Jared over at Gospel-Driven Church has posted some cogent thoughts on young people and their relationships (often rocky) with the church, and visa-versa. Here's an excerpt:

-- Young adults, whether in college, graduate school, or just beginning a career, take time to figure out how to balance their life. The newness of "freedom" -- being away from home, being on their own, making their own money, etc. -- can be more overwhelming than they realize. (One stab at prescription: If a young adult only knows church as a program that was part of his family schedule growing up, rather than as a community life that was integral to his family (and that his family was integral to), he is more likely to consider church expendable in this transition.)

-- Young adults are just flaky. Seriously. To put positive spins on this: they are spontaneous, adventurous, experiential. To put negative spins on this: they have trouble committing, and they have trouble remembering. They may tell you "I'll be there" one day, and then forget what you were talking about the next. We have folks who attend our Element worship service once every four weeks, and for them, this is attending regularly. Never put it past a young person to "forget" about a service project because he was chatting at Starbucks with his friends or overslept after a late-night XBox session.

-- Young adults really do want community and they really don't want to be pandered to. They are finding these qualities very rare when they even bother looking for a church in a new environment.

-- Young adults are very, very busy. This is just an observational hypothesis, but it appears to me that each generation becomes more like the hurried, multi-tasked, overworked, overextended generation ahead of it sooner.

Here are some challenges particular to the environment Element ministers in: Nashville, TN. The same challenges above apply, but here are a few unique additions:

-- All young adults are transient, but in Nashville, they are even more so. As in most college towns, kids are here for school and consider their "real life" back home and on hold. They are here for their degree. Young folks come to Nashville to study medicine or nursing at Vanderbilt or music business at Belmont (or whatever), and as this is only a pit-stop for them, there is no real incentive to invest in discipleship here. Factor in all the aspiring entertainers (in Nashville, just throw a rock out your window and you'll hit a musician -- they are like actors in L.A., where everyone you meet is "really an actor"), and the transience compounds. Young adults are here to break into the music business. While they're here, they're busy writing, playing, trying to get gigs, working at Starbucks, and then when it doesn't pan out after a year or so, they move back home.

-- Our particular church is in a suburban area about 15 miles outside of downtown Nashville, which might as well be 100. Better exposure and strategic advertisement can lessen this distance, but young adult life takes place in the heart of Nashville, where the colleges and clubs and coffee shops and restaurants and art venues are, and most young adults are reluctant to travel outside this bubble. Why would they want to just to "check out" a church or young adult ministry? (We are relying on our already invested folks to bring friends, and most of them are.) For college kids without cars, our church may as well be in Alabama. In addition, despite the fact that, according to one church staff member's research, our church is in the area of Nashville with the highest concentration of single twentysomethings, because we have no draw for them (the "mall" is a joke, the restaurant selection numbers about five, no music venues, etc.), young people spend their non-working life outside our area.

Of course, I recommend you read the whole thing.

I particularly liked the ending of his post:

These are the unique challenges of ministering to college students and young adults. They are easy to pigeonhole, difficult to predict. And they are a joy to do life with when you can get one to slow down. :-)

I have found it refreshing that most of the young adults I meet are as tired of the self-helpy, mealy-mouthed, buffet-style, consumer-driven church as I am, and they are hungry for substantive teaching, and for the Gospel. Despite consuming media at a rate that dwarfs older generations, they have a low tolerance for "the show" in church.

So, GAPpers, what do you think? Do these observations ring true to you? I'd be very interested in your thoughts on this.

Ooooooo, how ominous - the future . . .

For all of you frequent readers of the GAP blog (I see one - no - two hands), I'd like to firstly say, "THANKS SO MUCH for welcoming Jennifer and I into your group with loving, kind attitudes." I know it can be weird sometimes to have someone come in whose job it is to think about you and how things could be better, changed or even (gasp!) eliminated. But each of you have been gentle in loving us.

