Jesus the Man, not the Legend

I've been reflecting recently on Philippians 2:5-11, Paul's hymn about the humility of Christ. The NIV translates it like this:

5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death -
even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

This has really got me thinking a lot about Jesus' nature while he walked and ministered on the earth. More precisely, it's got me beginning to realize more fully the extent of his humanity. When it says in vv. 6-7 that Jesus did not consider equality with God something to grasp and instead took on the role of a servant, Paul is suggesting that during his earthly tenure, Jesus was completely human, and not in any way divine. He was, however, the second Adam - a human rightly related to God throughout the entirety of his life.

As we read through the gospel, this means that the things we see Jesus doing are the types of things that God had always intended for people to do as people with His Spirit and in proper relationship with Him. The acts of Jesus, while they are unique inasmuch as they are rooted in a particular historical setting, are not unique types of actions. This is evidenced by the actions of several of the Old Testament prophets, such as Moses, Elijah, or Elisha (Elijah, for example, raises the dead in 1 Kgs 17:17-24, just as Jesus does for Lazarus in Jn 11:38-44).

It is quite common to suggest that one of (if not the) primary themes of Jesus' ministry was the Kingdom of God. Through his words and works, Jesus was expanding the Kingdom of God - the area of influence of the Lord's reign. The evidence of the appearance of the Kingdom is seen in the effect it has on people who come in contact with Jesus. "The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor" (Lk 7:22; cf. Isa 61). Essentially, Jesus leaves in his wake a territory that looks an awful lot like Eden. The effects of the Fall are reversed in Jesus' presence.

For us, to whom Jesus has left the Spirit of God, this means that we are charged with the same mission, to spread the Kingdom of God wherever we go, the essence of the Great Commission (Mt 28:19-20). It is therefore becoming more and more shocking to me that we do not see in many of our churches the same kinds of things that the prophets were doing or the same sorts of things that Jesus was doing or the same types of things that the apostles were doing after Pentecost. Increasingly, I end up asking myself why we do not see the tangible effects of the curse reversed in our churches, the very places we would expect the Kingdom of God to be intersecting this planet.

As an amateur surgeon, I think it's worth pursuing these goals wherever we go. It's worth chasing a dream that there will be no sickness or disease or blindness any place where I place my feet. For wherever I go, I should hope to bring the Kingdom of God with me. Let it be so.

Postmodernism and the State of Evangelicalism

The other day I was at Gordon College to hear a talk given by Dallas Willard, professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California. The subject, generally, was the state of evangelicalism today. Dr. Willard addressed the issue of postmodernism for evangelicals today, suggesting that (1) we have yet to truly see where postmodernists will go with their ideas (few, if any, are really saying anything new, historically speaking) and (2) Christians have an opportunity and an obligation to engage them at their own game, that is, with strong scholarship within the academy.

He said that he is seeing in his evangelical students at USC (and I assume that this is not particularly unique to the Trojans) an increasing desire to pursue scholarship with excellence. He is seeing more and more young men and women who believe that their calling as Jesus' disciples does not preclude them from becoming excellent scientists or philosophers or writers or anything other scholarly endeavor. His excitement for this prospect is one that I share.

And yet, Dr. Willard warned, these same students that seem so promising on one level simultaneously faced a rather precarious prospect. Many of those students, he is sure, will inevitably face hardship in their academic careers (or professional careers, for that matter). When they do, he asked, will they have the strength of character, rooted in Christ, to persevere through those temporal hardships? Will they recognize that a life in Christ is not necessarily about earning the greatest possible level of success in a chosen field? Or will they succumb to the pressures of the world that advises us to lie and cheat from time to time so that we can obtain a greater degree of influence "for Christ"? It's a good question.

The hallmark of evangelicalism, according to Dr. Willard's talk, is that we've always professed the possibility of a real, experiential relationship with God. We believe that's what the Bible offers through Jesus and many (I would hope all) of us would be able to describe our own relationships with the Divine in much the same way that we might describe our relationship with our spouses or best friends or colleagues. We have, from the start, differentiated ourselves from other brands of religion as a relationship that fundamentally changes our lives, from the inside out. We profess a connection with God that makes us into people with divine characters. The problem, he states, is that when the world has looked at much of our evangelical leadership lately, they have not seen the evidence of that transformed life (we could cite the fairly recent disclosures of a former leader of the National Association of Evangelicals).

That's the point: we can be the best scholars that we were created to be. We can pursue learning with as much vigor and ability that we've been given. And we should, to God's glory. And yet, if we have not the ever-transforming character of a true disciple of Christ, all our scholarship will reflect a life that is no more God-saturated than our neighbors who work hard with no regard for Jesus. One way or another, our lights are shining before humankind. The question is, what are we projecting through that light?

