TADB 013: The Law of Unintended Consequences

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was a 1989 American science fiction family film produced by Walt Disney Pictdures.  It tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor’s kids to a quarter of an inch with his electromagnetic shrinking machine.  It is a whimsical adventure built around the law of unintended consequences.

Today I believe we are experiencing the unintended consequences of “shrinking” the gospel message as evidenced by the disparity between the normal Christian life presented in the New Testament and what is being demonstrated in our culture today.  Polls consistently reflect that a high percentage of Americans self-claim to be “born again”, but they show little statistical difference in values, morals, and behavior from those who don’t.  This embarrassing contradiction has been true for so long that it is accepted as the new normal.

One cause is certainly the lack of spiritual training and discipleship, but I wonder if there is not a more systemic issue.  I wonder if the epidemic of spiritual complacency regarding living a kingdom lifestyle goes back to our concept and presentation of the gospel message.

The term “gospel” simply means “good news”, but good news about what?  Gospel is a headline in search of a story (content).  There are a lot of gospels out there, but what is the gospel that is the power of God for salvation that requires faith and sets us free to live the eternal kind of life found in his kingdom?

When the New Testament writers use the term gospel they normally follow it with a prepositional phrase that gives it content (a story).  The most common one is some variation of “the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.

The book of Romans is the most complete presentation of the gospel in the New Testament.  In his introduction to the book, Paul makes the claim that he is an apostle set apart for the gospel.  But the gospel of what?  To Paul the gospel was not just a headline, it was a message, a story…about Someone.

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God…concerning His Son… Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 1:1-3).  Paul continues in verse 16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation” (KJV).

In Paul’s opening presentation of the Gospel, he identifies three core aspects of the identity (story) of the Son of God:

Jesus:  The incarnate Son of God:  a real flesh and blood person in the lineage of David

Christ:  The anointed Deliverer:  the One to bring redemption to a broken world

The Lord:  The final Authority:  King, Master, Ruler

The New Testament gospel is the good news about the Son of God who is called Jesus, the Christ, the Lord:  the one who has made life in his kingdom accessible.  It is about him. It is more than a doctrine, it is his story…the whole story.

The first four books of the New Testament are called “Gospels”, each giving a portrait of the incarnate Son of God.  Together they present a composite picture of who he is from before creation to the final judgment.

In his book, Darwin’s Black Box, Michael Behe (biochemical researcher and professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania) introduced the concept he calls “irreducible complexity.”  In simple terms, this idea applies to any system of interacting parts in which the removal of any one part destroys the functionality of the entire system. An irreducibly complex system requires each and every component to be in place before it will function. The mouse trap is a simple example of irreducible complexity.  The mouse trap has five working parts each of which must be present for the system to work at all.  Remove one part and the whole mechanism is inoperable.

So what is the “irreducible complexity” of the gospel?  If the gospel is the good news about Jesus, the Son of God, then what about Jesus do we need to present (or believe) for the gospel to be operable?  Could it be that in our attempt to make the gospel marketable and simple in a soundbite world, we have actually “shrunk” it beyond its critical complexity, resulting in unintentional consequences?

What about Christ is optional to know, believe, or present?  Most of us would quickly react to a “liberal” gospel that presents Jesus as simply a good Teacher.  However, what is our response to a gospel that presents him as a good Teacher plus the sacrifice for sin?  Is that enough?

The gospel of Christ on the resurrection side of the cross is a composite of all that is true about him from Creator to final Judge.  When we shrink the gospel message to a few concepts, however important they are, we create a dichotomy between evangelism and discipleship that was never intended.  The result is discipleship becomes an elective and kingdom living an option.

Question for reflection:

How should the current cultural drift from a Judaic/Christian world view affect how we present the gospel of Christ?

TADB 012: Grace and Conditions

A first cousin to the grace/effort tension is the grace/conditions tension.  This tension is exposed by the question, “Are God’s promises unconditional?”  You could substitute any number of spiritual concepts for the underlined word “promises” and create the same tension.

Grace is usually understood as the unmerited favor of God expressed to us out of his loving nature.  Vines NT dictionary defines grace (charis) as:  that which bestows or occasions pleasure, delight, or causes favorable regard…  In the Old Testament the concept is expressed by the word “lovingkindness”.

