Walking with the Good Shepherd, pt 5

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows." (vs. 5)

A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to a conference / retreat in the DFW area where we were blessed to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge at a fraction of the cost. We had ample time to play at the indoor water park therein. In the center of the park was one of those huge buckets of water that is constantly filling and then dumping out 1,000 gallons of water on whomever happens to be lingering below. It reminded me of this verse as it is a great application.

First I ask, who is it that prepares this table? There is that "you" that keeps recurring in this text. The God of the universe is serving us! And where is He serving us? In the presence of our enemies! I remember when I was growing up, it gave me incredible sense of safety to eat lunch at school with big kids that liked me. None of the bullies would mess with me if I was hanging out with my befriended behemoths. So, spending time with the Good Shepherd has its benefits, especially when it comes to being around the ravenous wolves.

In the next part of the verse, David describes some of those benefits. "You anoint my head with oil..." this can be strange imagery to us in the 21st century, but in that time this usually was a symbol of two different things: healing and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Like the large bucket at the water park, we must constantly be connected to the steady stream of water of God's presence in His Spirit through prayer and time in His Word. As we do, we are constantly being refreshed and healed, but not only that, when we are being filled, our cup runs over and splashes out onto others.

Unfortunately, too many of us are trying to splash out on others when all we get is the trickle we get on Sunday mornings... if that much. If we long to make a real impact in our world, we must have that constant filling of the Spirit. "...be filled with the Spirit, " (Eph. 5:18) The verb phrase "be filled" is the command in this verse, and its tense literally means to constantly continue being filled. It is not a once and for all, but rather a continual process.

Is your cup being filled daily, or are you trying survive and minister with only the grounds left in the bottom of the cup. Your Good Shepherd has an incredible feast set before you daily in front of the Enemy. Come and get it!

Yokes on Us

It has been too long since I have posted. The busyness of life has pretty much dominated mine, hence the 6 weeks lag in postings.

A member of our church owns a local bed and breakfast. The other day I was taking an informal tour with Polly (our exchange student). As we moved from room to room, we were talking about the antiques therein and American history. Each room has it's own unique theme: garden, safari, angels, and Texas. While in the Texas room, she noticed a single yoke on the floor of the bathroom thinking perhaps it was a pair of six shooters (don't you have a pair of revolvers in your bath-- this is Texas after all). I then began to explain that it was, in fact, a yoke. A yoke of course is a farm implement that fits over the shoulders of a beast of burden used to pull a plow or cart.

It immediately reminded me of Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus is talking to the crowd and saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In this passage, Christ is talking to a crowd of folks including teachers of the law. He had just rebuked those present that had rejected Him. They rejected Him because He had come in a manner of kingship different than they had expected. At this point, Christ turns to those who were willing to repent and follow Him, and He utters these words. It is kind of a strange phrase, and for a long time, I used to think that He was talking about sinful people that are burdened down with life in general.

However, history and context says otherwise. When ancient teachers would gather pupils to themselves, their system of teaching the pupils would undergo was called a “yoke.” In context, Christ is contrasting that following His teaching was not going to be burdensome like the teaching of the Talmud. Of course, keep in mind He is not saying that it would be easy, because He later said in the upper room that in this life His followers would have trouble (cf. John 16:33).

Nevertheless, today, I find myself asking have we created our own Talmuds? Have we once again placed yokes of burdens on those under our spiritual care? I think, so often, we spend so much time trying to get people to “DO” that we fail to teach them to “BE.” In truth, when we learn to “be,” the “doing” takes care of itself. Perhaps, this is a big reason why so many are skeptical of the church today. Christ’s warning to the Pharisee’s in Matthew 23 is very sobering.

Are you burdened today? Has anyone placed a yoke upon you? Have you placed one on yourself? On others? Be free!

Peeking into the Windows of the Soul - pt. 2

Shortly, before noon on Wednesday, I got the news. One of our church members had stopped by the office asking, "Did they call you yet?" I inquired of who, and then he told me. The brother of a very well known Christian author and pastor lived in our little town, and he had died suddenly. He then said that "he" would mostly likely be doing the service and they were asking about doing the service at our church. I had read a number of "his" books. As a matter of fact, I first really heard about the Grace of God from "his" books. I owe a debt of gratitude to this man, as he had played a key role in my early spiritual growth.

