He Is Risen!

8 04 2012

1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”


3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.  John 20:1-8

Have a glorious Resurrection Day, everyone!


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Categories : Just Stuff

“Scoreboard, Baby!”

5 04 2012

 

I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I devastate Ephraim again.
For I am God, and not a man—
the Holy One among you.

I will not come against their cities.
They will follow the LORD;
he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling from the west.
They will come from Egypt,
trembling like sparrows,
from Assyria, fluttering like doves.
I will settle them in their homes,”
declares the LORD.  Hosea 11:9-11

“…and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Matthew 16:18b

It is a scenario which plays itself out in the sports world over and over again.  A frustrated player whose team is hopelessly behind with no chance of winning happens to make a good play or win one small skirmish against his opponent and begins to celebrate wildly.  His opponent simply points to the scoreboard and says, “Scoreboard, baby” (or some other word is sometimes used instead of “baby”).  The point is simple: knowing the outcome of the game ahead of time does change things a bit.

That is why words such as Hosea’s (above) had to be encouraging to Israel.  Though a horrible season was coming, it gave them a sense of what would be on the other side.  It is what God does for His people…He gives them hope of what is to come, even in the midst of judgment.  He still does.  The church today has similar promises to which we can cling.  We may go through horrible seasons ourselves (as a church), but we know how the story ends…we know Christ’s church prevails in the end.  ”The gates of Hell will not prevail against it.”  That is an important encouragement.

Often, when I am working with a conflicted congregation, I will encounter leaders in the church who are literally wild-eyed and crazy passionate about “defending” the church, or protecting it, or defending God’s truth or God’s Word, or otherwise saving the church from sure disaster.  I see or hear them say or do outrageous things, all in the name of Christ and His church.  I see them showing uncontrollable rage toward this particular threat or that particular threat.  I see in them a reckless fear of what might happen to the church if this group gains control or if that leader has his way.  They see themselves as the savior of the church…and it just makes me lean back and say, “Really?”

I think we would all do well to remember that Christ does not need us to defend His church.  And He does not need us to “save” His Word from the otherwise sure destruction of misinterpretation.  Not our jobs.  What He does call us to do is to be His church and to speak His Word…not out of some panicked sense of fear or hatred, but with love and with a peace that surpasses all understanding.  He calls us to conduct ourselves with confidence that His church will in fact prevail in the end and that His Word really will endure forever.

Every once in a while, especially when we feel ourselves getting all twisted up in a knot over things we see going on in the church today, we just need to glance at the end of the story and remind ourselves, “Scoreboard, baby”… His church wins in the end.  Relax.

© Blake Coffee
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Categories : Church Unity, leadership

Theology as God

3 04 2012

Tuesday Re-mix -

“Theology is the science of religion, an intellectual attempt to systematize the consciousness of God. If we take the doctrine of the Trinity (which is a noble attempt of the mind of man to put into a theological formula the Godhead as revealed in the Bible) and say – ‘That is God,’ every other attempt as a statement of the Godhead is met by a sledgehammer blow of finality. My theology has taken the place of God and I have to say, ‘That is blasphemy.’ Theology is second, not first; in its place it is a handmaid of religion, but it becomes a tyrant if put in first place.  The great doctrines of predestination and election are secondary matters; they are attempts at definition, but if we take sides with the theological method we will damn those who differ from us without a minute’s hesitation.  Is there any form of belief which has taken the place of God with me?” Oswald Chambers

My sister married a Lutheran.  Of course, by the time of the wedding, Chad (my brother-in-law) had pretty much convinced most of us that he was OK and that he was not a pagan or anything.  But still, my sister was getting married in a Lutheran church.  It was not a huge thing, but for my very Baptist family, it was also not a completely small thing.  I think it mattered a little to some in the family.

That was a long time ago, but even by then I was already being shaped into a peacemaker…and this peacemaker was a little worried about how my very Baptist and sometimes loud and argumentative family might behave in that Lutheran church.  Oh, I’m not saying I stayed up at night worrying about it.  I’m just saying…I wondered.

So it was no huge surprise when, within the first 15 minutes of the rehearsal, one of my family members sitting out in the pews leaned over to another one and said (pretty loudly), “Hey look!  They’ve still got Jesus up on the cross in this church!”  I tried to become completely invisible…don’t know whether it worked or not…the invisibility thing, I mean.  But, in the end, I did get an awesome brother-in-law out of the whole ordeal.

