The Pneuma Project

I’ve been thinking a lot the last couple days about about how I worship God in the midst of my busyness. How do I, as a lover of Him, bring Him glory and pleasure when I don’t really have time to breathe let alone go to a worship gathering, remember to pray, or spend some time reading my Bible. Sure I have time in the evenings after work, dinner, and getting the kids to bed, but then I am so freaking tired all I want to is veg out.  I’ve heard the old, “wake up earlier”, “if you really wanted to you’d make it a priority”, and “do it anyway till you like it” theories, and there is probably truth to them, but things just don’t seem to work that way in my world. Can anyone else relate to this busyness dilemma? Am I suddenly a second class follower of Jesus? Is God frustrated at me just as I am frustrated with my schedule? I think part of the guilt/conviction I am feeling is do to all the “spiritual success” stories I hear about “Super-Christians” and their awesome 3 hour quiet time, but another part is do to my limited (and incorrect) view of what worship and connecting with God really is. Spend some time to read this quote from Michael Frost’s book Exiles:Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture a couple times:

“G.K. Chesterton was noted as having quipped, ‘I think God is the only child left in the universe, and all the rest of us have grown old and cynical because of sin.’ Like a child giggling with the attention paid by its parents, God derives enormous pleasure from receiving attention. The Scottish athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, portrayed by Ian Charleson in the film Chariots of Fire, is quoted as having said, ‘I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”With this kind of faith exiles should be able to acknowledge that the whole of our lives can be God-directed and therefore God-glorifying. When our chief end is to please God, running fast isn’t about personal glory or being the best in the world; it is about giving pleasure to God. Likewise, a life lived in order to give God pleasure will mean that our choices, our preferences, our desires become subservient to our greater end.
Thus, loving the Lord, or enjoying the Lord, or obeying the Lord, or even accepting the Lord’s salvation in the first place–all these are means of serving the chief end, which is to please the Lord. Nurses please God when they perform the Gold-glorifying work of healing the sick. Teachers do it when telling the truth to students. Runners do it when running fast. And as we cooperate more and more with God’s unstoppable goal of self-glorifying, we bring increased pleasure to God and to ourselves. Like Jesus, we will literally glow.
Why is it that many worship pastors seem to suggest that the primary way we give God pleasure is through sung worship? Was Liddell worshipping God on the track at the Paris Olympics? Do I worship God when I meet with my local politician to raise his or her awareness of global poverty? Do we worship God when we choose to protect the environment over which we’ve been granted stewardship? I think so. Our whole lives are to be lived in praise of God, as expressions of God’s glory, adding to the enjoyment that God has in God’s self and in the outworking of the divine purposes on this planet.”

Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, and whatever you find yourself busily doing this week, may you do it all well, to the pleasure of God. And in that, may you find great pleasure in spite of the busyness. Much grace to you.

First some thoughts on the last set of verses. It’s so interesting to note that whenever Jesus speaks of judgment he is referring to either 1) a future judgment done by God on all that has been distorted from what God created His creation to be, or 2) a different kind of judgment referring specifically to religious leaders and institutions who claim to represent God but who have allowed their personal holiness and interpretation of Scripture to take them away from the people God loves (ie. sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors). This type of judgment is usually laid out on the religious establishment because they have become more concerned with looking and feeling righteous than with grace and forgiveness of God. In last weeks account the religious leaders refused to see the act of healing the blind man as God’s work and eventually threw him out of their presence (removed him from fellowship in the Jewish religious community). But Jesus responds by not only seeking and comforting the man with new sight, but declaring judgment on the “blind” religious elite.

Sometimes I wonder how far we are from this today. Are we, by our attitudes, pride, and methods keeping people from experiencing the grace of God? How would Jesus respond to us and our religiosity? And how would we respond to Jesus (or do we respond to the Spirit) when/if He does something that makes us feel uncomfortable? Those are really hard questions, and it’s so easy to throw stones at others. But I need to ask them about myself, and continually allow Jesus to shake me from my  comfortable spot on understanding, safety, and security.

