Are You Waiting On The Lord Or Is He Waiting On You?

Are You Waiting On The Lord Or Is He Waiting On You?

There's a word in the Old Testament in the original Hebrew language that sounds like Qavah, and is translated 'wait', usually in the expression, 'to wait on the Lord.' 

The way I often hear it used however seems far from its original meaning. 

To Qavah in the Hebrew means to wait actively with anticipation, hopefully watching for God's action. 

In the English however, it often takes on a frustratingly passive tone. 

Like waiting for the traffic lights to change, waiting for your doctor's appointment, or waiting for a flight to land perhaps. In each case, there's nothing you can really do except, well ... wait. As the time stretches out a sense of impatience grows at your lack of control over the situation.

The Biblical Qavar kind of wait is almost the opposite. 

• Its currency is trust and prayer, not resignation to time or chance. 
• Its fruit is anticipation not frustration. 
• Its result is the unexpected and the impossible, not the expected and the routine.

I reckon Qavar is invitational in nature. 

In waiting on the Lord we are opening our hands to Him saying, "Thank you that I've been able to do this much, now you, Lord will move..." 

It's more like leaving room than waiting. 

Here's a formula that is probably too trite to be true:

1. Do absolutely all you can. 
2. Pray about it. 
3. Trust and anticipate God acting. (If that's not possible repeat Step 1 and 2 until it is).

For some reason there are many who skip step one, as if step one is somehow unspiritual. 

But while you're sitting back waiting on heaven, is heaven waiting on you?

• Perhaps you're praying for finances but have never opened your bank statements.
• Perhaps you're praying for health and fitness but have never looked at your diet or dragged yourself along to a quack yet. 
• Perhaps you're praying for the restoration of a relationship with a family member but you can't remember the last time you picked up the phone for a chin wag...

I could go on but you get the point.

Some chalk it up to a false sense of humility: "Oh no, I don't want to take it into my own hands, I'll let the Lord move!" 

Which is fine, I guess, but on the other hand, the Lord gave you a brain, hands and feet and a will of your own. These things are fine gifts and sadly not all have them, or at least not to the same degree that you do.

Have you heard of the story of the man who prayed about what to eat for breakfast and then waited on the Lord for so long his bread went mouldy and his milk turned sour? (actually I made that up.) 

I did however, once have a pastor say to me that he had never applied for a pastoral role in his life, he always simply waited on the Lord and a church came offering him one (he said it rather proudly I might add at a time when I was looking for a job). Evidently resumes and job applications were beneath the heights of spirituality he had achieved. 

Then again I've never been handed anything on a plate in my life. I've worked for every cent and any progress I ever made was from my own blood, sweat and tears. I was raised with a strong work ethic and a go get 'em attitude so the passive approach was never going to work for me. 

Maybe I'm projecting then. I don't know, you will have to decide for yourself.

Either way, are you passively waiting for God to move in an area of your life? Have you asked Him for something in prayer but not made any effort towards the goal yourself? Is there something you can do?

Psalm 37:34 says: "Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land..." 

It doesn't mean to sit back and eat pizza and slug some cans back while God gets to work.

It means to treat each moment like God is watching, in anticipation of Him acting alongside you.

It means working as hard as you possibly can, so God can do what you can't.

It means acting as if God won't but secretly knowing that He will.

I'd probably go as far as to say that living your life like this IS proof that God is acting in you. 

Because it's not all about the Lord helping those who help themselves, as they say. 

Qavar is not a means to an end, for in the waiting you can enjoy the sense of expectant desire and anticipation that comes with it, a sense of God's presence.

Like the quiet sense of expectation I get when fishing. You rig up a paternoster, slice up some fresh squid, thread it only your hook, and cast into the surf and wait. You know that at any moment you might feel that exhilarating tug or thump on your line. You are waiting yes, but you're in the game, the tides are right, the time of day is good, and you know it's only a matter of time. 

Ahhhh ... that sweet tingly anticipation.

What are you waiting on (NAY!) LEAVING ROOM FOR (!) the Lord to move in your life?

