Hey hey, Hollywood, here we come!

I sat down on the couch a few days ago during our vacation to eat a salad. The kids were watching a show called "Drake and Josh" on TV. As I chomped on my greens I began watching this show, apparently very popular among kids. It was actually the "Drake and Josh go Hollywood" movie, which was mildly entertaining considering the lethargic state I was in. Drake, who is the lead singer in a band, was fortunate enough to land a guest-spot on MTV's TRL (Total Request Live) show. As he shows up in a borrowed Ferrari at the very last minute due to a plot that I don't care to rehearse, he is ushered on stage in front of hundreds of screaming females and live TV cameras. My kids were on the edge of their seats as Drake grabbed the mic and began to rock.

In our media saturated society, nearly every child seems to dream of being famous, important, known by millions, and noticed by adoring fans. But these desires do not stop after adolescence. We learn cleaver ways to disguise our overwhelming lust to be noticed. We often are even schizophrenic when it comes to these narcissistic tendencies. On one hand we tell ourselves we don't want it or need it while other times we catch ourselves dreaming about it and craving it like a drug. The lottery, reality TV, American Idol-"normal" people can now dream of being a celebrity. We can be somebody! We can go Hollywood!

I've been reading the gospel of Matthew a lot lately, taking a fresh look at the words of Jesus. I'm really seeing that the Kingdom of Heaven and Hollywood have nothing in common. They are bipolar opposites. The path to the Kingdom of Heaven is usually down the Walk of Shame rather than the Walk of Fame.

As I heard the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" growing up in church, thoughts of some magical theme park in the sky would come to my mind. In my imagination, it was a full of green rolling hills, crystal lakes, and large mansions scattered around the hilltops. The streets were gold, of course, and the main gold street led up to the throne, where God sat. This was the Kingdom of Heaven.

Well, my thoughts have evolved a bit...but, who knows, maybe I was closer then than I am now. I think that the Kingdom of Heaven has come when whatever God desires to be done is done. It seems a bit awkward to even write that statement. God is God, right? God can get whatever He wants anytime he wants. But then again, why would Jesus pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven?" So, it seems apparent that God would allow His will not to be done on earth.

In the gospels, the teachings of Jesus allow us to gaze through the windows of his Kingdom and gain a greater understanding of the desires of God. I'm truly amazed each time I read these passages of how different the values of God's Kingdom are in light of the kingdoms we build.

PETER'S CONFESSION (Matthew 16:13-20)
In Matthew chapter 16 we have Peter's famous confession of Christ. At this point, Jesus tells Peter, " I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Peter's understanding of Jesus as the Messiah seems to be the reason that Jesus gives Peter the keys to his kingdom. This was followed by Jesus' words, "Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Peter (and the other apostles) were empowered by Christ to now have authority and access into this Kingdom through there confession of Christ as the Messiah.
ILLUSTRATION OF A LITTLE CHILD (Matthew 18:1-4)
Fast forward to Chapter 18. Now that Jesus has indicated that Peter has some special authority in this new Kingdom, the disciples seem to be jockeying for other positions of authority. "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?'" (Mt. 18:1) As they eagerly awaited his answer, I bet the disciples were shocked as Jesus detoured around the twelve of them to find a small child . "Excuse me son" Jesus might have said as he waved a small child into the huddle of dumbfounded disciples. "Unless you change your attitude and become like this child, you'll never see my Kingdom."

Again, don't just think of the Kingdom as a geographical location up with the stars somewhere. The Kingdom comes when God's will is done. And apparently, the Kingdom can't come to those who just desire greatness and aspire for recognition and reward based upon their accomplishments. Jesus goes on to say that the greatest in this Kingdom is the one who humbles himself like the little child standing among them. The kid had no accomplishments or achievements which he could insist qualified him for greatness. He had no resources of his own to enable him to purchase a place of prominence. He was a helpless little kid. I'm sure the disciples were thinking, "A child has no say in anything, he just does as he's told. Why would I want to be like him?"