Luke 3:1-14 for Sunday School

Once upon a time, many many years ago, the world was ruled by a very powerful man named Tiberius. His kingdom stretched all the way from Spain and Portugal in the west, England in the north, Egypt in the south and a little place called Palestine in the east. Judea was in Palestine and Tiberius put a man named Pontius Pilate in charge there. Galilee, a region of Judea, was governed by Herod.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, Judea had never really been an important place. And Galilee was even less so. It was mostly just a place you had to pass through on your way to big important places like Babylon or Egypt.

But this is where the Jews lived. And the Jews believed with all their hearts that God had put them in that place for a reason. They believed firmly that God had chosen them out of all the powerful nations in the world to be His family. And you know what? They were right. God had selected them and made them special. As a result, several of the Jews worked very hard to make sure they were doing exactly what God wanted them to do.

And they did this, in part, because they believed that if they did all that God asked them to do, God would send them a new king that would make the Jews a great nation again. This king, many thought, would throw out Herod's men and Pilate's men and Tiberius' men. He would set up a new kingdom so that all the world would see just how great and powerful the Jews' God was.

That is the reason why, in this distant corner of the world, a lot of the Jews started taking trips into the desert to see John. Now John was kind of a funny man. He lived in the desert. He wore a shirt made from camel's hair and a big leather belt. John had never had a hair cut and he never trimmed his beard; they just kept growing and growing. And John ate the most peculiar food: locusts and honey! That's right! Honey covered grasshoppers! Still, people went to see him because of what he was saying and doing.

John set up camp along the Jordan River and people came to him and he would dunk them under the water. "Repent of your sinful lives!" He told them. "Turn around and listen to what God is saying!"

John was sounding an awful lot like something they had read in their Bibles. He sounded like someone that a prophet named Isaiah had written about: "A voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight paths for Him. Lift up every valley; flatten out the mountains and hills! Straighten out crooked roads; and smooth out the rough paths! And then comes God's salvation." You see, people were excited about John because they knew that if John was the one Isaiah talked about, then the king they hoped for would come along real soon.

But John knew that a lot of them were still really sinful people who didn't really trust God at all. "You snakes!" he called them. "Why do you come out here to see me? Start living like you actually trust God. And don't think that just because you're descendants of Abraham that God will save you. It's not your parents or grandparents that matter. It's how YOU live that makes you a part of God's family!"

The people were astonished and they knew they should change their lives. "What should we do?" they asked John.

"Share with others who don't have what you have," he answered. "Don't lie to people or cheat people. Don't take advantage of other people. That's what you need to do to get ready for God's king. It's bad news for those who don't."

How to Talk about Sin...

It has been argued lately that people don't like to talk about sin anymore, especially their own. It's quite possible that many, in fact, seriously question the usefulness of such a term, as if there were an authority to proclaim what is and is not sin.

Christian evangelists, faced with this (post?)modern mindset, consider this a significant problem as they try diligently to find an appropriate way to demonstrate the need for and effectiveness of Jesus' work. Put simply, how do you tell someone that Jesus has saved them from their sins if they either believe that sin is non-existent or, worse, arbitrarily defined?

I've begun to think that the way forward may actually be through a very different avenue. Rather than speaking of Jesus' work and ministry as one in which he came to save a world of desperate individuals, it may be more productive to speak of Jesus' ministry as a work for the benefit of humankind on the whole, which certainly encompasses the individual.

Whether convinced of their own sinfulness or not, most will agree that much of the rest of the world is in serious need of more than a little help. An old article from US News & World Report cites a study that demonstrates that while most people consider themselves positively, they simultaneously carry a rather bleak outlook toward the rest of the world: "Rich, poor, black, white, young, old - virtually all groups of Americans simultaneously hold sanguine views of themselves and pessimistic appraisals of others. One poll of university professors, for example, found that 94 percent of them thought that they were better at their job than was their average colleague" (David Whitman, "I'm OK, You're Not," US News & World Report 121, no. 24 [16 Dec 1996], 26; quoted in Marva J Dawn, Is It a Lost Cause?: Having the Heart of God for the Church's Children [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997], 28).

It may, then, be quite easy to have someone agree with you that, yes, the world is in a heap of trouble. It is from there that the story of God's work of restoration and redemption through Jesus may be told afresh to an ear that may be willing to listen.

Reflections

There have been oh-so-many puddles in England this summer. I thought it might be appropriate to take a minute to peer into one of them and reflect before I cross the pond once again.

