The Joy of Gospel Repentance

When most people (even Christians) hear the word "Repent" they may think of old time revivals or extremely conservative churches that are continually yelling at their people and often using the word "Repent" over and over again to make people feel guilty for all the ways that they have sinned and fallen short.

Is that what you think of when you think of repentance?

Repentance is not about guilt, but about grace. It is actually God's grace to us to restore to us the joy of our salvation and see the Kingdom of God flood through us and flood through our city.

To repent means to "turn", to re-orient your mind, heart, and entire life to a new normal. In spiritual terms it means to turn away from your sin and turn towards the Lord. This is the basic definition of repentance and it is at the heart of the message of Jesus.

Why?

Because all people have turned away from the Lord and gone on our way. We have not turned to God, but away from Him. We have sought to create our own meaning, purpose, and joy outside of God and this has fractured our relationship with God.
Isaiah 53:6a says "We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned their own way." We all have turned away from the Lord and looked to other things to bring us what only the Lord can bring us. Because of this reality that exists within us we need to turn back to the Lord and return to Him and that happens through repentance.

Their is an initial repentance that exists, a one time act of repentance where God saves us and we become children of the Kingdom. In that moment we pass over from death to life and are welcomed into God's family by trusting in Jesus Christ. But repentance is not simply a one time act and then we move on from it because we continue to sin and turn away from God even after God has rescued us.

Repentance does not save us. Christ alone saves us through his mercy. The Bible does not teach us to practice a life of repentance so that God will keep saving us and keep loving us. The Bible teaches us to practice repentance to restore to us the joy of our salvation, to bring us back to the healing love of God. God initiates repentance towards us, so it is a gift and grace of God to invite us to return to Him and have our hearts and lives re-connected to the joy of Jesus and disconnected from finding joy outside of Jesus.

Repentance is not something to fear, but something to welcome because it is God who is inviting us to repent and turn back to Him. We are already in the family and loved by Him and repentance is a reminder to our hearts of this reality that we can easily forget.

There is great joy in gospel repentance. And that is the type of repentance God longs for us to practice before him and in our churches and communities. There is a great difference between gospel repentance and religious repentance.

Religious Repentance is me-centered.
Gospel Repentance is God-centered.

Religious repentance (RR) is about atoning (making up for) my sins through better behavior.
Gospel repentance (GR) is about trusting in the atoning work of Christ to cover all of my behavior, good and bad.

In RR I am grieved because of the consequences of turning away from God.
In GR I am grieved because I turned away from God at all.

In RR I believe if I am a better man that God will be pleased with me.
In GR I believe that God is pleased with me because Jesus is a better man.

In RR I only repent because of my unrighteousness. (the bad things I have done)
In GR I repent of the unrighteous and righteous things I have done knowing it is only through Jesus that I am justified.

In RR I repent less and less because every time I do it it crushes me because my life is built on my performance. Every time I have to repent I feel like I have failed so I repent less and less.
In GR I repent more and more because every time I do it it restores the joy of my salvation b/c my life is built on the performance of Jesus. Every time I have to repent there is a little bitterness, but there is greater sweetness because of what Jesus has done for me to forgive me.

My hope for you is that you respond to the call of gospel repentance, that you turn from finding meaning and value and purpose outside of God and turn back to Him again and again to be reminded that true meaning, value, and purpose is found only through Him and what He has done for us through His son--Jesus Christ.

Back from the Future

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b] “Rabboni!”
-John 20:11-16

I am writing this early on Easter Sunday, just as the darkness is beginning to break into the dawn of another morning. It was perhaps this time of the morning when Mary and the other women went to the tomb to see their dead friend Jesus. The Sabbath had ended and so now they could go see the grave where Jesus had been placed.

But Jesus was not there. Mary Magdalene later returned to the tomb to see again for herself that Jesus was truly not there. And she began to weep. Not only had this man been tortured and crucified, but now someone had apparently stolen his body so they could not even properly take care of his dead body with their spices.

Then she spots a man whom she presumes to be the gardener and she asks where they have taken the body of Jesus.
Then the gardener says her name, "Mary", and immediately she realizes it is Jesus.

I have always imagined the great tenderness and love by which Jesus uttered Mary's name, the way you might say the name of a child who has been hurt or is crying. This is way Jesus says Mary's name and reveals himself as the risen Christ.
And here we have the true beginning of all things. In a sense, Jesus Christ is the ultimate gardner. It was through Jesus that all creation came into existence, that the Garden of Eden was planted and grown. And now we see Jesus in another Garden, taking care of this garden as one of his first acts in his resurrected body.

GK Chesterton writes "On the third day the friends of Christ coming at daybreak to the place found the grave empty and the stone rolled away. In varying ways they realized the new wonder; but even they hardly realized that the world had died in the night. What they were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.

This is the first day of the new creation, the glorious future that has now invaded the present.
Jesus has come back, if you will, from the future, to inaugurate God's kingdom right here and right now. Now death is seen as foreign, not simply a natural part of the circle of life. Eternal life is what we are made for, what we are designed for, and through the resurrection of Jesus death has been defeated. The true circle of life begins with life and ends with life!

We are a resurrection people. Paul desires to know the power of the resurrection, to live life with a different kind of power, one based in the future world God is making through us right here and now.
NT Wright writes “Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord's Prayer is about.”

On earth as it is in heaven. Now the mission of the church begins, bringing about the glorious shalom of heaven into the broken places of this earth, bringing the future right here into the present. Seeing death swallowed up by the beauty of resurrection. We are now to join God in attending to the garden of new creation, to use our marriages, our jobs (no matter what they are!), our money, our hobbies, our everything and anything to see the garden of new creation bloom in radiant splendor.

Jesus says "Now it has begun!" And so we must get to work, get our hands down into the dirt of the soil of this world with the certain hope that the new world is already here, though we still only see it dimly. The resurrection is no mere metaphor, it is the great reality of the world, the truest thing which has ever happened in history, and to it we must continue to come back again and again.

So into the new world we march, not knowing all that we will experience or encounter, but sure of whom we will meet there, the one whose hands still bear the wounds of the cross, but whose voice calls out to us by our very names and invites us to proclaim that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

NT Wright sums up what it means to follow the resurrected Jesus this way, "Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment. But new creation has already begun. The sun has begun to rise. Christians are called to leave behind, in the tomb of Jesus Christ, all that belongs to the brokenness and incompleteness of the present world ... That, quite simply, is what it means to be Christian: to follow Jesus Christ into the new world, God's new world, which he has thrown open before us.”

The new world awaits! Let us go and discover it together and marvel eternally at all that our God has done for us.

He Emptied Himself

"He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,[a] being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
-Philippians 2:6-8 (ESV)

Another Friday in Jerusalem.
Another crucifixion.

Thousands had been crucified before and thousands would be crucified after this date in history. This morning three men were on the docket for their supposed threat to the dominance of the Roman Empire. They would be executed. A continual reminder to the people of who was in charge.

But I can imagine that there was something different about this Friday in April 33 A.D. A few more onlookers watching Jesus of Nazareth carry his cross through the streets of the city up to the place of the Skull just outside of Jerusalem. This was the man who had been performing miracles, feeding the people, teaching about Yahweh, and proclaiming himself as God's Son. He had caused a stir throughout the country. An oppressed, subjugated, and enslaved people had reason to possibly hope again--in this man.

Would God finally be taking down the Roman Empire establishing his own Royal Kingdom with Jesus as the King? Would there finally be freedom for the chosen people of God?

The eyes of thousands followed his blood-stained journey through the streets, and with each painful step wondering if this suffering man could truly be God in the flesh. Memories of him telling stories at a sunrise or holding out his hand to touch a condemned woman or sitting with the little children filling their minds as they watched him stagger up the street. Let's remember the good times, perhaps they thought. Not this moment, not this time.

And as He was hoisted up on the cross, nails driven through his body, many began to walk back down the hill to their homes, hopes crushed and hearts broken over a man, just a man apparently, who was near death.

