I pulled into my driveway after getting coffee a couple mornings ago to find a turtle crossing the blacktop. But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.
How are you at waiting? I just stink when it comes to the whole patience scene. I fume when the lady in front of me at Kroger waits until checkout is complete and then counts out $25.41 in quarters, dimes and nickels. I mumble unspiritual lectures at those drivers who cause one car to get through on a light because they don’t know enough to pull into the intersection and wait for the light to change. When I think about it, most of my life has been spent hurrying…rushing from one project to another, one job to another, one phase of life to another. There are few times in my six plus decades that I have stopped long enough to really call it waiting, and even fewer waiting patiently.
Over the last four weeks, we have attended two local churches. At one church, two full services have been devoted to the subject of waiting for God, and yesterday at another church, the sermon was on that same topic. I’m not the fastest gun the west, but even I began to suspect that I’m supposed to be thinking about the subject of waiting right now.
So back to the turtle. I have no idea where this thing came from. But it was moving across my driveway, and since I had a cup of coffee in my hand, I decided to wait until it crossed to pull into the garage. I waited, and waited, and waited. This box of legs and neck was definitely in low gear. It would poke its head out of the shell, look right and then left, stand immobile for minutes, and then take two steps and repeat the vexatious process. That turtle was driving me nuts by doing nothing but patiently taking its time to cross my drive.
As I sat and pondered all this, it occurred to me that the turtle was in no hurry. Wherever it was going (it eventually crossed my neighbor’s drive as well and disappeared into his grass), it was not programmed to stress out getting there. In some instinctive way, for the turtle the trip was just as important as the destination. And sitting there sipping my coffee, I wished I could live the same way.
My recent retirement has forced me to think about some new issues. Suddenly I find myself not working, not producing, not directing or planning or creating or…busy. And the question that I am dealing with is simply this: Is God as pleased with me when I am just being as when I am doing? I have taught for years that we don’t please God by our works (the Bible sometimes calls this sacrifice), but with our obedience and faith. Now I am testing that biblical principle as I wait. For what? I wish I knew. That might make the waiting easier. But whatever God has for me in the future, I know He wants me to wait patiently. Like the turtle, I have decided to take a few steps and stop. To look right and left and not miss what is happening around me. To enjoy the trip and appreciate that the Master Planner can make the waiting just as worthwhile as the arriving.
Are you waiting? How goes the wait?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
A great read!
“If you are going to grow as a Christian, you need to be reading the Bible every day.” How often have you heard that? Not that I disagree with the statement, but if you are like me, it has sometimes been just one more thing to put me under the pile. C.H. Spurgeon is reported to have said: “A Bible which is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” I can’t really argue with the sentiment, but actually sitting down and reading the Bible every day can be a real challenge.
So what do we do? Pick up a Daily Bread. Five days later, the interest level has diminished and we are back at square one. Or our January 1 resolution (how many times has this happened?) is to read through the Bible in a year. We invest in a guide, trudge through Genesis and Exodus, and then the first week of February find ourselves “lost in Leviticus” and abandon the whole thing.
Lately, I have been trying to spend more time in the gospels. My reason is that those books are where we see and hear Jesus firsthand. Since I really want my life to conform to His, reading accounts of His life seems to be a wise strategy. But there are four accounts, each with a different approach to recording the events. And there is so much, especially in the synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) that is repeated. Start reading in Matthew 1, and by the time you get midway through Mark, you are wishing someone had put all these together into one story. And then there are the “discrepancies”, the places where two accounts of the same event seem to be at odds.
Here’s a thought. What if the Holy Spirit, superintending the writing of these four books, allowed each author to address a different group and come at the task with differing capabilities and interests, but still supernaturally created a single account? What if someone took out all the passages where information is duplicated and then combined the four gospel accounts into one chronological biography? Would it flow without discrepancies? Would it make reading about Jesus’ life and ministry fascinating? Would you find that you could hardly put the book down?
Well, someone has. And the answer to all these questions is a resounding “YES!” The format I have described is called a harmony of the gospels. And the particular harmony I have found most helpful is titled, “The Life of Christ in Stereo” by Johnston M. Cheney. A number of features make this an excellent book to use as a devotional. Each passage carries a raised numeral to identify its gospel author. In the back of the book, explanatory footnotes and an outline of the life of Christ give additional information to encourage further study or assist in teaching the material.
