Discernment... or speculation?

"Far and above the most revealing aspect of anyone’s character is how he handles people. Friends, I hope you understand this—the way a person handles others is the acid test of his true nature." --John Eldredge, The Utter Relief of Holiness

Yesterday, as I was reading through the daily reading in 1 Samuel, I came across a scene that I had read dozens of times before but never really stopped to consider fully. Hannah was a childless woman in Israel, barren in a culture where the ability to have children was seen as the favor of God, and a fruitless womb was interpreted as a curse. Shamed, humiliated, relentlessly oppressed by her husband's other wife who had already given him children, Hannah went to the tabernacle, into the presence of Yahweh, to pour her heart out. Scripture says, "She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly... speaking in her heart, only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard." (1 Sam. 1:10, 13)

What happens next in the narrative is significant. Eli is the high priest at the tabernacle. He sees Hannah. He watches her closely. Scripture says, "Eli observed her mouth." Moving in silent, desperate pleading, tears dripping from her face. Now... watch this carefully. What does this man of God do? How does he respond?

"Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, 'How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.' "(1 Sam. 1:13-14) The original Hebrew word translated "took her" literally means to weave or fabricate. In the modern vernacular, he jumped to a conclusion. He made an assumption based on what he saw without knowing the full story. He speculated.

This is dangerous ground for anyone, but for a pastor this can be particularly harmful to your congregation. Speculation relies wholly on what you can see. The root of the word speculate is the Latin word specere meaning "to look at." The problem is that we all "see" through different lenses that color our perception and interpretation: past experiences, hurts, wounds, unresolved anger or bitterness, and the cynicism that can often result if those things are not addressed and healed.

It works like this: Pastor Bob (totally fictional -- please no speculating) has seen it all in his years of ministry. He has poured his life into caring for the flock and takes his responsibility seriously. But along the way he has been hurt, disappointed, even attacked by the people he serves. He has been lied to, and lied about. He has given Biblical wisdom and advice only to have it be ignored, and then watched marriages and families suffer for it.

Over the years he has become jaded towards people and cynical about their motives. He begins to assume the worst, then look for things in their life to confirm his suspicions. He will find something -- the Enemy will see to that -- and when he does, in his heart he thinks, "Aha! Just as I thought..." and he begins to speculate. He takes what little he sees, mixes it with what he suspects, and fills in the blanks with his own imagination until he comes up with a version of the truth that fits. He makes a judgment, the gavel falls, and the sentence is passed: Guilty by Pastoral Speculation. The sentence is to be labeled, stuck on a shelf in his mind, and held prisoner there forever.  And here is the saddest part of it all: Pastor Bob believes that this is discernment. He believes that he has developed a special insight when what he has really developed is a judgmental heart and a critical spirit.

Kudos to Hannah for not being offended at Eli's accusation. She could have easily been angry and stormed out, "I am never coming back to this church again!" She could have let herself be deeply hurt, given all that she had already experienced. Her priest -- who was supposed to care for her as a child of God -- falsely accused her of drunkenness! She could have blown up Facebook about how she was treated and done a lot of damage, maybe even caused a split. (I know, I know, it's the tabernacle and Israel, but try to roll with it for the sake of making a point.) I have seen it go down that way plenty of times. But Hannah's trust was in God, not men.

It struck me as I read this that if I am not careful, I could easily fall into this trap. God knows, in my short time in ministry (less than ten years) I have already seen enough to be jaded. I have found myself actually saying out loud to another pastor, "Ministry would be great if it weren't for people!" And we laugh like it's this funny joke. But it betrays a shift in my heart that, if I am not aware of it, can turn me into an Eli -- speculating, assuming, judging, accusing, and labeling the very people who need my help most. It is arrogance at its worst.  It makes me wonder if Hannah might have been thinking of Eli when she prayed, "Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed." (1 Sam. 2:3)

Look, Eli was not a bad guy. Once he found out the truth he was pretty encouraging to Hannah. And he did a decent job training a young Samuel (1 Samuel 3). But he had his blind spots (two of them were named Hophni and Phineas), and they ultimately cost him his priesthood and devastated his family for generations. My responsibility as a pastor is to make sure my blind spots are not damaging my family, my congregation, and my potential impact for the Kingdom of God.

