Retrofit

Archives have been expanded to include musings from up to 2 years ago. If you haven't explored My Mysteriously Meandering Mind, you may want to start now.

As It Is Among The Angels - pray pt. 2

Does not everything happen according to God’s will? The quick and easy answer is “of course not!” Gasp! That’s right! God’s will is that we are holy, thankful and always doing good (among other things). Yet how many of us, if we were to write an honest autobiography, would be embarrassed to present it to our Heavenly Father to read! Since Adam, the human race has routinely turned its back on God’s will. This fallen world is the result of us pursuing our own wills. When Jesus comes back God’s purposes will ultimately prevail, and things will be set right again. Until then we are to pray that his kingdom comes and his will is done among us as it is among the angels.

This is where it gets practical. When we pray that God’s kingdom will come, two things are happening. We are submitting ourselves to the kingship of God as his subjects and we are committing ourselves to the kingdom of God as its ambassadors. As subjects, in prayer we align our thinking and our desires with those of God. Prayer changes us. As ambassadors, in prayer we work towards expanding the rule and the work of God in the world around us through intercession and direct intervention. We change the world.

Direct intervention is often overlooked, particularly in non-charismatic circles. It is a kind of prayer that goes beyond intercession into the realm of command. It is based on the premise that those who are submitted to the authority of God have the authority of God in the world. As Peter and John told the cripple to walk or Simon cast out demons, so we have authority in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Spirit to do the work of his kingdom all around us. Why would God not honor a prayer that honors him and continues the work of the Lord?

So this really is the second part of the answer to why we pray. We might as well be asking why share the gospel or help those in need, why go to church and use my gifts, why read the Bible or worship. It is because in all these things I am participating in the kingdom of God. In all these things I am advancing the kingdom in my life and in the lives of others. None of these things are effectual by rote. It is the Spirit of God that blesses them and makes them of eternal effect. Why do any of these things? It is because we are the Body of Christ and we carry on the mission of Christ. We should be able to say, as he did, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Recommended reading: Prayer is Invading the Impossible by Jack Hayford
For more on this click on God’s Kingdom, under Prayer on The Journey’s Believing page.

The End of Petition - pray pt. 1

Why petition God? What is the purpose of petition? Why should we ask God to do something if He already knows what is going to happen? What changes when we pray? What happens when we do not pray? If we ask these questions of Scripture, we might acquire a better understanding of why we should petition God. However, even before consulting Scripture (because this is really less a question of understanding Scripture and more one of wrapping our minds around the answer we already know) there is a simple solution. The premise of the questions is that God knows all things—past, present, and future. In prayer, we ask God to change things. The apparent problem is that we cannot understand how God could change the outcome of a situation when he already knows what it will be.

First, let us look at our own actions in prayer. Did God know beforehand what you had for dinner last night? Yes. How much of a role did God play in getting food on your plate? While we would be right in saying that he provided all the resources that made it possible, it is probably by your own hand that the food was either prepared or purchased. And yet we thank God for our food knowing it was really his hand behind it all. The point I am making here is that God’s foreknowledge does not preclude our action. So, just because God knows what will happen tomorrow does not mean we all get to sleep in.

There is a saying that goes “when we work, we work; when we pray, He works.” I agree with this statement as far as it goes. It is God who works. But there is a sense in which prayer is real work on our part. Our prayers have real effects on reality, just as much as any other activity in which we would involve ourselves. Consequently, just because God knows that we are going to pray should not keep us from praying.

Second, let us look at God’s actions in prayer. Did God know when he created Adam and Eve that they would sin? Did he know from the beginning that he would have to exile them from Eden? Did he know from the beginning that he would have to send his Son to die in our place? If God knew all this from the beginning, why did he bother with all the intermediary stuff, why not just skip to the end? Though God has known the entire history of man since before man existed, he himself has specifically intervened at specific points in time. God knows what he is going to do tomorrow. But he has not done it yet.

At first this does not seem to be helpful in unfolding the answer to our question. It seems to be stating the very reason we are perplexed. Nevertheless, the solution is found in the problem. God knows what will happen tomorrow. Among those things that he knows is which prayers he will answer. God knows what he will do, and he knows which of those things he will do in response to our petition. So we understand that just because God already knows the future does not mean we have no part to play in its outcome. Therefore, we should pray.

Orthodoxy

Here's my problem. A short survey of the recent papal news coverage could cause one to induce vomiting! Many are talking of Benedict XVI as a conservative Catholic. They say a lot of American Catholics will be unhappy that he will remain unbending in matters important to them. Some media are reporting that these more liberal Catholics want to be able to use condoms, have women clergy, affirm homosexuality, and just lower all those cumbersome moral standards.

