I'm moving blog sites

With a little vacation time I decided to tutor myself in Wordpress. I'm moving the blog site there. I think there's a bit more that I can do with the blog. Here's the link...

http://pastorjonnitta.wordpress.com/

My hope is that all of you will migrate over there and follow the thoughts I have on young adults and the Radical experiment.

One week later...

Just a quick note... after one week, here's what I've found. The weird thing is that Sunday was the one day I missed the reading and praying for the world!!! I had to catch up on Monday morning but that worked out fine. Just a reminder that to stay on track is important because I know that when I fall behind I start to think, "I won't catch up at this point" and then I'll quit. One other note real quick, Operation World tends to send out their daily prayer emails later in the morning around 9 am. What that's meant for me is that I end up praying for that country the next morning instead of that day.

I also have to remember that this is a heart exercise. I know I can get into the "checklist" mentality. That's why it's been important for me to come to God asking that He speak though the passages and that my prayer time be focused and centered on Christ. It's amazing how quickly my mind can wander to everything else other than what's at hand.

I've also concluded that whatever expectations I have that this will be a long time spent with God each morning and that He grace me with feeling His presence I must hang on to loosely. The point of these disciplines is simply to open my heart to God by stating the purpose each morning... "where else will I go to get the words of eternal life?" (John 6:68). More on the heart later...

The One Year Radical Experiment

I'm going to use this to offer some thoughts on jumping into David Platt's One Year Radical Experiment. It might help those of us who have started this summer as a part of the Rooted study. Platt's book has been extremely helpful as far as giving us a common understanding of the kind of life God calls us to as followers of Jesus.

My one addition to Platt's vision for recapturing a biblical Christianity that is not influenced by the "American Dream" is that what was neglected was a vision for including the heart. While I agree with everything that he offered in the book, what I wanted him to challenge us to bring our hearts along in the project. I will try to unfold this in the months to come.

I did get on Operation World's email list so I'm receiving the country of the day. You won't get a new country every day (there aren't 365 countries in the world) but you will get an email linking you to the website letting you know what country to pray for. I'm through Mail, Afghanistan, and now Austria! It's kind of like Wakko's World in the Animaniacs!

One last suggestion. I'm using Robert Murray M'Cheyne's reading plan. M'Cheyne (1813-1843) was a minister in the Church of Scotland. His reading plan allows you to read the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once. There are also some additional resources that go along with this. One book I've ordered and I'll let you know how it goes...

When Desire Overwhelms

Have you ever wanted something so badly? You know… you just had to have “that”! Whether you thought having that thing or person would give you identity, or fill a deep hole that you sensed inside of you, or give you meaning or purpose, we all have experienced this. The Biblical account reveals men and women who were flawed and then holds them up as examples of humanity in need of redemption. Jacob is a great example…

Jacob was tending sheep when he saw the daughter of Laban, Rebecca, who also tended sheep. It took one look and Jacob was hooked (but don’t see the kiss as something like a Hollywood kiss… it probably was a culturally acceptable kiss on the cheek… but still that was a bit “scandalous”). Why did Jacob weep? It’s hard to say based on the wide divergence of opinions from Rabbis. But we are sure of what happens next.

Now the drama unfolds even more. Jacob takes on seven years of laboring for Rachel’s father to earn her hand in marriage. The problem is that Laban has two daughters, Rachel (the younger) and Leah (the older). The contrast between the two sisters is an awkward translation. It’s actually misleading to understand it as, Rachel was beautiful in form (exactly what it says) but Leah had bad eyes (as if she had bad eyesight). That comparison breaks down. Actually, it should be closer to Rachel was stunning in looks, and Leah was ugly because her eyes were either bulging or misshapen.

We are told that Jacob loved Rachel. And then the turn in the narrative… When the seven years are up, Laban actually pawns his daughter Leah off to Jacob in marriage. How did that happen? The bride remained veiled until the wedding night and probably Jacob had too much to drink. All that to say, he didn’t realize it was Leah until the next day. I love what Derek Kidner says in his commentary on Genesis, “At night it was Rachel, but in the morning, behold, it’s Leah”

Isn’t that the case with the things and people we use to fill us or to give us meaning? What happens when natural and good desires become “over-desires”? At night it’s Rachel, but in the morning, behold (also read, “surprise”), it’s Leah. One day those things or people seem to fill your deepest desires. Yet the next day it loses that ability. John Coe, who is a professor at Talbot and a friend, said there is a reason why temporal things won’t fill us. It’s because we have an eternal hole inside of us. Only an eternal person, Jesus, can fill the eternal hole and leave us completely satisfied.

