Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself: Daily Devotions

I've been thinking about some ways to share what I have been learning lately about personal reflection, Bible study and prayer.  If I had to distill my learnings down to one basic idea it would simply be this:  Without personal reflection, Bible study and prayer my life would be in a shambles.

So with this in mind, I thought I would entitle this little series: Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself.   Intrigued?  You bet you are.

Today's installment has to do with Daily Devotions.  When I was a kid growing up in fundamentalist Christian world, the very best Christians were the ones who would pepper their conversations with phrases like: "Today when I was reading my Bible..." or "Can I just share something I learned today from my devotions...?"  or "I was just praying during my quiet time today and God was just in the room man..."

These people always ticked me off.  I wanted to thump them with a Bible.  A really... big... Bible.

It's difficult to "devote" yourself to daily Bible reading and prayer---I freely admit this.  Everyone is busy.  We go to bed late and wake up early.  We have kids to get out the door to school and meetings, appointments... television to watch, emails to read, Facebook to troll...  Yeah.

Daily devotions are the sort of thing that most Christians don't spend a lot of time doing.  Most of us prefer to have our Bible reading and prayer done for us at Church by the paid professionals.  After all, they tend to do it more eloquently and with feeling.

[Although people who "breath pray" drive me nuts.  "Oh Jesus (inhale/exhale) we just praise you (inhale/exhale) we just love you (inhale/exhale) thank you Jesus (inhale/exhale)."]

But what I have learned in my life is that if I don't spend the time reading my Bible daily (and not just reading it to prepare for sermons), spend time in prayer and personal reflection---my life unravels and I find my priorities all messed up.

The great Reformer of the Church, Martin Luther, once said that he prayed one hour a day unless he was too busy and then he prayed three hours.

So here's some tips from what I have been learning lately.

1.  Get up early.  Typically my wife and I get up at 5 AM---or close to it.  It's a full two hours before we have to leave to get the kids to school during the school year and it gives us time to do all of our morning chores and to have at least 45 minutes of uninterrupted time with God.

2.  Start modest.  If 45 minutes seems like a long time for you---start off with 20 minutes and then see where it leads you.  What I have found is that the more regularly I studied and prayed every day the more time I wanted to spend doing it.

3.  Get a good guide.  I started off with three "Bible heavy" devotional books that I had, and have since added several others, in addition to a theological primer and a leadership devotional.  I'll give you a list of the ones that I am currently using:

The Daily Feast: Meditations from Feasting on the Word (a lectionary based devotion guide)

Seeking God's Face: Praying Through the Bible through the Year (a lectionary based devotion that mixes Psalms and other readings along with guided prayer)

Coffee With Calvin: Daily Devotions by Donald K. Kim (this takes the major ideas from Calvin's Institutes and offers them up in daily devotional readings)

Habitudes: Images that Form Leadership Habits & Attitudes by Tim Elmore (this series is a great devotional guide for leaders of any kind) 

The Way: 365 Daily Devotions by E. Stanley Jones (Jones was a turn of the century evangelist who wrote 28 devotional books that were read by millions)

Living the Christian Year: Time to Inhabit the Story of God by Bobby Gross (this is a liturgical calendar based devotion that can be read on a monthly basis depending on the season of the Church) 

Story of Stories: A Guided Tour from Genesis to Revelation by Karen Lee-Thorp (this is a narrative presentation of the big themes of the Bible perfect to keep you connected to the major stories and movements in Scripture)

Time With God: The New Testament for Busy People (This will take you through the entire New Testament in a year in addition to Old Testament readings and a brief devotion each day) 

4.  Journal.  This is a great way to pray if you are like me and have a hard time just sitting still.  Although don't underestimate the power of quiet and solitude.  Journalling opens up your thoughts and gives you a good space to reflect on what you read, write letters to God whatever you want to do.

5.  Stick with it.  Like most things in life daily devotions are a habit.  We have all sorts of habits and not all of them are good ones.  Make this a habit every single day.  Find a time in your day where the world gets pushed back a bit and spend some time checking yourself before you wreck yourself.

Big Church Week Six: "En Fuego"

This week I am concluding the sermon series, "Big Church," which has been both a study in the book of Acts and a vision for the way the Church should be in the world.

I admit that I write that last bit with a certain amount of confidence, which might be interpreted by some as presumptuous.  "Who are you," they might ask, "to determine how the Church should be in the world?  What are your qualifications?  What right do you have to speak for the rest of us?"

Or something to that effect.

I don't have the right to speak for anyone, honestly.  I'm simply a pastor of a medium-sized church in a small town in the middle of Florida.  It takes me forty minutes to find a Whole Foods Market, or a proper Starbucks.  My platform isn't very large, and I have no national audience to speak of.

But for the past several years something has been stirring in my heart, and as I read the story of the Church in Scripture I begin to catch glimpses of what makes the Church---the Church.  You see, I have realized lately that the Church is not an institution---though us church-y types have certainly tried hard to make it into one---it's a movement.  And this sermon series has been focused around the central notion that "Jesus did not create a mission for the Church, he created a church for his Mission."

This week is Pentecost Sunday, and we are going to be focusing on the story of the Day of Pentecost from Acts 2:1-21.  It's a bit of moving backward into the story in order to move forward---if that makes any sense.

