East End Ecclesia

Ok for those of you who do not come out to our Sunday services, I posed 3 potential questions that could arise in light of the sermon. Last week was the last sermon in our Worship series. The sermon was on honoring God through our worship and service. The main point is that God is honored when we give Him our best and He is not pleased when we give Him our left overs. This post will make more sense to you if you have listened to our podcast. I’m currently setting up a new podcast through a new host, so it will be a few days until the past few sermon’s are up. I will post on the blog as soon as the new podcast is up and running.

The 3 potential questions I posed was:

1. If we are to give God our all in ministry what about the popular saying “God first, family second, ministry third”?
2. Is only perfect obedience pleasing to God?
3. The final question deals with different questions I often hear that are along the line of “what is the bare minimum required to be a follower of Christ”?

I will handle these questions in the order listed above. I will handle the third question in a later post.

First: What about God first, family second, ministry third?

This is a commonly made statement when it comes to Christian ministry. Personally I have made this statement many times and I feel there is some practical value to the statement. But as I have thought about it, I’ve begun to realize that this is not necessarily a true statement. What this statement is trying to convey is the idea that you should not sacrifice your family for ministry. This is very true and biblical. If you look at the qualifications listed in the NT concerning church leadership, the order and strength of one’s family is always within the mix. If you would disregard or cause harm to your family for the sake of other ministry obligations, biblically speaking, you would disqualify yourself for ministry. Also in 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul states this “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” This is within the context of Paul’s instruction concerning taking care of widow’s and others in need. So to start off, I would say that it is clear that it is not biblical to abandon your family for the sake of ministry to others.

So why do I disagree with this statement you ask? First off I think that it overly simplifies things and it also compartmentalizes things in a way that are not realistic. As modern westerners we love to compartmentalize things (i.e. family, ministry, personal life, personal faith, work, etc.) The biblical perspective born from a Hebraic view of life is more holistic, seeing all of life as intertwined and interrelated. Secondly if you really stop to think about it, what does this even mean? If you have family second, and ministry third, what does the whole God first thing entail? The reality is, as followers of Christ, God is to be everything, and all of life is to be an act of obedient worship for His Glory and Honor. Also one has to ask “Why does family even matter? Not because it is second on some list, but because it matters to God and our service toward our family is to be an act of service to God Himself. Take God out of the equation and (philosophically speaking) family has no intrinsic value and is only as valuable as you decide it to be.

Our life is to be an act of worshipful service to God, our life is a life of ministry geared toward God’s glory and accomplishing His mission. The reality is, as Christians we are all called by God for the sake of His Glory and His mission. Part of that calling is to serve and minister to your family, part of it is to serve and minister to His people, part of it is serving and ministering to those around us, and part of that is to be ministered to, growing in our unity with Christ. Our priority is to obey God in His calling. That calling may at sometimes be to step back on other areas of ministry to focus on ministering to your family, at other times it may be for your family to make a sacrifice for the sake of ministry to those around you. I know this may sound off to some of you. But God cares for your family more than you do, He cares for your church more than you, and He cares for the lost and hurting more than you. If we focus on God’s calling and not an arbitrary list I guarantee that God will not call you to something that will in turn destroy your family.

I often think of Peter in relation to this idea. Peter was married (though some debate this) and a lot of scholars believe he was married before Jesus called him to come follow Him. Now in the gospels we see that at times there were women within the group following Jesus around Israel (which more than likely included Peter’s wife) and at other times it seems that it was just Jesus’ closest disciples (i.e. the Apostles) that were with Him. If this is true then there were times, and even times at great length, that Peter went out on mission with Jesus and had to leave his family behind. Actually through accounts found in early church history we find that Peter’s wife was killed in front of him because of his ministry. So if this is true, was Peter being disobedient by dropping his net and follow Jesus? Was he wrong to step up as the visible spokesman for the Church putting His family at risk? He would only be wrong if he chose to do these things apart from the Lord’s clear calling, but since it was Christ who called him then it is hard to say that Peter was wrong.

Having a strong family is vitally important, but the reality is, focusing on your family will not build up a strong family. Focusing on the Lord and His will is what will in turn build a Godly and strong family. In my life there are and will be times that I need to say no to preaching opportunities, ministry opportunities, or others in need for the sake of getting quality time with my boys and my wife. But as much as quality time with Dad, my boys also need to see a Dad that is so passionate for his Lord that he often makes sacrifices for the sake of obedience to Christ’s call. So to sum it up, there may be times where you need to obey God and stop what you are doing to focus more time on your family, but then again there may also be times when you need to prayerfully tell your family that as a family we need to make a sacrifice for a season because as a family we will seek God’s glory and His Kingdom with all He has called us to.

I will close with a powerful example I heard years back. I heard an interview with Ruth Graham and Franklin Graham (Billy Graham’s wife and one son). They were asked if they regretted the fact that Billy was often gone 150 -200 days of the year preaching the Gospel. Their response was that even though it was hard, it made them stronger, because Billy made it clear that as a family they were going to be about seeing the Gospel spread. Then Ruth said that even though some years they only had Billy for 150 days out of the year, they had his full love and focus for those 150 days which many families never get even when their dad or husband is home 365 days of the year. They also said that they felt their family was as strong as it is because of Billy’s willingness to obey Christ, even though that meant he was away much of the year.

