Keep Mission Hot

I recently joined 5 others for a weeklong trip to England to listen and learn from people who are leading pioneering and renewal movements. This is the second of a short series of posts on what I’m contemplating as I return home. The first is HERE. The Second is HERE.

In my first post, I shared that Andy Hawthorne, founder of The Message Trust, said that two things he attributes to the ongoing fruitfulness of their ministry are ‘keep prayer hot’ and ‘keep mission hot.’

My first two posts focused on a posture of seeking after God’s provision and power through prayer and being empowered by the Holy Spirit.

This one is challenging in a different way. It’s a mindset that leads to a lot of ongoing choices that we can choose to make or choose to avoid making.

Mission is the thing that we believe God has given us to do. It is the reason our ministries exist. Yet how many Christians (including pastors, elders, ministry leaders, and everyone else) have a clear idea of our ‘why’ as it connects with the priorities Jesus gave us?

Andy didn’t give a detailed explanation of what it means to keep mission hot, but he demonstrated it. His passion pours out of him with every conversation and with every prayer and I’m confident in every team meeting. I’m reflecting now on what a difference it makes to an organization’s culture when the mission is always front and center. Hot.

You need to know that there’s something different about The Message Trust from several others we visited. Andy founded the Message and continues in a key leadership role. They have a culture all their own with little to constrain their ministry approach.

And there’s also a lot that’s the same between Andy and the others.

Most of the ministry leaders we visited are serving within the Church of England, a denomination with ample history and … organizational hierarchy. And … tradition.

In the midst of these potential challenges, all of these folks prioritize mission in a way that resonates with Andy’s ‘keep mission hot.’ Although some British personalities display the heat a bit less overtly. These contexts were particularly interesting to me, because many of our churches have been around for quite some time and have a lot of tradition.

Let’s talk about tradition for a moment. Depending on who you ask, tradition can be a very positive term or a very negative one. For me, the question is not whether our traditions are good or bad, but rather, do they serve the mission?

For many of us, I suspect our willingness to really ask that question will potentially define how hot or cold mission is for us and our congregations.

If I had to choose just a couple of the factors that cut through every visit that we made, one would definitely be innovation. Innovation does not mean change for change sake nor does it necessarily mean doing away with everything traditional.

Innovation in this context means that the mission drives the decisions. It means that things that are no longer bearing good fruit and often adapted or discontinued. This approach reminds me of Jesus’ teaching in John 15.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” John 15:1-2

This idea of allowing mission to be the key factor in decision making is both so simple, so essential for ‘keeping mission hot,’ AND so seemingly challenging for many of us to apply.

In my next post, I’ll explore the wisdom I gleaned from those shifting culture toward mission in very traditional settings. I’d like to end this post to asking you a few of the simple questions I’m thinking through myself.

Do people in our churches know what our mission is? Do we?

Do we regularly ask things like, ‘how will this help with our mission?’ in the midst of ministry planning conversations?

If you are a leader, pastor, etc., how often does talk of the mission flow out of you? In your prayers? In your preaching and teaching? In meetings? In conversations over coffee?

If mission isn’t hot in your church, ministry, or family, could it be because mission isn’t very hot in your heart and mind?

A Supernatural Community Focused on Jesus

I recently joined 5 others for a weeklong trip to England to listen and learn from people who are leading pioneering and renewal movements. This is the second of a short series of posts on what I’m contemplating as I return home. The first is HERE.

“A supernatural community focused on Jesus.”

This phrase was shared with us in a conversation with Anthony Delaney, a pastor at Ivy Church in Manchester UK and movement leader in a wider scope.

This simple phrase has stuck with me in the time since our visit. I was immediately thinking about the possible alternatives. While it’s sadly possible for churches to be focused on things other than Jesus, more challenging for me is the alternative to supernatural: natural.

If we’re honest, aren’t our churches more often more like a natural community focused on Jesus? We bring ourselves, our natural abilities, our money, etc. to church to do good stuff. We serve. We sing. We pray. We tell people about Jesus and challenge one other do follow his teachings more and more over time.