To this basic understanding of the word grace we often add the concept “unconditional”, but when we read the promises in Scripture, most often they do contain a condition…an “if-then” connection.  This creates a tension because in our minds, fulfilling conditions is the same as trying to earn or merit God’s favor.  A merit based life contradicts a grace based life.  We handle such tension by polarizing what we cannot harmonize and the result is we often claim the promises but disregard the uncomfortable (even unwanted) conditions.

For example:

(6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  (7) And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6-7).

The promise is for the peace of God to guard our hearts and minds.  It is clearly a gracious offer by God for our benefit.  Who wouldn’t want to trade anxiety for peace?  But the gracious offer is prefaced by unmistakable conditions:  prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving!

So when we try to live by grace and the “conditions” create angst in our spirit, I suggest we not ignore the conditions but rather decouple conditions from the concept of merit.  It is an unnecessary and detrimental alliance.

Recently some friends of ours called to offer us tickets to the Kansas City Symphony at the Kaufman Center.  They said they were a gift if we wanted them.  When we replied in the affirmative, they said we could pick them up at the “will call” window before the performance.

Arriving a little early to the concert, I stood in line at the will call window to receive the tickets.  Once in hand we eagerly (and gratefully) took our seats in the auditorium.

Nowhere along that process did I think that by standing in line and asking for my tickets I had somehow merited them.  However, had I failed to do just that, the tickets would still be on the shelf and we would not have heard the concert.  The tickets offered without merit required an action on my part for the gift to be experienced.  The action was actually quite trivial compared to the gift itself.  The gift was free but experiencing the gift was not automatic.  It required action, a response on my part.

In the same way the gracious gift of reconciliation with God is freely offered without merit (other than Christ’s,) but it is not unconditional.  Although we need to comply with the conditions, we should not think that by fulfilling them we are somehow meriting the gift.  To do so would be arrogant, foolish, or just naïve.

But conversely we should not expect the gracious gifts of God without respect for the conditions he connects to them.  The conditions are never arbitrary but wisely given as a further expression of his grace.

When our youngest son was about six years old he come to me one day and asked if he could have his own “boys” bike.  I asked him what was wrong with the bike his sister learned on.

He said, “It is pink and has Smurfs on it”.

So, I asked, “What kind would you like?”

“I want a black one with knobby tires!”

That day I made him a promise.  If he learned to ride his sister’s bike without the training wheels, I would get him his own “boys” bike – black with knobby tires.

The condition was not a merit system in which he would earn enough money to buy the bike.  They were given to encourage the development of a helpful life-skill (bike riding) that I knew would help him in life beyond the current desire for a shiny new bike.

A few months later he came to me to claim what I promised.  After riding the pink Smurf bike down the driveway without training wheels, we went to the store and picked out the coolest, black bike with knobby tires.

In a much more significant way, God graciously offers us promises to live by along our journey of discipleship.  We must not ignore the conditions for those promises nor think of them as a form of merit.  Rather they are God’s gracious provision for our walk of faith.

Question for reflection:

What promises/conditions do you find in the following:  John 3:16, Hebrews 4:16, Joshua 1:8?

TADB 011: Reducing Tension in Discipleship

There are aspects of the Christian life that are paradoxical, causing tension when we can’t resolve them.  As a rule we tend to polarize what we cannot harmonize, emphasizing one over the other, or promoting one and minimizing the other.  Whole denominations have been built around this type of tension.  Although some tension is unavoidable, we can also create tension by unnecessary polarization.

Remember the old question, “Did you walk to school or carry your lunch?”  It’s humorous because it proposes a choice that is unnecessary.  You may need to choose between walking to school and riding your bike, but you don’t need to choose between how you travel to school and what you have for lunch.  You can easily do both.  The tension is unnecessary.

An example of this kind of created tension in discipleship is the polarization of the concepts of grace and effort.  Somewhere along our Christian journey we heard the question, “Are you going to live by grace or effort?”  Rather than considering it a humorous, irrelevant question, we think the two concepts are incompatible and mutually exclusive.  We take it seriously and think we have to choose between them.  When we polarize two different concepts (e.g. belief and action), the tension is unnecessary and ultimately detrimental since both are biblical and essential to our journey of discipleship.

