Day 260.
So I'm writing my fourth preach on the Prodigal God.
Strange thing happened. An angry lady left an angry message on my phone demanding that we take down our banner that promotes our series "The Prodigal God". She was mad that we would call God a prodigal. She indicated her Christian faith was insulted by our heresy.
Last week we defined Prodigal as "recklessly extravagant".
We explained that everything in the Prodigal Son story Jesus told points to the reckless extravagance of the Father. He runs to his son who wanted him dead; he kisses him and gives him the robe of honor, he throws a party to celebrate the return of the son who broke his heart, stole his money and spent it all.
......and God runs to us in the incarnation; God takes on human flesh; God hangs on a cross; God allows us to slap him, nail him, spear him, kill him.
Recklessly extravagant.
What a prodigal God.
What grace.
But the irony of the phone call was ...... I was penning thoughts about the Elder Brother.
Here's a line I preach tomorrow:
"When you become a Christian, either you will start becoming more like the Father or you will start becoming more like the elder brother. "
Listen in tomorrow to find out more.
This elder brotherism is so subtle and yet so destructive.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Day 257 - big smaller things.
Day 257 and I continue to read the autobiography of Tony Blair.
Fascinating read.
Fascinating leader.
Among the things that have impressed me is the determination to make his time as Prime Minister focused on things of importance and not trivia.
It was while at university that a Ugandan friend, Olara Otunnu, impressed upon him that the world was not debating the trivial debates of the Labor Party. Instead, the world's population was focused on issues of life, hope, health versus death due to the ravages of poverty, conflict and disease.
Of course we are all experts at assuring ourselves that our trivia is not trivia but of world changing significance. We are experts are shrinking the world down to our context.
But in our sane, honest moments we know we are pretty small with regards to the whole.
But those sane, honest moments should not reduce us to viewing ourselves with disdain or disregard. Rather, they should propel us to involve our lives in the bigger, substantial questions of today.
I'm having this thought percolate around in my head for the past few weeks.
What would my life look like if I really took serious the bigger issues?
How could I involve myself in them?
How do I avoid spending a day, a week, a month, a life specialising in trivia that truly makes no or little difference in the global scope, the eternal scope of life.
Jesus obviously did this. Yet whilst literally saving the world, he still had an amazing propensity to do little things.
He had this uncanny capacity to touch the eyes of a blind guy, visit the home of a sick little girl, take his disciples fishing, go for a mountain walk .......and make all this connect to the biggest purpose possible.
Being about the bigger things is not sitting in rooms debating philosophical issues, or making grand speeches about them. Being about the bigger things is as much about making the little things bigger than they appear and making the bigger things more tangible than people think.
Jesus was brilliantly local, while global, while eternal.
Makes you rethink how you're doing most things.
Fascinating read.
Fascinating leader.
Among the things that have impressed me is the determination to make his time as Prime Minister focused on things of importance and not trivia.
It was while at university that a Ugandan friend, Olara Otunnu, impressed upon him that the world was not debating the trivial debates of the Labor Party. Instead, the world's population was focused on issues of life, hope, health versus death due to the ravages of poverty, conflict and disease.
Of course we are all experts at assuring ourselves that our trivia is not trivia but of world changing significance. We are experts are shrinking the world down to our context.
But in our sane, honest moments we know we are pretty small with regards to the whole.
But those sane, honest moments should not reduce us to viewing ourselves with disdain or disregard. Rather, they should propel us to involve our lives in the bigger, substantial questions of today.
I'm having this thought percolate around in my head for the past few weeks.
What would my life look like if I really took serious the bigger issues?
How could I involve myself in them?
How do I avoid spending a day, a week, a month, a life specialising in trivia that truly makes no or little difference in the global scope, the eternal scope of life.
Jesus obviously did this. Yet whilst literally saving the world, he still had an amazing propensity to do little things.
He had this uncanny capacity to touch the eyes of a blind guy, visit the home of a sick little girl, take his disciples fishing, go for a mountain walk .......and make all this connect to the biggest purpose possible.
