Showing posts with label Christian witness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian witness. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Monday, October 22, 2018
Not Retaliating When We're Attacked
[Below are reflections on my quiet time with God for today. It should be made clear that the words written by the apostle Peter on which I reflect here don't apply to governments, who have the responsibility of protecting their citizens, although I think it does apply to those who serve in government who confess faith in Jesus Christ. Peter's words apply to anyone who claims to follow Christ and who is part of His body, the Church. To see how I approach Quiet Time, see here.]
Look: “...if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:20b-23)
Later in this letter, Peter will tell the Christians of Asia Minor, then facing rejection for their faith in Christ, out of reverence for Christ, to “...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)
But in the verses from chapter 2, Peter is making it clear just how costly and how hard it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It may mean that we suffer for doing good, things like loving our neighbor or sharing Christ with them. When our faith engenders criticism, rejection, or even persecution, we’re to always be prepared to explain the bases for our hope in Christ, but, like our Savior, never retaliate. That's true even when we're slandered, ridiculed, marginalized, or harmed. We’re to simply place ourselves and our witness for Christ in the hands of the Father to Whom Jesus entrusted Himself.
Listen: This passage causes me to reflect on the ways in which I have “retaliated” against people who have criticized me. I fear that sometimes, I’ve gone beyond simply staking out my position, explaining my faith in Christ or where it has led me, instead, attacking others. Sometimes the “attacks” were so subtle that only God and I know about it. But I can’t live by a “no harm, no foul” ethos.
Retaliation is not of Christ. He faithfully bore suffering, refusing to meet fire with fire, though nobody in history had more reason to retaliate against those who falsely accused Him (or more power to retaliate) than Christ. By refusing to strike back and instead, submitting to the Father, He was able to fulfill His mission of dying and rising for the rest of us who deserve punishment and death for our sins. My call is to trust in the Father Who saw Jesus through and raised Him up on Easter. Through my faith in Jesus, I can trust that the Father will, on the last day, raise me from the dead and give me life in eternity.
Response: Forgive me, God, for relying on anything other than You and for wanting to counter-attack, prove others wrong, or secure a superior position.
Help me to follow Christ confidently, but without arrogance.
Help me to be able always to share my hope in Christ and my points of view rooted in Christ.
Help me to admit when I’ve been wrong.
Help me also not to retaliate, not to be hostile, not to engage in behavior or words that dishonor You or the cause of the Gospel.
Today especially, help me to remember to seek Your wisdom for all I say and do so that I can give You glory and not give any human being a rational, sustainable reason for rejecting Christ. In His name I pray. Amen
Look: “...if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” (1 Peter 2:20b-23)
Later in this letter, Peter will tell the Christians of Asia Minor, then facing rejection for their faith in Christ, out of reverence for Christ, to “...Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:15-16)
But in the verses from chapter 2, Peter is making it clear just how costly and how hard it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It may mean that we suffer for doing good, things like loving our neighbor or sharing Christ with them. When our faith engenders criticism, rejection, or even persecution, we’re to always be prepared to explain the bases for our hope in Christ, but, like our Savior, never retaliate. That's true even when we're slandered, ridiculed, marginalized, or harmed. We’re to simply place ourselves and our witness for Christ in the hands of the Father to Whom Jesus entrusted Himself.
Listen: This passage causes me to reflect on the ways in which I have “retaliated” against people who have criticized me. I fear that sometimes, I’ve gone beyond simply staking out my position, explaining my faith in Christ or where it has led me, instead, attacking others. Sometimes the “attacks” were so subtle that only God and I know about it. But I can’t live by a “no harm, no foul” ethos.
Retaliation is not of Christ. He faithfully bore suffering, refusing to meet fire with fire, though nobody in history had more reason to retaliate against those who falsely accused Him (or more power to retaliate) than Christ. By refusing to strike back and instead, submitting to the Father, He was able to fulfill His mission of dying and rising for the rest of us who deserve punishment and death for our sins. My call is to trust in the Father Who saw Jesus through and raised Him up on Easter. Through my faith in Jesus, I can trust that the Father will, on the last day, raise me from the dead and give me life in eternity.
