Fatherhood

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Today I was thinking back to something I wrote 17 years ago.  It's just as true today.  God is a good Father... and He loves His children.  

Last week my wife gave birth to our 2nd child… a little girl we named Ashton.  It didn’t come soon enough!  Nine months… it doesn’t seem too long.  Unless you’re in school awaiting summer break, or away from your loved ones, or pregnant.   Then nine months can seem like an eternity.

I remember the first time I held her… she was wrinkly and cried a lot.   She was incapable of showing love and affection or appreciation.  She didn’t ask to be born and certainly didn’t seem to like the experience much.  She brought nothing to the table.  She had nothing to offer me… well, nothing I needed anyway.

But I had this incredible, overwhelming emotional experience.  I was so excited and so in awe all at the same time.  I was filled with such pride… this was MY little girl!  I would do anything to make her happy.  Nothing was too good for her.  I would give my life to keep anyone from ever hurting her.  Here she was, not even 15 minutes old yet, and my life was forever changed!  I would never be the same.

Driving home a few days later, I began to think of how God, our Heavenly Father, must feel.  We have absolutely nothing to offer Him.  He revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush experience as “I AM THAT I AM.”  He is totally self-sufficient!  He doesn’t need humans to make Him feel important.  He doesn’t keep us around for self-esteem purposes.  He chooses to use us for the fulfillment of His plan, but He could easily invented with another way.

I’m convinced that He created us because He wanted someone to share His love with.

But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. – Titus 3:4-5

The Apostle Paul wrote that it is not because of good works that we have done, but because of God's great mercy that He has chosen us (Titus 3:5).  We could never be good enough, or good-looking enough, or do enough or be loveable enough to earn a relationship or favor with Him.  He loves us because He has decided to love us.  HE LOVES US BECAUSE WE ARE HIS CHILDREN!  How His heart must beam with pride over us, even when we mess our pants or spit up or cry (spiritually speaking).  No matter what we do - even if we choose a life without Him - He claims us as His children and loves us unconditionally.   How incredible!  And how totally unlike us!  His mercy never wears out or comes to an end (Lamentations 3:21-23 and 1 Corinthians 13:8).

You are completely loved by your Heavenly Father.  He could never love you any more or any less.  And He invites you to live in a deeply connected relationship with him.  It's up to you.

Sacred People (part 4)

In this series of articles we're examining the life of Jesus to see what a truly Sacred Person looks like. And it may not be the most spiritual or holy person, although that's what we've been led to believe.  The answer may shock you.

Sacred People (part 1)
Sacred People (part 2)
Sacred People (part 3)

Unholy people

So far we've talked about the need to be authentic and to begin to allow God to expand our small-minded thinking.  And we saw in Acts 10 that we need to treat everyone as if they are created in God's image... because they are!  As we finish up this series we'll look at ways to practically apply these truths.

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see the will of God in action.  He lived a holy life.  His disciples record God speaking from heaven about Him:

And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3:17

God was well pleased with Him because He always did those things that please God.  He lived a life that was fully devoted to God.  This is the definition of a sacred life.  Jesus was truly a sacred person!  And by looking at the life of Jesus we can see how sacred people should live.

Sacred People (part 3)

In this series of articles we're examining the life of Jesus to see what a truly sacred person looks like. And it may not be the most spiritual or holy person, although that's what we've been led to believe.  The answer may shock you.

Sacred People (part 1)
Sacred People (part 2)
Sacred People (part 4) 

Unholy people

So far we've talked about the need to be authentic and to begin to allow God to expand our thinking.  This time we're going to look at the turning point for the burgeoning Church (found in Acts 10).

As we also learned last time, the Jews sought to maintain their focus on God through isolation.  They wouldn't even eat with non-Jewish people.  But God wanted to invite "outsiders" in!

Core Values Must Be Modeled

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As Jesus was having a meal in Levi’s home, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. - Mark 2:15

Jesus took His disciples along to dinner at Levi's (Matthew's) house. He modeled for them the kind of people He chose to spend time with. The disciples saw the criticism Jesus got from the religious leaders for hanging with "tax collectors and sinners." But they also saw His heart to connect with people that were far from God.

Spiritual leaders have to model the core values they wish to pass on to those they lead. It's not enough to simply talk about them or teach about them. We must embody them if we want them to be embraced by our team/church. I heard Pastor Rob Ketterling say, "If the unchurched are going to have a voice in my church it MUST be mine." Exactly!

Sacred People (part 2)

In this series of articles we're examining the life of Jesus to see what a truly sacred person looks like. And it may not be the most spiritual or holy person, although that's what we've been led to believe.  What we discover may shock you.

