Click this title to link to a great article
If you click on the title above you will go to a great article by Tim Keller on idols.
From Through Painted Desserts by Don Miller
"It is true that it is a powerful occurrence to have somebody look you in the eye and say you are worth something. I was reading an issue of the Smithsonian magazine the other day and in it was an interview with the poet Maya Angelou. In the interview she talked about the time, as only and eight year old girl, that she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. She spoke about having to heal from the crime, but also about how she told on the man, and how he had gone to prison and shortly after being released was beaten to death by men in the community. Angelou believes she was the one who caused the man's death because she told about the rape. I was amazed to read that after the beating the terrified young child didn't speak for years. It was much later, during a walk with her mother, that she would find the source of her life of freedom, beauty and creativity. Walking down a street near home, Angelou said her mother stopped, turned and spoke to her.
"'Baby,' she said, looking the young woman in the eye. 'You know something? I think that you are the greatest woman I have ever met. Yes. Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, my mother, and you- and you are the greatest.' Maya Angelou said in the interview that she boarded a streetcar with tears flowing down her cheeks, stared into the wood paneling of the car and thought to herself, 'Suppose I really am somebody?'
An yes, she was and is somebody. On the bulletin board above my desk, I have a picture of Angelou in which she is delivering a poem at President Clinton's inauguration. Far from the girl who spent years living in fear and silence, the brilliant poet stood before the nation and spoke compellingly"
But today, the Rock cries out to us
clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny!
I love the line "the Rock cries out to us." I think that is beautiful, for some reason, maybe because Jesus was like Maya Angelou's mother in that he went around looking people in the eye to tell them they were beautiful, that he stood as a rock for them, a being who, for the rest of their live, they could look back to and hear in their minds, and envision in their memories, God saying to them the world had been lying, an you are indeed beautiful.
"'Baby,' she said, looking the young woman in the eye. 'You know something? I think that you are the greatest woman I have ever met. Yes. Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, my mother, and you- and you are the greatest.' Maya Angelou said in the interview that she boarded a streetcar with tears flowing down her cheeks, stared into the wood paneling of the car and thought to herself, 'Suppose I really am somebody?'
An yes, she was and is somebody. On the bulletin board above my desk, I have a picture of Angelou in which she is delivering a poem at President Clinton's inauguration. Far from the girl who spent years living in fear and silence, the brilliant poet stood before the nation and spoke compellingly"
But today, the Rock cries out to us
clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny!
I love the line "the Rock cries out to us." I think that is beautiful, for some reason, maybe because Jesus was like Maya Angelou's mother in that he went around looking people in the eye to tell them they were beautiful, that he stood as a rock for them, a being who, for the rest of their live, they could look back to and hear in their minds, and envision in their memories, God saying to them the world had been lying, an you are indeed beautiful.
Authority and happiness
I talked about an idol of self and self fulfillment in the message yesterday (8.23) I heard some good stuff from Matt Chandler today that got me to thinking deeper about it. It came from his sermon called "Games People Play Part 1" You can find it on iTunes under the Village Church podcast.
Chandler says that as evangelicals, we do not want to tell Jesus that he has no authority and denounce Jesus all together and become atheists. Instead, we decide to redefine his authority. When confronted by the Holy Spirit on a direction, people who do not want to denounce Jesus will most commonly say, "Jesus wants me to happy so he would not ask me to do that." "He would not ask me to go there, to give that away, to do that, to walk away from her or some other thing, Jesus wants me to be happy."
First of all, Jesus has never promised you that he is here to make you happy. So we hold to this flawed idea that Jesus, foremost, wants us to happy, but that is not in the scriptures. So it becomes Jesus that we love, but the scriptures that we do not trust. So Jesus becomes whoever we say that he is and not who the scriptures say he is. We are more comfortable with our invented Jesus than with the one of the scriptures. Why? Because my Jesus lets me do what I want. Chandler says, "Jesus is far more interested in your joy and holiness than in your happiness."
