Yearly Archives: 2017

Passed Over and Why it Matters to Us – VOTD.04.10.17

On that same night I will pass through Egypt… and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destruction will touch you when I strike Egypt.” Exodus 12:12-13

This evening Passover begins. It’s the commemoration of God delivering His people from the plague where the first-born all died except for His people who marked their doors with blood.

From Genesis through Revelation, blood is a major part of the picture of redemption. In Genesis 3, God, Himself shed the first redeeming blood when Adam and Eve sinned. He sacrificed an animal to provide skins to cover them.

Throughout the Old Testament with the constant sacrifices of bulls and goats and sheep, God taught His people that something had to die in our place for our sins. Passover was one special time each year that memorialized the first time God passed over and did not judge those whose door was covered with blood. Jesus died on the Passover, because God intended to use the imagery of that historical event to teach us what Jesus had come to do.

About 3400 years ago, Israel was in slavery in the land of Egypt. God sent Moses to Pharaoh and demanded that he let God’s people go. But Pharaoh laughed and mocked even the idea of a God of Israel. “Who is this god, that he should tell me what to do?” (Ex 5:2)

So God introduced Himself over the next few weeks. He brought 9 plagues upon Egypt to prove His existence and His superior power over Pharaoh and all things Egyptian. The suffering in Egypt was so profound that even Pharaoh’ priests literally begged him to listen to Moses (Ex 10:7). But Pharaoh still refused. (more…)

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Life in the Vineyard – VOTD.04.03.17

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ…If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.  1 Corinthians12:12,26

Last time we were talking about nurturing new believers and used Paul’s analogy of a mother nursing a child. Another metaphor that might help, is vineyards. Jesus used this in talking about vines and vine-dressers (Jn 15).

Sure, having a healthy vineyard includes weeding out the ugly, and often that’s all the help people will get from their more entrenched churchmates because it’s all we can see. But nurturing Christians can see a lot more and go much further.

A nurturing vinedresser can take the newly-growing shoots and attach them to a trellis so they can get the support sunshine and watering they need to grow higher, stronger, and more fruitful. Otherwise, the newbie might just wallow in the dirt and never go anywhere.

And while the nurturing person might do some weeding, too, they are also backfilling. Like Jesus’ warning about chasing out a demon and leaving the host clean but EMPTY, we often find that Christian discipleship programs are good at ‘weeding’ out the ugly in the lives of people we minister to, but leave craters in their place—like an open invitation for seven-times worse problems in the future (Lk 11:26) if we aren’t backfilling the hole that left with Jesus.

Hurt people are often the ones who are drawn to Jesus. He offers solutions they know they need. But hurt people have a real knack at getting themselves into situations where they will be hurt again and again. Nurturing disciple-makers know that removing the weeds from hurting people’s lives is not enough. (more…)

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Got Milk? – VOTD.04.03.17

I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink and I did not give you solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. 1 Corinthians 3:1,2

I have a Facebook friend who has been defining ‘Christian words’ and phrases you might be used to if you grew up in church, but are meaningless, or apt to be crazily misunderstood, by a non-believer or a new believers who come into our midst.

Done in a humorous way, it underscores just how comfortable we can be with an entire lexicon of church terminology that are lost in the translation for those who haven’t been filled in along the way. One of those terms is ‘disciple’ as in what we are (or should be) as Christians.

So what’s a disciple? A disciple is someone who finds their entire identity, purpose and meaning in Jesus. Jesus is the center of their lives. They are all in, fully committed to Jesus.

Now obviously, most newly-churched people don’t fit that definition… they don’t even know the definition. Sadly, many who have been in the Christian faith a long time don’t know it either. So to counteract that, we have something we call discipling.

‘Discipling’ can be traced to ‘succor’ which is an old fashion term for nursing (as in nursing a baby). This is what Paul was talking about in today’s verse. He’s been discipling these new believers with milk-like truths, easy to deal with. Early on they were babies in the faith and needed to be cared for like spiritual babies if they are going to become mature followers of Jesus. That’s the ministry of discipling in a nutshell. (more…)

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Lonely in a Church – VOTD.03.28.17

Come to Me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy loads of grief and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you … and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28,29

Returning to the subject of victims of loneliness in a local church setting, we saw last time that ‘blaming the victim’ is a common ‘solution’ for loneliness. “Well, if they feel lonely they should just minister to others.” “They should volunteer for something” “They should just get over it.” Problem is, the lonely ones are often already doing those things—and it’s not working for them.

Blaming the victim is a familiar ‘solution’ to problems that are embarrassing to admit we have; after all, aren’t churches the place we tell people to come to get connected? A place where they can belong? A friendly place? As I studied the subject, it soon became apparent that if the lonely church-goer was going to be helped, it would be themselves, not others, doing the heavy lifting.

A couple of reasons for that: 1st, it’s the nature of any organization to appeal to the mainstream rather than beating the bushes to solve problems that don’t seem obvious or that are awkward to admit we have. But 2nd, study after study shows that Pastors and other church leaders are usually the loneliest people in the church. If our leaders knew how to help someone who was lonely in the congregation, they wouldn’t be lonely themselves.

So how do victims of loneliness help themselves? As usual, Jesus is the answer. Today’s verse tells us that it is Jesus who does the heavy-lifting, when we cast our cares upon Him (1 Pet 4:7). So how does a lonely person ‘cast’ their loneliness on Jesus? (more…)

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Lonely in a Crowd – VOTD.03.27.17

Do not be afraid. I will save you. I have called you by name—you are mine… For I am the Lord, your God… Do not be afraid, for you are precious to me and I love you and give you honor—I am with you!” Isaiah 43:2,3,4

A Facebook friend posted a secular article on loneliness on Facebook. The illustration at the top of the story showed a man sitting in a crowd with empty seats all around him. At first glance I thought it was a church service—a view from the platform which I have seen scads of times. A closer look told me this wasn’t a church service, but it could have been. The pain of not being connected relationally doesn’t stop at the church door.

