Crazy!

I’m so thankful for my friend Rob who shared the book “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer with me.  As I was reading the text below, I just kept saying OUT LOUD, “This is crazy!  This is crazy!” – Crazy because of how DEAD ON it is.  Crazy because of the journey God has had me on for the last 4 ½ yrs or so.  Crazy because over the years, there have been times when I’ve tried to explain this thing... tried to write it out and make it clear… tried to share it with those closest to me… with sometimes little to no success.

A pilgrim starts to wonder whether or not he’s losing his mind.  But occasionally, he’ll encounter people like Art Katz, Leonard Ravenhill, A.W. Tozer, and other less-known pilgrims who speak life into a weary soul.  Crazy indeed!

Here is the portion of text I was referring to:

In the midst of this great chill there are some, I rejoice to acknowledge, who will not be content with shallow logic.  They will admit the force of the argument, and then turn away with tears to hunt some lonely place and pray, ‘O God, show me thy glory.’  They want to taste, to touch with their hearts, to see with their inner eyes the wonder that is God.

I want deliberately to encourage this mighty longing after God.  The lack of it has brought us to our present low estate.  The stiff and wooden quality about our religious lives is a result of our lack of holy desire.  Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth.  Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people.  He waits to be wanted.  Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.

Every age has its own characteristics.  Right now we are in an age of religious complexity.  The simplicity which is Christ is rarely found among us.  In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.  The shallowness of our inner experience, the hollowness of our worship, and the servile imitation of the world which marks our promotional methods all testify that we, in this day, know God only imperfectly, and the peace of God scarcely at all.

If we would find God amid all the religious externals we must first determine to find Him, and then proceed in the way of simplicity.  Now as always God discovers Himself to ‘babes’ and hides Himself in thick darkness from the wise and the prudent.  We must simplify our approach to Him.  We must strip down to essentials (and they will be found to be blessedly few).  We must put away all effort to impress, and come with the guileless candor of childhood.  If we do this, without doubt God will quickly respond.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself.  The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation.  In the ‘and’ lies our great woe.  If we omit the ‘and’, we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

A.W. Tozer (emphasis mine)

Once you’ve tasted, touched, sensed, seen the Glory of God, you are ruined for anything less.  There is no and.  There is only God.  Will we resist when we are presented with an and?  Will we resist the urge to put our hands all over God’s perfect work?  Will we resist the perpetual mending of the veil which has blinded us from divine reality?  Awaken, prophets of the Lord…

Amen

Love this book!

And God spoke all these words

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt,  out of the land of slavery.

  

You shall have no other gods before me.  You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

(Exodus 20:1-17 NIV)

180 Movie

Rank in the Kingdom

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”  And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.  (Matthew 18:1-6 NASB)

According to what I’m reading here, unless I become like a child, I WILL NOT enter the kingdom of heaven.  What does it mean to be like a child?  In this context, I’d say that being like a child means I’m to be:  humble, vulnerable, tender-hearted, gentle, teachable, meek, sensitive, trusting, hopeful, carefree, and joyful.  After all, this is what most children are like.  The person who embodies such characteristics embodies what our Lord encourages us to embody. 

After all,…   “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.  Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”  (Matthew 5:3-9 NASB) 

It seems pretty clear to me that there is not much room in the kingdom of God for pride, bravado, or hubris.  It also seems clear to me that if we take advantage of, abuse, or mistreat one of Christ’s humble, vulnerable, tender-hearted, gentle, teachable, meek, sensitive, trusting, hopeful, carefree, and joyful servants, we’d better think twice, as the Lord of Hosts will not let such behavior go unpunished – and I don’t think He means we'll get a little swat.

It’s interesting to me what we value today – even in the church.  We tend to value the exact opposite of what the Lord tells us to value.  We value the competent, the confident, the bold, the top performers, the popular, the movers and the shakers, and the politically connected.  What would happen if we changed that?  What would the church look like?  What would my life look like if I truly became like a child? 

Drop Your Belt

In my 20’s, I was involved in various martial arts.  Soon after obtaining my first belt (yellow) in Tae Kwon Do, I switched to a Japanese-American style of Karate where I worked my way up through the various ranks.  I can still remember my first class in Karate.  I was wearing a standard white gi (uniform) with my yellow belt.  The instructor, who was a friend of mine, quickly approached me and told me to take off my belt, as that belt didn’t mean anything in that class.  Feeling a little embarrassed and knowing that my friend knew how to hurt me in places I didn’t know I had, I quickly took my belt off – a belt which I had earned through my experience, albeit minimal experience.