RESTORATION AND FORGIVENESS (Matthew 18:15-20)
Jesus goes on to give additional illustrations about the value system of his Kingdom. He talks of restoration and being a person who chronically forgives others. His conversation with the rich young ruler leads him to tell the disciples that good works and money are not the path to his Kingdom. At this point, the disciples are so confused they ask Jesus who in the world then can be saved? Who can be citizen of this Kingdom? Jesus' answer...it's not possible through our efforts. Entrance is only possible and granted through the humble acceptance of God's grace!

God's Kingdom is not found through pushing our way to the front of the line. It's not about keeping moral laws so we can feel better about ourselves. We don't see the Kingdom come by making a name for ourselves, by demanding our way, and by craving the spotlight in order to push our agenda. God didn't grant the keys to the Kingdom so that I can be served by other but so that I can serve others! This was radical! It still is radical. But it gets even crazier!

RICH YOUNG RULER (Matthew 19:16-30)
As the rich young ruler is walking away, Peter (I love this guy) seizes the opportunity to remind Jesus that, unlike the rich guy, he and the disciples left everything to follow him. And he wants to know what's in it for him when Jesus' Kingdom comes in it's fullness. Jesus confirms to Peter that his reward will be great. He will rule from a throne as well as gain eternal life with Jesus. Jesus adds the following statement: "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."

Jesus is either saying that although it appears to the disciples that the rich young ruler has all the qualities necessary for leadership in Jesus Kingdom, he does not possess the Kingdom qualities of leadership. Possibly, Jesus detect some wrong motives in Peter also, so he tacks on the statement to confront his improper motives. In light of Jesus' words about childlike trust, wealth, as well as the parable that follows, it seems to me that Jesus is teaching that those who strive for and possess power, prominence and riches on earth will not occupy those positions in heaven. There are not winners and losers in his Kingdom. Everyone finishes even. Jesus uses a parable of workers in a vineyard to illustrate.

WORKERS IN THE VINEYARD (Matthew 20:1-16)
I presented this parable to my 12 year old daughter using another hypothetical situation. I ask her if she would can up the yard, a job which would take quite a while, for $20.00. With a big smile on her face, she said, "Sure." I then ask her how she would feel if her brother showed up and only worked about an hour but I paid him $20.00 as well. Her smile quickly faded. "That wouldn't be fair!" she stated. "Why would he get the same as me but for a lot less work?"

I think this is a normal response to Jesus' parable. But the point isn't about economics and wages. Jesus was showing us that God's grace and his Kingdom values are like nothing ever encountered on earth. We don't need to insist on knowing what we are going to get out of serving God. God is so incredibly generous and always gives us much more than we could ever deserve. In God's kingdom, many people will be surprised! Jesus ends the parable with, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

JESUS PREDICTS HIS DEATH (20:17-19)
JAMES AND JOHN'S REQUEST (Matthew 20:20-28)
Jesus follows with an explicit prediction of his death. Although Jesus has went to great lengths to explain his Kingdom values and his upcoming death, his disciples are still thinking about privilege, status, and power. James and John actually have the nerve to recruit their mom to help them try and secure powerful positions in Jesus' future Kingdom. Maybe thoughts of Peter with the keys to the Kingdom are still on their mind. The other 10 get perturbed with the Zebedee brothers for asking Jesus for places of honor in the Kingdom. Jesus responds by giving them a proverbial statement. Jesus called the disciples together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over their subjects, and their high officials throw their weight around. It's not going to be that way with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Jesus was clear, greatness among his disciples was based on serving. In the disciple's culture, humility was a vice. They couldn't imaging a slave being given leadership. Jesus' Kingdom values were revolutionary! In order for God's will to come, my will must go. I have no rights. I must trust and depend on God's grace with the simpleness of a child. I must fight the walk of fame and embrace the walk of shame.

The Fear of Grace

To this day I still don't know why Jon Thompson befriended me. I was an awkward, overweight, slow, annoying fourth grader. Jon, on the other hand, was the biggest kid in the sixth grade. He was fast and athletic. Everyone looked up to him. He was, by far, the alpha male of the elementary school.

