Right now I'm preaching through the Book of Acts, and I've been noticing again and again the radical-yet-humble discipleship of my brothers and sisters in Christ from the early church.
A couple weeks ago, when preaching on Stephen, I was startled at how he prayed WHILE being stoned (7:59). Not that I hadn’t seen that fact before, but I guess it just dawned on me in new ways--that is, what caliber of faith it takes to pray while you’re dodging rocks (or did he dodge?). And to pray for those who're throwing the rocks and aiming at your head—“don’t hold this sin against them.”
And then this week, in the beginning of Acts 8, I was taken aback at how the believers in Jerusalem handled it when they got run out of town in the backlash after the murder of Stephen—and these were new believers, so one might expect that they wouldn't be ready for such a harsh, brutal test of faith. But the text says they went into Judea and Samaria and “everywhere” NOT telling how God had let them down but “preaching the word.” This too isn't new to me, but it struck me afresh: imagine some family with their belongings in a cart, maybe a few animals, rolling into Bethel or Sychar looking for lodging, and spreading to strangers the news of God’s great love and the wonder of having Christ as their peace (etc.). Maybe they were challenged by a skeptic, “If your God is so great, how come he let you lose your home?” But the implication of the text is that these young Christians found the benefits of peace and hope in Christ far greater than the comforts of a secure lifestyle back in Jerusalem.
These kinds of examples of real-life Christianity are both exciting and sobering at the same time. Makes me look in the mirror and ask how I respond when my faith is under pressure.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
God-Centered Prayer
The exhilarating prayer in Acts 4:24-30 reveals a biblical pattern we need to see and embrace: attention is focused on God and not on our needs. As a result, it includes much more than petitions. The prayer begins with praise and wonder at God’s creation and reign over all things before calling out for divine aid.
This is not because life was a breeze and the church felt no urgent need for God’s help. In fact, the believers had just come under fire from the temple authorities (4:18, 21), and Peter and John had been arrested and put on trial (4:3, 7): the high priest and Jewish council, who enforced the law, had just cracked down on the church: “Stop speaking out about Jesus, or else!” they threatened.
So it’s in spite of ominous developments that the early church goes to prayer in a self-forgetting, God-focused, God-exalting way; it's not because all is rosy. So too Nehemiah 1:4-11: the walls of Jerusalem are in shambles, but praise and confession lead the way before Nehemiah requests aid. And in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19—this time requests are preceded by extended praise and recollection of God’s past provision. Similarly in Isaiah 37:16-20, where Hezekiah cries out in praise to the Sovereign One before making his desperate plea for deliverance. So too in Daniel 9:3-19, with praise, confession and giving credit to God for forgiveness leading the way. Plus the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name” comes before “Give us this day…”
Why build a prayer life that goes beyond mere requests? Because God is honored and our faith is bolstered when we look at the Lord and not in the mirror. By contrast, when prayer is nothing more than requests, self grows large and God appears small in the eyes of your soul. And that, of course, is spiritually catastrophic.
Yes, there’s a time for “foxhole” prayer—simply to cry out, “Help me, help us!” But our day-in-day-out pattern should reflect the balanced, biblical design. This goes for your personal life of prayer and for our corporate practice. Let's join together in the glorious, humbling, joy-bringing venture of God-centered prayer!
This is not because life was a breeze and the church felt no urgent need for God’s help. In fact, the believers had just come under fire from the temple authorities (4:18, 21), and Peter and John had been arrested and put on trial (4:3, 7): the high priest and Jewish council, who enforced the law, had just cracked down on the church: “Stop speaking out about Jesus, or else!” they threatened.
So it’s in spite of ominous developments that the early church goes to prayer in a self-forgetting, God-focused, God-exalting way; it's not because all is rosy. So too Nehemiah 1:4-11: the walls of Jerusalem are in shambles, but praise and confession lead the way before Nehemiah requests aid. And in 1 Chronicles 29:10-19—this time requests are preceded by extended praise and recollection of God’s past provision. Similarly in Isaiah 37:16-20, where Hezekiah cries out in praise to the Sovereign One before making his desperate plea for deliverance. So too in Daniel 9:3-19, with praise, confession and giving credit to God for forgiveness leading the way. Plus the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name” comes before “Give us this day…”
Why build a prayer life that goes beyond mere requests? Because God is honored and our faith is bolstered when we look at the Lord and not in the mirror. By contrast, when prayer is nothing more than requests, self grows large and God appears small in the eyes of your soul. And that, of course, is spiritually catastrophic.
Yes, there’s a time for “foxhole” prayer—simply to cry out, “Help me, help us!” But our day-in-day-out pattern should reflect the balanced, biblical design. This goes for your personal life of prayer and for our corporate practice. Let's join together in the glorious, humbling, joy-bringing venture of God-centered prayer!
