The Kingdom Project

Posted on by February 18, 2014
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2 Timothy 2:15 — Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The keynote speaker at the conference yesterday was Colonel Chris Hadfield, onetime Commander of the International Space Station. He’s been launched into space aboard the Space shuttle and a Russian Soyuz craft, as well as commanding a NASA undersea mission to test exploration concepts living in an underwater facility off the Florida coast. Pretty impressive, hey?
This conference is all about helping businesses use Information technology better. It’s based around the idea that there’s a “right” way to deal with changes and the problems they bring, and to make sure people can do their jobs as well as possible using their techie toys. “All very interesting,” you might say “but what has any of that got to do with building the kingdom?”
Launching a space shuttle (and getting it back), running a complex Information Technology environment, building the kingdom … these are all big jobs! And they do have some things in common.
Someone asked Colonel Hadfield what they key to successful missions (and there’s an interesting word) was. He called out two things — a solid foundation of competence, and repetition. It’s about knowing what you are doing, and doing it so often that it becomes second nature.
When it comes to making sure people can use their tools properly, over the years a really well understood set of formal processes has emerged. There is a solid recognition that there’s a right way, and a wrong way. The way the processes are delivered varies from place to place, but the broad approach is always the same.
When Jesus was training His first set of kingdom builders he spent the best part of three years with them, teaching them what they needed to do (that’s the foundation of competence), sending them out to practice, and then reviewing with them, and offering correction. By the time He was crucified, they were ready …
It’s well understood by now, I think, that missions and witnessing work best when they are well planned and organized — there are well-defined approaches and processes.
Building the kingdom works best when we take our common-sense knowledge and experience of what works in our other activities, and then let the Holy Spirit direct. It’s not a mystery. That’s where my verse of the day comes in. If we want to be succesful building the kingdom, we need to do what all the people around me at this conference are doing — learn to use the tools!

Divine Appointments

Posted on by February 17, 2014
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Matthew 25:41-43 — Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was ahungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

I might have missed a divine appointment at 5:11 this morning. Or maybe not …
I’ve been coming to Las Vegas for more than twenty-five years. This morning, for the first time ever, I think I had an immoral proposition made to me as I went to pick up a cup of coffee before I had my morning devotions and quiet time … Or maybe not … Let me tell you about it.
I was walking through the hotel corridors over to the one coffee shop where you can get a cup of coffee at any time of night or day (no, it’s not S***B***s). There was a lady sitting on a chair as I walked past. She said good morning. I said good morning. Then came my wake-up call! “Are you going to want to see me later?” she said. What? No! “No thank you.” I said, and walked on slightly dazed and went to get my coffee.
So there you have it. Was it a proposition …? Or did I miss a divine appointment?
Did I miss an opportunity to witness to that thirty- something lady who was so desperate as to offer herself to a stranger at 5:11 in the morning in a hotel corridor? The thought will haunt me for a while.
“I was … in prison, and you visited me not.” You know (you DO know), prisons come in many forms — visible, and invisible. What would have happened if I had sat down besides that lady and just talked to her about Jesus? Would I have I unlocked some chains, opened a prison door, shown a prisoner a way out? Honestly, probably not … But maybe.
In the seventeenth century Richard Lovelace wrote “Stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage.” So many things in life are prisons. Circumstances — poverty, health, family challenges — can be prisons. Addictions — to substances or lifestyles — can be prisons. Even our own beliefs about ourselves can be prisons. One of our jobs is to set the prisoners free. God makes appointments for us with those prisoners. Maybe I missed one today.