If you are looking for a way to get into the Bible every day, I would highly recommend this book to you. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print. But used copies are available on Amazon, and you can probably find them at a used bookstore, or even at some libraries. If not, then any harmony of the gospels will fill the bill. Read…and enjoy!
So what do we do? Pick up a Daily Bread. Five days later, the interest level has diminished and we are back at square one. Or our January 1 resolution (how many times has this happened?) is to read through the Bible in a year. We invest in a guide, trudge through Genesis and Exodus, and then the first week of February find ourselves “lost in Leviticus” and abandon the whole thing.
Lately, I have been trying to spend more time in the gospels. My reason is that those books are where we see and hear Jesus firsthand. Since I really want my life to conform to His, reading accounts of His life seems to be a wise strategy. But there are four accounts, each with a different approach to recording the events. And there is so much, especially in the synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) that is repeated. Start reading in Matthew 1, and by the time you get midway through Mark, you are wishing someone had put all these together into one story. And then there are the “discrepancies”, the places where two accounts of the same event seem to be at odds.
Here’s a thought. What if the Holy Spirit, superintending the writing of these four books, allowed each author to address a different group and come at the task with differing capabilities and interests, but still supernaturally created a single account? What if someone took out all the passages where information is duplicated and then combined the four gospel accounts into one chronological biography? Would it flow without discrepancies? Would it make reading about Jesus’ life and ministry fascinating? Would you find that you could hardly put the book down?
Well, someone has. And the answer to all these questions is a resounding “YES!” The format I have described is called a harmony of the gospels. And the particular harmony I have found most helpful is titled, “The Life of Christ in Stereo” by Johnston M. Cheney. A number of features make this an excellent book to use as a devotional. Each passage carries a raised numeral to identify its gospel author. In the back of the book, explanatory footnotes and an outline of the life of Christ give additional information to encourage further study or assist in teaching the material.
If you are looking for a way to get into the Bible every day, I would highly recommend this book to you. Unfortunately, it seems to be out of print. But used copies are available on Amazon, and you can probably find them at a used bookstore, or even at some libraries. If not, then any harmony of the gospels will fill the bill. Read…and enjoy!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Advice, advice, advice
Isn’t it amazing how many people there are around who want to give you advice? And the advice is usually to do what they do, or do things the way they do them. I’ve been thinking about this lately because it seems like I keep running into people who think they know just what is best for me. Now there aren’t that many people out there who obviously have it all together, whose lives or jobs or ministries or families have the mark of perfection on them. So why do they think they have the answer for me? Maybe it’s a psychological thing. I seem to remember from one of my college psychology courses that we tend to transfer our own experiences to others. Whatever the motivation, it can sure get tiresome.
I’m not suggesting we isolate ourselves and refuse to seek good advice. There are times when I specifically ask for help, and I expect the advice I get to be based on that person’s experience and the wisdom gained from it. But even that can become tedious. I like Larry Burkett’s thinking on this: “A wise man seeks much counsel…a fool listens to all of it.” But what about all the advice we get that is totally unsolicited?
Here are some examples from my own life. Penny and I raised our kids in a pretty high-pressure environment. I was a pastor for most of that time, and in the early part of our ministry, we found it necessary for Penny to work just to make ends meet. The kids felt like they were in a fishbowl, and the pressure took its toll. You can’t believe how many times we were given unsolicited advice on how to deal with the situation. And often by people whose own families were anything but healthy. Throughout my 25 years in the pastorate, someone was always offering me the perfect solution to every problem I faced. And it continues. A couple days ago, I went online and watched several speakers at Liberty Seminary deliver messages to a pastor’s conference held there. Two of the three guys explained in no uncertain terms that a pastor should never retire from church ministry. Interestingly, one of these guys isn’t presently pastoring a church and the other, Chuck Swindoll, took four years off to work in another ministry area outside the organized church. So where do they come off telling me what God wants in my life?
Have you found yourself needing to tune out the advice-givers? I’d love to hear about some of your frustrating encounters.
Oh, well. Such is life. To rephrase a proverb from Ecclesiastes: “Be warned: the giving of advice is endless, and excessive attention to it is wearying to the soul.”