He truly did empty himself. He spent his entire life emptying himself. He was simply about the will of his Father. And it was the will of the Father to crush him, to offer him up as a sacrificial lamb for the sins of many. And it was the will of Son to obey, even to death on a cross.

He was humiliated for us. He became nothing for us. He was mocked, whipped, beaten, shamed, abused, executed...for us.
He was emptied for us. So that our empty lives, empty from sin, from brokenness, from living for ourselves could be filled with his presence. If he did not empty himself fully then our lives would have been eternally empty of the only relationship we truly need.

Jesus did not grasp for equality with God so that He could grant eternity with God for us.

He could have called his legion of angels. He could have said no--I can't drink this cup of wrath. He could have abandoned us to the eternity we deserve without him. But he didn't. The angels stayed in heaven. He drank the cup of wrath. He felt the abandonment of the Father so we wouldn't ever FEEL that. Ever.
He endured in his death what we had earned with our lives--a blood-soaked cross from sin-soaked lives.

As the sun set over Jerusalem on Friday night I am sure that the mood was one that the people of Israel had felt many times before--bitter disappointment. God's chosen people went to sleep full of tears, anger, and hopelessness.

What they couldn't know then (and what many still don't know even now) is that God himself had truly walked before them that day, and that he had lived among them, laughed among them, cried among them, and finally at the end--suffered among them. And when they saw Jesus as his weakest, that is when the glory of God was truly at its greatest.

Another Friday in Jerusalem.
But a crucifixion unlike any other.

The great Anglican pastor John Stott writes in his book The Cross of Christ

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross. The only God I believe in is the One Nietzsche ridiculed as “God on the cross.” In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I have entered many Buddhist temples in different Asian countries and stood respectfully before the statue of the Buddha, his legs crossed, arms folded, eyes closed, the ghost of a smile playing round his mouth, a remote look on his face, detached from the agonies of the world. But each time after a while I have had to turn away. And in imagination I have turned instead to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in Godforsaken darkness. That is the God for me! He laid aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death. He suffered for us. Our sufferings become more manageable in the light of his. There is still a question mark against human suffering, but over it we boldly stamp another mark, the cross that symbolizes divine suffering. “The cross of Christ . . . is God’s only self-justification in such a world” as ours. . . . “The other gods were strong; but thou wast weak; they rode, but thou didst stumble to a throne; But to our wounds only God’s wounds can speak, And not a god has wounds, but thou alone.”


But God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

My Top Ten Favorite TV Shows of 2013

If you know me--you know I love cinema and television. Grew up watching them both and remain devoted to watching them as much as I can--partly for the escapism that film and television provide, but mostly because I love narrative, love the stories that writers and directors tell through their mediums and how they speak to all the issues (both serious and not) that we find ourselves as people and as a culture continually in.

So--with those comments out of the way here are a few more comments. I won't be able to watch nearly as much television anymore thanks to two new girls in my life (the twins, ahem) so I wanted to create this list for 2013 before I totally forgot about what I watched and how it impacted me. Also, these shows are my "favorite" shows of 2013, not necessarily the "critically best" shows I watched all year and it is also only a small number of shows because I don't watch every single television show out there. I wish I could, but I can't. So some famous and critically acclaimed shows that would probably make list simply don't show up because I haven't watched them. Sorry people. Please forgive me. Maybe next year, or next decade.

Alright, alright---now on to my favorite television shows of 2013. In a very particular order.

10. "Amazing Race" (CBS)
I know, I know. Now you are concerned about my critical eye and true understanding of good television. But, have you actually seen the "Amazing Race"? You have only had about the last 12 years to do so. It is just good television to get lost in an hour. And the wife and I have...scratch that...had been watching previous seasons on Hulu Plus--where you have some amazing real life characters, couple after couple who are trying to salvage their relationship from the throes of death by arguing every single leg, and the perennial "old couple" who "everyone else will underestimate, but will win the race", but who no one ever underestimates, but seems to estimate almost exactly right every single season.
As far as "reality" television goes--the exotic locales, crazy contestants, and terrible wardrobe choices of host Phil Keoghan make the "Amazing Race"riveting television.

9. Parks and Rec (NBC)
My lone comedy on the list. But a worthy show nonetheless. It stays fresh and funny every single episode.
Ron Swanson--as good as they get.

8. Top Chef (Bravo)
It remains the best of the crowded network of foodie/cooking shows. Head Judge Tom Colicchio is the best.

7. Downton Abbey (PBS)
The third season righted the ship from season two, though still falling below the glory of season one. The cinematography, acting, and stories were spot on this year. Matthew Crawley, being my favorite character on the show will be missed in the recently started season four, but the this will hopefully allow the show to go in new directions and continue building on its excellent foundation. Just cue the theme music...

6. Parenthood (NBC)
A fairly conventional family drama, but one that continues to turn in poignant performances from its strong ensemble. And now being a new parent I have a feeling I will be watching it in a very different way now. Simple, but rich television viewing on the highs and lows of life that our family alone walks us through.

5. The Fall (BBC)
A violent and palpable series with Gillian Anderson as a detective investigating a series of murders in the UK. The show doesn't pull any punches and can be (to be honest) over the top in its viciousness at times, but it is first-rate storytelling and it kept me on the edge of my seat in every single episode.

4. The Americans (FX)
Besides Broadchurch it was the best new drama of 2013. A story about Soviet Cold War operatives living in Washington, D.C. in the 1980s had a cool vibe and even cooler plot that picked up steam throughout the series.

3. House of Cards (Netflix)
I loved this series. Kevin Spacey was brilliant. And the intrigue and drama and soap opera goodness of the storytelling kept the series taught and immensely watchable. Being able to watch it all in about three days through Netflix certainly helped. Political drama doesn't get any saucier and crisper than House of Cards.

2. Broadchurch (BBC America)
You may not have heard of this eight week series on BBC America. Fear not, it is coming stateside with an American remake. The series sets in on the murder of 11 year-old Danny Latimer in the small, seaside town of Broadchurch. It is anchored by fantastic performances from Olivia Colman and David Tennant as the lead detectives in the case. Broadchurch is the story of a tragic murder of a young boy, but that is only the beginning of the mysteries in the this complex and engrossing television drama.

1. Breaking Bad (AMC)
Vince Gilligan's final season was as good as television gets. What more can be said of Bryan Cranston's mesmerizing performance as Walter White? Outside of HBO's "The Wire" this is the greatest television drama I have ever seen. I am still thinking about moments from the final season and wishing there was one more, but thankful for the way in which this show went into that good night--at its very best.



There you go! My Top Ten! What did I miss? What do you guys like?

RD

I Love You Because I Love You: A Letter to My Daughters on the Eve of Their Birth

Dear Girls,

Who knew that grainy black and white images that most of the time I cannot make heads or tails of would melt my heart so completely? These images are all that I have seen for the past six months of you. But tomorrow I will get to see you (and hold you) in living color.

I wanted to write you this letter on the eve of your birth. I am not sure when (if ever) you will read it, but I wanted to put pen to paper (digitally of course) so that one day you might know what your dad was thinking and feeling the day before you were born and changed my life forever.

First off--forgive me if I struggle telling you apart at the beginning. You are identical twins after all. Other parents tell me I will be able to tell you apart and I trust them, but still...be patient if you can, it’s my first time having identical twin daughters. It will only be your first act in a lifetime of forgiving me!

I can’t wait to meet you tomorrow and hold you and look at your eyes. Whose eyes will you have? How much hair will you have? How the heck am I going to be a dad to two daughters? The nursery is all set for you for both. Who knew they made little mini-hangers? You have some cute little dresses on those hangers that will make it difficult for me to stay mad at you I think. I see how you girls get your dads wrapped around your fingers! I look at your cribs, and your nursery and know that I will spend many a night staying up with you, waking up with you, and just staring down at you as you sleep wanting to bottle it all up forever.

I haven’t even met you yet and I wonder about all the places you will go. As every parent says--they grow up too fast. I don’t think you two will be any different from that. It seems like just yesterday we found out you were in your mommy’s belly and now tomorrow you touch down on planet earth in all your beautiful messiness. I think about who will be become, what your personalities will be like. Will you love books like your dad? Or games like your mom? What will fascinate you and what will you become passionate about?