I thought that the GAP blog was as good a place as any to discuss a proposal to go forward. Keep in mind that the ideas listed below are just that - a proposal. Still, while it is not concrete, it is more firm than your average kiwi & strawberry Jell-O. I welcome thoughts and opinions in the comments section, but if you have something that you feel is very important that I've missed or something else that is somewhat substantive to say, I'd rather you just call me so we can talk about it. Blog comments sometimes do not communicate extremely well.

So . . . without further ado, here is what I see possibly happening with the GAP in the very near future. Enjoy:

Proposed Sunday Mornings:
Sunday mornings will not change too much. The main difference is that we will share time with college students until two things happen:
1) Each group begins to receive a regular, consistent attendance of at least seven people.
2) It seems right to the leadership of the GAP (Bill/Jill, Randy/Jennifer, Corrie/Justin, Steve Novotny and those who choose to be a part of a GAP ministry team) and the leadership of the college group to split up.

While the main lesson will combine the two groups, discussion over what was taught will be divided so the college and GAP can share with each other afterwards. These breakout groups can also be a time for prayer.

Keep in mind that college and GAP will still hang out together, socially, before each Sunday, regardless of whether the groups are combined during Bible Study. As we begin to move from the YMCA Activities Building to the new Y building adjacent to the HNW parking lot, there will be awesome opportunities to present a fresh outlook on the GAP's future. Unofficially, the two classes together will be referred to as CAP (college and professionals).

There will be time to serve prior to the 9:00 service in preparing the YMCA building to be more welcoming than it already is. This will include hanging up HNW signs, taking down YMCA signs, preparing chairs, making/getting coffee/snacks, and prayer over the morning. This service time will be vital to the success of the new GAP ministry connecting with visitors as we move forward.


Sunday Late Afternoons:
Each Sunday afternoon, we'll begin home groups in a host home off of the HNW campus. The home groups will be a place where GAPpers can connect with each other on a deeper level than what is available Sunday mornings. I believe that there are many more GAP-eligible peeps out there than are attending Sunday mornings. If the morning Bible Study begins to grow, it will soon become less personal. We'll fulfill this need to create and develop relationships during the home groups.

This time is designed to be less about Bible Study - although this can happen - and more about building Godly relationships. While we will likely go over something from the scriptures, we will spend most of our time hanging out, eating, praying, and just having a good time.


Mid-Week Worship Time:
After we have a decent amount of people who are showing up on Sundays and can commit to coming to a mid-week worship time, we'll begin something new on the campus at HNW. The worship time will be a place for college and young singles in the community to gather, hear from God's word, worship and hang out. Proposed nights for this are Tuesdays or Thursdays. As soon as we have enough people who are on board, we will begin this new facet of ministry. If you have ideas for what this worship time could be called and when it fits best in your schedule (day and time), let me know in the comments.


So - there it is! A proposal to move forward. Let me know what you're thinking and, as I mentioned above, if you have something more substantive to say than a blog comment can hold, then give me a call up at the church. PLEASE BE IN PRAYER over what God is doing at HNW and in the GAP class. This ministry should be a part of your daily prayer lives.

Some pics taken last night at the GAP Christmas party. Thanks Kara, Nikki and Kristy for hosting it - it was a great time!

Food




More Food




Gingerbread House Construction (with Justin's gotee in the background)




Serious Construction Work




Happy about Gingerbred House Construction (and another shot of the gotee)




Jill and Sheila




Kara




White Elephant Ornament!




Jeremy and Rudy


How did I not get any pictures of Robert. Was he hiding?

And no pics of Jess either! Arrgh!. I tried . . .

Also, though he kept it a secret, today is Jeremy's birthday. Happy birthday Jeremy!

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

- Matthew 18:15

This is such great wisdom from our Lord.

Yet it's hard wisdom. It's so much easier to go to the sympathetic ear and knowing nod of a compassionate (and biased in your direction) friend then to go to the one who has offended you.

But look at the payoff of the more difficult route! "You have gained your brother", and pleased the Lord as well!