Travel With A Purpose

Posted on by February 16, 2014
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Psalm 120:5-7 — Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

A few days ago I purposed to write about what these verses suggest to me but then last night our Pastor pointed in his message to something at the heart of my inspiration. I thought I should need to let the thought go — but then as I set out this morning I realized there was still more to say.
The Psalmist is saying something hard to understand: “Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!”. It seems to say that he lived in two places far apart. Mesech according to Ezekiel 38:2 is near Magog in the North near the Caspian and Black Seas. Kedar was one of the sons of Ishmael and the “tents of Kedar” refers to the tents of black hair in the midst of the wilderness of Arabia where the tribe of Bedouins descended from Kedar lived. Since he can’t have lived in both these places at once, the Psalmist must have been saying something else — and he was. What he’s saying is that his travels have taken him to live amongst companions he would not have chosen — men who were for war when he was for peace.
I’m actually writing this in mid-air, about 30,000 feet above the ground, on my first significant business trip of the year. As I prepared for it, and thought about my destination, I realized that the message of this Psalm — the first of a series of Psalms sung by travelers as they went up to Jerusalem for the three required feasts every year — was appropriate for me as I went over to (not up to!) Las Vegas.
I’m going to a place where there are many that are for sin and not for good. It’s a place where many go for no good purposes. I’m going to be representing my company at an Information Technology related exhibition, but I’m going to be looking for opportunities to witness, too.
The pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem were going up from many places — but they were going up with a purpose, a purpose to worship. Suppose that we decided, no matter where we went, no matter where we sojourned or whose tent we dwelt in — no matter who we lived among — we decided to speak for peace? And suppose we speak for the broad meaning of peace — Shalom — “peace, health, wholeness, harmony” that Psalm 120 implies? Then perhaps we would be traveling in the spirit of the pilgrim, traveling upward towards Jesus wherever we went.

Valentine’s Fraud

Posted on by February 15, 2014
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Ephesians 5:25 — Husbands love your wives …

Yesterday I was reminded, as I am from time to time, that today’s young people have been defrauded over the business of love. You know what I mean — all this business of an emotional feeling that some young man or woman is “the one for you” … at least for as long as things go well and nobody more attractive comes along, or even worse the idea that any more committed relationship than a “hookup” has something to do with love.
This fraud has been committed in the name of a Saint Valentine. Do you know his story? Actually, there’s more than one, but the most popular is that he was a Roman Priest at a time when there was an emperor called Claudias who banned the marriage of young people, reckoning that unmarried soldiers fought better, because married soldiers might be afraid of what might happen to their wives or families if they died. At a horribly permissive time (does that sound familiar?) Valentine was in the business of secretly (because of the ban) marrying people in the church. In the end, of course, he got caught and was executed by beating, stoning, and finally having his head chopped off (I guess they wanted to make sure). The last words he wrote were in a note to His jailer’s daughter signed “from your Valentine” … The inspiration for all the nonsense ..
The Bible never talks of today’s kind of “romantic” love. The Song of Solomon certainly talks of passion between the lover and the loved, but there is none of the nonsense of “falling in love” that is at the heart of the modern Valentine’s Day narrative.
I don’t want to get to intellectual about all this, but the best evidence is that the idea of romantic love emerged in the eleventh century as an invention of the balladeers of the crusades. “So what,” you might say, “does the Bible have to say about romantic love?” Nothing. Nothing at all.
The Old Testament has only one word for love, and it carries the sense of strong attraction or affection — but not of romance. There are four Greek words: one meaning sexual love which is not used in the New Testament, one meaning natural affection, one meaning love in families and one — agape? — meaning selfless love. It’s that last one that is the base for Christian marriage. Myra and I were talking about love, and my definition for today was “Love is measured by what you’re prepared to sacrifice for each other — if it’s less than everything, it’s less than love.”
I’ve tried to define love often, and the active, joyful, sacrifice – each for the other – is the closest I’ve come.
The Valentine fiction of romantic love, fake and false though it it is, has at least some idealism — some purity — in it. In the last years though, even that has been eroded by a vicious immorality that means hardly a young couple takes their innocence into marriage — which would be real romance!
The Valentine fraud is getting worse!

