The Healing Power of Forgiveness

I came across this video clip while preparing a class this week. I'll confess I don't know much about the speaker, other than his Mormon background. But I thought the message he shared was very thought-provoking. I couldn't get the clip to size properly for my blog, so please forgive the overlap.

The Beautiful One (John 14:1-14)

In John 13, during his last supper with his disciples, our LORD Jesus deeply confused his disciples by washing their filthy feet and telling them they must do likewise. Huh? We didn’t choose to follow you to become some sort of lowly house slaves! Then Jesus confused them even more by coldly predicting one of them would soon betray him. This prediction stirred up a firestorm of muttered questions around the table. But before the tension of that awful moment could fade, Jesus said something even more disturbing. He told them he was about to leave. And then, when the feisty spokesperson of the disciples Peter the fisherman anxiously asked Jesus where in the world he was going, Peter was cryptically told he “could not follow.” When concerned Peter objected and asked his question yet again, declaring his undying commitment to his Master, Jesus dropped the most disturbing bombshell of all. Peter, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times! Peter, you will deny you even know me!

Jesus disturbed people. Jesus challenged and confused people. Jesus’ preaching was very frequently not well received – sometimes crowds threatened his life. Jesus’ teaching about himself, in particular, left many in the crowds screaming blasphemy and crying bloody murder. Jesus was not some warm, fuzzy cuddler of the masses. Jesus spoke plain truth to the masses. Jesus told people “everything they ever did” and many people didn’t want any part of that. All sorts of people walked away from Jesus in his lifetime because he disturbed them.

Jesus still disturbs people. And one of the most significant ways he continues to disturb this world is by intolerantly demanding our singular allegiance. Jesus still stands among us non-negotiably offering only one way to the Father! Yet fearing accusations of religious bigotry and intolerance, today we are told to keep our “Jesus is the only way” stuff to ourselves or at least rephrase things in such a murky, politically correct way no one could ever possibly be disturbed by what we say. Believe whatever verses you want, Pastor, just don’t talk about it! And whatever you do, for goodness sake, don’t talk about the truly hellish, eternally horrific consequences of sinfully rejecting this Jesus as the only way of salvation. That stuff just isn’t marketable; people don’t want to hear it. Just give us the love, grace and comfort stuff…

I can’t do that. There are, of course, all sorts of perfectly obvious reasons I can’t do that but our scripture text this morning gives us a stunning, surprising, and utterly refreshing reason. Open your Bibles to John 14 (page 984) and let’s wallow in something wonderful. Just after Jesus disturbed his disciples by washing their feet, declaring Judas’ betrayal, his own departure and even Peter’s denial – Jesus said something utterly amazing. He said:

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

There is nothing in the world I want more than for all of us to understand how very much Jesus loves each one of us. More than anything, Jesus longs to “untrouble” our hearts. Regardless of how damaged or religiously unacceptable your story, Jesus begs all the children to come home. Both prodigals and older brothers are warmly welcome at his party. He stands beneath the sycamore trees of all the sneaky sinners inviting himself home with them for a meal. He touches all the untouchables and warms all the frozen hearts. If you’re longing for messages of love and grace and comfort, you have absolutely come to the very best place when you have come to Jesus. But we must listen to what Jesus teaches here about the true source of all love, grace and comfort. We must listen honestly to what Jesus says here.

Jesus Is Our Hope

If Jesus has troubled your heart lately, if almost anything has troubled your heart lately, the first thing we must understand is that only Jesus can meaningfully and eternally calm it. Only Jesus has a place and plan for us. Only Jesus is preparing something eternally nice for us. Only Jesus can come back and take us where we most want to go. Jesus is all our hope. And if we’ll spend any serious time with Jesus, we’ll know that. We’ll know the way!

I used to view the first few verses of John 14 as preamble to the important stuff in the rest of the chapter – a little cuddly stuff on the way to the meaty arguments. I don’t anymore. These four verses are the core of Jesus’ desire for us. Do you see? This is thesis statement. This is the most important stuff. Jesus longs to take away troubles and fill up his mansions. He dreams of the day he will come back for us and we will be with him forever. This is his core desire. But the only way we will ever get to enjoy all these wonderful things, the only way our troubles will ever meaningfully go away for good is by embracing the rest of what Jesus says.

Jesus Is Our Way

And first of all, that means we must embrace Jesus as the only way home. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This isn’t religious bigotry or fundamentalist arrogance. This isn’t Jesus trying to pick a fight or provoke people. It is fact. When our doubting friend Thomas asked our very honest question of Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” He was looking for a road map. He was looking for religious and perhaps political direction. He was looking for all the same sorts of answers and directions people still look for today. But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the only way.” Could it be any clearer and simpler than that? Let not your heart be troubled. You trust in God, trust also in me.

Last year, Monica and I took a wonderful weekend road trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, but one of the things I enjoyed most was driving across the wide open prairie land. It was wonderfully serene; like being on a beautiful ocean alone. But as I think of that blissful weekend trip this morning, sometimes I feel as though, as a pastor, I’m out standing at an intersection somewhere in the middle of that beautiful, wide open land. I’m standing there giving people directions to Mount Rushmore. I happily tell them to go west on the I90 a couple hundred miles, past the Badlands, drive up through the winding hills, watch all the signs carefully and they’ll get there. I give them a good map, pamphlets and even some tourist information to help them enjoy the trip and quickly get to their destination. I do all of this…and then I watch as car after car after car turns left instead of going straight.

