Jesus: A Contradiction in Terms?

Recently I started reading the John Piper's Pleasures of God: Meditations on God's Delight in Being God together with Paul, my ministry mentor and friend. The book's premise is that we should be most satisfied in God because God is most satisfied in God.

The first chapter of the book is about the pleasure that God takes in his Son, Jesus Christ. Now I have read a number of John Piper's books and each one has challenged my thinking about God and ministry. This one has proved to be no different so far.

As I read that first chapter, there was one paragraph that stopped me short and really struck me. If you forgive the extensive quote, let me reproduce it for you. Piper is referring to a sermon by Jonathon Edwards entitled “The Excellencyof Christ.” Here is Piper's summary of Edward's words about Jesus Christ.

“In Jesus Christ, he says, meet infinite highness and infinite condescension; infinite justice and infinite grace; infinite glory and lowest humility; infinite majesty and transcendent meekness; deepest reverence toward God and equality with God; worthiness of good and the greatest patience under the suffering of evil; a great spirit of obedience and supreme dominion over heaven and earth; absolute sovereignty and perfect resignation; self-sufficiency and an entire trust and reliance on God. (The Pleasures of God, p. 30)

Read those words again, contemplating each pair of ideas. Imagine even one of those pairs resident in an average human being – it would an impossible contradiction of terms. We would consider that person horribly mixed up or mentally ill. Yet in Jesus, the divine Son of God, each pair of attributes are each perfectly embodied and lived out. Only Jesus could display a character like that. It is no wonder that God is completely satisfied in His Son and our Savior! The question is – are we equally as satisfied in the salvation God has provided and the Savior He sent to provide it?

More than a Remodel

Recently our church took on the task of remodeling our sanctuary. As someone in our church remarked, “They say that you cannot build a church with older people, but you sure can remodel one with them.” I want to express my appreciation to all the wonderful folks who came out to help, including some of the retired guys who were there virtually every day during this month long process. The remodel is almost complete and it looks great! It is amazing what can be done to give new life to a building.

It is even more amazing what God has done to give new life to us in Christ. As Easter approaches and as we prepare to celebrate Easter in our newly remodeled sanctuary, I got to thinking about the “remodel” God does in each believer's life in Christ. And Easter is the key to that remodel, that profound renewal of our lives.

When we moved to Lolo in 2004, our church sanctuary was firmly defined as still belonging to the 70's. The carpet and pew fabric was orange. The pendant lights were orange. The walls were dark paneling. That is the way it was. It screamed “out of touch.”

In the same way, human beings are “out of touch” as well – but we are “out of touch” with God. The Bible says that we are powerless to reach out to God and that we were ungodly in our outlook. (Rom. 5:6) We were sinners in rebellion against God (Rom. 5:8), people who had suppressed the truth of God in our lives and exchanged that truth for something much less. (Rom. 1:18, 22-23) As a result, the person apart from God is actually called an enemy of God – one who is antagonistic toward Him. (Rom. 5:10) There was nothing we could do to make us acceptable to God.

Thankfully Easter reminds us of how all of that can change in Jesus Christ. Jesus sacrifice on the cross justifies the believer before God, it makes us legally righteous before Him. (Rom. 3:22-24) Jesus' sacrifice redeemed us or purchased us back from the power of sin and death that held us in slavery. (Eph. 1:7) Jesus also reconciled us to God, taking us from being enemies of God to being children of God and, through his resurrection, granting us new life in Him. (Rom. 5:10, 2 Cor. 5:18) So what we are talking about here is so much more than a remodel – this is a complete renewal of life. This is why were celebrate Easter, because Easter is our most profound reminder that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Cor. 5:17)

Personal Preference and Public Worship

I have the blessing of leading a multi-generational church. In these days where many churches are focusing on one particular age group or generation, we are pretty excited to be multi-generational. But with the blessing of being multi-generational comes some challenges, particularly in the area of music.

While I cannot say that our church is renewing the “Worship Wars” of the past, people do have strong opinions and those opinions tend to differ along generational lines. I hear all the opinions. More hymns. More choruses. More contemporary. More traditional. Less drums. More drums. Faster songs. Slower songs. You get the picture. And while as a church we are committed to a blend of hymns and choruses and tend to lean more contemporary than traditional, there is still always some tension.

