The Story of Life

All of human history is a stage.  And on that stage a story is being told.  I think we tend to think of the bible as being a collection of stories about different people from which we derive principals and morals.  And I guess, on some level that’s true, the bible does have a lot to say about a lot of different things.  But at it’s core, it is telling just one story.     It is the story of God, and His passionate pursuit to restore all that was lost in the garden of Eden.  This is the grand narrative that has been unraveling ever since time began. And this drama of redemption isn’t just one of many storylines that you’ll find in the bible. It is the story.  And the sooner we get that, the better off we’ll all be.

Now, this whole concept of life being like a story or a movie or a play is something that I think we can all track with.  It’s something that I think even appeals to us.  We like to think of life as a grand stage upon which the story of our lives is being played out.  But the part that we struggle with is the part about the movie being about somebody else.  That part bothers us.  You see, in the movie of life, we like to think of ourselves as the main characters.  We like to think of ourselves as the stars of the show.  We like to think that we are at the center, and that the rest of the world just kind of spins around us.  I guess it makes sense right.  We’re the only people who show up in every scene of the movie of our life.  Others come in and play bit parts or minor roles.  But we are the stars in the show about us.  But here’s the problem with living life like that. It doesn’t work. The more we try to put ourselves at the center of life’s purpose the less fulfilled we become.

So here's my thought.  What if we took ourselves out of the spotlight, if only for a moment, in order that we might see the beauty, and wonder, and splendor of this great story that God is writing.  If we could do that, I think we'd have to start thinking in a whole different way.  It would cause us to ask a whole new set of questions about life and God.  Like, we'd start thinking in terms of, what is my role in this grand story that is unfolding and how can I fit my life into that role?  And here’s why this is so important.  Only as we begin to live life from this vantage point will we find ourselves being fulfilled.  Only then will we be able to enjoy life.  Because that’s the way God has scripted it. 

--Daniel

 

Seasons of Life

The holiday season is officially upon us.  It won't be long before we're all knee deep in wrapping paper and Christmas ornaments.  As the popular Christmas song says, 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.'  

But for many, the holiday season is far from wonderful.  Many of us have loved ones that are serving our Country overseas.  For those who have lost a loved one in the past year, the pain of that loss is accentuated during the holiday season.  The truth is, for a lot of people, the Holidays are a real struggle.

One of my favorite stories in the bible is in John 12.  That chapter tells the story of one woman’s extravagant love for Jesus.  In this familiar passage, Mary takes some very expensive perfume, and anoints Jesus with it, and then begins to wipe His feet with her hair.

It’s interesting to me that every time that Mary is mentioned in the Bible she can be found sitting at the feet of Jesus.  In every season of her life, she would make her way to the feet of Jesus.  In seasons of busyness and stress {Luke 10}, in seasons of grief and loss, {John 11} and in seasons of joy and rejoicing {John 12} Mary is found at the feet of Jesus.

What a wonderful encouragement that is to all of us.  No matter what season of life we may find ourselves in, whether it be a season of busyness and work, or a season of grief and sorrow, or a season of joy and thanksgiving, we ought to follow Mary’s lead, and make our way to the feet of Jesus.

God Bless,

--Daniel    

Wrestling with God in Prayer

'For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Ephesians 3:14

If you’ll look at this prayer, here’s one of the things you’ll discover.  When Paul prays and asks God to dwell in their hearts.  He’s asking for something that he’s already said is a reality.  And when Paul prays that they would be filled with the fullness of God.  Again he’s praying for something that he’s already told them is true.  So all of these things Paul is praying for are things that he’s already told them are true.  So why pray for them at all? 