In the same way, much of the church is waking up to a new reality – a new calling.  It is a call out of and up to a new level of kingdom living.  It’s a call away from the man-made, CEO driven, hierarchical model of corporation-style, performance based, attractional church practices.  It is an uprooting of hundreds of years of tradition.  It is a call to simplicity.  It is a call to return to the way of the Master.  It is a call in which the "great ones" are the ones with scraped knees and a towel tied about their waist.  It is a call in which we don’t attempt to copy the phenomenon of the first church, but rather return to its foundational principles.

And in this new reality, I believe the Master is telling us to take off our yellow belt and drop it to the ground.  The same tools, talents, and intellectual prowess that we’ve relied upon for so long no longer matter like they used to.  It’s not that the old way of doing things didn’t produce any results.  Let’s just say that and get that out of the way.  But the reality to which we are being called means that in many cases, we’ll have to leave behind our yellow belts in order to pursue the kingdom.

This “new” (it’s not really new – just new to us) type of leadership, is the leadership of “living-out.”  It’s the leadership of living out our calling to be salt and light.  It’s a leadership based on this simple principle: “Imitate me.”  Be with me.  Watch me.  Imitate me.  (1 Corinthians 4:16).  That’s it.  No fancy tools required.  No organizational strategies.  Just imitate me.  Are we ok with that?  Can we leave it at that?  Can we resist the urge to “improve” upon that?  Are we ok allowing the Spirit to do the Spirit’s work in people?  Are we ok when they don’t respond?  Can we walk away from the rich, young ruler?  Are we ok not being able to define or quantify kingdom reality beyond the fruit the Spirit produces?

It’s clear to me that I cannot continue to lead in the same way I used to lead.  The way I used to lead depended on me and what I could bring to the table via my experience, talent, and intellect.  In fact, I think my resume is rather impressive.  But the way I’m being called to lead now has very little to do with me, rather what the Spirit does through me.  It means tuning my ear to the Father and doing what He wants me to do in that moment.  It means being so in-tune with the Father that I no longer have to ask some of the questions I used to ask because I have the mind of Christ.  I am a willing servant to His will.

In (Mt 7:21-23 NIV), Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Clearly, these prophesying, miracle working, demon fighters were some heavy hitters.  They “DID” a lot of really “good” stuff in the name of the kingdom.  But Jesus sent them away and called them “evildoers.”  Why?  I’m not certain, but perhaps because these people weren’t doing the will of the Father who is in heaven.  How can that be?  Well… perhaps these folks were so wrapped up in what they were doing that they were not in-tune with the Father.  Perhaps these people did not have the mind of Christ.  Perhaps they were so consumed with the “idea” of serving God that they weren’t “actually” serving God.  Many of the religious elite of Jesus' day made the same error.  Perhaps in their zealousness, they missed the true kingdom of God.  I don’t really know.  But I do know that while these words in the book of Matthew are hard words, they are also true.

Will we diminish so that He can be great?  Will we remove our yellow belts?

Seek FIRST

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness… (Mt 6:33a NIV)

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.  Before anything else, before we chase after anything (especially those things which we consider to be ostensibly good), we are to seek first His kingdom.  No matter the inconvenience, no matter where that might take us, no matter who we might offend (which will likely be other Christians), if we pursue anything other than seeking the kingdom of God, we’ve missed it altogether.

All of our attempts to seek community, all of our efforts to do “good,” all of our best intentions to change the world will amount to little more than dung if we don’t seek first the kingdom of God.  Aren’t they one in the same?  If we intentionally do “good,” and if "we" form some sort of intentional community, isn’t that pursuing the kingdom of God?  Not necessarily.

Of course we should serve others.  Of course we should live our lives in the context of real community.  Real community is God’s provision for the survival of His church.  But all of our sweating, strategizing, striving, and intentional serving doesn’t necessarily equate kingdom reality – no more than going to church makes you a disciple of Jesus.  It’s bigger than that… MUCH bigger.  It isn’t contained by 4 walls.  It isn’t managed by an organization.  The Apostles (the sent ones) couldn't even contain or manage it.  They knew that wasn't their role - rather the role of the Spirit.  The kingdom pops up and shows us beautiful glimpses of itself in the unlikeliest of places, in the unlikeliest of moments, and in the presence of some of the unlikeliest of people.

