Christ's Passion... for you

For the past 4 months I've been reading Tim Keller's King's Cross. At the rate I'm going I read two pages per day. This has nothing to do with the quality of the book or it being able to keep my attention. My less than speedy reading is chalked up to being busy and lack of time management. Ever time I pick the book up I reel off 10-20 pages.

The cool part of taking this long to read the book is that it seems I've read certain parts at just the right time. At the exact moment that I need to hear a certain truth, this book has delivered. It's no replacement of the Bible, but a good supplement. Check it out.

So today I read a 30-40 page block that walks through Mark's version of the crucifixion. Keller does a fantastic job of stepping through the scripture step-by-step, and he adds commentary that brings so much color and context to the story (not that it needs it).

He starts by talking about the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus' time there. This is where Jesus first feels a glimpse of the separation from the Father  - the same separation that He will feel in full force the following day. Jesus prays, "If it's your will, take this cup from me". Keller adds that the metaphor of cup is historically referred to as God's wrath in the Old Testament. Jesus is starting to feel God's wrath of all mankind in the garden. 

Jesus is putting himself through this excruciating pain for us. In order to bring reconciliation between us and the Father. Keller also refers to how painful this must have felt to Jesus. Think of the most important relationship in your life - maybe a spouse, parent, child, or lifelong friend. Now think about walking around the corner to see this person totally mutilated. Immediate separation. Now think about how Jesus must have felt - His relationship with the father goes back to eternity. He chose to bear our cross and endure our sentence of separation. He did this for you...

There are a lot of other awesome details that Keller highlights and expounds on. I'll jump to the crucifixion to save time, and to hopefully encourage you to read the book...

Fast forward to Jesus on the Cross.

Mark writes that complete darkness fell from the 6th to the 9th hour of the day while Jesus was on the Cross. This is amazing for two reasons. One - complete darkness. He's not talking about a brief eclipse or a dark night. We're talking total darkness. One of the only other times complete darkness is mentioned in scripture is when the Israelites are in Egypt and the plague of darkness occurs. Two - It's believed that this 3 hour period (from noon to 3 PM) is the time of Jesus' full separation from the Father. For three hours He's shouldering the sin of mankind. He steps in to take the punishment that we deserve, only our punishment would last eternity. Imagine the grief and sorrow Jesus would feel if He experienced all of ONE man's lifetime burdens over a three hour period. Now multiply that by all of mankind. That's heavy.

The last amazing detail I'll share is in regards to the Roman Centurion who is overseeing Christ's crucifixion. After Jesus screams 'My God, why have you forsaken me' and breaths his final breath, the Centurion states 'Clearly He is the Son of God'. At face value this isn't all to crazy. But what we don't hear in the scripture is that the Centurion is the first person, other than Jesus, to give Jesus a title of deity. The disciples who lived with Jesus would call Him the Christ, or Messiah. Jewish belief didn't necessarily give the Messiah a deity connotation. Pretty cool huh? Furthermore, think about who the Centurion was. He's a man who has seen countless deaths, and been the facilitator of all of them. He knows death and is familiar with how people die. He's probably a very hard-hearted man who at this point isn't affected by death. He's also Roman, and would only dare give a deity title to Caesar. 

All that being said, from the short time he knew Jesus and experienced His death, he felt he was in the presence of God. And had the guts to call it out.

That's amazing to me. But not nearly as amazing that Jesus went through all of this pain and torture with a stiff lip. For me. To bail me out of a crime I could in no way get out of. Talk about feeling the love. 

This gave me so much peace and rest today. I think I've repeated the above 3 times tonight to other interns and staff. This refreshing perspective has come at a perfect time too. With distractions and frustrations looming, I needed to hear how Jesus loves me. 

And He loves you too.

Bible Reading for Dummies (that's me)

If you're anything like me you read the bible either as preparation for a specific bible study or you use the 'drop and flop' method. Drop and flop is a phenomenon where you read what you first flip to (a very technical and advanced concept).

Drop and flop is great because it can spawn sentences such as 'God pointed me to this scripture today'. It's also great because it's an incredibly easy and non-committal method of reading the bible. BUT -  I think it's only suited for certain people, and I've recently come to find out that I'm not in this category.

I suffer from what some call terrible reading comprehension. To make matters even worse my lack of ability to retain words is most magnified when reading scripture. All this said I probably should have attended the speed reading class my mom signed me up for in high school. Turns out I was way more interested in going to the beach and wakeboarding than sitting in a classroom learning about 'reading in blocks'.

