Evangelism: 7 Lies (#5)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

5. Comfort is the basis for making choices.

I take it that you are here (Jews for Jesus) because you haven’t believed this lie: Getting up early; sorties; contacts; hostilities.

Many people choose comfort unless they are being paid. Then, and only then will they will work hard. In contrast, Hebrews 12:2 says:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

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Pic by DieselDan

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#4)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to encourage the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

4. Timidity is incurable.

The lie (expanded) is this: That timidity is incurable, and that you are then locked into a certain attitude as you stand there talking to people in Brooklyn or Times Square or wherever you are. You are timid, and so you cannot (and will not) do things that non-timid people do.

One of the significant people in my faith was shy. In many ways, I think that his gift was was shyness, as was his curse . Shyness made him a brilliant reader and thinker. And more than that -- he was approachable to some because he was shy. At the same time, he often wanted to withdraw and avoid people.

He knew that God had fashioned him that way, and yet he also knew that the devil wanted him to debilitate him with shyness. So he would force himself to have meaningful contact with people for Christ's sake.

In 2 Timothy 1:7, Paul says to Timothy --

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

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Pic by Chris&AmyCate

How much did you pay for Harry?

I am $US22.75 poorer for buying Harry (That $A25.70 for my antipodean readers).

I'm wondering if I was ripped off, or am I good?

How much did you pay?

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A Question for you...

A Question...

What is at the vortex of Perfect Weather, Sunday July 22, 2007 and Central Park, NYC?

Answer: Harry Potter.

We spent all afternoon in Central Park with a group from church yesterday and it was clear to anyone that Harry was being read by the hundreds in Central Park yesterday afternoon.

It felt like a Yo-Yo Craze for adults. (Remember the Yo-Yo Craze?)

Excuse me for a moment, I have to go and buy me a copy...


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Evangelism: 7 Lies (#3)

The 7 lies and then 7 possibilities were delivered to the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

3. You can just love people in.

Very popular today: you love people in. You 'be Jesus to people', rather than 'speak Jesus to people'. And so you say very few or even no words.

I find this phrase interesting: Just be Jesus to people and they will see Jesus in you. It is an appealing way forward, particularly in a world that distrusts evangelicals. But it's odd.

Jesus was just Jesus to people and they killed him.

And Jesus was just Jesus using words all the time. You see the Devil knows the power of words. (1 Corinthians 1:18 Romans 1:16) and doesn't want you to know the secret.


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Pic by d-4ce

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#2)

These are 7 lies of the devil with regard to evangelism; and then 7 possibilities from God. I delivered these to the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

Lie #2. People change like rocks change.

i.e. Never. And if they do, it’s unusual and not to be expected – like a landslide.

But the devil wants you to think of people like rocks. And what do you do with rocks? You stare and them and do nothing. He wants you to think this, so that you’ll do nothing. Or be like a geologist: stare and study and discuss, but expect no change.

But I reckon people are shakier than that. They are more like a reed in the wind, blowing here and there. Most people, I don't think, have a particularly compelling reason to believe what they believe. Some do. Many do. But most don't.

After all, didn't Jesus speak about how it feels and what happens when one builds a house on sand?

So I often say to people: "You aren’t really sure about that, are you?" And "you know that what Jesus says is good and worthwhile!"

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Pic by d-4ce

Evangelism: 7 Lies (#1)

These are 7 lies of the devil with regard to evangelism; and then 7 possibilities from God. I delivered these to the Jews for Jesus Summer Campaign volunteers last week.

First, let me be clear: I am not putting words in the devil's mouth. I haven't had a little chat with the devil on the side. He never took me out for a quiet beer on the Lower East Side to discuss his clandestine ways. I am (as CS Lewis did many years ago), extrapolating this from Scripture.

Lie #1. The message you speak is like a rented budget car.

Here is the lie: The message of Jesus is OK, but it ain’t that good; not by itself. It’s good that you have something to drive around your life in; and its certainly better than no car. But it’s not really that good and not that worthwhile. It gets me from A to B, but you may find better transport.

And so you feel you have to apologize for it.

