11 Resolutions

I am currently making my way through "The Pleasures of God" by John Piper (2000, Multnomah Books, pps. 95-96) and he cites a lecture by Clyde Kilby where he delivered up 11 resolutions that caused me to pause and think. I list them here, as recorded by Piper:

1. I shall sometimes look back at the freshness of vision I had in childhood and try, at least for a little while, to be, in the words of Lewis Carroll, the 'child of the pure unclouded brow, and dreaming eyes of wonder.'
2. At least once every day I shall look steadily up at the sky and remember that I, a consciousness with a conscience, am on a planet traveling in space with wonderfully mysterious things above and about me.
3. Instead of the accustomed idea of a mindless and endless evolutionary change to which we can neither add nor subtract, I shall suppose the universe guided by an intelligence which, as Aristotle said of Greek drama, requires a beginning, a middle, and an end. I think this will save me from the cynicism expressed by Bertrand Russell before his death, when he said, 'There is darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within. There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment, and then nothing.'
4. I shall not fall into the falsehood that this day, or any day, is merely another ambiguous and plodding twenty-four hours, but rather a unique event, filled, if I so wish, with worthy potentialities. I shall not be fool enough to suppose that trouble and pain are wholly evil parentheses in my existence, but, just as likely, ladders to be climbed toward moral and spiritual manhood.
5. I shall not turn my life into a thin straight line, which prefers abstractions to reality. I shall know what I am doing when I abstract, which of course, I shall often have to do.
6. I shall not demean my own uniqueness by envy of others. I shall stop boring into myself to discover what psychological or social categories I belong to. Mostly i shall simply forget about myself and do my work.
7. I shall open my eyes and ears. Once every day I shall simply stare at a tree, a flower, a cloud or a person. I shall not then be concerned at all to ask what they are, but simply be glad that they are. I shall joyfully allow them the mystery of what Lewis calls their 'divine, magical, terrifying, and ecstatic' existence.
8. I shall follow Darwin's advice and turn frequently to imaginative things such as good literature and good music, preferably, as Lewis suggests, an old book and timeless music.
9. I shall not allow the devilish onrush of this century to usurp all my energies but will instead, as Charles Williams suggested, 'fulfill the moment as the moment.' I shall try to live well just now because the only time that exists is now.
10. If for nothing more than the sake of a change of view, I shall assume my ancestry to be from the heavens rather than from the caves.
11. Even if I turn out to be wrong, I shall bet my life on the assumption that this world is not idiotic, neither run by an absentee landlord, but that today, this very day, some stroke is being added to the cosmic canvas that in due course I shall understand with joy as a stroke made by the Architect who calls himself Alpha and Omega.

What would you resolve on today? Or do you (as I do) find that nothing is resolved upon and life is therefore somewhat random.

"For I resolved to know while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." - 1 Corinthians 2:2

Psalm 119:60 - How Long Before Want-To Becomes Will-Do.

“I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.” - Psalm 119:60

I've noticed a curious trend in my driving. There is a delay between the time when I recognize the new speed limit (as showing by the road signs) and the time that my foot eases off of the pedal. There is a curious reluctance, which I can only attribute to my stubborn desire to drive faster-without limits.

Sometimes it is that way for me with God. My mind lingers. My mouth continues. My eyes pursue. My heart remains cold. I know where God's path is; my intent is to follow; yet there is lag time in my soul. Paul describes this in Romans 7:

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. - Romans 7:22-23

My prayer today: God trim the lag time between knowing what you want and doing what you want. God heal the attitude that clings, even for the briefest moment, to the wrong.

Daniel 1: World Changers

(this was preached at Cornerstone on 5/22)

In one of the songs behind the video is “The Words I Would Say”

Be strong in the Lord and never give up hope. You’re gonna do great things, I already know. God’s got his hand on you, so don’t live life in fear. Forgive and forget, but don’t forget why you’re here. Take your time and pray. These are the words I would say.

It says, “don’t live life in fear” but obviously he was never a parent about to send off someone to college or to live on their own. You’ve watched someone grow and mature over 17 or 18 years and they are so infinitely precious and you’ve worked and prayed that you would be ready for this moment, but now they are at the age when they can choose to ignore you and, what’s worse, is that they do. Just to be clear, I am *not* talking about my own daughter Shannon, because I was given explicit instructions to not use her in a sermon illustration…oh, wait.

So, as a semi-distraught father of a soon-to-graduate unnamed individual going out into the big-bad world, and given the job of speaking from God’s word a challenge, the Spirit directed me to the book of Daniel which describes a young man and his friends who are sent to get their education, in Babylon. Now that’s a college road trip. And why do they have to call it a bachelor’s degree, anyway? Anyway, back to Daniel.