Question for Reflection today: How do I know when you’ve crossed the line from desiring good and right things to an over-desire for them?

Prayer: Lord, honestly, if everything were stripped away from my life, if all competing desires were removed, what would I find? What one desire would rule my life? Teach me what it means today to desire You and You alone.

Abraham's Sacrifice

How do you cover this story in a short blog? This story serves as one of the high points of ancient literature. One of my favorite thinkers, Soren Kierkegaard pointed to this story as a picture of authentic faith. I remember Michael Card’s song, “God Will Provide a Lamb.” I get chills every time I hear that song… so poetic.

There’s an incredible backdrop to the story that’s important to understand. This is what I get the privilege of unfolding this in the Commons in late July. What’s really important for the purposes of a short blog is that this story really is about God giving increased clarity to the picture of salvation and what it will ultimately look like.

Here’s a thought I want to leave you with today. A “call” comes again to Abraham: Go and offer your son as a burnt offering. Ethics aside, God again invites Abraham to participate in something. Remember God originally called Abraham to leave the familiar and to head out into the unknown. Abraham obeyed. Again, when God calls Abraham to do this, he obeys. There is a cultural reason why he understood (God uses the culture of the times to speak into our lives) this call but just note for now that when God called Abraham he obeyed.

Why does God keep calling Abraham? Why does He keep inviting him to participate in the grand story of redemption? It certainly isn’t to save him over and over again. It seems to me the real conflict that Abraham struggled with was not the ethics of it. Rather, what he struggled with was the seeming contradiction between what God originally had called him to and this particular calling.

Here’s how I might put it for us today. Why does God keep coming after us? Why does He keep “calling” us to risk for Him in life? Why does God invite us to jump in with Him when it seems so counter-intuitive or even “irrational”? It’s because He’s re-clarifying and re-clarifying in our lives what it means to have Him as our all in all. It’s not that He keeps saving us, like we can lose salvation and then gain it back. By inviting us to join Him, by asking us to live by faith and actually risk instead of playing it safe, He’s re-clarifying what it actually means to leave it all to follow Him. Jesus says exactly those kinds of things to those who follow Him. What is it to gain the world and yet lose your life? What is it to put conditions on your following me?

When God re-calls us, what we often find in our hearts that keep us obeying are the very things that we find more important than Christ. It is what we consider to be sacred, or precious, or the thing that we consider to be of great beauty or giving of life. When the call comes in our lives, it’s God saying it’s time to re-examine the very things that grip our hearts.

Lord, today for those very things that I find of ultimate value other than Christ, let me remember the gospel… there is only one person who is ultimately beautiful and His name is Jesus. What He’s done for me I could not accomplish by myself. I’m more of a sinner than I ever thought yet I am more loved than I have ever known because of Christ. God, as You foreshadowed in Abraham’s day, a Lamb was ultimately provided.

When Doubts Arise

Genesis 15 is probably the most important passage in the Old Testament for a number of reasons. At this point Abram is somewhere between the ages of 75 (Genesis 12) and 99 (Genesis 17). He had been given an unconditional covenant that a great nation would spring from him (his lineage) and possess the land (Genesis 13), and that through him the world would be blessed . But now in Genesis 15, we begin to see cracks in Abram’s outright belief in what God said He would do.

Stop for a moment: have you ever doubted God’s clear promises in His Word in your own life? What do you do with your doubts? For instance, in Hebrews 13:5 the writer makes it clear that God in no sense will ever turn His back on us. The original language is very forceful … “never, no never, no never” will He ever turn His face from you.” Now, have you ever felt like God had abandoned you? Was there ever a time that it felt like His face had been turned away? It’s clear that all of us have stood wondering how solid God’s promises to us really are. I would suggest that rather than seeing Old Testament characters as people to emulate, what we actually see is them pointing to something greater, the ultimate “yes” to His promises.

Abram asks two questions: “What about a son?” and “What about the land?” To the first question, God, in a sense, puts His arm around Abram, takes him outside and shows him the vast array of stars as representing Abram’s descendants. “Abram, if you have any doubts about this promise, the stars will be a visible reminder that I will make this happen.”

But now, “What about the land you promised?” To the second question, God performs a well-known rite with Abram. As it was customary in those days, a covenant was an agreement between two parties. As a king would “cut a covenant” with another person, animals would be split in two and both parties would walk through the pieces signifying, “If I do not do what I promised, may I end up like these animals…cut in two.”

What’s absolutely unique in this covenant is that only God goes through the pieces. What this communicates is that “Abram, if I fail on my end to fulfill my promise to you, may I be cut in two.” But it goes further to say, “And even if you fail in this covenant may I be cut in two.”