Grace vs. effort is a polarization of attitudes (motives) vs. action (behavior).  In our relationship with Christ, we need to understand that these two are not mutually exclusive.  We certainly must choose whether we are going to base our acceptance with God on his grace or our merit.  We cannot do both simultaneously.   However, effort is an action not an attitude.  If our effort (behavior) comes from an attitude of earning God’s acceptance, then we need to change our attitude not necessarily our actions.

A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.  He told me that it was a wake-up call as to how and why he ate. Before the diagnosis he lived to eat.  Now he eats to live.  The solution for diabetes was not to stop eating but to change his motivation behind eating.  In our culture we eat primarily as entertainment and comfort – not real healthy motivations.  The solution to a healthy body is not to quit eating but to reprogram our minds as to why and what we eat.

Effort is a major theme in discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross.  We are told to work, train, do, put off, put on, etc.  These actions are not competing with grace but are complementary to it.  When we polarize them, we create unnecessary tension and destroy the dynamic partnership captured in Phil 2:12-13.

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation [effort]with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you [grace], both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

If we don’t start with grace as the foundation for our acceptance with God, our effort (or work) can become a source of merit.  We need to understand at a heart level that we are accepted by God on the merits of Christ and not our own.  This is a counter-cultural reality that constantly needs to be affirmed if we are to follow Christ on the resurrection side of the cross.  But having accepted the grace foundation, we need to work hard because our effort now serves a whole new purpose.

If we are doing what Scripture commands, but from an attitude of earning, then we need to change our attitude not the actions.  Grace is in tension with earning, but not with effort.  Discipleship, based on grace, is described as a walk, run, race, even warfare, requiring diligence, discipline, and perseverance all of which are sustained by the Holy Spirit.

Along your discipleship journey, you may slip back into the default thinking of doing what is right in order to gain God’s acceptance.  It is a pattern that is not easy to break.  At times you may think, for example, that by serving or memorizing Scripture, or obeying a command that God now owes you some answers to prayer or maybe a little credit next time you slip up.  When this happens, review your grace foundation.  Remind yourself of who you are in Christ and why.  Then reengage in working out your salvation from a different motivation. (I will discuss maturity and motivations in later blogs).

For reflection:

Are there spiritual truths you find difficult to harmonize?  To what extent do you polarize them?  Is the polarization necessary?

 

 

TADB 010: What’s on the Whiteboard?

The timeout is a critical tool for winning ball games.  In basketball each team is allowed a limited amount.  A coach calls a timeout for a variety of reasons:

  • Thwart the momentum of the opposing team
  • Refocus his players
  • Set up a special offense or defense
  • Give his players a rest
  • Overcome the crowd noise to send in instructions

Regardless of the reason, when a coach calls a timeout, the players huddle around him with their undivided attention.  No one is on their cell phone, visiting with the cheerleaders, or talking with their friends.  A coach has 60 seconds to get his idea across.  Often he explains his plan visually on a little whiteboard so the players can see as well as hear what is said.

Jesus modeled and taught how to live in relationship with the Father.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus frequently responded to the Father’s “timeout”.  One example is when Jesus took a timeout with his Father in the midst of a very successful healing ministry.  The result was an entirely new “play/plan” (Mark 1:32-39).

I consider my daily appointment with God (AWG) to be like a coach’s timeout.  It is a few minutes each day when I give my Coach my undivided attention.  I have found that the first thing in the morning before there is too much crowd noise, is the best time for me to hear his voice and understand what he is writing on the whiteboard.

I will know his directions when I allow Christ to speak his Word into my life on a consistent basis.  Some days I feel like I’m playing offense and other days I am on the defense.  But each day I need his play.

My AWG is not a time for training or long explanations but for words of encouragement and clarity.  There are other times when I need to practice and train.  The AWG is not a time for extended Bible study; that’s a different discipline.  But each day I need a fresh word from my Coach.

A simple plan to see what’s on the whiteboard looks like this:

  • Refocus

Honestly admit the current state of your heart and mind.  “This morning I feel like I could climb a mountain; I’m so pumped!”  OR “Right now my anxiety indicator is off the charts.  I know I should not be anxious, but that is where I am.”

Next refocus by reviewing some of the portraits of Christ that hang in the gallery of your mind.  Finish the statement, “Lord, today I acknowledge that you are my ………..”  (Shepherd, Friend, Shelter, Healer, etc.)

  • Read

As you go through a book of the Bible, read a short passage such as a paragraph, several verses, or maybe a chapter.  But keep it short.  Read it over several times.