What is up with that? Honestly! Do you want to see the mighty mountain or don’t you? And if you really don’t, if you’re so very confident you know all the answers, why even bother stopping for directions? If you’ve already made up your mind about precisely how you want to go, if you’ve got your own fancy little GPS, why are you still coming round? And please, please, please do tell me – in a short while, when you find yourself inevitably lost, wandering around thirsty in Nebraska, completely out of gas and food in the middle of absolutely nowhere, why in the world are you angry and critical of those who tried so hard to give you directions? None of this makes sense, does it? This is not difficult stuff. I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. That’s really it. No one is trying to fool you or play games with you. There is only one way home and that way is Jesus Christ of Nazareth!  I can’t offer you meaningful comfort unless you’re willing to accept that very foundational truth.

Jesus Reveals Our Father

Secondly, if we long to escape our troubled hearts, we must understand Jesus as not only our path to the Father, but also the only true revelation of our Father. This is the second great leg of Jesus’ argument. When Philip asked his question, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us,” Jesus responded with “anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” We listen to the teaching of Jesus, we study and apply the behavior of Jesus, we are obsessed with Jesus not simply because he is our way to the Father, but also because Jesus is and always will be our best window into the heart of the Father. In Jesus, we discover our Father’s heart. We see His reflection in the glass. In Jesus, we have the opportunity to know things about God we could never discover any other way.

In Jesus, we discover the full depths of God’s love for us. We discover He who did not even spare his only son, but gave him up for us, that we might enjoy life with him forever. In Jesus, we discover our God is not some distant, unapproachable deity standing angrily in the heavenlies, watching us fearfully and religiously trying to please and placate him. In Jesus, we learn our Father stands at the end of the road, waiting lovingly for the first sign of the prodigal coming home – waiting for the first opportunity to forgive us for insulting and ignoring him. In Jesus, we learn our Father will sweep the whole, dirty house looking for just one of us who is lost. In Jesus, we are reintroduced; we are more fully introduced to the Father who has loved us like crazy all along. Let not your heart be troubled. You trust in God; trust also in me.

Jesus Is Our Power

Then third and finally, perhaps most amazingly and graciously of all, if we truly long to escape our troubled hearts, if we long for comfort, shelter and grace in our storms, we must understand Jesus is our power. If you can’t believe all these other things I’m telling you, then at least believe in the evidence of the miracles themselves. Anyone who has faith in me will be powerful; they will do what I have been doing. They will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name. And then, after saying all this amazingly powerful stuff, Jesus gave a wonderful introduction to the coming presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. I will not leave you as powerless orphans. I am the true vine and you are the branches. Do not be troubled.

Not only is Jesus our only way to the Father and the best reflection of our Father, he offers us the power of our Heavenly Father. He has not left us here alone. He has not left us weak and defenseless. He has not left us with just a form of religion, but lacking in power.

Can I let you in on a little secret? I sincerely believe many people doubt Jesus as the only way to the Father and Jesus as true revelation of the Father because they simply don’t see the power and character of Jesus displayed in the lives of his followers. And so I pray for big miracles. I pray for sick people to get physically healed. I pray for Almighty God to speak in miraculous and surprising ways. I pray for God to work so powerfully among us here at Elim, that when we come to our annual meeting every year, we are amazed at what he did. You see, we don’t want Northeast Minneapolis impressed with what a nice, hard-working, self-sacrificing group of people we are. We are that, but we want people to slowly but surely realize Almighty God is at work here. We want people to come here because they truly encounter God here – in powerful and utterly miraculous ways. We’re not supposed to settle for less than that.

I am the way, the truth and the life. I am the way to the Father, I am the truth about the Father and I am your powerful, overcoming, comforting way through this life and the next. Unless Jesus is our only way to the Father, unless we embrace him as the true revelation of the Father and the power of our Father, our hearts will remain troubled. We will find no comfort.

So let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.

Do you? Do you really believe in Jesus? Is Jesus your only plan?

May God help us see how we are truly answering that question each day!

Amen.

Things That Make You Wonder

"Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know."

~ Job 42:3

Last August Pastor John Piper of Bethlehem Baptist made waves around the Twin Cities by saying the mini tornado that yanked the cross off the steeple of the Central Lutheran Church here in downtown Minneapolis may well have been a gentle, but ominous warning from God.  Inside that church at that very moment, ELCA denominational leaders were meeting to discuss the issue of homosexual clergy.  They were moving and have now fully moved in a direction many people (myself included) feel unbiblical and spiritually worrisome. 

Pastor Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills Church across town, unsurprisingly, took Piper to task for his comments. Since hundreds of tornadoes strike all over the country every year, Boyd felt it unwise to make pronouncements about God's intent behind any particular one of them.  He also questioned why God would send such a warning and not send warnings in so many other situations.  And does God use natural disasters to send messages?  Wouldn't there be a better way to get a message across?