The story picks up in Daniel, chapter 1.

1.    The Situation Is Bad, But God Is Good

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god. – Daniel 1:1-2

In these few verses, God gives us a bleak and ugly picture of the physical and spiritual condition of the nation of Israel.

1.     First, there is the king Jehoiakim. Who is Jehoiakim? Well, his dad was Josiah, the last of the godly kings of the southern part of Israel, called Judah. During this time, Israel occupied an important trade route between the Babylonians and Chaldeans to the east and north and the nation of Egypt to the south.

So Jehoiakim had a godly heritage from his father, but things went downhill fast. First, his brother, Jehoahaz gets captured by the Egyptians and will later die in exile. Then, in a game of international abusive relationships, Jehoiakim ping-pongs back and forth between friendship with the Babylonians and the Egyptians. Eventually, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gets tired and attacks and Jehoiakim is killed, his body tossed over the wall by his own people. So much for the king of Israel, God’s chosen man.

2.     Second, there is the temple. During this whole process, all of the valuable items that had been made for the temple, the gold and silver, the special plates and bowls and instruments used in the worship ceremonies of the temple are all given away to the Babylonians and they put them all in the temple of their god. So, in the eyes of many people, God is defeated and his worship services stop.

3.     Third, there is the city of Jerusalem. Zion. The original city on a hill. The place where God put his name. The army comes in, sacks the city and thousands and thousands of residents are lined up, chained together and marched off into exile.

If I was keeping score at this point, I would say Babylon, 1. Israel, 0. Babylon’s gods, 1. Yahweh, 0. God’s king killed or exiled. His temple defiled. His worship stopped. His city stripped and occupied by a foreign power.

Sometimes that’s the way it looks to us. World 1, Us, 0. Secularism, 1, God, 0.  Life, 1, Lewis Family 0. Many times, it is my own choices that bring me to this place of failure. For years, the Israelites had been playing around with worshiping the gods of the countries around them. Is it any surprise that one day, they would fall to one of those countries? We who take the name Christian dabble in the worship of popularity, and money, and sex and success and security and comfort. We secretly long for these things. Is it any wonder that one day, we find ourselves conquered? Is it any wonder that Christ-ians can drag down the name of Christ because of our divided loyalties?

But, when the situation is bad, God is still good.

“…if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” – 2 Timothy 2:13

 And more often than not, I am not the victim. I am the willing participant in my own downfall. My choices, my decisions, my attitudes, my words

2. You Are Going Where God Will Meet You

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility – Daniel 1:3

After the sack of Jerusalem, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar tells his chief of staff to gather up members of the leading families for a free, all-expenses-paid trip to Babylon…in chains. They would never return to Jerusalem; never see the temple of God again; never see their families again; dragged from their home to the home of people who had raped and looted and pillaged Jerusalem. The Bible records one of their songs of sadness and bitterness in Psalm 137:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?  If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.

Remember, LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. “Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!” Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. – Psalm 137

They are hurt. They are devastated. They are angry. And they face a disappointing future. And worst of all, it is their own fault.

Sometimes we end up in places we never thought we would see. The man divorced finds himself sitting alone on a couch; the dorm room; the homeless shelter; the smaller apartment; the hospital room or hospice care; the strange bed; the wheelchair; the foster home; the unemployment office; the AA meeting. 

We create our plans for the future. We forecast the future. We pay thousands of dollars per year in college tuition in order to manipulate the future of our children. Some make lavish weddings in vain tribute to future marital success. But then life happens. And we don’t end up where we thought we would.

We don’t know where we are going. But we know that God is there. And we know that God has the ability to take advantage of any situation, starting right now. Listen to these words that God gave to these exiles as they left their home, through the prophet Jeremiah:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:11-13

3. You Are Ambassadors To A Broken World

…young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace.  He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. Among those who were chosen were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. – Daniel 1:3-7

This plan of the Babylonians was not without design. You take the best and brightest from the city of Jerusalem and you take them away from home and their family. You give them the good life. You teach them the best of literature, languages, mathematics, and science for a few years. You give them a new mission as an official in the largest of the Middle Eastern empires. You help them forge a new identity by giving them a new name. Soon, by blood they were Israelites, but culturally they would become Babylonian.

Sounds like college. Separated from your family. The best and the brightest of El Dorado Hills. Give them free room and board. Teach them the best of literature and science and mathematics. Prepare them for positions of importance in the world. Craft a new identity. Soon, by blood they might be the same, but culturally, what have they become?

The world has a plan for your life, whether it’s at school, work or home. The world has a path of success, and each step along that path is positively reinforced for good behavior and negatively reinforced for straying. The world is filled with fun, likeable, intelligent people.