Here's the text in it's entirety.  I won't be reading the whole thing during the sermon, but I'll include it here so you can read it on your own.

2 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them. 5 Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. 7 Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11 (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” 12 Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?” 13 Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 “‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood
    before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

First some background into what is happening and some insights into some of the imagery...

Pentecost is traditionally the 50th day after Passover, and is more accurately called the Feast of Weeks or Shavuot.  It was an agricultural festival that was marked with the giving of the "first fruits." In other words, the Hebrew people were asked to give the first sheaf of the wheat harvest as an offering and to pray fervently that the remainder of the harvest would be brought in plentiful.

The Feast of Shavuot was also traditionally held to commemorate when Moses was given the Torah (the law) on Mt. Sinai and God entered into a covenantal relationship with the people of Israel.  It was actually more well known as a festival by the Jews living in or around Jerusalem, and less well known by the Jews in the disaspora---foreign Jews from around the world.

Verse one of the passage sets the tone, doesn't it?  "When the day of Pentecost came..."  Not really, you say?  Well that's because it's not in Greek in that translation.  When you put it in Greek you use the word symplermsthai, which means "was fulfilled."  This is prophetic language that is loaded with possibility, dread, anticipation and trembling.

They were all were gathered---those first members of the Church--huddled together in a room waiting for something to happen, praying for a sign, begging for Jesus to show them what they were being called to do and to be.

And the sign came in wind and fire.

Wind was a sign of the breath of God, as we will read in a bit when we take a look at Ezekiel chapter 37.  Fire was a way to describe a physiological experience of prophetic inspiration and it was also a sign of the very Spirit of God.  In other words, the people who were there in that room would describe what happened to them then as if they were on fire.  In a rush, they were given the power not only to speak the word of God to the world, but also to think about God in fresh and inspired ways they had never thought possible.

So it was a good moment.

Then they go out to the Temple on the Southern or "Teaching" steps and begin to preach and teach about Jesus--only they started doing it in other languages that none of them had heretofore been able to speak.  And this rather long list of foreign Jews suddenly can hear the words of the disciples in their own languages.

It was so surprising and crazy that some people began to declare that the disciples may be drunk.  "These men are filled with new wine..." they said, which I find a doubly interesting inclusion for the author to make.  Because, after all, it was Jesus himself who once told his disciples that "you cannot put new wine into old wineskins..." when he was speaking of the way that the Pharisees were struggling to understand who he was.

Then Peter gets up to speak and he preaches it up.  Peter was given a second chance to declare his allegiance and loyalty to Jesus and he makes the most of it here in this passage.  He stands on the Teaching Steps of the Temple, where he sat and listened to Jesus preach on numerous occasions, and shares the Gospel with the people who have gathered there en masse.

Over three thousand of these Jewish pilgrims embrace the teaching and are baptized right then in there in the name of Jesus---baptized in the mikvot baths that were located by the steps.

Boom. Now that's a church service.

So what's really going on here?  I am sure by now you know that there's probably more to the story and there most definitely is... more.  But before we dive into this, I want to say this at the outset.

The Movement of the Church is Part of God's Big Story of Redemption and We Are Part of That Story.

Let me explain...

What happened on Pentecost was a moment that was absolutely pregnant with imagery and possibility.  I see it happening in three "prophetic moves:"

First, there is wind and fire... 
In the book of Genesis we read in the Creation poem of a God who breathes the breath of life into a lump of clay---words that helped the ancients visualize the way that God continues to breath the breath of life into each of his image-bearers.  This wind is the breath of God breathing life into humankind. 

In the book of Ezekiel chapter 37 the prophet Ezekiel is given a vision of a valley of dry bones.  He is commanded by God to speak to the bones, to preach to them and prophesy.  When he does, God knits those bones together and breathes the breath of life into them.  The vision speaks of the captivity of the people of Israel, but speaks even more loudly to the captivity of all people who are trapped in death and sin.  This is the breath of God breathing life into dry bones of captivity. 

In the book of Exodus God leads the Hebrew people through the wilderness with a pillar of fire by night and pillar of smoke by day.  This fire from heaven led them with power and glory out of slavery and into freedom.  This is the fire that guided the Israelites by night.

In the book of 1 Kings the prophet Elijah calls down fire from heaven when he is dueling with the prophets of Baal over whether Baal is to be god in Israel or whether Yahweh is to be God in Israel.  This is the fire that fell from heaven on Mt. Carmel and caused the people to shout, "Yahweh He is God!"

Second, there is the Gift of Tongues or Languages
Early in the book of Genesis we find the story of the Tower of Babel, a strange tale of how humankind decided to build a tower that would reach to heaven.  They were focused only on themselves and their own achievement, their own technology and they lost sight of who they really were, and who God always is. In the story, their speech is suddenly confused and they no longer understand one another.

But in the story of Pentecost all of that is reversed.  The story of Pentecost reveals that through the selfless example of Jesus Christ, true unity is possible.  There is no tower in the story of Pentecost, only a solitary cross that stands as a sign and symbol of God's great love for Creation.  In the Tower of Babel story, God says "let us go down" to see what the humans are doing.  In the story of Pentecost, the God who came down is revealed as the God who became one of us in order to save all of us.

