Daniel Rose

Matthew 4:12-17

When Jesus got word that John had been arrested, he returned to Galilee. He moved from his hometown, Nazareth, to the lakeside village Capernaum, nestled at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This move completed Isaiah's sermon:

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
road to the sea, over Jordan,
Galilee, crossroads for the nations.
People sitting out their lives in the dark
saw a huge light;
Sitting in that dark, dark country of death,
they watched the sun come up.

This Isaiah-prophesied sermon came to life in Galilee the moment Jesus started preaching. He picked up where John left off: "Change your life. God's kingdom is here."

Change your life. God’s kingdom is here.

What do those words mean to you?

I think if most of are honest they don’t mean a whole lot. We are a people who don’t know much about kingdoms, kings, or any such things. Sure, we have some ideas, but we are people who lived our lives in a republican democracy. In our experience the idea of a kingdom is pretty far outside our experience. We live in a time and place where we believe that each of us has the right to speak into who our leadership is. Our nation is one built on a constitution and people we vote into office to represent us.

So, if we’re honest, when we hear Jesus say, “Change your life. God’s kingdom is here,” it just doesn’t hit the same way that this kind of thing did back in the first century.

Over the last number of years this idea, “kingdom of God,” has become something that I’ve been thinking a lot about. Mostly because I realize that I don’t have a good grip on it, but also because it seems to be at the center of what Jesus was talking about and trying to live out when he was doing ministry.

I have to confess, I still don’t think I have my mind totally wrapped around what it means.

When we bump up against concepts and themes in the Scriptures that are so far outside our common experience we have to recognize the gulf that exists between our time and their time. Then, we have to being to do the work to build a bridge over that gulf. It’s hard work. This work demands something that I don’t have a lot of, humility. To do this work requires me (and you) to say, “I don’t know.” As a professional Christian that is expected to have all the answers about Christianity, that is a hard pill to swallow.

I want to be really clear, I don’t think that I have it all figured out when it comes to this whole “kingdom of God” thing.

One of the things that seems to be true about the kingdom of God is that it demands us to change. However they were living back in the first century and however we are living today, to acknowledge the kingdom of God is to acknowledge our need to change. Perhaps this is why we get uncomfortable thinking about this kind of stuff?

Why must we change? I think the answer to that comes from the end of the story. Do you remember Jesus talking with Pontius Pilate before his crucifixion? He says something to Pilate about his kingdom that I think points us toward the necessity to change. He says that his kingdom is not of this world. The way that Jesus is King is different than the way that other authorities practice their authority. It also means that his kingdom is unlike anything we have seen in history. Jesus’ kingdom transcends our usual way of thinking about these things.

Because of this, we must change.

One of the changes that I see throughout the Gospels is that Jesus is constantly reconciling people who are separated from one other. It appears that in the kingdom of God the various barriers we create between one another are brought down. We love our “us vs them” or figuring out who the “other” is. But, if we are going to try and participate in this kingdom of God then we are going to have to change and set aside our desires to sort and separate.

I’m still struggling to grasp and understand the kingdom of God metaphor and how to understand it in light of our current reality. How do you make sense of it? For me the bridge building comes from that reality that it’s not a kingdom of this world, so it allows me some freedom to leave the militaristic version of kingdom to something else entirely. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Philippians 3:1-16

And that's about it, friends. Be glad in God!

I don't mind repeating what I have written in earlier letters, and I hope you don't mind hearing it again. Better safe than sorry—so here goes.

Steer clear of the barking dogs, those religious busybodies, all bark and no bite. All they're interested in is appearances—knife-happy circumcisers, I call them. The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it. We couldn't carry this off by our own efforts, and we know it— even though we can list what many might think are impressive credentials. You know my pedigree: a legitimate birth, circumcised on the eighth day; an Israelite from the elite tribe of Benjamin; a strict and devout adherent to God's law; a fiery defender of the purity of my religion, even to the point of persecuting Christians; a meticulous observer of everything set down in God's law Book.

The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I'm tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I've dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn't want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God's righteousness.

I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.

Paul was a guy with a pedigree. He was a guy with amazing credentials. There was no question that he was something special. Paul’s zeal for the faith was so strong that he persecuted Christians as a young man. But, then something happened. He had an encounter with Christ. This encounter changed him to his core. He was transformed from the inside out and would never be the same. Paul spent the rest of his life pressing forward a message of grace, truth, love, and reconciliation.

I think what strikes me about this passage is the humility of Paul.

He knows that he’s imperfect and that he has not reached the goals that he’s calling the Philippians to live out. But, he says, I’m going to keep pressing on, I’m going to keep trying to become like Christ in all things.

Why?

He desperately wanted to know Christ and his resurrection. The NIV says it this way, “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

Paul’s greatest desire was union with Christ. If having union with Christ in his resurrection meant suffering, so be it, it would be worth it. I don’t think Paul went looking for suffering. I do think that Paul saw in his suffering an opportunity to find a deeper identification with Christ. Again, this was not some sort of trite platitude. No, Paul truly suffered and struggled. This is akin to Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning as he processed his experience in the holocaust. Paul wrote from a place of real pain and the meaning he found was an identification with Christ.

It was in this that Paul’s humility was rooted. He had found meaning in Christ and he wanted others to find it too. He knew his pursuit was imperfect but the beauty of grace was in the pursuit, it was in the straining toward the goal.

Let’s journey together shall we? Let’s join the pursuit of the resurrection by focusing on living as Christ. Let’s pursue a radical minimum standard of self-forgetting, self-giving, self-sacrificing love.

Philippians 2:12-30

What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I'll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You'll be living proof that I didn't go to all this work for nothing.

Even if I am executed here and now, I'll rejoice in being an element in the offering of your faith that you make on Christ's altar, a part of your rejoicing. But turnabout's fair play—you must join me in my rejoicing. Whatever you do, don't feel sorry for me.

I plan (according to Jesus' plan) to send Timothy to you very soon so he can bring back all the news of you he can gather. Oh, how that will do my heart good! I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus. But you know yourselves that Timothy's the real thing. He's been a devoted son to me as together we've delivered the Message. As soon as I see how things are going to fall out for me here, I plan to send him off. And then I'm hoping and praying to be right on his heels.

But for right now, I'm dispatching Epaphroditus, my good friend and companion in my work. You sent him to help me out; now I'm sending him to help you out. He has been wanting in the worst way to get back with you. Especially since recovering from the illness you heard about, he's been wanting to get back and reassure you that he is just fine. He nearly died, as you know, but God had mercy on him. And not only on him—he had mercy on me, too. His death would have been one huge grief piled on top of all the others.

So you can see why I'm so delighted to send him on to you. When you see him again, hale and hearty, how you'll rejoice and how relieved I'll be. Give him a grand welcome, a joyful embrace! People like him deserve the best you can give. Remember the ministry to me that you started but weren't able to complete? Well, in the process of finishing up that work, he put his life on the line and nearly died doing it.

I love these kinds of passages in the Scriptures because they remind me that I am reading someone else’s mail. The last few paragraphs about Epaphroditus have my mind ablaze! Don’t you want to know the back story? Me too! I also want to know more of the back story of what was going on with Paul. These are the things that begin to drive us into the mysterious and wonderful depths of the Scriptures and history. If you are curious like me, start digging!

The thing that grabbed my attention this morning was this line, “Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.”

Oh! I so desperately want to be that fresh air, don’t you?