  • Reflect

Think about the meaning of what you just read.  Asking questions such as what, why, how, and when, can help in this process.  And most important, ask how this is relevant to your life.

  • Record

Write down your main thought in a journal…keep a log of what you hear God saying.  This is your whiteboard.  Journaling clarifies and focuses your mind as you ask the Lord, “What is the one idea that you want me to reflect on today?  What’s the play of the day?”

  • Respond

Pray back what you hear Christ’s Spirit saying to your heart.  Prayer makes it a dialogue.  Take what you have heard for yourself and pray it for others as God brings them to mind.  Pray the “play” into reality.

You will need to initially give some structure to your AWG if it is to become a spiritual habit.  Pick a time and place where you can be alone, undistracted and consistent.  Let your family know what you are doing so they can support your efforts.

You will probably need more than 60 seconds for a profitable AWG…but you don’t need an hour.  Start with 15 minutes until it becomes a pattern.  Then increase as you have opportunity.  Initially it may seem like you are performing a duty rather than personally meeting with the Lord.  But once you master the mechanics, your focus will become your relationship with Christ rather than filling in an outline.  At that point your AWG changes from being a duty to an absolute delight.

As you develop your ear to hear from God, you will find it easier to share your whiteboard experience with others as well.

Reflection:

  1. What is a next step for you to become consistent in a daily AWG
  2. What obstacles will you face?  How will you overcome them?

TADB 009: Free but not automatic

The simple free throw in basketball is as old as the game itself.  One of the few things that has not changed over the years and is the same at every level of play.  It has always been 15’ from a 19” basket.  Close games are often won or lost by the free throw.  However, free means uncontested not automatic.

Knowing Christ is similar to the basketball free throw.  The privilege of knowing Christ on the resurrection side of the cross is made possible by grace through faith in the person and work of Christ.  Paul refers to this new connection as Christ “in us” and we “in him”. This new reality offers us an opportunity that must be developed.

Knowing the infinite God of the universe may sound wonderful, but it takes effort, practice and skill over time if it is to be realized.  Jesus, along with the other New Testament writers, taught and modeled how this relationship is developed.  In a previous blog I mentioned that Jesus connected knowing him with eternal life.  He made eternal life to be more like a verb than a noun.  Paul challenges us today to take action.  Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called (1Timothy 6:12 NASB).

The process of knowing Christ is similar to how we grow in our knowledge of any living person.  There are four critical elements to “knowing” someone including Christ.

  • Mutual respect
  • Consistent dialogue
  • Shared experiences
  • Authentic transparency

Mutual respect

Respect is foundational to knowing and ultimately to loving another person.  The Psalmist reflects on how God views the people he has created.  What is man that You take thought of him…and care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God and You crown him with glory and majesty!”  (Psalms 8:4-5 NASB).

Part of our challenge in knowing Christ is to understand and accept what he says is true of us who are part of his family of grace.  John states we are children of God (I John 3:1-2).  Paul says we are saints.  But what do we say?  Do we think of ourselves as worms or wonderful, vile or valuable, sinners or saints?

Equally important is what we think of Christ – not only in theological terms such as omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, but regarding everyday life.  Most of us have a mental picture of Christ as the good Shepherd, but do we respect him as the person we would take with us into the boardroom or classroom….even picture him teaching a course on physics or psychology?

Dallas Willard identifies this as a major problem for discipleship:

What lies at the heart of the astonishing disregard of Jesus found in the moment-to-moment existence of multitudes of professing Christians, is a simple lack of respect for him.  He is not seriously taken to be a person of great ability.  But how, then, can we admire him?  And what can devotion or worship mean if simple respect is not included in it?  (The Great Omission p 19).

Developing an accurate picture(s) of the nature of Christ is the foundation for respect and true knowledge of him.  (Topics for future blogs).

Consistent dialogue

No friendship develops without mutual and consistent conversation.  It reveals what is on the mind and heart of another person.  Close down dialogue and you shut down the relationship (as most married people know too well).  Without consistent and mutual dialogue with Christ we may have a good theology but a shallow relationship.

We usually understand that prayer and Scripture form this dialogue.  The challenge is to develop this dialogue on a consistent and personal level.  The alternative is a “911” God who we call only when we are in trouble and Scripture becomes a Chilton’s Auto Manual that we look at only when something breaks.