Loneliness is a crowd is a very real condition. It’s a state of mind that comes from feelings of separation from other people. The sense of isolation is very deeply felt by those who are lonely. The Old Testament word “desolate” pretty much sums it up: “someone who is solitary, forsaken, wretched.”

There is no deeper sadness that ever comes over the mind than the idea that we are alone in the world, that we do not have a friend, that no one cares about us, that no one is concerned about anything that might happen to us. Mother Teresa described loneliness as the leprosy of the modern world. No one wants to chum up with someone who is lonely. (more…)

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Vision, Farsighted and Perceptive – VOTD.03.21.17

Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, so that anyone can see it as they pass by. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it seems slow in coming, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay.  Habakkuk 2:2,3

Some reading this series so far might think I’m leading up to setting goals and vision statements and so forth. Not at all. That ground has been well trodden over the past many years. When I speak of visions and purpose, I’m talking about something God gives us. A destination and a goal. Something ‘God lays on our hearts’ and gives us a passion for.

God gave King David a passion when he wrote his famous lines: “One thing I ask from the Lord” (Ps 27) and it’s often in the spiritual realm but not always. Nehemiah’s vision was to build a wall. What makes our visions Godly is that they come from God, Himself.

Godly vision consists of a farsightedness and perceptiveness that come from Him. Farsightedness vision allows us to know what is ahead like a telescope. It connects us to the future God has prepared for us. Foresight is the part of a God-given vision that can ‘taste’ the future and gives us the motivation to press on toward the goal God has placed before us (Phil 3:14). (more…)

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Vision, Purpose, Goals – VOTD.03.20.17

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.  Ephesians 1:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish.  Proverbs 29:18

Vision is the bridge between our present and our future. Without it we perish, figuratively at least…Perhaps emotionally and even physically, too. When we’re without vision we spend our lives avoiding instead of engaging…avoiding risk, avoiding bother, avoiding discomfort.

That makes sense: If we’re not going anywhere, why deal with obstacles and irritations others face in order to get somewhere? (more…)

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Clean Honors Clean – VOTD.03.14.17

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” Acts 10:15

You’re probably familiar with the story today’s verse comes from. Peter was about to be called to minister to some people who were “unclean” by his estimation, but he didn’t know it yet. To prepare Peter for this major paradigm shift, Jesus sent some animals to him in a vision—these animals were sinful to eat—and told him to eat them anyway. It says this happened 3 times and Peter rebuked the idea all 3 times.

Ahh—what to do when our personal ideas about people are stiffer than Jesus’. God knew what to do—how to prepare Peter for a giant leap into the infinite extent of His grace as it extended to people he considered “unclean”. He didn’t call Peter out, He simply led His ex-fishing buddy to a more complete understanding of the word “Clean”.

If we had even a glimpse of the extent Jesus went to make each of us clean, we might be easier on each other. If we could internalize today’s verse—don’t call impure what God has called clean.

Notice that the Centurion sinner and his family and friends had not even turned to Jesus yet. When Peter showed up at their house they bowed down and worshiped him. Apparently worshiping people was not outside their list of sins. Not great prospects for ministry. But Jesus had already declared them to be “clean”.

Among other things, that meant that all the shaming, guilting, dishonoring that Peter held toward them was missing the point. Jesus still loved them and wasn’t willing to see them miss out on knowing Him, Peter wrote later (2 Pet 3:9). (more…)

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Clean – VOTD.03.13.17

He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God. Romans 4:25

Suppose you saw an ad for a laundry detergent that admitted that their product doesn’t get your clothes very clean and suggested the solution is for you not to get your clothes so dirty. However honest the commercial might be, how likely are you to buy that product?

What if instead of improving their product, they gave you a list of things you could do to prevent dirty clothes, like wearing a disposable bib when eating, using better antiperspirants. Wearing dark colors or keeping your children inside, etc.

Yet when it comes to dealing with the problem of sin and falling short of God’s glory, that is how some Christian teachings come across. It’s an example of what is called “blaming the victim”. As today’s verse tells us, that instead of blaming the victim, Jesus became our victim. Clearly, Jesus isn’t blaming the victim. (more…)

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Unity vs Peace – VOTD 03.07.17

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:3

Last time we saw that rather than seeking unity, we should seek love, and then love will be the key to unity. The same thing is similar for peace. When unity becomes the goal, we may end up with some kind of ceasefire, but we will never find true unity (or even real peace).

Often we confuse peace and unity. Peace does not lead to unity; unity leads to peace. When we get this backwards we end up like a church I was a part of for many years. It thought it had unity because it carefully suppressed any problems rather than dealing with them. It ended up disintegrating over time because despite the appearance of peace and unity, the people had little binding them together.

Or another way we confuse peace and unity is when there is no freedom to disagree or have personal convictions. Many cult leaders see ‘no-disagreement’ as unity, so they invoke a no “boat-rocking” policy. You even see this in churches sometimes. They mistake no-visible-dissent for “unity”. To make sure there are no dissenters usually requires that they resort to hardline control-freak tactics. This is often the backdrop for all sorts of scandals and cover-ups, not real unity.

It is so tempting to pursue peace as a means of achieving unity because we mistakenly think unity and conformity are pretty much the same thing. If you and I are Christians and our understanding of unity is askew, then we will soon be pursuing conformity and at that point control/unquestioning submission become the tools of this kind of false unity. (more…)

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