Why We Talk About Sin 2

First, a more theological response...Before we can really appreciate why the gospel is "good news", we should first seek to understand how bad the bad news really is. And that's why we talk about sin.

The Bible says in many places that God's desire has been to save/rescue/set free His people. The question that must be asked is, "From what do we need to be saved/rescued/set free?" There are lots of things that could be mentioned here, but I'll let Paul do the talking, from Ephesians 2.

Paul begins this chapter by saying that at one time we were all dead in our sins (Eph. 2:1). In other words, we were unresponsive to God. The reason for this was that we were slaves. First, we were following the ways of the world. When Paul speaks of "the world" here, he is referring to the earthly system that opposes God's reign. Think about the The Matrix here. It wasn't until you were outside the Matrix that you realized the truth, that everyone in the Matrix was a slave. And the crazy thing was that they didn't even know it. That's how we were.

Next, Paul brings up Satan. The Bible says (and Bob Dylan later echoes it) that we all "Gotta Serve Somebody." If our allegiance is not to God, then it's to somebody else. And the Bible says that Satan is "the god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4). So when we were dead in our sins, our allegiance was to Satan instead of to God.

Now I know that most people don't consider themselves to be loyal to Satan. So if you're not buying that one, hang in there for this last one. Paul says that the third thing we were captive to were the passions of our flesh. All that means is this: we're in charge, and we do what we want to do when we want to do it. But this is also why the things that we fill ourselves with in hopes of bringing satisfaction or meaning often leave us unsatisfied or even empty. St. Augustine said it this way: "You (God) have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." To be held captive by the passions of your flesh means that your heart is restless, and nothing other than God will fully satisfy.

So before God stepped in, sin held us in such a way that there was no way that we could be who were created to be. And that's bad news. However, Paul doesn't end with bad news. The rest of Ephesians 2 contains words such as mercy, love, grace and kindness. This is who God is, and this is where good news comes. The Gospel says that God, because of His great love for us, came and redeemed dead slaves (that's us). However, this redemption cost something: His Son, Jesus. Jesus' death brought our freedom, and that is extremely good news!

You Can Change 7

God is great - so we do not have to be in control

This is the first of four truths that Chester writes about in chapter 5 of You Can Change. Here's how he begins this section:

Traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles a second), you would encircle the earth seven times in one second and pass the moon in two seconds. At this speed it would take you 4.3 years to reach our nearest star and 100,000 years to cross our galaxy. There are thought to be at least 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe. It would take 2,000,000 light-years to reach the next closest galaxy and 20,000,000 to reach the next cluster of galaxies. And you have still only just begun to explore the universe.

Oh, how my heart needs to know this beyond anything else. God is so much bigger than I realize! In light of this, why do I so often feel that I have to make things happen. Why do I feel like I have to be in control? This is why we end up stressed. It's because we quickly learn that we're not in control, that we can't "make" things happen. Yet this is an amazing realization if we have a grand view of God.

This is why I so love Psalm 62:11-12. It's one thing for God to be strong, for God to be able to help me. It's another thing for Him to also be loving, for Him to want to help me!

One thing God has spoken, two things have I heard:

that you, O God, are strong,

and that you, O Lord, are loving.

You Can Change 3

I divided chapter 2 into two posts. In the last post we looked at three reasons that we often give for wanting to change, and in this post we'll look at what Chester said is the true motive for change:

to enjoy the freedom from sin and delight in God that God gives to us through Jesus

He breaks this down into four parts:

1. Growing in holiness is not sad, dutiful drudgery. It's about joy
2. Change is about living in freedom
3. Change is about discovering the delight of knowing and serving God. Chester writes, "All too often we think of holiness as giving up the pleasures of sin for some worthy but drab life. But holiness means recognizing that the pleasures of sin are empty and temporary, while God is inviting us to magnificent, true, full, and rich pleasures that last forever" (36). Amen!
4. Becoming like Jesus is something that God gives to us. It has nothing to do with our achievement.

Chester ends this chapter by comparing two feasts that we're presented with every day. On one side is the feast of sin. It calls out to us, promising a satisfaction yet never delivering. On the other side is the feast of God. This is the only feast that truly satisfies, and it's given to us freely through Christ.

The Father's Love...and Basketball

I'm a big Duke fan, and I hope to be celebrating a national championship about eleven hours from now. But until then, I have to share the most powerful moment of Saturday's game with West Virginia. Halfway through the second half West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler twisted his knee and went down in agony. The guy was in both physical and emotional pain, knowing this was his last college game and that he wasn't going to be able to help his team.

At that moment his coach, Bob Huggins, came out and, after yelling at the refs for a moment, knelt down, cradled him in his arms, and began whispering truth to him: that he loved him, his teammates loved him, and things were going to be ok. It was one of the most uncomfortable, yet powerful, moments I've ever witnessed in sports.

Last night Neighborhood Church came together with Cooper Church to celebrate the Resurrection. Bill Ganus and I taught on Luke 15, the story of the two lost sons. I closed with this story, as it gave me a picture of the Father who is in passionate pursuit of us because of His love for us. I am still quite uncomfortable with this kind of intimacy, yet I am extremely grateful for it!

The Effects of a Broken Spirit

A spiritual goal I have for 2010 is to read through the entire Bible. This is something that I've never attempted, and am I excited by the challenge. I'm using this reading plan. Yesterday I was getting caught up after missing a couple of days, and came across a verse that I had never read before. It's from Exodus 6, which begins the back and forth dialog between God and Pharoah, with Moses as middle man.

