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The Missionary

The Missionary   [I wrote this towards the beginning of my now twenty year mission]

 

Today I removed a stump.

I loved a child who knew not love.

I was her father for she had not one.

She played with my kids and ate dinner not from a box or delivered by a car.

She bowed her head at a table with a family

and heard the man who took her in submit himself to God in prayer.

My wife held her and hugged her and rocked her and told her that she was loved.

The child learned that Jesus was hope and not a vain epithet muttered in angry hopelessness.

She stayed the night because there was not a place for her at home.

 

The roots of the stump ran generations deep.

Did I uproot it in one day?

No, but countless days, chopping and straining against the gnarled behemoth.

And still, shoots from the old wood may spring forth and dominate.

For now there’s a hole.

Not much to show, it seems, for my effort.

But a place to plant a seed.

 

Around me are the holes of many absent stumps

with sprouts from seeds I have planted.

Tomorrow it may be rocks I must remove

lest the roots beshallow and the plant be scorched.

Or maybe tomorrow I will pull the life-choking thorns that spring so readily

from this hard ground now that there are holes in the canopy.

 

The Master Farmer has sent another to share in the toil!

When I have fallen, he has lifted me up.

When the cold gripped the rugged land, we kept each other warm.

When wolves attacked, trampling and tearing at the tender shoots,

we were not overpowered but stood back to back.

Twice, herbicide was sprayed across the rough field.

How we mourned the dead!

How we struggled daily to purify the soil and nurse the sick.

 

We look now at the field and see holes–

empty places where the old growth once shielded seed from the Son,

empty places where boulders once laid unyielding,

empty places where thorns once sucked life.

 

We also see poking through the debris and amongst stumps, rocks, and thorns yet to be pulled–

young plants.

Some have thickened in their trunks, having persevered through countless storms.

Most have blossomed and are nourishing fellow plants.

They are leading and loving, giving and growing.

 

But from the distant watchtower those who squint see only the holes.

“Where are the new and mighty trees? Have you not cast any seed?”

What can I answer?

Today I removed a stump.

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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem

O how it hits a parent’s heart to hear his child cry out, “I hate you!” yet that is exactly how it hits God when we turn away from Him by sinning.  How do we know?  A passage in Luke tells us so ….

I. Luke 13:22-35.  The question that is asked strikes right to the core of God in the flesh, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”  God, who doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), knows the reality that few will find the narrow path that leads to eternal life.  And, as Jesus pauses on His way to Jerusalem, we hear the Creator lament that He has often longed to gather those made in His image, who are far from Him because of sin, together.  Here, we glimpse the heart of God.

II. 1 John 4:10-12.  Next, we glimpse the hand of God.  Because He loves us, He will not take away our choice to love Him back.  We must be like Jesus at Gethsemane, who willingly submits to His Father’s will (Luke 22:41-43).  Speaking as God, Jesus admits that He has often longed to gather those He created together, but they “were not willing.”  A good and loving God, He longs to give us many blessings–even eternal life–but we keep ourselves from receiving them because we are not willing to love Him back by our obedience.

III. 1 Peter 4:1-6.  We must return to the arms of God.  If we suffer in our bodies, we are done with sin and live now for the will of God.  We certainly have “spent enough time” in all sorts of sin and selfishness.  How much more do we need?  Aren’t we sick of our sin and the separation from God that it brings?  God calls us to repent–to turn our lives, our attitudes, our ways back to Him.  Once we become willing, He will gather us like a hen does her chicks and bless us in every way (Joel 2:12-14).

God’s love for us is unconditional and deep.  He’s already demonstrated that by His Son on the cross.  And, though He loves you, unless you turn to Him by repenting, He cannot remain just and claim you.  Won’t you return to Him?

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Stand Before Me in the Gap

What better time to talk about leaders than Father’s Day!  The pioneer man facing a snarling wolf in the doorway of a log cabin while shielding his family within is an iconic picture of fatherhood … and just what Jesus did for us.

I. Ezekiel 22:6-31.  God’s people of the Old Testament had sinned greatly over the centuries, and so God was going to sweep them away into captivity.  A statement at the end of this passage tells us that He looked for a man to stand before Him in the gap, but that He found none.  None at that time were without sin and could save His people from the spiritual wolves growling at Jerusalem’s door.