This morning I shared a quote from Fred Rogers that resonates with the same energy that this quote from St. Paul does:

The ones that see the “see the need and respond” these are the ones that are being breaths of fresh air in this “squalid and polluted society.”

As I ponder this idea from St. Paul I am struck by a couple of things. First, there was no question in his mind that the world was sick. He didn’t have a Pollyanna perspective of the world. No, Paul had a realistic view of society. There was no doubt that it was in need of healing.

Second, unlike many that would come after him his counsel was not to hold up in some sort of sanctuary but it was to go out. Paul called the followers of Christ to go forth as breaths of fresh air to show the world what the good life looks like. This life we know from earlier in Philippians 2 is one marked by self-forgetfulness and selflessness. Far from building Christian hideouts, Paul desired Christians to be people who were “out there” as living models of the sacrificial love of Christ.

Third, he challenged them to go “uncorrupted.” This was a calling to live life differently. The Christian is to live a life that is not corrupted by the greed and self-centeredness of their society. This demands discipline, awareness, and community. We need awareness to see where we need to grow. We need discipline to do the work necessary to towards being “uncorrupted.” And, we need community to help us practice awareness and discipline. To be a Christian is to live in the context of community not in isolation.

Let’s go be breaths of fresh air together today!

Philippians 2:1-11

If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Selfless.

If that’s not a counter cultural call to live differently I don’t know what is. “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” You may be thinking that this is definitely counter the “secular” world but what we are missing is that it subverts much of the way Western Christians think of themselves too.

I think about many of the recent debates about ridiculous things that have spawned over the last eighteen months. Too often the Christian has been on the side of thinking of ourselves and demanding our personal rights. We have strayed long and far from the place of Philippians of 2:1-11.

Paul writes, “Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” This is tough stuff. It’s brutal when we consider the reality that so many of us are more concerned with “defending my rights” and “getting our (sic) own advantage” than we are with putting ourselves aside.

If we are going to have the mind of Christ it demands that we practice self-forgetfulness which leads us to a selflessness. It was this kind of living that lead the Christians of the Middle Ages to care for the sick during the black plague. It was this kind of perspective that drove people like Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day to care for those on the fringes.

I find that this battle is waged within me constantly. The desire to get my own advantage is fighting against my desire to practice self-forgetfulness like Christ has displayed.

Whose advantage do you care most about? How do you go about practicing self-forgetfulness? What does it look like for you to be selfless?

Philippians 1:12-30

I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else too, found out that I'm in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they've learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the Christians here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.

It's true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they'll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I'm out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them.

So how am I to respond? I've decided that I really don't care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on!

And I'm going to keep that celebration going because I know how it's going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose.

As long as I'm alive in this body, there is good work for me to do. If I had to choose right now, I hardly know which I'd choose. Hard choice! The desire to break camp here and be with Christ is powerful. Some days I can think of nothing better . But most days, because of what you are going through, I am sure that it's better for me to stick it out here. So I plan to be around awhile, companion to you as your growth and joy in this life of trusting God continues. You can start looking forward to a great reunion when I come visit you again. We'll be praising Christ, enjoying each other.

Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they're up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You're involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter.

Perspective.

It’s a single word and it has ridiculous power when we embrace it.

Webster’s dictionary defines it this way, “1 : the angle or direction in which a person looks at an object. 2 : point of view. 3 : the ability to understand what is important and what isn't; ‘I know you're disappointed, but keep your perspective.’ 4 : an accurate rating of what is important and what isn't; ‘Let's keep things in perspective.’”

This word is what popped into my mind as I read this passage this morning.

I think that over the last 18 months or so we have all had a crash course in perspective.

We have had to discern what is really important and what isn’t. We have had to make choices to help us to keep from becoming distressed and heartbroken over and over again. Disappointment seems to be around every corner and so we have had to learn the art of “managed expectations.”

Perspective is something that we have had to learn to hold on to.

Paul had mastered the art of keeping perspective. He had figured out what was most important and in so doing was able to keep everything else in its proper place. He was able to see the beauty and good in those who were even preaching the gospel from impure motives. He knew that he wanted to be with the Lord but he knew that what mattered most, at least in this moment, was loving those entrusted to his spiritual care. It’s wild to think that someone could say something like, “There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting.”

I’ll tell you what, that’s a perspective that can only be held and shared by someone who has walked through a depth of suffering and come out the other side. For many of us, to say that would be trite. But, for Paul, it was truth. He lived that out. This was not a philosophical truism. No, this was a reality that he had embodied.

When I think of someone who is able to keep perspective I am struck by my good friend Mike. He suffered the loss of his only son. Yet, from this loss he has encouraged and loved others with a depth that most of us can only imagine having. Holding the perspective that Mike does about pain, suffering, and heartache, was one that he lived. Mike didn’t read about it and dispense it tritely. No, Mike has lived it and holds on with grief and joy all wrapped up together.

As I read these words this morning it is this word, perspective, that is pricking my spirit. In what ways have I lost perspective? Where do I need to re-evaluate my perspective? Are there things of lesser importance that need to be let go of in light of greater depth?

How about you? How are you doing at keeping perspective on life?

James 3:13-4:12

Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here's what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn't wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn't wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn't wisdom. It's the furthest thing from wisdom—it's animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you're trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others' throats.

Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.

You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "he's a fiercely jealous lover." And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble."

So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

Don't bad-mouth each other, friends. It's God's Word, his Message, his Royal Rule, that takes a beating in that kind of talk. You're supposed to be honoring the Message, not writing graffiti all over it. God is in charge of deciding human destiny. Who do you think you are to meddle in the destiny of others?

So, if yesterday wasn’t a punch to the gut, if yesterday’s passage didn’t make you say, “ouch,” then today’s ought to. James is pulling no punches and doesn’t hold back.

If we say we follow Christ then we have some things to consider. First, our actions not our words demonstrate who we are. Some will read this and think that this means that we are then free to speak mean and nasty things. But, that isn’t the truth (that should be clear from yesterday). What James is getting at here is that if your words are kind and nice but your actions display otherwise, your actions reveal who you are. We must live authentic lives. As someone once said, “Be wary of all earnestness.”

Second, we must be willing to sacrifice our “wants” for the love of neighbor. Are we not seeing this on display today? Our world, and much of it driven by Christians, is filled with rancor and quarreling and violence. I am saddened and disgusted by what I see. Scroll “Christian” Twitter and it is filled with nasty, mean-spirited, and divisive talk that would have James turning over in his tomb. Oh friends! We have lost the plot!

Third, those of us who are Christians must realize that every word and every deed is a reflection on Christ and the Message. Are you bad mouthing other believers? Are you driving strife because of your self-centered ways? Am I? My dear friends, we must have a posture of mutual submission toward one another. It has become clear and evident that many American Christians don’t have any desire to practice love if it gets in the way of their preferred politics.

How do we rediscover the better story?

I’m going to be pondering this bit from the passage above today. Perhaps it will stick with you too…

Real wisdom, God's wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor.

James 3:1-12

Don't be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards. And none of us is perfectly qualified. We get it wrong nearly every time we open our mouths. If you could find someone whose speech was perfectly true, you'd have a perfect person, in perfect control of life.

A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!

It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can't tame a tongue—it's never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!

My friends, this can't go on. A spring doesn't gush fresh water one day and brackish the next, does it? Apple trees don't bear strawberries, do they? Raspberry bushes don't bear apples, do they? You're not going to dip into a polluted mud hole and get a cup of clear, cool water, are you?

Ouch.

Double ouch.

Triple ouch.

If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that this passage is a gut punch.