Response: Forgive me, God, for relying on anything other than You and for wanting to counter-attack, prove others wrong, or secure a superior position.
Help me to follow Christ confidently, but without arrogance.
Help me to be able always to share my hope in Christ and my points of view rooted in Christ.
Help me to admit when I’ve been wrong.
Help me also not to retaliate, not to be hostile, not to engage in behavior or words that dishonor You or the cause of the Gospel.
Today especially, help me to remember to seek Your wisdom for all I say and do so that I can give You glory and not give any human being a rational, sustainable reason for rejecting Christ. In His name I pray. Amen
Monday, April 30, 2018
The Call to Be a Witness
[This message--or something very like it--was shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio, yesterday morning.]
Verse 39 forward: “And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”
Philip didn’t rest on his laurels. The word translated here as preached from the Greek in which Luke wrote Acts is εὐηγγελίζετο. It doesn’t really refer to preaching. It literally says that Philip “good newsed.” Everywhere Philip went, he good newsed; he shared Christ.
Today, in the fourth installment of our series based on the New Testament book of Acts, Church Lessons, we begin and rather than ending the message with today’s key point: Every disciple in Christ’s Church is a witness for Christ.
When Jesus met the surviving eleven apostles just before He ascended to heaven, He told them and through them, you and me, “You will be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
For us, the issue is not whether we will be His witnesses. Jesus says that we will be. By our lives and by our words, we who have been baptized and confess Jesus is our Lord will inevitably give witness to whether we truly believe, as Peter and John said of Jesus in our lesson from Acts last week: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Our call as Jesus’ disciples is to tell the world about the freedom from sin and death that God makes available only to those who turn from sin and entrust their lives to Jesus Christ.
But, how do we fulfill that call faithfully?
But, how do we fulfill that call faithfully?
Our first Bible lesson for the day, Acts 8:26-40, provides us with good modeling in answer to that question.
But first, some background is needed. The disciple who witnesses for Jesus in our lesson is Philip. This is not Philip the apostle, one of the twelve called and intensively trained by Jesus to be a public leader of the Church. Philip the apostle was sort of like a modern-day pastor. The Philip in today’s lesson from Acts is a layperson. This Philip, let’s call him Philip the Layperson, is worth observing as he shows us how to be faithful witnesses for Jesus.
Verses 26 and 27: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place. And he rose and went.”
The first thing that faithful witnesses understand is that God speaks to His people.
But first, some background is needed. The disciple who witnesses for Jesus in our lesson is Philip. This is not Philip the apostle, one of the twelve called and intensively trained by Jesus to be a public leader of the Church. Philip the apostle was sort of like a modern-day pastor. The Philip in today’s lesson from Acts is a layperson. This Philip, let’s call him Philip the Layperson, is worth observing as he shows us how to be faithful witnesses for Jesus.
Verses 26 and 27: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ This is a desert place. And he rose and went.”
The first thing that faithful witnesses understand is that God speaks to His people.
Definitively of course, God speaks to us through His Word. The person steeped in God’s Word, who spends time quietly asking God to speak to them through the Word, who maintains intimacy with God through regular worship with God’s people, mutual accountability in His Church, and open, humble prayer, will find God’s Word almost unavoidable as they go through their daily lives.
I’m no spiritual superstar, but the other day while I was consciously thinking of something else shortly after I’d been praying, God brought to my attention an item I needed to pray over and act upon.
God will usually speak to us with such a still, small voice, I believe (1 Kings 19:12, KJV).
Philip the Layperson had an advantage I’ve never experienced: God sent an angel to this man of God and this angel, this messenger from God, told him what he needed to do.
What God told Philip he needed to do wasn’t convenient. He was to travel from Jerusalem to Gaza, on foot, a distance of some 43-miles.
What’s worse, God gives Philip no idea why he’s supposed to do this!
But Philip went anyway.