Being about the bigger things is not sitting in rooms debating philosophical issues, or making grand speeches about them. Being about the bigger things is as much about making the little things bigger than they appear and making the bigger things more tangible than people think.
Jesus was brilliantly local, while global, while eternal.
Makes you rethink how you're doing most things.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Day 253 all about sons.
Day 253 and I'm sorry I missed the last 6 days. Not a lot of Internet access at 8561ft. I scraped ice off my car on Thursday .....not even double figures in September. Imagine how cold it will be in January .....they say 40 below!
I was in Colorado taking our oldest son to Timberline Bible School nestled in a beautiful valley not far from one of the best ski resorts in Colorado. He's there for a year.
As for me leaving him alone in a new place surrounded by new people miles and miles from home - he coped with it much better than his dad! [You see I do have a heart!!]
As I drove away fighting back the tears, my first thought was - imagine if I was a single parent dropping off my only child. I couldn't imagine that emotion. I know he's doing a great thing, he knows it too. Its going to be life changing, life shaping - but we're going to miss him like crazy. Just as your son reaches the stage where conversation with him is good and meaningful; your his parent but also his friend; and he keeps his room clean and is bothered about personal hygiene - just then he leaves you (with you picking up the tab for it!).
My first thought was imagine how a single parent would cope with this.
That night, alone in my condo waiting my return flight, I began writing a funeral preach for the 22 year old son who tragically was killed in a road accident on Labor Day morning. I imagined his mother and sisters emotions. How do you cope with that? My tears moved from leaving my son in a good place for a good reason for a short time to tears for that family, and few tears of regret over my lack of perspective.
Quite a week.
A week with significant thinking about sons leaving.
Working on two preaches about the leaving of the prodigal son.
Understanding even more the leaving of God's only Son.
Wondering about how God feels when I, his son, leave.
A good, difficult, deepening week.
I was in Colorado taking our oldest son to Timberline Bible School nestled in a beautiful valley not far from one of the best ski resorts in Colorado. He's there for a year.
As for me leaving him alone in a new place surrounded by new people miles and miles from home - he coped with it much better than his dad! [You see I do have a heart!!]
As I drove away fighting back the tears, my first thought was - imagine if I was a single parent dropping off my only child. I couldn't imagine that emotion. I know he's doing a great thing, he knows it too. Its going to be life changing, life shaping - but we're going to miss him like crazy. Just as your son reaches the stage where conversation with him is good and meaningful; your his parent but also his friend; and he keeps his room clean and is bothered about personal hygiene - just then he leaves you (with you picking up the tab for it!).
My first thought was imagine how a single parent would cope with this.
That night, alone in my condo waiting my return flight, I began writing a funeral preach for the 22 year old son who tragically was killed in a road accident on Labor Day morning. I imagined his mother and sisters emotions. How do you cope with that? My tears moved from leaving my son in a good place for a good reason for a short time to tears for that family, and few tears of regret over my lack of perspective.
Quite a week.
A week with significant thinking about sons leaving.
Working on two preaches about the leaving of the prodigal son.
Understanding even more the leaving of God's only Son.
Wondering about how God feels when I, his son, leave.
A good, difficult, deepening week.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Day 248 - an insulting Jesus!
Day 248 (otherwise known as Labor Day; otherwise known as last day of summer vacation mood; otherwise known as the day I set the barbecue on fire; otherwise known as our oldest sons last day in Reedley before flying to CO!)
So I'm chewing over yesterdays preach, the first in our new Prodigal God series. The insulting Jesus. Let's start by calling everybody listening to me "stupid sheep".
Jesus at his blunt best.
Normally I applaud Jesus' subtleness. He always was the 'come in the back door' communicator, the stealth bomber.
(I learned much from that tactic, especially spending much of my time communicating to people who've heard it all before. But come in the back door and you catch them unaware, off-guard and it forces a response - either emotion to reject or emotion to change. If I was teacher of homiletics I'd shout loudly about the need to preach this way 80% of the time.)
But this time - Jesus went front door, blunt, offensive, maybe slightly crude.
Why?