But if God wasn’t really alive and active, would we really even know it?

So, what might it mean to live into – to seek to be – a supernatural community?

“In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.” Acts 2:17-18

The Bible is chock full of the supernatural. Miracles, dreams, revelations, demons rebuked, speaking words that are obviously not originated in our own thoughts…

And then there’s that gap. Between then…and now.

The difference feels huge sometimes, doesn’t it?

I think it is important to note that there was a unique factor of Jesus’ time on earth. There was authentication of who he really was and is. Demonstration of what the in breaking kingdom of heaven looks like. The unique event that was Pentecost.

Acknowledging all those particulars, the supernatural is either real or it’s not. God is either basically watching from a distance OR actively involved in things.

Natural or Supernatural?

I suppose I can see why some are tempted to kind of manufacture the supernatural. To put on a hype show and maybe imagine things that aren’t really there in a false demonstration of spiritual power. Some of the stuff on TV feels like that at times.

The interesting thing is, many of these reserved middle aged white Anglican men in England believe in and have experienced the Supernatural – the Holy Spirit moving in his mysterious yet evident way.

Drawing agnostic young men to a church in a way that they can’t even articulate…

Giving Christians words to speak over people they’ve never met that minister to them in deep ways…

Giving ‘ordinary’ Christians visions for ministries that meet needs in their communities in ways they wouldn’t have expected…

Bringing healing and wholeness from addiction and long inhabited patterns of sin…

I write this not because I have any great insight or teaching to offer to you. Rather, I’m in a place of…perhaps longing is the word.

One of the leaders we visited with talked frequently of ‘Word and Spirit ministry.’ The word part (Scripture) comes more evidently to us. I have and will contunue to spend significant time teaching the Bible.

But there are atheists who teach the Bible.

I don’t want to just teach the content of the Bible. I want to live in the story that the Bible is telling. A supernatural story.

I want to be a member of a supernatural community that’s focused on Jesus.

And right now, the only way I know how to do that is to hold my hands out. To pray longingly and expectantly. And to watch and wait for what God might do amongst us.

Keep Prayer Hot

I recently joined 5 others for a weeklong trip to England to listen and learn from people who are leading pioneering and renewal movements. This is the first of a short series of posts on what I’m contemplating as I return home.

Several things that I’m reflecting on are not ‘new information’ for me. It’s interesting how sometime a familiar Scripture will hit you in a fresh way. Or a ‘basic’ idea will cut through to your heart.

In a conversation we had with Andy Hawthorne, the founder of the Message Trust, he said the following two things were central to him over decades of leading in ministry.

Keep mission hot

Keep prayer hot.

What does it mean to keep prayer hot? (I’ll write about mission soon). Just a bit of introspection leads me to have conviction deep down in. So often my prayer life seems anything but hot. I’m not talking about volume, but rather the intensity and expectations of my prayers, whether silent or shared in a group setting.

Two words come to mind in reflection on prayer from the conversations we had with a few different people in the UK, but particularly with Andy and the Message Trust team.

Desperation

Expectation

We aren’t drawn to the idea of desperation. It’s for people that can’t take care of themselves right? I have enough money in the bank to pay my bills for a few months. I know how to organize a Sunday gathering and preach a decent sermon. Why should I be desperate?

“We only work with desperate churches,” Andy tells us. What a fascinating statement, right? I’ve known of some churches who feel desperate because their numbers and dwindling and the finances troubling. They are worried that they might not be able to ‘keep their doors open’ much longer if things keep going this way.

But that’s not the kind of desperation he has in mind. The ministry of the Message Trust is expanding and constantly exploring new ground. They have little perceived need to be desperate. They’re doing quite well. And perhaps that’s when many of us would let prayer cool down?

As we were invited to join in the regular time of prayer that happens before the Sunday service at the Message Community Church in Manchester, the culture of keeping prayer hot was clearly displayed. As we sang today, sought God together for the people that would gather shortly, for those who would hear for the first time…the prayer felt hot.