But the world got ambushed by Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Babylon thought it was going to press these four followers of Yahweh into the jello mold that stamped out good little Babylonians. But because of their trust in the power of God and their unwavering devotion, they would break the mold.

But they didn’t do it by avoiding the culture. In fact, they couldn’t avoid the culture. They were dunked in it. No culture is good or bad per se, but all cultures are twisted by persistent sin patterns. No culture is right or wrong per se, but God is working redemptively in each culture. We all have a culture; a collective pattern of habits and expectations that we share. We are all placed in a culture. My wife Helen grew up in Filipino culture. I grew up here in American culture. In the Philippines, the husband’s family pays for the wedding. In America, the wife’s family pays for the wedding. That’s why we got married here. No, not really… But regardless of which culture, the culture of marriage is broken and scarred by sin and needs to be transformed.  I’ve been married into Filipino culture for 20 years, and was a member of a Filipino congregation for 4 more, and I am still surprised by what I don’t know. I’ve been in American culture my entire life. Both are flawed and need redemption, but at different places.

Look at Daniel and his friends: they learned the “language” of Babylon. Then, 3 years later, when they speak to the king, Nebuchadnezzar, they are able to converse with him in his own language, Babylonian. They were ambassadors. They were go-betweens. They would be the translators of heaven. And time and time again in the book of Daniel, he and his friends are called in to interpret for God, making his words and even his handwriting (Daniel 5).

This was God’s invasion plan. Young men and young women, sold out for Jesus, conversant in the culture, transforming the world with the gospel from the inside out. That is the invasion plan.  

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. – Matthew 16:18 (ESV)

Sometimes we read this verse as if the church has to hunker down and fight off the attacks of hell. But read it again. It is the church who is storming the gates of hell, not hiding in some holy bunker. And God is doing it by placing us into the schools, the businesses, the government, communities and countries where He wants to make a difference. Jesus wasn’t some rabbi guru hiding on the mountain, waiting for people to somehow find him; he was a tradesman and a rabbi, right in the midst of the people.

We are the ambassadors. We are the invasion force.

4. You Will Be Tested By The World

But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” – Daniel 1:8-10

Babylon was not exactly a believer-friendly environment. For the rest of the Bible, all the way through Revelation, the term “Babylon” would be used to describe a depraved society, opposed to the ways of God. But strangely enough, this was where God had brought these four young men. Jesus said:

My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. – John 17:15

The reason for protection was that the world tests your commitment.  It tests your commitment to follow God’s purpose. It tests your commitment to God’s way. It presents numerous questions about the right way to deal with tricky situations. And, frankly, God’s reputation wasn’t looking so good. Remember what we learned at the beginning of the chapter. God’s king deposed. God’s temple defiled. God’s city sacked and looted. God’s people deported. Next to the cross, this was the real low point in divine history. So, if Daniel was looking to chuck God and choose something else, this would be the time.

And it’s not like this was some big issue. What’s up with those strange dietary laws in the Old Testament anyway? And was that veggie and water diet really necessary? I mean, what’s a little pork, a little blood sausage? And who is watching anyway?

But what did Daniel do? He resolved. Before he got into the tough situation, he resolved not to cross certain boundaries. And in this case, he could not be sure about whether the strict requirements of God’s law regarding food were being followed. No matter how people felt about God at the moment, in his current environment, he resolved to follow the same commands he knew at home.

This was the real test to see whether his faith belonged to him.

1.     Here comes the court official; a sympathetic friend, one who has been with Daniel since his arrival. He says, “I’d love to help you, but…” He is sympathetic, but he is a slave. A slave to fear. No matter where you travel, you will find people like this guy, who are nice people, generally good people, but when it comes down to it, they are slaves to fear. Fear of someone’s opinion; fear of discomfort. Sympathetic but a Slave. Nice But No Guts.

2.     Then what happened to all of the other young men and women who were brought from Jerusalem? Why were there only four? Why only Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah? Maybe for those others, every Sabbath they went to synagogue, because their parents got them out of bed on time, and made sure they didn’t stay up too late the night before. But here in Babylon, whoa, no alarm clocks or alarming parents, you know I think I’ll just sleep in. The faith was just parent forced… Read the Bible? I’ll catch up on that later. Pray? Sure, before my final exam.

Daniel’s faith was his own. No matter that his parents were gone, and the people around him thought it was weird and his boss didn’t care, and his acquaintances thought it was a chance for the good life. And, based on that faith, he resolved.