Man, if this passage was true in the first century, how much more so today? Each of us carries with us a global megaphone in our pocket and we are not afraid to use it. Heck, many of us are addicted to using it.

It turns out destroying the lives of people with words is not a new thing. It’s been around since the earliest human civilizations. It has taken many forms over the centuries. Whether it’s “cancel culture” or “scarlet letters” or anything else we can come up with, destroying people with words has been and will continue to be a “thing.”

We need James’ wisdom today more than ever.

You see our words carry force. They create deep penetrating wounds in our souls when used as weapons. They also create healing and life when used for the sake of love.

I know that some of you are faux tough and pretend that words don’t hurt. But, trust me when I tell you we all know you’re lying.

Words matter. How we say them matters.

Every time we open our mouths we can choose to use our words in a way the blesses another and bring life or we can choose to use our words to curse another and bring pain.

What will it be?

I too often find myself using words as weapons. The snarky criticism rolls off my tongue with ease. I would be a liar to say they don’t. Too many times I find that what I communicate is my frustration and anger. My hunch is that more people know what I’m against as opposed to what I’m for.

I am trying to grow in this area, but it’s so very hard.

Amy (my wife) says that instead of always railing against something, someone, or some situation we need to think in terms of telling a better story. How can we invite our “enemy” and neighbor into a better story of pursuing love, relationship, kindness, and respect?

I think this is the next big step for me. It means that I need to be looking at the world differently and thinking about it in terms of the better story. It means that I need to be seeking to embody the better story that I want others to embody. We cannot invite others into something that we are not living out ourselves.

How about you? How are you doing at living out what James talks about here? Are you a life speaker or a curse maker?

James 2:14-26

Dear friends, do you think you'll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it? For instance, you come upon an old friend dressed in rags and half-starved and say, "Good morning, friend! Be clothed in Christ! Be filled with the Holy Spirit!" and walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup—where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?

I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department."

Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape—that seamless unity of believing and doing—what counted with God? The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

Over the years my understanding of the faith/works divide has changed a bit. That change has come from studying James and Paul. These two men, I have learned, are saying the same thing even though we try to tear them apart.

Did you know that there were some in the early church that didn’t want to include this letter by James in the Scriptures because they felt that it was too focused on “works”?

Honestly, there are some today who secretly wish that they had left it out. Why? Because it would make things so much easier. We could get away with not living the faith but simply saying magic words.

Is James arguing that works saves us? No. Absolutely not. What he is saying is that faith will animate our lives to good works. That is, faith makes us more like Christ. True Christian faith is not something that we can just talk about. It’s not an idea or mindset or a perspective. True Christian faith is a way of being.

A way of being is something that includes all of who we are. It’s mind, body, and soul. There is no pulling it apart.

Some will say, “So what you’re saying is that if we don’t have good deeds then we are not saved? That really flies in the face of ‘by grace through faith alone’ does it not?” This is the very charge that James faces squarely when he says, “You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.”

You see, it really is a chicken and the egg kind of thing. If we have faith we will be changed. There will be transformation which results in the fruit of the Spirit. What is that? Well, we find that in Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he writes, “But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.”

Too often, too many think that faith in Christ is nothing more than a get out of jail free card. But, that’s not how it works. Authentic faith in Christ means that we are seeking to live with the mind of Christ, which in turn means that we are seeking to live and love like Christ.

If we are not growing in the way of love, then we are not following Christ.

James 2:1-13

My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith. If a man enters your church wearing an expensive suit, and a street person wearing rags comes in right after him, and you say to the man in the suit, "Sit here, sir; this is the best seat in the house!" and either ignore the street person or say, "Better sit here in the back row," haven't you segregated God's children and proved that you are judges who can't be trusted?

Listen, dear friends. Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently? He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges. This kingdom is promised to anyone who loves God. And here you are abusing these same citizens! Isn't it the high and mighty who exploit you, who use the courts to rob you blind? Aren't they the ones who scorn the new name—"Christian"—used in your baptisms?

You do well when you complete the Royal Rule of the Scriptures: "Love others as you love yourself." But if you play up to these so-called important people, you go against the Rule and stand convicted by it. You can't pick and choose in these things, specializing in keeping one or two things in God's law and ignoring others. The same God who said, "Don't commit adultery," also said, "Don't murder." If you don't commit adultery but go ahead and murder, do you think your non-adultery will cancel out your murder? No, you're a murderer, period.

Talk and act like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. For if you refuse to act kindly, you can hardly expect to be treated kindly. Kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time.

Note:

I hope you’re ready for your inbox to be filled with posts again! It’s writing time again. I’m excited to return to my daily habit and I hope that you will find these brief devotional writings helpful too.

This year I’m not going to post these devotionals as widely on my personal social media. I am asking you to consider sharing these on your personal platforms if you find them helpful and beneficial.

Talk and like a person expecting to be judged by the Rule that sets us free. What’s the rule? “Love others as you love yourself.”

It really is that simple.

What if every day we lived that out in our bodies? Not just with words but in action and deed. What if we practiced loving well as a way of life?

I have a secret to tell you: More of you do so than any of us realize.

Over the last 18 months I have been amazed at seeing how people practice loving well every single day. There is no limit to the love that is shown in this world. We just don’t hear about it because it is not exciting news and it doesn’t get clicks or likes.

But, I am convinced the majority of you reading this do your best every single day to live according to the Royal Rule of Scripture.

So, wait, how does what I just said make any sense with the my question at the beginning? Simple, we need to become aware of the reality that we are not alone in loving well. We need to realize that the people around us are trying just as hard as we are to love well. When we do, we can engage more people as those who we want to extend compassion and empathy toward.

Too much of what fills our newsfeeds is outrage, snark, sarcasm, and biting critique.

I was telling my Mom the other day that more and more I find myself exhausted by snark. It’s never ending. People can’t simply enjoy the beauty in front of them. We have to mock it or add some snarky comment. I find myself doing this all the time. I get a laugh from some and that confirms the behavior in me. I so desperately want to stop.

Part of learning to love well and to live out the Royal Rule of Scripture is to learn to celebrate with those who are celebrating and to weep with those who weep. This means that I have to take my sarcastic, snarky comment and capture it, stick it in my back pocket, and then let it go. For a time I was doing this on Twitter and saving the snark as drafts. I was going to release it all on Festivus (a made up holiday from the television show Seinfeld where part of it is an airing of grievances). Thankfully, Twitter somehow deleted all my drafts and the snark was gone forever.

How about you? What are the steps you need to take in learning to live out the Royal Rule of Scripture? Sound off in the comments and let’s learn to “love others as yourself” together.

In this week's episode I chop it up with Nathan Soos, a teacher and coach from Lincoln Middle School. He's a guy that embodies what it means to love well. I hope that you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. I loved what he had to say about love being the root of all the things that are good in this life. 

Check out the Soos Playlist on Spotify for tunes that he listens to help him continue to love well: #LoveWell with Nathan Soos

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 23:13-25

Passage:

Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers, and the others and said, "You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing to your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent him back here with a clean bill of health. It's clear that he's done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving death. I'm going to warn him to watch his step and let him go."

At that, the crowd went wild: "Kill him! Give us Barabbas!" (Barabbas had been thrown in prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder.) Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go, and so spoke out again.

But they kept shouting back, "Crucify! Crucify him!"

He tried a third time. "But for what crime? I've found nothing in him deserving death. I'm going to warn him to watch his step and let him go."