While I almost completely agree with Greg Boyd's questions and arguments, while I too question the wisdom of making spiritually sweeping pronouncements about natural disasters and weather reports - I must confess to some hesitation.  Maybe I'm loopy, but if I were sitting in that church building that afternoon, discussing what they were discussing and some strange winds came along and snapped just the cross off our steeple, I must admit it would give me serious cause to ponder.   I doubt I would say anything out loud about it - but I would be lying if I didn't admit to some curiosity.  Sometimes God does speak in mysterious ways.

In the aftermath of last week's horrific Haitian earthquake, Pat Robertson said Haiti had been horribly cursed ever since its leadership made a deal with the devil at the time of its revolution against the French many years ago.  I don't know exactly what deal with the devil Robertson is talking about, or what Haitian leaders would have the authority to make such a deal and doom an entire nation  - but in any event, Robertson ignited a firestorm.  While Robertson never specifically implied God sent the earthquake or that the Haitian people somehow particularly deserved it, his remarks could and certainly were interpreted that way.  Putting his incendiary remarks in the hands of a culture already hungry for any evidence of Christian hate-mongering wasn't a good thing.  At best, even if his comments were completely correct (which I sincerely doubt), they were very, very poorly timed. 

When I was in Haiti for a couple months in 1978 building an orphanage school, we went to bed each night to the sound of voodoo drums in the mountains above our heads.  Near the end of our summer there, we discovered a voodoo sacrificed dog floating in our water supply - somebody actually tried to poison us!  The missionaries told many stories of spiritual opposition and evil.  Years later, during my military service, as Baby Doc Duvalier fell from power and the country descended even further into chaos, I was privy to some pretty creepy, classified information about things regularly taking place in the country.  There was, and I fully suspect, still are some truly evil things going on in that very impoverished nation.  I have no doubt in my mind there are indeed people in Haiti who have sold their soul to the devil in one way or another.

But that is true everywhere.  So how can we make sweeping, conclusive spiritual pronouncements about what is or is not happening in the spiritual/physical battles taking place in countries around the world?  The short answer is - we can't.  While Almighty God indeed shook down the walls of Jericho, rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, while the armies of God wiped out 100,000 Assyrians in one night and while the book of Revelation does not appear to be "peace and safety" for many lost people at the end of time, we don't know very much about how, when and why God chooses to punish or spare nations.  While I do wonder what is going on behind the scenes in Haiti spiritually, this stuff is way above my pay grade!  Almighty God has not surrendered to us the authority to definitively declare the ultimate cause or causes of Haiti's earthquake or almost any other disaster taking place.  Is God punishing that nation or did He have anything at all to do with this tragedy?  Is our enemy Satan simply devouring people, as he so enjoys doing?  Have the people of Haiti so aligned themselves with the devil, they are now simply receiving the due penalty for their sin?  Or is the nation of Haiti simply unfortunate geographically - is this simply a case of a little nation sitting in a bad spot both for hurricanes and earthquakes?  Who knows?

When Jesus was approached by people in need of love and healing, he didn't stop to analyze who or what  was the ultimate cause of their problem.  Typically, he resisted thinking in those directions.  The lepers simply got healed, the cripples walked and the bleeding woman got well.  Interestingly, even the twisted demoniacs didn't merit much of a "how'd you get this way" lecture! 

We can and will play our cruel speculating games at awful earthquake moments like this (we just can't seem to help ourselves), but at the end of the day, it is simply not ours to answer these deep questions.  We are not qualified.  We are but Job's friends in this situation - we do well to simply shut our mouths, sit down in the dirt beside people and love/serve our hurting friends however we possibly can.

May God help us all be the hands and feet of Jesus we are called to be!

Amen.

This Beautiful Book (Psalm 119)

Where is your Bible today? Is it in your hands? Is it in your heart? Do you carry it with you? Does it drive your day, guide your decisions, comfort your soul and explain your world?

Or was Sarah Groves mostly correct in her song many years ago? Do we go every place emotional and do every new devotional while our Bibles sit there on our shelves with every promise that we’ll ever need? Are we truly getting ourselves fit for truth like we’re buying a new tailored suit? Does it fit across the shoulders? Will it fade when I get older? I wonder…

Years ago during a particularly dry spell of weather up in Ely, Monica and I walked across the recently sodded front lawn of the church. The grass was so brown and crunchy, I dragged out all the hoses and watered the yard. But I don’t think I made much difference. The ground was too hard and dry and my hose too small. A few days later, the rains came back and God did more for that grass in a few minutes than my little garden hose ever could.

I don’t want to give you a garden hose argument for the Bible this morning. In Psalm 119, perhaps the loveliest meditation on the Word of God in the Bible, the psalmist mourns in verse 136, “Streams of tears flow from eyes, for your law is not obeyed.” I believe that. And I believe the principle reason it is not obeyed is that it is not being read. It is not valued. We don’t need another garden hose conversation about the Bible – we need a good soaking rain.