I will give these uninitiated "journalists" the benefit of the doubt. All they know is politics. And it seems in the last years they have gotten it in their minds that "conservative" is synonymous with religious, particularly evangelical and Catholic. They also seem to equate "liberal" with modern and up-to-date (in their minds, "common sense") thinking.

So, here they go reporting on the pontiff and the Catholic Church. They are accusing the pope of being "conservative" in the face of an overwhelming "liberal" church. They are mistaking this for some sort of political game.

In actuality, the pope is not being conservative. He is not even being "traditional," though that is a better term. The pope is being orthodox. That is, he is adhering to the truth. The truth is what it is. It is fixed and unmaleable.

The "liberals," whose view would be seen as liberal in political terms, are really advocating religiously unorthodox ideas. In other words, they are putting in their vote for an un-Christian Christianity. They are ultimately saying that they prefer not to be Catholic. Or at least they want all the appearances and warm fuzzies with none of the commitment to Christ and His teaching.

Yes, the so-called "liberals" are really advocates of dangerously "unorthodox" philosophies and irreverent attitudes. I would shy away from calling them heretics, but they are on that road.

Truth & Dialogue

Okay, here's what I got out of watching the inaugural mass of Benedict XVI. He says his papacy is going to be centered on the Eucharist and the living presence of Christ as the core of Christian faith. He is staking his reign on the truth of Christ's work. Although I may not completely technically agree with the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist, I am in total agreement that the centrality of Christ is the best place to start.

He is also encouraging all Catholics to engage in evangelization and in helping those in need, especially the poor and children. Awesome.

He says that he want to work towards a full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ. He understands that this will necessitate taking concrete steps toward that end. He also acknowledges that Christian ecumenism must begin with inner conversion. WOW, I almost cried!

From this standpoint of truth, he is going to continue dialogue with other faiths and encourages all Catholics to do the same. And he seems to want to work just as much at building peace in the world for all people as he wants to work at standing firm in Christian truth. All I can say, is what better way to be a witness!

In summary, here is a pope committed to two things: truth and dialogue. Here is a pope after my own heart. He may be just what we need to engage this postmodern world.

I remain a committed interdenominationally evangelical Christian with Wesleyan roots. But I am excited about the possibilities presented in this pope for advancing the kingdom of Christ.

"One Way"

Holy Father, Source of Light
Merciful Redeemer
Spirit, Minister of Truth
God of all forever

United we exalt You
Strengthen us we pray
All declaring one great Truth
There is just one Way

My Money Is Not My Money

(Originally delivered at The Journey’s Friday Night Fuel on April 15, 2005, here abbreviated and edited for print)

One year Bob P. Taxpayer came down with a bad case of the (conscience-induced) post-tax-day blues. Knowing full well he had been a little less than honest with Uncle Sam in the twenty-plus years he’d been earning taxable income, he was moved by the Spirit to send a reimbursement check to the tune of 7000 big ones! Included with the check was a letter Bob had written in order to best explain the situation. It read,

Dear Uncle Sam,

Have been having trouble sleeping. This is your money, not mine.

Apologetically,
Robert P. Taxpayer

P.S. If most of the guilt doesn’t go away by next Tuesday, I’ll send the other $14000.


Too often the problem is not so much that we feel guilty about being dishonest on our tax forms, but that we would even consider it, and for many so nonchalantly. We might have a case if there were some reason to doubt that we ought to pay taxes. But it just so happens that Jesus did not leave us that option. His answer is clear. “Give to Caesar what belongs to him. But everything that belongs to God must be given to God” (Matthew 22:21).

The question we are left with is, “What belongs to God?” Of course, we know that “the earth is the LORD’S, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him” (Psalm 24:1). Clearly implied in Christ’s answer is this idea that we are made in the image of God and, therefore, we are specially His and owe ourselves to Him.

My Awareness
Have you ever wondered where the Sixpence None The Richer got their name? On the “bio” page of their website (http://www.sixpence-ntr.com/standard.jsp) the story is told.

"It comes from a book by C. S. Lewis...called Mere Christianity," she resumed. "A little boy asks his father if he can get a sixpence - a very small amount of English currency - to go and get a gift for his father. The father gladly accepts the gift and he's really happy with it, but he also realizes that he's not any richer for the transaction... C.S. Lewis was comparing that to his belief that God has given him, and us, the gifts that we possess, and to serve Him the way we should, we should do it humbly...realizing how we got the gifts in the first place."

My Attitude
That ‘little sliver of wisdom can be summed up in the phrase: “my money is not my money.” Think about that? My money is not my money. Does that concept seem foreign to you? Even the wise men who visited the young Jesus realized this principle was true. They gave him out of their own treasure (see: Matthew 2:9-11). Even these men, with their great wisdom and wealth recognized the need to give of their treasure to the Lord. They did not consider it out of place to offer gifts to this child. If that was the attitude of these “wise” men, what should be our attitude about money?