I've rented budget cars from budget dealers, and I say things like – 'Well its all we needed; it's an economic choice; the smell isn't so bad once you get used to it'.

The devil wants you to believe that the message is sub-standard. But in Colossians 2:16-19 and 2:9-10, we hear the truth:

In Christ Jesus, you have fullness in all wisdom and understanding. (...) For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

And like the Colossian Church, you will be tempted to think otherwise.


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Pic by d-4ce

Evangelism: 7 Lies and 7 Possibilities.

A friend of mine called Shaun is this week running the Jews for Jesus summer campaign here in NYC. Shaun, together with his wife, are friends ours from Church. Shaun and I meet regularly to pray and share our ministries with each other. I was privileged to address the volunteers this morning and offer them a reflection: Evangelism: 7 lies of the Devil, 7 Possibilities of God (from Acts 8.)

If you are keen to hear them, I'll share them.

Getting on the Subway in NYC...

I've just got home, and there has in the last hour been an explosion at 42nd St and Lexington Ave. Right next to Grand Central.

There is apparently smoke billing out of the subway. Right now, I can hear some sirens etc coming uptown. It sounds like everything is OK. Apparently only one guy was injured.

And terrorism it ain't.

However, I work about 10 minutes north of the explosion. To get home each evening, I can either catch the 6 subway downtown through the explosion site. Or I catch a bus downtown. As I rule, I catch the bus.

But if I had caught the subway today, I would have been right in the middle of it.

Cool.

I wonder what’s happening there right now.

In a few minutes, I'll be getting back into the subway for a meeting at 34th St. So I'll let you know. Lets hope that there aren't any more. Really not that keen to be stuck in a subway underground tonight…

Famous last words…

(I’ll let you know when I am back…)

Irony

Does anyone else think it’s ironic that Christian people use the word 'Christianese' to describe Christian jargon?

Personally, I think its tops. And a gentle smile comes across my face whenever the word is used.

See also here.

A (Counter-Intuitive) word of encouragement for anyone tired in ministry.

Preparing a sermon on Colossians 1:24-2:5 for Sunday has got me thinking.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that most answers to our deep questions come in counter-intuitive forms. And you'd expect that since we believe in Grace.

What do I mean? Let's say I have a question to answer, or an issue to solve, or something deep and conflicting within my heart that I need resolved. Here is a path I could try:

A. Discern the most intuitive answer, and then...
B. Do the exact opposite.

I want revenge, so I'll seek forgiveness.
I think shopping will make the pain go, so I'll give away that which I hold most dear.
I want to set more boundaries, so I'll say Yes more often.
I want to be first, so I'll plan on being the last.
I want to be great, so I'll plan on being a slave.
I want pleasure, so I'll choose pain.
I want to live, so I'll choose the Cross.


In the spirit of counter-intuition, I offer this reflection for those who are tired in ministry:

My Pastor in Chicago, Bill Leslie, said he often felt like an old hand-operated water pump, the kind still found in some camp grounds. Everyone who came to him for help would pump vigorously a few times, and each time he felt something drain out of him. Ultimately he reached a place of spiritual emptiness, with nothing more to give. He felt dry, desiccated. In the midst of this period, Bill went on a weeklong retreat and bared his soul to a spiritual director. He expected her to offer soothing words about what a sacrificial, unselfish person he was, and then perhaps to recommend a sabbatical. Instead, she said:

"Bill, there’s only one thing to do if your reservoir runs dry. You’ve got to go deeper."

He returned from that retreat convinced that his faith depended less on his outer journey of life and ministry than on his inner journey towards spiritual depth.

From Philip Yancey’s Reaching for the Invisible God .

Discuss.


Pic taken by Brian U on Flickr.

Wedding Tomorrow.

I realized that I have not posted in quite some time. I’d better put something up before I lose every reader. I have been back in NYC for 10 days, but have been catching my tail. I was privileged last weekend to be the (English) speaker at a Chinese Church that gathers in Flushing, Queens. We went Upstate NY, and we explored some parables that provoke. A hungry group of people (for the Bible, that is.)

I write to ask you to pray for two friends of mine. Laura and Clint are members of Christ Church NYC and they getting married tomorrow in Brooklyn. Great news. It will be the first wedding that I will witness in NYC (very different to St Ives, huh?). It shall be a privilege to pronounce them husband and wife.