There is so much destruction hatched in whispered conversations in hallways, in vent-sessions over coffee, in partially-veiled blog posts, in the flaming "press-send-before-I-change-my-mind" email. And there is so much resentment and bitterness brewing (a bitter stew that!) in the hearts of those of us who have gone the other way and left all the necessary words unsaid.

Go to your brother. Be reconciled. Gain eachother! This is the wisdom of our Lord, and it is very good.


"Having resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die" -- Malachy McCourt (thanks to the Anchoress for this quote).

[Note: this was cross-posted this morning on Out of the Bloo]

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

Matthew 18:12-14

I've been thinking of the ninety-nine and the one recently. I think I'm surrounded by "ones".

"One" in this passage refers to a metaphoric lost sheep, but I realize that when we talk about what that refers to -- namely people who have left the fellowship of God -- it doesn't necessarily mean they are physically alone. They are often surrounded by others. They're around people all the time, flanked by thousands of other college students on their campuses, driving on highways filled with hundreds and thousands of cars, displayed on facebooks and myspaces and whatnot, with links to hundreds of "friends". Jacked-in, hooked-up, on-line, instant-messaged, blogging, chatting, texting . . . yet still alone, still floundering, still lost. I know a lot of college students who I suspect are here, and have talked to a couple of them recently. They are, for whatever reason, "away". And though they may not be able to put their finger on it, they are waiting; waiting for someone to cut through the noise and alienation of modern life and to reach out to them with the love, the firmness, the solidity, the reality of the Lord. They are waiting to be convinced of his love again, to be convicted of their sin again, to not just feel, but to know his presence that transcends feelings and emotions; to possess a knowledge that, in fact, can thrive quite well in the absence of such sensations, free and clear.

They are waiting for a new heartbeat and life in the blood and a cleansing wash and forgiveness and purpose and truth and solid rock underneath their feet.

We need to go get them. I don't know any way to do that other than one at a time.

[Note - this was cross-posted on Out of the Bloo tonight]

This is from Jared over at Gospel Driven Church. Drink this in . . .

Joyful Thanksgiving

Forget happy. I know this day can be a huge test in patience for some. I know some who have to (sigh, grumble grumble) spend this day with their family. Helps the rest of us who would like to be home with family not take peaceful homes for granted.

Hey, today, why not pray that God will overfill your cup with grace. So when Uncle So-and-so is picking on you, when Grandma is comparing you with your more successful cousin, when Mom or Dad is doing that passive aggressive thing about why you don't come home more often (when you happen to be home right now! gosh! :-), endure. Endure and respond with love.
Make it your little secret. Inside you will feel like you're winning a secret battle.

Vomit grace all over the table, horn-o'-plenty centerpiece and all. Be Jesus at that table and overturn it with kindness.

Forget happy. Things may be stacked against your being happy.
But Jesus has your heart. And that's cause for real joy.

Hope everyone is well. I realize this isn't the typical Happy Thanksgiving post. But I just know personally some people who struggle with being home today, because home is not happy. So I don't want to be naive about the fact this reality is fairly widespread.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
-- Colossians 3:15

I came across Isaiah 35 when preparing to look at Matthew 9 today.

This is amazing. Read it and be encouraged.

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.
No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

- Isaiah 35

If your hands are weak, if your knees are feeble, if you don't feel joy and don't feel like singing; if sorrow and sighing are your lot, hold tight. If you're His, sorrow and sighing shall flee away. He has promised.

"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess you have given me. I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will. Give me only your love and your grace — with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more.”

- Prayer of Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556

From Don Schwager's meditative commentary on Matthew 8:18-22.

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

- Matthew 8:19-22

It is common to read this passage in Matthew 8 and think that Jesus is somehow being harsh.

I'm realizing, more and more, that what Jesus is being here is honest. He is not telling the scribe to give up on the idea of following him; he is, rather, telling him "OK, but keep in mind that if you truly follow me, you will be homeless, as I am homeless."

He is not telling the other disciple not to follow him. This disciple wanted to bury his father, and it's been noted in several commentaries that this may not have meant that his father was dead. It may have meant that he wanted to wait until his father died; then he'd be free to follow.