Once Jon and I became friends, we even developed our own secret handshake. Boy, did I feel cool! He even spent the night at my house once and talked me and my brother and my brother's friend into spending the night in our creepy, scary basement! That was a great accomplishment! Strange noises, lurking shadows and nearly complete darkness described our basement at night. I would never have been caught down there, alone, after midnight. We stuck it out until about 2:00am, then we drug our sleeping bags up the stairs-not that we were scared-no way! It was just "more comfortable" up there. I still remember my mom fighting back laughter as she met us at the top of the stairs as we explained to her our location change.

Although our close friendship lasted only a short time, I'll never forget what he did for me during one crisp October afternoon. In our small school, the 4th-6th grade boys had a combined P.E. class. During this time of year we often played football. Many of the guys played city-league football. I never did. My parents were against organized sports for children. I think the wanted to avoid the screaming, fighting, and ruthlessness that is so prevalent-not among the players, but the parents. So many of the guys dressed out for P.E. with cool football gear, receiver gloves, mouthpieces, and cool jerseys. Most importantly, they actually understood how to play the game. I wondered out to the playing field in over-sized hand-me-down shorts from my cousin Mike.

Of course, Jon was always one of the captains who picked teams. He, along with a guy named Mike Onion, would be responsible in dividing up the guys. Onion was farm-tough. He lived in some backwoods town, I think across the river in Ohio. He had about 4 siblings, and each of them were just as hard-nosed as Mike. In fact, I remember that Mike's sister made me cry once.

As the team picking begin, I fully expected to be well down the line of draft choices, as usual. There were all the 6th graders who had superior speed and size. Some of the 5th graders were good athletics as well. And even in my class, the fourth grade, there were some real football studs. Roy Rothemburger, Chad Hall, and Nathan Nelson towered over me like Shaq playing in a high school basketball game.

Yet, I never forget it, after Jon made several obvious picks, my eye caught his eye. I'm not sure exactly what was going through his mind-pity, loyalty to his firend, or just grace. But Jon gave me a gift that I certainly didn't deserve and will never forget. His eyes met mine, he nodded once and said, "I'll take Woodrum." Are you kidding!? Fourth overall pick for his team? As I walked toward Jon and the 3 other guys he had picked, I could see a look of disbelief on some of their faces. I was unworthy. I had little to offer this team. There were guys still standing in the draft prospect pool who where so much more deserving than I was. Yet he choose me!

I've been a full-time youth minister for over 12 years. During this time I have taught hundreds of lessons and facilitated countless small group discussions. As best as I can remember, I have never given a series of talks on grace. Something that occurred yesterday prompted me to think about this. I ask myself why this was? Something so at the core of faith and Christian Theology. Why would I avoid it? I think the answer is fear.

I think my fear is rooted to some degree in my personality, some in the way I view God, and partially in a concern that students will see grace as a license to sin and take advantage of God.

I have a "try harder" personality. All that is needed is a little more persistence, effort and commitment. But the bottom line for all this is fear. I fear looking weak.

I've coached my son's soccer team over the years. It's so much more natural for me to jump on him for doing bad than encourage him when he does good. "With more effort, you could have scored that goal!" "Why did you back down from that big kid, it won't hurt for long!" "Why didn't you listen to me when I told you to pass?" "You're scared, aren't you?" It's not about him, it's about me. My son better be good. My team better be respectful. This is the fear that is ingrained into my personality. It comes from pride. So grace doesn't come very natural when I feel like someone let me down or didn't perform well enough for me.

Then there is my view of God. This fear probably comes from growing up in a legalistic church where we heard about hell and God's judgment on a weekly basis. God was never quite happy with me. I usually felt guilty. If I sin, who was God going to kill in my family? I was wearied from the constant pressure and mind games I played with myself and from the constant mental negotiation I had to make with God. He was never happy with me and I feared not doing enough or being good enough for Him. I couldn't fully embrace grace.