His bluntness, insult in calling people stupid sheep .....was within a series of three parables (Luke 15) that shout GRACE.
Interesting.
His bluntest insult matched His greatest presentation on GRACE.
Maybe the answer lies in the nature of grace.
Is grace not blunt?
Does grace not look every blunder, mistake, failure and yuck we're ever done and say - grace!
There is incredible boldness in grace.
Incredible audacity.
There's also incredible stupidity in grace.
Grace can be badly abused.
Grace can be trampled all over.
The bigger insult is not Jesus calling us stupid sheep; the bigger insult is what we do with grace.
It's got me really nervous, excitedly nervous about next Sunday's preach.
There is something deeply curious and perhaps confusing/conflicting about this Prodigal God.
Going to be quite a week working on Part II.
So I'm chewing over yesterdays preach, the first in our new Prodigal God series. The insulting Jesus. Let's start by calling everybody listening to me "stupid sheep".
Jesus at his blunt best.
Normally I applaud Jesus' subtleness. He always was the 'come in the back door' communicator, the stealth bomber.
(I learned much from that tactic, especially spending much of my time communicating to people who've heard it all before. But come in the back door and you catch them unaware, off-guard and it forces a response - either emotion to reject or emotion to change. If I was teacher of homiletics I'd shout loudly about the need to preach this way 80% of the time.)
But this time - Jesus went front door, blunt, offensive, maybe slightly crude.
Why?
His bluntness, insult in calling people stupid sheep .....was within a series of three parables (Luke 15) that shout GRACE.
Interesting.
His bluntest insult matched His greatest presentation on GRACE.
Maybe the answer lies in the nature of grace.
Is grace not blunt?
Does grace not look every blunder, mistake, failure and yuck we're ever done and say - grace!
There is incredible boldness in grace.
Incredible audacity.
There's also incredible stupidity in grace.
Grace can be badly abused.
Grace can be trampled all over.
The bigger insult is not Jesus calling us stupid sheep; the bigger insult is what we do with grace.
It's got me really nervous, excitedly nervous about next Sunday's preach.
There is something deeply curious and perhaps confusing/conflicting about this Prodigal God.
Going to be quite a week working on Part II.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Day 244 - peccator or justus.
Day 244 and I'm loving my reading for Sunday's preach.
In particular Martin Luther's line simul justus et peccator.
Now this is a brilliant line.
In some ways it explains exactly me.
It means - "simultaneously justified and sinful."
Luther knew that although he had been saved from sin's penalty he was in daily need of salvation from sin's power.
This means that scholars, pastors, esteemed Christian leaders need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.
And this brings us to Sundays preach.
I thought I was going to give a gospel presentation, so that anyone attending who had been with us over the summer would be very clear on what it is at the core of Redeemer's Church and themselves enter a new relationship with Christ.
But what I'm learning and enjoying ....and getting exciting about preaching ....is that the gospel is not just for non-Christians but for Christians!
As Tim Keller says the gospel is not just the ABCs of Christianity but the A through Z.
It is everything.
It needs to be everything because many days I'm more peccator than justus.
In particular Martin Luther's line simul justus et peccator.
Now this is a brilliant line.
In some ways it explains exactly me.
It means - "simultaneously justified and sinful."
Luther knew that although he had been saved from sin's penalty he was in daily need of salvation from sin's power.
This means that scholars, pastors, esteemed Christian leaders need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.
And this brings us to Sundays preach.
I thought I was going to give a gospel presentation, so that anyone attending who had been with us over the summer would be very clear on what it is at the core of Redeemer's Church and themselves enter a new relationship with Christ.
But what I'm learning and enjoying ....and getting exciting about preaching ....is that the gospel is not just for non-Christians but for Christians!
As Tim Keller says the gospel is not just the ABCs of Christianity but the A through Z.
It is everything.
It needs to be everything because many days I'm more peccator than justus.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Day 243 - back from vacation ...maybe.
Day 243 and I'm back!
Yep 2 months off ...one for vacation as we travelled Scotland and Spain; one for catching up having been gone for four weeks!
