Loved by God.

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Chicago, IL, United States
* It's good to suffer loss, for it draws me to the Cross where God's loss is more than what anyone ever lost. * We cannot hear what the stories of the Bible are saying until we hear them as stories about ourselves. * Let go of control. * Trust God. Thank God. Think about God. Talk to God. Talk about God.

Friday, January 30, 2015

Good Teaching Requires Self-Knowledge


The Courage To Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life (Parker J. Palmer, 1998). [Bold and italics mine.]

The teacher projects his own soul through his teaching. Teaching, like any truly human activity, emerges from one's inwardness, for better or worse. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject, and our way of being together. The entanglements I experience in the classroom are often no more or less than the convolutions of my inner life. Viewed from this angle, teaching holds a mirror to the soul.

The teaching knowing himself is crucial to good teaching. If I am willing to look in that mirror and not run from what I see, I have a chance to gain self-knowledge--and knowing myself is as crucial to good teaching as knowing my students and my subject. In fact, knowing my students and my subject depends heavily on self-knowledge. When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are. When I do not know myself, I cannot know my subject--not at the deepest levels of embodied, personal meaning.

The secret in plain sight. The work required to "know thyself" is neither selfish nor narcissistic. Whatever self-knowledge we attain as teachers will serve our students and our scholarship well. Good teaching requires self-knowledge: it is a secret hidden in plain sight.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

The Resurrection in Your Life (Luke 24, Acts 1-2)

As Christians we understand the death of Jesus, that Jesus died for our sins. But often we may not understand or know how to apply the resurrection of Christ to our own lives. In his book, The Resurrection in Your life, Mike McKinley, author and pastor of Sterling Park Baptist Church, explains how the resurrection profoundly affected and completely transformed the lives of the first Christians as recorded in Luke 24 and Acts 1-2. The book expounds on the power of the resurrection by the work of the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the gospel. Just as it did in the first church in the first century, it is able to do so today as well.

The author explains the text of Scripture about the resurrection in a way that is easy to read and understand.

The Resurrection in Your Life is based on 10 sermons that the author had preached.
  1. He is Not Here (Lk 23:54-24:12)
  2. Was it Not Necessary? (Lk 24:13-35)
  3. The Peace of Certainty (Lk 24:36-49)
  4. The Parting (Lk 24:50-53)
  5. Leaving to Return (Ac 1:1-11)
  6. A New Witness (Ac 1:12-26)
  7. Like Tongues of Fire (Ac 2:1-13)
  8. The Clock is Ticking (Ac 2:14-21)
  9. Because Death Could Not Hold Him (Ac 2:22-41)
  10. Devoted (Ac 2:42-47)

Here is the pdf of the introduction and the first chapter of the book. I received a free copy of this book from Cross Focused Reviews on behalf of The Good Book Company.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Ego Driven Vs. Authentic God Experience


Wanting to be thought holy, special, right, safe, or on higher moral ground has a deep narcissistic appeal to the human ego. These false motivations are, ironically, the surest ways to actually avoid God--all the while using much God talk and ritualized behavior.

The great irony of faith is that authentic God experience does indeed make you know you are quite special, favorite, and chosen--but you realize others are too! That is the giveaway that your experience is authentic, although it might take a while to get there.

Small souls are incapable of knowing a great God, and great souls are never satisfied with a small or stingy God.

Seeming absence, ironically, becomes the deepest recognition of presence, because it is thus awaited and needed.

Richard Rohr, Eager to Love, 2014

Monday, January 12, 2015

Make Every Effort (2 Peter)

Salvation is never the result of man's effort, but the result of the grace of God (Eph 2:8-9). Yet, the Bible exhorts us to be responsible to respond to God's grace with our human effort (Phil 2:12b; Jas 1:22, 25; Mt 7:24). The phrase "make every effort" is repeated four times in 2 Peter (1:5, 10, 15). As Christians for what should we make every effort and be responsible for?
  • Add to your faith the attributes of Christ. "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge..." (2 Pet 1:5, HCSB).
  • Confirm that you are a child of God. "Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble" (2 Pet 1:10, NIV).
  • Encourage others to persevere as a child of God. "And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things" (2 Pet 1:15, NIV).
  • Live a life of holiness at peace with God and others. "So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him" (2 Pet 3:14).

