I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. - 2 Peter 1:13-16
This weekend I went camping. Those of you who know me well are already laughing. For two nights my home was a tent and only now can I really begin to appreciate what the Apostle Peter is saying in the verses above. Tents are not meant to be permanent dwellings, but transitional living arrangements. In this passage Peter is drawing a parallel between his body and a tent.
This doesn't mean that the body is worthless. He is only saying that the body he has now is not equipped for eternity. It is transitional. At the resurrection his body (and ours) will be renewed into the likeness of Christ's resurrection body. What Peter is saying here that his time is short and life is fleeting. He knows that he will soon die, as the Lord tells him in John 21:18-19. (part of the passage I taught this weekend to the students from Christ Community Church)
It is interesting to see the change in Peter from that passage in John to the passage here in 2 Peter. He has gone from clinging to the nets of his trade and his comfort as a fisherman to full acceptance of his foretold death and a viewing of this life as temporary. The astounding truth that Peter now clings to is that he was made for eternity. (see Ecclesiastes 3:11)
The question that this should raise for every one of us is: Do we view this life as all there is or are we living, instead, for what is to come? Because if Peter is right, (and we know he is) this life is best described as a tent. As Paul puts it, "...this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison..." (1 Corinthians 4:17) C.S. Lewis put it this way: "Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."
So many people (including us believers) are in tent (pun intended) on this world only, but there is the other extreme, "Being so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good". Peter resists leaning toward either extreme. Though he knows he is about to die soon, he doesn't sit on a hill a wait to die. Instead, he is motivated by knowing this life is insignificant compared to the world to come. The "dangling carrot" of eternity, is intended to move us to the work of Christ. But we must remember that the carrot is still "dangling". We have not yet reached our destination. Peter says, "While I live in the tent of this body it is important to remind you of all these things". What he is saying is that he has a mission to fulfill and until the Lord tells him his time is up, he will do what he has been called to do.
To all of my former students I want to say that my heart resonates with Peter's words as he says, "And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things". It is my prayer that you will remember the truths you have heard not only from me, but from everyone in your life who is a believer in Christ. As Peter testifies, these are not "cleverly invented stories". After all, what kind of invented story could make a backward fisherman into an outstanding theologian? The temptation to silence eternity's call in exchange for a moment of sensual indulgence will follow you all of your life. As I have said before, Satan isn't very creative. It is the same temptation he gave to Adam and Eve.
If there is one thing, like Peter, that I want to remind you of it would be this: We must be willing to deny ourselves what we want in the short-term, so that we can gain what is greater in the long-term. In your life decisions this element will always pop up: finances, popularity, dating, school, marriage, etc. It will come up: that thing we could have now but would have to forfeit everything else vs. that thing we could have later without forfeiting everything else. What is that "thing" for you? Ask yourself: I'm I clinging to the tents of this world or am I living for the dwelling of eternity.
Monday, April 28, 2008
"In Tent" Living
Obedience and Famine
Then Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, “I am going to give this land to your descendants.” And Abram built an altar there to commemorate Jehovah’s visit….There was at that time a terrible famine in the land: and so Abram went down to Egypt to live.
This morning as I sat down for a few minutes of quiet before Halle woke up, I found myself turning once again to the story of Abraham. I was looking for some encouragement for my faith to persevere and asking the Lord to give me the faith that I need for this moment.
As I read this passage, it struck me that God had just told Abram that this was the land He was going to give him, then the next thing you know, Abram is leaving in search for food. The commentary in my Bible suggests that there was a famine in this land to which God had just called Abram because God desired to test Abram’s faith. It goes on to say that Abram used the intelligence God gave him to move to Egypt for food and wait for a new opportunity. Though this is one way to look at the situation, I can’t help but wonder if Abram demonstrated a lack of faith by going to Egypt. (He did fall into a pattern of sin as soon as he entered the borders of Egypt.) Sure according to his circumstances it looked as if he would have to go to Egypt if he wanted to eat and feed his flocks. However, God does desire for his name to be glorified. Could it be that God intended to provide for Abram and his family even in the midst of a famine?