Now is the time to make your decision. Before someone closes the bedroom door. Before they hand you the pill. Before you open that e-mail or link. Before you repeat the hurtful words. Before you slip it into your pocket. Resolve now. Because while it may seem like a small thing, it is really just the first test. We haven’t gotten to the big test, where Daniel can decide to keep up the habit of praying to God, or he can go to the lion’s den. We haven’t gotten to the big test, where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego can either follow the thousands bowing down to the king’s statue, or they can go to the fiery furnace.  No one fails the big tests without slipping up on a series of small tests first. Tossing out the pizza is just the first step.

Resolve now. Here’s what Paul said about focus:

 Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor’s crown unless he competes according to the rules.  – 2 Timothy 2:3-5

5. When You Obey, You Learn

 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.  At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead. To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. – Daniel 1:11-17

Let me tell what this is not: it is not a recommendation that all Christians should run out and become vegetarians. Nor is it a condemnation of Persian food. But does show that God rewards obedience.

Many times when you are put in a new situation, when you first start thinking about God, when you move to a new place, a new school or a new job, God will allow a test to come. Sometimes it will be a new thing, or it might be a repeat of an earlier issue you have dealt with. It might be minor, it might be major but it will definitely be customized. Because God cares less about whether you win, or whether you are comfortable than he is to show out what kind of person you are. Tests do that, in school and in life.

5.1 Resolve To Be With Others

Even though Daniel resolved alone, he didn’t stay alone. Verse 8 says “Daniel resolved…” but verse 11 indicates that the four of them had resolved and were taking the test together (“Please test your servants…”). In this new and difficult environment, these four banded together. Commitments shared are far more likely to succeed, because there is accountability. After the ten days of the test “they” looked healthier and better nourished.

When my family moved here to El Dorado Hills 11 years ago, we were aware that this was not our home town. We were in a new place, but our first instinct was to find a church and on our first Sunday, we were here. Why? Because God’s people are here and I…we need you to make it through life in this place. Some of you are planning to move away this year. Some of you are not planning to move away this year but God will move you anyway. Let me challenge you that you need to find a church, first Sunday, and then not just as an observer, but as one willing to serve.

5.2 First You Obey, Then You Learn

Don’t miss this. Daniel obeyed. He turned the test around. And it was to these young people (the ones who obeyed) that God gave knowledge and understanding. They were smart already. They were educated already. But God doubled the measure of their blessing after they obeyed. Trusting God in obedience was not, as so many presume, an act of shutting down their brains; of narrow thinking. Trusting God in obedience actually made them ready to learn from God. There is no such thing as spiritual truth. There is just truth.

In my 20 years as a computer programmer and a dozen patents filed, it has been clear that I am not the inventor of new ideas, rather I am the discoverer of ideas. How many times I have struggled with my job, trying to solve a difficult problem, when I will stop and pray (usually after my wife Helen says, “Why don’t you pray about it?” Wise woman) I stop and pray and after a short or long time, the kernel of an idea germinated in my brain? I am convinced that he gives me a glimpse, however imperfect, into the genius of God.

Here’s the point: before you go for that degree or masters or AP class, go for obedience. The best learners are those who have first obeyed God.

…because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. – James 1:5

6. When You Serve, You Change The World

At the end of the time set by the king to bring them into his service, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.  And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus. – Daniel 1:18-21

If you want to change the world, you must learn how to serve. Daniel and his friends are brought in before the king, after their 3 year intern program, to see whether they were fit for the job. This is their final exam; it’s an oral exam with the most powerful man in the kingdom. The test will be in Babylonian, will cover a huge range of topics and you are competing with the most brilliant thinkers and politicians in the entire kingdom.

The final test is not whether you choose this major or that major; the final test is not whether you go to this school or that school; the final test is not even what grade someone will give you or what job you will end up with or what city you live in. The final test is what God you will serve. If you serve the God who came as a servant, Jesus, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, then you will pass the testing of your faith. But if you settle for the lesser gods of comfort, success, being liked, or thrill, you will ultimately be disappointed.

God used many men and women who were extremely talented and intelligent and good looking. But what he really needed was someone who was willing to serve someone else, even when that person wasn’t so godly. Joseph served Pharoah, Mordecai advised Xerxes, Nehemiah checked Artaxerxes’ cup for poison, Daniel administered for Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, one of the Mary’s served Herod and, of course, Jesus came to earth, “taking on the form of a servant.” Put yourself in 2^nd place and make someone else look good. God will take care of your reputation where it counts.

Maybe this morning, you have realized that you never had that faith of your own; you have relied on your parents or your friends to prod you along to do the right thing. If so, today is the day to graduate to a faith that is all your own. They can’t get you to heaven, they can only point you in the right direction: to Jesus. Jesus changed the world by laying down his life to make up for my foolish, selfish choices and yours. Now Jesus says, “Come, follow me” If you realize you’ve never accepted his invitation, just stop now and tell him.

