At the Margins

So many Christians are focused on the fact that Jesus died for us. One of my favorite things to tell people is that “He lives for us,” not to mention “in us” through the Holy Spirit.

Sure, He definitely died for us, but I’m not so sure that that was the sine quo non of His earthly mission. It seems to me the fact that He came to live as one us for 30 odd years is pretty important, not to mention the fact that He still lives now. Oh yeah, and there’s the whole ressurection thing.

I’ll be the first to proclaim that the cost of discipleship is death. Followers of Christ must both figuratively die to themselves for Christ and others and be willing to, in the model of Christ, literally die for Christ and others.

Fixation with Christ’s death however only fuels the oft-quoted, but seldom contextualized, Nietzschen axiom that “God is dead.”

The Church really needs a God that is not dead. A God who is speaking and active in His people. A God that is equipping His people to “to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners” (Isaiah 61:1). A God who continues to reveal Himself to us and show us the Way. A God who is actively involved in the continual transformation and liberation of His creation.

It’s funny how quickly I revert back into the institutional function.  It’s something I’m going to have to be mindful of—a lot.  There was a little snafu in the middle of Sunday’s worship where I said I would pray and the woman who was sharing her story (she did such a great job!) thought I was asking her to pray and a look of dread came over her.  I cleared it up that I was planning to pray. 

At the end, she and I talked about how hard it is for her to pray out loud (something I’ve heard from many people before).  She added that I pray so well.  I told her that one of my friends has often challenged me, “do you talk to anyone in the manner that you pray out loud.”  The truth is I don’t.  I use stilted flourishes, not to mention a different voice.

For a little while in high school I sang in the church choir.  We would pray at the beginning of each rehearsal and I remember always looking forward to hearing Ms. C pray.  Unlike anyone I’d known to that point, she truly prayed to “Daddy.”  Her prayers were simple, intimate, and loving, but at the same time, there was no confusing the awe and revere she had for her Father.

When I pray religious prayers, I enforce the lie that God desires prayers that are formal and articulate rather than personal and sincere.  My actions tell people that they are unable to pray.  For shame!  When I pray formally it is certainly not for God, rather for show and the institution. I need to pray simply, intimately, lovingly, personally, and sincerely—he’s my Dad after all—so that others may know that they are able to talk with Him as well.

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” is such a wonderful challenge to us as followers of Christ.

Unfortunately, I’ve often heard these verses misappropriated as a carte blanche for someone to do anything they want. “As long as I do it to the glory of God, I can do whatever I want.” Far from it. At times, doing something to the “glory of God” means not doing it.

That aside, I find it really exciting to ask what it means to do each thing I do to the glory of God…

What does it mean to eat to the glory of God? Perhaps, as John Wesley argued, not meat, since it is resource intense? Perhaps it means not over-eating (or under-eating for that matter)? Perhaps it means buying local?

What does it mean to work to the glory of God?

What does it mean to shop to the glory of God?

What does it mean to drive to the glory of God?

What does it mean to shower to the glory of God?

What does it mean to vote to the glory of God?

What does it mean to watch TV to the glory of God?

While these questions may seam simple to begin with, they are in fact quite difficult to answer. They even might vary from season of life to season of life. Praise God we have a lifetime to try to understand them and grace to fail.

I’ve been thinking about the Holy Spirit a lot over the last several months and, since we’re talking about Him on the next couple of Sundays at my congregation, I compiled some reflections. I’ve not made much effort to organize this post, so these are mostly a string of thoughts. I still hope it’s something useful and encouraging.

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There are some verses that have been particularly memorable in this journey:

John 14 - 9Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

As Tony Campolo puts it, when Christ was here he could look into one face at once. When He left, He gave us His Spirit to dwell within us. Now, with just the folks in this room, Christ can look into the face of 200 people at once. Because of the Holy Spirit, we no longer have to wait for the Kingdom.

John 5 - 19Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these…

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Christianity is not about morality, justice, or even really about an afterlife. Christianity is about communing with our creator here and now. The Holy Spirit is a huge part of that.

In a very real sense, the Kingdom dwells in us and among us. When we seek after and obey the Holy Spirit, we no longer have to wait for death to experience Heaven, for the Kingdom breaks forth among us. “Thy Kingdom come,” is not just for later, but for now.