Thursday, January 8, 2015

How To Delight in God's Word

The first sermon that I will preach in 2015 this Sunday is from Psalm 1, titled: The Secret of Happiness.

The theme: One is happy and blessed when they delight in the law (instruction) of the Lord, and meditate on it day and night (Ps 1:2).

What does it mean to delight in God's word? Loving God's word cannot be separated from loving God and loving others. Delighting in Gods word should include at least the following:
  1. Loving God.
  2. Loving others.
  3. Loving Scripture.
I. Love God
  1. Delight yourself in the Lord (Ps 37:4).
  2. Love God with all your heart (Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30).
    • Love God and delight in God when (not if) we are tempted to sin. We sin by doing what we should not do (giving in to "younger brother sins" and to "older brother sins") and by not doing what we should (availing ourselves to the means of grace: Scripture reading, prayer, meditation, contemplation, reflection, repentance).
II. Love Others
  1. Love one another (Jn 13:34-35).
  2. Love your neighbor as yourself (Lev 19:18; Mt 22:38; Mk 12:31).
    • Love and embrace those who sin, instead of criticizing and condemning others as the Pharisees did.
III. Love Scripture
  1. Meditating on God's word day and night (Josh 1:8) and all day long (Ps 119:97).
  2. Delighting in God's word as being sweeter than honey (Ps 19:10).
  3. Practice, persist and persevere in the reading of the Bible and the living out the Bible.

What happens when we do not delight in God's word? It produces Christians who are split between loving God and being influenced by the world, as aptly quoted by George Verwer in Hunger for Reality:

"If we give the matter a little thought, we will realize that most of us are living in 'two worlds'... In the first place our religious experiences; what we believe; what we sing about; what we pray about; and what we defend in argument. The second category contains our world of secular values and actions: our use of leisure time; our actions taken to impress people; our attitude towards associates who are better or worse at their job than we are; and how we get our money and use it... This evangelical dichotomy has had more serious results than we admit. It has produced men who are hard to get along with, women who rank themselves by the furnishings of their house and the style of their clothes, and whole families that put on smiling faces with their Sunday clothes for a few hours at church... Everywhere I go I find young people who are aware of this split of Christian and secular values. Many have become atheists or agnostics because of it, while others have skidded into pits of indifference. Many Christians--leaders included--have admitted to me that their beliefs do not control their everyday lives. Yet many are hungry for reality and genuineness in life."

But there need not be a split between the sacred & the secular. A. W. Tozer addressed this beautifully in his book, The Pursuit of God:

"It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it. The motive is everything. Let a man sanctify the Lord God in his heart and he can thereafter do no common act. All he does is good and acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For such a man, living itself will be sacramental and the whole world a sanctuary."

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Face and Fight Fright with Faith, not Fear or Flight (Psalm 11)

Psalm 11:1-7; 7

"For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face" (Ps 11:7, NIV).

Psalm 11 expresses the confidence that the faithful have, even in a time of severe crisis. Two different "voices" were speaking to David ("flee in fear" or "fight with faith") in a context of personal or national crisis. David made up his mind to trust only in the Lord. The psalm is adaptable to a variety of desperate situations, showing how to face them in faith.
  1. Flee in Fear (1-3).
  2. Fight with Faith (4-7).

Recap of Psalms:

  1. Happiness (Psalm 1): The Secret of Happiness.
  2. Sovereignty (Psalm 2): God's King Rules.
  3. Confidence (Psalm 3): Fearless Before Adversaries; Confident When Condemned.
  4. Peace (Psalm 4): Peace When In Pain.
  5. Joy (Psalm 5): Joy Among Liars.
  6. Agony (Psalm 6): Barely Able To Pray.
  7. Vindication (Psalm 7): Slandered, Opposed and Attacked.
  8. Man (Psalm 8): What is Man.
  9. Justice (Psalm 9-10): Justice Will Prevail.
References:
  1. Motyer, J Alec. The Psalms. New Bible Commentary. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1994. Psalm 11: Faith and Truth.
  2. Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1 - 72:An Introduction and Commentary.Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1973. Psalm 11: Panic and Stability.
  3. Zemek, George. Road Maps for the Psalms: Inductive Preaching Outlines Based on the Hebrew Text. Valencia, CA: The Master's Academy International, 2006. Psalm 11: Facing Fright with Faith not Flight.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Confusing the Edge with Essence and Claiming the Superficial as Substance

More gems from Richard Rohr (Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer. Chap. 1: Center and Circumference) (italics and bold mine):

We are a circumference people, with little access to the center. We live on the boundaries of our own lives...confusing edges with essence, too quickly claiming the superficial as substance. As Yeats predicted, things have fallen apart and the center does not seem to be holding.

