Missing God in the Midst of God Things

I was blessed last evening to be able to sit in on the final chapel session of high school LIFE Camp when we went to pick up our oldest daughter. The speaker, as a part of his teaching, talked about Peter in Acts 10. In preparing Peter to minister the gospel to the Gentiles, God gave him a dream of all kinds of animals and then told him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."

Peter's reply? "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean." God goes on to let Peter know that he shouldn't call "common" what God has made clean, and then to lead him to a Gentile home to share the news of the Jew's messiah (Jesus) with people Jews would have never thought could have been "eligible" for their God's salvation.

The way the speaker (a pastor from, I believe, Vintage Community Church in Templeton) put it really struck me. He said something to the effect of, "Peter told God 'no' because Peter was being religiously proper." Basically Peter called God "Lord" which means, basically, "You are Lord and I'll do whatever You want," and then told Him "no" in the same breath. It gave me pause . . .

How many times do we miss God in the midst of doing "religious" stuff? I have often taught and reminded others (and needed reminding myself) that church services, worship, teachings, Bible studies, and even the Bible, are not the end. They are all to point us to the One who is the end—Jesus, the living Word, the Truth. He is the end, not stuff about Him, and we can, if we aren't careful, replace Him with stuff about Him and never even realize we've done it because we are so immersed in "God stuff."

Think of the Jews. They crucified Jesus because He didn't match their religious expectations and ways. Think of John the Baptist, the one who baptized "the One who sets the captives free" and is sitting in jail, wondering if Jesus is the One. Jesus tells him, "And blessed is the one who is not offended by me" (Matthew 11:6). Basically, I believe, "Don't be offended or made to stumble in your faith because I am not doing what you expected Me to do, or being how you expected Me to look." This is John the Baptist! The one who leaped in his mother's womb with the baby Jesus, still in Mary's womb, entered the room! "Are You the One?"

I am reminded of Acts 12 when Peter is in prison and the disciples are gathered in a home, praying (you have to believe they are praying, at least in part, for Peter's release!). An angel comes, frees Peter, and he goes and knocks on the gate of the house. Rhoda, a servant girl, heard Peter's voice and in her joy forgot to let him in but ran and told the others. Their response to her news that Peter was outside, free? Acts 12:15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!”

So caught up in praying, they missed the answer to their prayer right outside the gate. It is ironic, but a warning to us as well. God is alive, in believers, and at work. Everything must make Him the end, the ultimate goal and purpose of our life. He is the living water, the breath and bread of life. He alone. We can be so caught up in religious "stuff" about Him that we miss Him, what He is doing, what He is trying to lead us into, what He is trying to tell us, and then wonder why we are so burned out and spiritually parched when we've been doing all this religious stuff!

He is the end. Him alone. This isn't against church, Bible study, etc.—those are all important, and Biblical. But He is our end. Intimate, personal. Him. That is why, I believe, Jesus asked Peter why he doubted on the water and said he was of little faith. If faith was just some religious "thing" then Peter had a lot more than the others who stayed in the boat. They should have been rebuked. But if faith is deeply personal and relational and at the core of what we believe is true about God, His love, His nature and character, then Jesus' question to Peter is one of a deep and personal nature. And it has to be. Because it isn't about religious stuff. It's about Jesus.

Preeminent

Taking nothing from other blog posts I've done, I feel that this may be the most important blog post I've ever written, or will ever write . . .

He [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.  (Colossians 1:15–18, ESV)

for, "In him we live and move and have our being . . ." (Acts 17:28a, ESV)

One time I was talking with someone about a relationship that seemed hopeless. I told them, basically, that I didn't need to know anything about them to know fully that the relationship could succeed—and not just "make it," but be amazing. I could say this without knowing them because I know God, and I know what He can do. The key is, were they willing to elevate God in their hearts to the place He deserves?* I'll explain this in a moment.

Ephesians and Colossians are probably two of my favorite books in the Bible. One of the main reasons is the exaltation of God and His mighty plans and His mystery that pervades them. As one author pointed out, so many of us tend to treat the story of God as if it began in Genesis 3 with the Fall . . . as if it began with us. That is the message we share, the story we tell. We begin with how man is separated from God, etc. But, God's story the world needs to hear begins even before Genesis 1, "In the beginning, God . . ." God is the beginning of the story. In the beginning He already was. Ephesians tells us that before even the foundation of the world the cross was in His plan. His story doesn't begin with Christmas, or even the Garden. Before the foundation of the world . . . He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is outside of time itself. The story begins with God, not with man. It is far, far bigger than us.