 Shared experiences

Friendships are built one experience at a time.  Being together, sharing adventures, joys, heartaches, and sometimes just the daily routine, builds a relationship.  Shared experience creates a history of trust that can transcend time as evidenced by fraternities, sororities, military units, and sports teams.  As we trust and obey Christ in our daily lives our relationship with him will grow in scope and depth.

Mutual transparency

Christ does not promise to share his heart with casual observers.  Jesus told his disciples:

I no longer call you servants…I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you  (John 15:15). 

A study of the training of the twelve apostles reveals that Christ gradually revealed his heart as the disciples became closer to him.  His first invitation to the disciples was, “Come and see”.  By the time they were in the Garden of Gethsemane, they saw deeply and intimately into the heart and passion of the Savior.

Knowing Christ is a wondrous gift, but it must be developed.  The initiative and the means are from him, but he waits for us to act, to open the door and invite him into a relationship of KNOWING.

Reflection:

What practice (spiritual discipline) do you need to develop that would allow for a deeper relationship with Christ?  What would be a next step to make it happen?

TADB 008: Knowing is more than knowledge

For several months I was having a spiritual conversation with a physician friend of mine.  One day in frustration he said, “I don’t get it.  You (and those like you) talk about a personal relationship with Christ.  That doesn’t make sense to me.  How can you have a “personal relationship” with God?”

His response surprised me and made me think how casually I use that term without thinking about it or explaining it.  It does sound strange.  No other religion claims that its followers can relate to God in a personal way.   Wanting to explain the concept, I realized that the phrase “personal relationship” is not used in Scripture….but then neither is the word “Trinity”.   Although the words are not used the concept of relating to God on an individual and personal level is everywhere.  It would be presumptuous, even preposterous, if it were not taught as a reality.

Since this idea is so central to discipleship, let’s stop and see how it is developed in Scripture.

“Knowing” is a term in the New Testament that carries the idea of a personal relationship.  The Greek word is GINOSKO and Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words explains it like this:

GIN0SKO (GK) signifies “to be taking in knowledge, to come to know, recognize, understand,” or “to understand completely”.  In the NT (ginosko) frequently indicates a relation between the person “knowing” and the object known; in this respect, what is “known” is of value or importance to the one who knows, and hence the establishment of the relationship.

Jesus refers to knowing him as eternal life.   “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).   The implication is that eternal life is more of a relationship than a place, beginning at the moment of our new birth and lasting throughout eternity.  What if eternal life is the relationship we establish now and the essence of our future life in the new heaven and earth?

So how do we know Christ?  What does knowing mean when dealing with God who is both transcendent and invisible?  The Bible even talks about the possibility of knowing him as we would a personal friend.  How is that possible?

We can better understand the meaning of this relational knowing by comparing it with other things we know.

We can know a rock, for example, by studying its composition.  A microscope, chemicals, and diligence can reveal a great deal of knowledge about a rock.  Geologists can give us the history of the rock, how it was formed, and what it can be used for.  But though well informed, we would not claim to have a relationship with a rock.

Knowing a real person who lived in the past is another form of knowing.  A biographer is one who studies and writes about the life of an historic person so others can know about him or her.  Based on the reliability of the historic records used by the biographer, others can get a reasonably accurate picture of that individual.  But even with all that knowledge, the knowing is not on a relational, personal, or experiential level.

The biblical idea of knowing Christ (God) is more than knowing his composition (character and attributes) or the historic story line (the biblical account).  Rather knowing Christ is similar to how we would know another living person except, of course, that he is invisible.

There are four critical elements that are needed to have a personal relationship with another individual as well as with Jesus Christ.

  • Mutual respect
  • Consistent dialogue
  • Shared experiences
  • Authentic transparency

There is a danger that our knowing Christ is more like how we would know a rock or an historical figure.  We study and marvel at his attributes.  We explore his story down through the biblical records and become familiar with what he said and what others said about him.  But we may fail to personally know him through developing a life on life relationship.

In our next blog we will explore the above four relational dynamics in more detail.