And in the end, the promise that God made to Abraham is fulfilled at last---through his descendants and ultimately through the one true Israelite, the Son of Man, the Prince of Peace, Jesus himself---all of the nations of the world are blessed.

Third, the Gospel is Revealed 
On Mt. Sinai Moses was given the law, the Torah, in a moment of great power, of fire and wind and smoke.  God entered in that moment into a covenant relationship with his people.  He had chosen them, the least of the nations of the world.  He had redeemed them from slavery, and set them apart to be a light to the world.  And despite all of the ways they continually broke their end of the bargain, God loved them, rescued them, and continued to reach out to them.

On Pentecost the new covenant with all of humankind was witnessed through a powerful moment of Spirit-filled witness, delivered by some fired up and pumped up witnesses to the very Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  When Peter preaches the Gospel to the nations, the message of redemption, of God's victory of Death permeated the very souls of those that heard it.  Once again, God showed his preference for the underdogs, for those who were far away, for the far flung places that these people would return to with a message of hope.

It was a good day, my friends.  A very good day.

So, this leads us to the questions that those of us on this side of the historic moment of Pentecost should be asking.

Are we seeking to be filled by the Spirit?  Well, are we?  Is our church, our community of faith bent on not only being filled by the Spirit, but being led by the Spirit.

Are we truly being "first fruits?"  After all, that's what the disciples essentially were in this moment.  They were the first of the harvest, presented as an offering by Jesus himself, and because of their very public offering, the harvest was begun in earnest.  Do we see ourselves this way?  Or do we see our church as "our church," meant to fulfill our needs, and be done exactly as we would have it done?

Are we proclaiming the Gospel?  There's an old adage attributed to St. Francis that states, "Preach the Gospel at all times and if necessary use words."  It gets a lot of mileage because most Christians like the idea of not ever really having to say anything to anyone about what they believe.  Incidentally, most Christians don't really preach the Gospel with their lives, either.  Are we speaking the truth as well as living it?

In just a few months I will celebrate my fifth anniversary as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Eustis.  It's been an amazing five years.  If you had told me then that our church would be as vibrant, growing, outward focused and excited as it is right now---I would have never believed you.  It was a dream that became a reality by the power and grace of God.

We determined some time ago that God was calling us to be a church that did church differently.  We weren't called to be a country club.  We weren't called to exist only for ourselves.  We had a great history and fascinating past, but we weren't being called to live there.  We knew that God was calling us to be a church full of people who "know and show Jesus."

Because when you know Jesus, you want to show Jesus.  It's that simple.

And because of this, we worship every week by giving God everything we have in joy, reverence and passion.  We pray with the kind of hope that comes from knowing that God hears and answers prayer.  We seek to grow in our faith by reading, teaching and proclaiming the word of God on Sunday mornings, in classes and small groups for all ages.  We love on one another and the world around us in the ways we care for each other, nurture one another and walk with one another even through the valley of the shadow of death.  We serve our God and the world by acts of compassion and mercy---feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, reaching out to the lost, lonely and forgotten.

This is what we do because this is who we are.  We are the Church.  We are not part of an institution.  We are not our buildings.  We are not stuck within the four walls of this sanctuary afraid to go outside because the Spirit has arrived in this place, breathed the breath of life into us, anointed us by fire and sent us out into the world to be part of the Movement of Jesus Christ.

The Movement of the Church is part of God's big story of Redemption, my brothers and sisters, and we are part of that story.

It's time to move.  It's who you are.

Big Church Week Five: "Jailhouse Rock"

This week I am preaching the fifth installment of the sermon series, "Big Church" a study in the book of Acts.  The basic premise of this sermon series is that Jesus did not establish an institution, he established a movement.  Unfortunately, his followers over the years didn't get that memo because the Church in all of her tarnished glory is most definitely an institution.  Which is why, in my opinion, that so many people have given up on the Church.

But I think there's another way---and I am not alone.  There is a growing number of people who are waking up to the fact that Jesus did not create a mission for the Church, he created a church for His mission.  The mission, you see, was established long before the Church.  And it's high time we figured this out and got down to the business of moving the Movement Jesus founded.

This week we will be studying one of the more familiar stories in the book of Acts---the story of Paul & Silas in the Philippian jail from Acts 16:16-34.

16 Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 18 She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her. 19 When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Let's break this down a bit...

The whole story begins when Paul heals a slave girl who is possessed with the "Spirit of Python"---a spirit of divination, the ability to tell the future.  The slave girl accosts Paul and Silas every day as they go to prayer and finally Paul gets so annoyed he heals her.  Why Paul didn't take pity on her the first time she accosted them is not clear, but he finally does heal her and her masters are suddenly left without their meal ticket.

A word about the translation "The Spirit of Python" is probably in order.  This is a clue that she is connected to the cult of Apollo Palatinus, the sun god and the god most closely connected with Caesar Augustus---who did very little to disuade people from making the connection.  Augustus---and subsequent Caesars---was often known as the "son of the most high."  So you can see that something funky is going on when the slave girl keeps declaring that Paul and Silas are servants of the "Most High God."

The owners then go on to accuse Paul and Silas not of theft, or damage to property, but sedition.  Their accusations take on a nationalistic tone and also are steeped in anti-Semitic fervor.  You might find the same kind of language in the anti-Semitic laws and propaganda of the Nazis in Germany.