Laura was one of a few people close to being a student when Laurel and I came to NYC 18 months ago. So she is very special to both of us. The work that exists now at Christ Church NYC amongst students was built around her and only one or two others. She’s a friend.

Clint will be joining us on staff next year at Christ Church NYC. He’s already being doing great work with a group called Student Venture. Clint will be in a kind of MTS role (let the reader understand) before they both go to Theological College next year. Great guy!

2PM Saturday, Brooklyn, NYC.

On Vacation...

Lack of posting due to being on vacation at Nathan and Cassie's in Franklin, Tennessee.

Nice.

December 1980

Feel Free to keep commenting on my JOY post below. Thanks if you've commented. I could always do with more help.

In the meantime, a quick story: My family and I traveled across Australia from Sydney to Perth in December 1980. Click on this MAP -- it’s that little road that hugs the southern part of the continent. That’s a looooong way. It was, of course, as hot as any antipodean summer. And air-conditioning was for the haves, rather than the have-nots. There were 4 kids in the backseat for basically nine days of outback. I know it sounds like hell. But it was a blast, as I remember. Totally defining.

We had, of course, no CD player. (I didn’t see my first CD until 1986.) We had only a portable tape player. And only one compilation tape of classic hits from 1980. Needless to say, those songs are burned on my brain; burned as only desert sun can. For your Youtube-ing pleasure, this one carried us, as on the wings of eagles in the desert:



And this was a 1980 CLASSIC (also on that tape):



What was a song that defined your age 10?

PS Thats us in Perth with Grandma plus cousins.

Sermon Help: Joy in the Morning.

I've been given a text for Sunday: Psalm 30, and a title: 'Joy in the Morning'.

A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David.

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
2 O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
3 O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.

4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
5 For his anger is but for a moment;
his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
but joy comes with the morning.

6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,
‘I shall never be moved.’
7 By your favor, O Lord,
you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face; I was dismayed.
8 To you, O Lord, I cried,
and to the Lord I made supplication:
9 ‘What profit is there in my death,
if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
Will it tell of your faithfulness?

10 Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
O Lord, be my helper!’
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth
and clothed me with joy,
12 so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.

Some questions that might help you to help me...

• From V5: So, is there a clock to joy? Or maybe a season? ('Weeping at night; Joy in the morning'?)
• What is the relationship between suffering + death + fear and Joy?
• Has God ever 'hid his face' from you (V7)? What does that mean?
• Have you ever had people question whether your joy is real? (God has turned your mourning into dancing; and clothed you with joy, but someone else can't see the clothing?)
• Is there a relationship between this Psalm and John 16:20-22?
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer identified the Psalter as the "Prayer Book of Jesus." How does this Psalm find it's fulfillment on the lips and in the life of Jesus?
• What is your experience of Joy?

Feel free to comment anonymously. And say what you want about Joy!

Advice to churches: 'Anyone new feels alone and stupid!'

Interviewer: In your visits to churches, how important were first impressions, say during the first 5 minutes of arriving? If the first impression was negative, did you sometimes find the overall experience overcame that?

Jim: VERY important- if ANYONE approached us (without it being their job) it was the exception rather than the rule. It hardly ever happened but when it did we NOTICED. Frankly the lack of that failed to change much else for us since we adapted to the environment and simply stopped expecting spontaneous, unsolicited, non-directed greetings. Here’s how people feel whenever they enter a new experience—alone and stupid. Churches need to “attack” those feelings by training Christians (the non-professional and non-highly motivated kinds) to simply say “hi” to someone who they have not noticed before. That one small action would do more to increase church attendance than any other single action currently being tried.

H/T Benjamin.

Pic is by Elektracute on Flickr

(#8) John 16 Sermon: Conclusion

Some of you are not Christian (or at least you are not sure of it), and yet at the same time, you are attracted to Jesus. It’s almost like you’d like to be free of this meddlesome person. But there is something inside of you that keeps drawing you to Jesus.