So enough of that on to something fresh. We going to spend the next couple months looking at the words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. Hopefully this will not only allow Him to shake us up, but provide a sense of connection and context to all we are learning. We’ll start at what has been describes as the crux of Luke’s message, a statement by Jesus about who He is and what He has come to do: Luke 4.

Luke 4:1-30
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners  and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ “
“I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

A couple things that stood out to me that I need to think about this week.
First, who led Jesus out to be tempted and who led Him back? How does that match up with how I understand the rest of Scripture?
Second, if Jesus sums up His own mission from that portion of Isaiah 61. What does that mean for us as His followers? Is that the kind of message I am living? And why didn’t Luke write down what else He spoke about that had all the people “amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips”?
I’m sure that only begins to scratch the surface of this passage and I’m equally sure that the Spirit will reveal different layers to all of us who spend time with this. I’d love to hear your answers to those questions and any other comments, questions, or insights you might have.

Here are a few other verses that seem to connect with these dots.

Isaiah 61:1-3
Matthew 6:9-13

I ran across this quote the other day and thought it was interesting enough to write it down. Let me know what you think.

“The religious suppose that only the religious know about God or care about God, and that God cares only for the religious. Characteristically, religion is precious and possessive toward God, and institutes and conducts itself as if God really needs religion, as if His existence depends on the recognition of religion. Religion considers that God is a secret disclosed only in the discipline and practice of religion. But all this is most offensive to the Word of God. The best news of God is that He is no secret. The news of God embodied in Jesus Christ is that God is openly and notoriously active in the world. In this news the Christian Church is constituted; it is this news which the Christian Church exists to spread…The Church, unlike any religion, exists to present to the world and to celebrate in the world, and on behalf of the world, God’s presence and power and utterance and action in the on-going life of the world.”

From 1962; “A Private and Public Faith”, by William Stringfellow

I just sent this little tidbit out in an update letter to some of my friends, but as I thought about it more I’d really like to hear your thoughts on it. As we engage the world around us we must always remember that each of us comes from a particular world-view (or paradigm) that shapes how we approach life, respond to challenges and relate to others. As you may know a paradigm is an assumed or underlying grid of values and beliefs about life and reality . Whether we are conscious of it or not we all live with them (Cross your arms, now cross them in the other direction. I rest my case), and the “church” has been no different. The Western church has, for the most part, been operating from the same given paradigm since Constantine (AD 312). With the legalization of Christianity the church went from a rag-tag group of underground, persecuted, marginalized, Spirit-empowered people living out a subversive faith to a professionalized and legitimized institution who’s role became to educate people in and validate a new comprehensive Christian world-view. There is nothing inherently wrong with this paradigm, but, as well all know we are no longer operating in a “Christian culture” where the church is accepted as the guardian of truth and hope. In fact we, in the West, now live in an increasingly post-Christian culture where knowledge is relative, value is based on gratification and consumerism is the new religion of choice.
When any paradigm shifts (be it in business, culture, art, or technology) there are basically four possible responses:

Maintain a marginalized state-Hold on to the past and become increasingly irrelevant to changing culture
Embrace the center of culture-Become very relevant, but compromise on values
Create transitional environment-Move forward in small increments (Become a bridge to new forms)
Become a transformational model-Lead culture by bringing strong values with relevant expressions.

Each of these responses has it’s own inherent values and pitfalls, and each can be a valid response to change. In fact I would bet that each of us could think of instances of each model in existence today. What we must remember is that while one model might be preferential to who we are and how we process       information, the other 3 are equally important for others. Let us never think that there is only one correct response to change. What we all must come to grips with is that change is occurring, and for the “church” to be an effective entity with maximum impact in culture, we must each make a conscious decision how we will respond.