The magistrates of the city order that Paul and Silas be summarily stripped naked and flogged publicly.  This process was known as coercitio, the word we get coercion from and was a way that the Romans would get evidence from suspects and to make an example of them to others who might be tempted to commit similar offenses.  It was a punishment meant for non-Roman citizens and so Paul would have been exempt from it had he exerted his rights.  He didn't do so, it seems---or at the very least if he did they ignored it.

Then Paul and Silas are thrown into prison---but even that wasn't good enough for these enemies of the state.  They are thrown into the center of the prison which was a space reserved for the worst criminals, who were often put there to die.  They are put into stocks which would have stretched their cut and bleeding limbs and back in horrible ways.

Then they start singing and praising God.  Some scholars believe that they may have sung Psalms like Psalm 102:19-20:

“The Lord looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death.”

Or maybe Psalm 79:11

May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die. 

And they may have concluded with Psalm 107:10, 13-16

Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains, He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.

Then the jailhouse rocks. Literally.

The jail comes apart crashing all around the prisoners and freeing them all from their bonds, including Paul and Silas.  When this happens the jailer comes running in and is about to commit suicide.  He knows that if any prisoners escape under his watch his life is forfeit.  That's how the Romans worked.  Suicide was preferable to disgrace.  It appears from the text that he believes he might be the object of divine retribution for the way he treated Paul and Silas, who now appear to actually be servants of "The Most High God."

But the prisoners, including Paul and Silas, are all still present and accounted for despite the fact that they could have taken off and run to freedom.

Then the jailer asks an incredible question:  "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

This is really a question for the ages, isn't it?  A better translation of this question is, "Gentlemen, will you please tell me how I can get out of this mess?"  I know that when I was growing up, the preachers who used this passage of Scripture in their sermons read a whole lot into the motives behind this question.

The bottom line is this:  This jailer knew nothing of Jesus, of Heaven or Hell.  He knew that something incredible had happened, that his life was in danger and that he needed rescue and deliverance.

Here's the cool part of the story...  No matter what his intention, the answer to the question is the same:  "Believe in the Lord Jesus..."

N.T. Wright wrote about this moment, "Believe in the Lord Jesus is always the answer to the question of how to be rescued at whatever level and whatever sense..."  When Jesus is declared as Lord of your life---all of the ways that you find yourself caught, captured, imprisoned, in dire straits... seem to lose their power.

When Paul answers the jailer in the way that he does it's not a changing of the subject---it's a deepening of it.  He doesn't avoid the answer to the jailer's specific question, but he does take the question deeper answering what has been described as "world-deep, heart-deep, God deep questions," that lie underneath the jailer's specific need for deliverance.

And this question---the one that is at the heart of this story---is simply this:

Where do I find true freedom? 

We need a little clarification at this point.  This desire for true freedom, which I believe lives in the hearts of every human being, is not about:

Getting in touch with your "inner self..."
Committing yourself to a life of worship prayer and good works...

It's not even about believing particular theories or doctrines, although lots of Christians try to tell you differently.

True freedom is found quite simply in the moments when we realize and confess that Jesus is Lord, that our belief in his Lordship is not only a saving belief---it's the key to liberty.

The Movement of the Church moves when people are set free with these words:  Jesus is Lord.

What does this freedom look like?  Not what you'd expect, I can assure you.

Think about the story we just read for a moment... and more specifically think about the people in the story.

Because Paul declares that Jesus is Lord, the slave girl is set free from her slavery to a false god, and an idolatrous belief system that trapped her and enslaved her.

But she was still a slave wasn't she?  That didn't change.

Paul and Silas are free in Christ, this much is evident.  They believe that Jesus is Lord and it's this belief that results in behavior that lands them in prison after being cruelly flogged.

Doesn't seem really all that fair, does it?

And what about all of the prisoners in the jail?  The whole place falls apart, their chains are loosed, they could totally make a break for it and find some freedom---maybe catch a camel train to Egypt or something---join the Syrian Foreign Legion, or the People's Front of Judea (Monty Python joke),,,

But they don't go anywhere... they stay right there in the jail.

Weird, right?

And then there is the jailer who is in charge of the jail.  He was feeling pretty good about himself before the earthquake.  His life may have not been perfect by any means but at least, he could tell himself, he wasn't as bad off as the poor buggers in his jail...

Until his whole life falls apart and he realizes that what he thought was freedom is really a prison.

Theologian and preacher Will Willimon tells the story of a talk that he did at a large denominational meeting about the state of gender equality in the Church.  An angry woman arose and began to rail at Willimon declaring that it was the government and not the Church that had been at the forefront of every move toward gender equality.  She continued to indict the Church while she touted all of the progress that had been made on behalf of women by the government toward equal pay, equal rights, etc.

She had a point, to be sure.

Then Willimon related how just that week he'd read a study that lung cancer, heart disease, hypertension and stress related issues among women were the same as men for the first time in history.

Sometimes our versions of freedom aren't all that... well, free.

So here's a big hairy question.  What is holding you captive today?  To which some of you might reply, "What? Are you serious?  I am held captive by no one, and nothing!  So there!"  Or something to that effect.