And so I decided I would preach a great, foundational sermon here at the beginning of our year together and get us all excited about our Bibles again. I would talk about the stunning archeological evidence for the historicity and reliability of the Bible. I would talk about the truly amazing manuscript evidence for the Bible – overwhelming in comparison to almost any other historical book. I would talk about the amazing accuracy of the scribes. I would talk about the massive, internal testimonial evidence for the Bible – Jesus constantly quoted and referenced the Old Testament, never once giving any indication he considered it unreliable. The Apostle Paul and virtually all the other New Testament authors did likewise. And then I would joyously stomp through all the significant attacks on the reliability of Scripture over the last hundred years and systematically show why I am utterly unconcerned about any of them; many of them I honestly consider intellectually and academically laughable! While there are all sorts of truly puzzling things about the Bible and in the Bible that I still don’t even pretend to understand and lots of areas for serious scholarly study and legitimate disagreement, I have learned enough over the years to fully rest my life, heart and hope in what this book reveals to me about God and His plan for my life. Mm, raw truth! Let’s talk about that, huh? Let ramble for hours!

But for some reason, the more I thought about a sermon like that, the more all that very important intellectual stuff felt like garden hose talk. There are an awful lot of very smart people who have heard all the smart arguments about the Bible and still refuse to give the Bible any credence at all. And so, I find myself drawn back this morning to 1 Peter 3:15, where we are gently encouraged to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. And do this with gentleness and respect.”

So okay folks, here’s the thing. I love the Bible. I have a very personal relationship with the Bible. I have had countless miraculous experiences with the Bible; time and time again the LORD has spoken to me and through me by the pages of this book. I have twenty-seven beautiful, expensive leather bound copies of different translations of this book on just my study shelves here at church and yet the first place I always go in any bookstore is the Bible section. If I could somehow eat this book, I honestly would! I am uncontrollable in this area. I am no longer entirely rational in this area and I don’t even care! You may find that distracting, but it’s the truth. I believe this English translation of Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic manuscripts is the Word of God and absolutely authoritative over my life. I have been in some dark and difficult places over the course of my life and this book has never failed me, even though I almost constantly fail it. I’m not the smartest guy in the world. At best, I count myself little more than a journalist of the deep truths of God. It is my most profound desire, it is my dearest dream to be simply the very best reporter of the deep truths of God contained in this book.

So you can dismiss me and everything I’m about to say if you wish – many regularly do. But before you do, I would beg just a moment to testify to the hope that is within me.

For many years, my sweet Monica had a peculiar habit whenever I got a new book. She would pick up my book, open to the center of it and breathe in deeply the smell of its newness. She hasn’t done this much since I started teasing her about it, but if there is one thing I would beg of you this morning, it would be to pick up your Bibles, put your face in at least three key, critically important places and spiritually sniff what you find there for all its worth.

The first of those places is 2 Timothy 3:14-17, where the Apostle Paul is giving advice to his young protégé Timothy and he says:

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the people of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I trust the Bible because I know the people from whom I learned it. I trust the Bible because it seemed to me that all the people who knew and loved the Bible best were also the same people I most wanted to be like. For some reason, the most loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind and generous people I knew were people who loved and followed this Book.

I also trust the Bible because I recognize the breath of God in it. I know it is God-breathed. The same breath of the Holy Spirit that first blew into my life as a nine-year old boy at Frontier Bible Camp constantly blows back at me like a warm and happy breeze out of every page of this book. The Spirit within me testifies to the Spirit speaking in this book.

And I trust the Bible because I have learned over the years, especially as a pastor, that the Bible is a better teacher and leader than I will ever be. When I make it my goal to simply discover and get out of the way of the Bible, what I say is useful to people. People are better equipped to face the challenges of their lives when I allow the Bible to teach instead of me.

I trust the Bible because I have personally experienced the truth of 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

The second passage from which I beg you to breathe deeply this morning is 2 Peter 1:12-21. Peter, probably writing shortly before his gruesome execution under Nero, is talking to people about how to deal with false teachers and heresy. He is talking about making our situation with God certain for all eternity. And then, very tenderly and transparently, he says:

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. [Forgive me, but I just have to say this again!] I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

I trust the Bible because I believe, based on this passage and so many others like it, that the folks who wrote all these words down were just common folks like you and I who truly experienced something inescapable – so inescapable they were willing to suffer and die clinging to the facts they were teaching. Who dies for a lie? At one point in this man’s life, he ran away from a servant girl. Then just a short while later, something happened that changed him into a raging, powerfully preaching firebrand. What causes behavior to change like that?

Read and study this stuff! These aren’t the words of some ancient languages scholar trying to make a sophisticated, intellectual argument and win himself a research grant at some snotty university or get a book tour. This is Peter the rough, impulsive and feisty fisherman just talking about what he saw. This is Peter who, along with almost all his best friends, died for these words. This is Peter the wonderfully flawed fisherman, who goes to great lengths throughout Scripture to ensure that history remembers him as the guy who regularly goofed up in the presence of Jesus. Peter will never forget the moment he references in this passage, the great, earth-shattering transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, at least partially because Peter mostly made an idiot of himself on the mountain that day! Jesus was transfigured before their very eyes on the mountain and Peter suggested a campout! The Bible says Peter didn’t know what to say at that moment – but he sure does now. Now, in the twilight of his life, he looks back on that moment as the glorious proof of everything he wants all of us to believe.

These are not cleverly invented stories. This thing is not man’s doing. This is Bible. This is Word of God stuff. And I believe it! This is a reason for the hope I have within me.