You see, Paul understood something that’s crucial.  And that is this, information alone doesn’t lead to transformed living.  Here’s what I mean by that.  Paul could sit there and tell them all kinds of wonderful things about God and about what He’s done for us and about salvation and grace and all these things but unless the Spirit of God moves in those peoples hearts and takes that information and breathes life into it, then it will just sit there in there heads.  They might be well informed.  They might have perfect theology.  But it will do nothing to transform their lives.  That’s why Paul stops where he does, after he’s just shared the most amazing truths about the person and work of God, to pray that the Spirit of God might take that message and massage it into the hearts of the Ephesian church.  Because Paul knows that information without divine revelation never leads to transformed living.  But when all of this information about God is combined with divine revelation from God’s Spirit, then watch out.  That’s where transformation occurs.  

So we need to be careful.  Otherwise we’ll end up becoming like the guys who write Valentines Day cards for Hallmark for a living. They say all these wonderfully romantic and sappy things.  But they don’t really mean any of it.  It’s a job.  But God has called us to be more then that. God is not a crossword puzzle.  God is not a math problem.  Christianity is not Jeapordy.  It's not about knowing all the answers and filling in all the correct bubbles.  It’s about experience, and life, and relationship and pain and joy and tears. 

That’s why I love the Psalms so much. Their basically a stack of prayers, most of them written by David.  And in so many of them, David’s calling out to God to show up, to be real.  To act, to listen, to save, to heal, to touch, to work, to shape, to speak.  That’s what God wants for us.  He wants a relationship.  That’s why David was called a man after God’s own heart.  Because he was constantly pursuing God’s heart, chasing it down, seeking it.  That’s what prayer is all about.    

Homesickness

'That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.' {Ephesians 1:10}

In this verse we are given the purpose of God's eternal plan that has been working itself out in history.  It’s all to this end, the consummation of all things in Him.  This is the event that all creation is waiting for and longing for.

It's the reason for that lack of peace.  The reason we can never seem to arrive or get there.  The reason why we never really feel satisfied, is because at the deepest level, we remember the Garden of Eden.  So there is this understanding within each of us that we we’re made to live in relationship with God.  But that was fractured in the garden with the fall and so now we think we want this or we think we want that, and then we get it, and it doesn’t satisfy us or bring us peace.  And the reason for that is, because ‘God has placed eternity in our hearts’ and at the deepest level, we’re desperately trying to recover what was lost in the garden.  As the twentieth century philosopher Martin Heidenger said that all human beings are characterized by a kind of homesickness.  We’re all in a sense, alienated and feel as though we’re not really home in this world.  We find that our deepest desires are all at variance with this world.

And so those times, when we see beauty, or get caught up in a song and just get lost in it, or those times when we’re standing outside in the mountains watching the sun set and it’s so beautiful it takes your breath away.  What that is is God calling out to you.  Those are faint reminders of what God intended.  As C.S. Lewis said in his essay titled, the Weight of Glory, ‘These beautiful things are not the thing itself (not what we’re really desiring) they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.’  

And so every beautiful sunset, and every longing of the heart is communicating to us that God loves us and wants to restore us to that place of wholeness and home.  I was reminded of this the other day as I sat on my front porch watching the sun set.  It was one of those amazing Colorado afternoons that we get here where the clouds had rolled in in just such a way that the shafts of light we’re breaking through the clouds and creating these columns of light. It was so beautiful it just took your breath away.  And then I was reminded of what Augustine said, ‘If these are the pleasures afforded to sinful men, what does God have in store for those whose hearts are his?’

These moments are like the previews of the coming attraction which is when God comes back and establishes His kingdom on earth.  And in that day, all things will be gathered together in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.   

  

The Heart of the Matter

God wants your heart.  Over and over and over again the scriptures place the emphasis on the inner life.  In the Bible, there are more than 800 direct references to the heart.  There are more then 300 direct references to the soul.  And there are more then 100 direct references to the mind.  Beyond this, there are countles allusions to the soul, countless allusions to the mind, countless illusions to the heart.  God is constantly addressing the issue of the heart.   I think we need to stop and ask ourselves why?  Why would God hammer home and speak to this particular issue so frequently.