But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that he be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted. He released the man thrown in prison for rioting and murder, and gave them Jesus to do whatever they wanted.

This is part of the story that is so hard to read and think about. I find myself again asking, “Where do I see myself in this story?” What role would I have played in the great tragedy of injustice that took place here? Because, there is no doubt about it, this was unjust. Jesus did not deserve the punishment he received. He was found blameless. Yet, the shouting mob demanded him convicted.

The innocent found guilty.

The guilty set free.

Where is the justice?

I hope I wouldn’t be in the crowd shouting for injustice. Yet, there’s a good chance that I would be. In all honesty, I would probably have been with what I assume the disciples were doing in that moment, standing there in silence not wanting to face the same fate.

I don’t really know which is worse. Actively asking for injustice to be done or silently watching it happen.

You have to wonder, why? Why would the shouting mob demand Jesus’ conviction and not the conviction of Barabbas? We learn from Matthew’s gospel that it was the religious elite that convinced the crowd that Jesus was to be convicted. Why?

I think at the end of the day it comes down to whose authority was being undermined by Jesus. Pilate could see that Jesus was no threat to Rome. He was no violent insurrectionist (unlike Barabbas). But, the religious elite saw in him and knew him to be one who would undermine their power and their authority. His teaching was challenging the religious power structures in such a way that they needed him gone.

What is absolutely wild about this whole thing is that it was going exactly to plan.

Whenever I read this story I imagine Jesus making eye contact with the chief priest and dropping the Obi-Wan Kenobi line from Star Wars when he was fighting Darth Vader, “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

Ultimately, I think what I walk away with from this story is that somehow God is at work behind the scenes making all things right.

The beauty of the gospel is that God takes what we do, even the ugly and the evil, and redeems it for the good and the beautiful.

That’s grace.

Bono, one of my favorite poet/songwriters wrote,

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's the name for a girl
It's also a thought that
Changed the world

And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness
In everything

Grace
She's got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She's got the time to talk

She travels outside
Of karma, karma
She travels outside
Of karma

When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace
She carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips

She carries a pearl
In perfect condition
What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings

Because Grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace finds beauty
In everything

Grace finds goodness in everything

May you find grace today. May you live grace today. May our eyes see the beauty in ugly things.

—

During the month of July I am taking time to recharge my spiritual tanks. So, I will not be publishing daily. I may do some, but there will be days when it won’t happen. I will return to daily writing in August. In August we will also see the return of Doubt on Tap, The Simple Theologian Podcast, and Beyond Sunday School. During this break, The #LoveWell Podcast will be released every Monday with interviews of people who love well.

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 23:1-12

Passage:

Then they all took Jesus to Pilate and began to bring up charges against him. They said, "We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting himself up as Messiah-King."

Pilate asked him, "Is this true that you're 'King of the Jews'?"

"Those are your words, not mine," Jesus replied.

Pilate told the high priests and the accompanying crowd, "I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me."

But they were vehement. "He's stirring up unrest among the people with his teaching, disturbing the peace everywhere, starting in Galilee and now all through Judea. He's a dangerous man, endangering the peace."

When Pilate heard that, he asked, "So, he's a Galilean?" Realizing that he properly came under Herod's jurisdiction, he passed the buck to Herod, who just happened to be in Jerusalem for a few days.

Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see him, he'd heard so much about him. He hoped to see him do something spectacular. He peppered him with questions. Jesus didn't answer—not one word. But the high priests and religion scholars were right there, saying their piece, strident and shrill in their accusations.

Mightily offended, Herod turned on Jesus. His soldiers joined in, taunting and jeering. Then they dressed him up in an elaborate king costume and sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became thick as thieves. Always before they had kept their distance.

The political drama of this passage is so interesting. From the religious leaders trying to go right to the top, to Rome passing it back down to a lower court, to Herod and Pilate’s new found friendship. This whole scene could be something out of a TV drama.

What did you notice about Jesus in the story?

What I noticed is that Jesus didn’t defend himself. He didn’t get his hackles up and got at Pilate or Herod. His only defense, “Those are your words not mine.” When he’s interacting with Herod he stayed silent.

Silent.

He looked in the face of his accusers and tormentors and said nothing.

As I think about my own life and when I have been in situations where I feel like I’m being maligned or attacked I fight back. And I’m pretty good at verbal sparring. Obviously, I’ve never been engaged with something like what Jesus is experiencing here. Nothing even close, nothing even in the same universe.

So, why when the stakes are so small do I look for a fight and Jesus doesn’t when the stakes were huge?

I think it’s because Jesus was completely and utterly confident in his identity. He knew who he was. He didn’t need his ego to protect him. He could stand there and listen and take in all the anger, rage, wrath, and falsehoods knowing that none of it was true. It’s as if it passes right through. He’s completely untouched by it.

I am learning that as we grow in our lives and faith and become more grounded in who each of us are we are able to listen to the other. We no longer have a need to defend ourselves or make an argument for ourselves. No, we can simply look at the other and say, “Those are your words not mine.” We can say, “Who do you say that I am?” And no matter the answer it passes through us.

For instance, when I was a young Christian I was enthralled with apologetics. I was driven to find empirical support for every aspect of my “faith.” I had all kinds of head knowledge and I used that information as a weapon. I was inspired by stories of modern apologists who would tell tales of conversations on airplanes where they would make people cry as they “destroyed” the other person’s worldview. Those were my faith heroes. I wanted to be just like that.

Why? Because I was unsure of who I was and what I believed. I had to protect this fragile belief and faith. I was like the disciple with the sword on the Mount of Olives who sliced off the servant’s ear.

As the years go by and my faith grows and matures I find that the apologetics questions and the endless debates are uninteresting. They mean little by way of what really matters. To follow Jesus is not to follow a philosopher who is seeking intellectual dominance. The follow Jesus is to practice and embody love for God, self, neighbor, and enemy. I find that to be way more interesting and energizing. Wrestling through how I am supposed to practice love.

I have been reading a book called The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by Alan Kreider. It’s a deep dive into the life and practices of the early church. What has been so interesting to me is that their primary concern was changed lives. How did people who wanted to be part of the church live? This was the question. Before they were admitted to the fellowship they had demonstrate their lives were different and that they were living after the way of Christ. This took time and patience and training.

Today, we are overjoyed with someone saying a magic prayer.

No wonder we have lost the plot so thoroughly.

Jesus fully embodied his identity. He knew who he was and rested in that truth. As we move toward that reality then we no longer need to fight. We are able to move into a practiced reality of loving well. Even if that means standing silent before those who seek to mock or shame us.

This week I sat down with my good friend, Jennifer Gorman to talk about what it means to love well. She is an avid volunteer and serves some of the most needy in her profession. One of the things that really hit home for me was that Jennifer made the point that to love well we need to live transparent lives. I hope that you find this conversation as fun as I did!

Jennifer and Jeffrey just launched a business with Tastefully Simple, I'd encourage you to check out their store. 

Make sure you check out Jennifer's #LoveWell Playlist on Spotify!

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 22:63-71

Passage:

The men in charge of Jesus began poking fun at him, slapping him around. They put a blindfold on him and taunted, "Who hit you that time?" They were having a grand time with him.

When it was morning, the religious leaders of the people and the high priests and scholars all got together and brought him before their High Council. They said, "Are you the Messiah?"

He answered, "If I said yes, you wouldn't believe me. If I asked what you meant by your question, you wouldn't answer me. So here's what I have to say: From here on the Son of Man takes his place at God's right hand, the place of power."