And let’s not even mention all the boys you are NOT going to date! I hope you like sweatpants and convents. This will be my prayer for you both! But just in case that doesn’t pan out, I pray you meet a man who loves you for who are, who will protect you and serve you, and be willing to give up his life for you. Wow, that last sentence was hard to type--you two getting married seems forever away, and yet time flies by and pretty soon I will be writing another one of these sappy letters on the eve of your wedding day. Jeez.

The truth is I have no idea what being a parent is really like, what being a father is really like. I have no idea what the years ahead will hold for all of us, all the great and glorious days and all the difficult and sad days that will make up our lives. I already want so much for you both and want you to know that everything I am doing is for you good, so that you might grow up to be women like your mom--full of love for the Lord, for all kinds of people, and for things that truly matter. I’m not perfect and I know that I will make a ton of mistakes. I hope, someday, you will be able to see my heart and how incredibly much I loved you.

And why do I love you you ask? Because you are my daughter. Not because of how smart you will be (though I know you will much smarter than me), not because of how beautiful you are (though I know you will be gorgeous girls inside and out), not because of anything you will achieve or do (thought I know you will achieve and do far more than I could ever dream for you both)--I love you first and foremost because you are mine, my daughters, my girls and nothing will ever change that.

So here’s to all that lies ahead. To the long nights, to the girl-crazy birthday parties, to the bath tub times, to the running in stroller times, to the teenage year fights and rolling of the eyes. To Thanksgivings and Christmases with two beautiful and messy families you are being born into, to hugs and snuggles, and tears and tantrums. To dancing together and watching football together (hopefully), to showing you the glory of the South and the power of a chicken quesadillas. To praying everyday that one day you will come to know the God of your father, a much greater Father who loves you far more deeply and perfectly than I ever could, and to these verses sinking into your souls-

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I am convinced that the best part of my life is about to start and it’s all your fault. I hardly feel ready, but you didn’t ask me, you just decided to come and start your lives and I can’t wait to see what lives you girls will live.
One more thing before I go--and one I hope you will always know--

I love you because I love you.
Always have, always will.

See you tomorrow,
Dad



December 31, 2013

God's Character > Your Circumstances

God's character is greater than your circumstances.
God's character gives peace to your circumstances. God's character gives hope to your circumstances.

This is the reminder that Malachi the prophet has for the people of Judah, a people who have recently returned from exile in Babylon and are living in a desperate time. A time where the religious, moral, and economic fabric of the people of God was at an all-time low.

The circumstances in Jerusalem were desperate.
Harvests were poor. Locusts plagues were eating up crops. There was little economic vitality anywhere in the city.
The city looked like the bad parts of Detroit, still under the ruin of the Babylonian invasion.
The people were morally bankrupt and the priests were no longer worshipping Yahweh as God had commanded them to.

Into this darkness God sends the prophet Malachi to remind His people of the character of God.

Malachi 1:2 begins with this glorious declaration...

"I have loved you" declares the Lord, but the people respond...
"How have you loved us?"

It is not a totally unreasonable question. We are Your chosen people God, but everything around us has been destroyed. Your actions don't seem like love, this doesn't seem like what love looks like to us!

In truth, we have all asked this question, "How have you loved me God?"

We all have expectations of what our life should like that. We expect certain things to happen to us. If I do this then this will happen, if I pursue this then this will happen to me. And these expectations usually revolve around our pursuit of happiness.
And when anything disrupts our happiness we can begin to freak out, when the circumstances we find ourselves in are totally different from what our pre-set expectations of our life then our emotions can being to unravel.

For the people of Judah in the book of Malachi their expectations of what their lives as God's chosen people would look like were probably far different from the reality they were experiencing. And their reality was making them question the love of God.

Malachi runs through the sins of the priests in verses 6-14 of chapter 1 and shows that the priests were going through the religious motions without any fear or awe of the Great King (1:14). The priests had forgotten the character of God, they had forgotten Yahweh and were letting their present circumstances define their worship of Yahweh. And their present circumstances were not creating in them a desire to truly worship God in any real sense.

But the truth of God's love for His people has never changed. The circumstances of the people have changed, but His love for them has not changed. God proclaims "I have loved you".

And this is what God says to you. I have loved you. All that I have done is for your joy, is for your good, and I am calling you to the pursuit of holiness and not the pursuit of happiness.

The pursuit of holiness makes us look more like Jesus and through it all brings you joy.
The pursuit of happiness makes us look less like Jesus, and in the end makes us miserable.

God is holy. And He calls us to live holy lives and He gives us the Spirit to sanctify us and remind us of His covenant love for us. The key to personal revival is found in remembering the God of covenant love, remembering his declaration that "I have loved you." Just look at your biography and see all that God has done for you and then look at the Cross and see the length to which he showed you this love.

When the storm comes we must call to mind this great truth--that God loves us. And we must remind ourselves of the character and nature of God--that is He is good and longsuffering and patient and loving. That he is our strong tower, our refuge, and our peace.

The character of God gives peace to your circumstances.

Whether you are in a good place with the Lord, it can be easy to become complacent and settle. Don't settle. Keep pressing into Him, keep learning about His character and nature, keep growing, and pursuing holiness.

Or you may be in a difficult place and your circumstances may be consuming you--remember His character. Press into His character, hold fast to Him through what you are walking through, through what your family or friends may be walking through.

Desperate circumstances require desperate dependence on Jesus. And in desperately depending on Jesus we give up control and trust the One who made us, who knows us, and who loves us.

He is trustworthy. And He is enough.

Would the truth of God's character and nature rule and reign over all the circumstances of your life, so that Christ's glory might shine through your life and that your character would begin to resemble the character of Christ more and more.

"How have you loved us"? the people ask...

To the one asking the question we can always look to the Apostle Paul's declaration in Romans 5:8...

"But God shows us His love in this way, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

From Fear to Love: A Week in the Inner-City

"Alright, now we are going to head out and prayer walk around the Tenderloin" said Sean Brakey, the mission and intern director for San Francisco City Impact, the non-profit organization that I took 17 people from Door Creek Church to last week, 14 of them high school students.

"What is a prayer walk?" one student asked me.
"We are going to go walking around this neighborhood?" another asked.

We had just flown in from Wisconsin a few hours earlier and had taken a bus into the Tenderloin District of San Francisco, a neighborhood known for its poverty, its drugs, its danger. This was in the inner city of San Francisco and we were about to walk around it and just start praying for buildings and people. Our group began walking around with our intern, Zach O and we stopped first at City Impact's Rescue Mission and huddled around it to get the backstory and to begin praying for the Lord to move throughout that place in the coming week. As we prayed (a holy huddle if there ever was one) people from the streets would come up and stare at us, or ask us questions. There was lots of yelling all around us, police sirens running down Jones Street nearby, and a heartbreaking number of people simply living on the street, some asleep and some laying against a building and staring straight off into the distance.

It was uncomfortable. For the students. For my leaders. For me.
I was afraid. What had I gotten these kids into? What were we doing here? Why didn't we just go do some beach evangelism in Florida?

We fear what we don't know. And I was afraid of the people who lived in the Tenderloin. As we walked around the streets I was tense and nervous, fearful of who might approach us and what awkward conversation we might get into.
How long were we going to be here again?

Monday night rolled into Tuesday and our week began in earnest. We began each day with worship through song and teaching, challenged to give our lives to the "kingdom that will pass, or the kingdom that will last" and then sent out into the Tenderloin to love and serve the people. The students would serve at the school, the rescue mission, the thrift shop, and a variety of other ways to befriend the homeless and the people who made their lives in the Tenderloin.

Tuesday night we were sent out for two hours with a bag of chips to befriend people who were living on the streets. I was with about 10 of our students and I was fearful again. This is crazy. I am a white kid from Wisconsin (by way of the South) and I am going to go and hand out chips and try and talk with people in the Tenderloin? Wouldn't they just laugh at me? What could we possibly talk about?

Fear. Fear. Fear. Me. Me. Me.