It’s clear that the gospel is pictured here! Paul in the 2 Cor. 1:20 writes, “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Christ they are ‘yes’”. The New Covenant completely depends on God. He is faithful to His promises even when we experience doubt. What assurance can we have? The death of Christ on the cross tells us that even when we fail to live up to “our end”, the second Person of the Trinity took it upon Himself to seal the deal. He was cut and bled real blood for us.

What does this tell us about how to overcome doubt? Is it simply trying or even believing harder? Was there ever a time in your life when you doubted God’s clear promise to you? What was that like? What were sensing at the time? How has Christ’s work on your behalf lifted the weight of doubt from your shoulders?

Easter and the Human Dilemma

Israel had a problem… and it wasn’t just sin. Over and over it’s clear in any of the biblical laments (e.g. here in Lamentations and the laments found in the Psalm) that there is a problem, a seeming dilemma, that confounded Israel as they were in captivity. How could God be just and yet at the same time loving? You see this in Lamentations 3 clearly. The first eighteen verses highlight God’s judgement. He is a God of wrath because as DA Carson once said, “God is specifically angry with the replacing of Himself with someone or something, which at a fundamental level is idolatry. It is the ‘de-godding’ of God, the putting of something else in His place.” In essence, then this is taking all the blessings of being God’s covenant people and acting in a treasonous way.

Yet, isn’t God supposed to keep His word? Wasn’t His covenant given to both Abram and Moses based on “hesed” or loyal covenant love, totally unmerited, and filled with mercy and grace? How can God do this to His own people when he is, at His very core, loving? This is the dilemma in vv.19-27. The end is “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” Huh?

What Jeremiah is pointing to is the day of hope when both God’s justice and love would meet with a divine kiss. As we observe Easter, we declare at the top of our lungs, “He is Risen”. And the response of the people is also, “He is Risen Indeed!” It is in our proclamation that we boldly assert that He has accomplished this for us. He is the object of God’s divine wrath. He is the man in v.1 who has suffered the ultimate affliction, He is the one who was under the rod of God’s wrath, He is the one who was driven into an ultimate darkness. Why? So that we might be adopted, given all the rights and privileges of the Son! He takes our sin that we might experience the deep “hesed” of God as His righteousness is credited to our account. Our dilemma is that our hearts know it needs both justice and love. And it is today that we affirm God has done this for us. Even Jeremiah knew it!

The Coming King

When you read the Old Testament, how would you describe your experience? Should we see it as separate from the New? Is it less than Christian? Should we moralize it, meaning the stories are helpful but only to teach us moral lessons? Sidney Greidanus writes of this last option, “It imposes an interpretative grid on the story that equates biblical characters with the people in the pew and then inquires how we ought to imitate or learn from their examples.”

In Jeremiah 23 we see how we should read the Old Testament…. in light of the covenants that God made with Israel, it’s all pointing to the New Covenant. Both testaments are one single line of history with God graciously pointing to the coming of Messiah, the covenant-fulfilling King/Shepherd/Groom/Servant/Priest. Why is this important? Jon Lunde wrote in his book, “Following Jesus, the Servant King”, that unless we see Jesus as the fulfillment of everything that Israel was looking for, our following Him will always suffer from a lack of appreciation of who He really is and ultimately boredom with Him will set in and salvation becomes just about fire insurance with no connection to anything else in life.

Here is a great example! Jeremiah points us to the ultimate King, the One who would come in the line of King David. He will reign as King! And He will be the height of wisdom and justice. But to top it all, this King will not only be righteous but this King will be our righteousness. What can this mean but His righteous life will be credited to our account? The life He lives is given to us as our life! His robes of righteousness are put upon us!

Have you ever sat and thought that this is our King? For those of us who live on this side of the cross, If you have been born again, has this sunk deeply into your heart such that it’s stirred? Just as the new covenant was supposed to capture the imagination of Judah, so Christ’s work on our behalf is supposed to capture our hearts. Let’s come to the King today with the attitude of, “Because you have done this for me and my heart is melted, what is your bidding for me today, Lord?”

How Relentless is God?

The sermon series at EV. Free is called “Relentless – the God of Jeremiah”. I made a comment to a few people this week that the relentlessness of God only comes clear when we keep in mind the actions of Judah. God relentlessly pursues, chastens, and woos His chosen people, who had prostituted themselves to everything else. Jeremiah 5:7 provides a picture of God’s people – full, yet craving more, marching to houses of whores and uttering animal sounds crying for each other’s wife.