They all said, "So you admit your claim to be the Son of God?"

"You're the ones who keep saying it," he said.

But they had made up their minds, "Why do we need any more evidence? We've all heard him as good as say it himself."

When I read the narratives of the scriptures one of the questions that I ask myself is, “Where do I find myself in the story?”

The easy thing is to always try and identify with Jesus. So, what I intentionally have done is to say that’s off limits. He is the unique God-man and so identifying with him in the story is not plausible. My next default is to identify with the disciples and sometimes that’s true. What I have to often make the hard decision to do is to place myself as one of those in opposition to Jesus in the story.

So, for instance, in the story of the Good Samaritan I desperately want to identify with the Samaritan. When in reality, I am more like the priest or the Levite. Perhaps it’s the story of the prodigal son. Don’t we all see ourselves as the prodigal? But, in reality, I am much more like the older brother. When Jesus interacts with the religious elite of his day I have to make the conscious decision to remember that is literally who I am today. I am among the religious elite. That sounds weird to say. But, I am a full-time churchman. I make a living from serving as a pastor to a community of people and I have advanced training and education in religion.

More and more I am forcing myself to see myself in the story as who I really am.

That is hard.

Particularly when I read this story.

I don’t see myself as the guards who mock and beat Jesus. I am not a representative of the state or a wielder of the sword. But, I am far worse. I would find myself among the religious leaders. Those whose sin here is that of not wanting to lose power.

You see, if Jesus is the Son of God, then he was the authority and not them. The people would no longer need to follow their lead or obey them. If Jesus had that kind of authority then the religious leaders would lose their stature and their authority.

Let me let you in on a secret. Religious leaders of any day and age don’t like losing authority or power.

This is why so many isolate and surround themselves with “yes” people. Far too many are fragile and weak.

By placing myself in the role of religious leader here, I am able to glimpse my shadow self. It provides me a check for the ways that I try to hold on to authority and power. It also opens my eyes to see why I need to be around people who are not going to simply tell me what I want to hear.

I am so grateful that what I have in my life are people who care enough about me to pursue me in authentic relationship. This means that we disagree about things. It means that we work through those disagreements. It means that all of us are able to be real. The best part is that when I move towards my shadow self they are there to shine light on it and help draw me back.

My prayer for you is that you will be surrounded by a community that helps you live authentically and helps you grow and change. A community that shows you your shadows and walks you back into the light.

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 22:54-62

Passage:

Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest. Peter followed, but at a safe distance. In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!"

He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him."

A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, "You're one of them."

But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not."

About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got 'Galilean' written all over him."

Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." He went out and cried and cried and cried.

This is one of the most heart wrenching stories we have the in the Scriptures. The worst part is when you realize that Peter’s denials come within earshot of Jesus. It’s not like Jesus was somewhere that he couldn’t see or hear what was happening. Nope, he was right there, probably being held in the courtyard so that folks could mock him. Peter tried to be brave, but he broke. He wilted in the face of standing with Jesus.

And Jesus turned and looked at Peter.

There it is. That’s the sentence. He turned and looked at Peter.

One little word, at. It makes the whole thing so personal and damning and heartbreaking.

As I process this story this morning I am struck by the absolutely personal and specific nature of the interaction.

Jesus turned and looked at Peter.

I think the reality is for those of us who are trying to pursue God we must realize that it’s personal as well as communal. Yes, Christ saved a people. But Christ also is about our personal transformation. The intimacy of this moment with Peter is the great reminder that our spirituality is intimate and it is personal.

Do you notice the gentleness of this too? Jesus doesn’t call him out. He doesn’t belittle him. He doesn’t “put him on blast” (as the kids say). Jesus turns and looks at him. That’s all it took. The holy one looking at him made him realize what had happened.

We must also not miss the inherent detail in all this either. Peter was looking at Jesus too. If he wasn’t then he would not have noticed the fact that Jesus was looking at him.

You see the intimacy of our faith must go both ways. It is when we are most intimately looking at Christ that we will see how he looks at us. There is something in the look that is filled with grace, mercy, love, and truth. As we look at Christ and Christ looks at us, we begin to see ourselves for who we really are.

It is in this moment that we may feel some conviction. We may experience the heartbreak of Peter. But, as we learn later in the story, he doesn’t hide from his faith family. Christ, after the resurrection, finds him in community.

This is the difference between Judas and Peter. Judas kills himself. He hid away, he isolated. Peter weeps but moves into relationship to find life.

I have to wonder if the difference between Peter and Judas was that Peter was looking at Jesus. His eyes were on the Christ. Perhaps Judas was simply looking at himself?

How am I living? I am looking at Christ or am I looking at myself? Where are my spiritual eyes fixed?

This song written by Derek Webb hits this morning, Faith My Eyes, the chorus goes like this:

So keep'em coming these lines on the road
And keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load
And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

That’s what I’m praying this morning. What about you?

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 22:39-53

Passage:

Leaving there, he went, as he so often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed him. When they arrived at the place, he said, "Pray that you don't give in to temptation."

He pulled away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?" At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.

He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, "What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won't give in to temptation."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than a crowd showed up, Judas, the one from the Twelve, in the lead. He came right up to Jesus to kiss him. Jesus said, "Judas, you would betray the Son of Man with a kiss?"

When those with him saw what was happening, they said, "Master, shall we fight?" One of them took a swing at the Chief Priest's servant and cut off his right ear.

Jesus said, "Let them be. Even in this." Then, touching the servant's ear, he healed him.

Jesus spoke to those who had come—high priests, Temple police, religion leaders: "What is this, jumping me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I've been with you in the Temple and you've not so much as lifted a hand against me. But do it your way—it's a dark night, a dark hour."

We come to the end of another week and hopefully you are doing well. I know for me it’s been great, one of the best weeks in a long time.

This morning’s reading is technically for tomorrow (but since I don’t write on Saturdays I thought it would be ok to jump ahead!) because I wrote about today’s passage earlier this week on accident. Ha!

Here we are in the Garden, the moment of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest. It’s a moment that always breaks my heart. Every time I read it. The grief of the moment and Jesus being betrayed with a kiss from one of his closest friends, it’s gut wrenching.

What strikes me about this story this morning is Jesus’ humanity.

I think that we often think of him only as the God-man. Too often we miss his humanity. We miss his weakness and his broken-heartedness.

Here we find him praying and begging that the cup be taken from him. He knew and understood what was about to happen. You can hear and feel the pain and sorrow in his words. But, there is also something else, a decision and willingness to trust God in the moment. It wasn’t a blind trust by any stretch of the imagination. It was an eyes wide open, I know what’s coming, this is going to be awful, decision.

I find it beautiful that there was a moment where Jesus said, “Any other way?”

The struggle that he walked through in this moment wasn’t sin. It wasn’t wrong. It was holy and good. The struggle of faith includes weeping and frustration. It includes the hard stuff. Struggling to follow God is not always easy and it’s OK to say so. If the God-man can wilt and cry out for mercy, so can I. I, you, we don’t have to have some false bravado all the time. We don’t have to be strong every minute of every day. There are times when we are going to feel weak and sad and heartbroken and struggling.

Jesus life of faith included that too.

So, on this dreary rainy Friday, remember it’s OK to enter into the sorrow of life. People will fail you. Your friends might betray you. Life will be hard. To enter into it and feel it with all of who you are is good and righteous.

Grieve.
Rage.
Weep.
Cry out.