And I want to help you see that God may have a presence in your life; that you may have God working in the deep places of your heart, drawing you right now to making a choice to follow Jesus. Don’t walk past the violinist. Don’t walk past Jesus.

Some of you are Christian and you are not sure of the presence of God in your life; you are called into this service of Jesus and therefore you are called to be testify to him. And yet at the same time– you are have suffering with (pereivced or real) hatred and hardship.

And I want to help you see that God is present in you as you join his mission to the world, in a way that gives you confidence, even that it feels difficult.

The upshot of all of this is: Love Jesus, and read your Bible, be a part of a community that reads the bible, and he will guide you, my friends.

Fin.

Comments?

(#7) John 16 Sermon: In order to teach Something New, he has to explore Something Old

(This is my SECOND sermon on the Work of the Spirit in John. Read John 16:5-15 before reading.)

And the last paradox: In order to teach Something New, he has to explore Something Old.

In verse 12-15, Jesus has his disciples in a room. They haven’t understood what he has been saying. They don’t get why he must die. And they certainly don’t get a Resurrection. No – the Spirit has to come before they fully get that and explain that. And so he says:

V12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; …

There is still more that you cannot bear. But the Spirit will give you that more.

Some of you will see the difficulty: That Jesus seems to be saying that his Word is not enough. That there is a deficiency in all he has said. And that he is opening a blank check to all sorts of abuses in the church. That is: People claiming a whole lot because the Spirit 'told me this' and the spirit 'told me that'.

Laurel and I sat next to someone at a wedding once who said to us: "The Spirit told me I could fly"; and I thought: "This is more than I can bear right now."

But that’s relatively harmless stuff (or is it?). I guess it is compared to the claims of people all over the world saying that the Spirit told them this or that. When ‘this’ or ‘that’ is a damaging claim to speak for God.

And more, this verse has been used for the basis of much revisionism and progressive theology that leaves the old gospel behind.

But no – and here is the paradox: He has more to say; and yet the ‘more’ will be the old Gospel made clear in a new context.

14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

And it is even clearer in John 14:26:

26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

So there is at least a tension to hold. This makes total sense when you read the epistles. The letters. Because the basic new context is this:

First, the reality of the Resurrected Jesus. (Something that the disciples could not have imagined) And in our reading from Acts, we witness the coming of the Advocate: Like a wind. And if we had kept reading, we’d hear Peter (who is famous for getting things half right.) fully proclaim the implications of the Resurrection within a few weeks of this moment.

And Second, the pushing of that gospel into all the world and how especially non-Jewish people would practice a faith in the Jewish Messiah. So if we kept reading Acts, we’d witness Peter again worry about eating with a Non-Jew and accepting him as a brother, and the Spirit has to awaken him to the reality that a Non-Jew is clean if he accepts Jesus as Messiah.
Something he couldn’t bear until it happened.

A case can in fact be made that the ‘more than you can now bear’, that ‘the Spirit brings’, is the ministry and writing and preaching of the Apostles in the early church. And simply the gospels and the letters; the New Testament.

But today, the Spirit takes what belongs to Jesus, and things that you cannot bear, and makes them plain to you.

Conclusion to come...

(#6) John 16 Sermon: In order Comfort, the Spirit has Convict.

(This is my SECOND sermon on the Work of the Spirit in John. Read John 16:5-15 before reading.)

Who is the Holy Spirit, and what does he do?

Who is he? He is the Advocate. (V7). Last week we discovered that the word 'Paraclete', translated here 'Advocate' could also mean comforter, helper, or counselor.

What does he do? (V8). He comes to 'prove the world wrong' (NRSV). And when he (the Advocate) comes, he will 'prove the world wrong' about sin and righteousness and judgment. I'm told that 'prove wrong' is probably an unfortunate translation, for it then appears that the Spirit's work is to win an argument about sin, like He is beating the world at Chess or something.

The Greek work for 'prove wrong' is elencho. The Spirit will 'elencho' the world. Another translation - He will convict the world with regard to... The Advocate will reprove the world. He will lay it bare, expose it; or in the Moffatt translation, he'll take it to task!

Have you noticed the paradox then?

The Advocate: he Prosecutes?