Glad to be back - a good discipline.
So, we are on this daily blog of how deliberately I am following Christ.
Just read today that Archbishop Desmond Tutu is going to slow down now he's at the age of 79. Yesterday I finished the final book written by Dr John Stott ...at the age of 88.
Makes me feel a bit of a wimp for taking a two month break.
Of course, you might be saying 'well you only took a break from blogging about your christian living, you didn't actually stop doing it.'
Right?!?!
Existentially I was always doing it. Honestly.
But do you ever wonder how much of it you are actually doing.
We've just finished another August pierce the heart message series. Week after week I pounded myself with what following Christ, being part of His Church should look like.and every Sunday afternoon I lazed on my sofa watching the new English Premier League football game while munching on the remnants of my leftover Scottish chocolates.
Yep .....existentially, but honestly?
65 days away from blogging and I wondered how deliberate was I?
Not that I was deliberately not following Christ. Of course I continued my spiritual disciplines - maybe even sharper away from my desk.
But maybe I'm rethinking a bit what deliberate following is.
If I haven't helped a neighbor, or cared for an orphans, or shared my faith, fought for justice, or been humiliated for Him ....am I deliberately following.
I'm nicely following.
I could be contently following.
Maybe I could say I'm willingly following.
But deliberate?
Deliberate has intensity and action implicit in it; it's also connected to obedience, else what's the deliberate defining!
Now I sat in a Spanish cafe at midnight supping a San Miguel and counselling a friend on his spiritual journey.
I attended 4 different churches, of 4 different traditions on 4 different Sundays and enjoyed each worship experience.
I read 7 books - mostly on theological matters.
I had quality time with my boys talking life and faith.
I prayed.
I journalled.
I felt His presence.
But the core of what Jesus seems to indicate is following Him ......I didn't really do (except my giving to the poor continued courtesy of direct deposit!).
So Day 243.
What today have I done to deliberately follow Christ?
2:17pm .....still hoping it will happen.
This vacation mindset has to change.
Yep 2 months off ...one for vacation as we travelled Scotland and Spain; one for catching up having been gone for four weeks!
Glad to be back - a good discipline.
So, we are on this daily blog of how deliberately I am following Christ.
Just read today that Archbishop Desmond Tutu is going to slow down now he's at the age of 79. Yesterday I finished the final book written by Dr John Stott ...at the age of 88.
Makes me feel a bit of a wimp for taking a two month break.
Of course, you might be saying 'well you only took a break from blogging about your christian living, you didn't actually stop doing it.'
Right?!?!
Existentially I was always doing it. Honestly.
But do you ever wonder how much of it you are actually doing.
We've just finished another August pierce the heart message series. Week after week I pounded myself with what following Christ, being part of His Church should look like.and every Sunday afternoon I lazed on my sofa watching the new English Premier League football game while munching on the remnants of my leftover Scottish chocolates.
Yep .....existentially, but honestly?
65 days away from blogging and I wondered how deliberate was I?
Not that I was deliberately not following Christ. Of course I continued my spiritual disciplines - maybe even sharper away from my desk.
But maybe I'm rethinking a bit what deliberate following is.
If I haven't helped a neighbor, or cared for an orphans, or shared my faith, fought for justice, or been humiliated for Him ....am I deliberately following.
I'm nicely following.
I could be contently following.
Maybe I could say I'm willingly following.
But deliberate?
Deliberate has intensity and action implicit in it; it's also connected to obedience, else what's the deliberate defining!
Now I sat in a Spanish cafe at midnight supping a San Miguel and counselling a friend on his spiritual journey.
I attended 4 different churches, of 4 different traditions on 4 different Sundays and enjoyed each worship experience.
I read 7 books - mostly on theological matters.
I had quality time with my boys talking life and faith.
I prayed.
I journalled.
I felt His presence.
But the core of what Jesus seems to indicate is following Him ......I didn't really do (except my giving to the poor continued courtesy of direct deposit!).
So Day 243.
What today have I done to deliberately follow Christ?
2:17pm .....still hoping it will happen.
This vacation mindset has to change.
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