I wrote yesterday about how sometimes the Psalms feel whiny for me. But, I think that is rooted is my own dislike of feeling my emotions. The Psalms show us that God wants us to have all the feelings and to express all the emotions. God is good with us being brutally honest with all of it.

I’m going to wrap this up with the opening lines from Psalm 102, it’s heart wrenching, and it’s Scripture and it’s holy.

GOD, listen! Listen to my prayer,
listen to the pain in my cries.
Don't turn your back on me
just when I need you so desperately.
Pay attention! This is a cry for help!
And hurry—this can't wait!

I want to learn to engage my emotions and not just stuff them.

It’s ok.
It’s holy.
It’s righteous.

In the season premiere of #LoveWell I interviewed Robert Norris. He's a volunteer extraordinaire and all around great husband, dad, and friend. There are few people who are more loving and caring than Rob. We talk quite a bit about what it means to be intentional and the joy of hospitality. 

Be sure to check out Rob's required listening to help you put on your love goggles, Beyonce's "I am...World Tour", over on Spotify. 

Also, check out Rob's Pampered Chef page on Facebook and give it a like and follow: Pampered Chef with Robert Norris.

Knee Jerk Devotional: Psalm 105:1-6

Passage:

Hallelujah!

Thank GOD! Pray to him by name!
Tell everyone you meet what he has done!
Sing him songs, belt out hymns,
translate his wonders into music!
Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs,
you who seek GOD. Live a happy life!
Keep your eyes open for GOD, watch for his works;
be alert for signs of his presence.
Remember the world of wonders he has made,
his miracles, and the verdicts he's rendered—
O seed of Abraham, his servant,
O child of Jacob, his chosen.

I have a confession to make. I totally misread the Book of Common Prayer earlier this week and got myself tangled up and out of order in Luke. So, instead of rehashing a passage from earlier this week, I thought I would take a bit of the psalm from today’s readings.

Reading the psalms for me can be tedious. So many feel too emo and whiny for me. But, then you get ones like Psalm 105 which tells the narrative of the people of God. This psalm is like an epic poem in its retelling of the Exodus. It is, on its own merits, a beautiful piece of poetry.

What really hit me this morning were these first six verses though and verse four in particular. It reads, “Keep your eyes open for GOD, watch for his works; be alert for signs of his presence.”

Over the last year I have begun learning to practice being in the moment. The realization that all we ever truly experience is the “now” was a bit of a perspective shattering thing for me. I have always been a bit like Luke Skywalker in the swamps of Dagobah with my mind elsewhere. I constantly think of the future and what is next. I really struggle to be present in the moment. Even as I sit here writing this morning my mind wanders to later today, next week, next month, and I have to bring myself back to this moment. It’s not a bad thing to be oriented this way, but there is a danger in it.

The danger of always dreaming and thinking about the future is that I miss what’s right here. I miss the joy and beauty of the moment, the now.

I think back over my life and wish I had savored certain seasons more deeply. Yet, I was always moving and thinking about the next thing.

Just before the pandemic struck I was spinning up and getting excited about the future. There was momentum in all of our missional communities. Things were happening and it was exciting! All of my dreams were beginning to come true. But, then everything stopped. The world shut down. I was crushed.

Somehow, I had to learn to find joy.

In an ancient letter to a group of Christians in the city of Philippi, Paul of Tarsus wrote, “I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty.”

I am trying to learn this. It’s brutally difficult. God graciously continues to provide opportunities. But, I don’t like it. I don’t like learning contentment or living in the eternal “now.” Why? Because when you do you begin to feel things. I am finding that I am more aware of my emotions and my body. It’s strange to say and that sounds really “woo-woo” to me. But, it’s not. It’s this growing awareness of what it means to bring all of myself to this immediate moment.

Just now, after becoming aware of and confessing my wandering mind I have written more in just a few minutes than I had the twenty minutes before. It’s a very strange experience.

Practically, I am trying to live out in the body what the psalmist writes here in verse four. I am intentionally trying to be alert for God’s presence. To do this demands that I am embrace the “now” as eternity. In so doing, I am learning to be content and satisfied with what is happening in the moment. It is both beautiful and ugly. It brings me joy and sorrow. But, the contentedness that I am experiencing is something I have never truly known.

Another word for it might be, “rest.”

How about you? Are you experiencing contentment? Are you embracing the eternal “now”?

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 22:14-23

Passage:

When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, "You've no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It's the last one I'll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God."

Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, "Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I'll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives."

Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory."

He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.

"Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It's true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday."

They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

Welcome to the ugly beauty of living in community.

I have read this passage hundreds, if not thousands of times over my life. It has never clicked with me the immediacy of the beauty being interrupted with the ugly. It’s not that I’ve not known it was there, it’s just that it never hit me that there was this immediacy to it.

Jesus just instituted what would become known as the eucharist or communion. The meal that Christians would eat regularly to symbolize our union with Christ and with one another. It is beautiful. Every time I celebrate communion with my community of faith I am moved by its simple beauty and the depth and weight of it.

But this morning I see it so clearly, there it is right alongside this beautiful moment, suspicion and arguing.

Community, even the ones that we hold most dear and ideal are imperfect. There is a sickness that runs through them and each of us. We all need healing, individually and corporately.

The beauty for me of the meal, of the eucharist, of communion is that it provides for us this weekly opportunity to declare that we will not let the spiritual sickness that resides in us win. It provides opportunity to deal with the issues. When we take time to reflect and wrestle with out readiness to receive the meal there is a chance to extend forgiveness and seek it.

What is most amazing about this story to me is not the moment in and of itself. It’s the fact that after this we have the continuing story that we call The Acts of the Apostles. This moment didn’t destroy them, they worked through it. They came out the other side to launch a global movement. As we read through Acts we find that the ugly of being in community together is never far away. The early church struggled with one another. They argued and had disagreements. There were tensions but they dealt with them and worked through them together.

What happens today is that we walk away from one church building to one down the street and never deal with the issues. There is little by way of entering in and redeeming the ugly. We just walk away.

Could you imagine if at that point in the story the disciples just walked away?

Could you imagine if they decided that they just couldn’t deal with “that person” and they were out?

I am so grateful they fought for redemption and relationship and the beauty of community.

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 22:27-38

Passage:

"Who would you rather be: the one who eats the dinner or the one who serves the dinner? You'd rather eat and be served, right? But I've taken my place among you as the one who serves. And you've stuck with me through thick and thin. Now I confer on you the royal authority my Father conferred on me so you can eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and be strengthened as you take up responsibilities among the congregations of God's people.

"Simon, stay on your toes. Satan has tried his best to separate all of you from me, like chaff from wheat. Simon, I've prayed for you in particular that you not give in or give out. When you have come through the time of testing, turn to your companions and give them a fresh start."

Peter said, "Master, I'm ready for anything with you. I'd go to jail for you. I'd die for you!"

Jesus said, "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Peter, but before the rooster crows you will have three times denied that you know me."

Then Jesus said, "When I sent you out and told you to travel light, to take only the bare necessities, did you get along all right?"

"Certainly," they said, "we got along just fine."

He said, "This is different. Get ready for trouble. Look to what you'll need; there are difficult times ahead. Pawn your coat and get a sword. What was written in Scripture, 'He was lumped in with the criminals,' gets its final meaning in me. Everything written about me is now coming to a conclusion."

They said, "Look, Master, two swords!"

But he said, "Enough of that; no more sword talk!"

Here we are in the upper room on the night of Jesus’ arrest. We could spend some time talking about the swords and how that relates to Jesus’ pretty clear position on non-violence. But, I think that’s better left to a chat over coffee, beers, or whiskey. So, if you want to discuss that let’s set up a time. So, if we’re not talking about swords, what are we going to talk about. How about the whole authority rooted in service thing?