The third and final passage from which I hope we’ll breathe deeply is different from the first two. It isn’t the Apostle Paul making an argument to a young disciple or Peter defending his stories one last time before he dies. This third passage is just a young guy in love…

In Psalm 119 we simply find the heartfelt meditations of a man who just loves the Book.

This is one of the strangest chapters in all the Bible. It is the longest chapter of the Bible. It is a strangely acrostic poem based on the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the twenty two sections have eight sort of clumsy verses and each verse begins with that particular letter of the Hebrew alphabet; eight verses beginning with the letter “A,” eight verses with the “B,” and so on. In the German Bible, the inscription over this chapter reads: “The Christian’s golden A B C of the praise, love, power and use of the Word of God.” I know that’s a long and clumsy caption, but it’s a perfect description of the chapter!

But some scholars don’t understand why anyone would write this way. Frankly, I don’t think they understand the psalm at all. One popular commentary shamefully devotes only three paragraphs to the entire psalm. And just listen to that commentator’s terrible introduction to the passage: “Psalm 119 is twenty-two eight-line sonnets, each line beginning with the same letter and mentioning God’s “word,” the sonnets strictly following the Hebrew alphabet, scarcely allowing any freedom for feeling, poetic fancy, or congregational fervor. One can hardly imagine any worshiping assembly chanting doggedly through so many pedestrian, repetitious, and often borrowed lines, so mechanically arranged.” That guy just doesn’t get it! I couldn’t disagree with him more – I think this is one of the most beautiful psalms in the whole book!

I say that because, if we read this psalm carefully, we discover that the psalm was probably written by a young man, according to verses 9, 99, 100. Scholars say this young man, a young Daniel sort of fellow, found himself in a situation where he was derided, oppressed and persecuted by those who did not respect God’s Word and, specifically, by a government hostile to the people of God, according to verses 23, 46, 161. He was imprisoned (v61) and possibly even expecting death (v83). Many good scholars speculate this psalm was written by a young man perhaps living in the exile, imprisoned and about to die for his faith. And as he waited, he used the Hebrew alphabet as a clumsy memory tool to pray and to meditatively reflect on God’s Word. He didn’t mind writing and reciting 176 verses. He had no football game to watch or very much else to do; nothing but time on his hands. These words may be very simple and common, they may not be as sophisticated, concise or poetic as other psalms, they may indeed be filled with all sorts of repetition, but they are not ugly or unfeeling. I believe these words got him through just as they can get us through.

There is so much beauty, wisdom and power in this psalm, when I preached on this text four years ago up in Ely, I simply read all 176 verses of it. How’s that for a sermon? I’m not going to do that today. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to comment on it much at all. I just want to invite you to set aside some time, over the next several days to breathe deeply of it.

One of my favorite writers, Donald Miller, once made the comment that “sometimes you just have to watch somebody love something before you can ever love it yourself.” This Psalm 119 passage is just a guy totally in love with God’s Word. And so I believe it might be more profitable for us all to go away from here today and read it for ourselves than it would be for me to talk about it. So please do that before you go to bed today…I beg you to read it slow.

Breathe deeply of this beautiful Book so that it might breathe deeply into you.

I know there are a lot of people in the world today who think guys like me make too much of this Book. They don’t understand why we would cling so fervently to its teachings even when its words are unpopular, harsh, confusing, controversial or politically incorrect. They find it strange I would argue for biblical truths that fully expose me as a sinner! They think me small-minded, quaint or silly for using the pages of this book to make day to day decisions.

Sorry. But I can’t help it. This Book contains the reason for the hope that is within me.

This isn’t really a sermon today, but just a testimony. I don’t come to you as a paid salesman for God and His Word. I know it’s my job to constantly say nice things about God, Jesus, the Church and the Bible, but please believe me when I tell you that isn’t why I’m saying all these things. I’m not ever a salesman; I am just a very satisfied consumer. I am just giving you all an accounting of the reasons for the hope I have within me.

May God help us all to breathe deeply of His beautiful Word! May we bury our faces so deeply into His Word that His Words will become our words – His ways our ways!

Go read this good Book! Go home and love this beautiful Book!

Amen.

This Beautiful Body (Ephesians 3)

In 1978, I returned from a life-changing missionary trip in Milot, Haiti a changed person. Not only had I lost 65 pounds but, more importantly, I committed my life to some sort of full time Christian service. But having worshipped in grass hut squalor among the poorest of the poor, I had a hard time returning to the wealthy American church. Robert Schuller was building his wildly expensive Crystal Cathedral in California, megachurches and televangelists with weird hair were talking an awful lot about money and carpet colors. I got mad and I stayed mad. I carried an angry prophet’s perspective about the church and American Christians along with me into my freshman year of college. I grew my hair out and prided myself on my unique ability to wisely distinguish real Christians from all the simply religious people in the “established church.”

I wrote off an awful lot of people until I made my Dr. Walter Wessel mistake. I won’t repeat the story yet again this morning; just suffice it to say I was wildly surprised to discover a profoundly tender spiritual heart beating in a man I previously considered dead. I was dead wrong about a dear brother! Utterly and completely wrong! In my efforts to judge, critique and separate myself from all the terrible flaws of the “established church” around me, I almost missed a glorious opportunity to meet someone who even now redirects and refocuses my life.

