Happy Tensions: promises made, promises kept

I’ve launched a new website, happytensions.com to capture explorations of God’s mysteries, which make us supremely happy. Readers here on this site may be familiar with the fact that “happy tensions” are one of my favorite themes about which to muse.

Here’s a new-old thought on a key one.

Promises Made, Promises Kept

We wait in the middle, between when God’s promises were made, and when they will be fulfilled, kept to their fullness.

On this, John Calvin writes:

“Let us also remember that we are all in the same condition as Abraham. Our circumstances are all in opposition to the promises of God. He promises us immortality: yet we are surrounded by mortality and corruption. He declares that he accounts us just: yet we are covered with sins. He testifies that he is propitious and benevolent towards us: yet outward signs threaten his wrath. What then are we to do? We must close our eyes, disregard ourselves and all things connected with us, so that nothing may hinder or prevent us from believing that God is true.”

So much would be solved

If we simply grasped the simple reality that every command (imperative) in Scripture is rooted in God’s promises (indicatives). Wondering what I’m talking about? … Read on: Happy Tensions: WHOs + DOs

Happy tensions: WHOs + DOs

What do you think Christianity is? How do you read the Bible?

It is quite easy to think of the Bible as a book of rules — things to DO. Yet, it is far greatest The Story of God, of His coming near to us, and in that way is not primarily about us. The Bible is about GOD. And not just facts, figures and fables — as if God were a science experiment, a idea to be calculated, quantified and categorized. In reality, God has acted in history — in this real world — and as we read Scripture we discover the stories are true, the characters are generally failures, and God is always faithful. That’s step one, reading the Bible as if it’s about God and not just “me.” Of course, it must be experienced, taken into our whole lives, if we are to learn what God says.

There’s another needed emphasis, more likened to a simple priority: know the WHOs before the DOs. Jesus came to show us the way by BEING the way. No five step (or 12) plan for salvation here. He’s the plan, the whole plan. So when we read, we see the what, why, how, and especially the Who of God’s Story.

This “happy tension” of sorts is recognizing the why the Bible is written. Take the New Testament, written in common day (Koine) Greek. The most common mood of the verbs is in what’s called the indicative mood. Stating facts, making declarations (e.g., “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…” John 3:16). Later, and less frequently we get into the imperative mood, of commands (“Do this … do that…”; e.g., “Be holy…,” or “forgive one another” Eph. 4:32). I say later because we must recognize that every command of Scripture is rooted in a promise, in the prior work of God with us and for us. A couple examples…

Ephesians 4:32:

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another” // a very good command; do it!

But how and why?

“…as God in Christ forgave you.”

We can only forgive out of the resources of the self-sacrificing God who forgives sinners at the greatest sacrifice the world has ever known. We can think of the “other,” because God is all about the “other,” modeled in relationships among the Trinity. Furthermore, as an application, we can begin with forbearance, because Christ has gone before us — the WHO before our DO — throwing away His convenience to suffer as a servant in our place (Phil. 2:1-11).

Digging into the Word: Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

Another example of this indicative-imperative correlation is Philippians 4:1:

“Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.”

(We just taught this passage to our high schoolers.) Do you see what Paul did there? He could have said it so simply, like: “just stand firm in the Lord. Do it!” Why does he wax eloquent — is it just poetic or is God doing something deep and meaningful here? He’s talking about identity… their true (and new) identity.

That’s the only way to be read the Bible as one alive, and to teach it to others for transformation. Every single command in Scripture is rooted in  God’s prior work, for His commands become His enablements. Just as Paul waited unto the twelfth chapter of Romans to give the very first command in that great letter (Romans 12:1-2), we recognize Christianity is far more about WHO Jesus is than what we DO. Plus, our doing comes out of our being, which comes from being remade into His image (Colossians 3:10) and embracing our new identity.

Below Darrin Patrick, summarizes this necessary approach to reading and teaching the Bible in a 9 minute video. He was asked to collaborate with about 80 other church leaders across the country on a day of training called “The Nines” (on 09.09.09), put on by the Leadership Network and Catalyst. Darrin serves as lead pastor of The Journey Church in St. Louis, a Gospel-centered missional church he and others founded less than a decade ago, and has become a catalyst for church planters and leaders globally.

We used this video to spark a discussion last week with high school leaders and students. Bits of it may have been over their head — there’s those happy tensions — as real growth comes from being challenged. This sparked a great discussion, and spiritual and mental lights were going on all over the place. So, that’s what it means to work from significance and not for it, according to the Gospel (as I seek to remind them).

He covers the ground quickly, so open your Bible to Luke 24, and grab something to take notes. Enjoy!

In the meantime

I’m still sorting out what I’ll blog next, and seeing how a rhythm of life will allow me to do so. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite articles from the last year or so:

Happy Tensions: What, Why, How … + Who // my favorite article on seeing all things through the lens of Jesus. We need a Redeemer, not a system of redemption (how-to’s). I was pastoral intern at a purpose-driven church at the time

Gospel-distorting approaches to change // perhaps another way of saying that all sin is idolatry, and since we worshiped our way to sin, we must worship our way out

Happy tensions: Head + Heart // objective + subjective knowing; God doesn’t want us to check our brain at the door

Clarity > Relevance // adults are like teens, just that teens can pay attention more/longer

Believing + Receiving // Do I treat Jesus like He is a Comcast cable guy, doing things for me so I can enjoy life without Him?