Finally, there is the fear that grace gives us a license to sin. This is not a new one at all. The Apostle Paul was accused of this. He preached justification (being made right with God) based solely upon the free grace of God (see Romans 5-6) in the face of the Judaizers' works system. I fear that the students will think God is easy to run over, like my children feel about their grandparents. They love when we leave them with Mimi and Pappa, or Mamaw and Papaw for a few days. That know that all our rules will be basically ignored and they will get whatever they want.

Despite my fear, I will not avoid speaking of grace any longer. I cannot ignore it, push it aside, or remain terrified of the consequences of grace. Like the undeserving fourth grader on the schoolyard, God has looked me in the eye and said, "John, you're with Me!" I have nothing to offer and I am completely unworthy. My only response is to push the fear aside and receive this awesome gift, accept the undeserving hand that is reaching out to me and then extend the same grace to everyone else I come into contact with!

"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father..." "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." Luke 15

Amazing grace!

Childish Faith?

Want an honest confession? For me, my faith journey has had this ongoing tension between trusting and doubting.

On one hand, I have this calm assurance that the story of God, as revealed in Scripture, makes complete sense. It is an amazing narrative which gives meaning and purpose to those of us who are alive on this little ball of dust flying through an enormous universe. Like Homing Pigeons, there is an instinct within me that continuously pushes me toward Jesus, his teachings and the gospel message.

But on the opposite end of the tension meter is doubt. These doubts aren't directly about belief in Jesus, God, and the truths of the Bible. As I said, I have a calm assurance in these matters of faith. But my doubts arise when I look at Scripture, and see the power of God unleashed in forms of miracles, signs, and wonders. All throughout the pages of Scripture, God revels himself to mankind in many supernatural ways. The lack of God's intervention into our world in my day and age in a similar manner promotes doubt. I want some empirical evidence too!

I can't help but think of Hebrews 11. There we find a tribute to the faith of great men of the Bible. Hebrews 11 contains summaries of the stories I remember so fondly as a child. Sitting in the dingy, damp basement Sunday School classroom, I watched my teacher place the flannelgraph images of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samson, and Jesus on the board! These figures rivaled any superhero cartoon from Saturday morning! These men possessed super-human strength, power staffs, the ability to walk on water and multiply a small lunch to feed massive amounts of people. I distinctly remember trying to imitate Jesus and walk on the surface of the swimming pool. One day I took my sandwich apart and attempted to divide it into pieces, fully anticipating that my piece of bread would be more than adequate to make thousands of bite size pieces. I believed! My faith was strong! As a young boy, I was confused. When this miracle didn't occur, I concluded that I just didn't have enough faith.

There was once when I feared my mom had cancer. She had been to the doctor, which was very rare for her. Over the course of the next several days, she and my father would have many quiet conversations. I caught just enough of one conversation and distinctly remember hearing the word 'tumor" used. I was frightened! Was my mom going to die? I remember praying so hard, to the point of tears, that God would spare my mom! I recalled Jesus' words to his disciples, after they were unable to cast a demon out of a boy and heal him of his seizures. The disciples ask Jesus, "Why couldn't we drive the demon out?" Jesus told them, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." I wanted more faith. I believed. My mom's tumor turned out not to be cancer.

There have been other situations where prayers like this were answered, even great and amazing answers, yet none rise to the level of an Apostle-like miracle, sign, or wonder. I've even had a few close friends tell me about supernatural healings and exorcisms they have witnessed, but even now I remain skeptical. I was taught growing up that those signs and wonders were to validate Christ and the early church, but those things ended upon completion of the Bible. It's a theological argument, backed by a few proof text found here and there. I was never convinced by those arguments.

As I grew older, I remember reading Hebrews 11 for myself. I come upon another group of people who didn't quite make the cut as flannelgraph figures for Sunday School hour. As a 6 year old child, maybe I should have seen and heard about the great people of the faith who were imprisoned, murdered in cold blood, sawn in two, homeless, destitute, and wandering in deserts and caves because of their faith. I ask myself, "Why didn't God step in and revel Himself to them?" Yet, they had faith! Even without the evidence. They rested upon God's divine assurance!