Last week we had some great thoughts on forgiveness, judgment, and grace. It’s so freeing to see Jesus through fresh eyes. One of the things we’ve spent a little bit of time talking about on Sunday evenings the last 2 weeks has been different types of judgment (Thanks for pointing this out Omar). Is it OK for me to have a problem with the way some followers of Jesus represent God? How am I supposed to respond to this? If Jesus didn’t come to judge and I am sent the same way what do I do? I’ve really been thinking about this the last week, and just about fell off my chair when I read this “contradiction” in the Bible (gasp). So having said that what do we do with passages like this? I’d love to hear your thoughts:

John 9:24-41

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”\
He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?”
Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
“Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”
Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”
Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

What!? For judgment He came into the world? Isn’t this exactly opposite what Jesus says in John 3 and 12? And yet to me it all makes sense.
Heres the rest of the story for context and some other “judgment” verses for you to add to this:

John 9
John 8:9-27

Before I spew my thoughts I’d love to hear yours. So hook it up and write it down.

Oh, one more thing. We are not meeting this Sunday evening for discussion (we’ll be out playing), so if your part of the actual Sunday gathering feel free to post your thoughts here and come hang out with us. If your a virtual part of our community we want your thoughts too even if your too far away to come play Next week I think we’re going to jump into Jesus’ words in the gospel of Luke and spend some time with that account of Jesus’ story. It should be fun.

why Bono is my hero. What an amazing opportunity to hear one of the greatest songwriters ever explain the rational and heartbeat behind an incredible song. I’m a full on U2 freak, but even if your not into the band this video is worth it just to hear Bono’s heart on justice. Enjoy.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a speaking tour by Darfurian refugees who shared about the atrocities they witnessed and went through over the last 4 years in Sudan. I have been following and speaking out about the genocide in Darfur for the last three years, but this experience was different. It was so much more powerful to hear stories told by actual people instead of reading about unimaginable amounts of people killed and displaced. To witness the hurt they felt, the passion they expressed, and and the unfortunate lack of hope that this tragedy will soon end shook me to the depths of my soul. I left feeling extremely upset, actually more accurately extremely pissed off. I was angry with the Sudanese government that is sanctioning the atrocities, at our government for speaking out about the genocide yet doing so little, at the Christian response which is virtually none existent, at myself for not doing more and allowing myself to keep this safely compartmentalized in my brain.

As I listened to the presentation I wondered about how God feels about the whole thing. Does He grieve more over the loss of innocent life and the injustice that is going on or over the lack of response by the people who are called to incarnate His heart in the world. I want my heart break as His does, and I want to join with Him in bringing His kingdom to earth, wether that be Darfur, Iraq, or Reno. And yet I feel so helpless, without a real tangible way to act that can produce a difference.

It was with on my mind that I opened an email from a friend today asking me how I felt about the evangelical church’s response to injustice and poverty. I sent these words back to her and since they were a bit of a rant I figured I share them with you to see what you thought. Am I way off base?

As far as the church (institutional) responding to social justice issues, even those in our own country, it sucks! Dismally. Of all the people who should be offering hope, and a future, and love to a broken world it should be those who represent Jesus. And yet the current trend in evangelical churches is to move out to the suburbs, build a big facility that can provide for the wants of the affluent neighbors and people like them, and then maybe do 1 or 2 things a year to reach out to the poor or marginalized. We give some money to aid agencies, maybe go serve a meal or 2 and consider our work done. I think for many of us with middle class values, the poor scare us. And yet isn’t that exactly what James 2 talks about. “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?” A proper response by the people of God would be to demand justice for the poor and marginalized. To be the first to rise up against unfair or unjust working conditions or pay. To see homelessness and poverty more of a disease of our consumeristic society rather then blaming it on people who “just need to go out and get a job” or “drink to much to work”. Sure the individual heart plays into it (we’re all sinners), but there is a more sinister evil inherent in the for profit corporations, governments, and systems that mistreat and abuse others for the benefit of shareholders, politicians, and CEO’s. It’s in this sense that Paul’s words in Ephesians 6 take on deeper meaning “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” As followers of Jesus we are called to stand for the image of God in all humanity not just those who look, think, act, and spend like us. If the church is to re-engage who it was called to be, it’s missional roots, we must return to becoming a people who stand against darkness and strive for justice for all humanity even when that means sacrificing our comfort and convenience.