The point of this story is that I believe our intellectual constructs of God (i.e., our “theology”) actually sometimes get in the way of our Spiritual growth, and certainly get in the way of Christian unity. We tend to cling to the metaphors about God with which we are familiar, the illustrations and the symbols and the sound bites with which we’ve grown up as a Christian.  So, when confronted by another Christian with something a little different than our own construct, it immediately creates enmity between us and that other Christian.  When your metaphors are not the same as my metaphors, we have a problem, and we must be careful how we measure that problem.

I think the real danger here is that our beliefs about God sometimes become more important to us than God Himself.  Call it the “deification of theology” if you want.  I choose to call it idolatry…the replacing of God with some intellectual model with which we are more comfortable…or which we can better comprehend.

Really, I cannot say it nearly as well as Oswald Chambers said it above.  So, I will stop trying.  But I love his question: “Is there any form of belief which has taken the place of God with me?”  Ouch.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Church Unity, conflict, Spiritual Formation

Knowing the Word Become Flesh

29 03 2012

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me.  Hosea 4:6 (NLT)

 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead.  Philippians 3:10a (NLT)

I have often said that the church today is getting itself into trouble when we are more concerned with knowing about Christ than with actually knowing Him.  I think I first came to that conclusion while studying Philippians and Paul’s comment quoted above (Philippians 3:10).  Apparently, this concern went back a ways before Paul.  Hosea warned the people about it as well.

When I was in High School (back in the days of old), I knew a set of twins.  Their names were Mike and Chris, and they went to a rival High School.  I only knew them because I had played against them in basketball.  They were as identical as any two twins I have ever seen.  It was uncanny…a little creepy even.  If you didn’t know them, it was impossible to tell them apart.  I knew people who knew them, and I would ask them how they tell them apart.  They would try to give me hints about their hair or their mouth or a certain behavior, but none of those hints really helped.  The truth was, those friends couldn’t really tell me how they tell them apart.  More times than not, when asked how, those friends would just say, “I don’t know…I just can, because I know them.”

That, it seems to me, is the difference between knowing God and knowing about God.  I have, upon occasion, listened to teachers teaching about God or Jesus or the Bible and heard lots of great information from them but could not help but ask myself whether they really know God.  There just was no familiarity in their teaching…no real authority.  And I also worry for the church today for that same reason.  I worry that there are an awful lot of us in the church who are all about learning more and more information about God but who are not having any genuine encounters with Him.  Frankly, when I read Hosea and many of the other prophets, it scares me to death.  I worry that I could be that person…that teacher of the Bible who spends more time studying about the Bible than being with the Word become flesh.

This is where the contemplatives among us have a slight edge over those of us who prefer an intellectually stimulating environment in worship.  It is the same edge that Mary had over her sister, Martha.  Knowing Christ (and knowing God) is so much more than just Bible study and sermons.  It is that regular crawling up into Jesus’ lap and just being with Him.  It is quality time spent making eye contact with Him.  It is following Him so closely, that people begin to see Him in you…not because of how much you know about Him, but because of how much you care the way He does.

My prayer today for your church has nothing to do with growth in numbers or making budgets or healthy small groups or community ministries.  As we approach the coming Resurrection Day, my prayer for your church is not about mission or about ministry at all.  This Easter, my prayer for myself and for God’s people around the world (and specifically for the local body of believers where you serve) is that we would know Christ, and the power of His resurrection.  To know Christ more today than I did yesterday…that it a worthy goal.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : leadership, Spiritual Formation

We Christians and Our Starbucks

27 03 2012

 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:29-32

Companies in the Northwest U.S. have come out in favor of a recent same-sex marriage law in Washington state, citing business reasons such as keeping quality employees (who would presumably feel compelled to leave the state, and the company, in order to live somewhere where they could enjoy their same-sex marriage).  Those announcements would not ordinarily make national news, except for the names of some of those companies: Microsoft, Nike, and (alas) Starbucks.  Actually, not even Microsoft’s or Nike’s announcements got all that much attention, despite their HUGE place in the homes of Christians all over the world.  But Starbucks…well, now the Christian world is in an uproar, to say the least.  People are calling for a boycott.  Messing with our computers and our $200 tennis shoes is one thing, but now you are messing with our coffee!   One of the better organized opposition movements is from Washington D.C.’s National Organization for Marriage, which last week launched dumpstarbucks.com.