A few months ago we talked about how to read scripture in bible study. At first I was a little taken aback by this topic. Why would a group of people who work for a Christian ministry need to learn how to read the bible? It's like mandatory defensive driving classes for NASCAR drivers. Turns out our discussion that night would drastically change the way I read the bible.

The first discipline we discussed was taking notes while studying God's word. I've found that even if I don't go back and look at my notes, the act of writing down my thoughts and certain verses helped the concepts stick.

Secondly, we talked about doing historical research on the particular book we were studying. I think this was the biggest help for me, as it adds so much more context and relevancy when actually reading the scripture.

Some other tips were to ask/answer the questions 'What was the author trying to convey in this passage?' and 'What does this passage mean specifically to me?'. Again, writing down the responses/answers.

I've also started to answer the following questions when reading a book of the Bible (this may also cover the first principle)...

Who wrote the book?
Where was it written?
Who was it written to?
When was it written?
What was going on historically in the geographic proximity of the story?
Why was the book written?

The first book I tried this out on was Galatians. I think Galatians is a great book to use this for, as it has so much background and storyline that we don't really get from solely reading the scriptures (my opinion).

If drop and flop works great for you - that's awesome. However, you should probably go to the beach and do some wakeboarding to make up for the lost time you spent in speed reading class. But if you find yourself trying to remember what the heck you just read - maybe give the above a shot. It might help.

Thank you Jesus for the Cross. I need to meet You there daily.

Purposeful Perspective

I've heard several times that 'Generation Nexters' (born in the 1980's) will change jobs every few years. Due to age of nexters, we don't really know how their mid to late career will look - only time will tell.

I've overwhelmingly heard from young people that they have no idea what they want to do as a career. This is an issue when deciding what to study in college as well as what to do post-graduation. I think the indecisive nature of today's youth directly relates with their (our) fickle career path.

How can we address this dichotomy nature of our up and coming leaders?

First off, the below is only my humble opinion. I've been out of college for 6 years and am on my 4th job. However, I do feel like I've gained a little insight on how to address this.

It all comes down to purpose. I believe our existential purpose it to glorify God. But what about our day to day career purpose? I think it can be narrowed down by focusing on two things. Talent and passion.

When deciding whether to be a doctor, banker, chef, or bum working a youth camp; it might help to look at your talents and passions.

Talents - What are you good at? What comes easy to you? Are you best at working with your hands or building relationships with people? You might have an incredibly sharp mind and can remember the color shirt you wore on the first day of 8th grade. I believe God gives us talents to equip us for our destiny, and these talents set us up better for certain vocations.

Passions - What do you love? Does sitting still for 8 hours drive you totally nuts? Might want to steer clear of banking. If you love problem solving and creating efficiencies, you might thrive working for a logistics company or a small start-up. Again, we are passionate about our passions for a reason. I don't think it's happenstance.

This doesn't mean you should be a couch potato if you really enjoy Xbox and are extremely talented at sitting on your bum. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, "For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."

I'm a firm believer if you trust in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). It's at the convergence of your passions and your talents that you will find the desire of your heart.

Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 

I could be totally wrong. But who can argue with doing something you love and you're pretty dang good at? Recklessly chasing a lifestyle or status is for the birds.

Distraction

Life is full of distractions. Even when you work for a youth ministry. I find myself pouring over thoughts of what I'll do after I finish this program, where I will be in 10 years, what people think of me, what my future family will look like - The list goes on.

Then there's moments like tonight when everything is still. It's like God is whispering 'slow down and look what I have for you'. A lot of perspective is gained and I realize all of the above thoughts pale in comparison to what's really important. I've been redeemed. I'm His beloved.

David Crowder has a song titled 'Come and Listen'. I listened to that song tonight three times in repeat. The song is very simple and has only a few verses. Over and over he sings, "Come and Listen - Come and Listen to what he has done". It's a great song to listen to and reflect. Thoughts and noises become white static. It's simple.

The last verse repeats over and over. "Praise our God, for He is good."