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I love that we worship a God who speaks. I always find it funny when I hear people say something along the lines of “well if God came to me and spoke like He did in the Old Testament of course I would obey.” It misses the Holy Spirit completely. I think the problem is less that God isn’t speaking and more that God speaking is much more normal than we think and thus we dismiss it. Of course I’m not immune to this problem. I mean, I will tell you that God speaks to me every day, multiple times a day. It is something that I am confident of. Now if you were to ask me what was the last thing He said to me and what it was, I would probably go back several months to come up with something. I know God speaks to me, but it makes me uncomfortable. I mean how crazy is it to say that the Creator of the universe speaks to me? Why would He speak to me? I don’t deserve to be spoken to (or loved by Him for that matter). How can I tell His voice (I mean this in a wide sense) from mine? What happens if I ascribe something to God that isn’t His? What happens if I ascribe something to myself that is from God?

There is plenty of Grace for us to seek after God and getting wrong and I believe that God places a lot of value on us humbly seeking after Him–even when we get it wrong.

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Expand your vision of what God might call you to. I think a lot of times we have trouble hearing God because we don’t think He would ask us to do such a thing. For instance, longterm missions or giving up all our belongings and following Him.

As one of the IJM staff members said when talking to a bunch of folks thinking about going to work for them: God calls us to leave our “comfort, security/safety, success, and control.” It is when we have left these things that we are forced to no longer rely upon ourselves, but to seek after God for everything grasping upon the promise that He is our provider. Our independence is a big barrier to hearing the Holy Spirit, because we somehow convince ourselves that we don’t need to hear Him. It is only when we leave these things behind that we truly gain them. (Honestly, I’m pretty stuck on my independence, keeping my self-gained comfort, security, success, and control.)

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The Holy Spirit is a necessary component of our life with God. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Bible is just a bunch of words.

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Also, as I’ve been seeking after God, I’ve discovered that it is quite messy. I mean, it seems that God has a what, a when, and a how and He doesn’t always give them to us at once–essentially we can obey the what while disobeying the how.

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I’ve been thinking of some questions in discerning what is from the Holy Spirit:

• Does the calling align with the character of God? Can you undertake it righteously?
• Are your trusted advisors who you are in community with confirming that this is what the Holy Spirit is saying?
• Can I do it with the fruits of the Spirit? (I’m a little rockier on this one).

If the answers to any of these is no, then there are problems. There are a few possibilities:

• A false spirit is confusing you.
• It is not yet time for the specific calling you are hearing.
• You are seeking to do it on your terms.

Seeking to do it on my own terms is something I fall into a lot. Kitty’s Dad Stew has a wonderful story to illustrate this:

My friend’s Dad Stew tells a wonderful story that illustrates this point. He was in Africa preparing to speak to a congregation. The Pastor was standing behind the most ornate pulpit he’d ever seen. He hears the Holy Spirit tell him, “when you step up to speak, speak from there (a location down in front of the platform).” The Pastor proceeds to usher Stew into the pulpit. What should he do? If he turns around and leaves the pulpit it is culturally parallel to slapping his host in the face in front of his flock and conflicts with loving his brother. If he insists upon staying in the pulpit, he fails to obey the Holy Spirit. What would you do?

My tendency would have been to simply do what I heard from the Holy Spirit. I would be wrong however. Stew said to the Holy Spirit, “these two things are in conflict, please provide a way for me to obey you and to love my brother well” and he stepped into the middle of the pulpit. Before he could get a full sentence out of his mouth, someone called up to him, “they can’t hear you in the back, would you step down to here (pointing to the exact spot the Holy Spirit said) and speak?”

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At any rate, I think that the most important thing we can do is to seek after God with great zeal! I’ve been thinking about writing a book about the Church and speaking about the vision for the Church God has placed on my heart and so many others in our generation. I know that if I do write it that the first section will be about seeking after God with reckless abandon with the confidence that He will speak and guide and then obeying what He has said.

The reality is that I am much happier if people seek after God and decide I’m wrong than if they don’t and decide I’m right.

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Redefine successful Church as exclusively obedience to God. The question isn’t how many people came or how many people were saved, rather it is, were we obedient to the Holy Spirit?

I was talking with my friends Aaron and Amy Graham of Kaleo Ministries last night about living in community, movements of the church, you know, the stuff I love to talk about.