If we want to be faithful witnesses for Jesus, we need to go where God leads us, even to inconvenient places and situations. Even when we don’t know why.
The latter part of verse 27 forward: “And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’”
The man in the chariot was a Gentile. He was what the Jews called a “God-fearer,” a Gentile who believed that the God of the Jews was the one true God of the whole earth. He was heading home from Jerusalem, where he had worshiped God. In his soul, Philip could hear the Holy Spirit telling him to go to this man. From Philip, we learn that God calls faithful witnesses to meet people where they are so that they can help those people come to know Jesus.
The latter part of verse 27 forward: “And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’”
The man in the chariot was a Gentile. He was what the Jews called a “God-fearer,” a Gentile who believed that the God of the Jews was the one true God of the whole earth. He was heading home from Jerusalem, where he had worshiped God. In his soul, Philip could hear the Holy Spirit telling him to go to this man. From Philip, we learn that God calls faithful witnesses to meet people where they are so that they can help those people come to know Jesus.
Philip literally and physically came alongside the man. We must do the same with the spiritually-disconnected people we encounter each day in our lives.
God wants us to go to them to establish relationships through which we can give Jesus to them and, following the power of the Holy Spirit, make disciples.
Sometimes, the people who need to hear from faithful witnesses are members of Christ’s Church. A Pew Poll released this past week shows that 20% of all who say they are Christians don’t believe in the God of the Bible.
As inconvenient as it is, we need more Philips!
Verse 30 forward: “So Philip ran to him [Philip had to run to catch up with a chariot, when you think about it] and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading? And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”
I love these verses. After the habit of the day, the Ethiopian was reading out loud. Philip could hear that the Ethiopian was reading from the prophet Isaiah. On hearing this, Philip didn’t talk down to him. “Do you find these verses confusing?” is his basic question of the Ethiopian.
Verse 30 forward: “So Philip ran to him [Philip had to run to catch up with a chariot, when you think about it] and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading? And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him.”
I love these verses. After the habit of the day, the Ethiopian was reading out loud. Philip could hear that the Ethiopian was reading from the prophet Isaiah. On hearing this, Philip didn’t talk down to him. “Do you find these verses confusing?” is his basic question of the Ethiopian.
Faithful witnesses establish non-threatening relationships with people who don’t yet know Jesus. Relationships of love and respect are the conduits God uses to woo spiritually-disconnected people to eternal life with Jesus Christ.
Faithful witnesses who love the spiritually disconnected are the ones God uses to call those disconnected people to repentance and new life through faith in Jesus. They tell people the sometimes hard truth with love.
In the face of Philip’s love and concern, the Ethiopian asked Philip to come on board his chariot to explain the Word of God about Jesus to him. As we see from the ensuing verses, Philip was ready to give an account for the hope he had in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15-16) because he had spent time in intimate fellowship with Christ, Christ’s Word, and Christ’s Church. Faithful witnesses are prepared to share their faith in Christ because they are on intimate terms with Christ and Christ’s Church.
We will never be faithful witnesses for Christ if we wall ourselves off, literally or otherwise, from the tough but life-giving pursuit of being in community with our sisters and brothers in Christ.
After Philip told the eunuch the good news of Jesus, Acts says: “as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”
After Philip told the eunuch the good news of Jesus, Acts says: “as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.”
During my seminary internship, between Easter services, a young woman from the church, a freshman in college, approached me. “Mark, this is Ann [not my wife, a different Ann], my college roommate. I’ve been sharing Christ with her this year at school. She’s been going to worship with me on Sundays. She knows now that she believes in Jesus. But she’s never been baptized. Could she be now?”
I ran to the pastor, who was already in line for Easter breakfast in the fellowship hall, and a few minutes later, in the sanctuary, between services, that young woman was baptized. Faithful witnesses, like my internship supervisor, know that the sooner a person is baptized, the better. In Holy Baptism, God claims us as His own and the power of the Holy Spirit to create faith in Christ within us is unleashed in our lives. We need to sic the Holy Spirit on people as soon as possible. That's why we baptize infants!