A few weeks ago, I was discussing a critique of the American church with some Elim friends. As always, the author raised many perfectly valid concerns. But for some reason, the article rubbed me the wrong way – the straw broke this camel’s back. I have been reading critical arguments like his for thirty years. I have been struggling with harsh attitudes about the church since I was a teenager; acutely so since becoming a pastor. But suddenly, completely out of the blue, it occurred to me I have shelf after shelf after shelf after shelf of books in my library with arguments just exactly like the tired ones raised in the article, many of them almost childishly vicious, unfair and superficial in their critique of the church. But I can’t think of one book in my entire library saying the opposite. Can you? I can’t think of one book written in the last thirty years that walks through the church in this country and “thinks on good things.”

Why is that? Some say it is because the church is stuffed full of hypocrites and failure…

Okay, but we are all, by doctrine, hypocrites and failures. Even the very best among us are still only stumbling toward glory. When the Apostle Paul admitted in Philippians 3:12 that he has not yet attained Christlikeness or been made perfect, when he talked about his struggles against the flesh in Romans, he made utterly clear we are all still in process. None of us has as yet completely found what we’re looking for. We all still see through a glass darkly. We all still stumble. We are still stuck in childbirth. So if you want to dwell on failure and bad moments, have at it! Trust me - you will never lack for anger and disappointment. Criticism is easy.

But we’re supposed to be a people who think on good things. We’re supposed to be a people who see value in the lost coins, sheep and prodigals of the world. We’re supposed to be miraculously able to love even the most unlovable, even the elder brothers and Pharisees like Nicodemus coming to us in the night. These are the ones to whom we offer no condemnation.

Later on in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was glorying in his new life and our wonderful oneness in Christ and, in chapter 3 of the book of Ephesians (page 1068), he said:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

It is the easiest thing in the world to see what is wrong with Christians. Any idiot can do that, especially since we’re constantly putting bullets in the enemy guns! That stuff is easy! No – we need to do the harder job. We must find and focus on the good. And we need the help of the Holy Spirit to do that – to see and fully understand the mysterious and utterly good glory of the church. We need to kneel before the Father and pray for eyes to clearly see His glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all the generations, for ever and ever. Amen.

It is my prayer this morning, as we’ve gathered as a community around His table, that the Spirit would help us more deeply understand four distinct mysteries related to the church.

The Mystery of The Body

The first mystery, according to the first six verses, is the body of Christ itself. May God help us understand what it means that we have been joined together as a body! LORD, what does it mean that we are being joined together as heirs? What does it mean that we are “members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus?”

According to 1 Corinthians 12 and other places, it means we are not just some random circle of like-minded friends. We are a body. And as a body, we may think our eyes, nose or toes ugly and unpresentable, but at some point, we must learn to love and accept people for whatever they are. There is only so much brutal amputation, rearrangement and cosmetic surgery a body can stand before the end result begins to look off, odd and abnormal. Don’t you think? Don’t you think the church has spent an awful lot of time, over the last thirty years especially, trying to do cosmetic surgery on itself, brutally cutting itself up, instead of learning to appreciate the parts of the body for whatever they are, for better or worse? I think so.

This body of Christ thing is a mystery we need God’s constant help to fully appreciate.

The Mystery of Our Calling

The second mystery Paul mentions here is the mystery of his own calling. Although I am less than the least of all God's people…grace was given me. Although I am the chief of sinners, God has loved, accepted and called me to preach His unsearchable riches and to make plain the mysteries of His plans for the planet. LORD, help me understand how I might find your strength in my weakness. Help me fulfill your plans for me in spite of my unworthiness.

Unlike other organizations, the church mysteriously advances only to the degree we fully understand our own weakness, not simply their strengths. God is not glorified through my life until I fully and joyously appreciate my own weakness and begin to move in the grace and power I have received from God. Almighty God is glorified when stuff happens through us that is obviously God’s doing. We’re not gathered here as a body because we’ve arrived at some stellar point of perfection. We’re gathered here as a body because we’ve arrived at a common point of need. We’re gathered because we’ve experienced and been called by a common grace.

So don’t expect me or anyone else here to be perfect. God’s gracious calling on my life is a mystery I myself don’t completely understand. May God help us understand this mystery!

The Mystery of God’s Intent

The third mystery we need help understanding is a mind-blower and the centerpiece of our study today. In verse 10, Paul says: “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Wait a minute, Paul. Do you mean to say Almighty God intends to use this messed up, goofy looking body and all these stumbling, bumbling saints to make known your wisdom to the universe??

Yup! That’s pretty much it exactly.

Well, this is a stunning mystery! And the brutal question left hanging in the air by this particular church mystery is that either Almighty God has failed in his intentions and the church is not manifesting his wisdom in the world or, as I’m beginning to suspect, God is succeeding gloriously in his intentions and I’m so busy looking for failure, I’m just not noticing his glorious handiwork. Do you think that’s possible? Might it be possible that the manifold wisdom of Almighty God is gloriously on display in the church all around us and we’re so obsessed with fault-finding, blame games and petty cosmetic issues in the body, we just aren’t seeing it?