Here is what God told the people of Jerusalem who were taken away to Babylon:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:  “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” – Jeremiah 29:4-7

Maybe this morning or this week, you came here complaining to God about where he put you. But God told his people, settle in, grow, and multiply. Sometimes we are so busy complaining about how terrible, ungodly and hell-bent the city, or state, or nation that we live in that we just write the whole thing off. Well, frankly, I don’t know where we rank on the Babylon scale, but I do know that God said to them: “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you…because if it prospers, you too will prosper” God didn’t put you here so that you could wish to be somewhere else!

Maybe you are one of those about to start a new chapter in your life. Time to start praying, because it will be a test. It will be a test of your faith, not anyone else’s. Time to find that trustworthy band of believers, a church who will help you when you resolve ahead of time not to stray from God’s purpose and plan for you. Time to serve, because it is the servants who change the world. Will you resolve now?

Epilogue

Daniel lived to see the end of the story. Verse 21 says, “And Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.” We know from the book of Ezra that this was the year that King Cyrus ordered the exiles to return and rebuild the temple of God. Remember their sad, bitter song before? Now listen to their new song, from Psalm 126.

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Restore our fortunes, LORD, like streams in the Negev. Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them. – Psalm 126

Daniel got to see it. His service extended long enough to see God purify and restore his people.

1 John 3:16: "What Love Is" (Part 2!)

I ended up converting my devotional thoughts into the sermon for the sunrise Easter service at Cornerstone. These are my sermon notes, so some of the stories are not listed out fully.

What Love Is

1 John 3:16

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. – 1 John 3:16

Introduction

It was a morning like this one. In the pre-dawn twilight Mary goes down to the grave, carrying the spices and perfumes that would be used to anoint the body of Jesus. They were the same spices that she had carried just a few weeks before for her brother, Lazarus, after he died. They were the same perfumes that she had poured over the feet of Jesus and wiped with her hair, when he forgave her and sent her away in peace.

Now she comes out of the city, to the tomb-a cave in the hillside. The body was wrapped hurriedly before the Friday sunset that marked the start of the Sabbath day. Two of Jesus’ prominent followers laid the body, torn by the piercings and beatings and spears, onto a shelf in that cave. There, per Jewish burial customs, it would remain for a year until the family returned to claim the bones and place them into a special box, called an ossuary. Jesus’ enemies posted Roman guards and sealed the tomb to make sure no one could break in and steal the body.

So , as the sun rises, Mary comes. Not alone. There is another Mary, James and Joseph’s mom. There is Joanna, the wife of Herod’s household manager. And Salome.  Fearful. Disappointed. Hopeless. Taking comfort together, they are hoping the guards will make an exception and roll away the stone and allow this one last act of devotion.

But when they got there, there were no guards. There was no stone. There is no body. There is no Jesus. In a comical scene, Mary doesn’t recognize him. Even though he has spent time at her brother’s house. Even though she watched him suffer on the cross. Even though she washed his feet…It is not until Jesus speaks and she hears the sound of his voice, that she knows that it is Jesus and not a gardener or grave robber.

It sort of begs the question: would we recognize Jesus if he were here this morning? We don’t even have the advantages that Mary had: We have never seen him. We have never heard his voice. We have some clues; we have written records of his patterns of behavior, we would have to use careful observation to see whether our “suspect” matched up with the rap sheet we had on him.

How Do We Know What Love Is?

This is how we know what love is… - 1 John 3:16a

Love is not our native language. Selfishness is. Sin is. Every conversation, every action seeks to reorient the world (relationships, spiritual lives, thoughts) so that it revolves around us.

The good news is: the Bible has no illusions about what we are really like. The people who put down the words in the Bible didn’t try to hide the fact that we all, whether followers of Jesus or not, get it wrong. 

The good news is: when God begins his work in us, he begins the renewal process-the regeneration process-so that we can reject the impulses of sin. The first fruit of the spirit is love.

But even if we can love, we don’t know how to love. Just as we need to teach our children that whacking them on the side of the head is not “loving”--we all need to learn, because the habits of selfishness are so deeply ingrained in our character. So, the writer John helps us out in 1^st John 3:16, where he writes: “This is how we know what love is…”

Love Is…My Life > Jesus’ Life

…Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. – 1 John 3:16b

So, how do we know? By imitation.

When a baby duckling hatches out from its egg, it imprints on the first thing it sees. It usually sees its mama duck, walk likes she walks, quacks like she quacks, swims where she swims. The duckling learns its pattern of life from the mama duck, a pattern it will use the rest of its life.