Where I struggle is finding the place of personal opinion and personal preference in worship music. All of us have personal preferences. For example, I grew up listening to rock and roll. I listen to a wide variety of contemporary Christian music, but my personal preference skews toward the harder edged end of that genre. And though I love the old hymns as much as the next person, if I were to apply purely my personal preferences, we would have a rock and roll worship show on Sunday morning. (And some of you would cheer, others are grimacing.) I know there are others in our congregation whose personal preference would be all traditional hymns in a traditional style. Others want everything upbeat, still others would prefer it all quiet and contemplative As a pastor of a multi-generational church, I believe all of those styles – contemporary and traditional, upbeat and contemplative - can be possible in the worship music of our church, even though all may not be present every Sunday.

What gives me pause is thinking about the place of personal preference in worship music and the fact that worship is meant to be directed at God. After all, we don't worship corporately to please people. The songs are not there is impress outsiders with our talent or impress the congregation with our musical choices or styles. Rather our worship, while it has a corporate, horizontal component, is meant to be directed vertically, to God. If it is not, it isn't worship; it's just a concert of spiritual songs.

I wonder what would happen in our churches if every person put their personal preferences about worship music on the shelf before walking into church? What would happen if each of us made it a priority to seek God's face in corporate worship every Sunday, regardless of the song style or selection? Would God be glorified? I think so. Would we be unified? Yes again. And last time I checked, those were very good things.

What Turns Intention into Action?

This morning one of my elders and I met with the superintendent of the local school. We had a great conversation about how our church can get involved serving the kids in the school and expressing our appreciation of the school's teachers. This discussion came as a result of our church's commitment to be more intentional about serving our community. Over the next months, we will be looking to motivate our church members to get involved with some aspect of service to our community. The challenge is this - how will we change the focus of folks in our church to get involved in serving more actively in the community?

This afternoon I sat down to finish reading a book entitled The Externally Focused Church by Rick Rusaw and Eric Swanson. In the concluding chapter, the authors told the story of a study done at Yale University where a professor tried to persuade students to get tetanus shots. The study was composed of two focus groups – one group was given a booklet which graphically illustrated the dangers of tetanus, the other group was given a booklet with language that was toned down and had no pictures. Both booklets announced that the university was offering free tetanus shots at the health center. The results were predictable – the students who were given the more dramatic information were much more likely to admit they needed an inoculation But one month later, only 3 percent of those students had actually gone to the health center to get the shot.

The professor conducted the study a second time, but with one key change, In the booklets given to both control groups, he included a map of the campus with the health center circled and listed the times shots were available. One month after that study 28 percent of students were inoculated, an equal amount from each control group. The variable that made a difference was not urgency or gravity of the information, it was the map and schedule.

The conclusion for the church is rather obvious – when we try to recruit volunteers, either for in church ministry or community service outreach, we need to give people practical information about how they can be involved. In some ways, this principle applies much more broadly than that. Sometimes I catch myself muttering bland spiritual platitudes from the pulpit, rather than giving people concrete or practical information about spiritual growth or service opportunities. There are many people in churches who want to serve and grow, but lack that mechanism to turn desire into action. Let's give it to them.

Now, you might be thinking – isn't there a spiritual aspect at work here as well? Absolutely – God's Spirit draws us into and empowers us for growth and service. No denying that. Let's just make sure that we provide the practical information the Holy Spirit can use to truly motivate that person from intention to action.

What Do You Pray For?

That is a challenging question for to ask myself – what do you pray for? I think the answer to that question depends on what defines our life. If our life is defined by the values of the world around us, than our prayers will be focused on those values. Our prayer life will be dominated by petitions to make us successful, and to provide for our needs (and our wants). There will be prayers that our children get good jobs, score high on important tests and get into the right colleges.

But what if our life is defined by something else? What happens when our life is defined by what God values, rather than what the world values? What do our prayers look like then? Let's ask the apostle Paul:

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling.... (2 Th. 1:11a)

What does it mean to be worthy of God's calling? In Paul's letters, God's call is always an effective call to salvation. The call of God on your life leads to salvation. So he is talking to people who are saved. He is not praying that somehow these folks would work hard enough to become worthy to be saved. None of us were worthy to receive God's call – it is a gift of grace.

God has called us into relationship with him. We are heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ. (Rom. 8:17) We are adopted into God's eternal family. (Gal. 3:26) We are not worthy of that call. But Paul prays that we become what we are not. As D. A. Carson notes in his book, A Call to Spiritual Reformation:

He prays that Christians might become worthy of all that is means to be a Christian, of all that it means to be a child of the living God, of all that it means to be worthy of the love that brought Jesus to the cross. (p. 53-54)

Being worthy of the calling of God does not mean we work longer and strive harder. Is there responsibility on our part? Sure. But the real power to transform comes from God. Paul prays that God would count us worthy, that God would do the work in our lives that is necessary to bring that about.

