thoughts about truth

I have been reflecting on the issue of truth a good deal lately. Recently I read the words of Jesus - For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”


The power of truth becomes evident when it is lived. Notice that Jesus tells us that people who do the truth have no problem having their deeds exposed. While knowing truth is important, simply knowing the truth does not translate into power. The truth can be inconvenient at times. To know the truth always requires a choice – will we live according to the truth or will we live according to our desired perceptions? Will we do the truth?

Several weeks ago I heard the following statement on a sports talk show. “When it comes to truth versus gossip, truth never stands a chance.” I have discovered the statement to be true. Gossip is always more attractive than truth. As most of you know, there is a steady stream of innuendo, rumor, and falsehood that surrounds Bev and me. One day she asked me in exasperation “Why don’t people simply ask us if things are true?” The answer to that question lies in the fact that for sin-warped humanity, it is easier to believe a lie than it is to deal with the inconvenience of the pursuit of truth.

I have repeatedly seen the connection between truth and living in the place of light and exposure to which Jesus refers in the words above. Through the years I have discovered that Christians are very good at drive-by criticism. They drive up, unload their criticism, and then quickly speed off before the criticism can be placed under the light of truth. I believe they instinctively know that their criticism is not rooted in truth but in falsehood. Therefore there can be no dialogue lest the truth would be exposed.

Truth not only has no fear of exposure, it welcomes it. Truth has no need to be hidden or covered; it stands on its own merits. When things are done in secret, it reveals the source of the actions. Over the past number of years, several church leaders have repeatedly told people that I am deceived. I contacted them to hear their concerns, where they thought I might be deceived. To a person, they all refused to dialogue about my supposed deception. Their unwillingness to bring their concerns to the light reveals the source of the accusations.

While truth will set us free, it will also cause us a good deal of discomfort at times. Embrace the discomfort; allow the truth to transform your actions. It is incredibly freeing to have no fear of the light, to welcome the exposure.

life around the fire

I moved the fire ring last weekend at our lake house in NY. As the project nears completion, some things have to be done to facilitate this new phase. Where the camper and the fire ring had been is now used for parking. I moved the stones from our fire pit to their new location on the grass. As I cleaned up the ashes, I began to think about all the wood that had been burned there.

My mind turned from the wood to all the life that was lived around those fires. Dreams were shared, stories were told and re-told. There were a few tears that fell as pain and frustration were expressed. And there was laughter, lots of laughter. Countless cups of late evening coffee where shared together around the dancing fires. Multitudes of hot dogs were roasted on wooden sticks held over the coals. And yes…a few hot dogs fell into the fire as the sticks succumbed to the heat.

In many ways, the fire ring was a microcosm of life the way it is meant to be lived – in community, together. Both joys and pain are best shared vulnerably. We celebrate each other’s victories and carry each other’s burdens. Somehow the joy of the victory is magnified as we share it with those close to us. In the same way, pain becomes a bit more bearable as we allow others to help carry it. The voice of God emerges in the shared conversation.

I hope that you find a fire ring as well. Do life with a community of followers of Jesus. Share your joy. Express your pain. Live together!

the gospel of the church?

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Repeatedly we discover the crux of Jesus' message in scripture. He came spreading the good news about the kingdom (the realm) of God coming to earth. Quite literally, the I AM was interacting with the affairs of man in a way that transformed people.

Perhaps the most revealing thing about Jesus' message was what He did not preach. He did not attempt to persuade people to join a church. He did not challenge them to embrace the synagogue and be more faithful in their attendance. He did not invite people (other than a very few) to join his ministry.

Someone recently referred me to an online article in a newspaper's religious section. A number of pastors spoke candidly about the "unchurched", about being saddened by the amount of people not attending church services on Sunday morning.

As I reflected on the article, my mind turned to the message of Jesus, a message of the kingdom of God, a message of good news, a message of power. I wonder if we have not replaced the message of the kingdom with the message of the church. Has our focus turned from the kingdom of God to an attempt to persuade people to attend our church services?

Incidentally "attending church" is not a biblical concept. The church is the outward manifestation of the inward transformational power of the kingdom of God. If we focus on the attendance of Sunday morning services, are we missing the point?

resurrection

This Easter morning I am in Upstate NY. The weather during the past several days has been stunning. Bright sunshine, warm breezes, and deep blue sky all combined with the sounds of spring, the frogs and the birds, for an unforgettable weekend. What a way to celebrate the power of the resurrection!

This weekend, I have been reminded of the power of the resurrection in another way as well. Bev’s parents have been here with us for the weekend. Some six weeks ago, her Dad had two major surgeries within a week to correct a stomach problem. While the surgeon repaired the stomach, something deeper occurred in the heart. Somehow during that time, the Master Surgeon performed heart surgery as well.

Leonard was always rather driven. He worked incessantly. He seemed somewhat concerned about what people thought about him. The uncertainty of the future frequently bothered him. When it came to issues of the heart, he never gave too much indication of what was going on.

He is different now. Heidi, our oldest daughter, made the statement – I like this grandpa! Something has changed. He spent much of this warm weekend walking around without wearing a shirt. (A miracle for a conservative Mennonite man!) When Esther reminded him of what his mother used to say about not wearing a shirt he responded with – I don’t care! He walked around the property singing. He cried when he expressed his joy at the beauty of the place. He spoke about his heart being happy. He marveled at the sight of thousands of walleye (a fish native to the lake) making their spawning run up the river, their eyes illuminating like Christmas lights when we shone a light on the water after dark. When we went to Lowes together, he told me that he and Esther had reserved their burial plots and had purchased a gravestone with the design of their choice. There was no trepidation about the future, about the uncertainty of death.