II. John 10:11-15.  Only Jesus could, and He does by His work on the cross.  Only the Lion of the Tribe of Judah who is the Lamb that was slain is worthy (Revelation 5:1-12).  He is the Good Shepherd who lays His life down for His sheep.  It is a serving and sacrificial leadership that He demonstrates.  No wonder that the Son that is given is called “Everlasting Father” Isaiah 9:6-7.

III. Joshua 1:1-18.  Like any good father-leader, God, though He is able, is not going to do it all for us.  Just taking over from Moses, Joshua was told repeatedly to “be strong and courageous” when entering the Promised Land and facing the difficult trials that awaited him.  It was enough that God told him that He would never leave or forsake him.  So it is with us as we face the wolves at the doors of our lives and protect those around us (Matthew 28:18-20).

There are spiritual gaps everywhere: in the people we know, in the church, in our families, in our marriages, in ourselves!  The spiritual wolves are snarling at them, ready to destroy and devour.  God is still looking for those, made perfect in Christ, to stand before Him in the gap with the same servant/sacrificial leadership that Jesus had.  Are you strong and courageous?

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Not Even Solomon

The song, “He’s got the whole world in His hands …,” really puts God’s sovereignty and love for His creation into perspective.  It’s when we believe ourselves abandoned or rejected by God (because of our sins or insignificance) that we turn to our own resources to handle the struggles of life.  Worry is a reliance on self while concern is a reliance on God.  Worry, then, is really a submission problem.

I. Luke 12:4-34.  We worry because we fear the devil or what others think more than we fear God.  We think too much of ourselves and too little of God’s love or our worth to Him.  Possessions and things that are temporary are too important to us.  But, God tells us that … worry is a selfish focus, He will provide for us more than ravens, worry causes us great harm, and He will take care of those things we are powerless to control.  The world that doesn’t know God worries, but we must trust Him!

II. 2 Chronicles 9:5-28.  Everyone can see the simple yet intricate beauty of a lily, yet Jesus tells us that Solomon during the golden age of Israel, with all of his wealth, position, and power, had nothing compared to God’s attention to this temporary flower.  Since nothing is impossible with God or beyond His notice or concern, we can take heart that He finds such great worth in us and takes better care of us than lilies!  Made in His image, we are more precious to Him than anything in creation.

III. James 4:7-10.  Since this is so, we must submit ourselves fully to Him.  If we seek His Kingdom first rather than our own interests, we will have an upward rather than a downward focus … and He promises that He knows our needs and will take care of them.  He tells us that to do that, we must have our treasure stored in heaven rather than here, so that our hearts will be focused on eternal things rather than temporary.  To submit we must trust God fully and let Him handle all of life’s struggles.

There’s an expression that has been around awhile: let go and let God.  To truly let Him take control of our lives, we have to truly let go of any facade of control that we think we might have.

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Lord, Teach Us to Pray

As a teacher, I am amazed at how Jesus was a master teacher.  Without any training or degree from a university to know how to do so, He employed so many techniques to bring about the greatest retention of essential Kingdom concepts, such as prayer:

Luke 11:1-13 (NIV)
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
5 Then he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’
7 “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

I. Prayer, Jesus had previously taught, was a private thing between the person praying and God.  It was not to be done as a show, but this is not what Jesus was doing.  A master teacher will model his teaching through his life.  His disciples either saw Him praying or just knew that He had been, but Jesus, though without sin and despite being God in the flesh, allowed them to see His example of constant interaction with our Father.  If He needed to pray in this way, how much more do we?

II. Knowing that Jesus prayed prompted the request from a disciple that Jesus teach them to pray.  Next, Jesus laid down the principles of good prayer, a mixture of ACTS: Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.  Notice that Luke’s version is different than Matthew’s as it is not a rote recitation of specific words that tend to become meaningless babble after a while.  But, we and the disciples need to understand the types of concepts that should be included in prayer.

III. Finally, Jesus as the master teacher illustrates the concepts of prayer and the relationship between us and our Father.  There is no need to be timid when approaching God’s throne in prayer.  Because God is a good Father, we can be bold in our asking, seeking and knocking.  So pray!

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In the Way He Should Go

My grandfather used to say, “You don’t wait until a tree is full grown until you prune it.”  When kids are bad, we blame the world, coaches, teachers, “failing schools” … or even the kids themselves.  But, rarely do we blame bad parenting.  Far too often parenting is negligent, permissive, or authoritarian, but biblical parenting is the way that our heavenly Father parents us–authoritatively, a process that, out of love, outlines the consequences for our choices but allows us to make our own choices.