There wasn’t going to be a church back in Ethiopia where the Ethiopian eunuch could be baptized and at that moment in Gaza, the nearest apostle was 43 miles away; so Philip, the faithful witness, baptized the man. It might make some uncomfortable to think that they could be the ones, like Philip, called by God not just to share Christ with others, but, in some circumstances, to baptize them. But Philip shows us that faithful witnesses who are passionate to see others in the kingdom of God and not eternally damned will be sensitive to heed God’s call on the spur of the moment.
Verse 39 forward: “And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”
Philip didn’t rest on his laurels. The word translated here as preached from the Greek in which Luke wrote Acts is εὐηγγελίζετο. It doesn’t really refer to preaching. It literally says that Philip “good newsed.” Everywhere Philip went, he good newsed; he shared Christ.
Acts 21 tells us about a visit the apostle Paul paid on Philip the Layperson at his home in Caesarea Maritima. Philip must have done a lot of good newsing at home because Paul discovered that Philip had four daughters who were prophets, adept at sharing the Word of God.
Faithful witnesses know that the time to give out the good news, the gospel, of new life for all who believe in Jesus is now, no matter how young or old we may be.
During a physical this past week, my doctor asked me when I was going to retire. I think he asked me partly because we’re the same age and because, like me, he loves his work. I told him that my current plan is to retire at 70, in about five years. But even if I do retire as a pastor in five years or ten years, I will have the same call that I had before I became a pastor, a call as a disciple of Jesus Christ, to be about the business of good newsing, of being a faithful witness.
During a physical this past week, my doctor asked me when I was going to retire. I think he asked me partly because we’re the same age and because, like me, he loves his work. I told him that my current plan is to retire at 70, in about five years. But even if I do retire as a pastor in five years or ten years, I will have the same call that I had before I became a pastor, a call as a disciple of Jesus Christ, to be about the business of good newsing, of being a faithful witness.
This is your call too. It’s the call that all who bear Christ’s name through our baptism and our faith in Jesus share, to be faithful witnesses for the One Who has saved us by grace through faith in Him. No matter what our age or our circumstance may we, like Philip the Layperson, always be faithful to this call. Amen
[I'm the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]
Sunday, February 28, 2016
9 Reminders for Reaching "Outsiders"
[This was shared this morning during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]
Acts 26:17-18
Today, I’m going to depart from the appointed lessons for the day, because yesterday, during my Quiet Time with God, God impressed something on me I feel compelled to share with you, especially in light of conversations I've had with some of you over the past week.
Yesterday, I read Acts 26, in the New Testament. In it, Luke recounts the interrogation of the apostle Paul and the witness he gave for Jesus Christ before two powerful men, Festus and King Agrippa. Acts being the first book of the Bible I read through after I came to faith in Christ when I was 22 years old, this chapter has always been a favorite. But, at the prompting of my Navigators coach, Bill, I decided to read the passage in a paraphrase/translation I don't ordinarily use for my devotions, The Message.
In Quiet Time, I ask God to show me a new truth or, at least, a truth I haven't thought of for a time in the passages I read.
Probably because of the unique spin that The Message's author, Eugene Peterson, gives, my attention yesterday morning was drawn today to Acts 26:17-18. There we read:
But the thing that the Holy Spirit impressed on me most yesterday morning was this: I, Mark Daniels, personally need to make it my business to go to "outsiders," with the aim of offering "real living" (life with God, now and in eternity) through repentance and belief in Jesus.
I need to be Christ’s witness.
And even pastors are called to spend most of our lives outside the walls of the church and outside the fellowship of the Church, out there in the real world, where we're Christ's agents, field representatives, ambassadors.
I asked God: "Lord, how can I do this practically? Show me what I need to do to be reaching, interacting with, befriending, and conversing with the ‘outsiders,’ those who aren't yet in on the real living that comes to those who believe in Jesus?" And then I remained silent. (Do you know how hard that is for a preacher?)
