R3: radical, revolutionary, different

Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean it’s not hard to watch the economy fall apart.  It doesn’t mean there isn’t any stress involved with facing hard times.  What it does mean is that we need to remember to trust God.  He knows what we need, and frankly it’s not really another video game or a new car - what we really need is a stronger relationship with him. 

I don’t always find that comforting as I enter into a crisis.  But that doesn’t make it any less true.

Lord - I pray for all the people who are being affected by this financial crisis.  The people who are losing their homes, their jobs, and their financial security.  Encourage them.  Help them to lean into you, so that they can overcome any obstacle.  And for the rest of us, help us to remain generous, to stay bold, and to act in love.  Amen.

R3 is currently running a series entitled “Phrases.”  Today, however, I’m going to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming.  Mostly because I lost power over the weekend (like tens of millions of people) which makes it difficult to write things on the internet.  So today, instead of business as usual, I want to just take a breath and comment on something I’ve been thinking about since 3:00 yesterday.

Every time I lose power I’m shocked (no pun intended) at just how much of my life revolves around electricity and technology.  It seems everything I do from waking up in the morning to relaxing in the evening requires electricity.  I couldn’t even spend time reading because my apartment was too dark. 

While I’m not alone in this realization about electricity, it does drive a point home for me: the people who wrote the Bible lived so differently from me it’s hard to even imagine their lives.  How can I relate to someone who lived their entire life without electricity, running water, or most importantly, Google? 

Yet they wrote of such profound truths that their advice - the wisdom of the Bible - is still relevant today.

Of course Christians would argue that it wasn’t simply people who came up with the advice, but God.  And judging by just how relevant the Bible is to modern life, I have to agree.  It’s a bit humbling to realize that God knows us so well he can predict our current behavior from thousands of years ago.  Despite all of our modern conveniences and ways we’re still the same people who rebelled against him in the Garden of Eden.  Humanity hasn’t changed, only the shape of our daily lives.  If this doesn’t drive home the relevancy of the Bible, nothing will. 

I may be without power.  And that may last a few days or a week.  But with each passing moment I thank God (literally) that his patience is more reliable than my electric company!

Sometimes readers say it better than I do:

I think that for starters, anytime a Christian acknowledges that they’re deficient in an area of their walk with Christ; that acknowledgment is sort of like the precursor to that deficiency becoming “fixed” by the Lord. A spin on how the Law makes us aware of sin, I suppose.I used to never speak out openly about God because of fear of ridicule. Nowadays, that’s not a problem, and I would say it’s because over time (as your relationship grows), Jesus does transform the committed believer.

My point? Yesterday was a day that you walked behind Christ, today you might be walking a little closer to Him; and tomorrow is the day that you walk side by side, step for step with Him.

Maturation by nature takes time, some folks perhaps do go through a radical and quick process of transformation, while others don’t. Scripture an my own personal experiences tell me that it all starts with the condition of the heart, sometimes we have deeper issues that the Lord must work on before we get to that spot where we become the “Super Christian” we aspire to be.

That was a comment left by Christopher from Got-Fruit.net on the prayer thursday: courage post.  I wanted to highlight it because it touches upon one of the deepest truths I know: the scariest prayer we can make is the one where we ask God to change us.  There’s nothing more terrifying, because those are exactly the type of prayers God answers on a regular basis!

Being a Christian means stepping into dangerous situations.  We’re called to care for the sick and needy, and to comfort the hurting.  Unfortunately this doesn’t always come with a hall pass.  Which means, sometimes Christians end up facing hardship, persecution, and death.  But that doesn’t mean we can give up.  In fact, the more we stick to it in the face of danger, the more we show people the power of Christ.

Courage

God - I’m a coward.  I know it.  You know it.  Help me to step into the places you call me to, despite the danger.  Don’t let my fear be the reason the Kingdom doesn’t advance.  Help me to remember that the harder the task, the more I need to rely on you.  And maybe, just maybe, that’s the point.

<comments are open, feel free to add your own prayer for courage>

Gideon made the gold into an ephod, which he placed in Ophrah, his town. All Israel prostituted themselves by worshiping it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his family” (Judges 8: 27)

I’ve been thinking a lot about wealth and power, and I think I’m finally coming to the point in my life where I can honestly say I don’t want any.  There was a time where I would have loved to have been famous, or at least well known.  The thought of being influential and remembered in history was exciting.  (I still smile when I think about school kids 200 years from now trying to remember trivial facts about my life.)  It would also be nice to not have to worry about money.