In verse 2 God begins speaking his Father's heart for his people. He reminds Moses of the covenant that he established with them. He says that he has heard his people's groans as a result of their slavery, and he is going to redeem them. They will be his people and he will be their God. So Moses relays this message to the people, but verse 9 says that they did not listen.

You would think that if any message would cause you to listen, it would be this one. The Father's heart is on display. We see his passion and pursuit for his people, yet they don't listen. But the passage isn't over, and it's the remainder of verse 9 that spoke to me so powerfully. We learn here that there is a reason that they didn't listen. It's not because of their rebellious ways. It's not because they don't think God knows what he's talking about.

Verse 9 says that they didn't listen "because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery."

Here's what I felt God saying to me. I don't know what it's like to have a broken spirit, especially one that comes as a result of harsh slavery, or, really, any other kind of injustice. Because of this, I need to have a special compassion for those who have, and I need to seek understanding on what they are going through. It's difficult for me to understand how someone could not be captured by this message, but perhaps that's because I don't know the powerful effects that a broken spirit can have on a person.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness (Ephesians 6:12). These forces that Paul is talking about impact lives more than we realize. It's a scary thing. But here's the good news. We have someone fighting for us. In this passage God moves from Loving Father to Just Redeemer. He fights for his people. And the rest of the good news: He wins!

I am thankful that God fights for my soul, and I want to join that fight for the souls of others.

You're a Hard Habit to Break

Yes, I'm speaking of thumb sucking. For quite awhile, Adam has been saying that when he turns 4 he will no longer be sucking his thumb. In place of this, he will be allowed to chew gum. We've been going along with this. So yesterday he turned 4, and set out, with much vision and determination, to break his four-year habit.

By the end of the day he was beginning to realize that this was going to be very difficult. He didn't think he could do it. The confidence he had earlier in the morning was beginning to wane. It's difficult to see your child begin to doubt himself. I was glad, however, that he was thinking about it, and he wanted to quit (he also wants to chew gum really bad).

Before he went to bed he was sharing that it's too hard, so I told him that breaking habits is always hard. He asked what I meant by that. I brought up smoking, and he didn't really know what I meant, so I pretended that I was smoking a cigarette, thinking that he'd say, "oh yeah, I know what that is." Instead, he just started pretending he was smoking a cigarette. I saw in Mandy's expression that I probably should have used a different analogy.

Then my brilliant wife suggested something I should have done from the beginning. She suggested that we pray about it. Adam is still learning how to pray, but this is probably the best way to show him what prayer truly is. It's simply saying, "help." We encouraged him to pray, "God, help me to quit sucking my thumb." He prayed, then went to bed.

My prayer is that God would teach Adam through this experience. I pray that Adam would learn that God is strong and that God is loving (Psalm 62:11-12). And I pray that Adam would learn at a young age that God brings victory, and that his confidence would be rooted in this fact.

God loves me...and here's proof

Two years ago Mandy, Adam and I took a trip to New England. Our last stop was Boston, where we spent two nights with Kerry and Kevin. Kerry was Mandy's best friend in high school. One of the highlights of the trip (and there were many) was discovering the Tassimo. Kerry and Kevin had recently gotten one, and they shared their delightful coffee with me. I was immediately taken with this wonderful little machine, and felt that I too needed a Tassimo.

After a few days the need wore off. After all, I already had a coffee maker and an espresso maker. I really didn't need anything else. And that was the end of that. Actually one year later, I incorporated this story into the first sermon that I preached at our church. It was a sermon on the Advent Conspiracy, and I was illustrating the need to fight consumerism. As silly as it might sound, I felt pretty good about myself. I often succumb to consumerism, especially when it comes to tasty gadgets such as this one.

You've probably already figured out that the story didn't end there. A few weeks ago Mandy and the boys went to Paducah to see the grandparents. One day Mandy and Micah went to St. Louis, where Kerry and Kevin now live. At some point Mandy told Kerry about me preaching about the Tassimo. She thought that was really funny, then said, "You know, that thing is packed away in a box. Do you think Robert would like to have it?" Mandy's response: "Oh yeah!"

That night Mandy called me to say that she had a surprise for me, and the next day when they came home, she carried with her the Tassimo. I was definitely surprised, but thrilled. I promptly ordered some coffee pods off Ebay, and it's been bliss ever since.

So...I know that God shows his love for me in ways much more meaningful than this one, but I have to say that this is pretty good lovin.

Psalm 26-27

Scripture
For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. Psalm 26:3

Observation
I have always been interested in David because of his authenticity with God. I am thankful that his relationship with God has been captured in the Psalms. David is in need of vindication in this Psalm. Rather than trying to defend his own name (or whatever else needed vindicating), he brought his case to God. David writes with such imagery, and this verse is no exception. He knows God. His relationship with God probably began on the hillside while he was tending sheep. There was no one else to talk to, so he talked to God. By this point in his life, he isn't simply aware of God's presence. He KNOWS God. He knows that he is loved by God, and because of this, he knows that he can trust God to get him out of whatever predicament he is in.

Application
There are times when I completely trust God to do what only he can do. At times, though, it's as if I completely forget that I know him. It's at times like these when I make things much more complicated than they were meant to be.

Prayer
Father, thank you for your steadfast love. I ask that your remind me today of your love for me. Help me to trust you in all things today. Amen.