Rick insightfully wrote on the church's blog site earlier that the picture of Yahweh and Judah provides a picture of marriage. I would like to add just a thought. This picture of marital union is the basis for understanding the ugliness of infidelity and the lengths to which God went to go after her again and again (read the book of Hosea or sigh… Redeeming Love!). We should be shocked when we understand the relentless pursuit and love of God for His people when we see them whoring themselves out.

But also this image of husband and wife is supposed to remind us of the larger biblical picture in the history of redemption. Ray Stedman, in Whoredom: God’s Unfaithful Wife in Biblical Theology, wrote that this provides …”the larger biblical vision of ultimate reality in Christ and His church, the Bridegroom and the Bride. And all of his people, women and men alike, both betray him with their infidelities and yet by His grace will enter into the perfect consummation of the marriage, where together we will inherit the only true human fulfillment that exists.”

What we see in a wedding ceremony is actually the gospel enacted before us. Why does it always move you when you see the bride standing in the back with her father? She is radiant, a ravishing beauty! She is being given to the groom as they affirm covenant together. He has been waiting for her his whole life and now she is his! This is exactly what’s supposed to stir your heart! Jesus is the Bridegroom and His sacrifice was for His people, the Bride. Despite all of our expressions of infidelity in chasing after anything to fill us, His love wooed us and continues to. We are the beautiful Bride of Christ awaiting His return to be united to Him and enter into the grand wedding reception feast. This is the culmination of the gospel and it’s one of the heart melting visions that Jeremiah presents us with!

Reasoning the Gospel

Acts 24 picks up the story with Paul being brought before Marcus Antonius Felix, a Roman governor (52-58). The Jewish religious leaders concurred that Paul was a troublemaker and a “plague” who caused trouble “all around the world” stirring up riots. Paul offers his reasoned defense so that Felix, knowing about “The Way,” put off the religious leaders, waiting until Lysius, the Tribune arrived.

It’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what was said, but Paul reasoned out his faith with Felix. The word, “reasoned” means that Paul had a well-thought through discourse with him. He didn’t preach at him. He had a thoughtful discussion with him! Paul focused on three things – righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment. The space is too short to cover all three but it dawned on me that Paul speaks to at least three questions that all people seem to have:

1. If righteousness is a relational “right standing” with another (and everyone wants this in one way or another!), how does one receive a right standing with God?

2. Why is it that I can’t seem to consistently do what it right? Why is it that I know so much and yet my will seems “bent” toward the opposite of what I know to be good? What principle is working in me that seems to oppose my desire for self-control? And if I fail in self-control what does that do relationally to my sense of right standing with another? With God?

3. Why do I judge? What does it tell me if I realize I am incapable of not judging? What am I appealing to when I judge? If I judge am I not admitting that there will be an outside judgment by which everyone’s actions will be judged? And if I’m not appealing to a universal truth, what I am then appealing to?

What would it look like if our evangelism was Holy Spirit aided and empowered discussions that were thoughtful yet leaving evangelistic “time bombs” in people’s laps that nagged at the deep existential crisis people sense?

Acts 5 -The Real Hero

Acts 5 is significant in Luke’s narrative because it marks the first time the early Church faced persecution. This would be the case, off and on, until Constantine legalized Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire.

As I read this earlier, I think what my eyes drifted toward immediately were the clear marching orders in the face of persecution… go, stand up, speak, teach, preach. But one thing stood out to me in my reading today. It was the word “leader” in v.31. The word archegos is translated here as “leader” or “prince”. In other places it’s translated as “pioneer” or “initiator”, “captain“, and “author”. It’s not an easy word to translate from the Greek because the meaning is so broad. What I discovered is that the word is used quite a bit in Greek mythology to describe a hero or champion (it’s mostly used to describe Hercules).

This shocked me a bit. I think when I read Acts 5 my initial temptation is to go to the commands quickly and insert myself in the Acts narrative; I’m the hero of the story! I’m the one who is going to boldly speak about Jesus. Yet, what sunk into my head (and needs to sink in over and over again) is that Jesus is the hero of the story. In what way? He is the one who led the way for us by suffering as the way to receive glory. He is the one who conquered death and initiated new life and credited us with all the benefits. He is the pioneer of the new covenant. He is the author of Life.

He’s the hero of God’s story! But he’s not like the heroes of Greek mythology. They are one-dimensional and while they at times characterize virtue, no one really says, “I want to be just like Zeus when I grow up.” Jesus is the hero of the story, not because he patterns for us how to be moral. As the ultimate hero, he has come to rescue people from their dire and broken situation. We draw near to the one who rescued us as leader and Savior (v.31). As I sit here reflecting, that’s a story to tell not only others, but myself day after day…