Chandler goes on to say, "I believe that the bulk of evangelicals think that Jesus is Santa Claus and that we have been nice and that he has kept track of that and so there will never be any coal for us. That what we get is candies and fire trucks, everyday."
What you have done is recreate a Jesus that only commands of you what is easy for you to do or submit to. This winds up fleshing itself in the earthly authority that we willingly submit to(Pastors, churches, mentors, parents, friends) so long as they don't tell you to do something that you do not want to do.
That is such a lie and you are your own god and if you are your own god then you have to be your own savior. And that is failure waiting to happen.
Practical application for this is to submit to God and the authority in your life. If you have not authority, find some and expressly ask them to look into your life and challenge you, then submit to that.
Chandler says that as evangelicals, we do not want to tell Jesus that he has no authority and denounce Jesus all together and become atheists. Instead, we decide to redefine his authority. When confronted by the Holy Spirit on a direction, people who do not want to denounce Jesus will most commonly say, "Jesus wants me to happy so he would not ask me to do that." "He would not ask me to go there, to give that away, to do that, to walk away from her or some other thing, Jesus wants me to be happy."
First of all, Jesus has never promised you that he is here to make you happy. So we hold to this flawed idea that Jesus, foremost, wants us to happy, but that is not in the scriptures. So it becomes Jesus that we love, but the scriptures that we do not trust. So Jesus becomes whoever we say that he is and not who the scriptures say he is. We are more comfortable with our invented Jesus than with the one of the scriptures. Why? Because my Jesus lets me do what I want. Chandler says, "Jesus is far more interested in your joy and holiness than in your happiness."
Chandler goes on to say, "I believe that the bulk of evangelicals think that Jesus is Santa Claus and that we have been nice and that he has kept track of that and so there will never be any coal for us. That what we get is candies and fire trucks, everyday."
What you have done is recreate a Jesus that only commands of you what is easy for you to do or submit to. This winds up fleshing itself in the earthly authority that we willingly submit to(Pastors, churches, mentors, parents, friends) so long as they don't tell you to do something that you do not want to do.
That is such a lie and you are your own god and if you are your own god then you have to be your own savior. And that is failure waiting to happen.
Practical application for this is to submit to God and the authority in your life. If you have not authority, find some and expressly ask them to look into your life and challenge you, then submit to that.
A quote I heard today
"If you do not know the purpose of a thing you will eventually abuse it."
I do not know the author of this quote, but it is beautiful. Marriage, scripture, pain, sex, God and so much more fit into this. Thoughts?
I do not know the author of this quote, but it is beautiful. Marriage, scripture, pain, sex, God and so much more fit into this. Thoughts?
Some thoughts on culture involvement
This comes from theresurgence.com, written by Jonathan Dodson (I do not know his background)
"Instead of simply condemning, critiquing, consuming, and copying culture, the way forward is to create a good alternative. Otherwise, we are simply left at square one, with very little Christian progress in various cultures. So, instead of bemoaning bad movies, make better ones. Instead of copying contemporary music and inserting Christian lyrics, create new music and contribute to cultural change through innovation and creativity. Draw attention to your Creator through superior or innovative cultural action."
This articulates my critique on main stream Christian culture and the main stream Christian response to culture very well.
I was indirectly taught as a young person to fear culture. I was told to fear the R rating without looking into why. I was taught to fear certain bands and the people who liked them. I was told to not watch shows like The Simpson's and 90210 and NYPD Blue.
I was also told to like artists like Amy Grant and Petra and if I was really edgy Stryper.
I love Dodson's words, "Draw attention to your creator through superior or innovative cultural action." What a great statement and imperative for us.
Dodson also paraphrases author Andy Crouch by saying, "I have advocated the making of culture—good culture for an infinitely good Creator."