Desperation isn’t for survival. Rather it comes from the knowledge that if God doesn’t do what only God can do, what good is any of it? Only God can draw. Only God can save. Only God can heal. Only God can set free. Only God can empower by His Spirit and send us out…

We should be desperate because we can’t accomplish this with our planning and good quality ministry alone. This is a work of God.

Which leads us to expectation. Let’s be honest here: How often do we really expect God to move in such a way that we’re left without human explanation?

If God’s desire is for people to be saved from the sin, restored to a living and abiding relationship with God, set free from the patterns that have left them stuck, be filled with the Holy Spirit and sent out as members of the mission, why shouldn’t we expect him to do that?

Perhaps theologically, we’d think that since that’s God’s work, he will do it whether we seek it and expect it or not. Indeed, that does happen. But somehow in the mystery of it all, it seems to happen a lot more in the places who are desperate for it. Who expect it.

“According to your faith it will be done unto you.”

So as I sit at my desk today, I wonder whether any of this will make a difference for me – for us. Reality is, only time will tell.

But the thought hasn’t left me yet.

Keep prayer hot.

I’m sure it must take root in my own prayer life. But what does it mean for us when we gather? More time for prayer? More focus in prayer? Set aside prayer gatherings for those desperate for God?

What about you?

What Happens When Christians Die?

In the last post, I made a brief case that our bodily resurrection when Christ returns is the primary hope that brings the biblical storyline to completion in the restoration of all things.

The Scriptures in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Corinthians 15 describe believers who have died as ‘fallen asleep,’ a description of death that indicates that it is not permanent. Those who sleep will eventually wake up. Death is not the end of the story. When Jesus returns, the dead in Christ will be raised and those who are still alive will be transformed.

But what happens while we are ‘sleeping’? While it is possible that we ‘go to sleep’ in Christ when we die and wake a moment later (to our perception) at the resurrection or simply ‘sleep’ for an extended period of time, Scripture seems to have more to say about what has sometimes been called the ‘intermediate state’ and what we commonly refer to as ‘going to heaven,’ even though that’s not the particular term that the Bible typically uses for it.

One interesting example is Jesus’ interaction with one of the criminals who is crucified beside him in Luke’s account of the Gospel.

“Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’” Luke 23:42-43

The man’s request to be included in Jesus’ kingdom as they were dying likely represents his own (commonly held Jewish) belief in the future bodily resurrection of the dead at the end of the age. Jesus goes beyond that request and tells him that ‘today, you will be with me in paradise.’

There are a couple of prominent places where Paul speaks to a more robust status upon physical death (or his preferred term ‘sleep;’)

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” Philippians 1:21-24

Here Paul is reflecting on the possibility of his own impending death as he sits in prison, writing to the Philippians. He says that to ‘depart’ is to be ‘with Christ.’ Whatever that precisely means, Paul says that to be ‘with Christ’ is better by far. We can surmise from this that to ‘sleep in Christ’ is to be intimately in his comforting presence.

2 Corinthians is another of Paul’s Letters in which he talks more substantially about being with Christ upon death.

“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:6-8

Here we are told that to be away from our bodies is to be ‘with the Lord’ and that, like with Philippians, this is preferable for Paul.

Putting these pieces together, we can start to see a bigger picture. For Paul, being as close as possible to Jesus is a primary aim. Even though very little detial is given regarding what is going on at present, there is enough here to have a strong confidence that believers who die are ‘with the Lord’ and that this is an extremely good thing!

When Jesus returns, our bodies will be raised and transformed and we will be whole – more fully than ever before. What’s vitally important in all of this is our deep and abiding connection with Christ throughout life now and forevermore.

Jesus is God with us – Emmanuel. He promises to be with us always.

When we die – sleep – we will be apart from our body, but ‘with him.’ in a special, comforting way.

When he returns, we will be raised from the dead and we will be with him always. He will live among us. (Revelation 22:4)

Forever.

What is the The Christian’s Hope?