Memories

Posted on by February 14, 2014
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Revelation 2:4-5 — Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Myra and I were talking this morning about memories, and how they come and go. We were wondering whether the Holy Spirit is always purposeful in the way it brings things to our remembrance.
My first real memory is an odd one. I was crouched under a yellow bush, separate from the other kids who, for some reason weren’t playing with me. It started to rain, the bush started to smell, the others left and I just got wet. I don’t suppose I was more than three at the time. I have no idea why that memory comes back from time to time …
If you’re anything like me, it’s your lowlights and highlights that you remember most often and most sharply. I’ll never forget the heart-stopping moment when I discovered that a company that I had given good service to for eleven years had decided it could do without me. I’ll never forget, either, the time when I realized I’d aced the interview for a replacement job, and knew that I had a chance to rebuild.
Of course there are two memories that shine above all others. One was the day I got saved. The other — and forgive me if I spend a little time on it today of all days — was the day I met my beautiful wife. We met outside the Town Hall: There was this not very tall, short haired, severely dressed lady (Myra was all blacks and grays then — everything’s different now except the height!). That was it. You could have put a fork in me and called me done — though it took a while for me to admit it. We walked round the park on a cool pleasant evening, then had a dinner that probably tasted a lot better than it really was. We sat outside on blue milk crates and talked until we had to leave. Then we went, reluctantly, on our separate ways. More than twenty years later that memory is one that I fetch out often. I think the Spirit brings that one out so that I never forget how blessed I am.
I believe, with no great Biblical warrant, that the memories that keep coming back are brought back for a purpose — because there is a blessing to count, or an injury to forgive, or a debt to pay, or a sin to repent. I’m reminded of Mary, who “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” I mean to ponder with intention, to see if I can hear what the Holy Spirit is saying through my memories.

Seven Billion Centers

Posted on by February 13, 2014
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1 Samuel 25:10-11 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. 11 Why should I take my bread and water, and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men coming from who knows where?”
It’s a funny world we live in. Did you know that the universe has more than seven billion centers? “What”, I hear you say, “What astronomy books have you been reading?” Well, none really. It’s really just a silly reflection on how I feel about the way some of the people (well most of them really) seem to see themselves. Really. Seven billion of the people on this good earth seem to think they’re each the center of the universe. If you don’t believe me, ask yourself what makes people behave the way they do in some common situations.
How about on the road? Why do people shoot across from the left lane to the right lane, straight in front of you? Because they need to get over there, that’s why. “Oh, there were other people in the way? – Well they should know better – get of my way!”
What about at the grocery store? (Where, by the way, people push their trolleys like they drive …). How is it that people get into that “ten items or less” line with twenty items. “Well I’m in a hurry …don’t you get that?”
I think this guy Nabal (whose name means “fool” by the way) would have fit in well with the seven billion. David’s men had been working hard for him – but when it came to party time he wasn’t thinking about them. Oh no. “Why should I take MY bread, and water, and meat and share it”. Nabal was at the center of the universe and he couldn’t see where he was getting anything out of being civil … so no sharing.
How about you. Are you one of the seven billion centers of the universe? Sometimes? I am, but as I was having my quiet time this morning I was thinking about focus. And something came to me.
In our weekend services, our church has an invitation. People come forward and acknowledge their acceptance of Jesus as Lord, or other important faith-driven decisions. We always sing a suitable song, and one of my favorites is the one that Helen Lemmel wrote in 1922. The chorus seemed to be to the point:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

If I find myself at the center of my own little universe, I try to look to Jesus. When I’m focused on His wonderful face, I don’t feel so important. Try it. If you find yourself feeling the world should be rotating around you, try looking to Jesus. Suddenly, He’ll be at the center. There’ll be one center to the universe, and that’s how it should be!

Well It Aint’t Easy — for me …

Posted on by February 12, 2014
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James 4:8 — Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded.