He was saying "I want to follow you Jesus, just not yet".

Sometimes I fear that "I want to follow you Jesus, just not yet" is the story of my life. But I digress: Jesus is just being honest with this fellow. Jesus is always honest; there is not a whiff of the salesman in Jesus, there is not a trace of the confidence man, there is no bait and switch, there isn't any "stretch" in the truth of Jesus' marketing of what it means to be a disciple. Because Jesus doesn't "market" at all, he just tells the truth. What he is saying here is "if you want to follow me, you need to follow me now."

Don't you love that about Jesus? He tells us, plainly, what we're getting ourselves into.

May we be boat-leaving, plow-leaving, net-abandoning right-now followers of Jesus.

Now.

The UC Men's Octet doing Bohemian Rhapsody

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

- Matthew 7:1-5

What I have to say about this passage springs from a somewhat comical image I have in my head.

Our Lord, as he often did, is engaging in some hyperbole here. None of us has ever had an actual "log" in our eye (right?).

But imagine if it was possible. Let's say your friend Joe has an actual log in his eye. Now, let's say you're dealing with a speck of something in your own eye. And, by the way, don't you hate it when that happens? It's amazing how much trouble one little speck can cause you when it comes to doing the basics, like seeing and not having tear-ducts leaking all over your face.

But back to Joe: say he sees you struggling with your speck, and he decides to help, so he waltzes over, log and all.

The image I hold in my imagination is the log protruding from Joe's eye whacking you in the face as he gets in close to examine your speck.

There's some truth there, I think. Specks are bad. So are logs. They both inhibit our being able to see clearly. But logs are not just bad for us, they're dangerous for the people that are around us. Because, of course, Jesus isn't talking here of actual specks and logs. he's talking about our sins. And when we're in a sin, be it small or large (both of which mess up our fellowship with God) it really is hard to see. And sometimes, when our sin is of the log variety, it's not just hurting us (whether we realize it or not), it's also smacking into other people. When the smacking happens due to us trying to help them fix up their own lives, all the while breaking their nose with our log-eye, it only adds insult to injury. And when we do this we are, as Christ rightly states, hypocrites.

May we have clear eyes. Then we have a chance to do some good in this world.

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

- Matthew 6:19-24

I'm coming to realize that Matthew 6 is a unity. It's easy to read the individual passages of the Sermon on the Mount and not catch how they tie together (at least if you do the dive-bombing, verses devoid of context style of reading that I'm often guilty of!).

As we read the whole chapter, the ties become clear: Christ begins by talking about giving to the needy, in both a worthy way and an unworthy way. The unworthy way involves giving to be recognized by others for our great generosity. He then repeats this theme, speaking of praying and fasting. There are good and bad reasons to do these spiritual disciplines. The good reason involves a pure, single-minded devotion to God. But when the motivation is to be recognized by others for our great devotion, there is no value in our good deeds.

Have you ever wanted people to notice your goodness? I have. How silly we are some times!

Christ is setting up a contrast throughout this passage; on one side there is the heavenly-minded, pure devotion to God that spurs us to good works, prayer, and fasting. On the other side there is the earthly-minded devotion to ourselves that spurs us to seek the approval of men. Jesus brilliantly and straightforwardly exposes these dual motivations in our lives and cuts to the heart of the matter: if our motivation is to puff ourselves up in front of others, well, that's all the reward we're going to get.

This earth is not our final home. Our eyes are not to look to this present world as the supplier of fulfillment, satisfaction, or reward, no matter how bright and shiny this world may appear. Moth and rust will destroy all the trinkets we gain here, and we're not going to get to take any of it with us.

Our eyes are to be set on God, pure and single in their focus, and we are to serve this world to lay up treasures in heaven. With our hearts turned toward the Lord, and our motivations pure before Him, we can begin doing what we were made to do: serve this world and pour heavenly treasures into those around us, rather than expect to gain earthly treasures from those around us.

