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-  

On Mission With Jesus

    When you hear the word 'missions' what comes to mind?  For those of us who've grown up in the church, the word 'mission' conjures up images in our minds of missionaries from our church who have left their comfortable lives and homes in the States to go serve God in some far off country.  For others of us, we associate the word 'missions'  with a specific department in the church that focuses on evangelism (usually abroad).  While I would agree that evangelism in foreign countries is a good thing, great even, I would also contend that by defining missions solely in this way, we have failed to see that God has called each of us to the mission field.

   So what does 'missional living' look like?  Simply put, it looks a lot like Jesus.  Jesus left the glories of heaven to come to this earth on a rescue mission.  In an unparalleled act of humility that defies comprehension, God became a man. {Philippians 2:5-11}  And as a man, Jesus showed us what it looks like to be on mission in this world.  In Luke's gospel, Jesus summed up His mission with these words, 'For the Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.' {Luke 19:10} Then, after securing our salvation by dying in our place on the cross and rising from the dead for our salvation He said, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.' {Matthew 28:18-19}  The word 'authority' denotes right and might.  Jesus is saying, all the right and all the might in the universe are mine.  So here's what He's saying, go in My name, by My strength, and for My glory.

    

   In sending out the disciples, He was inviting them (and us) to join Him on this mission.  You don't have to cross the Atlantic to be on mission with Christ.  For some of us, it might entail that, but for most of us, it means being willing to cross the street and talk to our neighbor about the Lord.  To be on mission with Jesus means that we are to join Him in reaching out to the hurting, and lost and broken in love with the gospel.  To put it another way, to live out our faith missionally is to see our world through His eyes.  As we begin to do this, we'll begin to see the mission field not as a distant land in a far away place, or as a special department in our church, but as an opportunity to join God in calling the lost into the Kingdom.  

Daniel