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord." Psalm 27:13-14

"...They that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Women in Ministry: Southern Baptists, Witch Hunts, and the Evangelical Gate-Keepers (JMs)

Disclaimer/Trigger Warning(!): I don’t usually include these at the start of my BLOGS, however the nature of this piece may call for it: I am writing as a response to the Southern Baptist Convention’s actions and approach, and the subsequent “chest beating” of other “self-appointed evangelical gate-keepers” who jump on the band wagon. This piece is therefore written in response to the extreme views espoused online that are harmful and hurtful too many. It is not intended as a way to outline a fully fledged view of my own (although I might follow up with if time permits), nor is it intended as a conversation starter with those genuinely interested in a discussion. If that is you, you are clearly not a ‘chest-beater’ , and I’d love the opportunity to chat. If you are a chest-beater, well let’s get together anyway and I’ll beat mine too. 

Women in Ministry: Southern Baptists, Witch Hunts, and the Evangelical Gate-Keepers (JMs)

A few weeks ago in a move made by the Southern Baptist Convention that was both vicious and vacuous, churches with female pastors were excommunicated from membership. This move was not insignificant: the SBC are a 13 million-member juggernaut, and so is bound to create some waves.

 

Sure enough, the issue of women in ministry is getting a lot of airplay especially among chest-beating conservative evangelicals, who as a breed tend to more actively promulgate their views on social media; where their voices are persistent, proud and platitudinous, their arguments usually boiling down to variations of "the Bible says so!" with other peacocking and proclamations about manhood and womanhood. 

 

Whilst their arguments vary in scope and application, their substance is simple: women cannot participate in all areas of ministry because of their (*ahem) womanhood. A statement made plausible by a literal (yet selective) reading of certain passages in the Bible which at face value seem to support this, but upon an informed and intelligent reading yield many possibilities which, in my opinion, better fit into the Bible's overall scheme of humanity and salvation and practice.

 

Perhaps I'll expound those Scriptures in a separate post, but for now I prefer to point to the work of those more intelligent and credentialed than I: N.T Wright, Scot McKnight, & Gordon Fee among many others. The open mind will not necessarily arrive at the same opinion but will at least be convinced of other possibilities; and thereby be open to genuine discussion, prayer, and having at least a hint of humility. As for the closed mind I can offer nothing further except for the small red dot at the top left of your browser. I mean, I could challenge you to a duel, but alas those days are no more (sad face). BLOG duel perhaps? 

 

Back to the SBC though. I think we can agree they don’t fit the “hint of humility” category. The excommunication was measured and has been coming for some time. The recent move only being one further advance in a war that has been brewing for over a century. The current Baptist Faith and Message (2000) states: "While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor/elder/overseer is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.” 

Although in the preamble, they stress this is “only a guide… having no authority over the conscience” and “are not to be used to hamper freedom of thought,” in practise it is no longer the case. Not that there was ever such freedom of thought. What of the women who in the “authority of their conscience” perceive their gifting as a call from God to actually use it for His glory? (Imagine that!)  

Well, SBC President James Merritt (from 2000-2002) stated that while some women may believe they are called to preach, "they are misled, because God is bound by his own word not to issue a call that is unbiblical." Wow. He doesn’t expand on who is doing the misleading here, but with gifted women labelled essentially as delusional at best (having heard wrong) or demonic at worst (having heard correctly but from the wrong source) this quote is neither wise nor winsome. And that's before we start on his comment about God being “bound” ... I don’t know about you, but I get the feeling we are barking up the wrong tree if we are blaming any issue on God's limitations! 

Anyway … I do applaud the SBC for not leaving these women (whose giftedness is not denied) without direction, for they are offered the following helpful guidance: "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband … and has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation." This is indeed a noble calling - for men and women alike in my opinion - however it begs the question.

What of the single, the childless, the widowed, or those gifted for ministry or other careers? Well… um, (*keeps scrolling through the BFM2000) nope, nothing. Sorry. Maybe find another church? I don’t say this light heartedly as this has been the reality of many women who have been forced out of positions in SBC churches and seminaries due to increasing discrimination, at great cost to family and friends and career and calling.

So, regarding the SBC’s view, did we have prayer (probably), discussion (definitely), a “hint of humility” (hardly)! More like the height of hubris! Actually … maybe not exactly the height. There's another JM to contend with yet.

