Death Undone

Gather 'round, ye children, come
Listen to the old, old story
Of the pow'r of death undone
By an infant born of glory

Lyrics by Andrew Petersen

These song lyrics introduced our church's dramatic telling of the Christmas story this weekend. And in so doing they began to thaw my heart, which I admit was a little cold. To be candid, when it came time to leave home and head out for the first of our Christmas services I didn't really want to go.

I was physically tired, emotionally drained from a long season of ministry, and preparing for a long week of travel ahead. I didn't want to go be a pastor and lead a church service. I didn't even want to talk about Jesus' birth as the culmination of God's vast redemptive plan - a subject you normally can't get me to shut up about. I just wanted to stay home.

So when I arrived, I was pretty out of it emotionally. But one thing that has really struck me these past couple months as our church has studied God's redemptive plan, is how God is undoing death. Maybe it's the suffering that people close to me are experiencing, or maybe it's just my inner longing to go home - real home - I'm not sure. But the songs and scripture passages that have meant the most to me lately are those that speak of brokenness mended, sickness healed, and death killed.

"Listen to the old, old story, of the power of death undone, by an infant born of glory..." As I listened to those words reverberate with music throughout the church, it hit me that this was the point of Christmas: the undoing of death in all its forms. As our arts teams moved through the story of creation, fall, and redemption, culminating in the birth of the one who would kill death and reverse the Curse, I felt selfishness steadily draining from my body. God, what have I to be frustrated about? Whatever ails me, whatever is causing pain and fatigue of life, you are the answer to it.

My fatigue, fed by focusing on my immediate circumstances rather than God's big plan, was dominating my perspective. Could I see beyond my mundane circumstances? Could I see the same ol', same ol' stuff of life as part of God's much larger plan?

That perspective shift set me up perfectly to do my part in the services. I wrapped up the dramatic presentation by talking about Simeon in Luke 2:22-33. Here was a guy who saw beyond the mundane, the everyday. No one noticed when Mary & Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to God because that was such a normal thing for parents to do back then - happened every day. But Simeon had the eyes to see something much greater going on in this particular case, with this particular kid. He knew this was no ordinary boy. This was God's answer to everything that's wrong with the world. Simeon saw Jesus' birth as the death-knell of death itself, and he responded accordingly: with worship. How else could one respond?

Cancer, chronic pain, old age and "natural death" (why is it we call something so unnatural, natural?), saying goodbye to loved ones, exploitation, starvation, oppression... I or people I care about have been affected by them all just this month. These things wear the world out. They wear me out.

But they have lost. Jesus is here. Death is undone. And that means everything to me.

Merry Christmas.

Worldview 101 (Part 3) - Christianity

This entire "Worldview 101" series can be seen here, or viewed individually: part 1 touched on what a worldview is and why it matters, and part 2 looked at the popular worldview known as Naturalism. This post discusses Christianity as a worldview.

Yes, Christianity is more than a religion and it's more than a relationship - it's a worldview. The Bible presents much more than just how to have a relationship with God or how to get one's spiritual needs met. It unveils a comprehensive view of the world, and answers all of life's big questions. Including the 4 key worldview questions:

1. Origin - where did we come from and thus what are we?

Several important themes are embedded in the Genesis creation account that tell us who we are and what our world is like, including...

...God is creator. The implications of this seemingly simple statement are vast. God's nature and character are the standard by which reality is measured. This is the basis of Christian morality (the difference between right & wrong) and our place in the universe (second to God).

...Image of God. Humanity is the only created thing that bears the image of God himself. We were made by him uniquely to reflect his nature. This sets us apart from plants and animals at the most basic level, and forms the basis of Christian ethics (how we should behave).

...Order. The repeated patterns in Genesis 1 show a world of order, not chaos. This forms the basis of wisdom (learning how to live successfully in this world) and science (unlocking the secrets of the world).

...Hybrid nature. God made Adam of physical stuff (dust) yet breathed the breath ("spirit") of life into him. Mankind is thus a hybrid creature, part physical and part spiritual. Unlike the worldview of Naturalism discussed before, Christianity sees the soul, mind, and conscience as real parts of a human being, not illusions.