In the Colossians passage above it says that, "For by him all things were created . . . all things were created through him and for him." He created all things, and He created them for Himself. We were created by Christ, and for Christ. And that is the basis of His claim on our life. I have no claim on your life. No pastor or person has a claim on your life. But, your Creator does. He made you and I. And He made us for Himself. That is the claim He has on our life, and in that context we can easily see the rebellion in us when we make a claim on our own life. We are His—by Him, and for Him.

The passage then goes on to say, "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." How does a marriage hold together? In Christ. How does a family hold together? In Christ. How is the earth itself, and everything in it held together? In Christ. How do we find our purpose and meaning in life? In Christ. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. That is why I don't need to even know a person's background to know that in Christ they can be whole, in Christ a marriage can flourish, in Christ people can be set free, in Christ any life—no matter its past—can be rich with meaning and purpose. Because in Christ all things hold together. That isn't to say there aren't challenges, and oftentimes a lot of healing, etc., but in Christ all is possible because in Christ all things hold together.

The Acts passage above comes from Paul, explaining to the learned men of Athens the "unknown God" they'd made an altar to, among their other gods. He told them, ". . . what therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth . . ." (Acts 17:23b–26a, ESV) He then went on to say of God, "In him we live and move and have our being . . ." In Christ, all things hold together. In Him we live and move and have our being.

The Colossians passage I quoted above ends with, "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." He is the head of the body, the church. That is us. Believers. Why? That in everything He might be preeminent. First. Above all. The highest.

He is Christ. All things were created by Him. All things were created for Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. All things hold together in Him. That in all things He might be preeminent. That is the exaltation of Christ. That is His place. Preeminent.

No matter what situation we are in. No matter what obstacles we face in relationships, etc. If Christ is preeminent in the hearts of the people involved I believe that we can have great hope of great things. The limitations are in us, not in Him (and the exciting part is that His Word promises that He is at work in us, bringing His work to completion!). In Him all things hold together. The question is if we are willing to give Him preeminence. To kneel before Him. To lay aside our claim on our life and give Him His rightful claim as our Creator and Lord. To surrender. To step off the throne of our life and let Him have that place. To give up our rights to be "right," to be apologize to, to be loved back, to make our own plans, to dictate our own terms, etc. To give to Christ our rights.

The most amazing part is that while, as Creator, He has every right to sit in Heaven and make those claims on us, He didn't. Before the foundation of the earth He had the plan in place to surrender His rights as God, to humble Himself, to love us before we loved Him, to meet us 100% of the way before we traveled 1% of the way. Everything He asks of us He did before us, for us. And He did it as our Creator!

He then steps back and waits. He quietly asks, "Will you let me be preeminent?" It is His rightful place—and He is preeminent in the big picture regardless of our decision—but He lets us choose that for each of our lives.

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* This comment/belief is not an excuse to not invest heavily in another's life. Too often we throw a few verses at people because we are unwilling to get "dirty" and invested, or because we are uncomfortable and don't know what to say or do. I believe we are called to invest deeply and long term in other's lives, but I have also found that if the issue of the preeminence of  Christ is not settled in a couple's heart, or anyone else's heart, then rarely are the changes long term. All I have to offer anyone, really, is Christ. Once Christ is preeminent in a life then I can offer a lot of love, support, and help in determining Christ's heart for them and His counsel and Words. But, in the end I can only say, "You need to do this (or not do this) because Christ says it." Ultimately it is our surrender to Him that will be that which moves us.

Perspective . . .

 

From a web page copyrighted by Michael Richmond under Creative Commons License. 

This morning, during Family Worship, we got to the middle of Acts 4. Peter and John have just been threatened by the powerful religious people, and warned not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They have replied with that line that I hope always marks my life, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19).

Afterwords, they leave and go to their friends and report what the chief priests and elders said to them. Acts 4:24 records the beginning of the response of them all: And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, "Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, . . ."

The prayer goes on about how gentiles and kings and rulers plotted in vain and set themselves in vain against the Lord, and how God brought His will to pass in the life of Jesus despite all their efforts. Then, at the end of the prayer, for the last two of seven verses, they made their request, "And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus" (Acts 4:29-30).

It struck me how, faced with overwhelming odds and obstacles in the physical world, they didn't all immediately beginning bemoaning their situation, or crying out for help, or talking negatively, or sagging their heads in hopelessness, or praying about their problem and how huge it was. Instead, they began exalting God and making praises to Him about how He made all of Creation and how nations plot in vain against Him. They did this for 5/7 of their prayer! Then, almost as a tag at the end, they make their request.