It was throughout handing out dozens of chips and getting into dozens of conversations with the people of the Tenderloin (and watching high school students do it as well) that God began to convict me of my fear and my self-centerdness and to grow my heart with love for the people of the Tenderloin.

I spent every afternoon delivering meals and getting into conversations with residents in the apartment communities in the Tenderloin. We would knock on a door, introduce ourselves, make conversation, hand out food, and pray with people if they wanted.

I met Ron and Tony and Cindy and Laquisha and Matt and Roger and Nathan and dozens more people. Every door had a story. And for many of these people this might be the only time they talk with someone all week long. It was a beautiful experience. We were able to share the gospel and pray with and for people door after door.

Of course you are nervous before you knock on a door, who knows who may open the door (and what they might or might not be wearing), but that gives way quickly to a passion to simply talk with people and hear their story, to know them and to show them that we do actually care and that God cares a whole lot more for them.

Ron was 83 years old. He looked a lot younger. We knocked on his door and he opened it holding is his little dog Coco. Ron began talking with me and two students, Sean and James about his life and all the brokenness he had seen over the last 83 years. I asked me if had ever been married and he said he had once, right at the end of Korean War. He married a woman from the Philippines, but she was unable to return to the United States with him. It was in 1953 that Ron returned to the United States. I followed up by asking if he had ever gotten married again, and there was a short pause on his end (which was a miracle since he talked a mile a minute!), and a long look down, as if in that moment he was thinking over all that could have been over the past 60 years.

He finally looked up, his eyes watery and simply replied "No. I never got married again."

We were able to pray for Ron and talk with him about Jesus Christ. He was a believer in "something bigger than us", but not in any "orthodox religion", and said with all the pain and brokenness he had seen over the past 70 years he wondered how it could all happen.

"Ron, do you know that there was One who was broken for us?" I asked him.
"What do you mean" he responded.
"Jesus, God himself, was broken for us, that he took all the sin of this world on himself for us."
"Well, I don't know about that."
"I do," I answered.
"Ron, you have lived a long life and seen way more than I have seen, way more than I will probably ever see, but I want you to see this--that God loves you, God knows you, and God longs for you to know Him, and that that is the truest reality in the world."

Ron stood there staring at me.

I pushed through the silence and asked him if I could pray for him. I prayed for Ron and told him about City Impact and how he could get connected to the church to pursue this more. He was very grateful and happy that we simply stopped to talk with him and hear his story. I was grateful too.

I could tell you a dozen more stories like this of people that we met and talked with and prayed with. As the week closed out we went out on the streets again Thursday night again to hand out chips and pray with people. This time there was no fear, only love. Every block was covered with people we would have a chance to talk with, to laugh with, to cry with, to be human with. It was a joy to see my students out in front handing out chips and starting up conversations. They killed it. God was growing them right before my eyes. Pushed out of their comfort zones into the world, but equipped with the greatest message of all--the gospel. And the gospel is enough.

Our last day in San Francisco was a day off and so we all got into a bus and toured around San Francisco and saw all the tourist sites. We saw the Golden Gate, Alcatraz, the famous Piers, and all the beautiful houses. The final stop on the tour was passing through the Tenderloin.

Our tour guide called out over the microphone, "And we are coming up a district in San Francisco known as the Tenderloin." And when I heard the word "Tenderloin" my heart beat a little faster--not from fear, but from love. I loved this area. I loved these people. Every single person walking around was made in the image of God. So many people of the Tenderloin have been through hell, and yet I heard more "God Bless You's" this week then I ever heard in my life. They were so thankful to talk with us, to see us, and to show us their neighborhood, their home. They are a broken and yet a deeply beautiful people. No different from you and me.

People aren't projects to convert, they are human beings to love. I want everyone to know about Jesus, but here is the truth.
I can't save anyone, but Jesus can. I can't truly deliver anyone, but Jesus can.

I can't, but Jesus can. And Jesus will.

It's His City. It's His Tenderloin. And through City Impact and other Christians in the area the kingdom of God is being seen on the streets of the Tenderloin. The church is being the church--loving in word and deed, pursuing justice and calling people to repentance in and through Christ. Beautiful.

We all stand equal before God. We all struggle in our own ways. We have all sinned. You may visibly see the effects of sin more somewhere like the Tenderloin or Skid Row, but sin and brokenness is a part of the city of Madison, Wisconsin as well. It may look different, but the solution is the same--for the church to BE THE CHURCH and proclaim the rule and reign of Jesus over all things.

It's not about me. It's not about you. It's about Him.

Do you need to go and work with City Impact in the Tenderloin? Maybe, but maybe not. I know what I (and you need to do)--we need to get in the fight, to love our cities and ALL the people in them with the message of the Jesus.

And sometimes love is as simple and profound as going to someone, delivering and sharing a meal with them, and hearing their story.

Hmm...that sounds like what someone else I know spent his whole life doing.

You are Barabbas

You are a Barabbas. I am Barabbas.

Barabbas was a prisoner, a "notorious prisoner" according to the Gospel of Matthew who plays a prominent role in the Friday of Jesus' crucifixion. Matthew 27:15-26 records the episode in vivid detail.

The crowds are heated and growing more angry with each passing moment. Some want for Jesus to be put to death for claiming to be God himself and some, no doubt, are simply chanting along because they want to be a part of the action. Jesus Christ stands before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem, and Pontius Pilate tells the people that because it is the Passover feast then one prisoner can be released from the prison.

Matthew 26:17 Pilate said to the people "Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?"

The people chant for Barabbas to be released, to go free and for Jesus Christ to be crucified!

Crucify Him, Crucify Him they chant in verse 22.

Matthew 27:24-26
So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man's blood;[a] see to it yourselves.” 25 And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” 26 Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

Barabbas goes free, while Jesus is delivered to be crucified.

The guilty goes free, while the guilt-less one takes all of his guilt.
The prisoner gets released, while the Son of God is sent to prison and to the Cross.

It is the great exchange. The great exchange of the Scriptures, and it is our story as well.

We are all Barabbas. We are guilty, we are sinful, we are condemned under the law...

But.

Jesus Christ goes to the Cross to die in our place on Good Friday.
He takes our guilt, He takes our sin, He takes our condemnation.

The Great Exchange. The Beautiful Gospel.

Now, you were Barabbas, but through Jesus Christ you are now a Son, a Daughter--reconciled to God your Father.
A new creation, a new person, redeemed by the blood of the Son of God into his family.

As has been said "The son of God became a man so that men could become sons of God."

1 John 4:10
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Amen and Amen.

Try to Have a Good Day: Reflections on 9/11

"Did you hear a plane crashed into the World Trade Center?" said my 10th grade classmate Eric Conzemius in the men's bathroom inside Maryville High School.

We were just leaving first period and in the "break" time before 2nd period began.

I thought to myself, I read the paper this morning (yes, I was that 10th grader who read the newspaper) and didn't see anything about it. He doesn't know what he is talking about I thought.

This was before Facebook, Twitter, and social media. And the internet was around, but not a super dominant force like it is now. So my mind went straight to the newspaper.

I walked down the 3rd floor hallway and crammed in with dozens of other students watching images of the World Trade Center towers on fire. Unbelievable. Literally.
We didn't know what to do. We were high schoolers.

The bell rang for everyone to go to their 2nd period class. As I sat in my English class the principal came on and delivered the sobering news of the hour. It was beyond shocking, it just was.

My mind raced back to the year before when my mom and I had walked on top of the World Trade Center tower on a tour. They were so high. They were majestic. They defined New York City and Manhattan. And then I watched on television as they crashed to the ground.

The images were like a movie. Firefighters and police officers covered in soot and smoke and ash. Darkness hanging over New York City. A plane hit the Pentagon, a plane was down in Pennsylvania, unconfirmed reports of bombs at the Sears Tower in Chicago, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

I remember walking the halls of the high school and every single room had their television on and scenes of 9/11 were racing through the sets.

The day at school finally ended and I went home to see my mom and brother and my Aunt Tracy who was in town. My dad was out of town--his plane grounded. The images of Manhattan, overcome with smoke were still filling our television.