Here are nine things that crossed my mind as I prayerfully considered these two questions. All of them are, I believe, rooted in God's Word, the Bible:
(1) My interaction with "outsiders" must be on their turf, not mine; where they're comfortable, not where I'm comfortable. God wants me to move outside of my "comfort zone." That's where the "outsiders" are.
Think of how Jesus did ministry. He went to notorious sinners, dined in the homes of unbelieving, extortionist tax collectors, touched lepers he met on the streets and highways, and answered the prayers of foreigners He encountered in the public square. These were all people who had been “outside” the faith, but through Him, became believers, entered into the kingdom of God.
If no one was too bad or too far from God for Jesus to go to, then how can a sinner like me think I’m too good to reach out to outsiders?
(2) These encounters must be directed by God, as we see here it was for Paul. We can neither force encounters with outsiders nor should we run away from them when we see that God is creating them. Paul did and said what the Holy Spirit led him to do and say.
(3) I must be willing to accept being weak, in the eyes of the world, in the face of some outsiders' power. This is part of playing on their turf.
In Acts 26:17-18, Paul was in chains!
But he didn't see this circumstance negating God’s call and command that he invite outsiders to new life through repentance and belief in Jesus.
Paul accepted his weakness. Paul elsewhere says that we Christians should never lament our weakness. It is is our chief asset!
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul talks about how God refused his repeated prayers for the removal of some unspecified thorn in the flesh. He quotes God as telling him as he prayed, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ [Then Paul tells us:] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
When we are stripped of all pretense of being powerful, we can get out of God's way, people can see God and our dependene on Him in us, making our witness for Him stronger!
(4) I must have an understanding of my faith, as well as an understanding of where "outsiders" are coming from. This doesn't mean we must all go to seminary.
Thank God! In fact, I often feel that my seminary education gets in the way of my witness. Too often, we pastors go to seminary and learn what some people call religionspeak, the native language of a land where nobody lives.
What this fourth point does mean is that we must all be in a living relationship with the Lord, enforced by daily prayer, reading of Scripture, and fellowship with Christ's Church, on the one hand.
And it means, on the other hand, being a willing listener to the values, needs, aspirations, and personalities of our "outsider" friends. We must never forget that as Christians, other people are never our enemies! [Ephesians 6:12 says: "...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." The people who don't follow Jesus aren't our enemies; they're people with whom we're called to share Jesus in words and actions and love!]
(5) As alluded to earlier, I must have a sense of humor. One of the worst things that often happens to Christians is that we become too solemn. ("So heavenly minded that they're no earthly use," as the old phrase puts it.)
Paul says later in Acts 26, in verse 29, to King Agrippa that he would have the king become just as he is--a believer in Jesus--and then adds "except for these chains." (Or as The Message renders it, helping modern readers to understand that Paul is making an ironic joke, "except, of course, for this prison jewelry.")
Paul’s humor reflected his humility. He didn’t take himself seriously, only his Lord.
(6) Don't be afraid.
(7) Own past sins and mistakes. Christ came to save sinners. I need to own the fact that I'm one who needs Christ's saving!
Otherwise I'm a holier-than-thou terror like Paul had been before Jesus encountered him on the road to Damascus.
This doesn’t mean we should tell people all of our sins. God spare us the emotional striptease that often passes for openness these days.
It does mean acknowledging our imperfection.
(8) Be honest. This relates to two earlier points, forthrightness about my powerlessness and my sin.
Honesty is not as easy as it may seem. Honesty is not natural to we descendants of Adam and Eve, who hid from God and tried, without success, to conceal their rebellion.
There are some things that need to be concealed, of course, things like confidences, surprise birthday parties, Christmas gifts.
And we may all have repentance to make for revealing things that should have been kept concealed.
But sometimes we think that we have to conceal things from others that we need not conceal. Some things we may need to conceal, for example, for professional reasons, things that ought not be concealed from everyone, especially from friends.
One of the bitterest regrets of my life involved concealing something from dear friends. I thought the professional practices I had been taught at seminary should prevent me from sharing some news with them that they really needed to know. I didn't take into account the depth of our friendship.
