Ministry of Silly Walks

"A cheerful heart is good medicine." -- Prov. 17:22

Walk the walk.

TGIF, May 23, 2008

Some thoughts about the high position in which God has put us:

Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name. -- Malachi 3:16

"Like a loving parent, our Heavenly Father loves watching his children. In fact, God isn;t just watching. He is actually scrapbooking. Scripture calls it "a scroll of remembrance." God is recording absoutely every act of righteiousness. That includes the secret things no one sees and the small things no one notices. Nothing you do right will go unrewarded. And God sin't just recording those acts of righteousness. He is rejoicing over you the way a parent rejoices over a child." -- Mark Batterson, "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day," page 36

God said to Satan, "Have you noticed my friend Job? There's no one quite like him -- honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil." -- Job 1:8

I have become in His eyes like one who brings contentment. -- Song of Solomon 8:10

A couple things worth noting this week from my wanderings over the Internet:

• Is there any story about God that's not a love story? this article wonders. My opinion? I don't think so.
• Andy Serkis and Ian MacKellen on board for "The Hobbit." Guillermo del Toro is set to direct. Ooh, can't wait.
• A church planting organization that focuses on Wisconsin and the UP.
• A writer laments Christians' propensity to spread urban legends. This is one of my serious pet peeves with believers. I don't get these goofy e-mail from my unbeliever friends. Only from believers. What happened to being wise as serpents?
• JR Woodard posts some material on the "Five Dysfunctions of Team." The first is the absence of trust. That's interesting because trust and unity is the one thing Jesus emphasized in his prayer for us in John 17. I've learned, or relearned, the importance of this issue in the church in the last year.

Church in Transition: Nehemiah 12 and 13

"The impulse to pursue God originates with God. ... All the time we are pursuing Him, we are already in His hand." -- A.W. Tozer, "The Pursuit of God," page 12

I've been neglecting my blog. My excuse is that we put our house up for sale over the weekend and I've been preoccupied getting things ready. We've already had two couples look at the house. No sale yet, however. It's been less than a week I already have had to fight off depression. (Not really.)

I'll write more about our decision to sell in another post. Meanwhile, here's the last installment of Nehemiah, with thoughts from looking at it from the perspective of a church in transition:

vs. 12:1 -- "These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel." For the rest of the chapter, it's all about men serving and singing and rejoicing.

vs. 12:43 -- "The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away." Our church can have an impact beyond our immediate community. Acts 1:8, right? How can we do that? Some ideas include having a vision for our children's
ministry -- growing spiritual champions and sending them out; planting churches;
supporting missionaries; having influence with others via the Internet and other means. More to the point, I think, I'm reminded of John 13:35 -- "By this all men will know you are my followers. If you love one another."

vs. 13:3 -- "When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent." The people had some old habits that weren't right. They changed them when confronted with what the Word said. May we be so willing and ready to obey the truth.

vs. 13:8-9 -- "I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms." That took a lot of guts, I'm sure. Do we have the intestinal fortitude to take the risks necessary to obey God's Word? To stand up to, and not associate with, divisive people?

vs. 13:24 -- "Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah." Makes me think of all the children we've innoculated against the faith by adding a little church to the worldly culture we've allowed and tolerated in our homes. Or how we treat our children as children too long instead of training them to be warriors equipped to engage the culture.

TGIF, May 16

"God wants you to get where God wants you to go more than you want to get where God wants you to go." -- Mark Batterson, "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day," page 30

The summer movie season has started and I'm very much looking forward to seeing "Iron Man" and "Prince Caspian," both stories about how seemingly weak people can do surprising things.

Some results from rummaging through the Internet this past week (Disclaimer -- The opinions expressed in these articles are not necessarily my own. I only offer them for their ability to provoke thought and discussion):

• Vatican says it's OK to believe in aliens.
• I found this interesting website for "Village Missions" a cross-denominational organization dedicated to planting rural churches and helping keep country churches alive. Most church planting missions are urban-minded, so it's always interesting and encouraging to see missional-minded projects aimed at suburban and rural contexts and how God has laid different visions on peoples' hearts to reach the world for his Kingdom. Tom Nebel, in "Big Dreams in Small Places" makes the case that rural and suburban churches are easier to plant and have a higher rate of success than urban churches. In a sense, I believe, the location of church plants is less important than the number of churches we plant. And if we can plant more churches faster in rural and suburban areas, then we should because those church will be a benefit to all areas, I think. Mo' betta churches mo' fasta.
• Barack Obama goes after the evangelical vote.
• The belief that evangelicals have been hijacked by political forces has led to the creation of an "Evangelical Manifesto," that not everyone agrees with. Blog Out of Ur has the story.
• Iron Man" is illustrative of the principle that God's power is perfected in weakness, this thought-provoking essay suggests.
• And speaking of Prince Caspian, here's an article on what one author refers to as the story's hidden meanings. Another story wonders whether the film is too dark and violent.
• The Bible Geocoding Project links 800 locations and 10,000 photos using Google Earth. The site has links and instructions to help you develop your own maps. "There is now no excuse to teach or preach without pictures and maps."

