Everything That's On My Mind

Along the lines of our January prayer emphasis, here's a good article on praying for parking spaces. Come on, you can't tell me you haven't done it at least once.

On New Year's Eve, I preached a sermon entitled "How Deep Is Your Love?" and challenged our congregation to pursue a deeper commitment to loving God, loving each other, and loving the lost in 2007. I intend to blog more on this topic throughout the year but for now I highly recommend checking out Keith Schooley's variation on a theme from that message over at The Schooley Files.

Skye Jethani has written a very thought-provoking article on the Out of Ur blog. Here's a quote:

"Seeking survival and fearing irrelevance, have we clothed our faith with the forms of our American culture to the point that our Christianity has morphed into something entirely different—a folk religion altogether consumerist in spirit and content?"

This is an interesting question, but I think it's the wrong question. Is there a folk religion in the U.S. masquerading as Christianity? Without a doubt. When 80+% of the population self-identifies as Christian, there's clearly some poor definitions of Christianity being used. The real critical question is, what is the cause? I don't think survival and relevance are the issues.

I suppose you could say it's semantics but as I define it, relevance is not evil even though some treat it as such. It can be overemphasized but that's a symptom, not the disease. Relevance in proper balance is simply communicating and applying the Gospel to an existing culture. This is what Paul did on Mars Hill, it's not a new phenomenon indicating the arrival of Laodicea.

The real problem is not a desire for relevance but a desire for comfort. We want to be comfortable in our world, and we want our world to be comfortable with us. We want to live just like our neighbors so they won't feel uncomfortable around us and we'll feel accepted. Too often faith is compromised for the sake of fitting in. Peer pressure is not just a problem for teenagers, it's just as bad or worse for adults. We must realize that this world will never be comfortable with the message of Christ, and we cannot be (or shouldn't be) comfortable in this world. I don't think we need to beware relevance OR irrelevance. We need to beware becoming comfortable. If we become comfortable, we cease to be salt and light.

I'm not saying we need to go back to the days of Holiness legalism just so we can make people uncomfortable. That's not the kind of discomfort I'm talking about. We're not called to find creative ways to make people uncomfortable around us. We're called to be Christ-like by loving, sacrificing, healing, caring, giving, praying, and worshipping. If we can even come close to accomplishing that, it will create plenty of appropriate discomfort.

 This video is just brilliant. I wish I knew more about video editing...or at least knew someone who could do it.

BTW, Happy New Year!

HT: FilmChat

Anticipation. It's an integral part of the Christmas holiday. The anticipation children feel today is nothing compared to the longing for a savior that led up to Jesus' birth. Simeon and Anna only touched the surface in Luke 2. And yet, the anticipation doesn't end with the birth of Jesus. We celebrate the birth of our Lord, yet we long for His promised return.

The past year or so has been tumultuous for so many. People I care about deeply have endured much pain and uncertainty. At the same time, I have seen God do amazing things in the lives of others. Followers of Christ live in this constant tension between the "already" and the "not yet" in so many ways. God has already done "exceeding abundantly above" all that we could ask, yet we long for more. We long to see His kingdom established in greater ways in our hearts and in our world. It's a constant challenge to keep the two in balance. Too much focus on the "already" and we find ourselves getting complacent, too much focus on the "not yet" and we become ungrateful.

So as we celebrate Christmas, I rejoice in the birth of our Savior, yet I look forward to His return. I rejoice in what He has done in my life, yet I look forward to living a more Spirit-controlled life in the future. I rejoice in what He has done in our church, yet I long for more. I rejoice in the answers to prayer we have received, yet I long for other prayers to be answered as well. I rejoice in the lives that have been changed by the power of God this year, yet I long to see so many more transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

As you celebrate Christmas, remember that the joy of Christmas is not just that He came, but that He is coming again. Rejoice in what He has done, but don't forget that He's not finished yet. There is so much more He has in store.