It occurred to me during this conversation, just how much I want to start a movement–to see the Church transformed to that which Christ intended. How arrogant of me to 1) think I could do such a thing and 2) think that I’m somehow better than all those who have tried before, that our generation gets it and will somehow succeed where every generation before us has fallen short. It seems that real movements in the church (I’m no Church historian, so chime in with more information) don’t start off as movements at all, but rather are born from people seeking to be faithful to scripture and the Holy Spirit. We worship a God who time and time again uses the micro to change the macro (I just can’t get away from econ, can I?); who uses the small, the weaker, often the unwilling, to transform the greater, the stronger.

Seeking large scale Church reform, though tempting, is seeking one’s own glory–is idolatrous. If we as a people, as a generation of believers, would seek to be about the Father’s business in our lives, loving the unlovable, seeking to hear and obey, than our communities would be transformed–certainly not easily and not without much suffering, but in amazing ways. I don’t have to start a movement (nor should I). It is readily apparent as I travel and meet people that God started the movement long before I did (and will continue it long after I am gone). That there is a calling on our generation (not sure if it is unique to our generation) and that there are groups and individuals all around this country and world seeking to inhabit this calling. Christ is moving in His bride with boldness! We are a movement that cannot and should not be contained by a vision statement, not connected by x statements of belief, not beholden to a five-year plan, but rather a movement convened and ordained by the Holy Spirit Himself. We are the Church. We must encourage, even demand, from one another that we seek after God with reckless abandon, for it is when we seek after Him that we see His Kingdom break forth on earth, that we see His bride in greater glory.

But here’s the thing, we’re going to get it wrong, like the generations before us we are going to fail to fully manifest the vision God has placed on our hearts. We must have the courage to grow and mature, to look back and see where we have been wrong and to move forward with new zeal in the face of knowing we will once again fall short of perfection.

And as our kids mature we must not only tell them, but show them the story of the God of Abraham working today to help them to, not simply rest on the word we have received, but to listen and obey His voice themselves. We must have the courage to not only allow, but encourage them to tear down the asherah poles and high places built by us, as we did for our fathers.

What exciting times we live in. The Kingdom is alive and among us! Praise be to God!

I’m sitting at the Boston Rescue Mission with my friend Jen. It is a wonderful morning. Last night we went to an evening service with some of the workers and residence. During the service (and this was not related to what was being said and this is not a new idea), it occurred to me “What Would Jesus Do?” The answer is simultaneously simple and immensely difficult, John 5:19 “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” Put even more straightforwardly, it is to obey our love and grace showering Father. We are not called to simply emulate the life of Christ (though He provides many amazing examples for us), but rather to, like Him, listen to the Holy Spirit and obey the Father. It’s less of a question of “What Would Jesus Do?” and more of a question of what the Dad who loves us has shown and said for us to do.

Often the Bible is seen as a rule set. This view of the Bible is hugely problematic. Why? If nothing else, because it eliminates the need for a personal relationship with God. That is, if all I have to do is read and obey, I no longer need to seek God’s guidance and revelation.

Instead, I have been thinking about the story of the Bible in different terms. The Bible provides a default rule set for our lives and we should seek to obey. However, at times He calls us out of this default. I would site a few examples:

• Peace is a Biblical directive, however God calls David to war (interestingly, David is not allowed to build the temple because of the blood on his hands route from this obedience 1 Chronicles 22:7-9).
• The Bible commands us not to sacrifice our children, yet He calls Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.
• The Bible forbids us to marry whores, yet He commands the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute.
• The new testament indicates that only men should be in leadership, yet He calls Deborah to lead Israel.

Any time we seek to read the Bible simply as a rulebook, we deny the working of the Holy Spirit and make a book an idol above God. If Israel had enforced the rule that women were never allowed in leadership, then they would have disobeyed God by not allowing Deborah to lead. That is we must acknowledge the fact that God may call us out of the Biblical framework (certainly not to something against His character) and that we must seek him out in all things.

Of course, it must be acknowledged that it is unusual for God to call us out of Biblical rule-set and thus if we believe that God is calling us out of the default (note: silence is a call to the default), we must take great care to ensure that we are hearing the Holy Spirit and not false spirits. A couple of questions useful in this endeavor are:

• Does the calling align with the character of God? Can you undertake it righteously?
• Are your trusted advisors who you are in community with confirming that this is what the Holy Spirit is saying?

If the answers to either of these is no, then there are problems. There are a few possibilities:

• A false spirit is confusing you.
• It is not yet time for the specific calling you are hearing.
• You are seeking to do it on your terms.