Our family is in the throes of trying to sell our house. We have had it for sale for two weeks. My idea was for it to sell last weekend so maybe I could go with Zack to Atlanta this past weekend to look at houses. (He went down for a youth campout with our new church.) Wouldn’t that be a great way for God’s name to be glorified—our house selling right away! Well, it did not sell and I stayed home with the children this weekend. Now I can be thankful that God did not sell it in time for me to go with Zack because Halle was very sick with a virus over the weekend. She ran a fever of 103° most of the weekend and we spent Saturday afternoon in the doctor’s office. She has never felt that bad and I am truly thankful that I was here and not in Atlanta. When I look at the calendar it seems impossible for us to sell our house and find a new one before Zack starts at our new church. We have had several friends ask us what we are going to do. Are we going to rent and apartment? Is Zack going to commute? Should we look into a bridge loan? None of these options seem like a good financial decision at this point. I feel like going to look for a new residence in Atlanta at this point would be a lot like Abram going to Egypt. I beg God to give me the faith I need to walk on this journey. I know that the purpose is for His name to be glorified and that He will do things by His power and in His timing despite the days left on the calendar. He is in the business of doing the impossible! His name will be glorified according to His will and not mine. For now I pray for the grace to wait and trust…
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Killing Caterpillars
I was over at my grandparents old house recently, unloading "junk" we are going to get rid of in a yard sale. To me, this place is hallowed ground, filled with the all the magic of grandma's house. The house has fallen into disrepair and the land is now fallow, but remnants of its former glory remain. Before returning to my labors, I took a moment to walk through the backyard. Amidst the junk people have piled on the lot illegally and the overgrown brush, there is still a section of flowers my grandmother planted. That's when I saw .
the fiery orange flower sticking its head up defiantly among the brush. It was a wonderful reminder of that former glory of my grandmother's garden. As I was growing up, the backyard of my grandparents' house was teeming with life. There were tiger lilies, daffodils, roses, apricot trees and a victory garden with all sorts of vegetables. I remember shucking corn and snapping peas with my grandmother. It is a wonderful memory. I also remember all that my grandfather did to help preserve the garden. One particular method he used to keep his garden and his trees healthy was killing caterpillars. My sister and I were always appalled as we watch him light a rag at the end of a long pole and set the web-like caterpillar nests on fire. We would ask him why he did such a thing. Didn't he know that caterpillars turned into beautiful butterflies that would flit around to pollinate the flowers? Didn't he know that you shouldn't destroy such beautiful creatures? He told us that, though caterpillars become butterflies, they must first eat a lot of food, his food. If he didn't destroy them before they emerged, then they would eat wholes in the lettuce, roses and flowers and the beautiful garden would be destroyed. There are so many lessons in that moment, but the one I continue to take away is this: sometimes what we think is beautiful is potentially destructive. Thinking childishly, I wanted to save the caterpillars not realizing that it would destroy the garden that I loved. It took a wiser mind than mine to see what was true and, even amid the horrified protests of his grandchildren, choose to do what needed to be done. This can apply in a lot of ways to our lives, but to me I think it applies best to God's will. Sometimes we stand appalled at God's choices. We are appalled at His instructions to the Israelites to utterly destroy their enemies. We are appalled that He would choose such unlearned men to be His disciples. We are appalled at the things He would allow to happen in our lives. I've come to the realization that it is like the killing of those caterpillars. Those things are things I can't really comprehend right now. Those things are things I might not even comprehend in my lifetime, but one day I will. Right now, I just have to understand that it isn't God's cruelty to allow things to happen in our lives and in our world. It is His sovereign understanding of what it takes to grow glory for Himself in us and in His world. After all, only He understands what it takes to protect the garden of faith.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Little Blessings
It is often true that the Lord gives us little blessings to nudge our weak faith. Just last week we were upset that our ad in the paper said we had five bedrooms and two baths. When time is of the essence, you don't need an error like that to slow down interest in your house! So this week, we made sure it was correct and we added a photo, hoping to grab a little attention.On Saturday, when we opened the paper to find our house, we received one of those little blessings.