I’m not suggesting we isolate ourselves and refuse to seek good advice. There are times when I specifically ask for help, and I expect the advice I get to be based on that person’s experience and the wisdom gained from it. But even that can become tedious. I like Larry Burkett’s thinking on this: “A wise man seeks much counsel…a fool listens to all of it.” But what about all the advice we get that is totally unsolicited?
Here are some examples from my own life. Penny and I raised our kids in a pretty high-pressure environment. I was a pastor for most of that time, and in the early part of our ministry, we found it necessary for Penny to work just to make ends meet. The kids felt like they were in a fishbowl, and the pressure took its toll. You can’t believe how many times we were given unsolicited advice on how to deal with the situation. And often by people whose own families were anything but healthy. Throughout my 25 years in the pastorate, someone was always offering me the perfect solution to every problem I faced. And it continues. A couple days ago, I went online and watched several speakers at Liberty Seminary deliver messages to a pastor’s conference held there. Two of the three guys explained in no uncertain terms that a pastor should never retire from church ministry. Interestingly, one of these guys isn’t presently pastoring a church and the other, Chuck Swindoll, took four years off to work in another ministry area outside the organized church. So where do they come off telling me what God wants in my life?
Have you found yourself needing to tune out the advice-givers? I’d love to hear about some of your frustrating encounters.
Oh, well. Such is life. To rephrase a proverb from Ecclesiastes: “Be warned: the giving of advice is endless, and excessive attention to it is wearying to the soul.”
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What would happen if I really...?
I suppose every time we are confronted by a new understanding from Jesus’ teaching, we face the issue of whether or not to incorporate the lesson into our lives. Will I move from precept to practice? Am I a disciple in name only, or am I really committed to becoming like my Master? I have been discussing just one idea Jesus presented in His Sermon on the Mount—the challenge to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, and refuse to respond to violence with violence. For me, this particular issue is somewhat of a bellwether on the sermon as a whole. I have become convinced that Jesus intended to communicate exactly what His words convey to us. I believe that He is telling us that kingdom citizens who take seriously their faith commitment will choose a non-violent response to those who act in violence against them. Just as importantly, I am sure that Jesus is calling us to actually love our enemies and, by our willingness to show them that love, demonstrate in some small way what kingdom life is like.
But some thorny questions emerge when I try to visualize that kind of life. How do I balance non-violence with what I understand to be my obligation to defend and protect my family? What would happen if everyone took this position, and there were no police or armed forces to keep law and order? How should a person who is drafted into military service respond? What would have happened if America, as nation, had taken that position in 1941 after Pearl Harbor? I wish I had answers to all these questions. I don’t. But let me share with you the issues I have come to see a little more clearly, as least as they apply to my own life.
First, there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus came to announce a kingdom that is characterized by peace. What did the angels announce at Jesus’ birth: “…And on earth, peace among men…” (Luke 2:14). Isaiah’s prophecy again and again calls us to see Messiah’s coming as the advent of peace. In Isaiah 57:19 we read: “ ‘Peace to him who is far and to him who is near,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will heal him.’ “ Paul picks up this theme in Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace…”. And to make his point credible, Paul cites Isaiah in verse 17: “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.” God is a peacemaker, a reconciler at the very core of His being. For the world, a peacemaker is Samuel Colt’s 45 caliber revolver (or, today, a Glock G-23). But isn’t Jesus calling us to abandon violence and be the peacemakers, as He understood His own calling from the Father?
Secondly, Jesus lived a life that was precisely in line with His teaching on loving your enemies and turning the other cheek. Again, the prophets made clear what to expect from Messiah when He came. Isaiah (53:4-9) tells us that He was to be struck, wounded, crushed, chastened, scourged, oppressed, afflicted, led to slaughter. And that is exactly what Jesus experienced. Isaiah goes on to tell us that Messiah would be silent before his persecutors, “like a sheep led to slaughter.” How can we help but be troubled by the way Jesus reacted to the brutality of His accusers? He had the resources to strike them back, to end the suffering. Instead He remained silent and even blessed those who were taking His life.