But as I sit here thinking about those things, I just don’t want the trouble that comes with wealth and power.  I can barely manage my own problems, I don’t need any more.  And wealth and power seem to bring a lot of problems.  Consider that the Steelers are going through ownership struggles.  The Steelers founder gave a share of ownership to each of his sons, and that’s been passed down the line.  Now one brother (Dan Rooney) is trying to buy out the other brothers.  For a variety of reasons neither side is happy with the other.  And a sale doesn’t look promising, which means no Rooney will own the team their father/grandfather founded.  They make sacrifice the family legacy, break the hearts of millions of fans, all for a few million dollars.  Is money worth that kind of legacy?

Or if you’re a music fan just look at the divorce hearings of Phil Collins or Paul McCartney.  I’m not in a position to say how much money the ex wives deserved or didn’t deserve.  But there’s no question the divorces would have been less acrimonious and less public if there wasn’t so much money at stake.  Money makes you do funny things.

We are all vulnerable to it’s influence.  Even people God personally selects to do amazing things, like Gideon.  After living a life that God used to save thousands of lives, Gideon gives it all away for wealth and power.  The wealth he accumulates becomes “a snare to Gideon and his family”

Jesus said “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”  I don’t think that’s because money is evil.  I think it’s because money changes who we are.  And I’m not sure I want to take that risk.

A certain cable company (rhymes with “Time Warner”) has been causing me difficulties ever since I decided to downgrade my cable subscription.  Each day it seems to get worse. 

• On Thursday they collected my old digital converter box and reclaimed my cable modem (hence no Friday post).  I have high speed internet through them still, so this was a mistake. 
• Their mistake forced me to sit in my apartment waiting for them to deliver a new modem for 12 hours on Friday.  They never showed up.
• Saturday I didn’t talk to them - so no bad news.
• On Sunday I learned they can’t make it to my apartment until Wednesday. 
• This morning (when I finally had some working internet at work) I learned that they also shut down my e-mail address.  And since I’m looking for a new job, this is a bit of an issue!

Now I find myself with a choice: On the one hand I’m furious.  There’s a big part of me that wants to scream, “I didn’t cause any of this, why do I have to deal with it?!”  On the other hand I just wrote a prayer to God asking for patience.  Apparently God was listening, because there’s no doubt now have the perfect opportunity to work on my patience!

As Christians we’re called to live differently.  We aren’t supposed to respond like someone who doesn’t have that relationship with God.  Our lives are supposed to have a different feel to them.  Or as Jesus says, people will recognize our faith by the “fruit” we produce.  (Matthew 7: 20).  The problem is, at least for me, I don’t always want to live that way. I don’t always want to respond calmly, or patiently, and certainly not lovingly.  Sometimes I just want to get in there and argue to “prove” just how right I am.

But is this how Christians are supposed to act?

The times Jesus lost his temper with people were the times they were dishonoring God.  It was never when they were struggling with their own problems, or their own sins.  Jesus always had love, mercy, and compassion for those people.  And that’s how we have to deal with people as well.

No one at the cable company was trying to ruin my service intentionally.  No one wanted me to have a bad day.  In fact, their whole job involves listening to angry customers yell at them.  What kind of a toll does that take on someone?  So while I was angry I took this as an opportunity to minister to people.  While I never said, “hey I’m a Christian, God loves you!”  I did try to be calm, not raise my voice, and get things handled in a civil way.  It was an opportunity to submit to service, rather than exercise my pride (something I do all too often).

Christians aren’t called to be walked all over, but we’re not called to be jerks either.

Imagine what it must have been like for Israel on the verge of entering the Promised Land.  They had been wondering in the wilderness for 40 years, and now God was just about to fulfill his promise.  But before they could enter the land, Moses had some final thoughts for them.  In that speech Moses laid out where they had come from, why they were there, and where they were going.  He wanted them to understand just how important the next part of their history would be.  It would have been an exciting time to have been an Israelite.