It’s true that in many ways England and the United States are very similar places. Both are “western” nations and English speaking, and many things transfer from one country to the other – we got “The Office;” they got “The Simpsons.” But there are still so many ways in which Britain is a foreign country to me and there are things that I think a person can learn about himself through foreign travel. Ugly as they are, I believe I’ve become a bit more mindful of some of the prejudices I hold about any number of things, particularly related to nationalism. I have found myself in conversation about foreign affairs with people here and found myself immediately defending the United States and being quite proud of where I come from. On some level I think it is important to hold a level pf pride concerning your heritage, but upon reflection it seems that there aren’t always valid reasons for that pride or defense of our country. I don’t think it was really necessary to travel abroad to find other points of view, but being in this kind of a situation certainly does force it rather quickly. There really is no avoiding it when you leave your own country. I do think it’s necessary, even as Americans living in the United States, to be critical of our government’s policies, regardless of political affiliation. It seems all too easy to avoid this responsibility, however, if you never leave the country. This is especially crucial for us as Christians, I believe, since our nationality, ultimately, belongs to the Kingdom of God and not to any particular political body. If we are to then live responsibly where God has placed us, we must maintain a critical eye towards the nation we live in, not only for our own sake but for those around us as well.

There have been various times in my life when I’ve gone on these short-term opportunities - periods in which I know for certain that my time in a certain places is limited, that there is a fixed date for my departure. Working at a summer camp on three different occasions was similar to that. In those situations, it seems that your sense of “mission” is heightened. There is no question that you are in that place for a specific time for a specific purpose and it seems easier to maintain that focus. The same could be said for my time here in England. Knowing that three months was all the time I was afforded here, I think I was quite intentional about the way I interacted with people and the way I went about my work for Green Street Green. Now, as I return home, I wonder if I might be able to maintain that same sense of concentration in what I do in the States – a more definite sense of purpose in my schoolwork, in my relationships, in my church, and so on.

Finally, it was a great personal encouragement being here with these people. One of my bigger questions going into this experience had to do with my vocational goals. I was quite unsure of the way to proceed after seminary. Yet I’ve received a lot of encouragement from those here to pursue a career in teaching, which had been one of my considerations. Of course, I don’t know yet where I’ll do that – whether in secondary schools, colleges, or the local church – but in any case, it will be in the service of the Lord and His Church.

I do also want to give a hearty wish of gratitude to all of you who have kept up with my adventures in England, who have prayed for my time here, and who have offered words of encouragement from time to time. This has been a real blessing. I do look forward to coming back home, but I think I will always look back on this summer positively. Thank you all for helping with that. And if you could, please pray the next couple of days that my flight home would be smooth and safe. I'll see you all soon.

Soul Survivor

I ought to say a few things about my week at Soul Survivor, the largest youth festival in Britain. I'm thinking it's going to be somewhat difficult to do simply because there seem to be in my brain so many things I could say about it. Regardless, let's see where we get.

First, a brief description of the event. 10 or 11 thousand teens and youth workers descend on the Royal Bath and West Showground in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. It's in the middle of nowhere, but where else are you going to facilitate that many teenagers? Everyone camps throughout the week, which revolves around two-a-day meetings - one at 11:00 am, one at 7:00 pm - with seminars available in the morning and afternoon.

A typical meeting might go something like this: announcements to get people updated on any scheduling changes, followed by a short talk highlighting a specific ministry, like Slum Survivor, an initiative to get young people thinking about and raising money for the one billion people who live in slums all their lives; or a variety of gap year opportunities, in which a teen can spend a year working in ministry abroad before going off to university. Next, a lengthy set of worship music begins, usually lasting 30-45 mins. These are the main focus of the event, as the church that started Soul Survivor is the church from which Matt Redman ("Heart of Worhip," "Blessed Be Your Name") and Tim Hughes ("Light of the World [Here I Am to Worship]," "Beautiful One") came. In fact, Tim Hughes led a few of the worship sets and he is very good. After the first set of music, who knows what might happen. There was always a talk scheduled, but often the Holy Spirit would start working on people before the music stopped and so the talks were delayed to give room for God to do whatever it was He was going to do. More on this later. The talk that followed probably went for 20-30 mins and focused on the theme, "Into His Likeness" (the "likeness" being Jesus', since that's kind of the goal of Christianity, for people to be transformed more and more into Jesus' character [Rom. 8:29]). Next, another worship music set would follow and this was more or less indefinite. That is, it could have gone on all night so as to again give room for the Lord to what He was going to do in people (again, more on this later).

