Douglas Young

Hoard: noun “A stock or store of money or valued objects, typically one that is secret or carefully guarded.”(Oxford American Dictionary)

Maybe you’ve seen the A&E show, Hoarders, or possibly caught an episode of TLC’s,  Hoarding: Buried Alive. Both chronicle the lives of obsessive/compulsive hoarders. Neither is an easy show to watch. The pathological obsessions people have with “things” is unbelievably unnerving.

What I’ve noticed, though, is that the most disturbing aspect of this compulsive disorder, at least in my mind, is what is being hoarded. The things that become valued aren’t necessarily what you would expect. It would be one thing to hoard food, or family heirlooms, but food wrappers, cardboard boxes and paper cups? Something just doesn’t seem right.

But then I got to thinking about how difficult it is to cut ties with all the junk that eats away at us. You know what I mean: anger, bitterness, a grudge, and above all, the need for power and control. These are things that ever-so-slowly erode the heart, only making it harder to cut loose because of the tendency to cling to them. It isn’t all that different from those who destroy their lives, as well as they lives of the ones the love, through hoarding.

Tomorrow is a big day! It is Dump Day. A most amazing friend of mine, Trey Morgan,  is raising money to feed the people of Tegucigalpa, Honduras who rummage through “the dump” looking for food. Trey is immensely passionate about this. In the past, he has raised thousands of dollars on his blog for this effort. I feel honored that Trey has asked me to pray ardently about going with him to Honduras in December. It is something I am currently doing.

Today, a post is up on Trey’s blog that includes a documentary video about this great Christian humanitarian effort. See it for yourself. Also, there are a number of those close to Trey who are going to fast for 30 hours beginning tonight and use the money that they would have spent on food to contribute to the Dump Day effort. Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42-47

Community. It was the natural result of redemption in Christ Jesus. Unique community. Not the kind we might be accustomed to, but rather a community of profound selflessness. You sense that something was transpiring of which people genuinely wanted to be a part. Close community. Authentic relationships.

Churches grapple with the creation of community. We’ll sing “We’re part of the family…” but struggle to feel as if we are such. Often in churches, the only thing that makes them remotely resemble “family” are the sibling rivalries between brothers and sisters. That kind of thing happens. The first century church experienced it and so do we. But it sends a disdainful message to those we are trying to reach. It’s hard to believe we mean it when we treat others the way we often do!

Community cannot be forced, though. Community like what we read about in Acts 2:42-47 cannot be created. Gimmicks, programs, and etc. cannot accomplish it. It really has to be natural.

The more and more I talk to people about why they attend church services, I continue to discover that it rarely has anything to do with the authenticity of church community. Consequently, when I inquire of non-church attenders as to why they do not attend regularly, it often has to do with the fact that they long for authentic community, but don’t believe the church offers it. Hmmmm.

We are wired for relationships. I contend its part of being made in God’s image. It wasn’t good that man should be alone, so God gave Adam Eve. It wasn’t good that Adam and Eve should be alone, so God gave them Cain and Abel. This triggered the populating of the world. Israel was proof that God believed in community. And the church, is the culmination of God’s community in Christ.

Whether we realize it or not, we need it. But what are we to think of those who don’t really want it? I’m not talking about outsiders, either. I’m talking about church members. They are out there, and if they really wanted it, those on the outside who desire the same wouldn’t suggest they cannot find it.

There has been an increased interest in the subject of fasting. This is a good thing, too. My fascination with the subject began as I was trying to, in the midst of my own ministry, rationalize why something that was crucial to the life of Jesus was absolutely absent from mine. It didn’t sit well with me.

Later, a friend introduced me to Dallas Willard’s The Spirit of the Disciplines and The Divine Conspiracy. Those two books opened my eyes to discipleship in Jesus and how his way of life was pivotal to the core of discipleship. I began to inquire of a number of friends who, consequently, had been wondering the same things.

So I began the practice of periodic fasting. It has become a valuable component to my own spiritual formation in Christ. Because of the affinity I’ve developed for the practice, I’ve continued to read from others on the subject. One such read is a book by Susan Gregory entitled, “The Daniel Fast.”

Susan was otherwise known as The Daniel Fast Blogger. Thankfully, she put her thoughts, recipes and encouragement into book form. She has written a thought-provoking book based upon principles derived from the respected Old Testament figure, Daniel.

She sets the stage in Chapter 2 by “Dusting Off an Ancient Spiritual Discipline.” Here she opens a portal into the biblical practice of fasting. She offers numerous examples from both Old and New Testaments of those who engaged in the discipline. She outlines the various types of fasts (absolute, normal, partial). And of course, she expounds upon the nature of The Daniel Fast.

Chapters 3 & 4 are essentially the purposes behind fasting. She is incredibly thorough, citing passage after passage revealing purpose upon purpose. After giving the first four chapters honest consideration, if a person isn’t sold on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of fasting, something is amiss. Her case is clear. God, does indeed care about the totality of a person. In fact, the whole being is sanctified “completely” and the “whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless…” (1 Thessalonians 5:23, ESV). There is a link between spiritual formation and bodily well-being. Health, while not the most important part, plays a notable role in our emotional and spiritual well-beings.

The Daniel Fast is a partial fast, not total abstinence from all foods. Daniel’s diet is incorporated for the purposes of reaping the physical, mental and spiritual benefits that can be achieved through participating in it. It, like absolute fasts, can detoxify the body and pave the way for clarity of thought. It also teaches us to lean on God as the source of all physical and spiritual sustenance.