We are like that, except that something has gone horribly wrong. Instead of imprinting on God our Father, we have imprinted on almost anything else imaginable. That is sin. Our pattern of life is set by that imprint.

But, incredibly, God gives us a chance—I believe he gives us each a chance during our lives—to reverse the pattern—the imprint—and get it right this time. We don’t get to throw off all patterns and live without. That isn’t the way we are made. But we can choose again whether to imprint on God or elsewhere. The Bible calls this “the new birth” or “being born again”

You see, we don’t know what love is by default, but we can learn to walk like Jesus walked, speak as Jesus spoke, live like he lived. And we know this, not as an impassive, external observer who watches what love is like with some sort of emotional, spiritual microscope. No, we know this because we are the beneficiary of Jesus’ love which considered our life is more important than his own.

And that is the pattern. That is the imprint. That is the seed. That is trying to grow and fruit in your life and mine. 

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:11.

Now, we could stop there and dwell on how wonderful it is that we are loved by God.

But John doesn’t leave it at that. In his meddling sort of way, John expects the response to Jesus’ love is not just to bask in the warmth of the heavenly glow, but lead to us acting like Jesus acted. There is an implication; there is a result; there is a response that says: if we are loved so greatly, we should respond in three specific ways:

Love Is…Their Life > My Life

…And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. – 1 John 3:16c

First, if we want to know what love is and we want to imitate Jesus, we need to have the same regard for others that Jesus had for us. If Jesus acted so that our lives more valuable than his, he also asks that we consider others’ lives more valuable than ours. So, are we lovers or are we leeches? Are we blood suckers or blood donors?

But let’s get practical here. There are a lot of needy people in the world. There are a lot of needy people just in my family, and among my friends and acquaintances. I only have one life to lay down. I just don’t have the time or the energy to “lay down my life” for everybody. I’m not God.

So what are we supposed to do? Let me make two comments here:

1.      Sometimes we aren’t asking this question with honest motives. Sometimes we are asking because we would like to reserve some right to “have fun” or “do our own thing” or “avoid pain”. We would like to keep our God devotion to some level where we do enough so we don’t feel too guilty, but not enough where it would make us do something uncomfortable. When selfishness gets ahold of our spirituality, faith stops being the spark that lights our fuse and becomes the cement that reaffirms our mediocrity.  Don’t lie to yourself.

2.      Sometimes we are exhausted loving the people God has given near us. We were talking about this in our small group and, as I looked around the table after we’d prayed, I realized what an amazing way God was using them, both in their families and at work and I realized how maxed out we all are. I would be doing a disservice if I made people feel guilty who are already maxed out. My goal is not to lay down my life for the world. That’s Jesus’ job.  But my experience is that those of us who have pushed ourselves to the utmost of what we can give, find that God expands our ability to love to one more. So we should always look for that one more, who we can encircle with the love of God.

John says that if really see how much God loves us, there is a sort of no-holds-barred attitude to giving ourselves for others:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! – 1 John 3:1a

But still I hold back. How do I look? How do people think about me?

·        Is it really about whether you look good or not? For the God of the universe, Jesus looked pretty bad up on that cross, so that you could be presented unbroken and unstained at the end of your life. Can you help the broken be whole, even if it makes you look bad?

·        Is it really about whether you win or not? Whether you get the credit or not? Recently, whenever I’ve had a disagreement with my wife, Helen, I’ve had to stop and tell myself: this is not about me being right, or justified, or  looking like I’ve got it together.  

Love Is…Their Life > My Stuff

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? – 1 John 3:17

Second, when we know what love is about, we realize not only that their life is more important than our life, but their life is more important than our stuff.

John Piper, in his book “Don’t Waste Your Life” comments on the “story from the February 1998 edition of Reader’s Digest, which tells about a couple who took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells. At first, [Piper] thought it might be a joke. A spoof on their American dream. But it wasn’t. Tragically this was the dream: Come to the end of your life-your one and only precious, God-given life-and let the last great work of your life, before you give an account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ and the great day of judgment: “Look, Lord. See my shells.” That is a tragedy.”[1]

John asks ‘How can the love of God be in that person?’ Let me give you an illustration. In computers, the most basic building blocks, transistors, are built up into logic gates. These gates transform one or more inputs on one side into an output on the other side. For example, an AND gate says: IF this input is TRUE AND this input is TRUE, THEN the output will be TRUE. But if either input is FALSE, the output will be FALSE. On the other hand, an OR gate says: IF either this input TRUE OR that input is TRUE, then the output will be TRUE. Only if both are FALSE is the output FALSE. The relationship between the inputs and the outputs is called a TRUTH table.