Thirdly, our calling is and has always been to make our lives congruent with that of Jesus—to emulate the Master. That is what discipleship is all about. To the degree that we can be little Jesus’s, we will have fulfilled the Master’s commandments. Jesus made that clear in John 8:31 when He addressed those who believed in Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” And to those who hear His words and chose to ignore them, Jesus said (Luke 6:46): “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
Finally, it does no good to theorize what might have been, or try to construct a scenario where I might respond in a particular way to some external threat. Our foundational instruction as Christians is and always has been to live today in faith. We are not given grace for tomorrow, only for today. And our task is not to figure out what might be coming, but to prepare ourselves to walk in faith no matter what the circumstances we might face. Either we can trust the Master to equip us or not; either we can trust our lives to His sovereignty and grace or not.
Now you can see where my own struggles with this issue have led me. I certainly don’t write this to convince others or to take the same position. Nor am I convinced that I can live out what I believe even now. But my heart is to be like Jesus. My desire is to understand what He wanted us to see as our kingdom heritage, and to experience as much of it as my faith will allow. So I leave you with one more passage, this one to look at in your own time and digest as the Spirit provides the enabling. Take a moment to reread 1 John 3:11-16 in light of this discussion. It has taken on some new meaning to me of late.
Father, as I encounter each experience you have sovereignly chosen for my life, help me to bring the life and words of Jesus to the situation, and may my responses to life's challenges speak to a lost world about your heart.
But some thorny questions emerge when I try to visualize that kind of life. How do I balance non-violence with what I understand to be my obligation to defend and protect my family? What would happen if everyone took this position, and there were no police or armed forces to keep law and order? How should a person who is drafted into military service respond? What would have happened if America, as nation, had taken that position in 1941 after Pearl Harbor? I wish I had answers to all these questions. I don’t. But let me share with you the issues I have come to see a little more clearly, as least as they apply to my own life.
First, there is no doubt in my mind that Jesus came to announce a kingdom that is characterized by peace. What did the angels announce at Jesus’ birth: “…And on earth, peace among men…” (Luke 2:14). Isaiah’s prophecy again and again calls us to see Messiah’s coming as the advent of peace. In Isaiah 57:19 we read: “ ‘Peace to him who is far and to him who is near,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will heal him.’ “ Paul picks up this theme in Ephesians 2:14: “For He Himself is our peace…”. And to make his point credible, Paul cites Isaiah in verse 17: “And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.” God is a peacemaker, a reconciler at the very core of His being. For the world, a peacemaker is Samuel Colt’s 45 caliber revolver (or, today, a Glock G-23). But isn’t Jesus calling us to abandon violence and be the peacemakers, as He understood His own calling from the Father?
Secondly, Jesus lived a life that was precisely in line with His teaching on loving your enemies and turning the other cheek. Again, the prophets made clear what to expect from Messiah when He came. Isaiah (53:4-9) tells us that He was to be struck, wounded, crushed, chastened, scourged, oppressed, afflicted, led to slaughter. And that is exactly what Jesus experienced. Isaiah goes on to tell us that Messiah would be silent before his persecutors, “like a sheep led to slaughter.” How can we help but be troubled by the way Jesus reacted to the brutality of His accusers? He had the resources to strike them back, to end the suffering. Instead He remained silent and even blessed those who were taking His life.
Thirdly, our calling is and has always been to make our lives congruent with that of Jesus—to emulate the Master. That is what discipleship is all about. To the degree that we can be little Jesus’s, we will have fulfilled the Master’s commandments. Jesus made that clear in John 8:31 when He addressed those who believed in Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” And to those who hear His words and chose to ignore them, Jesus said (Luke 6:46): “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
Finally, it does no good to theorize what might have been, or try to construct a scenario where I might respond in a particular way to some external threat. Our foundational instruction as Christians is and always has been to live today in faith. We are not given grace for tomorrow, only for today. And our task is not to figure out what might be coming, but to prepare ourselves to walk in faith no matter what the circumstances we might face. Either we can trust the Master to equip us or not; either we can trust our lives to His sovereignty and grace or not.
Now you can see where my own struggles with this issue have led me. I certainly don’t write this to convince others or to take the same position. Nor am I convinced that I can live out what I believe even now. But my heart is to be like Jesus. My desire is to understand what He wanted us to see as our kingdom heritage, and to experience as much of it as my faith will allow. So I leave you with one more passage, this one to look at in your own time and digest as the Spirit provides the enabling. Take a moment to reread 1 John 3:11-16 in light of this discussion. It has taken on some new meaning to me of late.