Okay.  How do you feel about your job?  Do you find yourself thinking about work all of the time---either because you love what you do, or you don't.  Maybe you come home and can't wait for some peace and quiet so you can start doing work again.  Or maybe you come home and sit around stewing and stressed because you are miserable about having to return to your job in the morning.

Maybe you are held captive by an addiction.  And here's where it gets tricky because we always hold up certain kinds of addictions and condemn those, but let a whole bunch of other things go without so much as a second glance.  But let's say for the sake of argument that maybe you are addicted to some pretty devastating things---like alcohol, drugs or pornography.  It feels a lot like being in prison sometimes doesn't it?

There are other addictions, though.  Maybe your drug of choice is the food that you eat in mass quantities---so much so that you feel trapped in your own body. Or maybe you are addicted to the rush that comes from shopping.  Every single one of these addictions produces the same kind of chemical reaction in your brain as taking drugs... so yeah.

Maybe you are held captive by your need for entertainment, your constant need for stimulation, noise, action, you name it.  You've been held captive by this for so long that you have no idea what it's like to simply be still and hear your own thoughts---which is why you stepped into that prison to begin with, let's be honest.

There's other prisons to be sure---prisons of self-indulgence, bad relationships, self-destructive behavior, information...

And every one of these prisons is created by none other than you... and me.  Yet we walk around believing the lie that we are free, truly free, outside of the sort of freedom that comes from Jesus Christ....
The sort of freedom that brings deliverance to our souls, peace to our troubled minds, and hope for our breaking hearts.

A friend of mine told me the following story about his journey out of an addiction to crack cocaine.  His life was out of control, he was miles away from his family and hopelessly addicted---trapped in a prison of his own making.  He'd fled from home to be free, to be loosed from the constraints of his God-fearing family.

He called his mother on Mother's Day and remembers listening to her crying and praying for him on the phone.  He remembers telling her not to worry, that he was doing fine, that everything was under control---and he also remembers smoking from a nasty crack pipe while he was telling her all these things.

When he hung up the phone he collapsed in agony, weeping and crying out to God to help him.  He'd never felt so low in his life, so trapped, so imprisoned.

But something stirred in his heart then.  He knew that the only way out of the prison he'd built was if he gave his heart, his body, his everything to Christ.  To declare that "Jesus is Lord," for the first time in his life.

Years have past since that moment and now my friend finds himself happily married with two beautiful children---playing and leading worship in the praise band at his church.

And guess what?

Now he fells free.  Because Jesus is Lord.

The Movement of the Church moves when people are set free with these words:  Jesus is Lord.

Big Church Week Four: "Lydia's Story"

This week we are continuing the sermon series, "Big Church," a study in the book of Acts that is based on the following premise:  Jesus didn't create a mission for the Church, he created a Church for His Mission."  In other words, the Church is a movement and not an institution.

The passage of Scripture that we are plunging into this Sunday is from Acts chapter 16:9-15---the story of the conversion of Lydia.

Here's the text:

9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. 11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Some explanation is in order to sort of set up what is happening here, and why Paul begins the passage by having a strange vision of a man of Macedonia begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

[Which is just creepy to me...  Like one of those movies where a ghost shows up to try to help some freaked out person solve a murder, and then the person almost gets killed by the murderer until the ghost shows up and does something awful to the murderer, thereby exacting his/her revenge... but I digress]

Paul is actually on his way with a team of people to fulfill a very well-planned and well-thought out mission to the churches in Asia that Paul planted some years before.  But every single path that Paul and his team try to take to get there is thwarted.  They come to understand that it is the Spirit of Jesus (Holy Spirit) keeping them from getting to where they want to go, but they don't seem to know what to do with that information.

Then Paul has the aforementioned creepy vision, and the next thing you know he and his fellow missionaries are on their way to Macedonia.   Their new path reads like a travelogue.

"First we went to Troas..." Alexandria Troas was an important city and seaport for anyone travelling in the northwest part of the Asian Roman Provinces near/in Turkey.  It was also 10 miles south of the ancient city of Troy.

"Then we went to Samothrace..."  this was a mountainous navigational marker on an island that contained the nearly 6000 foot high Mt. Fergani where they would have docked for provisions and rest.

After arriving at Neapolis they would have then traveled on the Via Egnatia a Roman road that would have taken them nine miles inland  to the city of Philippi.

They arrive in Philippi, a city that was basically built and settled by retired arm veterans.  Once a soldier reached the twenty year mark in military service, they were able to retire with something of a pension.  It was sort of like the "Oh My Gosh, We Can't Believe You Survived!" award.  Smart politicians made sure to give these former soliders lands where they could settle---lands they were almost assured would remain in loyal hands for generations.

Because Philippi was populated by former Roman soldiers it was about as Roman a city as you could get outside of Rome itself.


So why in the world would this have mattered---all of this information about the places where they were traveling to, and quite easily, I might add?  I think it's because the earlier part of their trip was thwarted and interrupted and nothing worked as it was supposed to---but then all of a sudden it's like they made every flight, caught every bus, and were on time for each ferry...  if you know what I mean.

I read this awesome quote the other day when I was studying for this sermon:
"Specific guidance comes to those already on the road..."

Remember what we said about Paul and his plan.  He had one.  And it was good.  He was going to visit growing churches, do some teaching, encouraging, discipling, you name it.  He was returning to churches he had founded to do ministry and help them expand their mission.  It was an ambitious plan, and a good one.