As I wrote in one of my previous posts:

Those who are born of the Spirit and live according to the Spirit freely go wherever the Spirit wishes without thought of consequence or religious and social norms.  They don’t fit.  They’re awkward... even strange to a world of boxes, systems and strategies. We ridicule them… make little jokes and remarks about them.  These Spirit walkers often seem foolish to us.  Sometimes their lives and actions don’t fit with the program.  You can’t fence them in or make sense of them.  You never quite get what they’re about – And just when you think you’ve figured out a piece of them, off they go again.  They’re usually not one of the boys/girls.  They’re on the fringe… outside the norm.  And while they love the Lord and love people, they’re not bound by our rules, nor do they answer to the world of men.  They're indifferent to the approval of men.  So shall it be with you.  “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8 NASB)

But what these Spirit walkers have in common is that they seek first the kingdom of God, whatever the cost.  And when they do that, God be praised, they find themselves seeking “His righteousness” which comes by actively living out their faith in Jesus.   And God be praised, community is what we are blessed with when we seek first His kingdom – because His kingdom happens to involve people.  And God be praised, we call that community “the church,” which is the heavenly provision and anticipated outcome of God’s people simply being God’s people.  Cool, huh? 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness… (Mt 6:33a NIV)

This Book Will Break Your Heart

"This book will break your heart... in a good way."  That's what I said to the 15 or so guys that I had the pleasure of sharing the gospel with this past week at the local mission.  I taught on what it meant to be adopted into the family of God, and what it meant to be a child of the King.  As part of that, I read a page from the book Kisses From Katie.  This young woman (Katie Davis), when she was around 19 yrs old, left everything here in the U.S., moved to Uganda, fell in love with the children there, provides them with free schooling, and ended up adopting 13 Ugandan girls as her own.  She lives there with them today.  My wife has been reading this book to the family over the last week or two. 

Interdependent Community

As I’ve been working through the idea of what real community is over the last few years, I’ve noticed something interesting.  It’s the idea that affluence can be a hindrance to community.  I’m not saying that people with money are incapable of experiencing community.  I’m not saying that at all.  But I do think affluence can be just one more distraction if we’re not careful.  It’s awfully tempting to forsake meeting with one another when there are more alluring opportunities before us.  It’s awfully tempting to forsake meeting with one another when we don’t really feel we need to. 

I’m beginning to realize that interdependence is a crucial ingredient in “real” community.  I don’t use the term “interdependence” loosely.  I mean it in the utmost sense of the word.   When people need each other… really need each other, community isn’t some desire, some romantic notion within the latest missional movement book, or some great spiritual goal – it is necessary for life itself.  It is heaven-sent, life-giving provision for the survival of the church.  There’s something to be said for a bunch of folk living in close community with each other - not only sharing things, joys, and burdens, but also seeing each others “dirty laundry” lying about.  In this environment, it is difficult to hide.  You cannot be one person during the church meeting and another during the week.  Perhaps this is why the early church exploded and thrived the way it did - interdependence was already woven into their culture.

   

As another wave of foreclosures are set to sweep this country, as people lose their homes and move in with friends, neighbors, and relatives, I can’t help but think, “What a blessed opportunity for people to live in true community together.”  What ideal conditions for discipleship to happen!  What an opportunity to experience blessed interdependence.  May we as the church grab hold of that opportunity.     

Acts 2:42-47 (NIV)

 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Hands off! That's mine.

My family and I gather each week in our home with other followers of Jesus, many of whom live around our southside neighborhood.  We eat, celebrate the Lord’s supper, pray, worship, share, minister to each other, and encourage/challenge each other in the making of disciples.  (As a side note, we aren’t all part of the same large church fellowship.  There are about 3 or 4 churches represented when we gather.  That wasn’t planned.  It just worked out that way).

The other week, the 15 of us (children included) piled into our little living room.  As part of our time, my dear wife issued a challenge.  She noticed that for the last couple weeks, while the weather was warm and sunny, we were inside the house with the curtains drawn.  She made the observation that there are churches across the globe who are under great persecution, and as a result have to meet as the “underground” church in order to survive – and that we, for no good reason were meeting like the underground church.  

After some very brief conversation, we decided together that the following week we would gather in the local park at the center of town.  Nothing was going to change about what we did, other than we were going to do it in public and allow whoever might be passing by to join us if they wanted to.  There was an element of risk to all this.  There we were, for the whole town to see.  What if we were overwhelmed with all kinds of strangers?  Would there be enough food for everyone?  What if they brought a bunch of screaming kids?  What if some “weirdos” decided to join us?  These thoughts, I’m sad to say, were all thoughts that crossed my mind.    But we effectively said, “So what!” and decided to just go and see what God would do.   