Sacred People (part 1)
Sacred People (part 3)
Sacred People (part 4) 

Getting out of the box

The Jews in Jesus' day lived by rigid legal standards – some established by God and others added by men.  These rules were put in place to keep their hearts and their focus solely on Him.  This included isolating themselves from people that didn’t serve their God.  As a matter of fact, Jews wouldn’t associate or even eat with non-Jews.  This tradition continued with the believers in the early years following Jesus' resurrection and return to heaven.  Their churches were made up entirely of Jews or converts to Judaism.

But God never planned to keep the message of the Jewish Messiah (Jesus) just for the Jews.  His plan all along was for men, women and children of all nations to be a part of His family.  In order to make this a reality, God had to get the Jewish believers out of their isolationist box!  A radical worldview transformation was necessary for this to happen.  Jesus warned that this would happen:

Sacred People (part 1)

In this series of articles we're examining the life of Jesus to see what a truly sacred person looks like. And it may not be the most spiritual or holy person, although that's what we've been led to believe.  What we discover may shock you.

Sacred People (part 2)

Sacred People (part 3)

Sacred People (part 4) 

Just be real

The lady that cuts my hair is a trip! (in a good way)  She has multiple tattoos (almost a full sleeve), multiple piercings, WILD hair colors and likes "eccentric" clothing.  She's nothing like me, except for our mutual gift for sarcasm and honesty :)  One day she told how she used to go to church with her parents, but never really fit in because she asked too many questions.  Questions make religious people nervous because they bring up uncomfortable topics.  Apparently in a church you’re supposed to stick to the script!  So she finally came to the conclusion that, “I don’t belong in a church.”

Unfortunately I could tell you story after story after story that has exactly the same ending.  This breaks my heart!  We have FAILED in our primary assignment – to represent Jesus to a broken world.

Becoming a Better Lover

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Like that title? I thought it might pique your interest. I want to take a few moments and consider how growing in your relationship with Jesus can make you a better lover.

I guess maybe I should give you some background. A number of years ago I taught a series called “Redefining Relationships“ to a college group. As usual, we talked about everything from friendships to sexuality. Since this church was made up primarily of singles, this subject hit home with many of the group members. Those that weren’t facing the battles of purity were still surrounded by sexuality from the media and pop culture at every turn.

Anyway, in this series, I made a passing reference to the fact that becoming more intimate with Christ can make you a better lover. I got quite a bit of response from that statement, so I decided to develop the thought further. I thought this would also be a good subject for married couples. A healthy marriage is like a healthy garden… it requires a lot of effort to weed, water, feed and nurture, but the results are well worth it.

So, I want you to drop your religious inhibitions, take off your holier-than-thou glasses and track with me as we delve into the subject of becoming a better lover. Maybe it would be best if we started with a verse or two from the Bible, so you won’t think I’ve gone off the deep end.

Our fiercely protective God

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A friend of ours told us the story yesterday of what happened to her husband's puppy.  While her husband was at work, she and the puppy were enjoying some time in their yard.  Then the neighbor lady let her dog out.  The neighbor knew that her dog - a Pit Bull - was aggressive, and had promised to never let the dog out when our friend's puppy or son are outside, but because of her dementia she sometimes forgets things.  The two yards yards are only separated by a low, flimsy chain-link fence.

Our friend's dog is very curious, especially of the growling Pit Bull next door.  As the dog went to investigate, the barking Pit Bull reached through the fence and grabbed the puppy by the neck.  He started to yank the other dog violently.

At this point our friend started shouting to the neighbor and tried to separate the two dogs.  Nothing worked.  Because of her failing health, the neighbor was also unable to do anything about her dog.  As the Pit Bull continued to yank, our friend's dog started to slide under the fence.

Finally in desperation our friend jumped the fence and got on top of the Pit Bull.  She squeezed with her knees so the dog couldn't breathe.  When that didn't work she tried to choke him out.  The Pit bull was absolutely unfazed continued to yank viciously.

At this point our friend had had enough.  She started punching the Pit Bull in the face until it released her dog.  The amazing part of this story is that our friend is about 5' 6" tall and 120 lbs. soaking wet - not a big girl by any stretch of the imagination.  The Pit Bull could have eaten her for an afternoon snack.  But at that point, all that mattered was protecting her husband's dog.

What a perfect picture of the heart of God.  Look at what David said about Him:

The lord himself watches over you! The lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.

The lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.

The lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

   -  Psalm 121:5-8 NLT

... and in another verse, he writes:

The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear God, and he saves them.

   -  Psalm 34:7 

No matter what you're going through or how bad things seem, you are not alone!  God is watching over you.  Yes, there is a devil who hates you and wants to take you out.  But if you'll pursue God with all your heart and trust Him to deliver you, you'll see Him do amazing things.  You can't earn His love.  And you can't do enough bad things for Him to not love you anymore.

We've seen Him come through for us over and over.  But even if our experience were to differ from what these verses state, it doesn't change who God is.  He is faithful and He can be trusted.  Run to Him, not from Him.