Wow, that sounds pretty idealistic and revolutionary, and almost a little annoying. I just went to a Darfur event yesterday and heard people form Darfur speak about the lack of change and the continue deaths, so I’m a little fired up. Anyways I think the church needs to speak more about justice and less about 5 C’s to a good life. Is a church that is not on mission with the mission of God really being a church? That’s the question western Christianity needs to come to grips with.

I know I’m stereotyping and many people are acting on the mission of God, but if you would have seen the hopelessness in those men last night you would have to agree that it isn’t enough. What is the proper response for a Jesus-follower to injustice be it genocide, extreme poverty, or racism? I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

It seems clear that followers of Jesus are sent into the world the same way God sent Jesus into the world. John 3 says that Jesus was sent out of love, that He was sent to redeem, and that He was not sent to judge. I’m not totally sure if this is how most Christians see themselves, or if this is how others see them.

In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a very interesting parable about some weeds sown among some wheat. When His servants ask if they should pull up the weeds He tells them not to worry about it; when the time for harvest is right, His harvesters (the angels) will separate the weeds from the wheat and will be disposed of. A couple insights on this from Sunday evening: First the wheat and the weeds grow together in the field (the world). This is a given. No where does Jesus say the wheat is enclosed in a protected greenhouse with plenty of pesticides and herbicides. The whole point is that the wheat and the weeds grow together in the field. How opposite is this from the way many churches have isolated themselves from the evil influences of the world. Second, it’s impossible to tell the difference between the wheat and weeds until the harvest. Not only that, but Jesus says to wait on judging what is a weed because His servants might make a mistake. Oh if only we as Jesus-followers would take this to heart. Perhaps then we might be known by our love and the hope we profess rather then our judgmental attitudes and hypocritical condemnation.

Let’s spend some time looking at another of Jesus’ parables and how it relates to how we are called to live and act in our world:

Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

What do you think the most unbelievable part of this parable would be for Jesus’ hearers? For us today? Which person in this parable do you think is most like Christians? Who does Jesus seem to be addressing this parable too? Does that add anything to our understanding of it?

Here are some other parts of Scripture that seem to connect with this:
Luke 6:37-42
John 20:19-23
Titus 3:3-8

I’d really love to hear your thoughts on what you think this means for followers of Jesus as we interact with God’s creation and the people God loves.

What would the Christmas story be like if told by todays movie industry? Do you dare to find out?
This is from MadTV a few years ago. Totally hilarious! Please don’t flame me if you have seen it before, and please don’t watch if you are easily offended or looking for something to complain about

“STOP KILLING JUDAS”

Why?

Each week I hope to post the Scriptures we will be discussing on Sunday evenings. Please feel free (or even obligated) to post some of your own thoughts here. If you are unable to be a part of our gathering on Sunday evenings please consider including your insights, questions, and comments here. Think of it as a virtual invitation into our discussion. All are welcome, and no point of view is excluded.

This past weekend we looked at the first part of what I think is one of the most interesting parts of Scripture, Jesus’ prayer in John 17. This week we are continuing that process as we discuss Jesus praying for His followers:

John 17:13-26

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

A few observations and questions jump out to me. Obviously, Jesus’ desire is that His followers remain in the world, but He makes a very interesting statement when He says “As You sent me into the world, I have sent them”. How was Jesus sent? And what the heck does it mean to be sanctified and why/how did Jesus do that to Himself?
Jesus also makes it pretty clear how His followers are to be know. How are we (His followers) doing with that? What can we do differently to be more know by our love, unity, and connection with Jesus?

Here are some additional Scriptures that really got me thinking about those questions (and a whole lot more). I’d love to read your comments on how they intersect (if at all) with Jesus’ prayer and how His followers are called to live. Don’t be shy, post a comment.

John 3:16-21
Matthew 5:13-16
John 12:44-50
Matthew 13:24-43
2 Corinthians 5:16-21