You might have caught, at the end of yesterday’s devotion, a sense that I don’t always find this Christian life easy. And I really don’t. In fact sometimes I find myself echoing the heartfelt, if blasphemous, line from the Ballad of John and Yoko — “Christ you know it ain’t easy,You know how hard it can be.” Please don’t over-interpret — of course I don’t compare the little aggravations of my life with what Jesus suffered, and if John Lennon thought he had it tough he had no idea how hard it could be … But sometimes I listen to other Christians, and I read devotions, and they all make it sound so easy. And it isn’t, at least not for me.
I know I’m a work in progress, but some of the old me wasn’t very pretty and some of it still comes out now and then. I’d tell you to talk to Myra to get a witness, but she’s reluctant to criticize me in public — so you’ll have to take my word for it. I can be crabby, selfish, petty and miserable. I try to edit what comes out of my mouth, but some of my thoughts are not pretty. I used to have a flaming temper — now, by the grace of God, the fires are mostly banked down — but there’s still the risk of a flare up at any time.
One habit that really helps me is my daily quiet time. On the Lanai or in our great room just me, a cup of coffee, my Bible, and The Lord. I try to get closer to God, and sometimes — just sometimes — I get a whisper of Him getting closer to me. I try to open my heart, and show Him the uncertainties I’m dealing with. I try to show Him the blood on my hands and ask Him to clean it off.
Praying, meditating in scripture … A “spiritual wash”, every morning, is essential. But, you know, that’s not always easy either. It seems clear that Jesus had a quiet time. Let’s look at one of His:

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. (Mark 1:35-37)

He got up early, found a quiet place and prayed — and then what? Distractions, that’s what. Even Jesus couldn’t get away from the busyness of the day — the busyness came and found Him. In my “quiet” time, I’m often surrounded by noise – traffic, local businesses … All sorts of things. When I’m traveling, in different time zones, there’s even competition for that vital thirty minutes. But I persevere. My quiet time is vital. Without it, the old man gets the upper hand over the new man. It ain’t easy …

How Hard Can It Be?

Posted on by February 11, 2014
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1 Thessalonians 5:16–18 — Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

I hope you don’t think I’m cheating, but most of the words in today’s devotion come straight from scripture. People sometimes say that the Christian life is difficult. Indeed Pope Francis [yes, I know it’s dangerously open-minded of me to quote a Pope 😉 ] said recently that faithful Christians will always face difficulties, “When a Christian has no difficulties in life – when everything is fine, everything is beautiful – something is wrong.” There’s some Biblical support for what he says. James, for instance, says “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2-3) and Peter says a similar thing “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” (1 Peter 1:6-7)
So how do you deal with these inevitable difficulties? It’s not so very hard – in principle at least! Look at these verses from Thessalonians — Pretty straight-forward don’t you think?
What should we do? Always rejoice. Don’t stop praying. Be grateful for everything (not just the good stuff!).
Why is that the plan? Because God wants you to. “This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Yes, but how? By faith, and by prayer … “Thy will be done” — and God’s will is that you be joyful, that you pray, and that you give thanks in everything. Actually, gratitude is the “secret sauce”. Alexander MacLaren describes its effect wonderfully:

And if a man in communion with God looks at the events of his life as he might put on a pair of coloured glasses to look at a landscape, it will be tinted with a glory and a glow as he looks.

Paul was really good at dealing with life’s difficulties. He wrote to the Philippians:

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:11-13)

So there it is — a few simple rules, and you can conquer all of life’s difficulties. Just one thing though … If I’m so smart, how come I sometimes let myself get beaten down? I guess I still have some learning to do …

Whited Sepulchers

Posted on by February 10, 2014
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Matthew 23:27-28 — Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

