Have we seen his face for ourselves this morning? Have we felt his healing power in our own souls? If so, then through door, through window, or through roof, let us, breaking through all impediments, labor to bring poor souls to Jesus. –Charles Spurgeon

The more worthwhile something is, the more difficult it is to achieve. That is pretty true across the board. Climbing Mt. Washington is one thing. Climbing Mt. Everest is something else entirely. It took Edison 10,000 tries before he got the light bulb to work.

Sometimes the things we want to achieve turn out to be even more difficult than we thought…the first thing that comes to my mind is the recent “big dig” here in Boston. The idea was great but what an incredible cost we have had to pay to get the underground highway to work!

What I have been learning is that this “law” is just as true for the simple and obvious things we strive to achieve as it is for the incredible. Want some examples? How about spending quality time with your husband, or wife, or kids? There is nothing complicated about getting exercise, but how many of us who make a go at keeping an exercise routine actually keep it?

This is true of our relationship with God too. There is nothing complicated about doing what it takes to build a knowledge, friendship, and faith in our Father, His Son, or with His Spirit who lives in our hearts. There is no great financial expense necessary to achieve this. All it takes is reading the Bible, coming to church, being in a small group, and having daily prayer. But we let all sorts of things get in the way of our relationship with God.

We need to be more like the four friends that Spurgeon refers to who would not let crowds, walls, or closed doors keep them from getting to Jesus. They needed Him. Their friend who lay paralyzed on his mat needed Him. And they overcame every obstacle that was put in their way to get before the Great Physician.

Why don’t we have this same zeal? What keeps us from being so committed? Why do so many of us stop short of success? We all have our reasons. They are many. Some are good things in and of themselves. Some are sinful habits that we are too blind to see, or too attached to to let go.

Whitley Phipps, a well known gospel singer, once said, “The greatest chink in the Christian’s armor today is that he thinks God is important….but not everything.” If you want to experience the power, love, freedom, and forgiveness that Jesus has for you, you need to believe that Jesus is everything. You need to be committed to do whatever you need to do in order to get to Jesus…even if that means digging a hole through the roof. It’s going to take effort. But you’ll be glad you did.

Mondays

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.—Psalms 34:7-10 (NIV)

One of the consistent bits of counsel I have received from pastors who have mentored me through the years is to not take Monday as a regular day off. The rationale being that you’re too tired from Sunday to be much of any good on Monday for family. I took this advice to heart from the beginning of my ministry.

Mondays tend to be quieter days at the office so I generally plan my Monday’s to be in the office from 9:00am-noon. During this time I’ll plan my week and do routine office work. Then noon-5:00pm I take for spiritual study, prayer, and reading. This is time that is more geared for myself and renewing my spiritual tanks than for doing church related work.

I have come to really look forward to this time. It is the one long period of the week that I have set aside to be in prayer, the Scriptures, and in the tutelage of greats who feed my soul like Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Fenelon, and others.

However, one of the things I have been learning is that God wants me to hold loosely to this time. Not that it isn’t important, but God does not want me to get dependant on that time for my spiritual refreshment and renewal….He wants me to be looking to Him and him alone for my renewal and refreshment.

Today was a great example of this. A family in the church was having some serious problems with a neighbor—problems that may well become legal ones—and asked for a visit for prayer, support, and encouragement. The time they had to get together was Monday at lunch. When things like this come up, I have been learning not to see them as interruptions, but as special appointments God gives to remind me where my strength comes from. We don’t always get to choose the time or manner of God’s blessings.

It is easy for us to get anxious when God’s plans take us in different directions than we had been expecting. The way to respond to the temptation to be anxious, frustrated, or upset when God takes away a blessing we have been looking forward to away is to be learning to recognize and submit to His mighty hand. That means learning to rest in knowing that God knows what He is doing even when we don’t.

You don’t need to be anxious because God cares for you. You are important to Him! The Church is important to Him! It is the bride of His Son. When we have needs, we can feel free to bring them to Him. We have his promise that He will listen to us and that He will provide all we need.

One of the reasons that so many Christians struggle with anxiety is because God’s plan for you includes bringing you into places where you quickly realize that you don’t have what it takes: you don't have the resources, the confidence, the man power, or the finances.

God is not interested in making you feel capable. He is interested in helping you see that He is capable. He does this because God wants you to see how trustworthy and faithful He is. Trust Him to give you all you need. You’ll be glad you did.

Reading Chambers

My friend and mentor Charlie Jones is famous for saying, "You will be the same person five years from now that you are today except for two things: the people you meet and the books you read."

I don’t know about you, but I have been learning that if I want to change, grow, and mature as a Christian, a husband, a father, and pastor, I need to be reading. And not just reading anything, I need to be reading good, healthy, positive, God-honoring things. One of the books I am in the habit of reading is My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers. This was the reading for November 30. Now before you ask, I know it is not November. Often in my study of Scripture I end up being led to books who speak to the passages I am studying. It was so good, I have reprinted it here for you in its entirety.

“By the Grace of God I Am What I Am”

“By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain …” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.

There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.

That is wonderful counsel. I hope God spoke truth to you through that reading as clearly as He did for me. You can always hear God speaking to you in the Bible. And you can often find great benefit in the wisdom and experience of good Christian men and women who have a passionate delight in God. Reading is one of the most important and effective ways God has provided for us to grow in Him. Make reading a daily habit. Get a copy of a good book like My Utmost for His Highest and start reading. You’ll be glad you did.