Christ uses the metaphor of the eye, and I will admit that this passage has always confused me.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The word translated "healthy" in the ESV is the greek word haplous. You will also see it translated "good" or "single". Vine's defines it as "simple, single":

Greek: haplous - Single
"simple, single," is used in a moral sense in Matt 6;22, Luke 11:34, said of the eye; "singleness" of purpose keeps us from the snare of having a double treasure and consequently a divided heart. The papyri provide instances of its use in other than the moral sense, e.g., of a marriage dowry, to be repaid pure and simple by a husband (Moulton and Milligan). In the Sept., Prov 11:25.

What's Jesus saying? Where are your eyes focused? Are they focused on the light of God, and are you therefore flooded with that beautiful light? Or are they focused on this world; are they greedy, and grasping, and blind to God's light? Notice Christ's exclamation: How great is that darkness!

God desires that our eyes be "single", focused on the One we serve and outwardly-focused on the ones we are called to serve.

The Key to the 20 Somethings is Not Musical Style.

I read this article by Trevin Wax with much interest. A few excerpts, below:

I talked to a handful of 20somethings who dropped out of church for a few years and are now back and engaged. When I asked them about the worship style of our church (we’re a mix between blended and traditional), the answers were all different. Most of them indicated that they would rather we sing less and get to the preaching quicker. “That’s what we’re there for,” said one. Others mentioned how much they loved the organ. A couple mentioned that the “hymns” could be hard sometimes, but that they wanted to learn them anyway, as they felt they were important.

My generation is musically fragmented.

. . .

The idea that a “contemporary” music service is going to reach my generation just makes me laugh. No one in my class is there for the music. They are all there for the relationships and the Bible teaching. Not that the music is unimportant… it’s just not central.

Even funnier is the mindset among the Boomer generation that if we were to start using the organ and singing hymns again that all the young people would leave. The Boomer generation is making the same mistake that their parents did, thinking that what attracted them to church is what will attract their kids. Sorry. It isn’t happening. Furthermore, musical style isn’t much of a factor anyway.

This next paragraph hit hard.

For some reason, I have a feeling that most churches don’t really want to invest in the 20something crowd. It’s almost become an expectation that people will drop out of church between 18 and 30 and then return when they have kids and are ready to start “real life.” Meanwhile, the 20somethings are drinking their lives away, buying into the American dream of materialism, and starting off marriages on shaky foundations.

And I laughed (well, inside I was laughing - Jill's still asleep and I don't want to wake her) at this:

Let’s keep hoping in the 20somethings and stop cursing them with low expectations or old-fashioned ideas. ”Contemporary” worship is so old anyway.

Finally . . .

Let’s bring this generation back to the church with what they might have missed during their childhood and youth group experience: the gospel!

What are your thoughts?

[Note: this was cross-posted early this morning over at the Thinklings]

"Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

- Matthew 5:19-20

(Ok, here's where I need to take a deep breath)

I've said sometimes when teaching, "if the words of Jesus don't scare you, you're not really reading." This statement of Christ is a great example of what I'm talking about. It scares me.

And it confuses me a bit as well. When Jesus refers to the "least of these commandments", what is he referring to?

In the previous few statements in chapter 5 of Matthew, Jesus has affirmed the law and the prophets, and has claimed in himself to be the fulfillment of them. He reiterates that he has not come to abolish the law, but rather to fulfill it.

In reading ahead to the end of the chapter, we see that Christ launches into a series of "you have heard it said / but I say to you" statements, where he reinterprets six commands from the Old Testament and moves their "center" from the skin-depth of our external actions to the depths of our hearts. For example, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment" (vv. 21-22a).

It is important to notice that Jesus doesn't make the law easier here. He makes it harder.

Some have argued that the purpose of the law is only to show us our need for Christ, and our inability to please God on our own. While this view has some attraction for me (I don't need to take these commands seriously? Cool!) I don't believe it is correct.