This will be a totally self-indulgent blog post, so please forgive me. It may not interest anyone but me, but I am excited that the Stax Records label is being revived. For the benefit of the un-hip, Stax Records was the southern cousin of Motown Records back in the 60's and 70's. Even though I grew up in Motown, I've always had a greater affinity for the Memphis sound. It was raw and passionate, rather than Berry Gordy's slick and smooth productions. Booker T and the MG's, Stax house band, is arguably the greatest rhythm section ever assembled. Along with The Memphis Horns, they created the foundation for recordings by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and others. Some of these recordings have been hard to find on CD, so I'm looking forward to the reissues that will be forthcoming.

Thanks for your indulgence.

P.S. If you're ever in Memphis, don't miss the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, as well as the Memphis Museum of Rock and Soul. They're dynamite museums for music lovers.

 Trevin Wax has a wonderful post regarding one of my favorite Christmas carols over here. Check it out.

HT: Jesus Creed

There's an interesting scene in The Nativity Story where Mary asks Joseph, "Do you ever wonder when we'll know that he's more than just a child? Will it be something he says, a look in his eye?" In response, Joseph wonders if he'll even be able to teach Jesus anything. This reminded me of a question that has interested me for many years. When did Jesus become "self-aware"? When did He realize that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the sacrificial Lamb? And how did that realization come about?

The scriptures are nearly silent about Jesus' childhood and early adulthood. Beyond the nativity story, we have only the story of Jesus' visit to the Temple when he was twelve years old in Luke 2. We have no direct witness to reference on this question. Perhaps that is why I've never seen it addressed in any books I've read. Nevertheless, I find the question interesting and I think it's possible to make a few safe assumptions based on what we know and perhaps develop a reasonable theory. What follows is my theory, for what it's worth.

First of all, I think it's obvious that Jesus didn't emerge from the womb fully self-aware. There's no indication He was gathering disciples and teaching in parables as a child. There are apocryphal stories of Jesus performing miracles as a child, but nothing in the canon. The story of Jesus at the Temple indicates that Jesus was an amazing child and exceptional in His understanding of scripture, but it also indicates that He was asking questions and listening to the teachers; learning as any normal child would. He does, at this point, recognize who His Father is, but that is no surprise. Joseph and Mary certainly would have told Him about His miraculous birth and the messages the angels gave them. Did He realize at this point the magnitude of His mission? Did He know that he would suffer and die? I don't think so. Luke 2:52 states "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." His understanding developed gradually just like any other child.

I believe Jesus' wasn't aware of the full magnitude of His mission until He began His earthly ministry. In fact, I think it's possible if not likely that he received that revelation during His time of prayer and fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). I also believe that His understanding of His mission on earth developed primarily through His study of the scriptures and through prayer. Why? Because I believe in the most basic of Christian doctrines, Jesus' full divinity and full humanity. If Jesus was fully human while here on earth, then He received His commission from God the same way we do. Once He understood His calling, He had to choose to follow it just as we do. If He was "tempted in every way, just as we are" (Hebrews 4:15), then He was required to live by faith just as we are. Doubting His understanding of God's plan and His place in it must have been a possibility for Jesus, and clearly was. Satan's first two temptations of Jesus in the wilderness were prefaced with the phrase "If you are the Son of God...". Satan was clearly trying to chip away at Jesus' faith in who He was and whether or not the Father was with Him. If Jesus' had actually just received the knowledge of His impending sacrificial death, then Satan's temptations were all the more sadistic. Either way, I believe Jesus was just like us. He received His instructions from God via scripture and prayer and was required to follow by faith, which He did.

You may ask, what is the point of this theological flight of fancy? Simply this. I think we often minimize the reality of Jesus' humanity. We think that because He is the Son of God, He had special access to God that we don't have. We think (though we may not say it out loud) that because He is the Son of God, we can't truly be Christ-like, therefore we don't really try to attain it. We choose some lesser measure of godliness to be our standard of achievement. This attitude keeps us from being all that God has intended us to be. Jesus said we would do everything He did and more (John 14:12), but we don't really believe it...or at least we don't act like it. We settle for so much less. A true understanding of Jesus' humanity will lead us to a deeper understanding of the power that is available to us through the Holy Spirit and the responsibility that is ours to truly become Christ-like.