Now, let’s look again at John’s TRUTH table. What are the inputs? He says: IF ‘anyone has material possessions’ AND (there’s the AND gate) ‘sees a brother or sister in need’.  What is the output? ‘No pity’

Imagine for a moment, someone gave you a random computer chip from a bucket and said: you figure out what kind of chip this is. So you, being the good computer scientist who knows your truth tables, begin to test by trying different sorts of inputs and watching the outputs you get. By comparing those results against the TRUTH tables, you can determine what sort of chip you don’t have until you find an exact match.

John’s conclusion: If you have the stuff, and you see the need and the output is not pity, then the TRUTH table says: must not be a person who has experienced the love of God. Because someone with their inner workings revolutionized by the inventor of souls give some other output.

When John talks about us like this, he reminds me of another sort of computer chip. This sort of chip takes any number of valid inputs and produces no output. We call it a NOP or “No Operation” A placeholder. The Bible says that, if you have the blessings, the means and you see the need, but there is no pity, your soul is, in effect, a big fat NOP. A paperweight. A dead-end.

You know, the best estate sales are also the saddest. Beautiful stuff, useful now only to the highest bidder. Reexamine your walk-in closet, your storage unit, your freezers, pantries, boats, your parked cars, front and back yards, your IRA, bank account and your time card. Compare that to the needs of your brothers and sisters, and beyond. Because their life is more important than your stuff.

Love Is…Action > Words, Truth > Rhetoric

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:18

Third, when we know what love is about, it moves our motor, not just our mouth.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:18

Someone once said that there are two types of people: those who believe that words mean something and those who don’t.  Preachers and politicians unfortunately fall in the former category together.  It’s not that John doesn’t believe in the power of words. After all we’re reading his book and he even called Jesus ‘the Word’ (‘In the beginning was the Word’ (John 1:1). But John knows how easy it is to substitute words for real compassion. Just make the right sounds, the right speech, to make it sound like you really care.

Husbands, you know exactly what I’m talking about (or at least you’ve heard about this), that if you make the right agreeable sounds and nod at the right point, you can sort of float through the conversation with your wife. But at some point, there is the dreaded pause or the key word that signals that you are expected to respond with more than agreeable words or platitudes or “yes, dear” Now you race through your short-term memory to piece together what your wife was saying to figure out what you’re going to do.

This verse is exactly that point is God’s conversation with you. “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

1.      Your Family. Families seem like dysfunctional need bundles sometimes. God is redeeming your family through you. How will you act?

2.      Your Community. So many are lonely, powerless and hurting. God is redeeming this community through you. How will you act? (Block Party, Help-A-Neighbor)

3.      Your School and Office. Widgets and sales quotas and grades. What profits it someone if he gains all the good grades or promotion and forfeits their soul? So many are forfeiting their soul. God save us from the American dream. God is redeeming your school and your office through you. How will you act?

4.      Your World. God is redeeming your world through you. How will you act?

Conclusion

So where is the gospel in all of this? John said, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” Sometimes Christians get (rightly so) accused of hit-and-run evangelism, show up long enough to hand out a tract or give a prepared speech, but not long enough-not to love. Isn’t sharing the gospel loving? Yes, but it is not all of loving. Remember, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” I know it’s not all of loving because I know how those I love and how I treat them.  I lay down my life for their every need.  Four times in the gospel, it says that Jesus had compassion on the people. In three of them, the result was food or healing. In one, it was teaching. It is never one or the other, it is both.

The Bible says that when we come to Christ, the Spirit of God is like a seed planted in our hearts. And when that seed matures in our lives, it produces fruit: “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23)

The fruit is the seed bearer. The fruit is the nurture and nutrition to help that seed sprout. When we lay down our lives; when we shed our stuff for another; those acts of love go with the word of God to provide the fertile environment where God’s truth takes root.

Thirteen years ago or so, a little girl and her mother came and stayed with us for what turned out to be a month in our little house in Fremont, because of family and marriage struggles. A few years ago, during my family’s travels, we went to see her again. She was getting ready to start college, so we brought her a Bible. We keep in touch, but college was getting ahold of her. Then recently we started seeing signs that something was changing. Then she wrote this note to my wife: “Auntie Helen, I want to thank you for the kind notes. I was recently in a Christian bookstore and I wanted to buy a Bible, but didn’t have enough money because I also wanted to buy Crazy Love and I Kissed Dating Goodbye. So I went home and I found the Bible you gave me before, still in its box.” Truth and action together.

When we visited my wife’s family, we left a Bible with one of her aunts. Not much interest. This year, we had a chance to help her family in a small way. Helen was talking to her on the phone later and she said, “I never thought about God, but now I find I am praying all the time. When can you come again and convert me?” Did we help her family so that she would listen? No, we did it because we love our family. But that love packaged with truth, is the fertile ground in which the Spirit of God can work. Truth and action together.

