Staff Meeting Devotion Dec. 4, 2012
Mary’s Song
“And Mary said: ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.’ Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.” Luke 1:46-56.
Can you think of a time when you did something reluctantly because you didn’t feel you had what it takes to do it well? Mary, after being given the news by God that she would bear the Son of the Most High, rejoiced at this incredible task. Granted, at that point she may not have been thinking ahead to the details and the hardship that could come, but her excitement at God’s choice to use someone like her to do something so remarkable is striking. God uses those the world doesn’t pay attention to. What a privilege it is to be used by God in any way! He doesn’t look for those who have it all together and stand out—he uses the humble.
It all comes down to bringing glory back to God. Mary declares, “From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.” (vs. 48a-49) She is excited about being called blessed, but in the same sentence acknowledges that the blessing comes from God.
How might challenges that you are facing bring glory to God? Will you humbly believe that God can use you as you are?
Staff Meeting Devotion Nov. 20, 2012
“The Canaanite Problem”
For several weeks I’ve been studying what some have referred to as “The Canaanite Problem.” This “problem” comes from the incredibly violent stories of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land (for a glimpse you can look at Joshua chapters eight through eleven). In these passages the Israelites are commanded to destroy cities, destroying everything that breathes. What do we make of these violent episodes?
Part of me thinks we are supposed to struggle with them – with the killing of men, women, and children. I’d be concerned if we didn’t struggle. The fact that we do says we have compassion. In fact, it seems to reflect something of God’s heart in judgment too. He is just, so he judges (which the Bible makes clear, the conquest of Canaan was fulfillment of promises made to Abraham AND judgment on the wickedness of the Canaanites). But, Ezekiel 33 reminds us that God takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”
But, God did command Israel to be his instruments of judgment, and that meant the death of many wicked people. Why? Why did God deem the Canaanites more worthy of this judgment than other people groups? Why didn’t God just execute the judgment himself like at Sodom? Why involve Israel in the violence?
Those are all questions I’ve been wrestling with recently. But, God took the struggle in a different direction these past few days. To this point, it’s been an intellectual struggle. This week, through a book by Paul David Tripp, I was reminded that the goal of the Word isn’t theological rigor, but transformed hearts and lives. He writes, “The ultimate purpose of the Word of God is not theological information but heart and life transformation…it is dangerous to teach, discuss, and exegete the Word without this goal in view.”
So, I began to ask what God wanted to do in my heart. First lesson: humility. God was reminding me that I’m not his judge, nor do I stand above his word as critic. Instead, the proper posture is always under the word as submissive and obedient servant. If my sense of justice is offended by the Word, it’s my sense of justice that needs to be adjusted, not the Word. I was reminded of Isaiah 55:8-10, “ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Or Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” Interestingly, both of these passages extolling God’s wisdom come in the context of broader discussions of disobedience, judgment, and God’s sovereign grace.
The second lesson was on the importance of faith. I trust God is good. I believe in his righteousness. But…sometimes I need more faith. This Sunday we were reminded in the services of the prayer, “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.” I need that prayer when studying passages like Joshua 8-11.
Those passages humble me and call me to a new level of faith in the goodness of God.
Staff Meeting Devotion Nov. 13, 2012
“Impediments to Godly Wisdom”
Have you noticed all the images of Jesus that people have created throughout the centuries? Growing up, my mother displayed funeral prayer cards from family who had passed away, and I would look at them in contemplation. The cards had images of Jesus on the front and prayers to Jesus on behalf of the deceased on the back. Some had pictures of the Sacred Heart with its thorns. One was a picture of Jesus with a pinkish, 3D-ish flame above his head that I, in my childhood, took to be pink frosting. I spent a lot of time pondering this image and wondering why Jesus had pink frosting over his head. I asked my mother about it. She clearly didn’t know either, because she tried to convince me that it was a flame!
So what effect did these images have on my knowledge of God? Mostly, they distracted me from knowing Him, even as I thought I was spending time contemplating Him. It prevented me from gaining wisdom. I find in this story examples of three spiritual errors from childhood that are still impediments today:
1. Stubbornness or hubris: My stubborn conviction about the pink frosting is laughable to me now, but I think I still look to God that way. Proverbs 11:2 points out that “when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” James 1:5-6: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt…”
2. Distraction: By failing to look to God’s word and listen to the Holy Spirit, I can be distracted or sidetracked by trivial things. Gaining understanding will move me past distractions into the greater truth that God has for me. Proverbs 3:5: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Colossians 1:9: “…We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives…”
3. Failure to receive the wisdom of the surrounding community of believers. This isn’t necessarily a rejection of wisdom, but a lack of opportunity. I tend to be reticent about sharing personal insights. If I don’t share, I will not gain that wisdom or instruction. Colossians 3:16: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” Ephesians 1:17-19: “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.”