If the circumstances of our lives were evil, it would be easier to moralize about them. But boundaries and edges are not bad as much as they are passing, accidental, sometimes illusory... Our "skin" is not bad; it's just not our soul or spirit. But skin might also be the only available beginning point for many contemporary people. ...we can remain on the circumferences of our lives for quite a long time. So long, that it starts feeling like the only "life" available.

The path of prayer and love and the path of suffering seem to be the two Great Paths of transformation. Suffering seems to get our attention; love and prayer seem to get our heart and our passion. But most of us return (to our center and to our true selves) by a more arduous route... usually three steps forward and two steps backward...

...we must begin somewhere. For most of us the beginning point is at the edges. This reality, felt and not denied, suffered and enjoyed, becomes the royal road to the center. In other words, reality itself, our reality, my limited and sometimes misinterpreted experience, still becomes the revelatory place for God. For some reason we seem to prefer fabricated realities to the strong and sensitizing face of what is.

Yet the great teachers tell us not to stay on the circumferences too long or we will never know ourselves or God. The two knowings, in fact, seem to move forward together. This movement might also be understood as conversion, transformation, or growth in holiness. You cannot make this journey...alone. You must be led.

In God's reign "everything belongs," even the broken and poor parts. Until we have admitted this in our own soul, we will usually perpetuate expelling systems in the outer world of politics and class. Dualistic thinking begins in the soul and moves to the mind and eventually moves to the streets. True prayer, however, nips the lie in the bud. It is usually experienced as tears, surrender, or forgiveness.

...a poor uneducated person might well know and love God more than a great theologian or ecclesiastic. You do not resolve the God question in your head -- or even in the perfection of moral response.

Our skin-encapsulated egos are the only self that most of us know, and this is where we usually get trapped. It is fair to say that the traps of mind and ideology are as toxic and as blinding as the so-called "hot sins" of drunkards and prostitutes, though they are harder to recognize.

(What is the journey to the core?) By praying and meditating? By more silence, solitude, and sacraments? Yes to all, but the most important way is to live and fully accept our reality. This solution sounds so simple and innocuous that most of us fabricate all kinds of religious trappings to avoid taking up our own inglorious, mundane, and ever-present cross.

We do not find our own center; it finds us. Our own mind will not be able to figure it out. We collapse back into the Truth only when we are naked and free -- which is probably not very often. We do not think ourselves into new ways of living. We live ourselves into new ways of thinking.

We do not really know what it means to be human unless we know God. And, in turn, we do not really know God except through our own broken and rejoicing humanity. In Jesus, God tells us that God is not different from humanity. Jesus' most common and almost exclusive self-name is "The Human One," or "Son of Humanity." He uses the term 79 times in the four Gospels. Jesus' reality, his cross, is to say a free "yes" to what his humanity finally asks of him. It seems that we Christians have been worshiping Jesus' journey instead of doing his journey. The first feels very religious; the second just feels human, and not glorious at all.

"First there is the fall, and then there is the recovery from the fall. But both are the mercy of God." Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), the holy English anchoress (Gk "anachoreo" meaning "to withdraw"). Maybe you can't believe that until the second half of life. Julian had an amazing ability to move beyond either-or thinking. She could live with paradox, unanswered questions, immense inner conflicts, and theological contradictions -- and still trust and be at peace.

Only the spacious, contemplative mind can see so broadly and trust so deeply. The small calculating mind wants either/or, win or lose, good or bad. Jesus reminded Julian that his crucifixion was the worst thing that happened in human history and God made the best out of it to take away all of our excuses. The great and merciful surprise is that we come to God not by doing it right but by doing it wrong!