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Our attitude toward money begins with the realization that money and possessions in this life are of limited value and very temporary. Many people put much effort into building up wealth and accumulating nice things. They want the big bucks so they can get the best car, the biggest house, the latest gadgets and the trendiest fashions. Jesus calls our attention to a more lasting sort of accumulation. He frames the discussion of money as an issue of the heart (see: Matthew 6:19-21). He gives us a way to test ourselves and see what we truly value most. What do we desire in our hearts? What is the preoccupation of our thoughts? The Message sheds some light on this, pointing out that, “It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Jesus continues explaining this, showing us that the things we have our eyes on become the things we live for and reveal the true desires of our hearts and, ultimately, whose servants we are (see: Matthew 6:22-24). The rest of the passage (Matthew 6:25-34) centers on the goodness of God and how we can and should trust Him.

My Actions
Okay, say we have all this down. We are living for Jesus. We are doing all the good things that children of God do. Why do we need to bring my money into this? The answer is simple. “All you are unable to give possesses you” (André Gide). As Jesus attested, “it is very hard for a rich person to get into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 19:23). Winston Churchill put it this way: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

If our money is not our money, and what we do with our money shows the condition of our heart and our spiritual allegiance, then it really does matter what where we are putting it. We cannot let what we have possess us. It is imperative that we are generous with what God gives us.

Go break to the needy sweet charity’s bread;
“For giving is living,” the angel said.
“And must I be giving again and again?”
My peevish and pitiless answer ran.
“Oh no,” said the angel, piercing me through,
“Just give till the Master stops giving to you.

C.S. Lewis lends his wisdom to this issue yet again saying, “the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. Our charities should pinch and hamper us. If we live at the same level of affluence as other people who have our level of income, we are probably giving away too little.” In fact, Jesus commended this kind of giving (see: Luke 21:1-4).

Money is not all we should be concerned about giving. Let me reaffirm the principle Jesus taught. Give to God what belongs to Him. We must give not only what we have but who we are. As even John D. Rockefeller, Jr. asserted, “giving is the secret of a healthy life. Not necessarily money, but whatever a man has of encouragement and sympathy and understanding.”

“Have you ever stopped to think that Christ never gave anyone money? The riches of the world were his for the taking and his to give away, yet when the poor and the hungry came to him, he didn’t give them money, and he rarely gave them food; he gave them love and service and the greatest gift of all—himself” (anonymous).

Jesus is, in fact, our model for giving in that he gave up the riches of heaven for us so he could share them with us (see: 2 Corinthians 8:9). In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives us some guidelines for giving:

“Give whatever you can according to what you have. If you are really eager to give, it isn’t important how much you are able to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you don’t have. Of course, I don’t mean you should give so much that you suffer from having too little. I only mean that there should be some equality. Right now you have plenty and can help them. Then at some other time they can share with you when you need it. In this way, everyone’s needs will be met. Do you remember what the Scriptures say about this? “Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough” (2 Corinthians 8:11-15).

In the end, “God will not merely judge us on the basis of what we gave but also on the basis of what we did with what we kept for ourselves” (Erwin W. Lutzer). It is the world that “asks, ‘How much does he give?’ Christ asks, ‘Why does he give?’” (John Raleigh Mott). “There is no portion of our time that is our time, and the rest God’s; there is no portion of money that is our money, and the rest God’s money. It is all his; he made it all, gives it all, and he has simply trusted it to us for his service” (Adolphe Monod). In the end, my money is not my money.


All quotations taken from…
Draper, E. (1992). Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (1st Ed.). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.: Wheaton, Illinois.

Except where noted, all Scripture taken from New Living Translation.

The Truth Behind Words

My good friend, "DRU," sent me a link to a discussion he was having at RelevantMagazine.com. I just had to join in on the discussion. If you want the context, click the link. Here's my response...

Don’t get stuck on words, phrases or labels here.

Believing…belonging…becoming.
Knowing…growing…showing.
Seeking Jesus…strengthening the church…saving souls.

It’s not about the words. It’s about the reality they represent.

All these words are saying is that Christians are those who follow Jesus. In walking with Jesus, you end up walking alongside other followers. And in the course of your journey, the Spirit may actually use you to call others to follow Jesus as well.

That is not prescribing steps or outlining formulas. It is simply describing—quite generally—what happens to those who put their faith in Christ.

Believing. Believing is, in fact, THE only genuine, biblical way of knowing and following Christ. As we are all familiar, Jesus said, “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).