For all you animal lovers out there: Don't worry... our friend's dog is fine.  The wounds were superficial, requiring only a few stitches.  And the Pit Bull is fine too.

PS. If you don't believe in the devil, that's okay   You're entitled to your beliefs.  But Jesus obviously believed in him, and taught about him often. (See Matthew 13:19, 36-43, 12:24-28; Luke 10:18, 11:18; John 8:43-44, 10:10, 12:31-32, 14:30, 16:11... and this isn't even a definitive list).

The inner voice

Last Sunday Robin lost her keys at the church building.  This is very bad because we have our vehicle, house and building keys on the same keychain.  We did a search of the building before we left to try to find them… no good.
Then I went back a couple more times during the week to look… still nothing.  I even did a thorough search of the building and grounds (even places Robin wouldn’t have gone)… STILL nothing!  All the while, we were praying and asking God to show us where they were.
We concluded that someone must have either stolen them or taken them accidentally.  But when we asked our team, no one had them.  NOW WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Last Sunday when I was first looking, I had this random thought to go through the trash and look for the keys.  But no one wants to do that… that’s just nasty!  If I felt this about looking under the refrigerator, or going through the kids room toys or something like that, no problem.  But going through the trash?  No thanks!
Robin often puts her keys on the coffee table in the church (while we’re cleaning up after the service), and there is a trash can at the end of the table with an open top.  At the end of the service we just wrap up the trash bag and toss it in the container.
It’s my son’s job to take the trash bags to the container and to put the container out on the curb for trash pickup on Monday morning.  Last Sunday he took the trash out to the container, but he forgot to take the container out to the curb.  I ended up having to buy two special garbage bags from the city to put the trash in so we would have room for this weeks’ trash.  I was pretty frustrated… such is life with a teenager in the house :-)
I still had this nagging thought to go through the trash (which wasn’t taken away last weekend) and look for the keys.  I was ready to give up looking last night when this thought came to me again… this time very strongly.
I went out and dug through the trash (YUCK!)… still nothing.  Then in the last trash bag I didn’t find anything.  But I felt I should just shake it up a bit more and feel around the bottom of the bag to see if I could feel anything even remotely resembling keys.  To my surprise (and joy), there they were!  They must have fallen off the table into the trash and no one noticed.
It was the Holy Spirit all the time trying to get my attention.  If I had just obeyed that voice the first time, it wouldn’t have been so time consuming or gross.  And by showing us where they were He saved us hundreds of Euros (car keys are expensive to replace because of the chip inside them).
We have to get better at hearing and obeying this “voice.”  God wants to lead and direct us, but we have to be open to the different ways He uses to accomplish this.
When you don’t know what to do, the best answer is to just get quiet and pray.  God is always speaking.  He wants to reveal Himself to us, and to answer our questions, whether it’s for lost keys or something much more important.  But we have to be in a position to hear.

Two silver candlesticks (redemptive endings)

At the beginning of the legendary musical, Les Miserables, Jean Valjean had just been released from prison after 19 years.  he came to a new town where he was forced to show his prison release papers.  The mayor and townspeople, as well as the local jail and other businesses refuse to help him or give him anything to eat.  The only one that will feed him is Mr. Myriel, the local Bishop.  He not only feeds Valjean, he invites him to spend the night.  Valjean returns the favor by stealing Bishop Myriel’s only “fineries” – silver utensils – and leaving in the middle of the night.
Valjean is caught by the police and brought back to face Myriel.  When the bishop sees him, he claims he gave Valjean the silverware as a gift.  Myriel adds, “You forgot to take the silver candlesticks that go with the silverware.”
After the police leave, the bishop offers him forgiveness and tells him to live an honest life.  The rest of the musical is about Valjean’s attempt to do so.
We all love stories with a redemptive ending.  Why?  There is something in each of us that cries out for a redemptive ending to our broken lives.  The Bible is full of these redemptive stories, for instance:

• Joseph – Gen. 50:20 “You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people.”
• Moses – Acts 7:20-36 God brought Moses full circle to face his failure so he could learn to trust God to fulfill his destiny.
• Woman caught in adultery – Jn. 8:1-11 She was rescued from a death sentence.
• Prodigal son – Lk. 15:11-32 Welcomed home & forgiven by a loving father… even after committing the worst act of betrayal.

Now notice Heb. 4:16…

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Some people have endured unimaginable pain and horrors – betrayal, neglect & abuse – sometimes even at the hands of those they should have been able to trust.  God offers you grace to help you let it go.  Forgiving others will bring you freedom!  And, like Joseph, God can turn these horrible things into something beautiful, if we’ll let Him.
Others have been the ones causing the pain.  You need to come to the Father and, like the Prodigal Son, find mercy.  You will need to make things right, but you will find freedom and forgiveness.