Those who rush to artificially manufacture their own identity often end up with hardened and overly defended edges. They are easily offended and are always ready to create a new identity when the current one lets them down. They might become racists or control freaks, people who are always afraid of the "other." Often they become codependent or counterdependent, in either case living only in reaction to someone or something else. Thus many people, even religious folks, settle for lives of "holier than thou" or lives consumed by hatred of their enemies. Being over and against is a lot easier than being in love.

Traveling the road of healthy religion and true contemplation will lead to calmly held boundaries, which need neither to be defended constantly nor abdicated in the name of "friendship." This is a "narrow road that few travel upon" (Mt 7:14). It is "the Third Way": the tertium quid that emerges only when you hold the tension of opposites.

God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes.

Only when we rest in God can we find the safety, the spaciousness, and the scary freedom to be who we are, all that we are, more than we are, and less than we are. Only when we live and see through God can "everything belong." All other systems exclude, expel, punish, and protect to find identity for their members in ideological perfection or some kind of "purity." The contaminating element always has to be searched out and scolded. Apart from taking up so much useless time and energy, this effort keeps us from the one and only task of love and union. "Rake the muck this way. Rake the muck that way. It will still be muck. In the time you are brooding, you could be stringing pearls for the delight of heaven." the Hasidic masters.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Justice Will Prevail (Psalm 9-10)

Psalm 9:1-10:18; 7-8

"But the Lord sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice" (Ps 9:7, ESV). "He will judge the world with justice and rule the nations with fairness" (Ps 9:8, NLT).

The Greek and Latin versions have combined Psalm 9-10 as a single psalm (with a broken or incomplete acrostic with several letters of the alphabet missing or out of order). Both psalms refer to God's interest in "the oppressed" (Ps 9:9; 10:18), both mention "times of trouble" (Ps 9:9; 10:1), both call on God to "arise" (Ps 9:19; 10:12), and both are sure that God will not "forget the afflicted" (Ps 9:12; 10:12). [On the other hand, there are enough differences to justify finding two Psalms here: the tone of Psalm 9 is predominantly praise and thanks, while that of Psalm 10 is largely lament.] Noting much overlap between both psalms, Derek Kidner titles Psalm 9 as "God: King and Judge," and Psalm 10 as "Man: Predator and Prey." Man is also both the oppressor and the oppressed. Consider Psalm 9-10 in three parts:
  1. God is King and Judge on His Throne (Ps 9:1-12).
  2. God Seems Far Away Because Present Troubles Are Near and Real (Ps 9:13-10:6).
  3. God Listens to the Afflicted and the Oppressed; God's Justice Will Prevail (Ps 10:7-18).

Recap of Psalms:

  1. Happiness (Psalm 1): The Secret of Happiness.
  2. Sovereignty (Psalm 2): God's King Rules.
  3. Confidence (Psalm 3): Fearless Before Adversaries; Confident When Condemned.
  4. Peace (Psalm 4): Peace When In Pain.
  5. Joy (Psalm 5): Joy Among Liars.
  6. Agony (Psalm 6): Barely Able To Pray.
  7. Vindication (Psalm 7): Slandered, Opposed and Attacked.
  8. Man (Psalm 8): What is Man.

References:

  1. Motyer, J Alec. The Psalms. New Bible Commentary. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1994.
  2. Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1 - 72:An Introduction and Commentary.Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1973.
  3. Lewis, C.S. Reflection on the Psalms.
  4. ESV Study Bible - Psalm 9.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

What is Man (Psalm 8)

Psalm 8:1-9; 4, 1a, 9

"...what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?" "Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Ps 8:4, 1a, 9, NIV)

Regarding Psalm 8, Derek Kidner eloquently and succinctly writes:

"This psalm is an unsurpassed example of what a hymn should be, celebrating as it does the glory and grace of God, rehearsing who he is and what he has done, and relating us and our world to him; all with a masterly enonomy of words, and in a spirit of mingled joy and awe. It brings to light the unexpectedness of God's ways in the roles he has assigned to the strong and the weak (2), the spectacular and the obscure (3-5), the multitudinous and the few (6-8); but it begins and ends with God himself, and its overriding theme is 'How excellent is thy name!'"