 

Just like the maxim "a door opened for a demon invariably lets in another," a video by John MacArthur slithered its way into the algorithm of my news feed, catching me unawares. He says: "women pastors and women preachers are a disgrace and they openly reflect opposition to the clear command of the word of God"... Clear command? I guess the pastors and scholars and theologians who disagree aren't so smart after all. I should probably just listen to JM for all of my theological insights from now on. But which one? James Merritt or John MacArthur?

Merritt asserts that women don't hear right from God and MacArthur asserts that they do and choose to rebel. I just can't choose! Let's split the difference. I call BS on both. Pluck them out of our generation and send them back a few hundred years and they'd be screaming 'witch!' and rallying the troops. Okay okay, too far. The witch-hunts were responsible for the execution of something like 50,000 women, this is no way that extreme. 

Or is it? Do we know the opportunity cost in unsaved souls by depriving the church of its gifted women ministers and leaders? How many thousands will miss out on listening, attending, reading and responding to the Word due to churches limiting the roles of those serving not by giftedness but by gender? I know my own faith-life would be poorer for it. 

 

But hey, it's not the first time strong, vicious, arrogant language has been used in the name of the Bible to support shameful behaviour. In our not-to-distant past the Bible was also used by some to support slavery, until those passages in the Bible fell into the that was then, this is now, category of Biblical passages. (Not that the Bible EVER condoned slavery, that is a topic for another time, my point is that Context matters!) Of course many people spoke up about the injustice, and this in the midst of the American civil war which meant treachery and death depending on the side of the state lines you fell. Speaking up could get you killed, yet people did anyway. 

Now speaking up simply gets you cancelled, which must be just as effective because not many people are doing it. My social media feed is full of the chest-beaters posting videos, the comments' section full of vitriol towards those who would dare question them.  But where are the other voices? Probably busy tending their households because they see through the cultural imposition (masquerading as Biblical teaching) that says it’s the wife’s job (gasp). 

 

Let's face it, the evangelical cancel-culture is strong. As a male pastor I feel pressure to not post this article. The thing is:

1) I put my principles above my pay; 

2) I have a wife who is a gifted pastor and daughters for whom I want a better future;

3) (admittedly) I find the chest-beaters obnoxious and irritating (what can I say?), and; 

4) I find this quote convicting: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" (Edmund Burke).

 

So where are the good men? Who is speaking up on this?

 

It seems that many good men prefer to be Switzerland when it comes to this issue, probably because they simply don't have enough skin in the game to warrant shaking the tree. Or they're too nice to say something that another person might be offended by. Or they've got too much to lose. 

Maybe I'm not nice enough, or smart enough to keep my mouth shut (probably both true). Or maybe nice gets us nowhere. Jesus wasn’t always nice. Much evil occurs due to niceness. Why do pastors have to be nice? Men and women of God need a fresh boldness in my opinion. God gives us minds to think and mouths to speak.

Yet I will also say this: there is reason to hope. Not all who oppose women in ministry are chest-beating self-appointed gate-keepers to the kingdom of God. In my experience, Godly, sincere men and women are also led to this belief. Among them there are those who are open-hearted and genuinely seeking clarification. For I too was one of them only a handful of years ago, being in a conservative church with no other reference or theological training, for me too it seemed to be simply "what the Bible said." 

 

My views changed over time as I studied the Bible in its context, along with studies in theology and church history and ministry and hermeneutics. The Bible contains many bold women who lead, teach, plant churches, and proclaim the Gospel - it was, after all, women who first preached the resurrection! I also spent years working in ministry alongside gifted women, learned from gifted women Professors, and received a call to pastor with - alongside as equals - my wife, where to this day we serve in way that complements each other's gifting and in a ministry which would have a deficit if either of us left.  

 

What a privilege it has been, having Godly women in my life alongside Godly men! I wonder if at the end of it all, I will be barred from heaven for not interpreting those Bible passages in the same way as the honourable JMs do?  I wonder if God is upset at me for not heeding the wisdom of one particularly zealous church elder who screamed at me "you need to rein your wife in!" (as I handed in my resignation at that particular church).

 

Or I wonder instead if God is pleased with these women for using the gifts that He gave them, for preaching the Gospel and expounding the kingdom of God, for bringing freedom and love to their churches, seminaries, households, and communities; all in the face of deep resistance. To those women, I salute you, I stand with you, I stir you to fan into the flame the gifts you've been given.  I say to you: "well done, good and faithful servants." 