My friend Jared summarizes nicely my discomfort:

The Law is indeed a mirror (as James' epistle elucidates), it does indeed confront us in its very existence with our failure to measure up, with the complete imperfection within us. No, by the law will no one be justified. Yes, the law's declaration demonstrates our own alienation from God's holiness. But this notion that this negative declaration is only why it exists, to show us we can't do it, is just . . . weird. I just can't read the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, in which Jesus makes the Law harder by making it about our hearts and not just our behavior, and think it's just some bizarre logic puzzle meant to mean the opposite of what it says.

When Jesus says "Love your enemies," yes it is implicit that we can't do that perfectly, that it is not in our own power to do that or even want to do that. But it is still a command. It is still something to do. And with the Spirit's transforming power, in the new life in Jesus, it is something we can and must do.

I like what Dallas Willard says about this stuff: The life of faith is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. There is a huuuuge difference. And I think many of those who get hung up on the Law as mirror -- setting one "use" of the Law against another -- fall off the horse on the other side.

Well said.

So what's Jesus doing here? I believe that Jesus meant what he said; this is how we are to live. This is what the Kingdom of God looks like: it's a Kingdom populated by followers of Jesus who live not just in accordance with the letter of the law, but who accord with the spirit of the law as well. Kingdom people are people who understand that anger in their heart does lead to murder, that lust in their heart does lead to adultery, that the person standing next to us is not a fool to be despised, but is rather a creature fearfully and wonderfully created in the image of God. Kingdom people are people who understand that we don't live for ourselves, for our dignity, or to get "what's coming to us".

In the following verses and chapters, Jesus is going to describe his Kingdom, populated by the blessed meek, the blessed poor in spirit, the pure in heart that he described at the beginning of his sermon.

If you're like me, the description of the Kingdom in the sermon on the mount is both very good news and very bad news. It's good news when I think of how wonderful it would be to live in that kind of society; a society of Jesus-followers living from the heart and living out the love of Christ to each other. But because I'm crooked deep inside, it becomes bad news when I start imagining myself conforming to this law of the Spirit, because it seems impossible.

But I've learned that what seems impossible to me is often not impossible for God. And this is the gospel, the good news, that a dead man like me can be made alive in Christ and can actually do the good works which the Lord, who's workmanship I am, has prepared for me to do.

When we live in accordance to the law of Christ, which is the law of the Spirit, not just the letter, our righteousness will surpass the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, who knew the letter backwards and forwards but who had lost the purpose of the law, and who had become dead to the things of God even as they memorized and lived out the externals of his commands.

And we are to live in accordance with Christ's law. Not to earn salvation, because Christ has already earned it. This life of obedience in the Spirit is natural; a result and a reflection of Jesus.

The law of Christ, which is the fullest expression and completion of the law and the prophets in the Old Testament, is joy. As is being a citizen of the Kingdom of God, lit up by that same law, a shining city on a hill.

Disclaimer: I have no illusion that what I'm writing in this post represents the only valid understanding of the scripture in Matthew 5. This is my best understanding to date, though.

"For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished." - Matthew 5:18

Jesus makes a remarkable statement here. Some have said that Jesus' previous "I have not come to abolish the law" statement was a defensive counter to the religious leaders' accusations of him as a lawbreaker. This makes some sense, except for the fact that many believe that the Sermon on the Mount came early in Jesus' ministry, before much of that criticism had been leveled. And also, note the reach of Jesus' statement. Not only did he not come to abolish the law, but he affirms that not the smallest letter or stroke of the pen of the law would pass away until all of it is accomplished! That's quite an overreach, if all he was trying to do was deflect criticism.

Plus, Jesus never strikes me as the kind of person who feels the need to defend himself.

Notice how Jesus talks about the law: to Jesus, the law is not a set of dead rules to follow. No, the law has a purpose, which can be accomplished. And we know this from scripture - the law is a mirror for us to see ourselves the way God sees us. The Psalmist writes of how the law "revives the soul", enlightens us, makes us wise, and endures forever.

Sometimes we get the idea that the law was an evil thing that Christ did away with. But that's not what he's saying here. To Jesus, the law is a very good thing, with a very good purpose, and it was to be accomplished, in him.