Now I have met and been around a number of "famous" ministers, so this was not that different. The main exception was that I would be ministering to he and his family which I consider an honor. I didn't get on the phone an call all my friends, a few happen to call yesterday and asked what I was up to and I told them. Notoriety has not often meant much to me, especially those in the ministry. The widow called me later that afternoon and set up an appointment to come see me about arranging to use our church, and if I could help provide music.

When we met on Thursday, her eyes were still red from having been weeping off and on that morning. We walked through some of the details, and I spent the bulk of the afternoon beginning preparations for the service. I had other preparation that I needed to take care for Sunday and studying for bible studies I was teaching next week, but I put all that on hold to minister to this family.

As the day grew closer, this service, like many I have done in the past, consumed much of my time as I made myself available to this family. Serving a family during a time of crisis comes very easy for for me having experienced loss of loved ones several times myself. So, even though this man was not a member of our church, and even though this man was related to someone famous, I counted it a privilege to love on his family. These are the rare opportunities that we get to minister to folks we don't know, so putting my normal schedule on hold and laying aside my personal agenda really wasn't that hard. Both "he" and this family were gracious and appreciated our hospitality.

Friday morning before the funeral, as I have been reading a couple articles in Leadership Journal, it occurred to me that the Lord had a very important lesson for me to learn. He called to my memory the recent visit by the weary traveler, and how overly concerned I was with making my meeting that I didn't take much time to get to know and minister to this special visitor. I couldn't tell you where he was from or to where he was headed. It will be a long time before I forget look in his eyes.

It shamed me, and I began to weep as I realized that I was guilty of the sin of showing kind of preference spoken of in James 2:1-7. Do I feel that I was wrong in ministering to the grieving family, absolutely not. But I was not willing to even put my meeting on hold to minister to this visitor. This visitor, is one of those that Christ refers to as "the least of these." Too often we place a high value on those that are "normal" people or "famous" people at the cost of the least of these.

The truth is, the entire Bible speaks VERY clearly that one test of the authenticity of our faith shows it self in how we treat those who are true widows, orphans, the poor, those in prison. In one article I read, Brad Jersak makes an interesting statement, "I'd suggest that those we often regard as insignificant are not to be regarded as mere target groups of Christian charity, but rather, our mentors in the kingdom. They are guides to understanding God." I am not suggesting that we should open our homes and let anyone sleep there, nor would I say we should enable those who will not work by supporting their chemical addition. I am saying that we should seriously consider what our attitude is toward the least of these. I know I oftentimes lump them together, and thereby neglect an act of service that demonstrates how real my faith is. It is easy to judge people from afar, and throw money at the problem. It is another to get to know some of these and find out why they are where they are.

My challenge to you is simple. When God gives you opportunity, take time to peer into the windows of some one's soul. You never know, you could be entertaining an angel or you could get a glimpse in the kingdom of God.

Peeking into the Windows of the Soul - pt. 1

Being on church staff, it is not uncommon to have people stop by the office looking for money handouts. We have a procedure. We direct them to a local multi-faith agency that keeps our benevolence centralized and helps screen out abusers. This week, I had a different experience with one of these folks.

On Tuesday, I had a meeting scheduled first thing in the morning with a couple of other ministers from the area. A transient man stopped by the office right as the two ministers arrived. He had a need. It was very cold outside, and he was headed west into the wind. He said he was a missionary and asked if we could give him some hot water for the instant coffee he had with him. I invited him into the office kitchen area where we were each getting coffee for ourselves. It was obvious there was no need for him to make his own coffee since we had some perked and hot and ready to drink. He dug his travel mug out of his large duffel bag. I took the cup which smelled of instant soup. I washed it out as I considered the man's appearance and more importantly his eyes. He was a large man wearing dirty clothes and had a weathered face. But his eyes. It is said that the eyes are the window to the soul. The eyes that twinkled behind his cracked glasses were kind.

I filled His mug with fresh coffee, and he asked if there were some place where he could sit down out of the wind. We were headed into our meeting, so I directed him to a place in our church foyer where there were soft chairs to sit on and within ear shot of where we were having our meeting. A few minutes later, he poked his head around the corner and asked if we had any extra gospel tracts he could have. I went to our supply cabinet grabbed a few packets and handed them to him. He was gracious, thanked me, and sat down again. He finished his coffee, and slipped out the front door back on his journey west.