When I finally revealed the truth to them, they were bitter, angry, and hurt that I hadn't shared with them earlier.
They were right to feel the way they did. I had allowed a human creation, a so-called "professional practice," to take precedence over the simple call to be honest with people I loved.
A lack of honesty can harm friendships and also harm our capacity to reach the outsider. Be honest.
(9) I must go wherever Jesus calls me. Paul, I'm sure didn't aspire to be in chains. But he did aspire to be faithful to God's call to proclaim Jesus wherever God sent him.
Paul was sure that his call was to go to Rome to proclaim Jesus, to invite more "outsiders" to experience real living through repentance and belief in Jesus. If that led him to being chained or killed, so be it.
Often in my own life, I've thought I needed to be "someplace else," rather than where God had put me: parties that bored me, doctors' examination tables, working on production lines in factories.
But wherever God has called me to be is the place where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can nudge outsiders lovingly toward new and everlasting with Jesus.
I can do it by being a friend or a friendly acquaintance who is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, "ready at all times to answer anyone who asks [me] to explain the hope [I] have..." (1 Peter 3:15).
These are the nine things I sensed God telling me yesterday.
Part of my prayer then, yesterday was simple: “Help me to enact all of this in my everyday life, Lord. Show me when and where to help 'outsiders' to know and follow You.”
I pray the same thing for you today.
Acts 26:17-18
Today, I’m going to depart from the appointed lessons for the day, because yesterday, during my Quiet Time with God, God impressed something on me I feel compelled to share with you, especially in light of conversations I've had with some of you over the past week.
Yesterday, I read Acts 26, in the New Testament. In it, Luke recounts the interrogation of the apostle Paul and the witness he gave for Jesus Christ before two powerful men, Festus and King Agrippa. Acts being the first book of the Bible I read through after I came to faith in Christ when I was 22 years old, this chapter has always been a favorite. But, at the prompting of my Navigators coach, Bill, I decided to read the passage in a paraphrase/translation I don't ordinarily use for my devotions, The Message.
In Quiet Time, I ask God to show me a new truth or, at least, a truth I haven't thought of for a time in the passages I read.
Probably because of the unique spin that The Message's author, Eugene Peterson, gives, my attention yesterday morning was drawn today to Acts 26:17-18. There we read:
[In a recalled conversation, the risen and ascended Jesus meets Paul, then Saul, on the road to Damascus, speaks to Paul, a persecutor of the Church] [Jesus said;] "I'm sending you off to open the eyes of the outsiders ["Outsiders" here refers to Gentiles, non-Jews, most previously in on God's salvation plans for the human race.]...to present my offer of sins forgiven, and a place in the family, inviting them into the company of those who begin real living by believing in me."There are so many things going on in this passage that I can almost feel the synapses of my brain pinging all over the place!
But the thing that the Holy Spirit impressed on me most yesterday morning was this: I, Mark Daniels, personally need to make it my business to go to "outsiders," with the aim of offering "real living" (life with God, now and in eternity) through repentance and belief in Jesus.
I need to be Christ’s witness.
And even pastors are called to spend most of our lives outside the walls of the church and outside the fellowship of the Church, out there in the real world, where we're Christ's agents, field representatives, ambassadors.
I asked God: "Lord, how can I do this practically? Show me what I need to do to be reaching, interacting with, befriending, and conversing with the ‘outsiders,’ those who aren't yet in on the real living that comes to those who believe in Jesus?" And then I remained silent. (Do you know how hard that is for a preacher?)
Here are nine things that crossed my mind as I prayerfully considered these two questions. All of them are, I believe, rooted in God's Word, the Bible:
(1) My interaction with "outsiders" must be on their turf, not mine; where they're comfortable, not where I'm comfortable. God wants me to move outside of my "comfort zone." That's where the "outsiders" are.