...Commission. God gave humanity a job in Genesis 1:28, which is to serve as his stewards, caring for and developing the world he created according to his intentions. This responsibility forms the basis of a Christian view of the purpose and meaning of life.

How many important concepts flow from the simple statement, "God made us!"

2. Problem - what's wrong with the world?

In a word, rebellion. We weren't satisfied to function within our God-ordained place in his great, delicate, orderly machine called the world. We sought to usurp his place, to be our own god who determines his or her own destiny. In effect we told God to get lost, to go jump in a lake. The Bible calls this sin.

And that rebellion broke God's created order. Like a failed bearing in the heart of a motor that wrecks the whole thing, our rebellion disrupted, distorted, and threw off all of the beautiful harmony of God's good world, and at bottom that's why there is so much pain, sickness, and suffering in the world.

3. Solution - how is the problem fixed?

God set out to put the world to rights again - a mission that climaxed at Jesus' death and resurrection. Thus the path to solving our problem, as CS Lewis put it so well in Mere Christianity, is to recognize that I'm a rebel who needs to lay down his arms. I must surrender control of my life, my "right" to be my own god, and let God once again be God. The Bible calls this repentance. If I do so, in grace he will accept me and I can be reconciled to him. I will not only enjoy that reconciled relationship with God now, but I have a future to look forward to, consisting of a New Earth that is re-made according to the plan he originally started with.

Note the contrast here between Christianity and Naturalism. Naturalism says the way to fix our problem is to give everyone maximum autonomy - to increase their ability to be their own god. Christianity says that will only make things worse, since that's what got us here in the first place. Rather, the way to fix the problem is to surrender my autonomy to God, who loves me and rightfully deserves my allegiance. You could not find two worldviews more diametrically opposed to one another.

4. Purpose - why am I here?

Christians have a specific life purpose and a more general one - and they're related. The specific purpose is one evangelicals are familiar with: we are representatives of Jesus sent to tender his offer of reconciliation ("ministers of reconciliation," Paul calls us in 2 Corinthians 5:20).

But our general purpose as human beings has never changed. We are still God's stewards, as a race caring for, developing, and ruling over his created order according to his intentions, just as Genesis 1:28 says. This prompts a Christian to live a life that lines up with God's priorities in the world such as:

• caring for the earthly environment even as we live off it,
• advocating for justice and defending the defenseless, be they sexual slaves in Asia, the forgotten poor in backwater nations, or the unborn,
• developing and strengthening cultural forms such as better government systems, legal systems, and family units,
• creating art, and pursuing truth and understanding through various sciences (physical, social, and theological),
• and much more.

In short, the Christian life is infused with meaning and purpose. And unlike the "purpose" one invents for oneself in the framework of Naturalism, the purpose and meaning found in Christianity is real.

The Christian faith is about more than just my personal relationship with Jesus, though it is certainly about that. It's also about understanding God's redemptive plan, and where we fit into that plan so we can live accordingly. In other words it's a worldview - rightly understood, it's God's view of the world.

Next up, and last on my list: Monism (a.k.a. The New Age)

Following God's Lead - Part 1 of 5

I apologize in advance for a slightly longer-than-normal post, but I want to tackle a pretty big question that I think we can all relate to.

I’m currently preaching through the book of Acts, and while preparing to teach from chapter 16 recently the text really hit me. I was struck by how prominent the Holy Spirit’s leading is in Luke’s narrative (especially verses 6-10), and how consciously Paul & his companions followed that lead. It caused me to ask the obvious question: do I follow his lead that deliberately? Am I even aware of how he may be leading me?

In that message I shared four ideas from Acts 16 that may be of some use as we seek to know his will for our lives. I want to restate those ideas here and in coming posts, share some of my personal experience with them, and invite you to think with me because I’m no master of how to follow the Holy Spirit! These ideas certainly don’t cover everything that could be said about this topic, but I hope they help some.

The first thing that hit me is that God seems to lead most prominently when we’re at the center of what he’s doing. After all Paul & the gang got these strong directions from God when they were on the road pursuing his stated goal of evangelizing the world, not while they were sitting back at Antioch sipping lemonade and pursuing their own dreams. The idea is that if I want to see God show up in my life powerfully, I need to move my life to where he’s powerfully showing up. Put another way, the Christian life isn’t about getting God to bless what I’m doing, it’s about getting me to do what God is blessing.