The house painting was finished today. The results are beautiful — but I’m not hear to brag on the paint job, or even our wonderful painters. It’s something about the process they followed that reminded me of Jesus’s comment about whited sepulchers.
We don’t have a big house. Even so, some weather delays and the thoroughness of the process, the job took more than a week. First the walls were power washed. Next, all the hairline cracks had to be spackled. After the spackling a sealant was applied. Finally, the walls got two coats of paint — and in some places three. Our house has been painted, and it’s going to look good for ten years.
The sepulchers Jesus was talking were where the poor folk got buried. They were by the roadside or in the fields, not carved out of solid rock like the tombs of the rich.
It’s notable that Jesus saw these sepulchers close to Passover. If He had seen them at another time they would not have been white and bright. Every year, close to the Passover, they were whitened with powdered lime dust. They got an annual clean-up, so that travelers on the way to Jerusalem could see them and avoid being made ceremonially unclean for a week by touching them. As Jesus noted, they might look nice on the outside but on the inside they were full of corruption.
I wasn’t really put in mind of the bones inside the tombs today. What came to my mind was the depth of the cleaning process. There are those who become Christians and their lives are completely turned around. The cleaning is not skin deep! Then there are others who really don’t seem to change that much — it’s like they just get the powdered lime treatment, it soon washes off, and after a while you can’t tell that they’re Christians at all!
It maybe, though, that the whitewashed sinners who gradually fade are not the worst. After all, Jesus was calling out the Pharisees. They were supposed to be the most righteous of the righteous but even the Jews themselves had their doubts. An ancient old oral tradition listed seven sorts of Pharisees. Two were wonderful — “God fearing like Job and God loving like Abraham”. The others though were:
— The “shoulder Pharisee,” who wears his good actions ostentatiously upon his shoulder
–The “wait-a-little Pharisee,” who ever says, “Wait a little, until I have performed the good act awaiting me”
— The “bruised Pharisee,” who in order to avoid looking at a woman runs against the wall so as to bruise himself and bleed
— The “pestle Pharisee,” who walks with head down like the pestle in the mortar
— The “ever-reckoning Pharisee,” who says, “Let me know what good I may do to counteract my neglect”
I reckon you can find all these people in churches today. So when you meet someone who looks pretty good, by all means check the paint job … But remember, in the end, it’s the fruit that proves the tree.

What’s In A Name?

Posted on by February 9, 2014
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Revelation 19:12-13, 16 — His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Someone that I regard very highly said, as he passed me in our Bible and Life Group (Sunday School Class), “I need to get a better name badge”. The thought went through my mind, “You don’t need a badge my friend. Everyone knows you, and your name is written in golden letters in Heaven.” It started me thinking this afternoon. How important are names? Do you remember the words Shakespeare put in Juliet’s mouth?

What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,?Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part?Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:?What’s in a name? that which we call a rose?By any other name would smell as sweet; (Romeo and Juliet, Act II Scene ii)

Then these verses from the Revelation came to mind, and started me thinking some more … The giving of names, in the Bible, is a sign of authority. God named Adam, and devolved to Adam the task of naming the living creatures. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Jacob to Israel. Time and again The Lord instructed His people on the name of their offspring — with John the Baptist and Jesus Himself having their names conveyed through Angelic messengers. It might be said that Juliet, in questioning the importance of names was questioning parental — and even Divine — authority.
Some Biblical names are, just like today’s names, the creation of affection or whimsy (Deborah, for instance, means “Bee”). Others mark significant events in the life of the parents — Rueben, for example, was chosen by Leah to express the fact that “God saw my needs, and therefore blessed me with a son.” Yet other names reflect changes in position — Abram, “Exalted Father”, became Abraham, “Father of Multitudes”.
Perhaps we give too little thought to the giving of names. Who, for instance, would call a child “Buddy Boy” (Jamie Oliver would), or Bronx Mowgli Wentz (Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz would). At the very least, giving children “quirky” names sets them up for a lot of pain at school!
Maybe there’s more to it than that? It seems to me that God takes names seriously. We know that the name of Jesus has great power. We know too that God honors Him with new names. And then in the Revelation we find, too:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. (Revelation 2:17)

Perhaps my friend did need a new name badge. Names matter!