I remember turning on the radio and the traffic reporter was giving updates. This guy was the most happy, jovial, excited traffic reporter ever. Every time he gave updates it was like the highlight of his life. So that is why it was so unnerving to hear him try with all his might to put a good voice on this, but fail to do so.

His words and his tone still echo in my head as he signed off...

"Try to have a good day everybody."

I won't ever forget it. It just stopped me for some reason. The truth was we just couldn't have a good day. It wasn't a good day, it was a terrible day, a tragic day.

And yet I remember how the fire of 9/11 gave way to the most "united" United States of America I had ever seen. President Bush rose to the meet the extraordinary demand of the time with soaring rhetoric and steely resolve. Whatever you think of him, he was everyone's President in those weeks after 9/11 and I will always associate him with how masterfully he led this country following the devastating attacks.

The baseball playoffs, especially the New York Yankees, the start of the football season, and other sporting events gave Americans cause for great unity and refuge. It was an unbelievable time, but a time where I saw the beauty and majesty of this country, of the people who make it up, and the ideals and values that we hold.

I was 15 years old on 9/11. I loved my country on 9/10, but I truly fell in love with my country in the weeks after 9/11.

Out of the ashes we rose.

So I pray for our leaders now, for our brave troops who carry on the battle for freedom in America's longest (and tragically forgotten) war in Afghanistan. I pray for even for our enemies, that they might become peacemakers themselves. And I pray for the world to come, that all (somehow and in someway) will be put right then.

So much has changed in the last 11 years. In some ways it feels as though Eric Conzemius was telling me a plane hit the World Trade Center just yesterday, and in some ways it feels as though it was a lifetime ago.

But no matter how old I get, I will always remember September 11, 2001. And I will always sing out our National Anthem with a little more conviction, a little more passion, and a lot more love for the people I share this great country with, for this beautiful place truly is...

The land of the free and the home of the brave.

Rooted: Reading the Psalms for Life Change

I am starting a new series here on the blog...

ROOTED: Reading the Psalms for Life Change.

This will simply be a chapter by chapter journey through the Psalms. Hopefully, through reading the Psalms we can all become greater praisers of God's greatness in all things!

The Psalms are life-changing words. They are gloriously God-centered and by rooting ourselves in these poems, by letting them take hold of our hearts and affections, we can be changed into greater degrees of Christ-likeness.

Let's read through the Psalms for life change, for deeper and richer worship of God, for a beautiful collision with our Father.

Get "ROOTED" in God by letting Him, His word, get "ROOTED" deep down in your heart.
So here goes...

1. Read (Read through the Psalm)
2. Meditate (Meditate on the Word, Wrestle with the Word, Think on the Word)
3. Pray (Ask God to Shape Your Heart According to Who He is)

1. READ THE WORD

PSALM 1

Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.



2. MEDITATE ON THE WORD
a. Where should our delight be? What are you delighting in regularly (is it the gospel? is it your relationships?, is it the prospects of success or your job?, is it trying to please others?, is it your appearance?, it is your own righteousness?)
b. Are you regularly meditating on the character & nature of God?
c. What are you producing in your own life? Spiritual fruit? OR something else?


3. PRAY THE WORD
Prayer is shaping our hearts and minds into the will of our Father. We are praying for His rule, His reign, His will to be established, to be rooted in our own hearts.

Pray for God himself to be rooted deeply into the depths of your heart this day.

Get ROOTED in God by having His Word get rooted in you. Through planting yourself in a daily rhythm of reading, meditating, and praying the Scriptures.

The Dark Knight Rises...He Has Too

I love the movies. Always have. And I love seeing the connections between films and the gospel--how films answer the big questions of our existence.

Why are we here?
What is the purpose of life?
What is good? What is evil?
How can I be satisfied, happy, or fulfilled?

Nearly all films seek to lead us to think about how we answer these or similar questions. The best films don't shout the answer in our faces, but paint a multi-dimensional and complex story that puts the ball in our court, and make us come to terms with what we believe and how that will affect how will then live.

Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is a cinematic tour de force, making us grapple with issues of justice, salvation, violence, power, poverty...among others. Simple things like that.

Do I believe they are terrific films? Yes.
Do I think they are packed with multiple layers of meaning and significance? Yes.

Bruce Wayne wasn't born as Batman, but as a boy, a boy of privilege and wealth, but from a family that had a desire to use that wealth to help others. His innocent life is shattered when both of his parents are gunned down in front of him.
His father's dying words to him follow him the rest of his life...

"Don't be afraid."

As Gotham City descends into an abyss of moral decay and corruption, Bruce Wayne is compelled to act in a way that he simply can't as a CEO of his company. He needs to become something more--something greater. A man yes, but somehow and someway...more than a man.

A Batman.

He is the Dark Knight. A man taking the law into his own hands in order to restore justice and a sense of right and wrong to a fallen city. This is a city that Batman loves, and he is willing to do anything he can to save it. He continually believes that Gotham can be saved, that it is worth saving...even as the villains continue declaring that it is beyond saving.

The first two films are all building to the epic conclusion of the "Dark Knight Rises". The city again is under siege and in need of its dark knight. Batman returns, but only after being born again in a sense--cast out to a prison by Bane he begins to remember who he is and why he he has become Batman--to protect the people of Gotham from those who wish to harm them, to make sure what happened to his parents doesn't happen to anyone else's parents.

Gotham needs Batman to give everything this time.
The film seems to be building to the ultimate sacrifice of Batman at the very end. This time he cannot just come in and save the day by fighting a few bad guys--this time he has to give everything for the sake of the city.

Indeed, in a conversation with Catwoman towards the end of the film she furiously asks Batman...
"These people don't deserve you. You've given them everything!"
But Batman responds with the end in mind...
"Not everything...not yet."

Batman is on a collision course with death. His fate tied up in the fate of the city he wants to see set free from the captivity it is under. The end of the film shows Batman taking a nuclear bomb east of Gotham out in the ocean with his own plane in order to have the bomb blow up outside of the city.

The bomb detonates and destroys the plane, but the city is saved.
Batman is presumably dead. I thought he was dead. People in the theater were crying.

I may or may not have been one of them. Maybe. Possibly.

Batman gave the ultimate sacrifice for his city, for his people. It was the only way.
I was deeply moved. As I looked back over the first two films I was able to see where Batman was headed, where he had to be headed--to the ultimate sacrifice. And it changed the whole dynamics of the first two films for me--this ultimate sacrifice hangs over Batman the entire time now, from the first time he puts on his suit until the very end.

So it was with Jesus, who from the first moment he put on his earthly suit in a manger had the end in mind. Only looking back from the cross to his birth can we truly see what his life meant and what he was truly about.
He also loved a city, a people, and desired to free them and bring them into a new city, a new world, a new kingdom. His entire life was building toward the cross, toward the ultimate salvation and deliverance for rebellious and wayward people.

Jesus is fully man, and yet he is also something more. As a man he could be a great teacher, a great advisor, a great moral exemplar, but as God in the flesh he could actually be our savior, our true knight, our true King.

The people of Gotham didn't just need Bruce Wayne. In the "Dark Knight Rises" Alfred tells Bruce that the people don't need Batman, they need Bruce Wayne, they need his finances, his intellect, his creations, his business--that is what will really help them. Alfred, Mr. Wayne's 'father' for most of his life since his parents death doesn't want to have to bury another member of the Wayne family. His love for Bruce is selfish, he doesn't want him to die, but live.

But in order for others to live, Batman must die.

The people need something more for evil to be defeated and the culture of death and violence to be halted.

The people still do.

But death is not the end. It wasn't for Batman, or at least it wasn't for Bruce Wayne. Batman, in a sense, does really die in the film in order to save the people. Bruce leaves behind Batman and moves on with his life, giving up the mask in order to gain a greater sense of inner peace.

In order for Jesus to truly be the sacrifice for all our sins, he couldn't just die, he had to rise again. He had too! How else will death truly be defeated? How else will we truly be free? How else can we truly trust that there is light within this darkness?

