Archive - March, 2010

Pitching Your Tent on Dung

March 31, 2010 in Christian Life, Jesus with 6 Comments

Over Spring Break our family went camping at the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We met some friends from Dallas and camped for a few days. Our friends got there the day before us. They selected a site that was perfect.

It wasn’t primitive camping. It was a facility set up with multiple tent camping sites. There were bathrooms, showers and even BBQ grills at each respective site. It was a nice place to be sure.

The weather wasn’t great for a delightful camping experience, at least at first. It was cold, rainy, and of course, windy. After a day, though, the weather greatly improved. The wind subsided, the rain ceased, and the skies opened up most majestically. In, too, came the campers. By Tuesday evening, the campsites were nearly full.

Later that night, a rather large group showed up and pitched an enormous tent- in the dark mind you- right in the center of all of us. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t exactly a tent site. It was a place where horses could be tied off. There were, hyperbolically speaking, tons of left over hay and horse dung all over the place and that group slept right on top of it.

Now give the guys a break. It was dark and the lighting was rather poor, so it was difficult to tell what was on the ground beneath them. But that is what happens when you’re operating in the dark, you often do things you wouldn’t normally do if you could really see.

I think that is why Jesus, John, and Paul spoke so frequently about the light and darkness contrast. They spoke of the power of light, the doom of walking in darkness, and the miseries of darkened eye-site. Bad things tend to happen in the dark, things a lot worse than pitching your tent on top of a bunch of horse manure.

Walking in darkness, though, is not an uneasy thing to find yourself doing. Those who walk without Jesus are doing it now and don’t even know it. Some even effort to walk with Jesus but it is as if they are hiding him with a quilt, or even worse, a straight-jacket. It’s as if he’s the delusional friend they are trying to control lest he make them do irrational things. But he’s hidden to be sure.

Jesus is to be put on, though (Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 3:3-4). He is to be worn by us. And when he is, he actually makes his way inside us and dwells there. His light radiates in and through us so that we do not walk in darkness, but instead walk in truth, because he is truth (John 14:6).

I’ve tried walking with Jesus in futile, unproductive ways. It has made a laughing-stock of him and has often hurt his cause. It was walking in a way of darkness. I cannot contain or restrain Jesus. The man who could not be contained in a tomb definitely cannot be contained by me! Approaching Jesus this way isn’t much different than unknowingly pitching your tent on dung.

Gospel (Acts 2:22-36)

March 29, 2010 in Acts with 0 Comments

Power from on high was not the most significant thing about the Pentecost occasion; the Gospel was. Divine power from on high facilitated the hearing of the Gospel. Jews from all over the world heard Galileans speaking in their own languages. But make no mistake about it, the Gospel was the paramount for the day.

Gospel is what Peter and the 11 preached. Living gospel. Breathing gospel. Yes, Jesus was crucified, but he was raised from the dead. He is alive and that is good news for all. After all, that’s is the meaning of “gospel.” It is “good news.” He’s not dead. He’s not in the tomb. He is alive. They’d seen him. Hallelujah He is alive!

The implications of this were great. King Jesus now sits on David’s throne. David, he is still in the tomb. Jesus isn’t, and God has raised him to David’s throne. He is king. He lives. His Kingdom does as well. It is in force. Like King Jesus, the Kingdom is alive. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified” (Acts 2:36).

Spring Break

March 14, 2010 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I hope you all have a great Spring Break, whenever it is for you. We are going to spend a few days camping and wandering through caves in Carlsbad, NM. It will be a great getaway. Unfortunately, I will be having to make runs to town to find free Wi-Fi connections so that I can do classwork.

Hopefully, I will have some creepy stories to tell from our experiences in the darkness of the deep. I also am looking forward to continue developing my thoughts about the book of Acts.

Hope you have a great one!

Promise Fulfilled (Acts 2:14-21)

March 10, 2010 in Acts with 0 Comments

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke; the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”

Acts 2:14-21

God was most certainly moving. The things that had produced such reactions were God bringing to fruition promises made long ago. Peter cites the prophet Joel, in what we know to be Joel 2:28-32, as the prophetic pronouncement of what was unfolding before their eyes. The apostles were not inebriated, delusional or putting on a show for a massive Jerusalem crowd. They were receiving Spirit power that would enable them to communicate the message of the resurrected Christ for all to hear.

I find it intriguing that Peter didn’t cite the promises Jesus had made to them personally as evidence for what they beheld. He didn’t say, “Jesus, the guy we were following whom you crucified, he told us one night before he died that we would receive the Spirit. Believe it or not, when he was resurrected, he told us again to wait here in Jerusalem and something special would happen.” This, more than likely, would not have worked. He had to go back further. He had to go back further to help them see that God intended for a new covenant to be enacted. The events that produced such amazement and consternation were purposeful. God was up to something. He’d promised it long ago. It was time to see it for what it was.

The irony is that so much was missed. Jesus spent three years preaching, healing, and working all sorts of miracles. He’d held the attention of thousands at a time, fed them, and shed insight into his identity. But only a fraction of the countless thousands Jesus ministered to stuck around. Why?

I think I know why. Change. We don’t like it. We are resistant to it. How could the God who doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6), change the system to something new?  I’ve often wondered how many rejected Jesus because he offered something “new” and “different,” citing Jeremiah’s “walk in the old paths” admonition (6:16) as the proof text. Of course, it was the same prophet who’d suggested a “new covenant” was coming (31:31-34). Apparently, that didn’t matter. Nevertheless, it is revealing to say the least.

God was ushering in something “new,” whether they liked it or not. If not careful, though, they would miss out. And many did.

God left no question that he was up to something. What he was up to would change the world! A church would be created as part of the unfolding mission of God (cf. Ephesians 3:9-11). His eternal purposes and his great wisdom would be recognized through ecclesia.

Descending Hubris…

March 8, 2010 in Blogs with 3 Comments

Writing is an art form. Some have it; some don’t; some, like me, are trying to find it. The author of Descending Hubris I know well. I’ve known him since the mid-1990s. He has an incredible way with words. He reminds me a lot of Josh Linton. Despite our pasts, I consider him a dear friend.

Friendship is a vexing concept. It escapes some, thrives in others, while makes messes out of the rest of us. My friendship with the author has been nothing short of a love-hate affair. We’ve shared some of the more memorable moments of our lives together, but we’ve also been, virtually, at each others throats. Spacial distance, though, combined with life as it has come to us, has left our friendship dangling in midair. Unfortunately, that often happens. But I think we both know that there exists something deep inside our friendship that brings it back to earth despite the distance.

Late last night, though, I got an email from him encouraging me to read Descending Hubris. So I did, on my phone of all devices. It was long, but he had me. I wasn’t really able to sleep thereafter. After talking to my wife this morning about the coffee she made yesterday afternoon, and discovering that it was decaf after all, I am now certain that I know why I couldn’t sleep last night. When something churns inside of you, and you are really internalizing and digesting it, you can’t sleep. That was me last night.

I encourage you to read it. It may not sit well with you. For some, it most certainly shouldn’t. I empathize with his sentiments. It is a place I’ve been. You might have been there too, or, you may be there and are wondering what to do. You may be one he is about to pass on his way down. You have something to consider on your ascent. Either way, there is a living message here. Take his advice. He is a sharp guy. You would do well to think intently about the story he tells. It is not for the faint at heart, though, so let me advise you to proceed with caution.
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