The Devoted Church // on first sermon preached at WCC

GOD: They is One // don’t apologize for the Trinity; it is not a technicality, it is the foundational relationship of everything

Our common Source of Significance // re-blogged another pastor’s thoughts; spot-on in my book

Living Our True Identity// 200-word essay for a local paper on the nature of the church. We are worshipers, family, learners, missionaries, servants. Are you?

Theology: A Story of Sovereignty

A friend asked if I would join in a “Sovereignty of God blog series” this Summer, giving no set boundaries other than to ask us to share how we interact with God’s sovereignty from a theological and personal perspective. On the docket are lots of well-known bloggers, and then me. Oh yeah, and he scheduled me to go first. Humbling.

• My post “A Story of Sovereignty” is up now

It’s a bit longer than a normal blog post. Won’t blame God for that …

(The revised version posted is a bit shorter than the full version I’ll start posting here tomorrow, bit by bit.)

Here’s the heart of my argument:

Again, the problems are many — not for God, needing to explain Himself — but for us in passing judgment on the Creator. Where were we when He set all this in motion? We lack a representative sampling of data to draw conclusions. At least not enough experience from a few decades living in affluent suburbia (or anywhere else). What do we have? God’s Word. Both written and Incarnate. The Designer has left the Story of His glory for us to know, experience and be satisfied with Him. What’s more, He entered this Story, the Designer willing to become part of His design, to experience the full brunt of the brokenness of our existence. Who suffered more evil that Jesus? Who deserved more good than He? Let’s focus this discussion on the primary truth God does.

The crux: God has entered our suffering
So much talk about sovereignty (or theodicy) seems to miss the chief argument. If His attributes were to be aligned (goodness, power, knowledge), we see all three to be all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing. I’m not imposing presuppositions here — for those are the very perfections God asserts Himself (Mark 10:18; Psalm 115:3, Matthew 19:26; Psalm 147:5, Ephesians 1:11, et al). We don’t make a solid case based on our finite (read: tiny) experience; it must come from God’s words, the Scriptures.

If those are the three legs of this 3-legged-stool (that never wobbles), then the intersection at the top — where the world sits — is the greater truth. (Don’t miss this.) God has entered His Story. All stories have depths of conflict and triumphal resolution. In comes the Hero, the conflict and resolution all centered around Him. The worst of the evil? He received it. The harshest rejection? He felt it all. He was willing to empty Himself of glory, to take the lowest place possible — a slave, condemned to die — and walk through this furnace of suffering as we should. In total submission to the Triune God, the second Person of the Trinity became the one worthy of being called the name above every name (Philippians 2:1-11).

This all-good-and-powerful-and-knowing God, who is above all holy (altogether separate, distinct, and well, whole) saw that it was not enough to be outside the suffering and evil overtaking His fallen creation. At an intersection of transcendence and immanence we see a God who cares. Enough to take our place, bear our shame, and reassert His claim as the Sovereign King of the universe. Compelled by love and for His one glory, He must draw near. He must enter this mess, and He must make it beautiful. How? (I state it again, if only for my own reminder.) By entering our suffering. By turning evil on its head. The greatest evil ever devised was used (permitted, designed and caused) to accomplish the greatest good this world has ever known. God did not just overcome evil on the cross. The Creator forced evil to serve the overcoming of itself. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.

The apex of God’s revelation of Himself is the suffering God-Man on a cross, forsaken, beaten, spit upon, and in our place taking the full wrath of God. Oh what depths of judgment vented on Him! Those present sufferings in the physical realm from human hands were but a drop in the bucket of the cup of the Father’s wrath. Joy and love mingled down in His blood, He took death (the inevitable goal of evil and sin) and threw it away like a rag doll. Death could not defeat Him. He conquered the grave. He is the Man — the God — no one can kill. Jesus is the Hero. The Good, Knowing, Sovereign One — totally free and able — did all this on purpose (Acts 2:23). The Author wrote Himself in the script, right next to us.

God entered not as an unwilling capture, but as the Creator turned Rescuer who designed a world He would rule completely, through love, mercy and justice.

• Read the whole thing: “A Story of Sovereignty”

Happy Tensions: Emptying + Filling

A friend sent me this recently. Perhaps related to my previous thoughts on rhythms.

“I must be aware of two kinds of weariness in my life. The first is the weariness of giving out faster than I take in. That is the weariness of overcommitment; it is the fatigue of being over exercised in my service to God for others. The second kind of weariness is more subtle; it is the weariness of God Himself.

My life is a series of emptying and fillings. As I empty myself in service, I must refill myself by drawing upon God’s infinite resources. If I fail to refill, I will become drained and exhaustion will occur. One of the chief reasons I fail to refill is because I have become tired of God. In other words, I have lost my desire to be filled by God.

It is inconceivable that I can exhaust a transcendent God. Therefore, weariness can only be a symptom that something has gone wrong with my pipeline to heaven. Either is it is stopped up with something or it is broken or I simply do not exert myself to turn on the spigot. The latter occurs whenever I have discovered an interest that, for the moment at least, transcends my interest in God. Weariness with God usually begins with a wandering eye. That leads to a wandering heart, and soon I am off chasing a will-o’-wisp that seems momentarily delightful. It is in that stage of things that I become weary of God; He has lost His color, His richness, and His appeal to my heart. I am clearly on dangerous ground, and that is why God makes His strongest appeals to rekindle my appetite for Him. He asks me to deliberately surrender the trinkets for the gold; He begs me to give up the hewn cisterns and get back to the flowing river of life.”
- excerpt from Daily with the King

“For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
- Jeremiah 2:13