Our home was featured, in full color, on the front of the classifieds section! Both my in-laws and my own parents called us to make sure we saw it. That was most certainly a nudge to our faith that the Lord intends us to move and will help us sell our home at just the right time.Another little blessing came in the form of one of Tennyson's tiny ballerinas. At the end of one of her classes, the little girl offered her her $1.25. When she asked what this was for, the little girl told her it was for our move down to Atlanta. The little girl's mother said that it was from the girl's own money and she had insisted that she give it to Miss Tennyson. So, Tennyson is getting ready to mail that support money down to the church.That little girl is an example of why I think Children's Ministry is so important. Her faith and gift are a classic example of both "child-like faith" and "the widow's mite". G.K. Chesterton commented on the faith-filled thinking of children in his essay The Ethics of Elfland. He said, that children tend to accept things as they are without much deliberation. For example, in a fairytale, when the hero has to obtain the golden key to release the kingdom from a curse, children don't ask, "What does a key have to do with a curse?" They, instead, embrace the quest without much reasoning. That little girl needed to know only two things: 1) Miss Tennyson and her husband were on a quest and 2) they needed financial support. So she gave what she had.It is our job as parents primarily and then secondarily as a church to feed the faith of our children. There is a window of opportunity in the lives of our children that mustn't be taken for granted. We cannot wait until they come to an age where they "get it". In many cases it is then too late. We must help them "get it" before that time. We must nurture that child-like faith, because in doing so, we not only train the next generation, but we receive a blessing to our faith in return.That little ballerina is a wonderful reminder of the faith that Tennyson and I need as we make
Friday, April 11, 2008
A Wonderful Plan For Your Life...
In seminary my mentor (who also was the professor of church growth, planting and renewal) was Dr. Phil Douglass. Dr. D, as we called him, considered it his job to know us well enough to direct us in our future endeavours in ministry. He was, in fact, so detailed in which direction we should take that people began to quip: Dr. D loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
Dr. Douglass had a plan for me. He told me I should be a youth minister until I was 35 and then I should be a church planter. Well, today I turn 35. I have worked with youth, just as Dr. D planned, but now, instead of becoming a church planter I am going to labor along-side a church planter. Though this is not the direction that Dr. D had chosen for me, I'm sure he is happy to know that I am still laboring within my "Divine Design" as he calls it.
Eric Liddell says it best in the movie Chariots of Fire when he says to his sister, "God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." This is Eric's response to her urgings to forget running and return to what God had really called him to: Missions in China. Liddell wasn't denying that he was made for missions, but because God had so uniquely gifted him in running, he knew it was something he had to do.
Perhaps one day I will plant a church and return to Dr. D's prescribed path. For now I know that God made me to work with kids and when I do, I feel His pleasure. Knowing Dr. Douglass, I'd have to say, that that is the very definition of Divine Design.
For Sale Signs and Memories of Haran
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran. - Genesis 11:31-32
I put a "For Sale" sign up in our yard this morning. I just stood there and looked at it for awhile. I looked at our house and thought of all the things that had happened there: bringing Cole home from the hospital, bringing Halle home from the hospital, Christmases, Thanksgivings, Birthdays... Places become sentimental for us. We associate feelings and memories to places. I believe it is a God-given trait of humanity. I have always wondered, when I read the passage above, if this happened to Terah in Haran.
Haran was the name of one of Terah's sons who passed away. It is always sad when a son precedes a father in death. As I read the verses the grief of Terah almost drips from the verses. Terah's intention, according to the passage, is to go to Canaan. Yet, he only gets as far as Haran. Because the name of the city is the same as that of his son who has died. In fact, Terah never leaves Haran, as the next verse indicates, he stays there until his death.
