[God's] Timing [is everything]

Sometimes I get frustrated at my own youth. Because sometimes being young means being right at the wrong times, and therefore means being right in the wrong way.

Let me illustrate. You know that old phrase: "You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink"? Fifty bucks says that someone over the age of 50 coined that phrase. No way was it coined by a 26-year-old male... I'd bet on that.

Now, the 26-year-old male might understand what that phrase means in principle, and perhaps would even be able to use it correctly in a sentence or apply it appropriately to a situation. BUT, that truth has yet to be internalized and burned on his heart and mind... burned by years of experience and the wisdom that comes from it.

That phrase about a thirsty horse has embedded within it a very scriptural, spiritual truth: only God knows how and when to give those thirsty for him a drink. It could be quite obvious to anyone that what they are thirsty for is God or something of God, but until God has them where they need to be such that they are willing and able to take long, satisfying draughts of his presence and mission... well, like the phrase says, you just can't make them drink.

Now, this truth and the reality of it should inform the 26-year-old male about how he should operate. It really should. But, truth be told, sometimes the young man fails to make adjustments to the way he is operating, mainly because he is young and therefore stupid and willful at times. He learns, but only after his God treats him in the same manner as He is treating other thirsty people. As the young man sees God's impeccable timing in the lives of those he is ministering to and with, he begins to realize that what he himself is thirsty for is humility. And God in His faithfulness (and in His humor, I surmise), has uniquely positioned the young man to take some difficult but satisfying gulps.

The body of Christ is unique. One part is able to tend to another only with humility and gentleness, attuned to the heart and mission of the Great Physician, because this is the only way that the Physician brings about true and lasting healing. Just like a doctor must be gentle and sure with the scalpel, having on his or her mind the weightiness and delicacy of the task before him or her, so also must we as members of one body have on our minds the weightiness and delicacy of the task before us: tending to the needs of one another. And loving one another, while it is expressed through a variety of means and for a variety of purposes, is always properly prescribed with an appropriate amount of gentleness and humility, patience and longsuffering. If it is not, then it is not the love of Christ.

Scripture Speaks (and doesn't need our help)

The difference between the two is startling. On the one hand, one can preach by coming up with a mandate (compatible with the Bible or not), and then go to the Bible in search of support for it. On the other hand, one can preach by coming up with a question or an issue, and then looking to see what the Bible mandates about it... if anything at all. And yes, there is a dramatic difference between the two "hands."

Let's back up, and perhaps get a little foundation as to why there is such a dramatic difference between the two approaches to preaching. There are a few core doctrines, or things that we believe to be true, about the nature of the Bible. Let's take a look.

To begin with, we believe the Bible to be the "Word of God." Unfortunately, that phrase is used so often that it's almost become a surname of the Bible, losing the significance of its meaning in common speech. Suffice it to say, we believe that God--the real and living God--really communicates to us today through the words that are written on the pages of the Bible.

But let's dig a little deeper than that. How exactly have we come to this conclusion that the Bible is the real word of the real God? Well, we believe that He inspired it--we believe that He was in a supernatural and intimate relationship with the many authors and editors of the many books of the Bible. We believe that He interacted with real human beings in real faith communities across time periods and cultures, working through their uniquely human personalities and perspectives, to cement the timeless truths about who He is and how He interacts with His beloved people. Inspiration was the mechanism by which the Bible claims to be the Word of the One Who Inspires.

God inspired faith communities through His real Spirit. This Spirit now illumines us, or makes the truths cemented in the Bible effective in our minds and hearts. Picture it this way: God turns on the "lightbulb over our heads" as we encounter His truth in the Bible. It's that "Ah hah!" moment where a truth is integrated into our very lives. We believe that the truth of the Bible, our belief in it, and our obedience to it (see the entry entitled "faith") to be spiritually transformative. As we encounter it, as the Spirit illumines us to it, as we believe it, and as we obey it... we become more and more like the Word himself, Jesus.

So those are the doctrines of Scripture--that's what we as evangelical Christians believe it to be, and that's how we believe God uses it to work in our lives. So, back to where we began. In light of these truths, how are we to share this Word? How are we to teach it? To preach it? To use it in conversation?

Well, when we go to share, teach, or preach it, we have to remind ourselves that that this Word is effective in and of itself. There is a real God whose real Spirit really interacts with real people, and really illumines them to the effective truths in the Bible. And while He might use us as tools in this process (or He might not!), make no mistake: He is the one who does it, and does it with our without us.

(A little aside: as you read that, what's your first reaction? Are you jumping to defend the need to explain it? The need to study and understand it rightly? The need to preach it faithfully? Careful. While all of those things are good and have their respective place, their respective place is not first and foremost. What is first and foremost is God and His truth that He effects in the lives of those He has created and loved. It's important that we keep the right order.)