In the Proverbs we read, ‘Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.’ {Proverbs 4:23}  In other words, just as a river flows from its source and waters an entire village and feeds the crops and sustains life in that village.  That’s like your heart.  It is the fountain-head from which all of life flows. And that’s why, for God the essential aspect of our life is the heart.  The first commandment is love the Lord your God with all of your heart…  because it all flows from there.

And I think that’s part of what makes this thing so difficult for a lot of us.  Jesus wants our hearts.  And He ruthlessly and aggressively pursues our hearts until they are His.  But that's not necessarily what we always want.  Giving God access to our hearts can get messy.  It can get ugly.  We don't really want God digging around at the core issues of our lives.  So we'd rather just pretend like everything is ok, even when it's not.  

The problem with this is over and over again God attacks right action that doesn’t have a right heart to it.  Jesus said, ‘This people draws near to me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.  And in vain they worship Me.’ {Matthew 15:8-9a}  What that means is, you can do all the right things, but if your hearts are in the wrong place, it doesn’t please God.  God wants our hearts.  If our hearts aren’t engaged, then our worship and our work for God are in vain.  True worship engages the heart.  Dutiful worship is a contradiction in terms.

Ok, so what should those of us who aren’t there and aren’t experiencing that in their hearts do?  I mean, I’m talking to those of us who are here and would say, my hearts just not there.  My heart’s dead.  Or maybe, you used to have this sweet real intimate connection with God but lately your heart has just become cold.  What can you do? 

Here's what Jesus had to say to a church that had lost that love and feeling... 'Remember from where you have fallen from, repent, and do again the first works.'  His advice to the church in Ephasis was, go back to what it was like in the beginning.  And repent of your sin, and then just fall in love with Jesus all over again.  

--Daniel   

Our Father

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said, ‘Pray after this manner, Our Father who is in heaven…’ {Matthew 6:9}  This is huge.  This is foundational.  God is your Father.  That’s how you and I are supposed to relate to Him.  As a loving Father.

Let me try to unpack this for you a little bit to show you how revolutionary it was for Jesus to teach His disciples to relate to God in this way.  In ancient Israel, the name of God was never spoken.  In fact, God’s name was so revered and so honored and was considered so Holy that when the Scribes of the day who were transcribing the bible for us would come to the name of God, they would take a ceremonial bath, then they would grab a new quill and use new ink, and then as they would write out the name of God they would only write the consonants which are YHVH.  That’s why to this day, we don’t know the correct pronunciation of the name of God.  Some say it’s Yehway and others say is Jehova.  I mean, that’s a lot of baths.  The name LORD shows up 7,970 times in the Bible.  But I think that helps give us a sense for how much these people respected and revered the name of the Lord.  Now with that understanding, take what Jesus says and place it within that context and you can begin to get a sense for how radical what Jesus was saying was.  He was saying, God is your Father.  He’s not distant, He’s close.  He’s not impersonal, He’s personal.  He’s not unloving, He’s loving. 

And I love this because its something that each of us can relate to.  We all have families.  All of us have a dad. Some of them were really amazing.  I thank God for my dad.  But some of us had dads that weren’t so amazing.  And I think that that’s one of the reasons a lot of people struggle to relate to God because they had a really crummy father growing up.  He was never around.  He was abusive.  He was emotionally checked out.  And so, what a lot of people do is they take their earthly Father and judge their heavenly father by their earthly dad.  And so a lot of people have this really warped view of God.  If that’s you, I would encourage you to go to the Bible and instead of judging God by your earthly father, judge your earthly father by your heavenly Father.  He’s a loving Dad.  He cares.  He listens.  He engages.  He heals.  That’s who God is.  He’s Father.

Now let me just address the dads out there for a minute.  What a wonderful privilege and opportunity we have to lead our families and mirror for them the love of their heavenly Father.  Please don't neglect that responsibility.  Your families need you.  It's time for the men in our churches to start acting like men.  Far to many churches are filled with boys who suffer from Peter Pan syndrome and refuse to grow up.  God has called us as men to lead, love, protect, and serve our families and lead them to the feet of our heavenly Father.   