There are more ways to disqualify yourself from ministry than a moral failure. I can render myself ineffective by speculating about people's motives, passing judgment on them, and then treating them like second-class sinners rather than grace-given saints, all in the name of discernment.

God, deliver me from myself: from my arrogance, from my imagination about the motives of others. Only you know the whole story about any of us. Help me to take the time to listen and pray before I jump to a conclusion about anyone. May the same grace and mercy you have extended to me be the context for every relationship in my life. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.

Week 11 of the Grand Story... the plot thickens!

“They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” (Deut. 32:21)

One of the very last instructions God gave Moses was to write a song and teach it to the people of Israel. This song was to be a witness against them when – not if, but when – they abandoned Him and went after the false gods of the pagan nations around them. Tucked away in this song is a lyrical couplet that contains an important prophecy, a sneak peek into His future plans to redeem all of humanity out from under the curse of sin and restore them to Himself.

God says, “I am going to stir up in you a desire for me by extending My grace to Gentiles. You will see the beauty of my love and mercy toward them and it will actually make you jealous for that kind of relationship with Me.”

He further unfolds this plan through the prophet Hosea: “And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’” (Hos. 2:23, NASB) He speaks through Isaiah, “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name.” (Isa. 65:1) In Romans 11:11, Paul confirms that “salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.” God’s plan all along has been to redeem all of humanity, not just Israel. He chose them to be the people He would reveal Himself to and through so that “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 22:18)

Even now, God is always only ever about one thing: His Kingdom, the comprehensive rule of God over everything and everyone in all places at all times. That is Plan A and there is no Plan B. That is where history is headed and nothing can stop it. Right now God continues to draw men, women, boys, and girls from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people to Himself through Jesus Christ. And the primary way He chooses to extend that invitation is through the changed lives of ordinary, messed-up, broken people like you and me. Bit-by-bit, day-by-day, we are being transformed by His love into the image of His Son that we were originally created to bear.

Scripture records another song, one that we will sing someday – Jews and Gentiles together – when Christ returns: “Worthy are You… for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5: 9-10)

Come quickly, Jesus!

This is a toughie today...

Week 10, Day 1 of the Grand Story … a clash of worldviews challenges our modern sensibilities…

“They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every male… And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire…”  (Numbers 31:7-10)

Imagine that you built your kids a big, beautiful house on a gorgeous piece of land -- rolling pastures, horses, a rustic red barn, and a winding creek that meanders through it. The plan is to give it to them when they are older, when they graduate college or get married.

But before you could give it to them, squatters move in and take it over. They destroy its beauty with their carelessness and turn it into a place where evil things happen. It becomes a crack house, a brothel, a place where children are neglected, abused, and exploited in horrible ways. They are vicious, brutal, and hateful to each other. Not only that, but they hate you and your children. They hire hit men to kill them.

This has to stop. They have no right to be there, and you have every right to drive them out. So you gather your family and call the authorities. You confront them. It gets ugly. Shots are fired. Most of them are killed in the conflict. The rest are taken away. Justice has been served, their crimes have been punished, and their life of corruption and destruction has been put to an end. You and your family breathe a sigh of relief.

Now imagine the next day you open the newspaper and read this headline: “INNOCENT CITIZENS DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOME BY TERRORISTS!” Imagine the anger and outrage you would feel at being cast as the villain when you are in reality the victim. It wasn’t their home! They had no right to be there in the first place! And they were anything BUT innocent! They tried to kill my family, for crying out loud!

This is the scenario we find in Numbers 31. We tend to read it like the spin doctors of a cable news network: “Those poor people were just minding their own business and along comes Israel and just slaughters them all and burns their cities! And God told them to!” But the reality is a very different story.

We have to be careful to remember that God is the one who has been wronged in this passage. He created the world expressly for His people to occupy. His plan all along was that it would belong to those who loved Him and desired His Kingdom. The whole earth – and every person who dwells in it – belongs to Him and He can do whatever He pleases with it. (Psalm 24:1; Daniel 4:35) No man can stand before God and demand anything, or claim any rights before Him, especially not those who hate Him and oppose His rule.