The primary hope for Christians in the Bible storyline is not ‘going to heaven’ but rather our future bodily resurrection when Christ returns. As we will explore in the next post, the New Testament does affirm that those who die ‘in the Lord’ will be ‘with him’ and that this is a very good and significant comfort. But is not the end of the story nor is it our deepest hope.

As we saw in the last post, God created humans for the earth and we will live forever on a new earth. Yet, many believers have died over time and we should recognize that our current bodies are not the right fit for eternity.

The hope that stands in that gap is the resurrection of the body.

We can see this hope in the Old Testament:

“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Daniel 12:2

When we get to the New Testament, many texts can be referenced, but we’ll focus on two prominent places that discuss this hope.

“Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

Like all of the Letters in the New Testament, this section was written to address a practical concern that people were dealing with. Here the situation is those who are concerned about ‘those who sleep in death’ – fellow believers who have died before Jesus’ return.

It’s interesting to note that 1 Thessalonians is among the earliest of Paul’s Letters to be written. What does Paul say to comfort them?

First let’s observe what Paul does not say here. He does not say, ‘don’t worry, God called them home to heaven where they will live with him forever.’

What Paul DOES assure them of is that when Jesus returns, they will not miss out in any way on the bodily resurrection that will happen only when Jesus returns, accompanied by a loud command and a trumpet call.

The resurrection of the body in order to live in the new creation (kingdom) is our primary hope as Christians.

1 Corinthians 15 is the other major place that we will look at to see clearly the hope of future resurrection. We will look breifly at two sections of this extended discussion about the resurrection.

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in turn: Christ, the first fruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

The connection with Jesus’ own bodily resurrection and our future hope is extremely important to a biblical understanding of our hope. Jesus is called the ‘first fruits,’ an agricultural term where the first of the harvest would be a sign that more crops where to come. Because Jesus did not stay in the tomb but was bodily raised from the dead, so will we. His resurrection is the anchor of hope for our own resurrection when he returns.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Paul here teaches, consistant with his letter to the Thessalonians, that when Jesus returns, those of us who are still alive will have our bodies transformed and those who have died (sleep) will be bodily raised from the dead to everlasting life.

The resurrection of the body is a n0n-negotiable belief for Christians and our hope.

Those who wrote the Apostles Creed recognized this. The creed ends with ‘the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.’

In the next post, we will look at what the New Testament indicates to us is happening with us while we ‘sleep’ in the passages that we looked at here.

Earth is Our Home

“This is not our home – we’re just passing through.”

Many of us have heard or said these words. Implied in them is that our real purpose is for our souls to ‘get to heaven’ after we die where we will live forever in our perfect home.

The challenge is that this is not the story that the Bible tells.

In this post, we will look at how the Bible begins and ends in order to properly frame the story. In the next one, we’ll look at the hope for how we participate in the fulfillment of the story through bodily resurrection. In the third post, we’ll look at what happens to believers who die before the culmination of the Bible’s story.

In order to properly understand the Bible as a whole, we need to start at the beginning.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'” Genesis 1:26-28

Here we see that ‘in the beginning’ when every thing was good and indeed very good and before sin entered the world in any way, God specifically placed humans on the earth that he had created. God gave us – men and women – the commission for responsibly (have dominion / rule over) over all the other creatures. We were to multiply and fill the earth. That is the goal.

Earth is the home God intended for us from the very beginning.

At the core of the problem of the story, the first and all subsequent humans (except for One) failed to trust God and live into God’s intention for them: Sin

The culmination of the story in the last book of the Bible provides the other bookend. It shows what God will bring about when things are put back to his full intention.

“Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.'” Revelation 21:1-3

Just as ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,’ so in the end he will create ‘a new heavens and a new earth.’ As when God created in the beginning he placed us on the first earth, it corresponds that in the end we will live on the new earth.

This is further established in this text that the renewed place – the New Jerusalem – is coming down out of heaven (the place where God’s perfect will is done) to earth, where finally now his will will be fulfilled as well. [See Matt. 6:10)

In this text, it’s not that we ‘go to be with God’ once we’ve passed through, but rather that God comes to dwell with us.