Jesus really did die. As our savior.
And he really did rise. As our redeemer.
And he really sits at the right hand of the Father even now--calling people out of death into life.

The Psalmist writes of the Lord
"Rise up and help us; rescue us because of your unfailing love."

Don't be afraid...for He has risen. He has triumphed.

And he reigns still. He's the only One who does.

Becoming a "Gospelicious" Person

Are you a "gospelicious" person?

I asked this question in my sermon this past weekend at Door Creek Church. What did I mean? What is a "gospelicious" person?

You can't find the exact word in the Holy Scriptures, but I believe you can find the idea of "gospeliciousness"on nearly every page of the Scriptures.

A gospelicious person is a person "who is overjoyed by the gospel". That is what I mean by the term gospelicious. A gospelicious person is someone who finds deep joy in the gospel, who is feasting on the goodness of God and experiencing the riches of the gospel. That's a gospelicious person.

There are many Christians in church every single weekend, but I don't believe there are nearly as many gospelicious people in church every single weekend. There are plenty of Christians showing up at church, singing along to the hymns, staring at the preacher for 40 minutes, bowing their head for a prayer and then heading off to lunch without being changed, moved, or overjoyed by glories of Jesus & the gospel. That is tragic.

Jesus says that he has come that we would have joy. Joy! But how many of you are actually experiencing anything approaching joy in your life? Sure, there may be moments of happiness here and there, but what of this joy? This gospeliciousness?

How can we become more gospelicious people? Let me set before you a few steps to grow in gospeliciousness.

1. Lament
I know, I know. Lament? Yes. You don't end with lamenting, but you must begin there. You must be a person who is lamenting your sins. The prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations is a man lamenting his sins and the sins of the people of Jerusalem. He realizes how far he and his people have strayed from the will of Yahweh and he begins to lament. When was the last time your sins brought you to tears? This is the beginning of becoming a gospelicious person--lamenting the huge divide between God's holiness & your sinfulness.

2. Repent
Repentance is central to the gospel. Why? Because it is the declaration that you can't fix you, you need to someone else to fix you. Repentance is simply turning away from your sins and towards your Savior. A Christian is a repenting person.
You lament your sin and then you repent for your sin. You declare that you yearn to live a different way. Ah, but you must be someone who is lamenting & repenting your sins in the context of love & not fear.
The gospel says that it is after you have experienced God's deep love for you through Jesus Christ that you are moved to lamenting & repenting.
Don't repent to earn God's love, but because God already loves you. This is vital to gospeliciousness. Lamenting & repenting in light of your standing in Jesus Christ now!

3. Lamenting & Repenting that leads to Joy
Jesus comes on the scene in Mark 1:15 and says "Repent and believe the good news (the gospel". Oh Jesus, always throwing around that word Repent. Why does Jesus always have to step on toes by throwing around the word Repent! Why can't we just believe the good news? Repent? Come on--that's outdated. Repent? How does that bring me joy?
Here's how.

You can't receive mercy until you realize you need mercy.

Sure, in a technical sense you can receive mercy even if you aren't aware that you need it--if someone helps pay a bill of yours or forgives a debt you have, but you don't think you need it you will probably still be happy they did what they did, but you won't truly be grateful for it because you never thought you really needed it.

You can't grasp the glory of cross until you realize how great God's mercy towards you is, until you realize how great your debt was that He paid. If you believe your a fairly moral, good person and you just need Jesus to help you be a better person then you will never a be a "gospelicious" person. But, if you believe that you were dead, that your sins separated you from God, that you were under condemnation, and yet God made you alive, forgave all your sins, and condemned His son to free you then you will be overflowing with thanksgiving, with joy. Joy is found in discovering the cost of the sacrifice of Jesus. And that it brought Him joy to sacrifice His life for yours.

Lamenting is necessary.
Repenting is necessary.
But are those disciplines leading to joy? Are you lamenting & repenting in light of what God has done for you? Is your repenting a response to God's great mercy in Jesus? It has to be. God looks at you in Jesus, and sees Jesus covering all of your sins (past, present, and future). That's a good and gracious God.

The secret to becoming a gospelicious person is to understand how sinful you are and how God's mercy has covered all of your sin AND how there is new mercy available to you every single morning!

Will you stumble today? Yes.
Will you sin today? Yes.
Is God's mercy new for you today? Yes.

He knows your frame. He knows you struggle and fall and that is why Lamentations 3 proclaims "His mercies are new EVERY morning, great is His faithfulness."

The deeper that truth penetrates your heart--the more gospelicious you will become.

On Growing Up, Going Home, and the Gospel

You never really stop growing up. That is what they don't tell you.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" people ask, but when am I finally grown up? What does that even mean?

Growing up means change. It means transition. And it can be hard.

You start out naked. Then your mama slaps a diaper on you. Then you get a sweet Superman, err...Batman lunchbox. Then you graduate elementary school. Then you get braces. Then you (hopefully) go to Prom and where a terrible tuxedo. Then you leave everything you have known and go to college. Then you find yourself, except you don't really because college isn't that long. Then you get married. Then you...well, you get the picture.

Sometimes I just want to stay in one place forever!

I love visiting my parents house in Tennessee. Emily and I were able to visit with them last month before we moved up to Madison, Wisconsin. It was great to be back in my old room, to see our dogs, and to be in little ol' Maryville, Tennessee. There is something sweet about going home.

When you are teenager you can't wait to get away from home.
Then you get older and all you want to do is visit home.

Life. It's all backwards like that.

Emily and I had to say goodbye to my parents, and then say goodbye to her family in Austin, and then say bye bye to all of our friends in Dallas before we made the move to Madison. And I remember thinking---I wish we all lived together on the same street! Why can't all of our family and best friends just be together?

For those of us in Christ--we never really have to say goodbye. The gospel say that Jesus has come to prepare a home for us in heaven, the place that home was always supposed to be. And our hearts aren't fully satisfied until we are able to go home there.

Madison, Wisconsin is where we live, but it is not home yet. But after several years here it will feel like home. And then, the Lord may call Emily and I somewhere else and we will have to say goodbye to people here. But in Jesus we never really have to say goodbye.

We aren't satisfied with this life because this life is going to fade away, and because God has created us for Him, forever. There is eternity on our hearts, not merely 75 years. Eternity.

One day we all will get to finally go home. Until then, God calls us to to new adventures, he takes us new places, and he reminds us that this place is not our home, but that we are to be calling people to their true home in the world to come.

Eventually, we won't have to grow up anymore. We won't have to move anymore. We won't have to worry about what's next or where we will be in five or ten years. We will be with Him--and that will enough.

There is no place like home. And there is no God like Yahweh, who invites us to enjoy him forever in the glorious world that is coming.

The Joy of Beholding our Sin

Psalm 51:12 "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation"

King David writes Psalm 51 as a repenting response to the sins he committed against the Lord during his infamous incident with Bathsheba. The context for this Psalm is found in 2 Samuel 11 and 12.
God sends the prophet Nathan to expose David to the sins he has committed and in response David composes this Psalm.

Here is a really hard, but necessary thing to do in order to experience gospel-driven joy: we have to behold our sin.
Beholding your sin & feeling the weight of your sin before a holy God is the catalyst for deep joy.

This is extremely important and yet I don't think it is taught in most churches in a way that leads people to the atoning work of Jesus on the cross, but often simply leaves people feeling helpless or fearful because of their sin.

Sin is basically self-centerdness, it is the elevation of you over other people. The Scriptures teach that all people have failed to live under the authority of Jesus Christ for their lives, and have chosen their own way over God's. This is what happens with King David in 2 Samuel and this is what he is repenting of in Psalm 51.

Sin is a gradual numbing to the holiness of God. And this is what has been happening to David in the season leading up to his sins against Bathsheba and her husband Urriah.

David writes in Psalm 51:12 "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." Let's briefly break this verse down in the context of Psalm 51 in order to get underneath what David is truly saying.