Now this may be a bit of a leap and forgive me if I read a little too much into the text, but I think Terah gets stuck in Haran, because he is still stuck on Haran. One of two things happened. Either he named Haran for that city that, perhaps, he loved from his youth or the names were coincidental and he stayed there because it reminded him of Haran. Either way, I believe Terah tied the memory of his son to that particular city.
So what does that have to do with anything? I think it is peculiar that Terah had set out for Canaan before Abram recieved the call to leave his father's household and go to Canaan. It makes me wonder if God had at some point called Terah to go to Canaan. It makes me wonder if Terah failed because he was so stuck on the loss of his son that he couldn't move forward. Perhaps Terah is a failed patriarch.
If Terah is a failed patriarch what caused the failure? The only evidence we have is in these verses. But perhaps Terah failed because he turned his sentiment into an idol. He could never get over the loss of his son, so he never moved forward. He wrapped himself in obsession over the things he could not changed as so much a death shroud, then he died a frustrated old man.
We too can get caught up in sentiment and cling obsessively to the things we can not change. That is a recipe for death. First, it kills our souls and our bodies then follow. People have stayed far too long in places (both literal and figurative) when the Lord has urged them to move along, simply because they have idolized their sentiment. As I a wave of sentiment rolled over me looking at my house, I thought of these verses. I will need to think about them many more times in this process. Whenever I'm grieving moving away from friends, family and familiar places, I need to recall these verses. I need to remember that godly grief is for a season and is never meant to be an obsession. I need to remember that sentiment is wonderful as long as it doesn't harden into a cement that keeps us stuck in one place.
Abraham remembered these things I'm sure. He remembered how his father became stuck and he was able to offer up his only son upon the altar. He had learned to trust God's promise and not to (as the hymn writer puts it) "cling to gilded toys of dust". May we all learn that lesson and be enable to put what we learn into practice by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Jacob's Ladder and Ours
Many people thought I would do one of two things after 2 years as the youth pastor of a small PCA church and almost 5 years as the youth and family pastor of a mid-sized PCA church. The first thing many assumed that I would do is be a solo or senior pastor of a small PCA church. If I didn't do that, then they assumed I would go on to be the youth and family pastor of a very large PCA church.
So, what am I doing? I am going to be the Pastor to Children and Youth at a small PCA church. When people find that out, the first question that have is, "How bad did you mess up that you have to start all over again?" My answer is I didn't mess up. I had both large and mega churches consider me for assistant roles. One seemed very eager to press forward and I had to ultimately tell them I wasn't interested. At this point the questions get more urgent and pressing: Why would you give up the security and platform of a much larger position? Aren't you making a lateral move? Aren't you are taking a demotion? Don't you know that you are going the wrong way on the ladder? You're supposed to be going up and you are taking a step down!
Eventually it all boils down to the proverbial ladder. You know the ladder I'm talking about, the success ladder. There is only one direction on the ladder of success, up. If you go the other way, then you are incompetent and unsuccessful. This is the same ladder that creates the Peter Principle. If you aren't familiar with the Peter Principle it goes basically like this: a competent person is often promoted to a level at which they are ultimately incompetent. So if you are good at what you do you will be promoted until you are at a point where you aren't good at what you do. At this point you plateau. Sounds like fun doesn't it? It has happened to many people I know who have received that all-important promotion only to find that the joy that they had in their previous work is gone. Now they are faced with the dull task of managing people who are doing what they themselves would really love to be doing.
Another thing that this ladder brings us is the designation of "overqualification". Perhaps you've been told that you are "overqualified". You know too much. You've done too much. You couldn't possibly be happy doing this job. A corporation assumes that if they give you a job that perfectly fits your abilities and skill set that you will get bored and quit. Or perhaps they are wrong. Perhaps you will be fulfilled to the point that you begin to work for something greater than a paycheck. Perhaps your job actually becomes your calling. Maybe you find what God created work to be?