And in that speech Moses told the Israelites was to “Observe [the laws] carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deuteronomy 4: 6)

In that one sentence Moses really captures a lot about how to live a life of faith.

• Wisdom is not simply knowledge but action - the Israelites not only had to know the law, but live it.
• Talking about living a life of faith is entirely different than living a life of faith.
• Following God is the surest way of “proving” that he exists - when our lives are filled with God, people can’t help but wonder why we’re so different!

People respond to God when they can see him in our lives.  It was true 4,000 years ago, and it’s still true today.

A few weeks back I read an advance copy of Erwin McManus’ new book Wide Awake. Out of this I began to consider my own nonnegotiables. In other words, the things that I’m simply not willing to give up.

As I’ve been thinking about that for the last few weeks I’m convinced one of them is community.

For many years I lived virtually isolated (by choice, circumstance, and distance) from friends and family. Virtually overnight I went from having a vibrant community of friends to having almost no one. To say it was devastating would be an understatement.

But like so many things in life, God took that moment and changed it’s meaning. He took something that was horrible and changed my perspective on it. He showed me how important it is to reach out to people who are suffering, especially those doing it alone. My heart breaks when I hear that someone had to go through a major event by themselves - no one should have to do that.

I think the early church new this instinctively.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2: 42-47)

Usually this passage is discussed in terms of money. (The believers did, of course, sell “their possessions and goods.”) But I think that misses part of the story, the part about community. The believers didn’t simply sell their belongings, they also “continued to meet together” and they “ate together.” They never lost the fact that they were in community with each other.

It’s not a coincidence that God is described as a personal God. It’s not chance that we refer to him as “Father.” We were never designed to live in isolation. We only can reach our full potential when we’re living in community with others.

Of course that’s easier said than done. Sometimes maintaining community comes at a cost. For the early church it cost them many of their possessions. But they weren’t willing to sacrifice their community. They were willing to make that choice. And I think that’s what I should aspire to. Even if I don’t always feel like it.

Sometimes I think about how easy it should have been for the Israelites to follow God.  They had the benefit of all these miracles, and people like Moses and David.  Yet they could never get their act together.  They could never manage to follow the basic rules God laid out. 

To be honest, it frustrates me.  Especially because when I imagine myself in their shoes, it seems so easy to follow God.  ”He doesn’t need to tell me the same thing twice!” I tell myself.  “After all, how many times do you need to see a miracle to believe?!”

But it’s not that easy.

At least not when I start looking a little more closely at how I live my own life.  How many things have I started with the best intentions but they fell through in the end?  Anyone who has ever tried to stick to a diet can relate to this, I think.  Just because there are specific rules involved doesn’t mean it’s easier.  Just because we know we should do something, doesn’t mean we will.  Sometimes the chocolate cake just looks too good to pass up.

That’s what makes the “good news” of the gospel so amazing.  We no longer have to live under the law, because Jesus fulfilled that law.  We aren’t judged by how many rules we’ve broken, but by our relationship with God.  And there can’t be better news than that! 

The more I look at my own life, the more I realize I can’t do this on my own.  Especially since I can barely stay away from McDonald’s when I’m on a workout schedule.  How much harder when my soul’s fate rests on a law?

The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your father’s family are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses against the priesthood. (Numbers 18: 1)

Talk about some serious responsibility!  How would you like to know that you are literally responsible for every time someone else screws up?  I can barely keep my own life together, how would I manage to bear the responsibility for someone else?  And yet, the Levites were “to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that wrath will not fall on the Israelites again.” (Numbers 18: 5)

God seems to work that way.  He seems to give us bigger burdens when we succeed. 

Paul was arrested and drug off to the court in Jerusalem.  While being both physically and verbally attacked in front of the court, he gave his testimony about Jesus. For his reward, Jesus told him, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23: 11)

Jesus specifically told Paul to “take courage” because he was going to make Paul go through this all again.  But this time in front of a bigger crowd.  Paul’s reward for being faithful and obedient was to be given an even more difficult task.

Don’t think that God simply demands things though.  In fact he rewards us generously.  For the Levites he promised that in exchange for their great responsibility they would receive ”all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.  All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours.” (Numbers 18: 12-13)

God may ask a lot from us.  But he also generously rewards us.