For further reflection:  Think about the implications of the following presuppositions:

  1. God is knowable and delights in being known (1 John 3:1)
  2. God has made it possible to know him through the second person of the Trinity (John 1:18)
  3. Knowing God is possible but not automatic (Matt. 7:22-23)
  4. Knowing God involves revelation, faith, reason, and relationship (Eph. 1:17-18)

TADB 007: Beyond National Geographic

The pursuit of knowing Christ must be a firsthand, personal experience.  There is a wide difference between what is true and what we know is true, between what we say is true and what we embrace in our hearts to be true.  The Scripture tells us what is true about God, but only by experience can we know it for ourselves.  God is not satisfied with our second-hand knowledge; he wants us to know him personally.

“O taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps 34:8).

The testimony of the saints down through history is that God is good.  But we don’t “know” it until we experience it (taste it) through defining moments in our own life journey.

Growing up in mid America in the 1950s, we rarely traveled outside of the state.  The interstate highway system was just being built and traveling cross-country on 2 lane highways was slow and dangerous.  One year our family got a subscription to National Geographic magazine.  The slick layout and colorful pictures was an immediate attraction to me.  I am not sure I ever read any of the articles, but I sure looked at the pictures.   National Geographic took the eyes of my mind to places I never thought I would see in person:  places like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Glacier National Park.

The following summer my parents announced that we were going to make a road trip to California.  Five of us piled into a 1952 two-door Chevy and headed west on “Route 66.”

Along the way we stopped and saw places we had seen in National Geographic.  I remember looking down from the edge of the Grand Canyon and standing next to a giant Sequoia tree thinking, “The pictures were great but no comparison to seeing it myself.”

In some ways the Scripture is an inspired National Geographic magazine.  It gives us snapshots of men and women in biblical history who encountered God and discovered something about him.  We read the text and vicariously gain a picture of the reality of God as it is illustrated in the lives of the saints of old.  However, that knowledge was never meant to be a substitute for our own experiences.  We, too, should be taking our own pictures and writing our own stories about our personal encounters with God.

John, one of the apostles who walked with the incarnate Son of God, wrote about this principle in his first letter,

From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands.  The Word of life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen!  And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this:  The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.  We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3 MSG)

John is telling us that he encountered Christ firsthand.  Now he wants his experience to be ours, taking our own pictures and writing our own story.  Too often as Christians we are just reading or telling other people’s stories about their encounters with Christ.  We have not stepped out by faith and tasted the reality of God though our own experience and story.

The familiar story of Peter walking to Jesus on the water is as amazing to us today as it must have been to the other eleven men sitting in the boat.  I am sure they told this story often as they sat around their family dinner tables.  We may be hard on Peter for his lapse of faith when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the storm – resulting in more than just wet feet.  But only one out of the 12 ever actually walked on water!  Peter knew firsthand what they could only talk about.

The apostle Paul summarized his spiritual journey in Philippians 3 when he said, “… I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).  The “all things” were not just his past claims of righteousness but included his present success of ministry.  Paul was not content with his original understanding of Jesus.  He wanted to continue to personally know him in a deeper way both in experience and knowledge.

Along our journey of discipleship, we will encounter storms that threaten our boat.  The stories of how others met Jesus at their point of need serve as good catalysts to strengthen our faith and give us hope.  However, they can never substitute for our own personal encounters with God.  It is vital that we, too, “taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Reflection:

Think of a defining moment in your life when God showed up.  How did he do it and were you surprised?  What is the picture of God that was created by that encounter?

TADB 006: What’s in a name?

I recently went into the hospital for an outpatient surgery procedure.  I found it interesting how much effort went into insuring they had the right person.  Initially I was asked for my picture ID along with answering personal questions like date of birth, address, etc.  I was then led into the pre-op area where, while checking my stylish wristband, they again questioned me regarding my identity.

Once in the surgery room with all the staff and doctor in place they again asked me my name, DOB, and why I was there.  Then they took a vote!  Really.  One nurse said, “Do we all agree that this is the person he says he is?”  The last thing I remember was their unanimous confirmation.  Understandably, it was important that they had the right person not just the right name.

Although they confirmed my name, they still knew nothing about me as a person.  My name is simply a label that differentiates me from the other 7 billion people on planet earth.   It functions like a relational social security number.  Your name is also very important, but it doesn’t tell me anything about you.  (I would know more about you if you told me your nickname!)

In contrast, names were more than just a label in the biblical culture.  Names carried meaning that often described the person.  Sometimes they were prophetic regarding a future role or at other times, they might simply describe a person’s character.  For example, in the New Testament the disciple we know as Peter (rock) was originally called Cephas (stone).  Jesus gave him a new name that described Peter’s future role as a spiritual leader.