Father, as I encounter each experience you have sovereignly chosen for my life, help me to bring the life and words of Jesus to the situation, and may my responses to life's challenges speak to a lost world about your heart.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Identifying the problem
There is a story about a young soldier in Italy during WWII who jumped into a foxhole just in time to avoid bullets screaming overhead. As he frantically dug to deepen the hole, he came across something metal, and brought up a crucifix, left by a former resident of the foxhole. A moment later, another leaping figure landed beside him as the shells exploded overhead. When the soldier got a chance to look, he saw that his companion was an Army chaplain. Holding out the crucifix, the soldier gasped, “Am I glad to see you! How do you work this thing?” Sometimes I feel like that soldier when I try to understand Jesus’ teachings. I want to ask an expert, “How do you work this thing?” Or, more appropriately in this situation, “How can I use this teaching of Jesus?”
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that those who are peacemakers will be happy. And He made it clear that we are not to resist an evil person, but turn the other cheek when struck, and give the person even more than he has taken forcibly. Taken literally, this teaching presents a real conundrum. It goes against all my natural self-preservation instincts, all that I have been taught since childhood, against common sense and against the whole nationalistic idea of fighting for freedom that has been so much a part of my public education and church experience. Is it any wonder that so many Christians ignore or spiritualize the message?
For me, the solution was a little of each. Spiritualize the sermon, making it talk about minor grievances instead of actual physical abuse. Emphasize the “eye for an eye” part of the instruction rather than the “turn the other cheek” part. But basically, I have just ignored it altogether. I have been taught to defend my home, family and country at all costs. I have believed those who have told me that to die for one’s country on the field of battle is the highest honor one can achieve in death. I have served in the armed forces and would have killed without regret if ordered to do so. I have many times said that if a person violates the sanctity of my home or the safety of my family and I have the means available, the violator will be carried away in a bag. And I meant every word of it.
But something has begun to change in my thinking. As I have reconsidered the SM, I find myself thinking that those were not biblical responses, but instead fleshly, worldly responses to fleshly, worldly threats. And it is not just the words of Christ that I find unnerving. As I look at Jesus’ life and death, I see Him modeling how we are to react when we are treated unjustly, unmercifully, viciously and inhumanely. We say that He lived a life that we are to emulate. Can we say less about how He reacted to those who wanted to (and eventually did) take His life?
In my last post, I mentioned a conversation with a Mennonite after our tour of Behalt in Berlin, Ohio. As we talked, I asked him if he was a pacifist. He said he would not call his position pacifism, but Christian nonviolence. That wasn’t good enough for me. I asked him point blank: If someone broke into your house and threatened your family with bodily harm, what would you do? His response not only gave me insight into his own journey with the SM, but also gives me some hope for continuing this quest I am on for a faith worthy of the name “kingdom citizen.” He said: “I’ll give you two answers: the first is what I would probably do; the second what I would want to do. The person who threatens my family, not my home, would have to reach them by killing me first. But I would want to be able to trust God, even in that situation, and not respond to violence with violence.”
So what would happen if I decided to live out this understanding of Jesus’ SM? What are the implications for my daily life? I’ll visit that set of problems in the next post.
Lord Jesus, show me how to live as a disciple of the Prince of Peace. Amen.
Next installment: What would happen if I really…?
In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that those who are peacemakers will be happy. And He made it clear that we are not to resist an evil person, but turn the other cheek when struck, and give the person even more than he has taken forcibly. Taken literally, this teaching presents a real conundrum. It goes against all my natural self-preservation instincts, all that I have been taught since childhood, against common sense and against the whole nationalistic idea of fighting for freedom that has been so much a part of my public education and church experience. Is it any wonder that so many Christians ignore or spiritualize the message?
For me, the solution was a little of each. Spiritualize the sermon, making it talk about minor grievances instead of actual physical abuse. Emphasize the “eye for an eye” part of the instruction rather than the “turn the other cheek” part. But basically, I have just ignored it altogether. I have been taught to defend my home, family and country at all costs. I have believed those who have told me that to die for one’s country on the field of battle is the highest honor one can achieve in death. I have served in the armed forces and would have killed without regret if ordered to do so. I have many times said that if a person violates the sanctity of my home or the safety of my family and I have the means available, the violator will be carried away in a bag. And I meant every word of it.