My wife’s sister, who’s been living in our neighborhood for a couple months now, has been a regular part of our gatherings.  She has some connections at the local women’s mission just a few blocks from our house.  So, she thought she’d put the word out to a couple ladies at the mission and see if they wanted to join us for a time of fellowship, prayer, and sharing in the park.  She called my wife and told her that two of the ladies had agreed to join us.  The day of the gathering, we got another call from my wife’s sister.  She said that there were now around 4 or 5 women that wanted to join us, and she wanted to make sure that was ok.  We told her of course it was ok!  A few hours later, the phone rang again.  It was my wife’s sister.  She said there were now about 12 people that wanted to come, and wanted to know if that was ok.  We told her of course it was ok!   Just before we were supposed to meet that afternoon, the phone rang again.  It was my wife’s sister.  She said that there were a total of 19 people from the women’s mission that wanted to join us and wanted to know if that was ok. We told her of course it was ok!

Boy, did we have a time in the park that afternoon.  We ate together (there was plenty of food), we laughed, we prayed and lifted up praises to God, we shared with one another, and we ministered to one another.  One lady even belted out a song, right there in the park.  As a side note, I was humbled when I saw that many of the women, homeless women who don’t really have much of anything, brought food items so that they could contribute to the shared meal.  I used that as an opportunity to talk about how this gathering was a spiritual potluck.  EVERYONE had something to offer.  God had something to say TO and THROUGH each one of us there.  EACH of us had something to contribute.  And just about each person did contribute to the time – whether that was through praying, or giving testimony, or sharing a piece of scripture.  

Afterward, we talked about the experience with some of the core people in the group.  We talked about how wonderful it was and how God had brought so many people out to the park that day.  We talked about how we may not be able to do that EVERY week, but we could certainly do it once a month and see what happened.  And we felt good about leaving things there.  

Then today, as I was out watering my grass, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me.  I became very convicted by what He said.  You see, in our sharing time with the group, I’ve often talked about how GOD will build His church and that we just need to concern ourselves with being a disciple and making disciples – nothing more.  Essentially, we need to adopt a hands-off mentality when it comes to trying to control or build the church, because that’s God’s role.  As I stood there today watering the grass, feeling good about what happened the previous Sunday and where we planned to head with it, I felt ashamed at how I was trying to control and manipulate what God was doing.  As I stood there thinking about our “regular” core-gathering that we were going to have that afternoon in my living room, I heard God say, “What about the 19 people I brought you last week?  What about them?”

I told my wife what happened.  I apologized to God for my arrogance.  I knew immediately what had to happen.  I didn’t have to DO anything.  As a group, we didn’t have to DO anything – other than take our hands off and allow God to build His church however He saw fit.  Our job was just to be available, be open, and be obedient to whatever He puts before us (even if that meant cramming 34 people into my little living room each week - and not just once a month - if the weather wasn't nice enough to meet in the park).

Confidence

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”  (Jeremiah 17:7-8 NIV)

These verses grabbed my attention a couple of years ago.  They seem to fly in the face of human sentiment and intellect.  After all, isn’t it good to have “self-confidence?”  Our culture is so concerned with the idea of self-confidence and self-esteem.  “It’s a healthy thing to esteem oneself.”  There are entire sections of major bookstores devoted to the idea of esteeming oneself.    

But blessed is the man whose confidence is not in himself… not in his ability… not in his wealth of experience… not in his superior intellect… not in is advanced social skill.  Blessed is the man who realizes that these things are but wood, hay, and stubble.  Blessed is the man who realizes that he is but a breath… mere dust.  Blessed is the man who realizes that his own purposes and plans are like a paper lantern – they’re nice and even pretty to look at, but with one tiny little poke of the finger, they’re reduced to a piece of rubbish.  They’re frail and fragile - All the more when the Lord of heaven and earth extends HIS finger to our strategically organized plans and purposes.  

Blessed is the man whose confidence is in the LORD.  He doesn’t care what comes.  He doesn’t care what the world thinks of him.  He is unaffected and unmoved as he stands firm in the purposes of God.  Whether he is esteemed of men or not, it is of no consequence to him.  His confidence is in the Lord Most High.  This reality is the perfect antidote for worry and anxiety.  In fact, I would dare say that anxiety is nothing more than misplaced confidence.  If your confidence is in yourself, and you’re hedging your bets on your own ability to pull through… you should be worried.  

But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in HIM.