Think of how Jesus did ministry. He went to notorious sinners, dined in the homes of unbelieving, extortionist tax collectors, touched lepers he met on the streets and highways, and answered the prayers of foreigners He encountered in the public square. These were all people who had been “outside” the faith, but through Him, became believers, entered into the kingdom of God.
If no one was too bad or too far from God for Jesus to go to, then how can a sinner like me think I’m too good to reach out to outsiders?
(2) These encounters must be directed by God, as we see here it was for Paul. We can neither force encounters with outsiders nor should we run away from them when we see that God is creating them. Paul did and said what the Holy Spirit led him to do and say.
(3) I must be willing to accept being weak, in the eyes of the world, in the face of some outsiders' power. This is part of playing on their turf.
In Acts 26:17-18, Paul was in chains!
But he didn't see this circumstance negating God’s call and command that he invite outsiders to new life through repentance and belief in Jesus.
Paul accepted his weakness. Paul elsewhere says that we Christians should never lament our weakness. It is is our chief asset!
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul talks about how God refused his repeated prayers for the removal of some unspecified thorn in the flesh. He quotes God as telling him as he prayed, “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ [Then Paul tells us:] Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
When we are stripped of all pretense of being powerful, we can get out of God's way, people can see God and our dependene on Him in us, making our witness for Him stronger!
(4) I must have an understanding of my faith, as well as an understanding of where "outsiders" are coming from. This doesn't mean we must all go to seminary.
Thank God! In fact, I often feel that my seminary education gets in the way of my witness. Too often, we pastors go to seminary and learn what some people call religionspeak, the native language of a land where nobody lives.
What this fourth point does mean is that we must all be in a living relationship with the Lord, enforced by daily prayer, reading of Scripture, and fellowship with Christ's Church, on the one hand.
And it means, on the other hand, being a willing listener to the values, needs, aspirations, and personalities of our "outsider" friends. We must never forget that as Christians, other people are never our enemies! [Ephesians 6:12 says: "...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." The people who don't follow Jesus aren't our enemies; they're people with whom we're called to share Jesus in words and actions and love!]
(5) As alluded to earlier, I must have a sense of humor. One of the worst things that often happens to Christians is that we become too solemn. ("So heavenly minded that they're no earthly use," as the old phrase puts it.)
Paul says later in Acts 26, in verse 29, to King Agrippa that he would have the king become just as he is--a believer in Jesus--and then adds "except for these chains." (Or as The Message renders it, helping modern readers to understand that Paul is making an ironic joke, "except, of course, for this prison jewelry.")
Paul’s humor reflected his humility. He didn’t take himself seriously, only his Lord.
(6) Don't be afraid.
(7) Own past sins and mistakes. Christ came to save sinners. I need to own the fact that I'm one who needs Christ's saving!
Otherwise I'm a holier-than-thou terror like Paul had been before Jesus encountered him on the road to Damascus.
This doesn’t mean we should tell people all of our sins. God spare us the emotional striptease that often passes for openness these days.
It does mean acknowledging our imperfection.
(8) Be honest. This relates to two earlier points, forthrightness about my powerlessness and my sin.
Honesty is not as easy as it may seem. Honesty is not natural to we descendants of Adam and Eve, who hid from God and tried, without success, to conceal their rebellion.
There are some things that need to be concealed, of course, things like confidences, surprise birthday parties, Christmas gifts.
And we may all have repentance to make for revealing things that should have been kept concealed.
But sometimes we think that we have to conceal things from others that we need not conceal. Some things we may need to conceal, for example, for professional reasons, things that ought not be concealed from everyone, especially from friends.
One of the bitterest regrets of my life involved concealing something from dear friends. I thought the professional practices I had been taught at seminary should prevent me from sharing some news with them that they really needed to know. I didn't take into account the depth of our friendship.
When I finally revealed the truth to them, they were bitter, angry, and hurt that I hadn't shared with them earlier.
They were right to feel the way they did. I had allowed a human creation, a so-called "professional practice," to take precedence over the simple call to be honest with people I loved.
A lack of honesty can harm friendships and also harm our capacity to reach the outsider. Be honest.