Church in Transition: Nehemiah 10 and 11

"Too often, our prayers revolve around asking God to reduce the odds in our lives. ... But maybe God wants to stack the odds against us so we can experience a miracle of divine proportions." -- Mark Batterson, "In a Pit With a Lion on a Snowy Day," page 24

"Most of our problems are not circumstantial. Most of our problems are perceptual. Our biggest problems can be traced back to an inadequate understanding of who God is. Our problems seem really big because our God seems really small. In fact, we reduce God to the size of our biggest problems." -- Ibid, page 28

In our men's Bible study last night, we talked about Peter and the episode in the courtyard when he denied the Lord 3 times. Peter got "out of the boat" once again and once again dropped the ball by paying attention to those around him instead of focusing on the Lord. I love Peter. He's brave, but weak.

vs. 10:28-39 -- "bind themselves with a curse and an oath...We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands" What did they promise to do? To obey the law, to not marry foreigners, to tithe, to support the temple, to give the land rest and cancel debts every seventh year, to not conduct business on the Sabbath, to dedicate the first fruits of their lives (including their children) to the Lord. It's cool that many of these tasks were family projects. In conclusion, "We will not neglect the house of our God."

vs. 11:1 -- "Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem. ... The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem." Some were chosen by lot, that is by the Lord, and some volunteered for this new project. In all, about 3,000 men moved into the city.

Church in Transition: Nehemiah 7, 8 and 9

"In the end, the only 'good name' that matters is not how men feel about us, but how God feels about us." -- John Piper, "Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ," page 63

Our congregation on Sunday voted to accept "Pastor Stan" as our interim pastor to replace Pastor Mark and help guide us toward selecting a new pastor and charting the church's future path. it's exciting adventure on which we are about to embark. The Enemy is prowling about too, seeking whom he may devour.

More from Nehemiah. It's party time. The people celebrate by reading the Word and reinstating an ancient observance:

vs. 7:2 -- "...because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do." That's high praise. How would each of us measure up?

vs. 8:1-3 -- "They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. ... And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." To what do we listen? Our emotions? Other people? Or the Word?

vs. 8:8 -- "They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read." It must have been an amazing day. People need help understanding the Word. The way we become equipped to help others understand it is to read it ourselves. Train and equip others to train and equip.

vs. 8:9 -- "all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law." Those who tremble at God's Word that we read about before. It appears there are more of them this time.

vs. 8:12 -- "Then all the people went away ... to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words." People don't reject Christianity. They reject a caricature of Christianity. That's part of our mission -- tearing down the caricatures people use to reject the Message. If they only knew the truth of Christ and if only we truly lived the truth, then it would be easier to get people to truly understand and then more people would celebrate too.

vs. 8:17 -- "From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great." That's a period of about 900 years since they had partied like the Lord had commanded.

vs. 9:1-3 -- "The Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads....(they) had separated themselves from all foreigners, ... stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers, ... read from the Book of the Law." It goes on to say that they spent a quarter of the day -- 2 hours, I think -- reading the Word -- and another quarter of the day confessing their sins. Maybe, if we're serious about prayer being an important aspect of this venture, we should try a day of fasting and a prayer, especially at these times.

vs. 9:15 -- "In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock." God comes through from unexpected quarters, perhaps when you least expect it, but when you most need it.

vs. 9:28 -- "as soon as they were at rest, they again did what was evil in your sight." No rest for the wicked? More like no rest for the righteous. God hasn't called us to rest. He has called us to conquer.

vs. 9:32 -- "do not let all this hardship seem trifling in your eyes." Our trials and sufferings are not trifling in God's eyes, are they? After all, Romans 8:28 and Psalm 116:15 -- "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Or, like U2 says, "I can't live with or without you." Without Him, we die in our sins. If we live for Him, we die to ourselves and for each other. If we die, we live. He brings us to our knees so we can stand.

'Justification of My Existence' -- Irena Sendler

"Every child saved with my help and the help of all the wonderful secret messengers, who today are no longer living, is the justification of my existence on this earth, and not a title to glory." -- Irena Sendler, 2007, in a letter to the Polish Senate.

Irena Sendler died Monday at the age of 98. During World War II she led an effort to rescue children from the Warsaw Ghetto and extermination by the Nazis. She smuggled them out of the ghetto in basket, ambulances, boxes and more. She saved the names of those she rescued and kept them in a jar, hoping that one day they could be reunited with their families. She hid the jar under a tree before she was arrested by the Nazis. Despite being tortured, she never revealed the location of the jar or the names of those who helped her rescue the children.

She is (or was) a living metaphor for us as believers in Jesus Christ, participants in the Gospel and co-workers with our Lord. How selfish and hypocritical of us if we merely enjoy the status of being redeemed without actually laboring to help others gain that same redemption. God will judge us.