--Daniel 

THE SERVANT KING

         Our society loves stories about people who rise from obscurity to achieve greatness.  We all love a good, from rags to riches tale.  Countless movies in Hollywood have been made using some variation of that theme.  There’s a movie that came out recently called the Soloist.  It’s about this Julliard student who ends up dropping out of school and he ends up homeless and then this News reporter finds him living out on the streets and its about his re-emergence.  We love that kind of thing.

       Now here’s what’s incredible about the gospel.  The gospel isn’t a from rags to riches tale.  It’s a, from riches to rags tale.  Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, ‘For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.’ {2^nd Corinthians 8:9} 

       He who sat enthroned in the glories of heaven, surrounded by throngs of angels who worshipped at His feet and lived to accomplish His will, ‘made Himself of no reputation and took upon Himself the form of a servant.’  This is perhaps, the most incomprehensible truth in the entire bible.  God became a man!  As Paul writes in 1^st Timothy, ‘And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh.’   [1^st Timothy 3:16] 

       But He didn’t stop there!  ‘He took upon Himself the form of a servant coming in the likeness of men.’  Not only did He become a man, even more, He took upon Himself the form of a servant.  The creator of all that exists, came to this earth as a servant!  I mean, just think about that statement for a moment or two.

      Then, on the night before He was to be crucified, Jesus stooped down even further by getting on His hands and knees and washing the disciples feet!  Think of that!  Jesus washed the disciples dirty, stinky feet! In Middle Eastern countries, it was the slaves who washed the feet of guests; but Christ took the place of a slave. He makes this clear to His disciples: if their Lord and Teacher has washed their feet, then they should wash one another’s feet, that is, serve each other in humility. This must have been a striking rebuke to the Twelve, for just that evening they had been debating who was to be the greatest!

      Now let’s take all of that and personalize it.  How can we take Christ’s example and follow it?  I mean, should we start washing one another’s feet?  No.  I don’t think so.  But I do know that as husbands, we are called to wash our wives in the water of the word.  Guys, when’s the last time you encouraged your wife, or served her in any way?  Maybe for you this means, tomorrow evening, after dinner, you get up and instead of slipping into a coma on the couch, you clear the table and do the dishes.  Maybe it means, instead of complaining about something you don’t like about the church, you get involved and start helping.  Maybe it means you volunteer to lead a home group… or bring dinner to someone who you know is sick… or maybe it means you see someone stacking chairs and you help them…  I don't know exactly what this looks like for you.  But the big idea is this.  Jesus came to this earth as the servant king, and it is our privilege to get to serve Him by serving those He puts in front of us. 

-Daniel

A Burden for Souls

As I was walking through downtown Denver the other day the Lord began to burden my heart for this city.  I saw people of every race, from every culture and class busily making their way to wherever it is they were going.  It got me thinking...

In the 17th chapter of Acts, we find the Apostle Paul visiting the ancient city of Athens for the first time. Like any tourist, I’m sure he was ready to be very impressed by what he saw in this incredibly famous and historical city. But the more he saw of the city, the more he found himself becoming depressed by what he saw all around him.  

What did Paul see?  He saw a city that was completely given over to the worship of idols. Another historian visited Athens and wrote a 6 volume set on their religious beliefs. But Paul summed it all up in just four words: ‘wholly given to idolatry.’  The idea behind these words is that Paul saw a community that was literally swamped by idols.  It was indeed a very religious place.  One historian named Pasolineus passed through Athens and remarked, ‘There are almost more gods in this city then people.’  That was almost true.  There were more then thirty thousand gods in the city of Athens at this time.  The Greeks had deified just about everything they could think of. They had deified the forces of nature, they had deified the various emotions of man, they had deified various concepts.  They even erected an altar to the 'unknown god' just to cover their bases.  