J.I. Packer says, "we are at the end of 4 centuries of God shrinking." God (seemingly) gets smaller while we get bigger. The Bible does not see it this way. David did not see it this way. We must not see it this way.

Questions:
  1. For what does the psalmist praise God (1)?
  2. How has God chosen to silence his foes (2)?
  3. What prompted the psalmist's amazement over God's care and concern for man (3-4)?
  4. How was man exalted when God created him (5-6)?
  5. What things were placed under man's feet (7-8)? Has man maintained his dominion over the earth (Heb 2:5-8)?
  6. Who now has authority over heaven and earth (Heb 2:9; Mt 28:19; Eph 1:20-22; 1 Pet 3:22)?
  7. Contemplating God's majesty and man's dignity, how does David conclude his psalm (9)?
References:
  1. Motyer, J Alec. The Psalms. New Bible Commentary. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1994.
  2. Kidner, Derek. Psalms 1 - 72: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1973. (Psalm 8: Crown of Creation.)
  3. Zemek, George. Road Maps for the Psalms: Inductive Preaching Outlines Based on the Hebrew Text. Valencia, CA: The Master's Academy International, 2006. (Psalm 8: Praise from the Puny.)
  4. Psalm 8 -- The Song of the Astronomer.
    1. God's majesty in creation (1-2).
      • God's name and glory (1).
      • God's power over enemies (2).
    2. Man's dignity over creation (3-9).
      • Man's insignificance (3-4).
      • Man's exaltation (5-8).
      • Man's response (9).
  5. The Lord's Excellent Name. Praise God for:
    1. His glory (1-2).
    2. His grandeur (3-4).
    3. His goodness (5-8).
    4. His greatness (9).
  6. The Glory of God (and why self-esteem does not work). Psalm 8:1-8 Study questions. Psalm8 Diagram.

Friday, January 2, 2015

What People Resent About Christians

Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, said that what he resented in most Christians was what he perceived as a constant underlying undertow of resentment:
  1. Resenting God for demanding a sacrifice from them...or so they thought or felt.
  2. Resenting others for not appreciating their sacrifice.
  3. Resenting the fact that they sacrificed as much as they have.
  4. Resenting others for not having to sacrifice like them.

WOW! Can anyone express and articulate this any better?

Thursday, January 1, 2015

The Ego and the Self Hates Change More Than Anything

We need to deeply realize how limited, helpless, and powerless we are to truly change or to be truly changed, even after we may have been sincere Christians for decades. From Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps (Chap. 1: Powerlessness), Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest and author, simply nails it when he writes about our frail and fragile humanity that is being constantly dictated and ruled by our ego, even as Christians. The ego hunkers down and becomes even more deceptive when we experience any degree of growth or success in the church.

Until you bottom out, and come to the limits of your own fuel supply, there is no reason for you to switch to a higher octane of fuel.

Self-made people, and all heroic spiritualities, will try to manufacture an even stronger self by will power and determination---to put them back in charge and seeming control. ...not realizing the unbending, sometimes proud and eventually rigid personality that will be the long-term result. They will then need to continue in this pattern of self-created success and defenses. This does not normally create loving people, but just people in control and in ever deeper need of control.

...many Christians whittle down the great Gospel to some moral issue over which they can feel totally triumphant and superior, and which usually asks nothing of them personally. The ego always insists on moral high ground, as Paul brilliantly puts it (Rom 7:11,13). (Often) the ego is still in charge, and it just wears different disguises.

It is the imperial ego that has to go, and only powerlessness can do the job correctly. Otherwise, we try to engineer our own transformation by our own rules and by our own power, which is by definition, not transformation! If we try to change our ego with the help of our ego, we only have a better disguised ego! Einstein frequently said in a different way: No problem can be solved by the same consciousness that caused the problem in the first place.

An ego response is always an inadequate or even wrong response to the moment. It will not deepen or broaden life, love, or inner laughter. Your ego self is always attached to mere externals... The ego defines itself by its attachments and revulsions. The soul does not attach nor does it hate; it desires and loves and lets go. Please think about that, it can change your very notion of religion.

What the ego hates more than anything else in the world is to change---even when the present situation is not working or is horrible. Instead, we do more and more of what does not work, as many others have rightly said...about all of us. As English poet W.H. Auden put it: "We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the present and let our illusions die."