But something has begun to change in my thinking. As I have reconsidered the SM, I find myself thinking that those were not biblical responses, but instead fleshly, worldly responses to fleshly, worldly threats. And it is not just the words of Christ that I find unnerving. As I look at Jesus’ life and death, I see Him modeling how we are to react when we are treated unjustly, unmercifully, viciously and inhumanely. We say that He lived a life that we are to emulate. Can we say less about how He reacted to those who wanted to (and eventually did) take His life?
In my last post, I mentioned a conversation with a Mennonite after our tour of Behalt in Berlin, Ohio. As we talked, I asked him if he was a pacifist. He said he would not call his position pacifism, but Christian nonviolence. That wasn’t good enough for me. I asked him point blank: If someone broke into your house and threatened your family with bodily harm, what would you do? His response not only gave me insight into his own journey with the SM, but also gives me some hope for continuing this quest I am on for a faith worthy of the name “kingdom citizen.” He said: “I’ll give you two answers: the first is what I would probably do; the second what I would want to do. The person who threatens my family, not my home, would have to reach them by killing me first. But I would want to be able to trust God, even in that situation, and not respond to violence with violence.”
So what would happen if I decided to live out this understanding of Jesus’ SM? What are the implications for my daily life? I’ll visit that set of problems in the next post.
Lord Jesus, show me how to live as a disciple of the Prince of Peace. Amen.
Next installment: What would happen if I really…?
Monday, May 3, 2010
Did Jesus really mean...?
The real question about the Sermon on the Mount, for me, is “Did Jesus actually mean what He said?” Put another way, are we to spiritualize the principles Jesus sets forth in this message, or are we really to live lives that reflect these kingdom ideals?
The SM brings to mind many specific questions about our lives as kingdom citizens, but one especially has been bugging me lately. Before I get to that question, I need to relate a couple events that will provide background. For some time now, I have been following David Fitch (www.reclaimingthemission.com) as he has shared his thoughts about his local fellowship (Life on the Vine) and the state of the church today. David is a C&MA pastor from the Chicago area and author of “The Great Giveaway.” In a number of his posts, David talked about his alignment with Anabaptist beliefs. I was interested, but knew very little about the movement from my seminary church history classes. On one of his posts, David suggested a paper written by William McGrath in the 1950’s titled “The Anabaptists: Neither Catholic nor Protestant” as a primer on Anabaptism. I found it at www.cbc4me.org/articles/Baptist/04-McGrath.pdf, and it was a fascinating read. Again, more questions than answers, but stimulating just the same.
The second event could only have been orchestrated by God. Penny and I decided to visit Behalt in Berlin before we left Ohio. For those unfamiliar, it is a large mural-in-the-round that depicts Amish and Mennonite history. I love history, especially church history, and I was sure I’d get more insight into the Anabaptist tradition there, since the Amish and Mennonite traditions come out of the Anabaptist movement. We took the 30-minute tour with two other men who seemed to know about the events and characters highlighted throughout the tour. When the tour ended, and we were all standing with the tour guide talking about the presentation, I asked one of the men if he was Mennonite. He acknowledged that he was, and it became clear that he could easily have led the tour himself. We parted after a half hour or so of conversation.
During that conversation, I felt compelled to ask him about his views on pacifism. For some reason, to me the whole of the SM kept coming down to Jesus’ comments on turning the other cheek and not resisting an evil person. Not that that issue is the most important that Jesus addressed in this sermon, but it seems to hit home to me as a prime example of my failure to measure up to the standards of a kingdom citizen. And the tour just amplified that feeling, as it pointed out the thousands of people who had been martyred during the early years of the Anabaptist tradition, burned at the stake and tortured in every imaginable way because they felt that neither Catholicism nor the Protestant Reformation of their day accurately reflected biblical principles. For the most part, they had stood silent before their accusers and, though treated mercilessly, refused to defend themselves, retaliate or even harbor hatred in their hearts for their persecutors.
In my next post, I want to share with you some of the contradictions from my own life between the principles of the SM and my own attitudes and behavior. And you will hear how this fellow tourist and devout Mennonite answered my question about pacifism. Thanks for joining me in this personal journey. And don’t hesitate to comment on any of these thoughts.