Yeah.

This is one of those deals that goes against much of what we think about when it comes to leadership. Jesus does here what he often does and flips the expectations upside down.

Over the years I have read many books on leadership. I have sat through tons of leadership seminars and trainings. One of the things that I find interesting is that the direct connection between authority and service is one that is rarely made. Serving is usually a utilitarian concept. You serve others so that you can influence them to get them to follow you. This is the way that serving is used in leadership circles. I mean nobody puts it that crassly but if we’re honest that’s the underlying message.

Jesus here is talking about authority and sacrificial service. It’s a fascinating interaction to me because of how counter-cultural it is for our leadership climate. He has given the apostles authority so that they can eat at his table so that they can serve.

I’m not sure I have ever put it together that way. The authority isn’t given to them so they can have people follow them. No, it’s given to them so they can be strengthened to serve. How does that even work? Why do they need authority to eat at the table? How does this whole thing work?

I have way more questions than answers at this point in the game. Truly, this is a fresh insight for me. It’s not like I didn’t think that serving was mission critical for the leader, but the connection between authority to be strengthened to serve is new. I need to wrap my head around how that plays itself out.

What changes do I need to make as a leader? As a servant? It makes me think that the authority scorecard needs to change from being that of do people do what you want them to do to that of “do I have strength to serve?”

Ok, I need to process all this more. Perhaps you do too. I’d love to hear your thoughts. So leave a comment and let me know you what you think…

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 21:5-19

Passage:

One day people were standing around talking about the Temple, remarking how beautiful it was, the splendor of its stonework and memorial gifts. Jesus said, "All this you're admiring so much—the time is coming when every stone in that building will end up in a heap of rubble."

They asked him, "Teacher, when is this going to happen? What clue will we get that it's about to take place?"

He said, "Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, 'I'm the One,' or, 'The end is near.' Don't fall for any of that. When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end."

He went on, "Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over. Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You'll think at times that the very sky is falling.

"But before any of this happens, they'll arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name. You'll end up on the witness stand, called to testify. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it. I'll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.

"You'll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed. There's no telling who will hate you because of me. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.

We could do a deep dive on the stuff in this passage because it’s one of the harder passages in Luke about the “end times.” To be sure, I think this passage has been used and abused in ways that don’t fit what’s happening here. But, that’s not what these little daily devotionals are for. If you want to talk about the end times or second coming stuff, hit me up and let’s set up a time to chat.

Did you catch what Jesus says at the end of this passage? “Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head!—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost. Staying with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.”

I wonder, do I believe this? Do I believe that Jesus cares about me so deeply that “nothing of [me] will be lost”?

Isn’t it interesting the ordering of that last bit. First, he reiterates his care. Notice, it’s not necessarily his disciples that he’s speaking to here. He’s talking with “people.” Luke consistently makes it clear when Jesus is focusing his teaching on those in his inner circle and those outside the circle. Here, in this moment, this comment is directed to the masses. At the very least, this should wake us up to the reality that Jesus’ care extends beyond the “church” to the world. This is some pretty powerful stuff. Many of us under estimate the love of Christ. Here, he makes it clear the depth and scope of his love.

In light of his care he says “stay with it!” It is because we can be secure in his love and care for us that we can persevere through persecution, pain, and suffering. Hold on, not because you have to, hold on because he loves and cares for us. This is a bit of a flip in the way that we usually think or act. Typically we view relationships the other way around. Is this person faithful and loyal? Then I will love and care for them. Jesus loves and cares first and because of the love and care we are able to hold on.

Do I really believe this? I desperately want to. I want to believe that Jesus cares about all of who I am. Did you catch the totality of his care? Body, soul, right down to the hairs on your head. I really want to believe this. Much of the time, I think I do or at least try to.

The next question I wrestle with is, “If this is how Jesus loves, and I want to be like Jesus, do I love this way?” Am I willing to love and care first without the promise of reciprocation? Am I willing to risk for the sake of living like Christ? Can I put aside the questions of whether or not someone is worthy of my love and care?

The second batch of questions is harder to answer. We really like it when someone loves and cares for us without strings. But, it is a lot harder to love others like that.

How about you? Where are you in this process of growing in love? Do you recognize the love of Christ for you? Are you living the love of Christ similarly?

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 20:41-21:4

Passage:

Then he put a question to them: "How is it that they say that the Messiah is David's son? In the Book of Psalms, David clearly says,

God said to my Master,
"Sit here at my right hand
until I put your enemies under your feet."

"David here designates the Messiah as 'my Master'—so how can the Messiah also be his 'son'?"

With everybody listening, Jesus spoke to his disciples. "Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preen in the radiance of public flattery, bask in prominent positions, sit at the head table at every church function. And all the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they'll pay for it in the end."

Just then he looked up and saw the rich people dropping offerings in the collection plate. Then he saw a poor widow put in two pennies. He said, "The plain truth is that this widow has given by far the largest offering today. All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford—she gave her all!"

Once again Jesus goes in on the religious scholars and lifts up the humble. Luke reminds us that the way that Jesus understands the world is upside down from the way that we do. He just sees things differently.

There’s an artist named David Hayward who creates cartoons that are subversive and challenging for mainstream Christian evangelicalism. In one of my favorites there is a pastor at the podium declaring, “Let’s give glory to God!” But, everything else about the church gathering is giving glory to the pastor.

It turns out that we are no different than the religious folks in Jesus’ day.

The pastor when they are doing well get lost. They become nothing more than a mirror to reflect the glory of Christ to the people.

When you look in a mirror you don’t think, “Wow! That’s a great mirror!” No, you see your reflection. The mirror “disappears.”

The religious elite in our day and age make a bit too much news. We are a bit too concerned about our own notoriety and influence. So much so that we miss when we are really doing the work.

Recently, I was talking with a good friend about some of my struggles with wanting to have more “influence.” In other words, I wanted to have more people read, share, watch, and engage with the content that I create. He reminded me that what matters are the conversations and the communities that I have been able to help foster. I had lost the plot a bit in my own desire to sit at the head of the table, so to speak.

As I continue to process this passage, I am thinking that we need to shift our gaze from thinking of religious elites as heroes of the faith to the widows who give their all. These women and men who have little to offer by the way of the world but give everything they have to love well. These are the heroes of the faith. These are the people who show us what godly contentment looks like. These are the people who patiently and faithfully trust God for all they need.

May we all learn the quiet, simple, sacrificial faithfulness of the widow.

Knee Jerk Devotional: Luke 20:27-40

Passage:

Some Sadducees came up. This is the Jewish party that denies any possibility of resurrection. They asked, "Teacher, Moses wrote us that if a man dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother is obligated to take the widow to wife and get her with child. Well, there once were seven brothers. The first took a wife. He died childless. The second married her and died, then the third, and eventually all seven had their turn, but no child. After all that, the wife died. That wife, now—in the resurrection whose wife is she? All seven married her."

Jesus said, "Marriage is a major preoccupation here, but not there. Those who are included in the resurrection of the dead will no longer be concerned with marriage nor, of course, with death. They will have better things to think about, if you can believe it. All ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. Even Moses exclaimed about resurrection at the burning bush, saying, 'God: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob!' God isn't the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive."

Some of the religion scholars said, "Teacher, that's a great answer!" For a while, anyway, no one dared put questions to him.