We can track with this hope that we see a vision of the fulfillment of in Revelation at various places through the Bible.

“See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.” Isaiah 65:17-18

“Heaven must receive him [Jesus] until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” Acts 3:21

“But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” 2 Peter 3:13

“…in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:21

Earth was God’s intention for us.

The (re)New(ed) earth is our forever home.

Thoughts After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination

This is a note I wrote to the congregation I serve – a group mostly fairly conservative and evangelical. Some of you reading this might be from a different perspective, so keep the audience in mind.

____

Friends,

I know that many of you feel deeply affected by the public assasination of Charlie Kirk, a young Christian man who shared both his Christian beliefs and conservative political perspectives on college campuses and in other contexts.

For me, the first thought and emotion that came to mind wasn’t only about this but also the thought that there has been so much death recently.  So many school shootings.  So much ongoing violence around the world.  The cumulative effect is hard to process at times. 

When one major event or the culmination of them mount up, it has historically led many Christians to cry out, ‘How long O Lord?’  Surely there must be an end to this…

The first thing I’d encourage people who pray to do is to pray for Charlie’s wife Erika and their two children.  I don’t even want to imagine the pain in their lives right now.

     It seems to me that it’s often in our responses that our maturity or lack thereof is exposed.  Thankfully many of our nation’s leaders across the political spectrum have quickly and unequivocally spoken out against Kirk’s murder, which is framed as at least in part an attack on free speech in our country.  It’s good to see people who did not agree with Kirk’s ideas stand by his and our right to speak openly in the public square.  

Others have responded in much more disappointing ways.  Many of us have seen people commenting things to the effect that they are not troubled by the fact that Kirk is no longer around to speak.  For several of us, this type of response makes us angry.  Understandably.  We wonder what kind of country we live in that has people who would rejoice at the death of someone based just on the beliefs they hold.  Perhaps the emotion goes deeper when we hear these people saying they are okay with the death of someone who believed some or many of the same things that we do.  How do these people really feel about us?  

If you are feeling any of these ways this week, I want to encourage you to take your heart to the Lord in two ways, in addition to praying for Kirk’s family.

The first is lament.  We have largely lost this word in our practice.  Lament is calling out to God in the gap between what should be and what is.  It longs for God to bring about the redemption of the world that he has promised and will in his timing.  

The second is more challenging but I believe it is important.  I want to encourage you to take your anger towards others to Jesus and let his own heart turn the anger into a deep sadness for those with hard hearts and a desire to have them come to the place where they see differently..  Jesus didn’t let himself become hard toward those who opposed him and we must not be sucked into a place of hatred toward people who can’t see clearly.  

I just wrote a blog post exploring this idea more and I invite you to read it as well. It is linked below as “Fighting For People, Not Agaist Them.”

Fighting For People, Not Against Them

Whether you are one who agreed or disagreed with some of many of the positions Charlie Kirk took or the way he presented them (for me it’s some of both), one of the things that I’ve heard several times is that Charlie would talk with anyone willing to have the conversation.

Perhaps we should have the courage to do the same.

Peace and love,

Dan

Fighting For People, Not Against Them

Who is our enemy?

On one level, the answer to this question depends on one’s location in time and place.

During World War 2, United States citizens would have likely seen Japan and Germany as our enemies.

In the First Century world of the New Testament, Jewish people would have seen Roman occupiers as their enemies.

Today, many Israeli Jews probably see Arab Palestinians as their enemies and vice versa.

Enemies are often understood in the starkest sense as those who seek to take our lives (literally) or our homes and peace at least. And so people naturally want to defend ourselves from such threats. Sometimes pursuing deadly force to eliminate these threats – whether they are real or perceived.

Who are our enemies?

There is yet another perceived enemy today. Perhaps this too goes back much further, but it feels fresher. It seems that we – at least in the USA – have begun to think of people with differing beliefs, convictions, ideology and identity as enemies.