"Instead of simply condemning, critiquing, consuming, and copying culture, the way forward is to create a good alternative. Otherwise, we are simply left at square one, with very little Christian progress in various cultures. So, instead of bemoaning bad movies, make better ones. Instead of copying contemporary music and inserting Christian lyrics, create new music and contribute to cultural change through innovation and creativity. Draw attention to your Creator through superior or innovative cultural action."
This articulates my critique on main stream Christian culture and the main stream Christian response to culture very well.
I was indirectly taught as a young person to fear culture. I was told to fear the R rating without looking into why. I was taught to fear certain bands and the people who liked them. I was told to not watch shows like The Simpson's and 90210 and NYPD Blue.
I was also told to like artists like Amy Grant and Petra and if I was really edgy Stryper.
I love Dodson's words, "Draw attention to your creator through superior or innovative cultural action." What a great statement and imperative for us.
Dodson also paraphrases author Andy Crouch by saying, "I have advocated the making of culture—good culture for an infinitely good Creator."
From Knowing God by J I Packer
Lots of things have struck me while reading the first 50 pages of this book. I will share a few now and perhaps more later or perhaps more thoughts from the next 50 pages.
Packer defines godliness as, "responding to God's revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service and must be seen and lived in the light of God's word. This, and nothing else is true religion."
Take special note of the words responding and revelation. There is an action that takes place in the heart of the godly person when that person is confronted with a revelation of God. Do not let these words pass you by. When something is revealed to you, you see it and experience it. I think of the Wizard of Oz when the crew finally gets to the wizard and his identity is revealed. When you have a revelation of something you see it's essence, the truth of it. You have knowledge if the thing being revealed.
In our quote above it is revelation of God that leads to all these areas of response. So our religious activity is a response to revelation of God and not some contrived way to gain acceptance from God or from men. No one is impressed by that.
There is much to say about the next series of quotes, but instead of giving you my thoughts on them, I will simply list some of them and ask you to let them sit with you like you sit before a good steak and smell the aroma and hear the sizzle and feel the warmth, then cut off a piece and chew it slowly and taste it deeply.
"What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, and more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?" "...knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person's heart." "You can have all of the right notions in your head without having ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer...without this, your relationship can only be superficial and flavorless."
The last thing I want to mention is a beautiful thought about the gospel. Packer writes, "There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me than my fellow humans do not see and he sees more corruption in me than that which I can see in myself. There is however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
That is one of the greatest proclamations of the Gospel that I have heard. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
Packer defines godliness as, "responding to God's revelation in trust and obedience, faith and worship, prayer and praise, submission and service and must be seen and lived in the light of God's word. This, and nothing else is true religion."
Take special note of the words responding and revelation. There is an action that takes place in the heart of the godly person when that person is confronted with a revelation of God. Do not let these words pass you by. When something is revealed to you, you see it and experience it. I think of the Wizard of Oz when the crew finally gets to the wizard and his identity is revealed. When you have a revelation of something you see it's essence, the truth of it. You have knowledge if the thing being revealed.
In our quote above it is revelation of God that leads to all these areas of response. So our religious activity is a response to revelation of God and not some contrived way to gain acceptance from God or from men. No one is impressed by that.
There is much to say about the next series of quotes, but instead of giving you my thoughts on them, I will simply list some of them and ask you to let them sit with you like you sit before a good steak and smell the aroma and hear the sizzle and feel the warmth, then cut off a piece and chew it slowly and taste it deeply.
"What makes life worthwhile is having a big enough objective, something which catches our imagination and lays hold of our allegiance; and this the Christian has in a way that no other person has. For what higher, and more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?" "...knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a person's heart." "You can have all of the right notions in your head without having ever tasting in your heart the realities to which they refer...without this, your relationship can only be superficial and flavorless."
The last thing I want to mention is a beautiful thought about the gospel. Packer writes, "There is, certainly, great cause for humility in the thought that he sees all the twisted things about me than my fellow humans do not see and he sees more corruption in me than that which I can see in myself. There is however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
That is one of the greatest proclamations of the Gospel that I have heard. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