Well, there is another kind of ladder. As Jacob slept in Bethel he had a dream of a ladder and he saw the angels ascending and descending on this ladder. Jesus would later identify Himself with that ladder by saying, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (John 1:51) When it comes to ladders, He is the ladder we must seek. He tells us things that, according to the "Success Ladder" people, are absurd: Lose your life and you will gain it. Give all you have to the poor and follow me. If your enemy strikes you on the cheek offer him the other. Pray for those who persecute you. These are the principles that we should hold dear.
God's ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes He desires to move us places we wouldn't normally go. Someitmes His leading doesn't make much sense to us or the people around us. That's where I am these days: I know it is God's leading, but from the world's perspective it doesn't make much sense. I'm learning to live that moment by moment kind of faith and to be honest, I still have quite a lot to learn.
So bottom line: Do I mean that we should seek to be demoted? No, not at all. Ionly mean to say that "success" for a believer is described best by following after their Lord. Whether that means going up the ladder or down the ladder, if it is following after Christ, then that is success. May we all seek Jacob's' ladder for our lives.
Support: The Lord Donates the First Dollar
The Land That I Will Show You: A "Senseless" Sort of Faith
Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. (Genesis 12:1)
That verse has haunted me for some time. It has haunted me because it tells about the God that I serve. He is the kind of God who doesn't promise creature comforts and holy huddles. He is the kind of God Who asks us to leave what is comfortable and follow Him where He chooses to send us.
I've watched the town of Chattanooga grow from awkwardness and obscurity, to a vibrant city where families want to move. I've seen the story so many times. A family moves there, grows to love it and for some reason their future there suddenly comes into question. I've seen people take a cut in salary or resign themselves to a job that is less fulfilling just to stay within the borders of Chattanooga. That is a wonderful testimony for a town. However, what do you do when the Lord is asking you to leave such a place knowing full well that you may never live within her borders again?
Many of you know that I grew up in Chattanooga. In fact, my family is so deeply rooted in the Tennessee Valley that I haven't even been able to discover how our family got there, only that, somehow, they've always been there. Yet the Lord has been crystal clear in His calling to both me and my family: it is time to go.
More than likely Abraham grew up in the city of Ur. It was his home. He knew the people, the culture and so many other things about that city. He was likely well connected to the social scene in Ur. So, it would've made all the sense in the world for God to use Abraham to preach to and teach the city of Ur. Can you imagine what would've happened if Abraham had stayed in Ur and God allowed him to convert that bustling pagan city? You'll have to imagine, because that wasn't God's plan. It might make the most sense to you and me, but in God's wisdom it did not.
God called Abraham to obscurity; to a land of strangers. He called him to a culture he did not know and a people with whom he was not well connected. Why would the Lord do this? He would do this, because it is and has always been God's "style" to choose people, places and plans that are so "impossible" that it takes the power of God to do the work.
Think about it: David the shepherd boy as a king? Jacob the supplanter (and second born)as the father of the twelve tribes? Leah the least favored wife of Jacob as the mother of Judah the tribe from which Christ would be born. Rahab, a prostitute ,as a helper of the Israelites spies and also an ancestor of Christ. Fishermen as the founders of the new testament church! God loves to choose that which is weak to shame the wise. He chose Abraham to leave a city where he had powerful connections to go to a place where he had to dwell in a tent. That is the God I know.
So it should come as no surprise to me and to others that God would call me and my family from the comfort and the security of Chattanooga to go to the place that He has shown us. The question I get most often is, "Pastor of Children and Youth? But can't you do that here? Aren't you doing that here?" The answer is yes I am, can and could, if God wasn't calling me to do it elsewhere. Just as God called Abraham away from what he knew to what was alien to him, God also is calling us from what is familiar to what is alien to us. I will agree with you, it makes absolutely no sense for me to continue to be a pastor to children and youth if I'm not going to a bigger church. It makes no sense to delay the so-called next step of being a senior or solo pastor. It makes no sense to leave a secure salary to go to a church where I would have to raise support. It makes no sense...unless you know that God is in the middle of all of it and that He has called you to take a step faith. And Tennyson and I do know...beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Continue to pray for us as we go through this test of our faith and we leave our home town, families and our church family to find out what God has in store for us.