Instead Paul finds himself in a city full of serious Romans.  With no synagogue, (which meant that there weren't even ten Jewish men in the entire city) and no one to minister to except a bunch of women who had gathered for prayer on the riverside outside of town.

This was a mission that was going nowhere---or worse yet, heading down for the count.

Then Lydia comes to Christ and the whole story changes.

Who was Lydia anyway?

Her name is an ethnicon, which is derived from her place of origin.  In other words, it means "of Lydia," which was a region near the coast where there was a city named Thyatira.  In fact, Lydia is often known in Early Church history as "Lydia of Thyatira."

This region was known for it's dye industry, particularly purple dye, which was literally worth it's weight in silver.  The process for making purple dye required thousands of shellfish to produce it, so the amount of labor and skill that it took to make it drove the price up.  Purple was in huge demand from Roman elites who wanted to show off how rich they were.  It was a kingly color, and only Caesar was allowed to have a toga made entirely of purple.

Lydia was probably a free woman and most likely a widow.  It's almost certain that she was single, because no husband is mentioned at all in the passage, and would almost certainly have been if there was one.  She is thought to have been an agent of purple dye for a larger guild---sort of a franchise owner, so to speak.

Lydia was almost assuredly a Gentile, even though she was highly interested and sympathetic to Jewish religious practices.  She's found by Paul and his team down the riverside at prayer, presumably with Jewish women, and perhaps a very few men.  It's clear that God was working on her heart, though.

She was a wealthy woman, which we can assume by the reference to "her household," which indicates that she had her own house, servants, extended family, employees, etc.  This flies in the face of what many people assume about the early Christians---that they were poor, uneducated, lower classes, etc.

In fact, a pagan author named Celus ridicules the early Christian movement by saying that it appealed to "the foolish... slaves, women and little children..." who gathered at "the wooldresser's shop or to the cobblers or the washerwoman's shop that they may learn perfection."   While Lydia was most certainly a woman, she was no shrinking violet who frequented wooldresser's shops.

What happens to Lydia is the story of so many people who "discover" God in a moment that is unexpected---to them, but not to God.  Lydia experienced what is known as her "effectual calling," which is a summons from the Creator of the Universe that comes with such power that it brings about a dramatic response from the person to whom it is intended...

To say that another way... In those moments, God gets what God wants, and what God wants is recognition and redemption.  Or like this... "there on the riverside, Lydia found the God who was finding her..."

You see, Lydia is a living example of a theological conviction---one that has been at the very heart of the Movement called the Church:  God's saving grace dismantles the various social barriers that cultivate strife.  And in the doing creates abundant space for grace that results in people being drawn to Jesus.

Lydia's conversion sparks a movement in Philippi.  In a multi-individual house like hers, household conversions would snowball into "people movements."  Her obvious gift of hospitality was one that would have been used well to spread the Good News that the One she had been seeking her whole life had found her praying on the riverside, and sent some strange little rabbi all the way from Jerusalem to tell her just that.

Here's what we can learn from this passage of Scripture:

The Movement of the Church Moves When People Listen To The Spirit...  

The ancient church father John Chrysotom wrote about this story, "To open is the part of God, and to pay attention that of the woman."

But this didn't start with Lydia, did it?  It happend when Paul's plans got trashed, which is where I really want to go with this whole thing.

You see, This was the intersection between human obedience and divine initiative... all made possible because Paul listened to the Spirit.  

Paul had no idea what was going on.  His plans were turned to rubbish and everything he tried to make them work ended up getting thwarted.  What he did finally realize, however, was that God was in the midst of his failures, the obstacles, the stops and starts.  And he kept walking, kept feeling his way through the thing...

And he kept faithful.  Think about it.  Because he was seeking the place of prayer---which was by a riverside so that the Jews who were praying could perform their ritual cleansing---Paul found Lydia.  And because Paul found Lydia, a whole bunch of stuff happened that changed the world.

Have you ever experienced failure?  Have you felt the loss of your plans?  Took the wrong road and regretted it?  Maybe you sat around in the dust of your plans and ideas and wondered why you were brought to a low place like that.

Let me tell you about some people you might know...

Walt Disney was once fired from an animating job because he lacked imagination and had no good ideas...

Colonel Sanders, the guy who invented Kentucky Fried Chicken had his chicken recipe rejected 1,000 times.

Woolworth, the guy who founded "Woolworth's" department store was not allowed to wait on customers because he lacked the sense to do so.

Albert Einstein was thought to be mentally handicapped.

Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade and was defeated in every election he entered into until he became the Prime Minister at age 62.

Oprah Winfrey was fired from her television job because she was considered unfit for TV

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.

Elvis was fired from the Grand Old Oprey and was told "you ain't going no where son, you might as well go back to driving a truck."

Every single one of these people then went to on to rewrite their story---because all of those moments of failure moved them to a place where they needed to be in order to do something spectacular.

Listen, this isn't a cheap sort of motivational speech that I am giving you here.  I just know that these simple illustrations help us to understand that whatever we see as failure, God can turn into something incredible.

Maybe sometimes God wants us to move where grace is the most needed.  Maybe the reason you find yourself in the situation that you are in has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with someone else...