Moses said of Benjamin before Moses died:


Deuteronomy 33:12 “The beloved of the LORD dwells in safety. The High God surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”


We are his beloved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n2B6T6uFIQ

Prodigal Son

Our intern coordinator asked each of us to lead a bible study. The subject was to be a character in the bible, and we were asked to create an outline for everyone to follow. Below is my outline

Father of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)

- In verse 12, the younger son asks his father for his share of the estate. Basically telling the father he wished him dead. How does the father respond? How do you react/identify to this response?

 - Verse 14 tells us of the younger son working in a pigsty after he squandered his share of the family fortune. Verse 16 says the younger son is ‘longing to be fed with what the pigs ate’. Pigs were seen as unclean and filthy animals by Jewish custom. The people hearing Jesus tell this story would most likely hate the character of the younger son.

- The younger son decides to return home and beg his father for forgiveness. He has his explanation ready – probably rehearsed over and over on his journey home. Verse 20 says that while he was still a long way off the father sees the younger son and runs to embrace him. In Jewish custom it was viewed undignified for an older man to lift up his robes and run – especially to an estranged son who has squandered half of the family fortune. At this point the crowd Jesus is speaking to is grossly offended by the younger brother and father’s actions. The concept of the father’s reckless grace is often times seen as offensive even by our culture. How do you react when someone is shown this type of grace, when you may be playing the character of the older son? What about in a worldly setting? How does the father’s reaction relate to the Gospel?

 - The father decides to throw a blowout party as celebration of the younger son’s return. This party is offensive to the older son, as he feels slighted by the father’s behavior. The older son feels entitled to preferred treatment based off his loyalty to the father. What are your thoughts on the older son’s frustrations and the father’s response? Think about times when you have been younger son, and times when you have been the older son. Do you identify more with the younger or the older?

Upstream Battle

A good friend of mine asked me to write a post about the phenomenon we call 'upstream battle'. Defined: An upstream battle is when you feel like you're just another fish trying to swim along like the other fish.


First off, the upstream battle is a flat out lie. I think it's something planted in our hearts to make us feel bland or boring. This planting is premeditated and has a desired effect. We hear these whispers of 'what are you even doing here?' or 'you're no different than the next schmo who's trying to make it happen'. The one I hear a lot is 'no one cares about what you think or what you have to say, so get busy shutting up'.


A lot of times we respond to the above lies by taking matters into our own hands. We decide since we are getting blindsided by these thoughts and low self-esteem that it's time to prove the voices wrong and 'be somebody'. We put incredible pressure on ourselves to be a good Dad, a good son, or a good 'enter your identity here'. These thoughts put us in a pressure cooker where failure is not an option.


I think this is a scheme to distract us from where we really need to go. To our maker. He has some very different things to say about us and who we really are.


1 Peter 2:9 says:


⁹But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 


This verse has been floating around in my head for a while now, and it keeps popping up in bible studies, sermons, or casual conversation. What Peter is trying to show us here is how Jesus sees us. We are precious. A few verses later Peter refers to us as 'Beloved'. I can't think of a more endearing salutation than - Beloved.


Matthew 5:14 says we are the 'light of the world'. Think about that. Of all the things in the world, we are the brightest. We are the 'IT'. But it's not because of anything we've done, it's because we have a father who Loves. With a capital 'L'.


Next time the upstream battle phenomenon occurs just remember, you are the beloved. Jesus is so crazy in love with you that all he wants is for you to sit with him. He wants to marvel at the light you are.

Frontier

Each table in our dining room has 24 sweeteners; 8 sugars, 8 sweet n' low, and 8 splendas. Sugar faces the salt so that everything is uniform. Glasses are set right above the knives - center cut, not to the left or right. Tables in the dining hall are set with excellence.

I haven't experienced this, but heard that sometimes when the accumulated snow starts to get dirty we vacuum it. Not to remove it, but to make sure the lawns are completely white. Trash bags are placed in the cans and then tied tight. The knot is hidden so that the trash can looks more presentable.

Blankets are folded on beds so that you only see a clean fold. Ribbon side up with the fold facing the door - always.

We do these things to create a place where people meet Jesus. Sure it's great to have camp presentable for guests, but that's not why we do what we do with excellence. It all points back to the cross.

Maybe life would be a ton easier with less distractions. What would it look like if I treated my heart like we treat Frontier Ranch, and prepared a place so that I could meet Jesus? Time and time again in scripture we see Jesus seeking his 'mountainside' for prayer. More times than not this mountainside precedes or follows a miraculous event. I could learn a lot from this.


 Ecclesiastes 4:6 says: Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.