We need you, the church needs you, the new generation of Christ-followers need you, us men need you. After all, God created us then looked at us and said, "Ahhhh... this is not good," and then created you lot. God's design is for us to work together for His glory. The church deprives itself of your gifts at its own detriment, and your perspective at its own peril.

 

My wife and I face great challenges, yet as we've progressed in ministry and study our conviction has only deepened: God didn't make any mistakes, gifted women have not 'misheard' Him regarding their call, and they are certainly not 'rebelling' against God. Instead, God calls, gifts, equips women to do His will in all areas of the church, complementing the otherwise limited perspective and reach of men, as they together bring the Gospel to bear on souls in need.

I am blessed to be in a church that has both male and female pastors and in a tradition that encourages the full liberation of women into all areas of church ministry and leadership to promote the Biblical ideals of the church as: "neither Jew nor gentile, neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). It's taken 2000 years to get the first two right, it's high time we sort out the third, treating men and women as equals, celebrating and making use of their differences to enrich ministry, championing men and women both to use their God-given gifts for the glory of God.

 

I'll finish with this: whatever you believe about what Paul did or didn't say to a church in the 1st Century AD, and whether that applies to all churches thousands of years later, know that all of our theology is at best an approximation of truth. As Anselm said it is merely, "faith seeking understanding." It’s a process and a search that must also allow itself to be shaped by scripture and tradition and reason and experience together, lest due to our own hubris we miss out on what God is doing in our midst. 

My guess is that we all have bits of it wrong, and at the end of the day God's grace is big enough for all of us, even the chest-beaters. So why let the non-vital parts (such as the genitalia of the person preaching) get in the way of gospel-salvation? What’s the end-goal here? God's explicit will is that all would be saved, and I infer thereby that we need all hands on deck, male and female alike!

As for me, whether by active agreement or silent consent, I will not stand for discrimination against women in ministry. It is unbiblical, unwarranted, and (frankly) unattractive.

But hey, it’s just my two-bob, as usual.

Good Grumbles: From Shattering Soliloquys to Passionate Prayer

 

Good Grumbles: From Shattering Soliloquys to Passionate Prayer.

If you've been to an Aussie pub or have Aussie mates you've probably heard the saying, "She'll be right mate," a quick way to divert a discussion from the delicacy of dealing with another's negative emotions. Hell I've probably used it myself a number of times as a sure-fire way of shutting down a soliloquy before it turns into good ole' hour-long beer-slurping ear-yanking.

But when it comes to our grumbles, God isn't quite so dismissive. Reading the Psalms—the prayers and songs of the people of God—you''ll see the writer pouring his heart out to God again and again, leaving nothing unsaid: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Psalmist, it would seem, was not impartial to a good grumble, and God, it would seem, was not impartial in responding; whether it be a miracle for the need, or peace in the midst of it.

When we turn our problems into prayers, grumbling then, can be good!  

I'd go as far as to say that, despite our cultural aversion to it, a good grumble to God is crucial in our spiritual growth. Certainly better than an hour-long ear-shattering soliloquy to a weary listener. By turning our problems into prayers, we open up our darkness to God's light, our depression to His life, and our desires to his love.

Don't write this off as a trite solution however, because in practice it is no easy thing. I believe that my prayers are often simply too shallow, are yours? We need to cry out to God, with heart-bearing, door-opening, soul-purging prayers. We need to get real with God. We need to present ourselves to Him as who we are, not who we think we should be.

Be encouraged though, unlike a human listener, you're not going to offend God, bore Him, puzzle Him or surprise Him – he knows it all and has heard it all before. There is nothing new under the sun. Yet he the Bible says to 'cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you.' (1 Peter 5:7)

Our God after all is not some distant deity, or an imaginary friend in the sky (cue the keyboard warriors), but is our loving Father who cares, provides, and lavishes his love and grace upon us. He wants to provide for you.

In fact, when we turn our problems into prayers, they become a platform for God's provision.