Belonging. And we who believe are mystically joined together as one body, whether or not we participate in that union. As we read in Ephesians 2:19, “You are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.” After all, it does take “effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

Becoming. We are even given a purpose as “a people belonging to God.” We are to “declare the praises of him who called [us] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Do all those who believe in Christ testify to who He is, whether by word or deed? No. Should we? Yes! We are the light of the world.

Michael, you are right. The three B’s is a trite and clumsy three word illustration, one of many ways to describe the Christian life. Again, don’t look at the words. Look at the reality behind them. Whatever you want to call it, however you express it, there are certain fundamental characteristics of Christian discipleship. These may not be the only three; there may be more. (And “believing” is certainly the only essential element to seeing Heaven.)

Notice another thing: These three B’s, or whatever words you want to use, are far from a rigid, cookie-cutter formula meant to be imposed on and adhered to by every Christian. They allow for personality and process. For instance, there is a difference between me asking you to meet me at Disneyland on Thursday and me spelling out for you which mode of transportation and route to take, as well as what you should wear and bring with you on your trip. When Jesus says “love your neighbor,” He doesn’t specify when, where or how. Neither do these three B’s paint of picture of what pursuing them should look like. As always, there is freedom in pursuit of Christ.

So, the issue, my friend, is not whether we accept the truths behind the three B’s, which are undeniable, but how we understand these truths and communicate them to various individuals, ourselves being unique personalities. You can bash the three B’s until you’re blue in the face if you like, as long as you acknowledge (as I believe any conscientious Christian would) the truths about discipleship to which they point.

Missing Good Music

STRYPER pop metal
"Reborn" (clip from upcoming album)
"The Way" (live in 2003)

Stryper is legendary. They paved the way for Christians who rock. If not for the persecution they endured from their own, Christian music, as it is today, would not exist. What did I learn form Stryper? Spiritually, you don't have keep silent about your faith. Musically, I learned the structure of a song and the need for a hook (basically the meaning of "pop").

THE PRAYER CHAIN alternative
The Prayer Chain live in Holland

I loved The Prayer Chain since I first saw them playing with The Violet Burning. I've been in love with both bands ever since. Their tour, with songs from PC's Neverland Sessions and VB's Strength, was the definitive concert of my high school existence and shaped me in more ways that I could ever understand. In subsequent years, I would come to appreciate the craft of PC. I learned most from watching Tim Tabor act as a sort of stain glass pointing to a reality beyond himself. What did I learn from PC? Passion.

WHITE HEART pop rock
White Heart - "Fall on Me" (Redemption, 1997)
"Come One Come All" (Inside, 1995)
"Desert Rose" (Powerhouse, 1990)
"I'll Meet You There" (Freedom, 1989)

Harmonies! Don't let the clips above fool you. These guys were high energy, power rock. Yet they have recorded some of the best ballads ever written in human history. Their line-up changed many times. But White Heart remains one my most influencial bands. What did I learn from WH? Every person makes a unique and integral contribution to the sound of the whole.

--

TOURNIQUET thrash metal
"Psycho Surgery" (Psycho Surgery, 2001)

Lyrical complexity to match their musical skills.

KING'S X progressive rock
"Dogman" (Dogman, 1994)
"Not Just For The Dead" (King's X, 1992)

These guys have consistently linked honest lyrics with intricate rhythm and harmony.

UNDERCOVER rock
"Devotion" (Devotion, 1992)
"Eyes of Love" (Balance of Power, 1990)
"Is Anyone Thirsty" (3-28-87, 1987)

Legendary members of the Third Wave of Christian rock. These guys went from new wave punk to a sort of progressive hard rock.

JON GIBSON pop
"Jesus Loves Ya" (Jesus Loves Ya, 1990)
"In the Name of the Lord" (Body & Soul, 1989)

Like an even happier Stevie Wonder. I dare you not to sing along!

SACRED WARRIOR masterful heavy metal
"Paradise" (Master's Command, 1989)

Their first ablum was tantilizing. They had a Queensryche-type sound and did every metal trick in the book. No subsequent album could match it.

BLOODGOOD heavy metal
"Messiah" (live in 1987 -what real music ministry's all about)

Bloodgood, as a band, is not an essential part of my musical history. However, songs like "Eat the Flesh," "Crucify," and "Messiah" from their Detonation album are masterful examples of what Christian heavy metal should be. These guys were truly metal missionaries.

The Great Witness of John Paul II

May the Lord bless the witness of John Paul the Great, our faithful brother in the Faith, who lived a steadfast life, not because he thought it was a good way of life but because he knew it was the way of Truth. Yes, he reached out to those of other beliefs, not in compromise, but because the way of Truth leads to love. May his commitment to Christ be preeminent in the eulogies of the coming days.