And now, the fight within the Christian world is once again fanned into flames with a renewed energy.

IN THIS CORNER: “How can you say you believe the Bible and then support gay marriage by purchasing Starbucks coffee?!”  And IN THIS CORNER: “How can you say you follow Christ and then refuse to associate (like He did) with those with whom you disagree?!”  And with those positions, both sides dangerously agree on one contention: “If you disagree with me on this, you must not really be Christian.”

Nice.

I am a peacemaker.  This sort of conflict is what I live for!  So I am boldly wading out into this one with some words of counsel to the Christians who simply cannot resist this fight.  If you and your Christian friend are really going to debate this issue, because she is boycotting Starbucks and you don’t want to…or because you are boycotting Starbucks and she doesn’t want to, you need to follow some rules.  You know these rules, because they come from the same Bible you will no-doubt be using to support your argument.  Permit me a few paraphrases of those “rules of engagement” for our purposes here:

1. Do not overestimate or overstate what is at risk.  Neither your salvation nor your friend’s are at stake here.  I’ve searched and searched the scripture on this…there is nothing in there about boycotting the secular world’s businesses in order to be saved…nor, for that matter, even as evidence of our salvation.  Moreover, your Christian friendship is likewise not at risk here, nor your worship relationship, nor your ability to love each other, minister together, or discuss scripture together.  Keep a “ceiling” on the discussion and do not let it escalate beyond its reasonable borders.  The Christ in you and the Christ in your friend are still the same…and still very much alive!

2.  You are on the same team.  The friend with whom you are arguing is not your enemy.  We in the church do have an enemy, and he loves it when we break unity, especially over stuff like this.  Figure out whose strategy you are going to play into here…and be careful.

3. Keep your words edifying.  Quit taking the other side’s position and then carrying it out to some ridiculous “logical conclusion” just to try to make them look foolish.  That doesn’t build them up.  Understand their position, yes, but don’t misinterpret it.  Quit trying to change their minds about their own position.  Just explain why you have made the decision you have made without tearing them down for their decision.  Ask yourself what is to be gained by using words of contempt and shaming them into agreeing with you…you may have won the debate, but at what cost?

4. Keep bitterness and anger out of this discussion.  That is sometimes easier said than done.  But all of us as Christ followers need an anger gauge that sounds an alarm when we feel it rising up in us.  And then we need to find some quick, honest, relatively painless way out of this discussion until we can re-enter it with coolness and love and gentleness.  How embarrassing will it be for you to stand before the Lord one day and have to admit that you destroyed a Christian friendship which HE ORDAINED FOR YOU over a disagreement about where you buy your coffee.  Ouch!

5.  Don’t use your life experiences to interpret scripture.  Rather, use scripture to interpret your life experiences.  Be honest.  If you have an idea in mind of what you want scripture to say before you even open it, then your “research” is already tainted.

I hope these reminders help.  They always help me.  Consider yourself adequately warned now.  So, go ahead…strap on the gloves and slug it out.  And may the best Christian win.  :)

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Christian Accountability, Church Unity, conflict, Ephesians 4, Peacemakers, The Church's Influence

Forgiveness in Our DNA

22 03 2012

Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife.
Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people,
even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”  Hosea 3:1 (The Message)

                                                              

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”  John 8:10-11

Hosea had a prostitute for a wife.  I cannot even begin to relate to Hosea’s pain.  I read Hosea and really do have to stretch my imagination to try to feel the pain, and even then, I am sure I cannot even get close.  It is, I think, the severest form of unfaithfulness.  That is probably why God chose it to illustrate His displeasure with His people.  Hosea’s illustration represents among the deepest of betrayals and pain we can know, and the reconciliation to which it points likewise represents the most significant we can begin to embrace.

Just as God’s wrath is just one shade of His deep, deep love for His people, His forgiveness is likewise one shade of that same love.  They are two sides of the same coin.  They are both His very nature.  But though He did not call His people to try to emulate His wrath, He absolutely does call us to forgive as He forgives.  In fact, He created an entire movement (one we call “the church”) designed specifically to reflect that remarkable forgiveness.  It is His very nature, and it is therefore in the very core purpose of His church.