I would like to take a moment to address the latter (most because I like this story and feel it teaches a great lesson):

My friend’s Dad Stew tells a wonderful story that illustrates this point. He was in Africa preparing to speak to a congregation. The Pastor was standing behind the most ornate pulpit he’d ever seen. He hears the Holy Spirit tell him, “when you step up to speak, speak from there (a location down in front of the platform).” The Pastor proceeds to usher Stew into the pulpit. What should he do? If he turns around and leaves the pulpit it is culturally parallel to slapping his host in the face in front of his flock and conflicts with loving his brother. If he insists upon staying in the pulpit, he fails to obey the Holy Spirit. What would you do?

My tendency would have been to simply obey the Holy Spirit. I would be wrong however. Stew said to the Holy Spirit, “these two things are in conflict, please provide a way for me to obey you and to love my brother well” and he stepped into the middle of the pulpit. Before he could get a full sentence out of his mouth, someone called up to him, “they can’t hear you in the back, would you step down to here (pointing to the exact spot the Holy Spirit said) and speak.

I often dismiss or disobey the Holy Spirit because of my attempts to do things my way.

The alternative to this view is that the Bible speaks general revelation and provides an unalterable framework for our lives. We must rely upon God for the specific articulation of this framework in our lives, but he never calls us outside of the rules of the Bible. For example, we are all called to missions however God must guide us specifically where. This has historically been my view, however, it doesn’t square with the Biblical storyline of God calling people out of the default.

Perhaps, the best is a merger of these two views, that the Bible provides a default framework for His people, God tells us how to specifically articulate this framework and sometimes calls us outside this framework. Our ultimate responsibility is obedience to the Holy Spirit not to elders, not to ourselves, not to a book, even if the book is written by God.

Anyone have any thoughts or comments?

I spent the last weekend cooking for my college choir’s retreat (it’s a way alumni serve the group). I met lots of wonderful new people and had some great conversations with old friends.

While I was there, I got to hear yet again how God is speaking to so many people in our generation. He may call us to different specific things, but it is apparent that God is uniting a generation of believers to seek after Him and inhabit His promises and commands with wreckless abandon. It’s amazing!

Unlike our parents, the people of my generation much more typically are either hot or cold with their faith. Either we desire to give up everything and follow Him or we don’t and realize that it’s not worth going through the motions. That’s an exciting thing for a generation who, more oft than not, grew up in a luke warm American gospel of cheap grace–a faith in which we could have both Christ and all our personal preferences–a gospel without sacrifice and a gospel without love.

We have inhabited a church so long that forgets that Christianity is more about having a relationship with our loving Father and Creator today than about salvation (route by phrase) tomorrow, that Christ calls us to daily take up the cross and follow him, and that our God is worth dying for (and thus worth obeying and worshiping).

It is a time of rebirth in the Church, when the poor, the fatherless, and the stranger will be welcomed into our homes (and more importantly our lives), when we will love the unlovable and heal the broken, when God’s revelation will flow in abundance and we will see Him with new and glorious clarity, when we will be persecuted for living a life in accordance with Him, when we will give up comfort, control, safety, and success to boldly follow after our Father, our Savior, our Creator, our Lover, and our King, and when we will see glimpses of Heaven breaking forth among us!

It is a wonderful and amazing time! Praise the Living God!

This morning I awakened early (about 5:30) and went into the city to serve at the Urban Prayer Breakfast, a program that seeks to have table fellowship with the homeless and working poor every weekday morning, where I have been working a couple of mornings a week for the last couple of years.

As I began my commute, I looked up into the sky–bright blue rising from a fiery horizon. The distant-most clouds were bleached white from the rising sun’s illumination, while nearer was a streaked patchwork of grayish blue. It was magnificent.

As I consumed the view, my heart began to realize that it was for me. That my Father had painted the sky that morning just for me. Tears welled up.

I am used to thinking of God creating for us, but not for me. I know God loves me, likes me, even delights at me, but it’s most-often hard for my heart to believe it. I think, “of course God will equip me for His work,” but that He would give me a gift of such decadence, of such abundance and excess, remains difficult for me to even begin to comprehend (and at times to accept).

Thinking of God as my Father, as my Savior, as my Lord, is so much easier for me than thinking of Him as my Lover. But what an act of passion, romance, and pursuit for Him to paint the heavens this morning just for me!

Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America

Rating: 5 out of 5

Author: Mike Yankoski

Year: 2005

Publisher: Multnomah

ISBN: 1590524020

This is a great chronicle of a student who felt called to spend 5 months on the street as a homeless man. Wow!