Heavenly Father, continue to teach me what it means to be a kingdom citizen. Show me how to live in this broken world with the spark of divine presence that will offer Your hope of final restoration to all who I meet. Amen.
Next installment: Identifying the problem
The SM brings to mind many specific questions about our lives as kingdom citizens, but one especially has been bugging me lately. Before I get to that question, I need to relate a couple events that will provide background. For some time now, I have been following David Fitch (www.reclaimingthemission.com) as he has shared his thoughts about his local fellowship (Life on the Vine) and the state of the church today. David is a C&MA pastor from the Chicago area and author of “The Great Giveaway.” In a number of his posts, David talked about his alignment with Anabaptist beliefs. I was interested, but knew very little about the movement from my seminary church history classes. On one of his posts, David suggested a paper written by William McGrath in the 1950’s titled “The Anabaptists: Neither Catholic nor Protestant” as a primer on Anabaptism. I found it at www.cbc4me.org/articles/Baptist/04-McGrath.pdf, and it was a fascinating read. Again, more questions than answers, but stimulating just the same.
The second event could only have been orchestrated by God. Penny and I decided to visit Behalt in Berlin before we left Ohio. For those unfamiliar, it is a large mural-in-the-round that depicts Amish and Mennonite history. I love history, especially church history, and I was sure I’d get more insight into the Anabaptist tradition there, since the Amish and Mennonite traditions come out of the Anabaptist movement. We took the 30-minute tour with two other men who seemed to know about the events and characters highlighted throughout the tour. When the tour ended, and we were all standing with the tour guide talking about the presentation, I asked one of the men if he was Mennonite. He acknowledged that he was, and it became clear that he could easily have led the tour himself. We parted after a half hour or so of conversation.
During that conversation, I felt compelled to ask him about his views on pacifism. For some reason, to me the whole of the SM kept coming down to Jesus’ comments on turning the other cheek and not resisting an evil person. Not that that issue is the most important that Jesus addressed in this sermon, but it seems to hit home to me as a prime example of my failure to measure up to the standards of a kingdom citizen. And the tour just amplified that feeling, as it pointed out the thousands of people who had been martyred during the early years of the Anabaptist tradition, burned at the stake and tortured in every imaginable way because they felt that neither Catholicism nor the Protestant Reformation of their day accurately reflected biblical principles. For the most part, they had stood silent before their accusers and, though treated mercilessly, refused to defend themselves, retaliate or even harbor hatred in their hearts for their persecutors.
In my next post, I want to share with you some of the contradictions from my own life between the principles of the SM and my own attitudes and behavior. And you will hear how this fellow tourist and devout Mennonite answered my question about pacifism. Thanks for joining me in this personal journey. And don’t hesitate to comment on any of these thoughts.
Heavenly Father, continue to teach me what it means to be a kingdom citizen. Show me how to live in this broken world with the spark of divine presence that will offer Your hope of final restoration to all who I meet. Amen.
Next installment: Identifying the problem
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Blessed are the...
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Now there’s a message that can wreak havoc with your concept of the Christian life. Oh, it doesn’t attack your suppositions with frantic accusations. It just quietly bites you with the inconspicuous truths of the kingdom of God, and then moves on to allow you to scratch the itches it has produced. I’ve heard this message called the most important passage of the Bible, the whole of Jesus’ ministry in one sermon, the Christian Magna Charta, the Christian Manifesto, the Rules for Living, and on and on. I have read chapters 5-7 of Matthew’s gospel innumerable times in my 40-plus years as a Christian, and preached through it several times in my pastoral career. And until just recently, I was sure I had a pretty good handle on what Jesus was saying.
Let me summarize my approach to the passage over the years and see if you can relate. It seemed obvious to me that Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, that perfect heavenly version of what we know as the broken world today. Matthew records that Jesus had announced that His presence made the kingdom a reality (Matt. 4:17), and Luke (4:43) records Jesus as saying that His purpose in coming was to preach the kingdom. So Jesus must, I concluded, have used this lengthy and very early address to summarize what we who are His disciples will all look like when the kingdom is realized in its fullness. Makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, He surely couldn’t have been describing how we are to look today. The standard is far beyond the reach of any but the dead saints of old, and since they are not around to provide verification of their saintliness, I’m not so sure I trust the accuracy of their biographers. You can see where I am going with this. The demands of the Sermon on the Mount are so outrageously superhuman, I reasoned, that they are to be spiritualized and were never intended to be taken literally.