For Leonard, resurrection power is personal and real, transforming the soul. The tomb of fear – fear of people, fear of failure, fear of the future is empty this morning. The resurrection power that demolished the grave 2000 years ago still shakes the earth and remains the demonstration of the power of God to bring freedom.

discouraged

I've been a bit discouraged lately. In the scriptures we find two contrasting attitudes displayed. Look at the following words:

"How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High." (from Isaiah 14)

These words are in stark contrast to Paul's description of Jesus:

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (from Philippians 2)

These words provide a stark contrast between two ways of living - one a self-gratifying, self-centered grasping for position and power. The other - a freely relinquished right to anything that might give us a sense of importance in order to harmonize with God's plan.

I have been in leadership in the church world in one way or another for the past 25 years or so. I have always marveled at the sacrifices that people will make in order to be part of something that appears successful. As long as I was leading people higher, they willingly followed, even at great personal cost to them. Unfortunately, while people will follow a leader that takes them higher, almost none will follow a leader who takes them lower into seeming insignificance at the invitation of the Father.

There is something wired into our psyche, maybe it's our sin nature, that inherently desires to ascend, to be important, to be like God. That something resists the way of the cross and the accompanying seeming insignificance that following Jesus requires.

Incidentally both passages of scripture give the contrasting results of each attitude. Reading on in Isaiah we find the following words:

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.

Likewise in Philippians we read:

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

The only way to achieving the significance for which we were created is through the way of the cross. There are no shortcuts, no detour around the cross. Jesus' words drive this point home:

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

I am discouraged because I see much grasping, much self-exaltation in the church today. At times I wonder why God puts up with us, with our self-exaltation. I am discouraged because we fall so far short of abundant life. Our grasping for position, our desire for exaltation leads to strife and division. In our self-motivated efforts at ascension, we find ourself being being petty and small. Perhaps the thing that discourages me most is the fact that most of our posturing and grasping is done behind the facade of God. God help us!

more on i am...

I have been reflecting a good deal about what it means to know who God has created me to be, to hear His voice of affirmation. Last evening at a family gathering, my brother jokingly wondered if I was offended by something that happened before I arrived. In further conversation, we came to the conlusion that life is too short to be ruined by being offended by the actions of other people.

I have noticed a direct correlation between the frequency that a person is offended by others and by how well they know what God says about them. The more secure that one is in the "by the grace of God I am what I am", the less likely they are to be offended by people. Being insulted or hurt usually indicates an elevated sense of self-importance.

Today I had a short converstion with Heidi, our oldest daughter. She commented how free it is to be a "nobody". While she realizes that her life is significant, she is also fully aware that her significance comes, not from attempting to be important, but rather from being who God created her to be. She has no desire to be considered important by people in church. She refuses to become embroiled in the petty posturing that occurs among the staff at the school where she teaches kindergarten. In her words - I am free to be me.

When we are not aware of how the "by the grace of God I am that I am" practically applies to our life, we will attempt to create our own sense of validation. When something happens that violates our self-created sense of importance, we immediately feel hurt.

Following Jesus takes us to a place of death, to our cross. A dead body feels no pain; it will not respond to blows or stabs. Why? Because it is dead! In the same way, when we feel pain in the blows and stabs of people, it reveals that self has not completely died. We have not yet yielded completely to the will of the Father. We have not relinquished our self-identity to embrace His identity. It is impossible to even begin to understand the affirmation of the Father until we set ourselves on the road of the cross.

i am what i am

This past Sunday I was part of a church service. As happens sometimes, the person teaching read a scripture and a phrase from that scripture caught my attention. It was really a rather obscure phrase yet it arrested my attention. It comes from Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth and can be found in 1 Corinthians 15:10 - "But by the grace of God I am what I am..."
What a powerful statement!

Paul had come to grips with who God had created Him to be - I am what I am. He was no longer "kicking against the goads". (See Acts 9:5) His statement reveals the depth of his harmony with God and with God's purposes for him. It demonstrates a settled-ness with his past, a contentedness in his present, and a security in his future. There is a great deal of power in the person who has settled these issues of identity.

My observation from my own life as well as the life of others is that until we come to grips with who we are, we will never truly reach our God-given potential. One of the reasons we grasp for significance, for position, and for power is that we have not settled who we are by the grace of God. Instead of allowing God to define our existence, we create an image of who or what we would desire to be. It causes us to clutch at that which would make us feel more important.

Jesus, at the last supper, was able to wash the disciples feet because He was fully aware of the who of His being. Notice the words from John - Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

Coming to the realization of "I am what I am" allows for a great deal of freedom. Freedom to serve in unnoticed mundane ways. Freedom to lay down our life for others. Freedom from the fear of man. Freedom from the fear of failure.

Next to giving His Son, the greatest work that God did for me occurred in what I called the dark night of my soul. He attacked everything with which I identified myself. Every strength evaporated, every ability seemed to disappear. It felt as if every self-created definition of myself completely unraveled into a pile of rubbish. During that time I learned about God, about myself, but most of all I was able to hear what He said about me. His words to me were all I had at the time.

His words of identity to me became the doorway to life. I am beginning to understand "I am what I am". As I said earlier, coming to the realization of "I am what I am" brings a great deal of freedom. My prayer is that you experience the freedom that comes from harmony with God's purposes for you!