And still, we, His church, read and grasp with great astonishment the story of Hosea and Gomer and the forgiving heart of a husband toward an unrepentant prostitute wife.  It shocks us.  It surprises us.  Its very idea eludes us, at least in any practical way.  Jesus demonstrated it as well, forgiving the adulteress woman in John 8.  Throughout all of scripture, we get story after story of God’s forgiving nature.  Even when He brings His wrath, it is for the purpose of reconciling His people back to Him.  It is Who He is.

This reminder encourages me greatly.  If it is the very nature of God to forgive, and it is the very nature of Jesus to demonstrate that same forgiveness, then that means that, somewhere in our DNA…in the deepest recesses of the church and its memory banks, there is forgiveness.  We can muster it.  We can reflect it.  We can demonstrate it in the same shocking fashion as Hosea, because it is in our blood.  Does that encourage you?

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : Christian Accountability, Forgiveness, Reconciliation

God, Google, and Magic 8 Balls

20 03 2012

Tuesday Re-mix - 

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. James 3:17

Do you remember Magic 8 Balls?  I do…that awesome Mattel toy (wow, just the name Mattel conjures up so many exciting feelings for several generations of Americans…Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars, and all those games!) that would answer any question you have about anything!  Ask it any “yes” or “no” question and then shake it and, voilà, the answer would magically appear in the little window.  “It is decidedly so”, “signs point to yes”, “Don’t count on it”, “Ask again later”…it was all very simple, really.  We liked that about it.  We got to set the agenda, we got to ask the questions we wanted answered…and if we didn’t like the answer, we could just shake it and ask again!

We’ve grown up now and we no longer rely on Magic 8 Balls to answer all our pressing questions.  We realize, of course, how silly we were when we did that.  Now, we have something much more powerful, something much more completely accurate to answer all our questions.  Now we have the internet.  The process still works the same way, of course, because it is a process we like, one we get to control.  We simply log on and Google whatever our question is and, voilà, the answer magically appears on our screen.  We like getting wisdom that way.  It appeals to us.  We set the agenda, we ask the questions, and we get the answer.  We are powerful.

It is this notion of being in control and powerful, I think, that makes it so difficult for us to embrace the Bible (or a walk with Christ, for that matter).  Oh, it is a book filled with all the wisdom we could ever need, but we don’t particularly like the process for retrieving it.  We do not feel nearly as comfortable with receiving God’s wisdom, because we do not get to be in control of how it is imparted.  More often than not, we don’t even get to ask the questions.  Well, we can ask whatever questions we want, but they are probably not the right questions.  And since we tend to ask all the wrong questions, God’s wisdom tends to confound and frustrate us, because He doesn’t necessarily dole it out to us on our terms and in response to our silly questions.  Sure, we may have access to the highest intelligence in the universe, but we do not control how that wisdom is imparted.  That is bothersome.

We are like the rich young ruler (Luke 18) who comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  He asked a question about his life after his death.  But Jesus’ answer had an entirely different focus.  His answer, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” focused on the here and now, on this man’s life starting today.  The young man didn’t like that wisdom.  Neither do we.

It would be like asking the Magic 8 Ball a question and having it say, “You’re asking the wrong question…the question that really matters is…”.  Let’s be honest, if Magic 8 Balls said that, nobody would buy them.  And if our search engines did that, we would be looking for a new search engine…one that will play by our rules and answer the questions we want answered…because we are powerful.

But on a genuine faith walk with God, we do not get to set the agenda.  We rarely even get answers to the questions we are asking, at least not when we want them and not the kind of answers we want.  Rather, Jesus says, “Come follow me.”  And it is in the following that we begin to get answers to questions we didn’t even know to ask.  It is in the regular, daily dose of scripture that we begin to receive wisdom that matters.  It is in the regular time in prayer that our perspectives on this world and our family and our neighbors and all our silly questions begin to change.  And over time, before we even know it has happened, we have a profound understanding of things and we have a peace that surpasses all that understanding.  We have something infinitely better than an answer to all our little questions and infinitely better than our own terms and our own agendas.  We have God.  We are not powerful.  But He is…and we have Him.

© Blake Coffee
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on this website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Blake Coffee.  Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: © Blake Coffee. Website: churchwhisperer.com

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Categories : prayer, Spiritual Formation

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