So that's more or less what it looked like. It also looked damp and dreary and chilly (at least for summer). It rained every day. One morning it was sunny, but when we left the morning meeting at 12:30, it was raining again. By the way, I've quit looking at the sky and asking "Why is it raining?" and instead started saying "Of course it's raining." We did have a caravan that we used to store food and cook meals and an enclosed awning in which to eat. And I think most of our stuff stayed dry in our tents, so the rain really didn't bother us much.

OK, now what really happened last week? Well, I think I can say with confidence that God met with each of us on some real personal levels. Each of the young people that came along with us were definitely touched at one time or another and certainly Penny and I were as well. And here's where the "giving space to God" thing comes in. I'll try to explain as best I can for those who may read this and wonder what I'm talking about.

I don't know if I could articulate it perfectly from a theological perspective, but when we worship Jesus, stuff happens (how's that for theological language?). I think what it comes down to is that when we worship and give wholehearted praise to the Lord, we do something like opening doors to our heart that give permission for the Holy Spirit to come and "sort us out." I think anyone who has done any kind of work with people long-term understands that at the core, people rarely change, especially by our own efforts. But this is something that our Creator does exceptionally well, especially if we give Him room to do so. So in worship, it's like inviting Him to rearrange our attitudes or heal our scars or our pain or do whatever else He knows needs to happen to further conform us into Jesus' likeness.

At the Soul Survivor meetings, this didn't necessarily have to happen in conjunction with talks or sermons, it was just through the praising of our God. You see, we'd be singing at the top of our lungs for 30 minutes or so and then you'd start hearing people here and there crying or screaming and you knew that the Holy Spirit was starting to heal old wounds as a surgeon might work on our physical bodies, which is likewise briefly painful (but for good reason). And as this started to happen, we simply prayed that God would continue and do more. And sure enough, it wasn't long before more people would be touched by the Lord. What's really remarkable, I think, is that none of this was at the prompting of those running the meetings. There was literally no coercion involved.

Maybe I can describe this better with a personal story. For most of the week, I was blessed simply by being able to praise God loudly and freely without having to have anything prepared ahead of time (I had been leading worship regularly at church for the last year, where I'd have to have some kind of responsibility during church - it can be difficult to worship and lead at the same time, but not impossible). If that's all that had happened, I'd have been satisfied. But on the last night, in which there was no teaching, I simply asked God what, if anything, He had for me. Background interruption: for many reasons, I think I've consistently had problems approaching the Lord as a loving and gracious Father, as He is described in the Bible. This, I think, has also affected the way in which I interact with male authority figures. I can do it on a business level, but it's difficult for me to do that relationship on a personal level. Back to present: shortly after I prayed, I found myself whispering to myself or to God or both, "Don't leave me Father, don't leave me Father," again and again. Before long I found myself weeping, but not with sadness. Rather, I think it came from an overwhelming realization that indeed He wouldn't and that at that moment He was in the process of wrapping His arms around me in a way that made it possible to trust Him with my tears. I'm not exactly sure how long this went on. 30 mins? 45? I don't know. But when I finally opened my eyes, I just felt lighter. It's that simple. When that process began, I could tell that a few people had gathered around me to pray for me even though my eyes were closed, but none of them prayed out loud. None of them knew what it was I was going through. I'm confident that all they really prayed was that God would keep up whatever He was doing, giving Him room to work.

Anyway, that's a quick glimpse of Soul Survivor, which has certainly been one of the highlights of this season in England. The pictures included are one of the meetings and a few of the youth that came from Green Street Green. I come home in a week, so I'll try to post again this week with some broad reflections. Peace.

The Son of Encouragement

Hello everyone,

Quickly, I want to put a note out there before I go away to Soul Survivor and can't get to my computer for the next week.

This morning Penny and I led the service at GSG and it went really well. We were discussing the falling out between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. Barnabas wants to take John Mark along on the next journey, but Paul refuses because John Mark had abandoned them once before. Paul, though he's a great hero in the church, gets it wrong here, I think. It's Barnabas who chooses to invest in John Mark when he was a "risky investment," which, of course, is a real Christ-like way of treating him. I mean, how many of us have deserved Christ's love? Um, none. And yet, he loves us and pours his Spirit into us regardless of our history. As Christians, then, it's our responsibility to pour into others in turn, just as Barnabas had done for Paul (Acts 9) and then for John Mark (Acts 15). Anyway, that's what we talked about. The Lord was really there and I think it really impacted some people in a positive way.

Tomorrow Penny and I leave for Soul Survivor for a week. I've still got tons of washing and packing to do before then. But please pray for us and the youth that are coming along. Pray that we all be touched by God there. Thanks everyone. I'll report on it all when I get back.