Daniel Rose: The Pastor Next Door

On Twitter I follow a few accounts that post quotes from great coaches. They are usually inspirational and remind you that excuses are for chumps. There is also a common theme from most great coaches and that is, “Luck is fought for in practice.”

I am reading a book called, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters by N.T. Wright. The premise of the book is to highlight how Christians develop biblical virtue. It’s a wonderfully challenging book that is helping me to more deeply understand the tension between grace and works.

This morning in the Scriptures I was reading Psalm 1 and the first two verses really hit me between the eyes.

Blessed is the man
 who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
 nor stands in the way of sinners,
 nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
 but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
 and on his law he meditates day and night.

Particularly, what jumped off the page was the last phrase, “…on his law he meditates day and night.” I immediately thought of what I’ve been reading in Wright’s book about how Christian character is hard fought. It’s not easy. It requires discipline and practice.

I was struck by how similar success in the Christian life, which is often called blessing, is to success in athletics. Both demand practice. Both require a discipline that many people are unwilling to undertake.

Chesterton says, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

I think this is right on the money. The blessed man finds his delight in the LORD and meditates on the Scriptures day and night. He’s always practicing, he’s always working on his game. It takes effort, consistency, and perseverance.

Surely to experience blessing is an act of grace, but it is also the result of a diligent pursuit of God.

Blessing Isn’t Cheap was originally published in The Rev on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I am always surprised by the moments in the life of leading a congregation that end up filling my soul. That conversation with a neighbor that I didn’t expect. Or maybe the conversation with the bartender at my local watering hole. Sometimes it’s an opportunity to serve a friend or a stranger. Often it has been seeing God provide for our family.

Tonight I had one of those moments.

Here’s the thing, I’m not a big corporate pray-er. I have never really enjoyed praying in groups. At conferences or gatherings where they make you split up into small groups and pray for each other, I slip out the back. It always feels fake and lame.

I’m a pastor, I shouldn’t feel like that. Before that I was a missionary, I shouldn’t have felt like that then either. There’s a spirituality standard for us professional Christians, right? If there is, I fail miserably at this point.

Tonight we started the new year with the missional community that meets in our home by praying for one another. I have to admit, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. It seemed like the right thing to do, I was convinced that this was what God was encouraging us to do. If I’m honest, I was kind of dreading it.

As the stories and prayer requests began to flow and the prayers were offered up for one another, I sat there enthralled. I was amazed at the answer to prayer over the year. My heart and mind were fully engaged in hearing the stories of my friends.

I took to Facebook after and posted:

I meant it. It was good for my soul.

Something changed in me tonight.

I think I’ll probably still slip out the back at conferences during “forced prayer” time. But, I can’t wait for the next time I get to hear the stories of my friends and pray for one another.

We prayed, and it was beautiful.

We Prayed was originally published in The Rev on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

This first Sunday of Epiphany we read Hebrews 1:1–12 and come face to face with King Jesus. He’s magnificent. He’s radiant. He’s the eternal. He’s active. He’s among us. He’s the king!

Epiphany is the season where we see Jesus revealed as the God-man. Perfectly God, perfectly man. We see his mission unfolded before us in the gospels and the scriptures. We are reminded through the prophets that all of this was foretold.

Yet it is in Hebrews, in the New Testament, where we get this amazing image of who Jesus is in the opening pages of the letter.

This morning, I am simply reflecting on the glory of our Savior as I am reminded again that he is greater than the angels.

This. Is. Jesus.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,
 today I have begotten you”?

 Or again,

“I will be to him a father,
 and he shall be to me a son”? 

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God’s angels worship him.” 

Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,
 and his ministers a flame of fire.”

 But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
 the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
 therefore God, your God, has anointed you
 with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

 And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
 and the heavens are the work of your hands;
 they will perish, but you remain;
 they will all wear out like a garment,
 like a robe you will roll them up,
 like a garment they will be changed.
 But you are the same,
 and your years will have no end.”