You say: I thought Advocate defended. And prosecutors prosecuted. But here the Advocate Prosecutes. I thought that the Spirit would always make me feel good. And now Jesus is saying he will 'elencho' me? I'll get elenchoed. The World will get elenchoed?

But the Spirit does both: he defends and he prosecutes. And in fact, in order Comfort, the Spirit has to Convict.

We all know this a true paradox in intuitively. In any relationship, for someone to defend and comfort you and be on your side, that person will need to be upfront about things that damage the relationship. Otherwise the relationship cannot survive. We all need to be elenchoed in a functioning relationship. Are any of you married? You know this every other day. You know instinctively that the path to healing comes through openly dealing with the wound.

And what does the Advocate do? He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, for she has it all wrong.

• She is wrong about sin, says Jesus, because she doesn't realize that unbelief in me (through whom the world was created) is the basic human tragedy.
• She is wrong about righteousness for she fakes and falsifies righteousness; covering up the basic human tragedy with pretend acts righteousness for show: Giving a donation here and there and performing a good deed every now and then; pretending that we part of the solution by our own righteousness, and not part of the problem. And Jesus exposed that in his ministry, and when he goes to the Father, he'll be able to expose that in all the world.
• She is wrong about judgment, for she sides with common opinion all the time, but the ruler of this world stands condemned.

There's lots of sin in the world. And I don't care what you say: we all know it's effects. And the Spirit will work to convict the world. I think that without being born again, the world knows something of the conviction of God. They know that things are NOT RIGHT. What did Reinhold Niebuhr say?

The only empirically verifiable doctrine of Christianity is the doctrine of original sin.

The more we learn about The Darfur conflict (At least 200,000 dead and million refugeed); and about what is happening in every corner and in every home in America; The more we examine with full disclosure our own lives, then we know something of the work of the Spirit. Because the ONE thing we cannot abide is when one who has committed a crime shows no remorse behind their eyes.

We have enough knowledge to potentially be driven to the cross; to Jesus; to our knees to plead for his Advocacy; to beg him to forgive me to find ease our troubled hearts.

The last paradox next: In order to teach Something New, he has to point to Something Old....

(#5) John 16 Sermon: What does this mean?

(This is my SECOND sermon on the Work of the Spirit in John. Read John 16:5-15 before reading.)

What does this mean?

Jesus WITH them...

All through his mission, Jesus has been in the flesh, localized in Galilee and Jerusalem; sometimes with his disciples, and sometimes not with them. But what about the disciples’ NEW mission? Well, by leaving them and going to the Father and sending his Spirit, Jesus will be with them the whole time. How will this help them? When they are speaking the Gospel in a hostile environment or about to die they can know personally that Jesus is WITH them & has not left them as orphans.

Jesus IN them...

And more … By leaving them and going to the Father and sending his Spirit, Jesus will be in them the whole time. How will this help them? There’ll be an new internal dynamic of change and growth, and power, and revelation through a person: through the Spirit. They can know personally that Jesus is IN them & has not left them as orphans.

Jesus present IN all the world...

And more … By leaving them and going to the Father and sending his Spirit, Jesus will be present in all parts of the world, and not just in Jerusalem and Galilee. How will this help them? Wherever they go, Jesus will have his presence there. Here in this room, thousands and thousands of miles from Jerusalem. You can know that Jesus has his presence.

It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.

If you will not think me blasphemous, any company can catch a glimpse of this. If the founder of a company has to be physically present at every meeting, and at every branch of the company, then that company will remain very small indeed. No – the company works out a way to live beyond the physicality of its founder or CEO.

There is something of that here in this text; with the important difference being this: That the founder IS present at every point (in your heart) and every branch (in every believing church) by his Spirit.

One reason it’s wonderful to know this is this: We would like to have been there in Jerusalem, watching Jesus live and touch people’s lives and speak. Like our violinist friend, I would have liked at least to have the opportunity of stopping; stopping to appreciate his life. But the truth is… Without the Spirit, I would not have stopped. (A point made very clearly in the Bible) And so order for Jesus to stay in the world (by his Spirit), he had to go.

Next, Paradox #2... In order Comfort, the Spirit has Convict.