When the people of God grumbled in the desert about having nothing to eat, the Lord said simply, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you." (Ex 16:4)

The ultimate bread from heaven of course was Christ, who said simply, "I am the bread of life…whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6) and for the thirsty he said, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. (John 7:37-39).

Through the Holy Spirit then, God's ultimate provision is his presence.

God has made a way though Christ and the Spirit to meet your deepest desires and longs to lavish it upon you, if only you'd ask. He does not leave us or ignore us but instead fills us with his Spirit to equip, empower and enrich us.To shape us into a people who prize his presence above all else.

For God's presence prepares us for the promise.

The promise that one day we will walk with again face to face, when God finally sets the world right and his presence is all-in-all.

So I pray you will open your heart up to God today, pray a soul-bearing prayer and get real with Him about where you're at in life; and that He will meet where you're at, and will raise you up, as He draws you closer to Himself. Amen.

Faith & Money: Can You Have Deep Faith and Shallow Pockets?

 

Can a Christian’s faith be deeper than their pockets? 

Here is the litmus test of a real faith: do you trust God with your money?

An older gentleman was recently sharing his testimony with me, and I asked him a question: Do you have any advice for younger Christians wanting to grow in their walk with God?

His answer was surprising (I paraphrase): "Yes. There's no such thing as faith without trust, and until they trust God with their money, they don't trust him at all."

I asked him to explain what he meant, and he said he had reached a plateau in his spiritual growth and he felt it was because he was still bound by financial worry. He prayed about this and a few weeks later was walking along the street when a $50 note fluttered across the footpath. He looked around and noticed that nobody was in sight, and he knew in that moment he had a choice: stuff it in his pocket or give it to God.

God had given him an opportunity to grow by bringing him face to face with that which kept him bound.

He took the money into a nearby church and handed it to the staff, asking that it be donated to charity if nobody claimed it.  

Peace instantly settled upon his heart.

Trusting God with that fifty was symbolic for trusting Him for material provision for his entire life. 

What would you have done?

His testimony reminds me of the rich young ruler in the Gospel of  Mark (10:17-27). A rich young man came to Jesus asking what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus basically told him to keep the ten commandments. The young man replied in the affirmative: "No problem! I've done all of that!" Jesus said: "One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heave; and come, follow Me." 

Instead of following Jesus' advice the young man went away grieving. 

Why is it so difficult to trust God with our money? I think part of the answer is that it is because we are so short-sighted. We have earthly economics in mind while God has heavenly economics in mind, and earthly economics deals in scarcity; heavenly economics deals in abundance. Paradoxically then, we can clutch tightly to scarcity at the expense of abundance.

Jesus came to bring you the abundance of heaven, but you can have your hands so full of the of scarcity of earth that you can’t receive it. Before abundance comes sacrifice and trust. If that seems upside-down to you, it's because it is. God's way is always counter-intuitive to ours. If it wasn't we probably wouldn't need him to point it out to us because we'd do it anyway.

This is about something more fundamental than provision, it's about trust: in what, in whom, do you place your trust and your security for the future? Can we claim to trust God with our eternal life but not with our temporal physical existence on earth? To flip that statement around: if you don’t trust God with your most basic needs now, can you really claim to trust Him with your spiritual needs?

To bring it back to the gentleman who shared his testimony, he let go of the fifty (which may have bought a couple of days worth of food) in return for a deeper sense of faith and trust in God, which will last him for all eternity.

God doesn't need your money, he needs your trust. 

He demands it, because without that, He's got nothing to work with.

He wants to liberate you but can't until you trust Him with everything. 

It’s about self-sufficiency vs God-sufficiency.

The question is: do I trust Jesus or not?

Do I trust Him to clothe me? To feed me? To provide for my needs?

If you don't want to take my word for it, listen to Jesus (Matt 6:25-34): 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you - you of little faith? 

So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father know that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." 

A final thought: The most passionate worshiper is willing to bare their heart before God, but are they willing to bare their wallet, and if not, are they truly worshiping God?

Convincing Convictions: Worshiping Like You're At The Footy

 

You might think this picture is taken of a worship service at a church, as people gather to declare their praise and devotion to the Living God.

I wish I could say you were right.