So Paul saw the beauty of Athens, having the best that Greek sculptors and architects could offer. But Paul hadn’t come to Athens as a sight-seer but rather as a soul-winner. Consequently, when he arrived his heart was broken to see the city immersed in a cultural paganism of idolatry. 

It has been well said, 'When a bricklayer visits a city, he sees the bricks.  When a street cleaner visits a city, he sees the streets.  When a policeman visits a city, he sees the criminals.  When an architect visits a city, he sees the buildings.  When an environmentalist visits a city, he sees the pollution.  And when a man of the Gospel visits a city, he sees the souls of the people.'  That's what he saw.  It doesn't say that he went into Athens and was wowed by the marble and the gold.  It says he was provoked by the idols.

That brings me to my point.  Before you or I will be able to successfully reach our generation, we must first come to the realization that like Paul in Athens, you and I live in the midst of a culture that is 'wholly given over to idolatry.'  We may not call it that, but that's what it is.  Granted, we would probably never bow down in front of an idol made of gold or silver or stone.  We're much to sophisticated for that.  Our idols come with 4 wheel drive.  Their 52 inches and High definition.  The idols of our day are materialism and greed and position and power and sex.  The truth is, whatever is ultimate in your life is an idol.

My point is this, only after we have dealt with the idols in our own hearts and have become burdened by the gross idolatry we see all around us will we be able to effectively reach out to our culture.  Another way of putting that would be to say that we will not be able to effectively witness to our culture until we have wept for it.  Alexander Macklaren put it this way, ‘Show me the depth of a Christian mans compassion and I will show you the measure of his fruitfulness.’  

Like Paul in Athens, may God give us hearts that are stirred by what we see.  May He give us an unrelenting, unwavering, passionate burden for the souls of men and women!  Amen.

Daniel

The Tomorrow Trap

How many of you are procrastinators by nature?  Most of us are.  That’s why the malls are always packed on Christmas eve.  We wait until the last possible minute to do our shopping.  That’s also why most people wait until the last possible minute before they file their taxes.  We’re all a bunch of procrastinators.  For a lot of us it’s like, the only things we don’t procrastinate on are the things we can avoid all together.

You see where I’m going with this.  Tomorrow is a trap.  How many times have you told yourself something like, ‘Oh, I’m going to start on that diet… tomorrow.’ Or, ‘I’m going to get right on that project… tomorrow.’  Or, ‘I’m going to call them… tomorrow.’  Or I’m going to change this or that about myself…tomorrow’ But tomorrow never comes does it?  Of course one of the areas where most people struggle with procrastination is in the area of their spiritual life. 

While procrastinating in any area of life is probably not a good idea, procrastinating in your spiritual life can be flat out dangerous.  Felix serves as the classic example of a guy who refused to make a decision one way or the other regarding Christ.  We find his story in the last part of Acts 24.   He kept putting the decision off and putting it off until eventually, it became too late.  As far as we know, his chance passed. 

‘Procrastination is the thief of time,’ wrote Edward Young.  Perhaps he was thinking about the English proverb, ‘One of these days is none of these days.’ Procrastination is also the thief of souls.  The most convenient season for a lost sinner to be saved is right now.  ‘Behold now is the day of salvation.’ {2^nd Cor. 6:2} 

After listening to an impassioned defense of the gospel, Felix responded by saying, 'I’ll call for you when I have a more convenient season.’  That is perhaps Satan’s greatest and most effective lie.  Many people who have every intention of coming to Christ, just never get around to it because they’re waiting for a more convenient season. The claims of Jesus are never going to be convenient for us; if we insist on waiting for a convenient time, we will wait forever.  There’s never a convenient time to repent.  That’s why the Bible always says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.’ {Hebrews 3}

The prophet Joel described life as a valley of decision, ‘Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.’ {Joel 3:14}  Many of you find yourselves in just such a place today.  What has the Lord been putting on your heart?   Has He been calling you to repent of some sin?  Or make some change in your life?  Or perhaps He's been calling you back to Himself.  May we all choose Jesus!

Daniel-