Second: Is only perfect obedience pleasing to God.

I will make this one quick. The answer is no. Throughout the scriptures we see that God’s anger is shown not because of lack of execution or performance but instead is shown when God is no longer the people’s greatest pursuit. We are all fallen and imperfect, that is one of the reasons we need the cross. If God is only pleased with a perfect sacrifice from us, then we are all screwed. But Christ gave the perfect sacrifice so that in our imperfection God is still pleased and will make us to become perfect as Christ is perfect.

I love the example we get from Paul in his very candid teaching found in Romans 7.  In this passage Paul reveals the battle waging within himself. He wrestles with how he often does what he does not want to do and often does not do what he wishes he did do. Paul is revealing that his hearts desire is to please God, to become like Christ, yet he has not reached that point in everything he does. At the end of this passage he states “but thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” In essence what he is saying is that through Christ his desires have been changed, he now desires God’s desires, but he is not yet fully sanctified so he still keeps failing. But thanks be to God, that there is grace and mercy found in Christ, that though he fails he is still being transformed and is still accepted by our perfect God. The problem does not lie in the fact that our obedience is not perfect. The problem starts when we no longer care that our obedience is not perfect. See if their is no tension going on within you, if you do not desire to be transformed and perfected, if you don’t care that you fail, then there is a deep rooted issue within your worship and service. It doesn’t matter how much or how well you serve God, because if you decide that “this is good enough”, if you have no desire to grow more in your walk and bring even greater glory to God, then your worship is no longer Honoring to God. But on the flip side, even when we keep messing up and we have a lot of growing to do in our abilities, if our desire is to continually be transformed by the work of God’s Spirit, and we continually repent and strive to Honor Him as our greatest pursuit,  God is pleased and honored by your worship.

I want to close this with an analogy that I find sheds light on this issue. Often I think how much better and smoother things would be if God fulfilled His mission without enlisting us to “mess things up.” But we have to remember our Heavenly Father is our Father. As I have thought about this I’m drawn to my relationship  with Judah. Just the other day I was going outside to work in the garden. When Judah found out I was going to do some gardening he ran to get his shoes and told me we needed to get “Judah’s tools.” I will be honest with you, if Judah wasn’t helping I would have been able to get things done a lot quicker and better. Judah is only 2 1/2 so his “quality” of work is not the best. But the thing is even though I could have done it quicker and better on my own, I preferred having my little buddy there helping out because first and foremost I desire a relationship with my boy, not great production. In that time I was so pleased with Judah because he so badly wanted to help his daddy. He stopped playing with his beloved trucks and dropped everything because Judah wanted to serve me. In a small sense Judah showed me honor because, in whatever little way he could, he wanted to help me and more importantly he wanted to be with me. Sure I hope as Judah grows he will also get better at certain things and his “quality” of work will improve. But what was pleasing to me is that with what little bit he could do, he did so, desiring to help his daddy he loves. Guys I hope you see that this is the picture of our service to our heavenly Father. We are all like little children, sure we all need to mature and grow in our abilities, but what is most important is that no matter what our abilities are, we want to drop what we are doing to go be with our Abba Father, to serve Him and Glorify Him.

For the final question I will address it in my next post. This is already long enough and the final question deals more with a general understanding of salvation and is not specific to the sermon from last week. So in my next blog post I will address the common question of “if I keep doing … and …. or if I don’t do …. and …. am I still a Christian.” In other words the person is asking “what is the bare minimum to be considered a Christian and go to heaven. To just let you know where I’m going with this, I believe that these debates and questions are borne out of a false soteriology (view of salvation) and reveals that the person has not yet grasped the nature of the Gospel and the Majesty of our Lord. It may not mean that they are not saved, but biblically they should not have any security in thinking they have been truly saved.

So on that note I’m done.

Who am I? This is such an important question that too often we can’t answer. As humans we all have a sense that we are lacking something, that we need to find an identity, meaning, value, and purpose. It is ingrained in our being.  Just spend a few days with some elementary school kids, or better yet think back to your school days. It is amazing how quickly as kids we began seeking to form an identity, trying to find our place, trying to feel a sense of value.

I remember when I was in elementary school, a group of us formed a “gang”. We had initiations and everything. We were very particular when it came to who could be in our gang, and we felt a sense of superiority when we denied other kids from joining. I’m not quite sure what our gang was supposed to do, but I can tell you we were the coolest gang on the playground! We really didn’t do anything, but we all got a sense of value and identity by being a part of the cool kid gang. There were other groups, the smart kids, the goofy kids, there was always that one kid who tried to gain friends and attention by eating anything someone gave to him. It really didn’t matter what group you were in, we all shared the fact that at a very early age we were looking for someone or something to tell us who we were. We were looking to create an identity for ourselves, and hopefully gain a ton of friends, so that we could feel valued.