C.S. Lewis said that faith is merely the virtue by which we hold to our reasoned ideas, despite moods to the contrary. That's where I find myself. There is no doubt that I'm going to cling to Jesus, He is my only hope and he has proven it again and again through the peace and satisfaction I feel inside me. But there is still a piece of the 9 year old boy inside me who still anticipates that his sandwich can feed the masses. Is it childish faith or faith like a child?

A Prayer Against Complacency

God, it's so easy to just go through the motions and be "spiritual" and somehow think that I'm better off than others. Your words in Revelation, to the church at Laodicea, rings loud and clear, "But since you are lukewarm and not hot or cold, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth."

Father, help me to overcome complacency through the power of the Holy Spirit. May my life be a testimony to Your greatness and power. Help me to know the Truth more and more each day and allow the Truth to set me free--free from pretense, free from ego, free from the flesh, free from "me".

Thank you for your Word which speaks Truth. Help me to understand your Truth, how it applies to my culture and context, and be willing to adjust my life to it. Word of God speak! Be still and know that You're here!

God, You are amazing and Your character and Spirit is beyond my ability to understand. Teach me Your ways, O Lord, that I can walk in Your Truth. Give me an undivided heart that I may fear your name. I will praise you, O God, with ALL my heart, I will glorify Your name forever! Great is Your love for me!!

Amen

Three Words

One. Someone once sang that "One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do."

Dissatisfaction. "I can't get no satisfaction." We know those lyrics.

What do these two things have in common. Not the Rolling Stones song and the Three Dog Night tune, but the words "One" and "Dissatisfaction?"

Well, let me throw one more word into the mix: running.

I love to run. Up until three years ago, I hated running. I hated it with a passion. But now I can't wait to get up in the morning, long before the sun and the neighbors get up (which is difficult as I write, since we have about 16 hours of light every day during early June.)

Why do I like it so? It's the competition of pushing further and faster. It's the compulsion of conditioning. It's the feeling of complete exhaustion mixed with euphoria as I near the end of a 16 mile run.

But back to the three words. One. Dissatisfaction. Running. What do these words have in common? Philippians 3:12-16.

12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

More to come later...

The Pale Blue Dot and the Holy Spirit

No, that photo is not a distorted image that screwed up when I uploaded it to my blog. It is the famous Pale Blue Dot photo. On February 14, 1990, NASA commanded the Voyager 1 spacecraft, having completed its primary mission, to turn around to photograph the planets of the Solar System. One image Voyager returned was of Earth, showing up as a "pale blue dot" in the grainy photo. The photograph was taken from over 4 billion miles away from earth.

Carl Sagan said, "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives...on this Pale Blue Dot...suspended on a sunbeam."

I was made aware of this photograph by Louie Giglio. His series called "Indescribable" is a wonderful talk on how amazing God is and how small we are. All I can think about is Psalm 8:

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

There seems to be a lot of tension out there--academic arguments about evolution and creationism. There is Ben Stein's Expelled movie, Richard Dawkins and his book and lectures, blogs and websites. It's almost to the point of a religious war between these two sides.

While I am aware that these battles may need to be fought in the educational arena, from the local school board to the Capital, I can assure you that a logical argument, slick movie, or scholarly book will not ultimately convince many people that there is a God who sent His Son to die for our sins because He loves us and is mindful of us.

Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35-36) I think this is the path to bringing utmost glory to God. Sacrificial love illustrates the amazing transformation power of the Holy Spirit.

God, you are love.
God, I am weak.
You said that rivers of living water will spill out of the depths of me if I trust you and drink of You. You said that the Holy Spirit would allow Christ's life to live through me.
Why are we so selfish then? Why am I so selfish? Why are we as Christ-followers so weak?
Paul's words, "And they glorified Christ in me," seem so lofty and unreachable on most days.
Father, I pray for more or You in me today so you may be glorified!
I want my existence on this pale blue dot to count!
Thank you for life!
Of all the great people who have lived out their lives and died here., their time to make an impact of this planet is over, regardless of how great they were.
Yet I am alive! I have this time and how much ever more You so graciously give me.
I want maximum impact for Your kingdom!
I need You, Holy Spirit to fill me up today and everyday.

Amen