The City That Never Sleeps
A few weeks ago Cheryl and I visited New York City for the first time in many years. The sights, sounds and smells, along with the teeming throng of humanity flooding the streets of Manhattan, registered in my brain, “Warning: sensory overload!” Here are a few things I noticed:
Since my last visit to NYC, billboard-mania has spread like a virus from Times Square proper to a huge swathe of Midtown. The ad companies are competing fiercely to produce the biggest, brightest, flashiest signs on the planet—all, of course, to stimulate commercial activity (i.e., to get at your pocketbook). The bustle of tourist busses and taxicabs under the neon lights made me think of John Bunyan’s “Vanity Fair” in Pilgrim’s Progress. And yet, I had to admit that, despite all my cynicism, this shrine to commerce and fashion and stardom tugged at my heart. And I could imagine how people end up living for fleeting, God-neglecting, yet oddly appealing rewards of wealth, pleasure and fame.
We also steered away from the glitzy storefronts and “huddled masses” for a long walk in Central Park (one goal of which was to identify sites from certain scenes in the movie, “Enchanted”). This was a highlight—except for the blisters my feet acquired. It felt like an oasis fenced off from the pressures of the world by the wall of tall buildings on all sides. A huge patch of green on a concrete island, it struck me how Central Park is an image of the church: the fellowship of God’s people who love and encourage each other form a “place” of refreshment and a focal point of striking, counter-cultural love and unity here in our fractured, frenzied world (John 13:34-35; 17:20-23).
Of course, we wanted to visit Ground Zero. A tour of St. Paul’s Chapel (across Church Street from the WTC site) was sobering—the pictures of 9/11 chaos, badges of countless rescue workers from all over the world, photos of loved ones lost that day… The mood in that sanctuary was very different from Times Square. Suddenly all the great prizes of consumerism were irrelevant, and all the perks of fame and fortune vanished: lives were lost on 9/11—lives of Wall Street executives and minimum wage workers, the old and the young, men, women and children, people a melting pot of ethnic backgrounds. In an odd way, the Lord used Ground Zero to help me get the big picture in perspective: we’re “just passing through” this life (Hebrews 11:13-16), and what matters most is knowing Christ and making him known!
Since my last visit to NYC, billboard-mania has spread like a virus from Times Square proper to a huge swathe of Midtown. The ad companies are competing fiercely to produce the biggest, brightest, flashiest signs on the planet—all, of course, to stimulate commercial activity (i.e., to get at your pocketbook). The bustle of tourist busses and taxicabs under the neon lights made me think of John Bunyan’s “Vanity Fair” in Pilgrim’s Progress. And yet, I had to admit that, despite all my cynicism, this shrine to commerce and fashion and stardom tugged at my heart. And I could imagine how people end up living for fleeting, God-neglecting, yet oddly appealing rewards of wealth, pleasure and fame.
We also steered away from the glitzy storefronts and “huddled masses” for a long walk in Central Park (one goal of which was to identify sites from certain scenes in the movie, “Enchanted”). This was a highlight—except for the blisters my feet acquired. It felt like an oasis fenced off from the pressures of the world by the wall of tall buildings on all sides. A huge patch of green on a concrete island, it struck me how Central Park is an image of the church: the fellowship of God’s people who love and encourage each other form a “place” of refreshment and a focal point of striking, counter-cultural love and unity here in our fractured, frenzied world (John 13:34-35; 17:20-23).
Of course, we wanted to visit Ground Zero. A tour of St. Paul’s Chapel (across Church Street from the WTC site) was sobering—the pictures of 9/11 chaos, badges of countless rescue workers from all over the world, photos of loved ones lost that day… The mood in that sanctuary was very different from Times Square. Suddenly all the great prizes of consumerism were irrelevant, and all the perks of fame and fortune vanished: lives were lost on 9/11—lives of Wall Street executives and minimum wage workers, the old and the young, men, women and children, people a melting pot of ethnic backgrounds. In an odd way, the Lord used Ground Zero to help me get the big picture in perspective: we’re “just passing through” this life (Hebrews 11:13-16), and what matters most is knowing Christ and making him known!
Awakening
“Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
God “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5).
Meaningful, lasting change in human lives comes about as a result of God’s action. Our job is to trust and obey, looking to the Lord for the impact of his great soul-saving, life-sanctifying work.
Waves of such glorious, gracious movings of the Spirit have come many times in history. Acts gives a grand example of this. Jesus sends the Spirit to launch the disciples into the world as witnesses (1:8), triggering a great spiritual awakening with miracles and the conversion of thousands (2:1-4, 41), and leading to a profoundly new, deep, and unified community life for the newborn church (2:42-47). Opposing forces arise to try and impede the Spirit-filled, loving, truth-telling church, but in the end they only accomplish what God intends to do through them (4:27-28)!