What a difference a sunrise made for Mary. Darkness to light. Despair to hope. Death to life. Easter morning is the promise that the life that exhaust, Jesus replenishes. He told Mary, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.”(John 11:25)

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[1] Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper, p. 46

1 John 3:16: "This Is What Love Is"

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. - 1 John 3:16

A while back, it was annual review time at my company. In addition to being reviewed by peers and boss, each employee is reponsible to review themselves. This is always a tricky business, especially if your opinion of yourself varies greatly from that of other people. So I tend to evaluate myself very rigorously against the standards listed and fill in a few of my more glaring defects. But then my boss had to come back and write lots of explanatory text. Why? I didn't help him enough by writing about my many accomplishments.

Our culture expects us to be self-promoting. We are encouraged to act as our own PR agencies, constantly looking for a way to look good or, at least, not look bad. Promote what is good, hide what is bad.

But the Bible says that this attitude is antithetical to love. Love is self-diminishment on behalf of another. Paradoxically, in God's economy, the very giving away of our selves is the means to our own spiritual replenishment.

John the Baptist was confronted by the fact that he was losing market share in the rabbi market, especially in the critical demographics, to his cousin Jesus. But he told his followers, "He must increase; I must decrease." It required strength to descend into weakness. John did it for Jesus.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. - 2 Corinthians 8:9

Jesus followed the same path. Forsaking all that heaven offered, he emptied himself, took up our shame. He decreased so that we might increase.

Now the Bible calls on us to follow the same example of love. Our natural tendency is to orient the universe so that it revolves around us. But love orients itself around the other so that the question is not "how much I lose" but "how much will my brother/sister gain."

How can you start the process today? Choose to lose something today.

Ephesians 1:7: "In Him"

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. - Ephesians 1:7

In a passing aside in his book "Justification", N.T. Wright mentions that the phrase "in him" is the key to understanding the chapter 1 of Ephesians, where it is mentioned several times as the position of those who are saved. While Jesus uses similar language in John 15, there it is used to refer to fruitfulness and answered prayer, rather than salvation itself. Since that time, I have tried to pay more attention to this little two-word phrase, seemingly so insignificant in English.

I have to admit, I don't have a full grasp on this key idea and, surveying various theological materials, it seems to be a matter of some debate. But, I have learned a few things:

1. My restored relationship with God is tied to this position. In Ephesians, it says that my purchase from the slavery to sin (redemption) and the wiping of the record of my sins (forgiveness) are tied directly to my position "in him."
2. God's goodness flows to me because of my position. "In him...in accordance with the riches of God's grace." That is, I am only favored because I am in Christ.

In my mind, I picture this position as a sort of shelter or (to use an Old Testament phrase) "the shadow of his wings." Life flows through our connection with Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself said: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them." (John 6:56) This graphic imagery shows the close ties that the phrase "in him" implies. We are so closely identified with Christ that "in him" we partake in the benefits of his blood. Not just covering our sin, but transforming within.

Once we are "in Him" we must "remain in Him." Jesus (in John 15) paints the ridiculous picture of a branch that might somehow strive to be separate from the vine. A sort of self-pruning! In contrast with this are those who "remain in" or "abide in" Jesus. If Jesus is the source of our life, then strengthening that relationship widens the conduit through which his goodness can be manifested in our goodness ('fruit') If we don't value that relationship, the connection shrivels, the conduit shrinks and the branch needs to be pruned.

Rejoice that you are God's dependent. Thank him for his life-giving, soul-changing influence in your life. Guard against envious thoughts that perceive fulfillment in a way other than closeness with God.

Psalm 139:23-24: "Search Me"

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. - Psalm 139:23-24

I learned these words as the words to a song while I lived in the Philippines and have always been challenged by the request that the author gives to God. It is a form of accountability that I am uncomfortable with because I don't like having to justify myself to anyone. But the author invites God in. How will I invite God in?

• Search - God, feel free to look around in my life. Open any door, dump out any drawer, rummage through any closet. Transparency is a voluntary, but crucial aspect of any relationship.
• Know - Get a full working understanding of what makes me tick. No secrets as to what influences my decisions.
• Test - Are my claims about myself real? Or is it a facade? Is my profession of faith and devotion real, or an attempt to manage the impressions of those around me; to make me appear 'spiritual'. Don't let me settle for the veneer.
• Know (2nd time) - Drive along with me for a day in my thought life; see what dominates my thinking and what is important in my life. I am often controlled by my fears; please understand that I am weak; I need a big God.
• See - Have I left something standing between myself and God?
• Lead - My path and my agenda are not important. Show me your path and your agenda.