Once again, I’m struck by Jesus’ ability to handle difficult questions and interactions. The Sadducees who, don’t believe in resurrection, ask a question about the resurrection. I probably would have said something like, “You guys don’t believe any of this, why are you asking about it?” But not Jesus. He gives them an answer that shifts their perspective.

I think that’s what strikes me as as much as anything in this passage is the perspective shift that Jesus pulls on the Sadducees. Honestly, it makes me wonder where my perspective is most of the time. The Sadducees were wanting to debate the finer points of religion, they sort of wanted to argue about how many angels fit on the head of a pin. Jesus was not going to bite. It’s not about the details, the minutia, the “what-ifs.” He pointed them to the deeper, the truer, the more beautiful perspective of life.

You see, resurrection for Jesus is about life. He quotes Moses at the burning bush (side note: this was because the Sadducees only held that the first five books of the Bible were authoritative) to show that God’s perspective is that the patriarchs were living. In effect Jesus is saying, “Don’t get caught up in all these ‘what-ifs’ of religious dogma. Ask yourselves if you’re living.”

So many of us get caught up in the “what-ifs” and miss out on living. I think if we grasped the depths and ramifications of resurrection that we would be more free to go and live. It is as if we think God is more worried about our right thinking than he is with our right living. Sure, we should learn and try to believe rightly, but if that doesn’t translate into right living then the belief is meaningless.

I love reading and thinking. I meet God in those ways. But, if I’m really honest with myself it’s the times that I have been outside of my office and away from a desk living life with my community that I have experienced the love of God in true intimacy.

Does your perspective need to shift? I know mine often does.

As the great theologian, Andy Dufresne said, “It comes down to a simple choice. Get busy living or get busy dying.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to live that resurrection life. It’s time to get busy living.

The one where Jesus isn't a sucker...

Passsage:

Watching for a chance to get him, they sent spies who posed as honest inquirers, hoping to trick him into saying something that would get him in trouble with the law. So they asked him, "Teacher, we know that you're honest and straightforward when you teach, that you don't pander to anyone but teach the way of God accurately. Tell us: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

He knew they were laying for him and said, "Show me a coin. Now, this engraving, who does it look like and what does it say?"

"Caesar," they said.

Jesus said, "Then give Caesar what is his and give God what is his."

Try as they might, they couldn't trap him into saying anything incriminating. His answer caught them off guard and left them speechless.

Last Wednesday night during Putting the New Testament In Its Place I did a whole historical breakdown of this passage. I want to encourage you to join me for that time. I host a Zoom classroom for discussion and we also live stream the class at 7 pm on Wednesday nights on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch.

As I process this passage this morning, the thing that struck me is the way the religious leaders approached Jesus. They effusively praise him and tell him how great he is. This was a pretty significant change in tact from many of their earlier interactions with him. I mean, in verse 19, we learned that they were so angry they wanted to kill him on the spot.

Jesus spoke to his disciples about being crafty and wise to the way of the world. Here, we see Jesus live that out. He doesn’t get caught up in their praise of him. Jesus sees through their baloney. As a result he’s not taken by surprise at their attempt to trick him.

It seems to me that many of us in the American church need to be more aware of the intentions behind too much flattery. When we are flattered we are quick to trust and this leaves us in a place too often where we find ourselves with a subverted faith. All of a sudden we are yoked with people who have an anti-Christ agenda. Then our pride gets in the way and we find ourselves unwilling to say, “I was wrong about this.” As a result we double down and go deeper into the hole.

If we are going to maintain our holiness we will need to learn to be aware of too much flattery. The tickling of our ears, while it feels good for the moment, leaves us in a place where we are vulnerable to be taken advantage of and then we wake up and come to ourselves finding that we have left the narrow path well behind.

Jesus didn’t get used.
Jesus didn’t get tricked.
Jesus flipped the script and left them speechless.

I am hoping to be more like Jesus.

To do so means being present and more aware of what is happening around me. I need to listen and pay attention. Living like Jesus requires an intentional hearing of people in my life. It demands a mindfulness to the moment that I often don’t have. My mind is often somewhere in the future and rarely in the moment.

How about you? Do you get easily suckered by flattery only to find out you were being used?

The one about being exposed...

Passage:

Jesus told another story to the people: "A man planted a vineyard. He handed it over to farmhands and went off on a trip. He was gone a long time. In time he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect the profits, but they beat him up and sent him off empty-handed. He decided to try again and sent another servant. That one they beat black and blue, and sent him off empty-handed. He tried a third time. They worked that servant over from head to foot and dumped him in the street.

"Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'I know what I'll do: I'll send my beloved son. They're bound to respect my son.'

"But when the farmhands saw him coming, they quickly put their heads together. 'This is our chance—this is the heir! Let's kill him and have it all to ourselves.' They killed him and threw him over the fence.

"What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? Right. He'll come and clean house. Then he'll assign the care of the vineyard to others."

Those who were listening said, "Oh, no! He'd never do that!"

But Jesus didn't back down. "Why, then, do you think this was written:

That stone the masons threw out—
It's now the cornerstone!?

"Anyone falling over that stone will break every bone in his body; if the stone falls on anyone, it will be a total smashup."

The religion scholars and high priests wanted to lynch him on the spot, but they were intimidated by public opinion. They knew the story was about them.

In this story Jesus does one thing: He exposes the religious hierarchy for what they were. They wanted power over and were willing to do whatever it took to maintain that power.

What really strikes me is their response. They got angry, angry enough to want to kill Jesus on the spot.

So, what is my response to being exposed? What is yours?

There will be times in our lives when we are going to be exposed by others or by the Spirit. Our lives will be laid bare and we will have to come face to face with our shadows. To be sure, we do everything we possibly can to avoid that. We put on masks and identities to hide our shadow selves and to remain acceptable. But, eventually everything is brought into the light and we will have to deal with the false self we have created.

In photography, exposure alludes to the amount of light that is collected by your camera. An underexposed picture is dark and grainy, conversely an overexposed picture is washed out. In both situations the true picture is obscured.

When we are underexposed we are living in darkness. Our self created shadow hides us from one another and God. It keeps us from growing or experiencing truth. We are unable to move into any sense of mature faith, life, or relationships.

If we get overexposed then we are likely being spiritually or emotionally abused. Our imperfections and sin-sickness are used against us to create shame. When we are living in this situation we find ourselves wounded and unable to move into any sense of mature faith, life, or relationships.

To be properly exposed is to be able to remove the shadow and become who God made us to be, the very best versions of ourselves. While it might hurt in the short term and even help us to identify areas for which we are guilty, this process frees us to mature in our faith, life, and relationships.

I think it’s fascinating to see how Jesus exposes the religious leaders. He doesn’t do it by shouting them down or wagging a finger. He does so with a story and through the side door. Their own consciences pricked them and they responded. Their response was not with a desire to change but with anger.

So, again, I am left wondering, how do I respond when I am exposed? Not in an overexposed kind of way but in this way where my conscience is allowed to work. If I’m honest with myself, the response is typically one of two things. First, I will often try to rationalize my shadow. I will argue for why this mask is important and needs to remain. Second, I will get angry. That kind of irrational anger that makes no sense and then you look back and think, “Well, that was dumb.”

When I’m doing well and practicing good healthy spiritual and physical disciplines, my response is different. I will listen. I will take it in. I will evaluate it. And often will make appropriate changes. I wish that was the case more than it actually it is. I think, these responses are coming more often. But, I want this to be more the norm than the exception.

How about you? What is your response when you are “exposed”?