Here’s the big question for my church and your church: are we ready and eager for the hand of God to move powerfully among us? Are we joining in urgent prayer to plead for revival—spiritual awakening—that brings growth in holiness and conversion of the lost? Or do we prefer the status quo?
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
God “is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).
“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins… But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:1, 4-5).
Meaningful, lasting change in human lives comes about as a result of God’s action. Our job is to trust and obey, looking to the Lord for the impact of his great soul-saving, life-sanctifying work.
Waves of such glorious, gracious movings of the Spirit have come many times in history. Acts gives a grand example of this. Jesus sends the Spirit to launch the disciples into the world as witnesses (1:8), triggering a great spiritual awakening with miracles and the conversion of thousands (2:1-4, 41), and leading to a profoundly new, deep, and unified community life for the newborn church (2:42-47). Opposing forces arise to try and impede the Spirit-filled, loving, truth-telling church, but in the end they only accomplish what God intends to do through them (4:27-28)!
Here’s the big question for my church and your church: are we ready and eager for the hand of God to move powerfully among us? Are we joining in urgent prayer to plead for revival—spiritual awakening—that brings growth in holiness and conversion of the lost? Or do we prefer the status quo?
"Consider the Flowers"
This week I paid a visit to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. The word of the day was, “Wow.” There was the rainbow patchwork of tulips and daffodils of every hue in the Idea Garden. And a sea of snapdragons, pansies, yet more tulips, and all manner of exotic species along the Flower Garden Walk. And magnolia trees and apple blossoms and, and… And then there was the Conservatory.
Oh my, the display of God’s creative ingenuity in the plants and flowers from all over the world that we see in the Conservatory! Most stunning to me, this time, was the Orchid House. The aroma and colors and shapes of the incredible variety of orchids—words do not suffice. In fact, I ran into a complete stranger when I first entered the Orchid House, and we both just said, “Wow.” (I've posted a few photos from Longwood.)
Three things strike me in all of this. First, it’s so true that God “speaks” through creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1); the skies are a canvas for “macro-beauty.” But “micro-beauty” in a flower’s intricate folds also speaks for the Lord—it’s all part of God’s display of his power and creative genius in “the things that have been made” (Rom 1:20). Stars, mountains, butterflies, clouds, flowers—all creation points to its Creator, our glorious, loving God! And remember, deep down, your neighbor knows this—it’s imprinted on every human heart.
Second, praise cannot be contained. When you’re truly moved, awed, amazed (etc.), your heart sends signals to your mouth to speak up. And you speak up because you want to; there’s a joy inside that must get out, and as it’s expressed, that joy itself is enlarged. Praise naturally expands, both within us and beyond us.
Third, even though the flowers are all dressed up in breathtaking beauty, Jesus asks us, “Won’t God, all the more, clothe you?” (Matt 6:30). The magnolia petals made a pink blanket beneath the tree, yet in no time they’ll disappear—here today, gone tomorrow. But you were designed for eternity, and to rest in the loving, strong arms of the Father even now. Be at peace in his love!
Oh my, the display of God’s creative ingenuity in the plants and flowers from all over the world that we see in the Conservatory! Most stunning to me, this time, was the Orchid House. The aroma and colors and shapes of the incredible variety of orchids—words do not suffice. In fact, I ran into a complete stranger when I first entered the Orchid House, and we both just said, “Wow.” (I've posted a few photos from Longwood.)
Three things strike me in all of this. First, it’s so true that God “speaks” through creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1); the skies are a canvas for “macro-beauty.” But “micro-beauty” in a flower’s intricate folds also speaks for the Lord—it’s all part of God’s display of his power and creative genius in “the things that have been made” (Rom 1:20). Stars, mountains, butterflies, clouds, flowers—all creation points to its Creator, our glorious, loving God! And remember, deep down, your neighbor knows this—it’s imprinted on every human heart.
Second, praise cannot be contained. When you’re truly moved, awed, amazed (etc.), your heart sends signals to your mouth to speak up. And you speak up because you want to; there’s a joy inside that must get out, and as it’s expressed, that joy itself is enlarged. Praise naturally expands, both within us and beyond us.
Third, even though the flowers are all dressed up in breathtaking beauty, Jesus asks us, “Won’t God, all the more, clothe you?” (Matt 6:30). The magnolia petals made a pink blanket beneath the tree, yet in no time they’ll disappear—here today, gone tomorrow. But you were designed for eternity, and to rest in the loving, strong arms of the Father even now. Be at peace in his love!
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