I. Genesis 2:20-24.  God created parenting.  In the verses, we often use to show how marriage is between a man and a woman, the concepts of “father” and “mother” are mentioned.  How strange they must have sounded to Adam and Eve who had neither!  But, here God institutes not only marriage but the concept of family and parental roles.

II. Ephesians 6:1-4.  Children are to obey their parents in the Lord, but fathers are to instruct their children in the Lord.  Parents must actively train their children in the way they should go (Proverbs 22:6).  The Israelites were told to do this (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) but forgot while they conquered the Promised Land with disasterous consequences (Judges 2:10-13).

III. 1 Timothy 3:4-5.  Even an elder must have parented in the style of our heavenly Father over us, so that he can shepherd Christ’s church in that same parenting style.  A kid that doesn’t accept correction brings grief to his mother (Proverbs 29:15) and breaks his mother’s heart (Proverbs 15:20).  Rather, when a child does not turn from the way he was trained (Proverbs 23:25), he brings joy!

This is a difficult topic as no matter our kids’ ages, we realize we all have made mistakes in parenting that we regret.  Where it is not too late, we can change.  Where it is, we can apologize.  But, there are still kids in our lives (in the church especially) over which God has given us influence.  How’s your example?  How are you training the children in your life?

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Too Good for God

There are certainly many sections of Scripture that most of us would admit we skip or at least skim.  When the unpronounceable names and unfathomable numbers pile-up, we shrug, not knowing these people, and look for the next bit of story.  But, every once in a while a spiritual gem can be mined from these passages.  This week while skimming (I admit it!) such a chapter in Nehemiah that mentioned who was rebuilding the wall next to whom, I found one that made me almost fall out of my chair:

“And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.”
Nehemiah 3:5.

First, let’s look at the context.  In successive waves, starting with the best and brightest who had skills or could oppose him, Nebuchadnezzar had brought the inhabitants of Judah into captivity in Babylon, where they would become ‘Jews.’  Seventy years later, Cyrus allowed all those who would want to return to go back and make a life out of the burned rubble of Jerusalem.  They didn’t need to and many chose not to.  Those who did, we would think, would have a pioneer spirit, willing to do whatever was necessary to survive and serve God who, in His mercy, had allowed them to return to the promised land.

But not these nobles!  As the very defense of what little life they and their neighbors had managed to scrape together was at stake, they “would not stoop to serve their Lord.”  It was beneath them.  These nobles would be that friend who you take camping who sips iced tea from a lawn chair while you pitch the tent.  They are Mr. and Mrs. Howell on Gilligan’s Island.  As some who returned were alive when the city and temple were destroyed, it’s hard to imagine that they believed they were coming back to the Golden Age of Israel under Solomon when the Queen of Sheba was so impressed with what she saw that surpassed the reports that she proclaimed, “Behold, the half was not told me.”  No, this Jerusalem required sweat and the rolling up of sleeves.

Sadly, we have those in the church who believe themselves ‘too good for God.’  While many labor around them rebuilding the walls of broken lives, these ‘nobles’ will not stoop to serve the Lord.  Too wrapped up in their own lives to feed the hungry, clothe the needy, or teach the lost, they only warm a pew for an hour on Sundays and gain a smug checkmark on the attendance roster.

But, the way up is down on our knees.  If God is so beneath us that stooping to serve Him is detestable to us, then how can we expect Him to lift us up?  After all, if Jesus, who was God in the flesh, could stoop to wash feet and then die on the cross for us, can’t we follow His example?

 

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Faith Under Trial

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1.

Faith, by very definition, means that we are trusting in God during a trial of uncertain outcome.

Abraham could see no clear way that his barren, ninety year-old wife could bear him a son, yet this same chapter says he “considered him faithful who had made the promise.”  Faith, then, depends on how well we trust solely in God’s solid-rock character that does not change despite our circumstance.  Talk about ‘faith under trial’–it is only under trial that we know if we have true faith.

This came home to me in 2012 when my wife, never a smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer.  Now into our sixth year of various chemotherapy and radiation treatments, even a four-hour surgery last May to remove an egg-sized brain tumor, my faith as a husband and caregiver, elder and evangelist, in particular is still under trial.