When it comes right down to it, the thing that "makes" this truth effective in the lives of those who read and hear it is God's Spirit. One can preach, teach, and share with great conviction and emotion, and should do so appropriately. But it is not the teacher or preacher who is the catalyst. It is God's Spirit Who Is the catalyst. The preacher and teacher does not make a Scripture "relevant;" it already is relevant. We have already sinned, and we stand here and now in need of a Savior. This is objectively and already true for all of us. And the Spirit already stands ready to illumine us to our objective reality. He has already inspired the biblical authors to communicate this truth.

So as we discover this truth in the Bible as we read and study it, and as we allow the Spirit to illumine us to it, it becomes imprinted on our hearts. As we let the Bible speak its redemptive message to us first, we are able to preach and teach faithfully and effectively. As we rediscover these truths over and over again through a vibrant connection with God's Spirit, we communicate them with the Spirit's power. We don't need new ways to communicate old ideas; we need the Spirit to awaken our hearts to the beauty and power of God's timeless truth.

Let's go to God's Word with our questions and let the Spirit answer us, instead of using God's Word to support our own answers. And let's preach and teach in such a way that we encourage people to encounter the living God by his living Spirit through his living Word... instead of handing them our boiled-down, simplified, relevantly-packaged version of it.

God First?

What do we mean when we say things like "Put God first" or "Make Jesus central?" How does one "put" God anywhere? How does one "make" Jesus do anything?

Of course, we have very good intentions when we communicate by using phrases like those above. We mean something along the lines of obey God, be pious, go to church, read your Bible, and other things surrounding a devotional life... or a life devoted to God.

But good intentions assumed and aside, the language we use to communicate the need for a devotional and devoted life is very, very telling. What does this language tell us about ourselves and about our perception of the life devoted to God? It tells us that we, by and large, think that the God-devoted life is completely and utterly up to us being devoted to it.

That's a mouthful. Better stated: We've got the cart ahead of the horse, so much so that we think that we're the horse, instead of passengers in the cart.

Let's expand that metaphor a bit. As we're using it here, the Trinity is the horse, and we're passengers in his cart. Just as a cart can not get where it needs to go without the horse, so also are we stuck in our sin and death without God's Son, Jesus. This is our reality. This reality begins with God. God is. His name, Yahweh, I AM, says just that. Without him there is nothing; without him we are nothing.

But when we say "Put God first" or "Make Jesus the center", it's almost as though we're jumping past the truth that God is first already, before and whether or not we recognize it. It's almost as though we're forgetting that Jesus is already the center, before and whether or not we read about him or pray to him daily.

Isn't this just semantics? Isn't this just a different way of saying the same thing? No, I don't believe that it is. I think the Jews would have laughed at a phrase like "Put God first"... at least the pre-Pharisaical Jews would have. To them, God was first, whether in times of obedience and blessing, or in times of disobedience and discipline. God was real to them, whether they obeyed him or not. His presence was rarely assumed or manufactured. You can say what you want to about how they responded, Most of what the Jews did (or didn't do) was in response to God and the reality of his presence.

Likewise, I think Paul and the early Christian church would have balked at a phrase like "Make Jesus the center of your life." For them, Jesus was the center of their lives, whether or not they always lived like it. To be clear, they did want to live as if Jesus was the center, but that was not the same as making Jesus the center. It was recognizing that Jesus was the center, experiencing him and his Spirit, and then living in response to that recognition.

Let me put it another way. John Ortberg writes,

"What causes incongruence in my life is spending so much of my life unaware of [God's] presence. I allow myself to act and talk in ways that are not shaped or influenced by God's constant presence."

He illustrates the above statement with this example:

"I recently visited the Christian college I attended, and I was remembering the odd game we played in the cafeteria. As we sat down to eat, we would all surreptitiously put our thumbs up, and whoever was the last one at the table to get his thumb up had to offer the prayer over the food.

Now, think about that! God is watching this the whole time. But we're sticking our thumbs up, and the loser has to pray. Then we bow our heads and say, 'Dear God, thanks for this food and we love you so much.'

God is present the whole time, but we were acting as if he's not paying attention until we bow our heads and close our eyes; then he picks up the phone and we're connected. But we act as if the thumb stuff escapes his notice."

Live your life, speak your words, and do what you do as if God were present with you. Because He is.

Are we aware?

How Do I Tell You

How do I tell you
That God is both real and present
And that is where to begin and end?
How can I persuade you
That you need to start there
And there you should never move beyond?
How can I convince you
That awareness of Him is what you really seek
When your eyes look right past Him
Or upon Him refuse to gaze?

How do I tell you
That contemplation leads to clarity
And reflection to relevance?
How can I explain
That being present with God comes first
And always before speaking in God's name?
How will you see
That God has just as much to say about His means
As he does about His mission?

How do I tell you?

By being patient,
By being gentle,
By being faithful,
By being courageous,
By being a servant,
By being rejected,
By persevering,
By keeping in step with the Spirit,
By looking always and never away at God,
By dying to myself,
So that Christ can live in me.
My loss is your gain,
My death is your life.

Sweet Jesus, give me the grace to die.