No Really You Have to SEE It!

This morning while I was working away on annual reports, I heard a fascinating little interaction:

Robin: "Did you see what Bill did in the Breakaway Room?"

Doug: "I heard that he did some work on it."

Robin: "Umm...yeah, you need to SEE the Breakaway Room!"

Bill had totally repurposed a room.  It was an amazing thing to behold. You had to SEE it. Doug went to SEE it. Robin escorted me down to SEE it, she was so excited about what Bill had done. 

I am sure she will escort others to the room who haven't SEEN it.  

I immediately had this scene in my head, 

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of h

im, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"50 Jesus answered him,"Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you,t you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (John 1:43-51, ESV)

Philip knew that he had found the Messiah. He knew that Nathanael needed to know him too. You can almost hear Nathanael say, "I heard that there was someone like that around here." Philip's response, "Come and see." You have to wonder if Nathanael heard in this response Psalm 66:5. 

It's 2012, a new year has dawned.  What will you be about this year? Will you, like Robin, invite your friends to SEE? 

My prayer for this year is simple, "Father God grant opportunity for people to see and hear."

Love-at-first-sight

Charles Schwab and Sovereign Grace

Sovereign grace we have discovered is what propels out into God's mission.  Now let's continue to explore Ephesians 1:11-14 to see how else it applies to our lives as followers of Jesus,

“11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

We are going to close by looking at the ramifications of verses 12-14. As a result of the sovereign grace of God working out all things according to the purpose of his will we find that we have security.

Security.

It's something that investment companies make millions of dollars off of...

httpv://youtu.be/mFM-m31y5HY

We all desire security and it drives much of what we do and don't do in life.  The perceived lack of security can create fear.  This is what most of the politicians do in their campaigns.  They seek to show that the other party will eliminate security from your life and leave you dangling. When we don't feel secure in our lives we experience fear.

However these verses in Ephesians remove any doubt about security from us. We no longer find our security in the context of finances, power, or relationships with people.  We find them in relationship with the God of the universe. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God and in that sealing we find that there is nothing that can separate us from relationship with God.

This kind of security allows us to live freely.  This kind of security actually sends us with confidence into a broken world without fear of being separated from God. We can enter into relationships with people not worried about our identity because it is wrapped up in God.  We can tell people about Jesus and not have to worry about rejection or pain.

It turns out that when we find our security in the midst of God's grace we are able to step out boldly, confidently, full of grace and truth.  We can then love well to the glory of God.

What would your life look like if you never feared insecurity ever again?

It would be amazing.

Are you...Radical?

I just finished reading David Platt's Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From The American Dream. It's a good read and really challenging. David successfully puts the ideas and concepts of books like Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmaat's Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire
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into terms that the average 40+ person can understand. His metaphors are great. His passion is obvious. I think for the most part his exegesis is solid too. Nothing really stood out as problematic. I really appreciated the clarion call throughout the text to abandon all and follow Jesus. For this alone the book was worth the price of admission. The place where I think the book really wins is the emphasis on discipleship. I am reminded again that Robert Coleman nearly 50 years ago really did know what he was talking about with The Master Plan of Evangelism
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. I hope that we who have read this book will take the Biblical command to multiply our lives through discipleship seriously. It is through the work of discipleship that the world is changed and transformed. It is in the context of discipleship alone that we will see the kinds of things that are described in the book. Discipleship is the soil for radical Christian living and growth. Actually, it's only "radical" because we've lost the focus. As Platt says, we have become too caught up in the big buildings, the cool programs, and the fog machines, to really be bothered by biblical discipleship. I pray we will be willing to disciple one another. I pray that we will be willing to disciple our neighbors. I pray that we will simply obey the Scriptures that we taught as infallible truth. Who's in?

I Can See Clearly Now...

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...the rain is gone, I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day.

It's funny how clarity can change things.  After the first big winter storm the schools were all closed and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader had just been released, so we packed into the car and headed to the show.

The roads weren't too bad but there was a constant spattering of stuff on my windshield.  I hit the mister and nothing happened except for the mud and grime to smear.  The realization of traveling on an expressway with no visibility was a little nerve racking.  This got worse as I had to slowly make way around the exit ramp cloverleaf without falling off the side.

I learned a timeless that day: Clarity IS important.

In the previous post we talked about the importance of language.  Here's the thing though: language without clarity is useless.

This hit home for me a few years ago as I was engaged in a conversation with some Mormon missionaries (it always strikes me as odd how many are named "Elder").  We were talking about Jesus, grace, faith, God, and Bible.  It seemed as though things were moving along well but it turned out that we were going nowhere.

I thought we were discussing the same things because we were using the same language.  I could not have been more wrong.

We did not have clarity.

Our definitions were totally different.  We were not even close to understanding one another and as a result our conversation slipped into mundane futility and frustration.

In a conversation about anything, let alone Jesus, the conversants must have a clarified understanding of the words they are using or there will be constant confusion and frustration. For those of us who want other people to follow Jesus we must listen closely to hear where we can build a bridge and in so doing we bring clarity.

Paul Tarsus was speaking at the Areopagus in Athens when he said these words, "For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. (Acts 17:23 ESV)"

He wanted to bring clarity and that he did by redefining "the unknown god" to that of the revealed God, Jesus.

May we take the time to clear the clouds and reveal the Son!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HagzTRmUBIE

Watch Your Language!

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Sa a se bagay ki pi enpòtan ke ou te ka janm li. Ou ka li li l '? Si ou pa kapab alò ou pa pral kapab konprann. Ou dwe konprann! Frape, frape! Ki moun ki la a? Ou. Ki ou? Oh pa kriye, li jis yon blag! I think that I have heard the words, "Watch your language!" more than I could ever imagine. It turns out that when I was younger I did not have much of a filter. It also turns out that as an adult I do not have much of a filter. Every day my poor wife has to remind what not to say. Don't you feel bad for her? I do. My issues are not the point of this post, however. The issue is language. Could you read the opening few sentences? Unless you are some sort of awesome linguist, then probably not. If you are a follower of Jesus you speak a secret language, a language that not everyone speaks. To he honest, most people don't speak our language. It is comprised of big words, special words, insider words and most of them end in "-tion". When I have conversations with people I am reminded that sometimes my Christian language is different from their language. I want them to understand what I am saying because when we are talking about Jesus, we are talking about the most important thing. What is the language of your neighbors? I am not taling about English. What are the metaphors and narratives that give their world meaning? I will almost guarantee it's not the biblical narrative. Television, films, music, celebrities, and to a lesser extent books provide the narrative arc for the world around us. Can you speak their language? If we want to be able to invite them to know Jesus we must be able to speak the language. Oh, if you want to know what the opening paragraph says leave a comment!