The second person of the Trinity has many names and each one forms a significant portrait of who he is.  The over-arching name is the Son of God which emphasizes his divinity and his eternal relationship within the Trinity.  We could say the name Son of God is like the clothes line on which all the other names hang.  Each of those names is critically important for our faith because it reveals something about the Son of God.  Each one gives a clearer understanding of who he is making it possible to know him and grow in our discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross.

For example, on the resurrection side of the cross the Son of God is referred to as the Lord Jesus Christ which contributes three portraits describing who he is.  The name Lord implies his authority.  The name Jesus or Jesus of Nazareth is the portrait of the incarnated Son of God living among men.  The focus is on his humanity.   Those names are generally understood.

The name Christ, however, is often misunderstood as it is used as though it was his last name rather than a unique portrait of who the Son of God is.  The name Christ is the Greek equivalent to the Jewish word Messiah and puts the focus on his being the anointed One.

Currently the name Christ is probably the most common description given to the Son of God with Jesus being a close second.  However, each of those names gives us only a single portrait of the real person behind the name.  In order to avoid misunderstanding and subsequent error, we must keep the composite of all the portraits in mind.

Jesus said, “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24).  Jesus wasn’t referring to his name as a label but to his total person.  He wanted them to pray on the basis of his character, authority, and power, keeping in mind all that entails.

The names for the Son of God are portraits of who he is – not labels.  They are a critical way for us to know Christ.  They deepen our understanding and help develop our faith and trust in him.  We will discuss more names of the Son of God in future blogs as we continue to develop a multi-dimensional, composite portrait.  For the purpose of this blog, however, I will use the name Christ as the general name for the Son of God on this side of the resurrection.

Question for reflection:

What portraits are formed in your mind when you think about the names of Christ given in Isaiah 9:6?  In what way do those portraits affect your journey of knowing Christ?

“And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”

TADB 005: The Day the Music Died

“The day the music died” is a memorable line from the iconic 1971 lament, “American Pie” by Don McLean.  The song reflects back on the changes that happened through the turbulent 60s beginning with the death of rock and roll star Buddy Holly in 1959.

The eight and a half minute long “song of the century” created endless discussion as to the meaning of the various verses.  When McLean was asked what the lyrics of “American Pie” really meant, he replied, “It means I never have to work again”!

In the song, McLean captures more than he intended with the statement “the day the music died”.   Our real lament is not for the lost days of rock and roll, Bobby Dylan, the Beatles, or the simplicity of a previous decade but for the loss of the song God designed us to play.  The Bible tells us we lost our real Song in the Garden, when the piano on which it was to be played lost its strings, and we lost our ability to play.

The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that although the Song has been lost, there is still a faint echo of the melody residing in the heart of every man and woman (Ecc. 3:11 “He also has set eternity in their heart”).  When our hearts respond to the vertical tug of the gospel, the Holy Spirit replaces the strings and renews the Song.

The Psalmist said, “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the LORD” (Psa. 40:3).  The idea is repeated in the book of Revelation, “And they sang a new song saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals” (Rev. 5:9).

However, the Song (more majestic than any written by Beethoven) cannot be played without restoring the piano (i.e. our lives in all its complexity) and relearning how to play.  Even if given a Steinway, we would not expect to play music without training our mind and bodies to master the skills of a pianist.  Telling people how great the music is, how others long to hear it, how well it is composed, does not equip them to play it on their piano.

Without training and practice, we can play notes but not real music.  Discipleship is the process of learning to play God’s music on pianos that he is restoring.  He has given us the song to play, but if we don’t understand the fundamentals of music, the names of the notes, where they are on the keyboard, and possess skill to play, we will make noise but not music.

In Meredith Wilson’s 1957 classical musical “The Music Man” Professor Hill, masquerading as a traveling band instructor, cons the citizens of River City by promising them that they can keep their boys out of trouble by creating a real marching band.  All they need to do is buy all the equipment from him including instruments, uniforms, and music.  Once the equipment arrives (and he has his money), he plans to skip town.

When he is forced to explain how they are to actually play music with their instruments, Hill tells the boys to use the “Think System,” in which they simply have to think of a tune over and over and they will know how to play it without ever touching their instruments.