In my twenties I worked as a supervisor in a bar on the top level of Marvel Stadium, a huge 55,000 seat multi-level sports stadium in the heart of Melbourne, Victoria. On a rainy day or at night time, they would close the roof to make it a fully enclosed space. My bar was on the top level, so we got the full effect of the roaring crowd escalating and echoing through the arena. They had plastic chairs with spring-loaded seats, and so before the roar there was this inimitable 'clack' as tens of thousands of seats slammed shut as once, sounding like the sudden and monstrous downpour of hail as the crowd leapt unanimously to its feet.

This happens regularly at sporting stadiums around the world.

It's more than just noise.

It's the sudden expression of a collective will so passionately pronounced that is has an actual physical effect on the environment. Studies have shown that home teams win between 60-70% of the time. When the home crowd cheers their team's performance lifts, when the home crowd jeer the opposition's performance drops.

And all this over a bunch of (usually) overly-muscled fellas running around in shorts too small for them while chasing something not much more sophisticated than a pig bladder. 

But we do love our footy don't we?

I'm not saying don't love your footy, but it does raise a question.

If the collective expression of joy at a football match affects physical outcomes, how much might the collective expression of joy in a worship service affect spiritual outcomes?

What if we had the same raw energy and unabashed vibe going on in church halls on a Sunday morning around the world — what effect might that have?

In Psalm 34 the worship leader issues a call to worship and then says something interesting: "Let us magnify the Lord together!"

I have experienced this, where God becomes more present and moves powerfully in those settings. Which Dallas Willard comments is inevitable because God is a person and persons generally show up where they're wanted and feel welcomed and valued (The Divine Conspiracy).  

The Bible tells us to worship joyfully, but we cannot force joy and we cannot let our feelings determine our worship.

Luckily, God is a joyful being and his joy is far greater than anything we can conjure up by ourselves. 

Joyful worship is about receiving God's joy, more so than about bringing your own joy.

Our feelings follow our focus.

God looks joyfully on his worshipers and as they turn their gaze to him they will begin to reflect his own joy back to him.

We are to come to worship with whatever we are feeling, whether it be anger or sadness or boredom, and as we focus on God our feelings will gradually shift.

Again: our feelings follow our focus.

It is not something to be forced, but something that naturally arises as we focus on and allow ourselves to be moved by God.

And how can we not?

If we can celebrate passionately and spontaneously over our team kicking a goal at the footy, leading (perhaps) to a possible victory in a game on earth, how much more should we celebrate over the victory already won on our behalf by Jesus Christ in heaven?

After all, if you follow Jesus, you have been brought out of the dominion of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son he loves! (Col 1:13).

Isn't that worth a cheer?

Jesus the Christ, which means the anointed one, the long-awaited God and King who was promised  through the thousands of years of Old Testament history, came to earth, decisively defeated the powers of death and evil, and rose victorious from the dead bringing the first of the new creation (1 Cor 15:20).

Isn't that worth a hurrah?

Jesus the Son of God, now in heaven with God the Father, lavishing upon you that same power that raised him from the dead, the Holy Spirit, to equip you, empower you, and restore you to your full humanity (Rom 6:10).

Isn't that worth a fist pump?

Jesus, whom we know is returning one day to bring the redemption of all things, who invites us to dwell with him in the age to come, living forever in the full presence and glory of God in a renewed creation (Isa 65:17; Rev 21)

Isn't that worth a roar?

These are the things we sing about each week yet some people seem completely unmoved by them.

They claim: "I'm worshiping in my mind."

Imagine if a footy team kicked a winning goal at the last minute and tens of thousands of supporters just sat there, silently thinking, "Yes! Good kick!"

It would be an eerie silence indeed. 

An unconvincing conviction. 

The Bible says to worship expressively using our bodies, to sing, clap, and make a joyful noise (Psa 100).

I say let's bring on worship like we barrack at the footy.

I say let's be convincing about our convictions.

Cheers and shouts and claps and all of it.

A whole-hearted spontaneous roar as the People of God proclaim and declare his goodness and victory.

After all, the Bible says that when Jesus returns, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Phi 2:10).

Let us be doing it already, in anticipation and joy of that day.

(insert actual fist pump here) 

DIY-gods, Voltaire, & Snapchat

"If you could create your own God, what would he be like?"