I sat preoccupied with the man's eyes all throughout the meeting. While he was there, I kept an ear open since our secretary was alone in the other room. Yet, I really didn't fear this man. After he left, my thoughts sojourned west with him. Earlier, he had asked if there were a cafe or restaurant in the direction he was headed. Our church building is three miles west of town and there was nothing between us and the next town 10 miles away. I thought of him knowing it was hours before he would reach the next town and a meal. I know that had we kept food at the church office I would have offered him what we had, but there wasn't anything. Perhaps there was some leftovers from our previous Wednesday night meal, but I wasn't thinking of that, I was thinking about my meeting. After all, we had important things to discuss.

This traveler has been gone for days from our church, and yet he has lingered in my mind. I still remember his eyes. There was another visitor the Lord would bring across my path later this week. And with him, would come a stinging rebuke. I will finish this story tomorrow. There still much to be said. Although you did not see him, peer with me into this man's eyes and consider what the Lord will say to you.

My Holy of Holies

I just read this article by John Ortberg. It is a must read. Click here to read the article. In light of my recent preaching escapade, I found his insights especially chastening.

Tragedy

I observed a horrific tragedy in the news this week. A young mother of 4 hanged her children and herself in desparation. All but the youngest (8 months) perished. The mother was 23, her oldest child was 6. She was apparently distraught when her commonlaw husband left her. I do not know this woman beyond what the media has told, and my heart breaks over the murder of her innocent little girls. If my math adds up she was a mother at 17 years old. The sad thing is that this example is becoming increasingly more common.

What I find even more tragic is I wonder where the church is in the midst of lives that are so desparate that they feel that killing themselves and their own children is the only way out. Jesus Christ has called us to be salt and light... he has called me to be salt and light. We are to live our lives in such a way that we draw people to Jesus. Jesus said we are either gathering or scattering. I often get caught up with others in complaining about how our society has gone to pot, but I wonder if we as the church were truly being salt and light where we live and work how much of this would be going on. Now please don't misunderstand me, I understand that this world is not our home, that we are sojourners here, and that this is a fallen world. However, that does not negate the fact that we are to season and illumine our world. But instead, the world influences us.

I know that sometimes this responsibility can be overwhelming, what can I do? I am one person. True, but each one of us can make a difference in the lives of a few.

Consider the lyrics of this song, Love Them Like Jesus by Mark Hall:

The love of her life is drifting away
Their losing the fight for another day
The life that she's known is falling apart
A fatherless home, a child's broken heart
You're holding her hand, your straining for words
You trying to make - sense of it all
She's desperate for hope, darkness clouding her view
She's looking to you

Chorus
Just love her like Jesus, carry her to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves her and stay by her side
Love her like Jesus, Love her like Jesus

The gifts lie in wait, in a room painted blue
Little blessing from heaven be there soon
Hope fades in the night, blue skies turn to gray
As a little one slips away
You're holding their hand, your straining for words
You trying to make - sense of it all
Their desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
Their looking to you

Chorus

Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you

Chorus

We are to love them like Jesus.

Church Work

I found myself sitting in the auditorium yesterday being quiet before and talking with the Lord. Often during these times, if I am not careful, I find my mind wandering into the temporal realm thinking about that from which I was seeking to escape. Nothing evil necessarily, but on this occasion given my recent literary escapade into Dan Kimball's work, I allowed my mind to wander and begin considering if that which we spend most of our time doing in "church work" was really what Christ had in mind when he spoke of His "called out assembly." When he declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail of against the onslaught of His church, was He thinking about what we so often spend the bulk of our time doing? When you study the life of Christ, you notice that he spends the bulk of His time in relationships with people that many of us make real estate decisions to avoid. Consider the following quote from Mark Hall, "They are all around us. To become numb to their pain is to become numb to the very heart of God and the suffering of His only Son." I found myself feeling ashamed that although I am in the "ministry." That my schedule has little room for associating with non-Christians. How can I be salt and light when I seldom frequent the places when salt and light is needed? It wasn't always like this, and it is not that I don't like being there, but rather, I have allowed my schedule to squeeze out those times with the ones Christ came to seek and to save. I think we are foolish to think that these folks are going to be breaking down to doors to our churches trying to get to us. But I am probably the only one who feels this way...