This Is Jesus was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/this-is-jesus-7e5709f565f1?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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I noticed something “new” today in a passage that I have become very familiar with over the years. This passage is Revelation 2:1–7 and it is a letter to the church at Ephesus. Check it out:

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lamp-stands.
“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

There are a lot of things going on this passage. These two sentences jumped off the page, “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”

In my circles the phrase, “you have abandoned the love you had at first” gets thrown around and discussed often. It really preaches. What grabbed me by the heart today was “repent, and do the works you did at first.”

Protestants, in particular, are wary of works based righteousness. We, I believe rightly, want to make sure that everyone is clear that redemption is a work initiated by God, sustained by God, and completed by God. However, we often do so at the expense of acting in love.

James writes, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” I am growing in awareness that love is a verb. If we say we love God then our actions must align with this belief.

The church of Ephesus had right belief. They are commended for standing true theologically. Yet, they had abandoned their love because they had apparently abandoned the good works that they had done at first. To repent meant to return to the good works that demonstrated their love of God.

Jesus told his disciples, “They will know you by your love.” I am left wondering, do I love well? Is this loved expressed through my deeds? Does my life demonstrate love with action and not just words? Does yours?

Love Is A Verb was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/love-is-a-verb-dff72071f774?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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Today is Epiphany. Epiphany is the season that leads up to Lent where the Church has historically focused on the reality that Jesus is revealed as God in the flesh and that he is the great redeemer.

One of the passages in my reading today was from Isaiah 52,

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
The voice of your watchmen — they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
for eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.

This is a beautiful poem celebrating the reality of God’s redemption. When Isaiah wrote it the redemption of God’s people hadn’t happened yet. They were still under the auspices of Babylon. But, in the face of the exile, God through Isaiah, reminded them that hope was not lost and that redemption would come.

What really sticks out to me as I read this passage this morning is the opening stanza (one the Apostle Paul picks up on in Romans), “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” In particular is the phrase, “who publishes peace.” Peace here is the Hebrew, “shalom.” This word meant more than lack of strife, it is in reference to a wholeness of being.

We learn from the apostle Paul that we are called to be ambassadors for Jesus. That means that we speak on his behalf to the world. As I take stock in my own life I am left wondering, am I one who brings shalom/peace? Do my words and life help to bring peace? Or, am I one who adds to the noise of division in our world? We live in a time of disintegration, time where people’s lives are disjointed. As a representative of Jesus, I am called to help bring integration, to help people sew their lives back together.

I wonder, do I have beautiful feet? How about you?

How Are Your Feet? was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/how-are-your-feet-beabdb4657ce?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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This morning I was reading in John 15 where Jesus is bidding his farewell to his disciples. He says something that deeply challenges me and makes me wonder how much I truly do love other people.

He says, “Greater love has no on than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

We know this is a foreshadowing of what is to come, that he would willingly die on the cross. This death allowed for new life. This death made a way for reconciliation across all of creation. This death was not death, but it was life and life to the full.

So much of my American Christianity is not shaped this way. I avoid pain, discomfort, and death. I avoid it not only in the physical form but also in the spiritual and emotional form. To love well requires a person to metaphorically die to themselves. A person must be willing to set aside their rights and passions and desires for another. As a person dies to themselves they find that they are finally, ultimately, and truly alive.

Amy Carmichael calls this the “Divine Paradox.”

The great paradox of Christianity is that life is found in death and that death cannot destroy life.

This statement made by Jesus follows after a little discourse on him being vine and his disciples the branches. For branches to grow in a healthy way, they need to be pruned. In a very real way, they must die. In so doing they bear more fruit.

This summer, I pruned my roses three times. And each time the roses bloomed anew. Death brought life.

The same is true of us. We must die so that we may truly live.

Are you willing die to yourself so that you may experience life and life to the full?

Lay Your Life Down was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/lay-your-life-down-a325d7a27284?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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In the United States there is a phenomenon within some Christian traditions to hold “revivals.” These revivals are usually nothing more than a speaker who comes into town and preaches for a weekend. It’s like a local conference. Churches spend lots of money and time trying to get people to come to their revival.