(9) I must go wherever Jesus calls me. Paul, I'm sure didn't aspire to be in chains. But he did aspire to be faithful to God's call to proclaim Jesus wherever God sent him.
Paul was sure that his call was to go to Rome to proclaim Jesus, to invite more "outsiders" to experience real living through repentance and belief in Jesus. If that led him to being chained or killed, so be it.
Often in my own life, I've thought I needed to be "someplace else," rather than where God had put me: parties that bored me, doctors' examination tables, working on production lines in factories.
But wherever God has called me to be is the place where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can nudge outsiders lovingly toward new and everlasting with Jesus.
I can do it by being a friend or a friendly acquaintance who is, by the power of the Holy Spirit, "ready at all times to answer anyone who asks [me] to explain the hope [I] have..." (1 Peter 3:15).
These are the nine things I sensed God telling me yesterday.
Part of my prayer then, yesterday was simple: “Help me to enact all of this in my everyday life, Lord. Show me when and where to help 'outsiders' to know and follow You.”
I pray the same thing for you today.
Friday, June 26, 2015
1 Christian pastor's thoughts on the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling
A few moments ago, I received an email from a parishioner asking me for my opinion on the announcement of the US Supreme Court ruling in favor of gay marriage. This is how I responded:
My basic take on the question of state-sanctioned "marriage" has always been the same. The state's interests in the domestic partnerships people establish--be they heterosexual or homosexual--boil down to three, I think: (1) The control of disease (hence, blood tests being required for marriage licenses); (2) The acquisition and disposition of jointly held property; (3) The custodianship of children.
While there is some overlap in the Church's and the state's interests in marriage, the Church is primarily interested in marriage as something instituted by God for male and female to live in union and to raise children to prepare them for adulthood and more importantly, to know the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
Try as I have to see it differently--and I have tried, because it would certainly make my life easier if I could go along with the current trend and not buck society, I cannot call a homosexual union a "marriage."
This is why I could never in good conscience, deliberately violate the will of God by performing a "marriage" between persons of the same sex. In God's eyes, from all the evidence I have considered through the years, such unions are not marriages.
But having said that, I can't get too worked up over the Supreme Court's ruling. Homosexual unions are a matter of fact. "Legalizing" them will afford the state the opportunity to take care of the three interests I listed above.
Now, if for example, the State of Ohio, were to tell clergy that we must honor marriage licenses issued to gay and lesbian couples who want us to preside over the marriages or risk losing our "authority to solemnize marriages," I would voluntarily give up that authority.
To my mind, pastors only seek authorization from the state to solemnize marriages as an additional service to the couples over whose weddings they preside. The Church's interest (and the pastor's) is in the covenant a man and a woman make with God in the formation of their marriage and in God's blessing of that union. It is far more important that couples be married in the eyes of God than in the eyes of the State.
If the State gave pastors such an ultimatum then, I would simply advise couples that I would preside over weddings in which they would pronounce their vows in the presence of God and of witnesses and so have a marriage recognized and acknowledged by God. I would further advise them that if they wanted their marriage to be legally recognized, they could go to the court house and take care of the State's requirements there.
Legally and constitutionally, I know of no way that one could block--or want to block--gays and lesbians from entering into State-sanctioned "marriages." This is why I'm surprised that the Court hasn't rendered a ruling similar to the one issued today earlier. Jesus' commission to we Christians is to "make disciples," which does not happen by using the coercion of the State, but through the wooing of the Holy Spirit using our witness for new life through Jesus. For Christians to want to use the coercive power of the State to force society to accept and conform to Biblical sexual morality is inconsistent with our call to win people to Christ not with the Law, but with the Gospel.
Of course, I lament that society has gotten to the point that this day has come, that everyone in America isn't voluntarily acceding to the will and the authority of the God Who loves us all, and accepting that marriage is between a man and a woman.
But rather than fight or complain about the ruling, I prefer to keep sharing Jesus, so that His Spirit and our witness can show [the world] "a still more excellent way."
That's what I think anyway.
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