The Scriptures clearly teach that for all of those in God, in Christ your salvation cannot be lost. Christ has secured it forever when He saved you and delivered you, but there are seasons when the joy of God's salvation will wane. We all know this to be true. There are times when we are walking with the Lord, pressing into Him and bearing lots of fruit and feeling deep joy in Him, and there are other times when we can hear the words "God loves you" and it not move us an inch.

I believe that David wants the joy of God's presence, of God's salvation to return to him. And I believe that in order for joy to be experienced we have to confront our inner brokenness before the Lord. "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." In order to understand how to experience this joy we have to unpack God's salvation.

David writes in Psalm 51:3-4 "For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment."
We must always return to this. We must own our sin and continue to be honest with ourselves that we have failed to live as God has commanded us to live and have rebelled against him.

David is owning his sin, and and he is declaring the truth that God would be fully justified to do whatever He seems fit to do with him. God, fully holy and glorious, is blameless and justified to condemn us forever for our sins. This is the hard truth. But it is the truth. Yes, God is love, but his love does not compromise His holiness. And owning our sin starts with owning the fact that we are the problem. And we are in need of new hearts (not just all those 'other' people out there!). You know what I mean...how easy is it to shift the blame for our sins onto others, this is what Adam and Eve do in the Garden and it is something I continually do. But this is not a mark of maturity, but immaturity in the gospel and it has to be stopped in order to be healed.

David writes in Psalm 51:7 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." David has confronted and owned his sins and now he moves towards his need for purging and washing. God must act to save him, and God must act to save us. We can't purge ourselves and we can't clean ourselves fully.

God can. We can't.

As a Christian, we have been purged and washed by the blood of Jesus. God has purged us and cleaned us, but at an extremely high price--the price of His son. God sends Jesus Christ to not only remove our sins, but to bear them and to die as a substitute in our place. This is great news!

When you begin to understand the depth of your rebellion before God then you will begin to experience the joy found in His rescue of you as well. God has not rescued from something small, but from condemnation, judgment, and eternal separation. He has rescued us from His wrath so that He can save us by His Son.

This is salvation. This is joy. This is the gospel.

Let me encourage you to behold your sin! BUT...Don't stop there. Don't just think about your sin and start chanting "woe is me" all the time, that's not the point. The point is that if you don't begin with your sin, with your need for a Savior then you will never be restored to joy when you experience the Savior's grace towards you. You have to do both--behold your sin and then move to beholding your Savior who fully cleanses you from all of your sins.

Are you beholding your sin?
Where are you running from the presence and purpose of God for your life right now?
Are you experiencing real joy in Jesus or are you just getting by as a Christian?

There is joy to be found in beholding your sin. But only if it leads to gospel-centered repentance that cries out to God to be merciful and then rest in the glorious truth that He has been.

"The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believed, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope." - Tim Keller

SAVED BY WORK: Good Friday Reflection

On Good Friday--Jesus truly becomes the true & greater Savior...

Jesus is the true & greater Adam who doesn't falter in his Garden, but is fully obedient to God unto the point of death.
Jesus is the true & greater Seth who doesn't just provide a way for Adam's family to be redeemed, but for all families of the earth of to be saved.
Jesus is the true & greater Noah who doesn't just provide a way out of God's wrath for a moment, but for all time through the Cross.
Jesus is the true & greater Ark of Noah who truly delivers people from death to life in the ultimate sense.
Jesus is the true & greater Abram who doesn't just rescue us physically from captivity as Abram does Lot, but who rescues & delivers us ultimately from a greater captivity.
Jesus is the true & greater Isaac who willingly lays down his life before his Father in order to show us the great love of his Father.
Jesus is the true & greater Moses who stands in the ultimate breach between man and God and intercedes for his people before the Father.
Jesus is the true & greater Joshua who doesn't just lead his people into the promised land, but becomes the promised land through his death & resurrection.
Jesus is the true & greater David, a King who will establish his eternal Kingdom through death & resurrection by perfect obedience to the Father.
Jesus is the true & greater Hosea who pursues his faithless people with steadfast faithfulness to bring them back to Him.
Jesus is the true & greater Jonah who is sent to another city in order to become peace for them and save from the wrath of God.
Jesus is the true & greater High Priest who enters into the holy of holies once and for all to perfect us through his death on the cross.
Jesus is the true & greater Perfect Tent that is not made with human hands, but with the hands of God to fully atone for sin through his death on the cross.
Jesus is the true & greater Mercy Seat that is not merely sprinkled with the blood of animals, but is drenched with his blood for our sake.
Jesus is the true & greater Lamb who is truly without spot, without blemish, and is slain on our behalf to make us spotless before him.
Jesus is the true & greater Covenant whose death on the cross for our sins covers up all of our iniquities and brings us boldly into His presence.
Jesus is the true & greater Sacrifice whose death on the cross satisfies the wrath of God towards sin and allows us complete access to the Father.

Jesus thirsts that we never would.
Jesus suffers God's wrath that we never would.
Jesus is cut off from the Father so we never would be.
Jesus is killed outside the gate, so that we could be brought in the gate.
Jesus doesn't save himself on the cross so that he can save us by the cross.
Jesus tears the veil in two to give us complete access to the Father.
Jesus is overwhelmed by sorrow that we never would be.
Jesus is condemned so that we never would be.
Jesus becomes guilty so that we never would be.
Jesus becomes unclean to make us clean.
Jesus bears judgement that we never would.
Jesus becomes sin to forgive us all our sin.

The Cross says...

You can't be...
too broken
too dirty
too ashamed
too guilty
too sinful
too filthy
too selfish
too enslaved
too unclean
too untouchable
too hopeless
too unworthy
too defiled
too unlovely
too unwell
too unrighteous
too decadent
too unpardonable
too undeserving
too captive
too evil
too far gone

Never. Ever.

The Cross demonstrates the outrageous love and mercy of God in Jesus Christ--to bring you back to Him, no matter what.

WE ARE SAVED BY WORK.

THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST ON THE CROSS.

It.
Is.
Finished.

Glory to Jesus Christ, the true & greater Savior who brings us all the way home by his LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION.

When Jesus Fell

This is a tale of two Gardens.

In the first Garden, the Garden of Eden Adam fell into sin. Adam stumbled, Adam disobeyed.
It was God who created this Garden and gave it to Adam and his wife, but Adam ran way from God. Adam chose his will over the will of God, his way over the way of God. And because of this rebellion, this rejection of God Adam and Eve fall into sin and become separated from their Father--their God.

This was the first Garden. Where sin triumphed over man.

Enter Matthew 26, and the final Thursday of Jesus' life before his death.

Jesus goes up to a second garden--the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives.
Matthew writes in verses 36-38

"Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”

Jesus is sorrowful and troubled. Why?
Why is Jesus so sorrowful and troubled? Luke writes, in his account, that Jesus is sweating drops of blood he is in so much agony.
Sweating drops of blood.

We could look to many Christian martyrs, men and women who faced equally brutal deaths for their faith in Christ that do not seem as troubled or sorrowful about their impending death. None of them will be sweating drops of blood before their execution like Jesus is. And yet they are merely men, and at first blush seem more bold and less scared than Jesus is in the Garden.

Why?

Matthew 26:39 holds the answer, and it is staggering.
Matthew writes

"And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will."

Jesus fell.

He fell on his face as he cried to His father for deliverance, to not have to drink the cup.

This cup that Jesus is going to have to drink, this is the cup of God's wrath. This is the cup that began to be filled up in the first Garden, when Adam ran away from God and choose himself over God. This is the cup of God's fury towards sin, towards every single person who has turned away from God and run from Him.

Towards you. And me.

And God tells Jesus that he is going to have to drink from this cup, and Jesus staggers. But, unlike Adam in the first Garden, Jesus obeys the will of God. He falls, but gets back up in order to head to the cross to make peace between man and God. God will now pour out all of His wrath, His righteous anger on Jesus Christ so that He won't have to pour it all out on us.

Tim Keller writes "Jesus doesn't come to bring judgement, He comes to bear it."

Gethsemane triumphs over Eden.
Jesus triumphs over Adam.
God triumphs over sin.