I know people who are literally harassed and afraid because they don’t fit in with some members of their community’s norms. Apparently, their neighbors see them as enemies for some reason. Not physical threats, but ideological threats perhaps.

I’m writing this the day after a prominent young politically conservative Christian speaker was murdered at a public college campus event. Evidently someone considered him to be an enemy that needed to be eliminated. While yet to be known, I doubt the killer felt that he was going to be literally hurt by this speaker and yet something led him to the idea and action that it would be best if he killed him.

Several people I know, while rightly calling for justice for the person who literally pulled the trigger, are also blaming the ideological left in our country for fostering such hate toward those who hold traditional conservative values that would lead to this heinous action.

In my opinion, these claims both have some truth to them and simultaneously don’t see far enough. Although thankfully most people will never pick up a weapon to seek to take the life of someone who espouses seemingly opposite values from their own, it seems to me that our culture is fostering a deep disdain on all ‘sides’ for those who think differently than us. We can see that clearly with ‘them’ but much less so in ‘us.’

Who is our enemy?

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

For Christians, the Bible invites us to think much more deeply than psychology and sociology. It invites us to realize that there is more going on than we can see in front of us. It’s easy to think that these people or political parties or religions are our enemies.

But people are flesh and blood. And this Scripture tells us that our real struggle is not against them. There are powers in the unseen realm that would seek to have us foster hatred and death toward those we feel threaten us. And if we are not careful, any of us might be playing into the hand of the real enemy.

For those of us who are seeking to shape our lives around Jesus, we have some powerful examples from the only One who has ever stepped into our world from the one beyond. I believe that Jesus throws a wrench in the gears of the enemy making machine that is our human brokenness.

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Matthew 5:44

“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” Matthew 5:41

There are two moments in Jesus’ life in particular that continue to draw my attention. They are times where he demonstrates love for those who show deep opposition to God’s ways.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37

Think about what he’s saying here. What does he want for those who have killed the messengers God sent to guide them back? He longs to gather them in. He wants them to see the light and leave the realm of darkness and hatred.

There is yet one thing even more shocking than that..

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

It’s hard to imagine a greater enemy than one who is literally taking your life. Jesus speaks these words from the cross. Yet he wants them too not primarily to pay deeply for what they are doing but rather to see the tragic error in their judgements and actions and turn to a different way (repent).

How wild is it that Jesus says that someone who is doing exactly the evil they intend ‘don’t know what they are doing?’ It sure seems like they know what they are doing.

But do they see clearly what they are doing from the big picture? I think not.

At one level it certainly seems like we are fighting against people. Wrestling a gun or knife from someone’s hand. Doing everything we can to keep them from doing the evil they intend. Bringing to justice those who murder so mercilessly.

But on a deeper and significant level, we must fight for these same people. Not for them to get away with evil but for the darkness in their own hearts and actions to be exposed by the light of goodness, truth and beauty.

I think of Daryl Davis- a black man who befriends KKK members. His closet is now full of the hoods of former members changed by the friendships he’s initiated. To me, he is someone who sees his ‘enemies’ the way Jesus does.

Every murderer was created as God’s image. Each one intended to fill this earth with love and responsible care and concern for others. Each one intended to know and respond to the love of God.

We fight not primarily against but for the souls of the vilest among us, because God doesn’t want any to be lost in their twisted, sinful ways. Rather his desire is for them to repent – to turn and change their wicked ways.

That Jesus might gather them in.

He is able to turn murders like Paul the apostle into emissaries of God’s transformative love.

Noteworthy Books: Paul and the Resurrection of Israel

Jason Staples has written a book that challenges many of our assumptions and common interpretations of the Letter to the Romans and Paul’s understanding of the fulfillment of God’s promises given in the Old Testament more broadly.

In Romans 11, Paul states that “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved.”

But what does it mean for all Israel to be saved? That’s a question which has led interpreters to a lot of pondering and theorizing without much definitive understanding. Many common interpretations involve many of all Jews undergoing a mass conversation in the last days, but is this what Paul is saying?