It reminds me of David, faced with Goliath. He didn't try and talk down or deny Goliath's obvious strengths, "You aren't really over nine feet tall! You don't really have armor! You don't really have an armor bearer! You aren't really a great warrior!" No, instead, David just went right past Goliath to One who was bigger than him—to the One who, against all earthly odds, delivered to David the wild animals threatening his father's sheep. He didn't deny Goliath's strengths, or focus on Goliath's strengths—he just focused on His mighty God, Deliverer, and walked with confidence in spite of Goliath's strengths.

I find that facing obstacles as Christians isn't about denying the obstacle, but about reminding ourselves of who our God is. As I shared at our Family Worship, when you start to praise God and focus on how mighty and huge and powerful He is it seems to automatically put the other things in proper perspective. We can lose sight of our God, and things of the earth become bigger than they should be. Sometimes we need to sit back, be still, and know that He is God!

When I get overwhelmed, or things are pressing in, I will often step outside and look up at the stars. I will remind myself that I am only seeing a fraction of them, that most of them would make the earth look like a golf ball next to a house, that they are so far away that the distance is unfathomable to me, and that my God breathes them out, puts them in place, and knows them all by name . . . and that He knows the number of hairs on my head, and loves me enough to die for me. It is wonderful the peace that most often accompanies those moments. It is not that the problem on earth changed any, it is just that I put it all back in to perspective.

Hello All, I've Missed You!

Carmel Christmas 12/2010

Carmel Christmas 12/2009

 Happy new year to all of you! I hope that it has been a wonderful start to the year for you so far. It seems like things are "settling in" a bit—for awhile starting in late November until recently I started joking that I wasn't going to plan more than an hour ahead because things were happening and changing so fast!

For those of you who have "followed" our family traditions, I post for your enjoyment the third year of our traditional Carmel Christmas picture with my folks. Of course, the only ones looking any older from year to year are the girls. The prior two years pictures are included. Won't Heaven be wonderful where all who have made Jesus the Lord of their life will be able to fellowship and share together, and we won't have to be bound by distance! (And, I'll bet the coffee in Heaven is going to be amazing!)

Carmel Christmas 12/2008

Speaking of coffee, I have begun brewing some "Cowboy Coffee." I read about it in a novel I was reading and it intrigued me, so I let it be know I wanted to try it and my folks got me an enamel coffee pot that can go right on a fire. It has been fun boiling water and just putting the grounds in it, but Mary Ann is still pulling towards the more traditional approaches. Any tips or suggestions out there on making the best cup of cowboy coffee?

The first Sunday in January marked my 11th year of pastoring, and I am beginning a couple of new things this year in my study. Last Sunday I started teaching on the Kingdom of God/Heaven—a topic that I am more and  more convinced was the framework and core of the message shared by Jesus and the disciples. I have been studying on this for 6-9 months and I am very excited to share about it. We have such an amazing calling as God's children, and I believe that the enemy has eroded that calling and good news so down that we just "get saved" and then try and hold on until Heaven. To the contrary, I believe that we are part of an "invasion" from Heaven to earth, part of God's work restoring a people to Him, of plundering that which the enemy has stolen. If anyone wants to follow the series I will be trying to put the mp3 files of each Sunday up on our church's web page by the Wednesday after each teaching (hopefully the first teaching in the series, which I gave yesterday, will be up by tomorrow night). You can get to our church's audio download page by clicking here, or by going to the "About Me" page of this blog and clicking on the link near the bottom of it.

Also new, our family has begun going through the book of Acts in our morning Family Worship time. I am enjoying the discussion back and forth and hearing the girls' thoughts. It is amazing to me how the Apostles were with Jesus three years, they had the most chance of anyone to understand the Father's heart as revealed in Jesus, they had the Holy Spirit from when He breathed on them, and they still needed to wait for the Holy Spirit to come over them at Pentecost before they could have power for ministry. Wow! If that doesn't remind us how important the Holy Spirit is to our work then nothing probably will. I wonder how much we do on our own strength that God is just waiting to help us with if we would simply ask and wait, and make sure our lives are fully surrendered and that we aren't grieving or quenching the Spirit by what we do/think (or fail to do/think).

God bless you all. I look forward to sharing so much more with you in the coming weeks. Until then, stay in touch!