Lydia was read to listen to God, and God found her.

And Paul got to be there when God did.

When Paul was awaiting trial and eventually his execution in Rome, he wrote to the church at Philippi, a church that no doubt was made possible because of Lydia and her faithful witness.

And he said this:

3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. (1:3-8)

15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. 17 Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. 18 I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. 19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (4:15-20)

No other letter written by the Apostle Paul contains the kind of emotional, personal tone that is found here in the letter to the Philippians.  This church was special to him.  They blessed him.  They supported him when no other church that he planted did so.  And when he was in chains in Rome, ready to die for his faith at last, they sent him gifts and their love.

And though she isn't mentioned, we might imagine that Lydia's was among the loving hands who packed those gifts, ministering to Paul and causing him to say, "I have you in my heart."

The movement moves when people listen to the Spirit.

Maybe in the middle of your brokenness and your failed plans there is a Lydia waiting for you to share the Good News that Jesus redeems brokenness and that his plans are perfect.

They are waiting for you.  Get moving.  God will show you the way.

Big Church Week Four: "The Threshold"

This week I am continuing my sermon series on the book of Acts, entitled "Big Church"---a series based on the idea that the Church is a movement, not an institution.  As we continue to affirm each week:  Jesus didn't create a mission for the Church, Jesus created a church for his mission.

The passage of Scripture that I'll be preaching from this week is Acts 10.  Yup.  The whole chapter.  I tried to break it down a bit, but in the end I decided to just preach from the whole chapter.  I'm not going to reprint the entire chapter here in the blog, though.

Click here to read the whole chapter, which I highly recommend that you do right this instant.  

So this whole story starts off with a vision---Cornelius, the centurion has one of an angel who tells him to go send for Peter, the Apostle, and then the story jumps to Peter who has a vision of a sheet full of non-kosher animals that he is commanded to "kill and eat."

A word about visions might be in order.  In the book of Acts the role of visions is to clarify God's redemptive plan with regard to specific places and people.  This is a fascinating story that holds so much meaning for those of us who have inherited the legacy of these Gentiles who were included in God's plan to save the world.  So this moment is an important one and so it's not surprising that it is accompanied by not one, but two visions.

When we meet Cornelius we learn some things very quickly.  First, he is a centurion, which ordinarily might mean that he is the leader of one hundred soldiers, but in this case Cornelius was also the leader of a cohort---a senior staff officer in the legion that was assigned the Judean provinces.

What sort of man became a centurion?  Cornelius would have been literate and would have had some political connections.  He would have been a man of great size and strength, and imbued with dexterity and the ability to use all manner of weapons with great skill.  He would have been a man adept at keeping discipline and appearances high within the ranks of his soldiers.

Cornelius was also a leader within the Italian Cohort, a group that was stationed at Caesarea Maritima, which was one of the most Roman port cities in the region.  This city was the headquarters of the governor of Judea and if you had to have an assignment in this region, this was where you wanted it.  So, Cornelius was a man on the rise in the Roman army.

He is also the first person with Roman authority that is named in Acts---and he is not at all what we would expect.

The text tells us that Cornelius was a "God-fearer," who supported the local synagogue and gave alms to the poor.  It is unclear if he was actually engaged in the prescribed rite of initiation into Judaism (circumcision), and also highly unlikely.  He seems to be interested in Jewish faith and practice, however, and seems very well thought of by the Jewish people.

He is, in fact, at prayer when he receives a vision to send emissaries to Peter, who is in Joppa some thirty miles to the south.

Meanwhile... 

Peter is in Joppa--as we mentioned---and he begins praying around lunchtime when he's hungry.  Maybe he was praying and meditating and he could smell lunch being made somewhere and he saw the linen sheet on the roof of the house blowing in the wind---and then suddenly none of those things was exactly  what they seemed...

Peter sees a vision of a sheet full of animals---many of which are non-kosher and forbidden by Jewish law for him to eat.  A voice tells him, "Kill and eat."  In verse 14 Peter emphatically responds, "By no means... No way... Absolutely NOT!"  The word in Greek is medamos which is only used here in the entire New Testament.  Peter has a gut reaction to what he sees and refuses to partake in the most vociferous way possible.  This vision occurs three times, and then the Lord speaks...

In verse 20 the word of the Lord declares to Peter that there will be some men showing up at his door and when they do he is to go with them "without hesitation."  The literal translation is that he is to go with them "without making a distinction or differentiation."

At that moment there is a knock on the door and there are indeed some men there to fetch Peter to Cornelius.  Despite the direct command that is still ringing in his ears from God himself, Peter is a bit uneasy about everything.  He asks them, "Why are you here?"  They tell him about the vision that their commander had and that they were ordered to return to Caesarea Maritima with Peter in tow.

Imagine how Peter would have felt at this moment before you start hating on him for second-guessing God.  Roman soldiers just showed up at his door.  The neighbors are freaking out.  Simon the Tanner, who put Peter up at his house is freaking out.  Peter is freaking out.  But he invites them inside and does, in fact, leave with them the next day.

For the thirty mile trip to Caesarea, Peter probably thought a great deal about what he was going to do when he arrived.