These are not good people. They were violent, barbaric, war-like. They invaded, murdered, raped, pillaged, exploited children and women. They were haters of God and His people, opposing them, harassing them, and seeking their destruction. So when God dispossesses them, He is exercising His rightful authority.

How we react to passages like these are an indicator of what we understand about God’s holiness. If we read a story like this and inside we recoil in horror against a God who could do this kind of thing, it reveals how little we grasp who He is, and who we truly are. It reveals that we think we are more than we are, and that we think far less of Him than we ought.

If we were created to worship – if our souls were shaped expressly for intimate communion with Him at the deepest level of existence – then the highest aspiration a human can attain to is loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Conversely, the greatest failure a human is capable of is to fail to worship, or worse, to offer himself in worship to another, lesser god. It’s precisely because we don’t truly believe that that we are offended when we read a passage like Numbers 31 and think that God is somehow in the wrong. When push comes to shove, in a world that is becoming increasingly hostile towards the gospel of Christ, this is the place we will either stand or fall – for all eternity.

Leviticus Wordled

Our church is reading through the entire Bible in chronological order this year in an effort to gain fresh perspective on the entire redemptive plan of God as it unfolds in scripture. As we finish up Leviticus I find myself surprised at the portrait of God I find there.

I had always been told that the Old Testament God of the Law was harsh, cold, wrathful, demanding, and not much fun at all. That is not the picture I get from Leviticus at all. I find there a God not much different than the One of the New Testament -- full of grace, ready to show mercy and compassion on anyone who truly wants to know Him. He is compassionate, generous, genuinely concerned for the health and well-being of His people. He is caring and compassionate towards the poor, the widow, the helpless, the stranger.

I find a God who loves celebration, encourages rest and restoration, and has a plan to bring about renewal. I find a God interested in freeing slaves, redeeming and rescuing those in bondage, and revealing Himself to any who will sincerely and humbly seek Him. I guess what I really find in Leviticus is... Jesus.

For grin and giggles I decided to Wordle the entire book of Leviticus. I had a hunch what the main key words would be but I wanted to see it for myself. I wasn't disappointed.

The biggest word in Leviticus is LORD, which is the translation of the Hebrew YHWH, the personal covenant Name of God. I AM. The God Who Is, Who Was, and Who Always Will Be. Eternal. Unchanging. Ever present.

Next is Offering. This is both a verb and a noun. It suggests that we acknowledge God as the source of everything we have and that we worship Him by giving it back into His hands to use for His glory. It speaks of sacrifice. We declare His worth to us by what we are willing to give up in order to gain Him.

Third is priest, one who represents God to the people and the people to God. The mediator. The go-between. It implies that there is tension and conflict on the relationship with God but that He is willing to do whatever it takes to restore that relationship.

There are others: holy, unclean, people, blood, sin, altar. These are all words you would expect to find in the Gospel. We just don't expect to find the gospel in Leviticus. It never ceases to amaze me that Jesus is everywhere in scripture if we take the time to look for Him.

"You want me to do WHAT, God?!"

Continuing through Genesis the past few mornings... came across this yesterday:
"And God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations... You shall be circumcised... it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.' " (Gen. 17:9, 11)

Because of the differences in cultures, customs, and worldview, we don't get the whole circumcision thing. Paul gives us a lot of insight on what was really going on there in Romans 2 & 4: "Circumcision is a matter of the heart, not outward and physical." (2:28-29), and it was given as a sign and a seal that God had already counted Abraham's faith as righteousness and set him apart as holy (4:10-12)

A few words help me understand this seemingly strange requirement of God to Abraham:

• Permanent - There's no undoing circumcision. No going back. You are all in. And it would remain a constant reminder of the unique covenant relationship God's people enjoyed.
• Personal - It was a 1:1 ratio. Every man had to bear his own part in the ongoing, unfolding redemptive narrative of God's plan. You couldn't be circumcised for someone else! "So then each of us will give an account of himself to God." (Rom. 14:12)
• Painful - Remember, Abraham and his men were adults at this time. Like Henry Blackaby says in Experiencing God, "Obedience is costly." The question is "Is it worth the cost?" That's why we call it worship; we are declaring what something is worth by what we are willing to sacrifice (see Gen. 22:12)
• Possession - God wants to set His people apart as His unique and holy treasure. "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9) Shepherds mark their flocks by cutting a notch or making a unique mark on their sheep so they will be easily identifiable as belonging to their master, even from a distance.