So what does a prayer like that look like? Let me give you an example. We pray for all kinds of things for our kids. I have a child with a chronic medical problem that has so far eluded doctors and medicines. I pray every day for healing for my child. But if I am praying that God may count her worthy of His calling, I should also pray that God would work in her spiritually, that she would grow in her knowledge of Him, that she would serve Him with all her heart, regardless of any healing from God or solution through medicines or doctors.

What do you pray for? And how will your prayers change if you pray for yourself, your spouse, your family and your church that God may count each and all of them worthy of His calling?

Amazing Thoughts from the Writer of Amazing Grace

I am greatly enjoying reading a biography of John Newton, the English pastor who is most famous for writing the hymn 'Amazing Grace'. The book by Jonathan Aitken is entitled John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace.

 

Like many biographies, Aitken traces Newton's life from his earliest childhood days, detailing the influences of his youth and his spiritual struggles. Newton worked in the slave trade, becoming the captain of his own ship. He fell in love and spent years apart from his bride to be while he earned money to support her. Newton struggled with the temptations of the slave trade, but in the midst of that was drawn to God and experienced God's saving grace.

Eventually John Newton felt the call to the ministry. He had friends in many religious groups, being friends with prominent Church of England pastors as well as revivalists like John Wesley and George Whitefield. Newton quickly became known in religious circles as a man who was a religious enthusiast – in other words, he took his faith seriously. Unfortunately religious enthusiasm was frowned upon by the formal, socially accepted Church of England he sought to join as a minister. Only after many years and many refusals and disappointments was he granted a pastoral position in the township of Olney.

Newton's mindset as he approached his first church is what struck me. We can all learn from it. This is what he wrote to his wife on the eve of his move to Olney:

“I now almost stagger at the prospect before me. I am to stand in a very public point of view, to take charge of a large parish, to answer the incessant demands of stated and occasional services, to preach what I ought and to be what I preach.”  John Newton:  From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, p. 179.

I am challenged by his last two phrases. First, to preach what I ought – to be faithful in preaching the truth of the Word of God. And that challenge exists for all of us, whether we are in full time ministry or not, because we are all involved in communicating truth, preaching as it were, to family and friends around us. Is our communication in line with the Word of God?

And then, even more challenging, his last phrase – to be what I preach. To live a life consistent with the truth that I am communicating to others. A life that is not hypocritical – saying one thing and living another – but a life that lines up with the truths of God's Word.

Lord, help me be faithful in your service, preaching what I ought, and being what I preach. Amen.

The Importance of Diet and Exercise

All of us face the struggle to live a healthy, balanced life. The temptations to eat too much or be less active are always there. We have to keep an eye on our diet. We can be as active as we want, but if we eat too much junk, our lives will not be healthy and balanced. On the other hand, we can have a great diet, but if spend our days lying around in front of the TV, we cannot be healthy and balanced either. A life that is healthy and balanced physically depends on both diet and exercise.

What happens if we import these ideas into our spiritual lives? Our diet would consist of encounters with God and His Word that strengthen and nourish us. The exercise we participate in would be the times when we put our faith into action – serving the Lord by serving others. Are both diet and exercise as important spiritually as they are physically?

Consider what would happen if we were all about diet, all about nourishment alone. We would know our Bibles. We would be able to argue ourselves out of every theological box. We would be able to quote chapter and verse as well as anyone. But does head knowledge alone lead to spiritual maturity? Or does it just make us a prideful, spiritual snob?

At the same time, consider what would happen if we were only about spiritual exercise, putting our faith in practice. We would be busy. No grass would grow under our feet. But where does the spiritual strength to achieve all the good works and sacrificial service come from without a diet of God and His Word? Spiritual exercise alone can only lead to exhaustion, frustration and burnout.

The key, as in so many things in life, is balance. Are we getting the proper nutrition? Do we sit under the teaching of the Word of God regularly? Are we engaged in personal Bible study and prayer? At the same time, we are active in our exercise? Do we serve God by serving others? Are we giving of ourselves, putting our faith in action and reflecting the love of Christ to people around us?

The balanced Christian life needs both diet and exercise. In Colossians 1, the apostle Paul tells the Colossian Christians what he prays for them. He wants them to live a life worthy of the Lord. And what are the key components of such a life? Diet and exercise!

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work (here is the exercise!), growing in the knowledge of God (here is the diet!).... (Col. 1:10, NIV, comments in parenthesis are mine)

That is my prayer for all of you – that we would be as diligent (or in some cases, more diligent) pursuing spiritual balance through both diet and exercise as we are chasing the same balance in our physical bodies.