Remember both gardens. Remember the first garden, the garden that we all have lived in and the garden we still sometimes choose. The garden that shows us we are really broken, and really sinful. This is the garden that shows us our great need--our need for a second garden.

Jesus doesn't leave us in the first garden--He brings us into a second Garden, but only because Jesus has first entered into this Garden for us. Only because He has made peace for us, and He has become sin for us.

Jesus sweats drops of blood, blood that will be poured out the next day on our behalf, so that we could be brought near. That we could one day be brought before Him without blemish, without fault, without sin.

Redeemed. Restored. Reconciled.

"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."
-Ephesians 2:13

Seek Jesus and Break Your Mirror

In the book of Colossians, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Christians at the church in Colossae during a time when they are confronting counterfeit gospels. False teachers and leaders were emerging who were calling Christians to live a life that was not in line with the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14). Paul is encouraging the Christians in Colossae to hold fast to Jesus Christ and to the gospel that he has previously delivered to them as the gospel which justifies and sanctifies them for all things.

In Colossians 2:20-3:4 the Apostle Paul outlines (by a rebuke of the false teacher who was teaching in Colossae) two ways to deal with sin.


Option #1: Self-made religion. Law keeper > Law giver.
Option #2: The gospel. Law Giver > law keeper.

The tendency of Option 1 for people within the church is huge, and it remains a massive issue today. Our default mode for how to deal with what's gone wrong in us or for how to make ourselves better, or stronger, or more spiritual is FOCUS ON OURSELF.
We promote the law-keeper (ourselves) over the Law Giver (God).
Self-made religion is an attempt to fix yourself by focusing on yourself. The mantra of self-made religion is "do this", and so we create rules to live by and steps to obey and paths to follow in order that we might be rescued.

In verses 21-22, Paul writes "If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to its regulations--'do not handle, do not taste, do not touch'(referring to things that all perish as they are used)---according to human precepts and teachings."

Translation: Christ death's freed you from the need to obey (or submit) to rules & regulations in order to be justified. What you touch or taste can't save you, only Christ can save you. Law-keeping is no longer enough. The Law-giver is only enough.

Paul goes in in verse 23 to write "All of these things (the commands to 'not taste, not touch, and not handle') have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh."

This is pure theological gold. Paul is saying, yeah yeah yeah all of these rules and things you are doing have an appearance of wisdom. There are hints of wisdom in following all of these rules and in obeying these commands. Christians and secular people do this today by saying "you need to focus on you" to get right, or get healthy, or move on from that break-up, or feel better about your life. Christians might say "I pray to Jesus and even try and follow him, but I have to figure out how I can be better and and I can fix my sin issues, and I can do this". The focus in this approach is self-directed. It's the mirror approach to transformation and sanctification. And it will never really work.

Paul says that when you actually focus on yourself--when you look at yourself and say if I just do this or do that, follow this command harder or say no to all these things you will never be truly transformed and changed. Self-focus does not lead to sustainable life transformation. The focus is on you the whole time, and Paul is saying you can't fix you.

Law Giver > law keeper.

Paul then goes on in Colossians 3 to deliver the gospel-centered option for real change in life. It's time to focus on the Law-giver, and not the law-keeper. It's time to focus on Jesus Christ, on the the things of heaven, on the glory of God.
He writes "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

There it is. Gospel-centered, Jesus-focused, Spirit-driven change.

Translated: Seek Jesus, and break your mirror.

What are you staring at? Where is your focus? It's time to break your mirror. Free yourself from the crushing weight of believing that by looking harder into the mirror, into yourself, that that will be enough to get you where the Lord wants you to go, to kill your sin, to truly change.

Tim Keller writes "our justification determines our sanctification, our sanctification doesn't determine our justification". Wow, big words Timmy. What does he mean? I don't know.

Just kidding. Kind of. Let me close by explaining why what Dr. Keller said is important.

All other religions of the world promote the idea that your sanctification (the way you keep the rules or ethics of a religion) determines your right standing before God (or whomever you are following). It's what I do and my intensity of focus on myself that drives the change and secures my identity.

The gospel says something entirely and radically different. Jesus drives the change. God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to do everything we couldn't do. In Jesus, we have the ultimate law-keeper. We actually have both the law-giver and law-keeper in one. (Mind blown). Jesus is fully obedient to the Father and fully obedient to the Law. And now, through trusting in His life, His obedience, and His death on the cross we find the basis for our sanctification.

Focus on the Cross. Focus on Jesus. Focus on the 'things above'. This is where true change begins and ends.

If I could paraphrase Jesus...
"Seek first the Kingdom of God...and everything else, well...there really isn't anything else."

Morning Prayer with "The Valley of Vision"

Christ is All

O Lover to the uttermost,
May I read the meltings of Thy heart to me
in the manger of Thy birth,
in the garden of Thy agony,
in the cross of Thy suffering,
in the tomb of Thy resurrection,
in the heaven of Thy intercession.

Bold in this thought I defy my adversary,
tread down his temptations,
resist his schemings,
renounce the world,
am valiant for truth.

Deepen in me a sense of my holy relationship to Thee,
as spiritual bridegroom,
as Jehovah's fellow,
as sinners' friend.

I think of Thy glory and my vileness,
Thy majesty and my meanness,
Thy beauty and my deformity,
Thy purity and my filth,
Thy righteouness and my iniquity.

Thou has loved me everlastingly, unchangeably,
may I love Thee as I am loved;
Thou hast given Thyself for me,
may I give myself to Thee.
Thou hast died for me,
may I live to Thee
in every moment of time,
in every movement of my mind,
in every pulse of my heart.

May I never dally with the world and its allurements,
but walk by Thy side,
listen to Thy voice,
be clothed with Thy grace,
and adorned with Thy righteousness.

Praying Prayers that Change Us & "The Valley of Vision"

I have read prayers from the Puritan prayer book "The Valley of Vision" several times while I have preached, and continue to pray through it in the mornings and in devotional time with Emily. It is a powerful example of prayers that are God-centered, Christ-saturated, Spirit-reliant, and doctrinally rich. So often my prayers are very shallow and merely a recitation of things that I want from the Lord or that I want the Lord to do for me. It is not unbiblical or sinful to ask the Lord for things, but if that is the greatest extent of my prayer life then I really don't have a biblically-informed prayer life at all, or a prayer life that is connecting with the Lord and providing revitalization for my soul in any way.

The Valley of Vision was written by the Puritans. Don Sweeting, President of Reformed Theological Seminary writes "The Valley of Vision is a book of prayers drawn from a largely forgotten deposit of Puritan devotional literature. Its writers were both serious Christians and serious pray-ers. No names are attached to the individual prayers, but the introduction tells us that the prayers come from those in the Puritan tradition such as Thomas Shepherd, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, David Brainerd, and Charles Spurgeon."

The Valley of Vision will help you develop more God-soaked and Christ-exalting prayers, and create a greater desire to pray upwards and outwards to a majestically glorious God who desires our prayers. Many have said that prayer is the real work of the Christian life, but how few of us (me included) truly do pray and how many of us who pray truly pray out of an overflow of deep love for the gospel and desire to be more filled with the fullness of Jesus Christ?

Prayers spring from need. A vital and growing prayer life flows from a heart that is dependent on God for all things. God calls us to pray because we are a people of great need (and prayer acknowledges that need)--in need of His grace, His life, His joy. God invites us to pray to Him that we might receive from Him...Himself. We are called to pray without ceasing by the Apostle Paul. This doesn't mean we spend all of our time with our eyes closed, but that we cultivate lives which are lived with humility before God and dependence on God--and that from our prayers our lives start to take on a gospel-centered shape.

Prayer is shaping our lives to be in line with the heart of Jesus.

I will be posting prayers from The Valley of Vision on the blog, and pray that they help you depend more readily on prayer for all of your life, for the greater glory of God in the world, for your deeper joy, and for a growing heart and mind that is caught up in things above---that you might be encouraged to live more faithfully to the One who prayed regularly for you, that in seeking--we would find Him--ever available.

The first prayer below is entitled The Valley of Vision

The Valley of Vision

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.