What sets me apart? Can anyone tell a difference? Do they see that I belong to Christ, or do I blend in with the surroundings as indistinguishable? A matter of the heart indeed!

Best of 2013

Well this is a little late but the holiday season was a busy one this year so.... Here is a sum up of my personal best for 2013:

Best Music:
Overall this was a pretty dry year for great music but there are a few highlights that deserve mentioning for me:

• Best album: "All Sons & Daughters - Live"- Where have these guys been hiding?! One of the best worship records of all time. Terrific songwriting, never cliched or predictable. The musicianship is top notch. Personal favorite: "Called Me Higher."

• Best song: "Anchor" by Hillsong United & "Promises" by Sanctus Real. While neither of these songs break any significant artistic ground, they cam e along at a time in my life when I needed to be reminded of the faithfulness of God in the worst of circumstances. These won;t win any awards for creativity but they comforted my soul when I really needed it.

• Best overplayed radio pop song: "Wake Me Up" by Avicii. Love this song! 

Best movie I saw:

"Catching Fire" While the first Hunger Games movie was decent, this second part totally surpassed all expectations I had. It was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I have seen in some time. I know there were better movies but I could only afford to see so many. The rest are Redbox fodder for 2014. :-)

Best Superhero movie:

The big surprise this year for me was "The Wolverine." Finally, it felt like the Wolverine I knew and loved from the comics. Though I was disappointed in "Iron Man 3" in the theaters, I began to like it much more on Blu Ray after seeing a few more times. "Thor 2" was fun like a roller coaster, but still nowhere near the movie Avengers was. And "Man of Steel" was a step in the right direction for the Superman franchise but ultimately was kind of flat emotionally. Lots of cool explosions and massive destruction but if I'm not emotionally invested in the characters, so what? "The Wolverine" not only delivered on all the essentials - story, character, action, emotional depth -- it serves as a promising indicator for the whole X-Men movie franchise. Excited to see what they do with "Days of Future Passed."

Best TV show I watched:

Toss up between "Duck Dynasty" and "The Walking Dead." Two vastly different shows but wouldn't miss an episode of either. The only connection the two shows have is that in a real zombie apocalypse, I would want the Duck Dynasty guys on my team.

Best books I read:
I read a LOT of books this year and learned a lot from some brilliant, godly mentors. I can't narrow it down to one but here are a few that impacted me the most:

• Because We Love Him: Embracing a Life of Holiness by Clyde Cranford. An older, hard-to-find book given to me by a former pastor. This is definitely worth seeking out. A dry read for the casual reader but if you are a serious seeker of what it means to live a life of holiness, this book is worth the work.

• Eyes Wide Open: Enjoying God in Everything by Steve DeWitt. One of my favorite books ever. A new classic. Helped me greatly to develop the discipline of letting the ordinary everyday beauty of things like nature, food, music, art, and other people draw me up into worship of the One who made it all.

• The Utter Relief of Holiness by John Eldredge. What year would be complete without a book from John Eldredge? This one is a relatively short read. Cuts to the chase on how pursuing holiness in Christ breaks the chains that bind us and sets us free from a host of addictions that plague our souls.

• Stop Asking Jesus Into Your Heart by J.D. Greear. Fantastic little book about assurance of salvation. Found it very helpful in counseling and discipling.

• Crazy Busy by Kevin DeYoung. God lead me to this book a few months back when I kind of had a mini-meltdown. I had exhausted myself emotionally, physically, and spiritually and was not obeying the principle of Sabbath. I accidentally stumbled onto this book through Crossway's website and ordered it. So helpful! A must read for every pastor.