So, has the law been accomplished? People debate these days whether any of the Old Testament law applies to us today. There are some aspects of it that, obviously, were accomplished in Jesus' passion. For instance, we don't sacrifice animals for sin anymore, because Christ is our ultimate and all-sufficient sacrifice. We don't follow the rituals of the temple anymore, because we ourselves are now the Temple of the Holy Spirit. And certain aspects of the law - the dietary laws, for instance - were specifically set aside in Scripture. Others, such as circumcision, are shown to have been replaced by new signs in the new creation (in this case, baptism).

I am not versed in all the theology behind Christ's statement. But I know that the law was not a mistake. It points us to Jesus, and in him it finds its fulfillment, and it is perfected in the "Law of Christ".

More on that in a later post.

"The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed" - John Stott (from The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, InterVarsity Press, 1978, p. 15.)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

- Matthew 5:17-20

Sometimes, when preparing to teach the GAP, I foolishly think "I'm up to this". The good news about the Sermon on the Mount is that I don't hold any illusions about my qualifications to teach on it. Nearly every statement Christ makes in this sermon is a conundrum to me. When I read with open eyes and heart the words of Jesus, I find myself scandalized. So much of my life fails to line up with his words, and so many of his words don't match my preconceived notions of what being a Christian is all about.

The good news here, again, is that I know that if Jesus and I aren't lined up, I'm the crooked one.

Take this statement: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Now, that's quite a statement, isn't it?

Yet, I'm so glad Jesus said it! In that one statement Christ affirms the witness of the Old Testament about himself, and he begins lifting the fog that often surrounds my reading of the first five books of the Bible. Jesus lived in a time of great piety surrounding the Old Testament law, the Torah. And he was often accused, by the Jewish religious leaders, of ignoring or setting aside the law, which they held so dear.

And in my day I find myself confused when reading the Torah (don't you?). How many of us read, for instance, Leviticus for pleasure?

We don't get it. And the religious leaders didn't get Jesus. He didn't come to abolish God's word. How could he? He is the Word!

No, Jesus has come to fulfill the law. He is the fulfillment, the end point of what the Old Testament was getting at. In his perfect life and atoning death he fulfilled what Moses and the prophets wrote about, commanded, and hungered for. Emmanuel, God with us, here to usher in a new age, a new Kingdom, a new way to be human.

And it only makes sense that Matthew would report Jesus' words regarding the fulfillment of the law in himself. One of the main purposes of Matthew's gospel is to show how Christ fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. Do a search sometime on the word "fulfill" in Matthew using your favorite Bible software or Bible website. Over and over you read "All this took place to fulfill . . ." and "that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled . . .". By my rough count, there are fifteen such statements in Matthew. Jesus is the fulfillment!

Read Leviticus, and the other OT books of the law, with Jesus in mind and the seemingly dead regulations, sacrifices and symbols begin to sparkle with life. It's all about him. Jesus is the firm foundation upon which the Bible must be read, to understand it and to live it.

Of course, knowing that doesn't mean that Jesus' statements in Matthew 5 are crystal clear to me. I still struggle with them. And I know I'm not alone.

I'll write more on this in a later post.

I just came across this by chance, but found it quite intriguing! I was doing some google/research and found that:

"think they need a woman" yields 9 results (with the quotes, as a phrase)... whereas
"think they need a man" yields 636,000 results.

I'm not quite sure how to take this. The search phrases were intended to capture statements of generalities and presumptions. It may indicate that there is a lot of 'spilt ink' in trying to convince women who feel they need a man that they don't (a post-feminism effect); or it is not questioned that men need women. Or maybe it just indicates that men are less likely to blog about relationship-theory...

Whatever it is, it seems quite asymmetric, and not a fluke:

"think they need a girl" yields 2
"think they need a guy" yields 270,000

Not really what I was expecting. Any ideas?

"Grace isn't just amazing; it's ridiculous. It's revolutionary to our thoughts and feelings. It humbles the powerful and empowers the humble. Jesus didn't die so you could learn how to be a better person. He died because you can't be."