This seemingly innocuous question hung in the air that day, and a look passed between the theology students who comprised the class. A haughty look that said something like this is a master’s degree not a kindergarten class!

"Imagine Bunnings are having a special on their god-products this week. You go there on Saturday morning, (admit it – you just want to grab a snag on the way in!), attend a DIY class, then buy all the parts you need and go home to make your god. What would it look like? Be like? What sort of character would it have? What would it demand of its worshipers?"

Students grudgingly formed into groups and began to quip about the question like cats toying with a mouse. Soon though, it became apparent that this mouse had teeth. Disagreements arose, voices grew more passionate, tails lashed. Some sat back mystified, doubt crept in.

The question is harder to answer to than you might think.

The god-who-loves-everyone-and-there’s-no-such-thing-as-hell type god began to look less attractive in the light of Hitler and child slavery. 

On the other hand, the wrathful-ruling-autocrat-with-armies-of-righteousness type god began to look less attractive in the light of one’s friends and relatives who had not grasped the message of Christ. 

If you could create your own god what would he/she/it be like?

Before you say this conversation is pointless I say to you is it? 

After all, our culture is one step ahead.

Voltaire shrewdly said: “In the beginning, God created man in his image, and man has been trying to repay the favour ever since.”

The god-who-affirms-all-your-feelings-and-impulses is currently on the throne of our secular society, lavishing absolute affirmation on its worshipers (you do you) and absolute damnation and contempt on everyone else (you’re cancelled!)

With or against. Total affirmation or total damnation.

And the Christian community wonders where they got such an idea. 

We even do it on an intra-Christian basis.

 

I mean, have you ever actually listened to one of those my-way-or-the-highway-type Christians? The sort who sets themselves up as an absolute authority on everything Biblical and then hails anyone who sees things differently as a – ahem – heretic? (The fact they use the word is not only embarrassing for the rest of us but speaks volumes about their own worldview).

I don’t really blame them though, it’s human instinct. 

When the disciples saw someone healing in Jesus’ name who wasn’t part of their group they wanted to fry the dude with fire-balls from heaven. Jesus waved off their concern: if they’re not against us, they’re for us. 

It seems that Jesus was a whole lot less concerned about the exact nature of their ministry than many Christians are today. Or maybe Jesus just wasn’t Reformed enough (with a capital R). Maybe he should’ve rained the fire-balls.

I must admit this is the kind of god I argued for in class that day: one who would just decisively do the job on the spot and get it all wrapped up. No loose ends. Job done.

I quickly saw that my DIY god would be about as successful as any other DIY project I’ve ever tried (just ask my wife)!

My guess is that I would make a terrible god, and that the real one probably knows better than me. 

But I still grapple with the Ascension. Why play the first two sets of a gig – the most difficult ones – then not come back for the third one when the audience is primed and ready to go? 

Jesus must have his reason for his (thus far) 2,000 year set break, hanging in the green-room with God the Father, sending the Holy Spirit to give us a hand while we flounder away on stage making our idols.

I mean, when Jesus was in his resurrected form in first-century Jerusalem, why didn't he forego the next couple of millennia of human misery, hang around a while longer, and just close shop? Send out some of first century AD Snapchat about what was happening, give everyone the chance the see and respond (before the picture disappears) then do a quick head count and sort out the sheep and goats right then and there? New creation. Sin eradicated. A glorious new world.

I can't claim to have the answer, and I'd be wary of someone who reckons they do. 

I'll hazard a few guesses nonetheless:

• I guess it’s got something to do with grace (2 Tim 1:9).
• I guess it’s got something to do with the joy that exists amidst the misery (Rom 5:1-5).
• I guess it's got something to do with the tares among the wheat (Mat 13:24-30). 
• I guess it’s got something to do with not wanting to override our free will (Mark 8:34). 
• I guess it’s got something to do with his love and his will that not one would perish (2 Pet 3:9).
• I guess it’s got something to with the true nature of love—not as blindly affirming but as wholly redeeming (1 Cor 6.

So on the nature of God and his plans, as with the nature of breathing air, I suspect that understanding matters less than simply accepting, seeking, and getting with the task he's set before us. 

The Bible is God's revelation to us of his character and plans.

Everything we need to know.

We need to start reading it more and creating God in our image less.