Result? Well, when Jesus says the poor in spirit, the gentle, those hungering for righteousness, and the peacemakers are blessed, I added “those who try to be” before each descriptive word or phrase. Blessed are “those who try to be” gentle, blessed are “those who try to be” pure in heart, and so on through the list of beatitudes. Later in the message, when we learn that to be angry with a brother makes us as guilty as a murderer, or that we are to turn the other cheek when struck, I could only understand those as intentional exaggeration, hyperbole meant to drive home the point that we need to set a higher standard for ourselves regarding civil and moral behavior than the world does.
That was then. This is now. At some point over the last year or so I have become convinced that my understanding of this important passage has been deeply flawed. And it comes to a head with Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:38-42, verses that I feel are a commentary on the phrase from Matthew 5:9…”Blessed are the peacemakers…” Don’t assume that I have received some insightful revelation that will open the meaning of this crucial message of Jesus. I haven’t. But what I have come to understand about the message is rocking my theological boat. This article and the ones to follow that complete my thoughts on the topic are only my way of asking for help with some very troubling questions I must now answer. I invite your thoughts and comments.
Father, I have put my faith in your living Word and the record of His teachings. I have trusted your Holy Spirit to guide me as I try to learn and become like Jesus. Forgive me for reading my own thoughts into your revelation and for taking the easy way out as I seek to apply scripture to my life. Open the eyes of my heart to know your truth. And keep me from misleading myself and others as I seek to grow in this blessed faith. Amen.
Next installment: Did Jesus really mean…?
Let me summarize my approach to the passage over the years and see if you can relate. It seemed obvious to me that Jesus was talking about the kingdom of God, that perfect heavenly version of what we know as the broken world today. Matthew records that Jesus had announced that His presence made the kingdom a reality (Matt. 4:17), and Luke (4:43) records Jesus as saying that His purpose in coming was to preach the kingdom. So Jesus must, I concluded, have used this lengthy and very early address to summarize what we who are His disciples will all look like when the kingdom is realized in its fullness. Makes sense, doesn’t it? I mean, He surely couldn’t have been describing how we are to look today. The standard is far beyond the reach of any but the dead saints of old, and since they are not around to provide verification of their saintliness, I’m not so sure I trust the accuracy of their biographers. You can see where I am going with this. The demands of the Sermon on the Mount are so outrageously superhuman, I reasoned, that they are to be spiritualized and were never intended to be taken literally.
Result? Well, when Jesus says the poor in spirit, the gentle, those hungering for righteousness, and the peacemakers are blessed, I added “those who try to be” before each descriptive word or phrase. Blessed are “those who try to be” gentle, blessed are “those who try to be” pure in heart, and so on through the list of beatitudes. Later in the message, when we learn that to be angry with a brother makes us as guilty as a murderer, or that we are to turn the other cheek when struck, I could only understand those as intentional exaggeration, hyperbole meant to drive home the point that we need to set a higher standard for ourselves regarding civil and moral behavior than the world does.
That was then. This is now. At some point over the last year or so I have become convinced that my understanding of this important passage has been deeply flawed. And it comes to a head with Jesus’ words from Matthew 5:38-42, verses that I feel are a commentary on the phrase from Matthew 5:9…”Blessed are the peacemakers…” Don’t assume that I have received some insightful revelation that will open the meaning of this crucial message of Jesus. I haven’t. But what I have come to understand about the message is rocking my theological boat. This article and the ones to follow that complete my thoughts on the topic are only my way of asking for help with some very troubling questions I must now answer. I invite your thoughts and comments.
Father, I have put my faith in your living Word and the record of His teachings. I have trusted your Holy Spirit to guide me as I try to learn and become like Jesus. Forgive me for reading my own thoughts into your revelation and for taking the easy way out as I seek to apply scripture to my life. Open the eyes of my heart to know your truth. And keep me from misleading myself and others as I seek to grow in this blessed faith. Amen.
Next installment: Did Jesus really mean…?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