If I get a cold, I am reasonably assured that if I take a regimen of medicines over a short window of time, I will be better soon.  Colds come and go, often with no serious life-altering effects.  It is a very low-level of faith indeed (even if at the time I feel like I might die) to believe that I will eventually get well.  But cancer?  We have been living with excruciating uncertainty for six years!  Will she live or die?  Is today a go-to-work or lie-on-the-couch day?  Will she feel too queasy to eat supper tonight or is there a specific craving that I have to run to the store to find?

That kind of trust over that period of time takes incredible faith.  “God’s got this–He always has,” has become our mantra that reminds us, sometimes daily, that He is the only One who has ever been in control anyway.

It was always during the difficult times that Jesus would rebuke his followers for lack of faith.  It is not easy to be a Christian.  When the squall comes up on our Sea of Galilee, we believe God to be asleep and so not in control.  We may even accuse Him of not caring.  But, our lack of faith is showing.

After Jesus’ hard teaching about His body being real food and His blood real drink in John 6, many “turned back and no longer followed him.”  When Jesus asked the Twelve if they too would leave, Peter answered with words that should encourage all to find faith under trial, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

There’s no one else.  Our lives depend on us having faith under trial.

 

 

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Who Do You Say I Am?

In our Western culture, we’re used to checklists to remember what items we have to buy at the grocery store or to separate out the tasks we must accomplish at work from who we really are on the weekends!  We have even made our Christian walk a checklist of things to do to be right with God and in doing so have connect our heads without our hearts.  Christianity is a relationship with the Almighty God, and He wants all of us: heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I. Luke 9:18-22.  Peter answered the most essential question.  In Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus adds that upon Peter’s confession of Him as Lord and Christ that He would build His church.  Peter’s confession became a declaration in Acts 2:36-41 and 3000 obeyed and were added to Jesus’ church that day.

II. Philippians 2:9-11.  We all must answer the most essential question.  Atheism is temporary as every knee will bow to Jesus as Lord.  Even those who ignore or avoid the question are answering it in this life.  It is better to confess Him as Lord now while still alive than wait until after death to know the truth.

III. Colossians 2:6-12.  As we have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so we are to continue to live in Him.  This means that confessing Jesus as Lord is not just words we utter.  It goes beyond loving Him from the head; we must love Him from the heart as well: heart, soul, mind, and strength in a close relationship of obedience to Him.

Christianity is what we are, not what we do.  We ‘do’ from the belief we hold.  We must be ‘all in’ for God, so that our every word and deed shows our answer to the most essential question that Jesus asks each and every one of us: Who do you say I am?

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The Wise Man Built

Having grown up doing a lot of work to cut wood and bring in hay as part of a family, I’ve always been partial to rugged, outdoor clothing–even though now my work is more at a desk rather than stacking brush or throwing bales.  I glance at catalogs and shake my head at models dressed in flannels with waterproof boots, completely free of mud and sweat, who look like they’ve never worked physically a day in their lives.

They are a lot like Christians who love to hear the Word of God preached but don’t apply it.

Most have sung “The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock” from Matthew 7:24-27 and at a youth event.  There are several principles from this illustration that are important to understand.

I. Both the wise and foolish men were ‘building.’  Both were sincere in picking up the tools and actively engaged in construction.  They did not just read a book about house building and agree with the techniques used.  They both worked hard and ended up with a place to live.  Everything that we say and do–even if we refuse to say and do–we end up with a life, good or bad, that we have built.

II. The distinction between the two men is whether he puts Jesus’ words into practice.  Both hear Jesus’ words, but only the wise man applies them to the building of his life, right from the first choice, perhaps the most essential choice: which foundation to build upon.  The wise man chose the rock while the foolish one, who probably felt justified and had good excuses, chose sand.

III. The reason we must build well is because the storms of life do come.  Notice that nowhere in Jesus’ illustration does he say if the hard rains, the rising streams, and the terrible winds come.  They will, and only the wise will be prepared for them.  Throughout many years of ministry and in my own life, I have weathered and helped others weather life’s storms.  Some houses have fallen with a crash.

So, in your life are you the outdoor catalog model in new clothing, holding an unused axe?  Or, are your sleeves rolled up in readiness, your knees dirtied from prayer, and calluses lay across cracked and toughed hands?  Are you building?  Are you building on the rock?  Will your house withstand the storm?