I think that is precisely what is happening. Just think about it for a moment…

There was a church here in the Twin Cities area years ago in the midst of a building program that discovered another church needier than their own. So they took a huge chunk of their already scarce building funds and gave them away! Huh? What is that nonsense?

Two weeks ago, over 40 Christians showed up at Loaves and Fishes on Christmas Day to help feed dinner to some homeless and poor people in North Minneapolis. And we didn’t have any big, hard sell recruitment campaign here to get them to do so. Why would they do that? And did you know the Loaves and Fishes ministry has been feeding people over there five days a week for over 30 years? Their current director has been there over 14 years. Why?

Somebody here at Elim decided she really didn’t need any Christmas gifts at all this year and so she insisted her family and friends instead give her hats, mittens and other stuff to donate to our Hope Avenue clothes closet. Isn’t that great? What motivated her to do that?

My younger sister and family took a year of their lives, a huge amount of money and went to Cameroon to serve as medical missionaries in a needy area. My older sister helped to partially bankroll the whole deal and then took time off from her busy pathology practice, went over to Cameroon herself and provided free lab training and services for a while. Why?

Last year around this time, a friend of Pastor Becky’s in another church preached a sermon mentioning our Hope Avenue homeless ministry here at Elim and challenged their congregation to donate the shoes they wore to church that day. The congregation responded beautifully and I’ll bet we’re still giving away shoes from that donation! Remember that?

How many hospitals, prestigious academic institutions and social service agencies in the entire world have Christians and Christian principles somewhere in their foundational story and design? How many helping, socially sensitive, wildly important sheltering ministries exist right here in Minneapolis run almost exclusively by Christians of one sort or another?

My friend Tony Weedor, against staggering difficulties and disappointments, has worked for years to see Liberia’s church have a place to learn and grower closer together. Why?

My friend Jesus Flores, who called as I was writing these very words this week, is now dodging bullets in Juarez, Mexico trying to build a church and make a difference. In a city with the highest murder rate in the world this year, a city with an average of seven murders a day, he wants to know who will help. Jobs are impossible to come by when the drug lords battle.

My friends Todd and Karen Indehar, gave up their home and security in Ely and moved their family to Bangkok, Thailand to care for sex trade workers, the working poor and all sorts of broken people living in truly unspeakable conditions. Why would they do that?

My friends Randy and Donna Weets have given their lives to the people of Panama – at one point their home in Colon was burglarized 20 times in just one year! Eventually, it became almost liberating for them! But they care about the people of Panama and so they continue to serve year after year; their sons are now preparing for ministries of their own. And countless Christian churches all across this country, across all denominational lines, are giving sacrificially so all sorts of useful, Christian missionaries like these can continue to do all they do.

I can look out across just this one congregation, this oasis body we call Elim Church, this very imperfect group of people, and I can attach ministry work of one sort or another to a huge percentage of you. While we are a relatively small group of people, while we have a relatively small amount of money and resources, our neighborhood is different because we’re here.

Almighty God’s intent was that now, through this church, through struggling, stumbling, imperfect people somehow grounded and motivated by Christian concern, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known in the world. This was and is God’s mysterious intent.

And it is happening. It is happening constantly all around the world. The stories I tell here today are only the stories I know about. Wherever Christians are, wherever the church is, the glorious wisdom and ways of God Almighty are being revealed to the world. We can pay attention to all this beautiful stuff, we can rejoice in all this, we can participate in all this or we can ignore all this and continue to write yet more utterly obvious books about our failures.

May God give us eyes to see his wisdom and ways being revealed all around us! May God help us see and rejoice in his mysterious intentions for the church gloriously fulfilled!

The Mystery of God’s Glory

But I wonder if the fourth and final mystery section of this Ephesian passage isn’t the most important. Look at the last section of the passage, the Apostle’s prayer for us beginning in verse 14. What is Paul praying? He is praying we would more fully understand the great mystery of God’s glory. He is praying we would see and fully experience the fullness of God – that we “together with all the saints, [we as the stumbling, bumbling body of Christ – we as the church] might grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” May we fully understand the impossible depth and gracious mystery of God’s glory!

Do you suppose it is possible there is so much nay-saying, judgment, superficiality and harsh criticism of the body of Christ simply because people spend too much time evaluating the body, instead of focusing on the Head? We look at flawed people instead of looking at the fullness of our Savior? How might our perspectives on things be different if we stopped unfairly looking for human perfection and instead started intently focusing on God’s perfection?

When I was in the Army, there was a military cadence we used to sing as we ran along or marched together in formation. I don’t remember all of it, but there was one line that sure seems relevant here. In an effort to keep our heads up, our breathing right and properly facing forward at all times, we all used to sing very loudly to each other, “Ain’t no use in lookin’ down, ain’t no discharge on the ground!” There is something very profound in that, isn’t there?

Don’t get me wrong. There is certainly value in looking down occasionally as we walk along. We certainly don’t want to stumble and fall over obstacles. Of course we need to be constantly aware of things. But at the end of the day, looking down isn’t where the discharge is, is it? That isn’t where our freedom is. Looking down doesn’t help us breathe well, run fast or fight properly. That isn’t ever where the best view of the action and the battlefield really is. And that certainly isn’t where our Commander is, is it? What might we be missing because our eyes are constantly, almost obsessively, looking down instead of looking up? I wonder.