The book is immensely practical. Gregory affords reader with a five step plan to do The Daniel Fast. She ingeniously incorporates a section that provides food lists and recipes. The last portion of the book is actually a 21 day devotional guide for those who are willing to do The Daniel Fast.

This book is wonderful. If you are one who is sensing that you need to make some dramatic lifestyle changes to improve your health and spirituality, this is a great way to ease into the process. Don’t pass it off as silliness, it is not. Jesus believed in the practice of fasting. He worked under the impression that those who would follow him would sustain the practice in their lives (Matthew 6:16-18). The practice wasn’t about asceticism as we know it. It was a way to orient or reorient ourselves towards the One who we need most, the One who supplies all our needs.

Most all reading this live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” Here we bask in the right to keep and bear arms, and especially, in freedom of speech. We are free to say what we want, when we want, with few exceptions. It’s our God-given right. But as most all of us have experienced, the freedom of speech can come with a price. Free will is also a gift from God, and one’s right to freely speak often meets the ugly side of another’s free will.

You can freely voice your opinions, as most of us do, but the right of free speech doesn’t guarantee safety from a fist in the nose or a slap in the cheek. The lesson? Be careful how you use your freedom of speech. It brings to mind the words of the apostle Paul, “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23, ESV).

I’m amazed at how often I felt it incumbent upon myself to share with others my opinions about their personal matters. It’s downright embarrassing when I think about it. Naturally, seeing with such open eyes now causes me to wonder why. Why did I feel like it was my place to share with someone my opinion about a matter that had nothing to do with me? I shudder to think.

I also wonder why people feel the need to say some of the things they say to others. What it is that makes people such an expert on hairstyles that they feel the need to be critical of others, either verbally or simply with the glare of their eyes? What makes your opinion about facial hair the right opinion? Who do we think criticism of another is warranted because of a tattoo?

Sure, have and old you opinion, but be careful about expressing it. I believe the reason Jesus issued a clearly stated command not to judge another is because it will come back to get you. “Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matthew 7:1). And it does. It generally always comes back to haunt us. The moment we nit-pick someone to death, unless they are people who follow Matthew 7:12, they generally enter into critique mode, looking for some flaw in you to expose. And they will. You aren’t perfect. You aren’t flawless. Give them time, they will find and expose your flaw. And they will rub your face in it.

It’s sick and twisted. I’ve given up on thinking my opinion about other’s personal preferences matter. They simply don’t.

Now sin? That’s a different subject, altogether. I’m not talking about sin here. I’m talking about the trivial nonsense by which people find themselves consumed.

You might think your opinion really matters, but the person with whom you’re talking might think differently. If you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of something you never saw coming. And the onus will be on you and all because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!

And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are afar off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3000 souls.

Acts 2:38-41

The gospel wouldn’t be “good news” if it didn’t offer a solution to humanity’s deepest needs. The message that bore a deep hole into the hearts of a Pentecost audience elicited a response: What do we do? Peter graced them with an answer, a solution that would change things dramatically!

Repent… What the epistles reveal is that “in Christ” everything changes. It simply will not make sense without a change of heart, a willingness to see things in a new light, a willingness to see things in a Christ light. Repentance paves the way for accepting the new approach to life.

Jesus’ ministry contended…without repentance, the kingdom of God wouldn’t make sense (Matthew 3). This is why so many missed it. They weren’t willing to see things in a new light. They wanted the kingdom as it was, just slightly modified. Any change that was too dramatic was too much. The unwillingness to see the kingdom break in with newness, life and light caused many to reject the offer of Jesus. It was going to take heart-born paradigm shift for any of it to make sense.

…and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins… Changing a frame of mind, though, doesn’t grant one placement into the kingdom. A new birth does (John 3:3-5). For Israel, everyone was born into the kingdom. In Christ, everyone is born into the kingdom through submission, the offering of one’s life upon the altar, and through death.

Death was Jesus’ course to resurrection life. He could not be resurrected without first dying. Nor can we find kingdom existence without first dying. Baptism was, and is, the expression of faith that makes kingdom existence a reality (John 3:3-5; Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 6:3-5). It was inescapable. The gospel would extend new life, but one simply had to be “born again” (John 3:3).

…and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit… Long before the days of the first century, God had made a series of promises that would come to fruition in Christ. Several of those promises centered on the Holy Spirit. Peter cites one of those promises as an explanation to his audience about what they were witnessing (Acts 2:16-21). But this was not the only promise God had made concerning the Spirit. In Ezekiel 36, He promised, “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules” (vv. 26-27). God would infuse his people with a new “heart” and a new “spirit.” That spirit, though, would be Spirit. It would serve a special purpose. It would serve the purpose of causation. God would “cause” his people to “walk” in His statutes and “be careful to obey” his rules. God, in essence, said, “I am going to help you.” This is a gift I give to you!

So what happened? 3000 people, that’s right, 3000 people “received his word and were baptized.” Unbelievable. Followers of Jesus went from 120 to 3120 in the period of a day.

Solutions work. Solutions are wanted. Solutions are needed. Thanks be to God who offers the greatest solution to man’s need. Jesus. Gospel. Redemption. Discipleship.

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37, ESV)

The gospel is a living message and it possesses the ability to penetrate the deep recesses of humanity. The gospel was more than facts for the head, it was heart piercing and heart penetrating truth. It goes deeper, much deeper, than the mind to the wellspring of the heart.

The gospel affects. It burns. It churns. It doesn’t sit idly. Why? It’s alive and it generates responses. On this occasion, it forced its hearers to ask a single question: What do we do? The gospel forces us to ask the big questions. Through it God calls (2 Thessalonians 2:14). The question is: What am I going to do?

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.

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).

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!