One major assumption that Staples questions in significant depth in his first book but also covers in this one is the relationship between the terms Jew and Israel.

It’s easy for us to assume that the words Jew and Israel are synonymous. At least it was for me before reading this book. But it only takes a clear look at the Old Testament to realize that there is more to the story.

The term Israel goes back to a person also known as Jacob. He is the son of Isaac and the grandson of Abraham and the inheritor of God’s promises. Jacob/Israel has 12 sons whose descendants become known as the 12 tribes of Israel. So in one significant way, the word Israel refers to all 12 tribes. Judah is one of Jacob’s sons and the tribe of Judah is one of the 12 tribes that make up Israel in that sense. Judah’s descendants (primarily) will eventually come to settle in the land of Judah or ” Judea” and will be called the Jews.

Additionally, those who are familiar with the Old Testament storyline will recall that after King Solomon, the nation is divided into two – the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah (named after it’s most prominent tribe)

The northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria first and scattered among many nations. (More on that soon.) The southern kingdom of Judah was later conquered by Babylon and most of the surviving members were exiled to one country: Babylon. Many of these people returned to their homelands later during the time described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. These are the people known as Jews. They are mostly descendants of the tribe of Judah, as well as some from the tribe of Benjamin that lived in the same area broadly.

So, Jews are part of Israel in the broad sense (as one of the 12 tribes) but there are many Israelites who are not Jews. At least historically. And around the time of Jesus there were some – the Samaritans for example – who claimed an Israelite identity with no association with being Jewish.

Before we specifically get to Paul and Romans, let’s look quickly at just two of several examples of the restoration promises for these exiled peoples given through the Prophets that Paul would have had in his mind.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will take the Israelites out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms.” Ezekiel 37:21-22

“See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of the earth.” Jeremiah 31:8

God’s future promises very specifically identify both the southern kingdom of Judah that had been exiled in Babylon AND the northern kingdom of Israel (sometimes called by the prominent tribe of Ephraim (one of Joseph’s sons).

To put it directly: even if every single Jew (southern kingdom / tribe of Judah) was part of the restoration, God’s declaration through the Prophets would remain significantly unfulfilled. Judah (Jews) are only one part of Israel and not ever the whole.

Here is the big problem that leads Paul to an unexpected conclusion. How can the people of the northern kingdom of Israel be restored if they are scattered among the nations and no longer have a discernible Israelite identity?

Many of the Jews in Babylon had maintained their identity in exile as many Jews since have maintained their distinct communal identity in the various countries in which they found/find themselves. Not so with the tribes of the north after the Assyrian conquest. Not only had they lost their identity in practical terms but God through the Prophet Hosea speaks to this loss in calling them ‘not my people’ even while promising a different future. (Hosea 1:9-10)

How then will this promised restoration possibly come about?

Now we are ready to think about Paul’s perspective on what God is doing in his time in light of all of these Prophetic promises and challenges to their fulfillment. Paul is seeing some Jews respond to the proclamation of Jesus and Messiah and many Gentiles responding and being given the gift of God’s Spirit, which the Prophets connected with restoration of Israelites and Jews.

Staples puts it this way: “When Paul observed uncircumcised Jesus followers receiving the Spirit – the very thing promised not to gentiles but to Israel as part of the new covenant – he turned to his Scriptures to understand this unexpected development; concluding that gentile participation in the promises to Israel is a surprising part of Israel’s redemption.” p. 324

To state it directly: God’s promises involve the restoration of Judah (Jews) AND Israel. But as the gospel proclamation is going out, God is saving Jews and Gentiles. So what gives?

Is God unfaithful to his promises? Did God change his mind?

Or perhaps God is fulfilling his promises in an unexpected way.

What would or could it look like for God to bring salvation and restoration to these people among the nations and without specific Israelite identity?

Jason Staples proposal is that Paul’s understanding is that God is fulfilling the promise to restore Israel as the one people of God by grafting in former Gentiles who are now – alongside Jewish believers in Messiah Jesus (the natural branches) – the Israel of God.