- Jared Wilson

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

- Isaiah 40:1-5

A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

Regarding this passage, Matthew Henry wrote:

When eastern princes marched through desert countries, ways were prepared for them, and hinderances removed. And may the Lord prepare our hearts by the teaching of his word and the convictions of his Spirit, that high and proud thoughts may be brought down, good desires planted, crooked and rugged tempers made straight and softened, and every hinderance removed, that we may be ready for his will on earth, and prepared for his heavenly kingdom.

This expresses my deep hope, both for myself, for my family, for my church and for those I am privileged to teach, that we will daily "prepare the way for the Lord".

Yet often the road is not clear. My heart is not smooth ground for the Spirit to move, unhindered.

I'm reminded - and this is the way my mind works early on Sunday mornings, I guess - of those chase scenes we've seen a hundred times in movies. Not car chases, but the on-foot kind. You know the ones I'm talking about: as the person being chased is running, he or she keeps grabbing random objects (trashcans, boxes of stuff, etc) and throwing them in the way of the chaser.

In the movie Sandlot, there is a fabulous on-foot chase scene, featuring Bennie "the jet" Rodriguez and a huge saint bernard named Hercules. Bennie has retrieved a Babe Ruth autographed baseball from Hercules' backyard collection, and Hercules wants it back! One segment of the chase scene has Bennie knocking over trashcans in Hercules' way as he runs for his life.

The funny thing about that scene is that, ultimately, Hercules chases Bennie back to the sandlot and to Hercules' back yard. They end up where they started, and the ball is back where Hercules wants it.

To strain an analogy a bit: I guess if the Hound of Heaven wants you and your treasures to come home, that's where you'll end up, no matter how long he has to chase you and how much trash you throw in the way.

Of course, ultimately Hercules' owner, himself an old baseball man, after learning of this whole escapade, says "Well, why didn't you just knock on the front door? I would have gotten your ball for you!"

There's a lesson in there that I'll let you figure out.

And there's a much deeper lesson in the words of Isaiah. Prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight His paths!

He is the King. May the mountains of our pride fall and the valleys of our sin fill with righteousness. May we welcome our King, and live out His Kingdom.

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something. And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

- Matthew 20:20-28 (ESV)

As I read the gospels, I notice how much time Jesus spent teaching his disciples. We often snicker over the disciples, when reading passages like this, because of their slowness to understand. But I often wonder how quick on the uptake I would have been in their position. What Jesus is teaching here goes completely counter to everything in the natural man's nature.

I find humor in this passage as well: it contains a "stage mom" for instance (go Mrs. Zebedee!). But if I read back just a few verses, that humor gets shot through with poignancy. Check this out:

And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

The mother of James and John asked this request directly on the heels of Jesus' very plain teaching on what would be happening to him very soon. Had she even heard it? Did the disciples catch this? Jesus is predicting his death and resurrection, and they are too busy jockeying for position to listen.

But notice how Jesus gently corrects them. And they certainly needed correction: I wonder, for instance, what they thought the cup was that Jesus spoke of, and that they so readily declared they could drink. Did they know that it was a cup of death and humiliation?

Jesus then teaches them about what real greatness is.

But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave.

We want to be great, don't we? We want to be first.

And here is the Lord, telling us plainly how to achieve greatness through servanthood. Not through jockeying for position.

The beauty of Jesus is that he lived what he taught. Consider this: the distance between where I am to the status of a slave is, humanly speaking, not that far when contrasted against the distance Jesus traveled from Diety to the cross. He is not, as many teachers, teaching what he does not know. He took the deep dive of humilty, descending from heights of Godhood that we can't comprehend down to a lowly, dirty stable in the middle of an insignificant little town and a broken, conquered people crying for a Deliverer.

Can we even measure that distance?

Jesus knew humility. He knew what it was to descend from great heights down to the lowly places. He lived it every second of the Incarnation.

He understood true greatness.