The thing is, this is not what revival really is.

Revival is not something that can be planned. It’s not something that you can make happen. True biblical revival is something that the Holy Spirit does in his own time and in his own ways.

Even though we can’t make revival happen we can prepare for a move by the Holy Spirit.

In Psalm 85 the psalmist writes,

“Restore us again, O God of our salvation, and put way your indignation toward us! 
Will you be angry with us forever? 
Will you prolong your anger to all generations? 
Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? 
Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, 
for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;
but let them not turn back to folly. 
Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, 
that glory may dwell in our land.”

God revives us in his sovereignty, but we have a responsibility to cry out to him and ask him to revive us. As we cry out to him we must ready ourselves to hear what he has to say.

This simple request, “Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,” is central to preparing for his restoration and revival . There is a surety in this prayer, “for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints.”

We can help one another in this process by asking a simple question, “What is the Father saying to you?” This question demands that we are listening and asking the Father to help us hear.

It is in this context that we can experience revival and restoration. It is a movement of the Holy Spirit. It is not something planned but it is prepared for.

Revive Us! was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/revive-us-36e761b86763?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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Yesterday I wrote about a little phrase from Genesis 12, “He went.” As I was reading the Scriptures this morning I was reading in Hebrews 11:13–22 and it reminded me of the reality that often when we “go” we don’t necessarily see things come to fruition.

Abraham didn’t live to see his descendants become like sand on the seashore. He never gained possession of the promised land. He went, but he didn’t see the promises from God become sight.

I think this is what stops many of us from being willing to just go.

We want to be sure of the outcome. This surety won’t ever come. Unless, what we’re looking forward to is not of this world. What if we were looking forward to something more?

The author to the Hebrews says this of Abraham and others who set out in faith, “But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

Abraham and many others stepped out and went, not because of a desire for the immediate gratification of the promise, but for a future hope of a better country.

How do you need to step out in faith, not because you’ll see immediate gratification, but because you have a hope for something more?

On The Move was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/on-the-move-f0d0af453f4b?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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On January 1, 2017 what are you hoping for? As you consider this coming year what is it that you want to accomplish? When you get to December 31, 2017 how will you know if you had a good year?

These questions are more important to me than ever before. As I look around at our culture I see too many people who are losing the ability to see beyond the immediate. Every day there is a new catastrophe. Every day another famous person dies. Every day there is something that steals hope from too many people.

What saddens me is that these things that leave many of us feeling anguished are nothing more than fleeting vapors of a life we wish we had. We howl about global affairs and ignore the ones next door. We cry for the celebrity but do not weep for our neighbor.

As I look to 2017, Psalm 67 is my prayer. It is my hope.

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, 
that your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. 
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you!
The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him!

What is your hope? was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/what-is-your-hope-f659fc198a81?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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As the new year starts many people make resolutions. We tend to have this sense that we need to make some changes. We want to read more, get in shape, be a better spouse, or make more money.

A friend of mine said something in passing that I thought was relatively profound, “I’ve always been a “New Years resolutions are stupid” kinda guy. I mean, really…if there’s something in your life that needs changing, then change it now.”

This has stuck in my head since he said it. It’s brilliant! I recently posted a series of commitments for 2017, so apparently I’m feeling the “new year” bug. However, this idea that “if there’s something in your life that needs changing, then change it now,” is completely brilliant.

I was reading the Bible this afternoon and this is one of the passages that I was reading, it’s about a guy named Abram and God calls him to leave his hometown:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

“So Abram went.” What an amazing little phrase. He went. This guy left his hometown and everything he knew because of some promises that God had made him.

I need to be a bit more like Abram.

How cool would it be if on my tombstone it simply said, “So Daniel went”?

So, He Went was originally published in The Subversive Journey on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

from The Subversive Journey https://danielmrose.com/so-he-went-60f87de8e83f?source=rss—-bbc765b79ec5—4

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