Look at this example from Romans 9, that makes more sense the more we understand the Old Testament texts that Paul is quoting:

“even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea:“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,” and, “In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” Romans 9:24-26

Can you see the connection here? Paul is taking an Old Testament text that speaks to the restoration of the northern with the southern kingdom and applying it to Jews (southern) and Gentiles (northern).

Promises made to Israel are being fulfilled in Gentiles. But if Staples is right, God is not doing a bait and switch. God is restoring Israel by saving Gentiles and including them in the promise alongside believing Jews.

Staples claim is that Paul views uncircumcised Jesus-followers as neither Jews nor gentiles [any longer] but instead as restored, resurrected Israelites. p. 331.

… until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved.” Romans 11:25-26

On Staples reading of Paul, ‘all Israel’ is not specifically then all Jews, but those Jewish and resurrected Gentiles who have become followers of Jesus the Messiah.

There is much, much more in this book and a to of depth and detail. My hope in this post is to give you just a bit of a taste of the big idea.

What do you think?

‘Holy Saturday’ & Our Partial Gospel

The Saturday in between the death of Jesus and the Resurrection exposes that what we commonly understand as ‘The Gospel’ is only part of it.

To be more pointed: is the resurrection of Jesus REALLY necessary for what we share as the good news?

The way I was taught to understand the Gospel involved a few simple points.

1. We are all sinful and this separated from God
2. Jesus died to pay the price for our sins.
3. If we trust in him, we can be forgiven [and go to heaven when we die]

It seems to me that we can preach this message on Friday and Saturday.

Do we really need Sunday?

Of course, most Christians know well enough that the resurrection is very important and that the New Testament says a lot about it. Again, in my experience, the importance is commonly expressed in that it ‘proves’ that Jesus was really who he said he was. This is true, but it’s also truly inadequate.

In fact, the Bible is telling a much richer and deeper story, that includes all of the points above but also a lot more!

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” 1 Corinthians 15:17

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

Obviously, Jesus’ resurrection is non-negotiable. But why?

There are actually several reasons. Let me briefly share a few and perhaps we’ll spend more time exploring each in due time. If I could summarize what I perceive to be the overarching problem, it would be:

We have accepted too small of a story.

First, Humans were created to live in God’s presence, eat from the tree of life and not experience death. Death is not a normal part of life as God intended. It’s a primary consequence of sin. In 1 Corinthians 15:26, Paul states that ‘death is the last enemy.’ The solution to death is not ‘our souls going to heaven’ but rather bodily resurrection on the new earth. Jesus’ real death and real resurrection are the ‘first fruits’ that demonstrate to us that we too will one day live and embodied eternal life.

“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.” 1 Corinthians 15:22-24 

Next, Jesus is the promised King who will reign forever. God promised David that he would never cease to have a descendant on the throne. (2 Samuel 7:16). Peter’s Pentecost message in Acts 2 declares Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand to be fulfillment of God’s promises.

“ God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.  Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.” Acts 2:32-33

This text moves us to the third thing and that’s the Holy Spirit poured out by the Father and the resurrected and ascended Son – Jesus. Power through the Holy Spirit is absolutely vital, because God’s purpose isn’t only for us to be forgiven but also to be empowered to live the way that we were created to. To fulfill God’s purpose to be his image in this world – and the world to come.

I could go on about Jesus completing his sacrifice by presenting his blood in the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus as the great high priest who makes necessary intercession for us, Jesus’ victory over Satan and so much more, but for this Saturday, I hope you can see how Jesus’ death isn’t all we need for all that God intends for us and our world.

The good news that we will celebrate tomorrow morning, which is of course an available reality for us everyday now, is that Jesus is Risen, Jesus is reigning, all that we need is available to us who trust in him.

Whether we understand it or not.

But we should understand more and more of it. Jesus’ death for us is vital. But there’s more to the Story.

Friday is good.

And Sunday is necessary.