May God help us understand the profound mystery of this body; what it means that we are all stuffed together in this thing. May God help us understand the gracious mystery of our calling; exactly how our weakness more fully displays his glory. May God help us see the great mystery of his manifest wisdom revealed through the church; may we see and rejoice in what he is obviously revealing through the church to the heavens. But more than anything else, may God help us delve deeply into the most profound and wonderful mystery of all – God himself.

May God raise our eyes, may God raise my eyes, ever heavenward! Big picture people!

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

Amen.

The Blessing Service

You may have heard the story of North Carolina Pastor Jack Hinton, while on a short-term missions trip in 1996, was leading worship at a leper colony on the island of Tobago. A woman who had been facing away from the pulpit finally turned around to request a song. “She had the most hideous face I had ever seen,” Hinton said. “The woman's nose and ears were entirely gone. But she lifted a fingerless hand in the air and asked, 'Can we sing Count Your Many Blessings?' Overcome with emotion, Pastor Hinton left the service. He was followed out by a team member who said, “I guess you'll never be able to sing that song again.” “Oh yes I will,” Pastor Hinton replied, “but I'll never again sing it the same way.” Indeed!

This morning we join together both to count and beg for blessing. But we don’t do so in the same old way. Today isn’t about Pollyanna pronouncements that ignore the leprosies of our lives. Today isn’t about singing familiar songs in familiar ways. Today isn’t about blessings as mostly meaningless phrases we shout out to our friends after a sneeze. This day is more than that. On this very special, very different Elim Sunday, we gather to bless and to be blessed.

But what is blessing? What are we really asking God to do here today?

The Bible has much to say about blessing. As a matter of fact, blessing is quite lavishly and wonderfully smeared all over the book. The idea appears hundreds of times, in many different forms. And if we study these appearances, there are common themes that emerge.

Blessing As Fruitfulness

We learn that blessing is about fruitfulness. When Almighty God created life in the first chapter of Genesis, he stepped back from his creation and blessed it. God blessed it and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” Blessing is a very materialistic thing – both now and for all eternity. This theme continues throughout the Bible. And so when we bless each other here today, we are asking God for material fruitfulness and meaningful prosperity both in this life and the next.

Blessing As Holiness

But blessing is also about holiness. In Genesis 2, after six days of creation, the Bible says God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy. And so in a strange and mysterious way, blessing is about setting something aside and declaring it special. We’re doing that as we pray God’s blessing over each other. LORD, we recognize this person as holy and unique!

Blessing As Praise

One of the most neglected aspects of biblical blessing is praise. We must not fail to notice the number of times the Bible calls us to bless God himself. The book of Psalms is filled with encouragement to bless God – to fully recognize the innate praiseworthiness of God. And we’re doing the very same thing as we pray God’s blessing on others. We are fully recognizing and praising their innate value to us and to God himself. Blessing is about praising people.

Blessing As Favor

A fourth biblical aspect of blessing we must include in our thinking is favor. When Jacob and Esau were struggling to obtain their father’s blessing, they were seeking their dear father’s favor on their lives. In the Bible, blessing was all about favor of some sort. In many ways, it still is. When we gather around each other and pray for God’s blessing, we are begging for our Father’s favor on a person. Recognizing the full sovereignty of God, we are asking for what we know only He can give to the people we love. Blessing is about begging the favor of God.

Blessing As Happiness

And yet when Jesus came on the scene with his Beatitude teaching at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, he made one thing abundantly clear. Blessing is absolutely about all these other things, but at its deepest core, blessing is about happiness. Happiness is the very pure essence of God’s blessing. The very words the Bible uses for blessing are quite often best translated as “happiness.” When we pray God’s blessing on those we love, we are longing for true happiness in their lives. Not some superficial happiness depending on superficial things; but a deeply transcendent happiness able to endure all things. Blessing is about happiness.

Blessing As Realignment

And yet in the very same breath, we need to listen closely to what Jesus was actually proclaiming in those pretty Beatitudes. Those happy blessings offered us were dependent on a healthy, holy realignment in our thinking. It is important for each of us to remember that God’s best blessings are always contingent on our valuing them. If I’m not hungry and thirsty for righteousness, I will not be happy and blessed when I find it. I will only find and fully enjoy my happy Beatitude blessings when I am willing to properly align myself with Kingdom values of Jesus. And so when we pray God’s happy blessings on your life today, we are also praying you will more deeply understand how to receive those blessings. We are praying Almighty God will properly realign your values with his own so you will value the happiness he constantly offers.

This morning, as we place a prayer shawl around your shoulders and pray for God’s blessing on you, we are praying all these things. We are praying God’s very best for you and that you would have the supernatural ability to recognize what God’s very best for you truly is.

We believe you matter. We really do! We believe God wants your life to be fruitful, fully set apart as holy, praiseworthy and favored. We believe God wants you to be really and truly happy and to fully and firmly understand where all true happiness is found.

So please come forward and let us bless you today! Let us count Almighty God’s very best blessings on you!

Amen.