You see, in the Jewish mindset, Gentiles were thought to be polluted people with polluted houses.  Their houses were polluted because of the food they ate within them, the sexual immorality that almost assuredly occurred in their bedrooms and something else that was also rumored to happen in Gentile homes: abortions.  Some ancient Jews believed that Gentiles forced women to have abortions and then hid the bodies of the babies under the floorboards of the home.

Gentiles had a fairly low view of Jews, which I am sure Peter was also aware of as he pondered all of this.  To Gentiles, Jews were condemned as lazy and stuck up due to their Sabbath and purity laws.  They were said to rob pagan temples, and conducted strange blood-letting rites on Gentile children.

So all of this was obviously grounded in reason---but then again, most prejudice never is.

As a child, C.S. Lewis once told his father, "I have a prejudice against the French." To which is father replied, "Why?"  Lewis thought a moment and then said, "If I knew why, it wouldn't be a prejudice."

One of my favorite lines from the Austin Powers movie Goldmember is when Austin Powers father (played by the estimable Michael Caine) says, "There are two kinds of people I can't stand.  People who aren't tolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch."

But here's the thing---and this is where it all can make more sense.  In the Jewish mindset, the people you sat down and ate with were considered family.  So stepping into the house of someone who represented so much that was wrong in your worldview was a huge deal.

Hence, Peter's conflict as he walked those thirty miles.

You see, this was a liminal moment.  A moment before a moment that really matters.  It is also the kind of moment that Peter had seen before when he was following Jesus.

9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:9-13)

 Matthew is remembered as a disciple, and then an apostle, but before all of that he was a tax collector.  And worse yet, he was a tax collector in the fishing village where Peter, James and John plied their trade.  Matthew would have been on the pier when the fisherman returned with their catches each day, ready to count the fish and assess the taxes demanded by the Roman governments.

So he was popular with the fisherman.  That was a joke.  He was undoubtedly hated by the fisherman, and probably hated by every other Jew who encountered him because he was a traitor to his own people.  The only friends he had were other tax collectors and sinners---the kinds of people that good Jews would not ever dare to eat with, to call "family."

Peter saw Jesus not only call Matthew as a disciple, but also sit down to eat with him.  And when the Pharisees showed up to criticize Jesus for hanging out with degenerates, he replied that it was the sick who needed a doctor, and that his mission was not to call the righteous, but the very sinners these righteous people wanted nothing to do with.

I wonder if Peter saw Matthew's face at that moment when Jesus spoke those words---those saving, beautiful words in his presence.  I can imagine, and maybe so can you what Matthew's face might have looked like when he realized that God loved him, and had called him.  As Peter trudged toward  Caesarea I wonder if that face came to mind.

Here's what I know.  And this is the Big Awesome Truth that we glean from this story:  The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.

There is no religio-ethnic or cultural boundaries---no conditions that must be met to qualify for God's salvation and blessings.  No human being is to be treated as somehow beyond the reach of a sacred God's saving and sanctifying work.

Peter hovers at the door in that liminal moment when he stands before Cornelius, who doesn't understand anything at all about Jesus and who He is---only that there is something in his soul that cries out for something more---a life lived more abundantly...

And he hovers there hearing the words of Jesus echoing in his ears... "Follow me."  Jesus didn't tell Matthew and all the other tax collectors and sinners, "Change, and then follow me."  He said, "Follow me..." and then what he left unsaid, but Peter knew... "... and you'll be changed."  "Follow me... and you'll be changed."

We often find ourselves in these kinds of liminal moments right when we least expect it.  And in these liminal moments we are given the opportunity to make a  decision to either step over the threshold or stay right where we are.

Years ago, when I was working a night shift as a chaplain in a hospital, I was called to bring a Bible to a patient.  When I arrived with the Bible I discovered that the patient had AIDS and was highly susceptible to infection.  In order to see him I was going to have to completely cover myself in a gown, mask, gloves and even slip-ons for my shoes.  It took me several minutes to put on all of the gear.  It felt like wearing a HASMET suit, to be honest and by the time I was walking into the room, I was freaked out.

In a muffled voice I told the weak and dying man on the bed that I was the chaplain and I had his Bible.  His eyes brightened a bit when I handed it to him.  I muttered something about having to make some rounds and began backing out of the room as quickly as I could.  When I looked into the eyes of this dying man and saw his pain, I felt my stomach flip.  God help me, I ran out of that room--so afraid, so programmed that I couldn't stop myself.

This man reached out in his need, crying out to God... He didn't need a Bible nearly as much as he needed someone to sit with him, to truly go over the threshold and be with him in his moment of need.  If I had to do it all over again, I would have stepped all the way through the door.  It was a liminal moment that could have changed us both forever.

Listen to me...  If you feel as though you are the one standing on the other side of that door, separated from God, shunned by others, broken and beyond grace...

Remember that Jesus stepped through so many doors to sit down with all sorts of people who no one else wanted to be near, and who were believed to be beyond redemption.

No one is beyond God's grace.

The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.

Finally, I want to speak to those of us who feel like we are standing in one of those liminal moments...

Who are the people on the other side of the door for you?

Is it someone of a different race?  Someone who doesn't hold your religious or political views?  Someone that supposedly hates you because of who you are?

Here's what I want you to hear...

Step through the door.

Remember that Jesus calls us to follow... so follow Him.  He's already there in that room you know you should step through.

The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.