It seems to me that Professor Hill has slipped into our Christian communities and convinced us that we, too, can play spiritual music with just the “Think System”.  All we need to do is to think about it and we will be able to play the Song.

It is like we are standing on the train station platform, decked out in our uniforms, proudly holding our instruments as Professor Hill leaves town.  As he fades from sight, we shout in unison, “So how do we play the music?” and he yells back, “Just use the Think System!”  Then we go home, try it, and pass it on to others.

Teaching beginning piano for 20+years, my wife observed that the difference in those who eventually played music and those who quit was not so much in their ability as in their discipline.  Most of the kids, unwilling to practice daily for a variety of reasons, eventually lost interest.  Practice was a drudgery that never became a delight.  They wanted to play songs without learning the fundamentals.   There are a few exceptions, but for the 99.9% of us we learn to play one note and one day at a time.

The music has not died.  God has given us his Song and is renewing our broken pianos.  But without learning, training, and practice, we may play Chop Sticks but definitely not Beethoven or more importantly not his Song.

Questions for reflection:

  1. Think of a time when a particular practice/discipline became a delight rather than a duty.
  2. What are the benefits when a practice is no longer a duty?

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart (Jeremiah 15:16).

TADB 004: Discipleship and the Theory of Everything

The Theory of Everything (TOE, for short) is the long-sought after expression (equation) to explain the nature and behavior of all matter and energy in existence.  This simple and illusive equation “would allow us to read the mind of God.” (Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, City College, City University of New York)

Albert Einstein, considered to be the greatest scientist since Isaac Newton, desperately searched for 30 years to discover this grand theory…unsuccessfully.  Others have followed in his steps.  Some have given up while others claim that the “superstring theory” (whatever that is) is now the final answer.  But what if the ultimate explanation of everything is not a formula but a person?  What if the theory of everything is not a short equation but Christ, the eternal, second person of the trinity?

You may not have spent much time struggling over the TOE, but you probably have asked about the overarching theme of the Bible: the golden thread that holds life all together.  How you answer that question forms a lens through which you will look at Scripture and interpret life.  For some the thread is personal redemption.  For others it’s mission, God’s holiness, his kingdom, or his glory.

As we consider the adventure of discipleship, I would suggest the evidence indicates the overall theme of Scripture and life to be the revelation of God in Christ.  The Bible is a story of progressive revelation with the New Testament writers revealing the second person of the Trinity (Christ) as the ultimate focus from creation to the final revelation.

As we move along in the timeline of the Bible, God is revealed with greater clarity as Christ takes center stage (Heb. 1:1-3).  John records Jesus saying to the Jews in his day, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life;” (implying …or whatever else you are looking for) “it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

Paul explains, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.   For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col 1:15-17).

After developing the role of the ascended Christ, the writer of Hebrews addresses the practical, real time application to our journey of faith when he says, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1-2).  Among Paul’s final instructions to Timothy is the statement, “Remember Jesus Christ” (2 Tim 2:8).

Even the last book of Scripture begins with the words, “This is the revelation of Jesus Christ”.  Then serving as a warning to every succeeding generation, the angel commends the church at Ephesus for their work for Christ, but rebukes them for their loss of love for him (Rev. 2:4).

It is not a trite thing to say that discipleship is based on the relational centrality of Christ, the second person of the trinity, the Son of God.  He is the focal point of this great epic drama we find ourselves in.  Mission, redemption, kingdom, etc., all flow out of our understanding of Christ, who he is and what he has done.  Discipleship on the resurrection side of the cross puts Christ as the focus and the explanation of everything.  He is the lens through which we see and understand everything else.

Our challenge in discipleship is to make Christ the center and keep him there not just as a cliché, but as a practical reality.   When Christ is the Explanation of Everything (EOE/TOE), everything else fits.  When other things (even good things) slip into that position, eventually something gets distorted.  Our greatest privilege, opportunity, and calling between the resurrection and his final revelation is to discover and know Christ, the One who is and was and is to come.   It is out of our relational intimacy with Christ that transformation, mission, and everything else flows.

Questions for reflection:

  1. What are some ways the Scripture expresses the centrality of Christ? (Heb.1:1-3; Rev, 1:8; John 1:1-3; Phil 2: 9-11; Isa. 9:6-7)
  2. What are some of the “good things” that can slip in and usurp Christ’s centrality? (Rev 2:1-7)