That's all I can really think of right now. I am tired and most likely no one will read this anyways. :-) Looking forward to what God is going to do in 2014!

Ought we not to walk in the fear of our God?

Been reading in Nehemiah lately. Yesterday I read this and God has been working me over with it...

So I said, "The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies?" (Neh. 5:9, ESV)

"The thing which you are doing is not good."
What thing? Well, for the people Nehemiah was addressing it was something called usury -- exploiting the neediness of the poor for your own personal financial gain. During a difficult financial time when the people of God should be caring for one another all the more, some of the wealthy Jews were lending money to their poorer brothers at exorbitant interest rates. It was extortion, it was oppression, and it was outright wrong. But what made it especially abhorrent was that they were doing it to their own kinsmen.
So what is "that thing which you are doing"? What for you is that ting that you know is wrong but you do it anyway? What are you willing to wrong another person for, even if it is a fellow Christ follower, even though you know it is wrong?
At the core of it is always selfishness and pride. The essence of sin is rejecting God and elevating the self as god in His place.

"Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God...?"
What does "the fear of God" mean? Some have said respect, reverence, or awe of who God is. That is certainly a part of it. But the scriptures use a word that goes beyond mere reverence for God's authority or holiness. That word is very specific and chosen by the Holy Spirit to convey exactly what it means -- fear. Not abject terror. Not as in the fear of something evil that means you harm and you cannot escape it. Imbedded in the minds of the Israelites was the understanding that they would one day stand before this God and give an account of their life to the One who gave it to them and required them to live it in holiness for His glory. In appealing to their Jewish understanding of the scriptures, the writer of Hebrews reminded his readers that "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." (Heb. 9:27) It's at the core of Jesus' parable of the talents. God has entrusted something precious to us. He means for us to make it count for His kingdom. And one day we will stand before Him and give an account of what we did with what He entrusted to us. There will be rewards for the faithful. And there will be punishment for those who hated Him and distrusted His heart, His intentions toward them. It's exactly what Jesus meant when He said, "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5)
Let's face it. We always make sure we do what's expected of us when we know someone in authority is going to come and hold us accountable for it. Homework gets done. chores get done, work gets done. Ought we, then, to live our lives as if we really believe we will stand face-to-face with our God and give an account? Even for the believer, whose sin has been covered by the blood and will not have to appear before the Great White Throne of judgement, must give an account for the way he has lived as a follower of Jesus. (1 Cor. 3:12-15)
But there is yet another important reason to walk in the fear of our God...

"...because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?" (NASB)
Israel was supposed to be the people of the One True God. They alone had a relationship with God. He had singled them out through His covenant. He would be their God and they would be His people so that the nations would know Him through them! That was the whole purpose of setting them apart, to eventually bring all the nations to Himself. Israel alone represented the character and nature of God to the Gentile nations around them and His glory was tied up in their lives. When Nehemiah said these words, they were only just emerging from a 70 year exile from Babylon because of their failure to do exactly this.
It is no different for the Church. As Christ followers, God has strategically placed each of us, and each of His churches, in neighborhoods, cities, communities, families, schools, workplaces and relationships where those who don't know Him can get to know Him through us. The way we live is supposed to reveal Jesus to everyone around us. When we choose to do "that thing" -- whatever it is -- that indulges the self and rebels against God and defies His Word, it brings shame, disgrace, and reproach on the name of Jesus and His character. How many have turned away from the gospel because they saw the lives of those who claimed to represent it and concluded that it had no power, it made no difference, so it must not be true?
Then there are the enemies of the gospel who seek to tear it down, destroy it, erase it from the public eye, eradicate any vestige of it, and silence it forever. Will we prove them right? Will we continue to hand them fodder for the cannons they have aimed at Christ and His bride? "You will be My witnesses," said Jesus. The question is, are we witnesses for the prosecution, or for the defense of the gospel?

The stakes are high. Hell is hot. Time is short. Eternity is long. God is holy.
That thing which we are doing is not good. Ought we not to rather walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? God help us! Revive your church! Awaken your bride! Shake your people and may the church be found faithful when you return for her!