Have you covered your knowledge of Jesus with spiritual “pink frosting”? Let us seek together the true wisdom of God!
Staff Meeting Devotion Oct. 30, 2012
“King of Kings”
As Election Day approaches, Americans are considering the direction of our government. But who, really, is our “ruler”? Timothy 6:14-16 speaks of, “the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever.” So, who is God and what makes him an uncomparable ruler?
1) His own time- God is the ONLY one that can control time; he has no time constriction.
2) The only Ruler- Paul tells us in Romans 13:1, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
3) King of kings, Lord of lords- Jesus didn’t just come to visit his people, but he walked our steps and endured death for us.
4) Immortal- We don’t have to worry about placing our faith in something or something that will perish. Psalm 121 tells us that He doesn’t even sleep; He is always in control.
5) Unapproachable light- He can not be seen by the visible eye, yet He gives us clues that He IS here, almighty and present. Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
We can only do what Paul tells us–to bring honor to Him. One day all nations will acknowledge the Lord!
Staff Meeting Devotion Oct. 23, 2012
“Job”
Job is a curious book of the Bible. The author is unknown, and the time and place of writing are unknown. The narrative itself leaves us with lots of unanswered questions. Some suggest that Job never lived, but was rather a description of a reality, like an illustration of Israel or a character in a fable. So, what answers are there to be found in a book with no answers?
Let us consider the text from an existential (personal) point of view and insert ourselves in the story in Job’s place. We find that we agree, yet disagree, with those who would offer Job comfort. They are both correct and foolish; they didn’t have all the answers, but some answers seemed correct. There is a sense that they are talking out loud to themselves. Sometimes, Job seems justified in his complaints to God and his friends; other times, not so much. No man in the story has all the answers, but all have something to say that looks like an answer.
Then, finally, God speaks. He gave Job space to complain, but lets him know that he must be silent in order to learn. Having Job’s attention, God then proceds to give no answer other than to tell about Himself. In the end, the full answer is given not to Job, but to us, the reader, for we were privy to the story’s prelude: God’s conversation with Satan. Job may not have known of this conversation. God decreed that Job would be brought to the brink of death.
God is sovereign; He uses suffering to test and shape us; He allows dialogue. He has the final word. In this story of Job, the final word is unwritten. God just says, “It’s me. I started it and will bring everything back to how it ought to be.”
Staff Meeting Devotion Oct. 16, 2012
“Biblical Imagination”
In Eugene Peterson’s memoir, The Pastor, he talks a lot about having a “pastoral imagination,” which can basically be defined as “a way of seeing, a seeing of more than what is immediately present, what one scholar calls a ‘seeing in depth’”. A biblical imagination is finding ourselves within the biblical story.
This can give direction, meaning, and depth to things that can easily become monotonous and tedious. Things, such as worship–both on Sunday and in the everyday.
I have been combing scripture to find this “biblical imagination” that will allow me to see what I am doing in greater depth. Recently I was struck by one of the first acts and places of congregational worship- The Ark of the Convent. The Ark was a rectangular, coffin-like box 4 ft. 2 in. long, 30 in. wide and high, and covered in gold. The center was designated the Mercy Seat, and it was flanked by cherubim with outstretched wings. The focus and function of the Ark was the empty space marked off by the cherubim– nothing to see; nothing to hear; nothing to handle. But it was not mere emptiness, but rather, emptiness that is fullness– the fullness of Him who fills all in all: “I AM that I AM”. Yahweh: who revealed himself to Moses as presence. When asked to give a name, a noun, He answered with a form of the verb “to be:” “I am WHO I am”– I am present, I am presence.
God would not, and will not, be made into an object. He is not a thing to be named or wielded. We cannot turn God into an idea to be discussed. He is not a power to be harnessed. We cannot use God for making or doing.