I picture a man on the shore of a powerful river flowing westward. The man wants to go south, so he drops his canoe on the riverbank facing southward, climbs in… and of course goes nowhere. Then he gets frustrated with the river for not taking him where he wants to go. At several points my life has looked rather like that silly man in the canoe! I’m heading in my own direction and wondering why God’s leading isn’t more easily discerned. The point is, if the man wants to feel the power of the river taking him somewhere he’s got to get into the center of the current – and let it sweep him away to wherever it will.

The applications of this idea are probably numerous, but here’s what occurred to me personally: Modern life hands us Americans a script which involves getting as good a job as one can, enjoying as much of life during the “working years” (by the way, where did that phrase come from?) as possible, and then “retiring” so one can enjoy life full time. Or some such thing. After reading Acts 16 I was haunted by two questions, one easy and one difficult. The easy question is: ‘does this script reflect God’s script?’ The answer, when one understands his redemptive plan, is clearly No.

The more difficult question, however, is ‘how thoroughly have I shaken off that American script and embraced God’s redemptive agenda?’ Honestly, the answer for me is… somewhat. I find as Tommy and Elizabeth grow my desire to provide everything for them does as well. That’s not all bad of course, but it does subtly pull me in the direction of earning, saving, and spending a lot on myself and my family instead of investing my time, energy, and money into God’s redemptive agenda.

I realize that if I’m not careful, I’ll raise two kids who are happy and healthy, but who don’t have a blasted clue how to live for Jesus in a meaningful way because they’ve never seen it modeled or experienced it first-hand. And beyond just my kids, I might be totally oblivious to other ministry opportunities along the way.

I’ll be transparent here: I’m not entirely comfortable with this line of thinking. But I’m trying to resist the desire to run from the haunting sensation. I don’t yet know what changes God might bring about in my life as a result. But if those changes amount to pushing my canoe further out into the main stream of where God himself is working, then I want to welcome them.



Honest question: How easy or difficult do you find it to move your life to where God is working? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

Another Good Question: What Are We Missing?

As a pastor I occasionally get some really good questions from people who are wrestling through stuff. Some of them are so good I feel it's a pity that only 2 of us are talking about it, and more people aren't listening in and participating. So I'm going to start a series of posts on this blog that I'll refer to as "Another Good Question." From time to time I'll add a good question I've been asked, along with a few musings that may point toward an answer, and invite your thoughts too.

In this inaugural post of the Another Good Question series, I submit this gem, which actually came to me from a member of my church a while back: as a pastor, what do you see is the main thing missing in the life of the average Christian today?

There is almost certainly more than one good way to answer that question, but my answer is as follows: Christians today are in desperate need of a bird's-eye view of God's redemptive plan. It is this plan that forms the context of everything from theology to Biblical commands to the daily lives we live in his service.

That context acts like a container for Bible knowledge and our worldview: with it intact everything begins to settle into place and become cohesive. But without it, everything rolls around loose and unconnected in our minds, like a drawer full of hundreds of beautiful unconnected pearls. The pearls are pretty, but you need to string them all together to wear them.

Part of teaching this idea at Harvest Community Church was the development of a chart that lays out a non-detailed, high-level view of God's plan to buy back the world order he created (and which we broke). Starting with God's Glory as the point of it all, the chart moves through creation, the fall and it's results, redemption anticipated, redemption accomplished, and finally redemption realized.

It traces the three elements that have always been present in God’s redemptive plan (something that really struck me when I was thinking through the covenants with Abraham and David last year). And of course the chart, like God's plan itself, centers on the cross and empty tomb - redemption accomplished. The chart includes a doc with explanatory notes, to hopefully decipher what can look a bit complex at first (but which, like most things, really isn't too bad once you get into it).

Of course this chart itself is merely a teaching tool, and not the final word on anything. But it is a tool - one I hope will help Christians get the big picture so they can make much better and more Biblical choices in the little, daily picture that we call life.
How about you? Could you articulate even the non-detailed, broad strokes of God's plan through the ages? If so, good for you. I think you're in the minority and you can probably just ignore this whole post (now that you've already read it! Ha!) If not, let me know what you think of the chart, and how helpful it is to you.