After all, he’s God we’re not.

Drop the Prop: Sin, Imaginary Friends and Spiritual Growth

I recently moved to a bayside town. I traded my two wheels for a prop and I've been chugging around the bay. I must admit the first few trips were a bit touch and go - will we make it home? Will this boat stay afloat? Will the engine start? - it was a relief to idle up to the jetty and throw a rope around something solid.

There's that thought, tinged with relief: I made it. 

I reckon it’s a bit like that with my spiritual life at times. 

Saved though I am, at times I feel like I’m chugging through life wondering if the boat is going to get me home. 

Will I lose the battle to “renew my mind” today? Will I succumb to the temptations around me? Will I treat people with less love and dignity that I should?

Yes, yes some days I will. And so will you. We all fall short of the new creation we are in Christ (Rom 3:23).

It’s not that we’re bad people, it’s just that God has started something in us that won’t be finished until we meet him face to face (1 Cor 13:9), when he gives us a new body of flesh and spirit that is fully redeemed, without brokenness or blemish (1 Cor 15:35-58).

He has that body now for you, stored up in heaven, awaiting the final consummation of his plan to bring about the new creation, a reuniting of heaven and earth at which point you will shrug off your current body like a snake sheds its skin and don the new one like a robe of light and glory (1 Cor 15:51).

Big idea. Pretty nuts really. Stranger than science fiction. I get why the trolls taunt us about our imaginary friend. 

Problem is, I don't think God and his plan for the world, the way the Bible presents it, is very imaginable. 

If it was, we've probably created him, not the other way around. 

If it's not stranger than science fiction, it probably is science fiction.

I reckon if we imagined him, we'd have imagined him different. Tamer. More accommodating perhaps. 

A god who reverses the calorie intake between ice-cream and brussell sprouts. Why not?

Now there's a god who'll get some worship. Hallelujah! (scoffs down a bowl of cookies and cream).

But back to the making-it-to-the-jetty bit. 

We may not be perfect, but we should be being perfected. We should see some progress. 

“Yeah but I can’t stop sinning so maybe I’m not saved?” A frequent one, that. Does it resonate?

Here’s my two-bob's worth:

1) If you're not struggling with/haven't struggled with sin, you either have too narrow a view of sin or you haven't started resisting it yet.

If it’s the former, read the sermon on the mount again, if it’s the latter, start actually trying to resist sin in your life, then we'll talk.

2) If you can sin and not feel fazed by it, you’re probably not yet where you need to be with God. Turn to him with all your heart and pray for Jesus to become real to you.

3) On the other hand, if you sin and feel crap about it, you’re probably good with God.

It means the Holy Spirit is grieving over your sin and so are you. This is a good thing: you are in step with the Spirit. 

You're being trained to overcome it. 

Ponder these wise words and store them up in your heart: For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to a salvation without regret... (2 Cor 7:10). 

The more you love God, the more you'll hate sin. 

The more you hate sin, the more you'll love God. 

The real God, that is, not an imaginary one. 

If you love sin and love God, he probably really is your imaginary friend. 

We talk about Spiritual maturity, but the term is misleading. 

Physical maturity refers to a state of being fully grown, a state of having arrived. 

Spiritual maturity is more about a state of progress. 

The question is not “have I arrived?” but “am I moving towards God?”. 

Draw near to God and he’ll draw near to you (Jam 4:8). (I absolutely guarantee it. He's waiting for you too. he wants you too with all his heart!)

Spiritual maturity is like heading toward the jetty. You’ve got to have your engine on, otherwise the tide will blow you off course. 

The other day I pulled my boat up on the beach for a while to enjoy some lunch and a swim with my family. We struggled to get it off the shore again, as the tide kept blowing us back onto the sand. We had to get far enough away to fire up the outboard and drop the propeller in.

It’s the same with God, if you’re not actively pursuing him, actively aligning your will to his, you'll drift. 

The currents of culture and doubt and fear and failure will sweep you back to shore. 

You've got to get your outboard on and drop the prop in the water: Pray, worship, read the Word, confess, hope in God. 

Right now, in this moment, you’re either moving toward him or away from him, heading for the jetty or drifting with the tide.

There's no such thing as sitting still.

It's time to drop the prop.

It's time to head home.