God called His people to worship Him in the expanse, in the void, in the invisible. Invisible, yet present. Present with them wherever they went. Our task is to be present to the one who is present to us. As simple as this sounds, none of us find this much to our liking. Actually, the very interesting thing is that between the parts of scripture when God gives the specs of the Ark to Moses and when the Ark is actually built, the people go ahead and build for themselves an idol of a golden calf. And we join them in our various idolatries or our ways of trying to make God into our image and use Him for our purposes.
The Ark was God’s plan and place for worship. A few things stand out to me about worship from the text:
- The Ark served as a reminder that God goes with us and is with us (and worship must do this).
- Worship of the invisible God frees people from ideas, attitudes, and practices that prevent them from letting God be God for us on God’s terms and not ours.
- Worship is an art, using the sensory to bring us into awareness of and attentiveness to the mystery of God.
- Worship is an act of faith that should cause us to unclench our idols and reach out to God.
- Worship is being present to the presence.
Staff Meeting Devotion Oct. 2, 2012
“Time”
Gen 1:3-5 “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.”
Gen. 1:14-19 “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.”
Intangible concepts like time were also part of the creation, along with physical things like celestial bodies, plants, animals, and man. God created time on the first day, with the first evening and morning. This was even before he created the sun and moon on the fourth day! Part of the creation debate is the question, “Did God complete creation in six 24-hour days, or were they longer periods of time?” I don’t know. What I do know is that God existed before time. God doesn’t need time. Psalm 90:4 says, “For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” He created time as a framework for us. We do need time and structure. What is my response to a God who exists independently of time but had a purpose for me before time was counted? As Paul comments in Ephesians 1:4, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world.” Even before God created me, even before he created the universe, he knew of me!
My response is worship, giving him my time, and trusting him with my time. God created my time and is Lord over it. He asks of my time. If he asks of my time and he’s Lord over my time, he is able to see to it that I have the time I need. I love Martin Luther’s comment, “Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.” Our time is God’s, and we are to give it back to him.
Ps. 1:2-3 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
Ps. 46:10a “Be still and know that I am God.”
From Sunday, September 16, 2012
Video illustration of Tim Keller sermon segment.
From August 26 at Connexion and Sept. 9 on Sunday morning
“The ordinary idea which we all have before we become Christians is this. We take as starting point our ordinary self with its various desires and interests. We then admit that something else–call it ‘morality’ or ‘decent behaviour’, or ‘the good of society’–has claims on this self: claims which interfere with its own desires. What we mean by ‘being good’ is giving in to those claims. Some of the things the ordinary self wanted to do turn out to be what we call ‘wrong’: well, we must give them up. Other things, which the self did not want to do, turn out to be what we call ‘right’: well, we shall have to do them. But we are hoping all the time that when all the demands have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, and some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest man paying his taxes. He pays them all right, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on. Because we are still taking our natural self as the starting point.
“As long as we are thinking that way, one or other of two results is likely to follow. Either we give up trying to be good, or else we become very unhappy indeed. For, make no mistake: if you are really going to try to meet all the demands made on the natural self, it will not have enough left over to live on. The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier. In the end, you will either give up trying to be good, or else become one of those people who, as they say, ‘live for others’ but always in a discontented, grumbling way–always wondering why the others do not notice it more and always making a martyr of yourself. And once you have become that you will be a far greater pest to anyone who has to live with you than you would have been if you had remained frankly selfish.
“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don’t want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked–the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.'”
–C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
From Sunday, August 26, 2012
The quote from the sermon:
“But faith–unlike the other kind of knowledge–is not a constant. It is a light which blazes like a thousand suns–at some times; at others, it flickers dimly, casting shadows of changing shapes. But even when it is weak we struggle to brighten the flame–for it is the most precious of commodities. Man knows no blackness to match the darkness when that light has gone out. And no man who has ever seen it will rest happy until it is rekindled. And when it burns bright, all other lamps are feeble.” –Rabbi Chanan Brichto, as quoted by Dr. John Walton
From Sunday, August 19th
Here is the link to the video of the flash mob in Spain.
From Sunday, January 15th
Lord, grant me the ability to rejoice when trials come; the patience to endure under the difficulty; the grace to avoid bitterness that comes from hardship; the wisdom to see your activity in my life and believe you are there even when you seem invisible; the faith to believe that you are working out everything for my good and that you will someday make all things new. Amen