Now hopefully we all have matured and become more sophisticated, but then again most of us haven’t changed. In college the smart kids joined debating societies and racked up huge honors in school, the kid who would eat anything became the kid who would drink anything, and the cool kid gang, well, still tried to be a part of the cool kid gang (just no longer calling it a gang and instead calling it a frat or something like that.)

After college (if you went to college) we moved onto real life. Now we became “real adults” and no longer needed these childish groups to tell us who we are. We now have a career to tell us that, or a sweet bank account, maybe a community at our favorite bar, we have our home and family, some have a little bit of fame, and some have come to realize they have no value and spend their days trying to escape the pain of their existence. How we try to find our identity and value may be different, but one thing is the same, we are all seeking for it.

As you look at ourselves, from childhood to adulthood, you will begin to notice that there is something strange about us humans, we are the most “evolved” yet most insecure of creatures. If any species would have a sense of who they are and what they are here for it would be man. Yet we have no clue.

Each and every one of us is striving to find out who we are, striving to find meaning, value, identity, security, and purpose. This is so pervasive that an entire economic system has been created to capitalize on this reality. Just spend a few hours looking at advertising (this should not be hard because our lives are surrounded by advertising.) The ad industry is driven by the fact that all of us are trying to find an identity, value, meaning, and security, but we don’t know where to find it. This is where the ad comes in, “with a little bit of cash our product will give you what you are lacking”. They even pay people who are perceived by society to have value and meaning to promote their products, because so many of us think “if in some way I can take a bit of their identity and make it mine I will then have value like them.” We spend ridiculous amounts of money on products purely because of the brand name, because that brand has successfully promoted itself as stating to the world “hey I’m somebody”. Now time after time we see these “celebrities”, the people we see as having a meaning and value, crash and burn. But we don’t learn from it. After one star falls, destroys their life, or commits suicide, we just raise another up thinking this one has the identity I need.

I could go on and on, but I hope it is very clear that we are a people who have no idea who we are or where to find our identity and spend ridiculous amounts of resources trying to find it.

In the world of philosophy we have seen theory after theory come by trying to answer these questions. The problem is no one can come up with a legitimate answer. One famous philosopher threw a huge wrench in the road for secular philosophy. For many centuries human value, meaning, purpose was just assumed as the humanist philosophers worked toward creating a Utopian society free from the constraints of God or religion. Then came Nietzsche. Nietzsche taught that “God was dead” and since there is no god we are no longer bound by the constraints that have come with our belief in god. The problem was that according to Nietzsche this “freedom” had a price. The price we had to pay was the death of any foundation for human value, dignity, meaning, or purpose that came with the death of god. Without God calling the shots we are free to do as we please. Yet without God in the pictures we are just a product of random chance, a compilation of chemicals, minerals, and electrons. We are just carbon based life forms produced by chance. Now we are very complex carbon based life forms, but complexity doesn’t create value. So what Nietzsche realized is that ultimately we are no more valuable than any other life form (such as a cockroach). Our only purpose (if you would call it a purpose) is to continue the evolutionary process, i.e. the will to power and the survival of the fittest. (As a side note it was Nietzsche’s philosophy that led Hitler and his companions to seek to take power by executing the weak, ultimately moving evolution forward to create the “uber man” or super man.)

Since Nietzsche we have had many philosophies rise and fall trying to restore the damage that had been done. We had the existentialist who said that we don’t have any real meaning, value, purpose, but we can create value by what we do. This has greatly influenced us as Americans, we are driven to create an identity for ourselves through what we do. ( Ever notice that the first thing we ask someone when we meet them is “what do you do”.)  We also had new-age thinkers who taught that we could find our value within ourselves. The problem is that when you tell yourself you are something you aren’t, you may feel good, but in reality you are just delusional.

I could go on and on but I know most of you are not that interested in philosophy. But philosophically speaking and subsequently within society, we have lost any sense of identity because we have abandoned God as our source of identity. This isn’t anything new, the scriptures teach that the first people “fell” because they wanted to be autonomous from God. The story tells us that while they were with God they were “naked and unashamed”. In other words they were vulnerable and yet they were secure in who they were, because their identity, value, meaning, and security was found in God. Yet as soon as they turned from God they became self conscious, defensive, and felt the need to cover themselves.

We are strange creatures because we were created with a void that is to be found in God. We are created to find our identity, value, meaning, purpose, and security in the one who created us. Yet we are all fallen. I have to say, the scenario that is painted in the scriptures is a very good explanation for the situation we see all around us. If we were created to find our identity in God, yet have turned from Him, becoming separated from Him, you would expect to see exactly what you do in our modern society.

Now to my point. (I know it took a while to get here.) All other religions and (pseudo religions) have a system in which we make ourselves valuable in order to reconnect to God. The problem with that is if being reconnected to God is our only source for value and yet we need to make ourselves valuable so that we can connect with God, then we have quite a dilemma on our hands. It is like someone saying “come out of that dungeon and I will free you from your shackles” yet you can”t come out until you are first freed.  The Christian message on the other hand is that God has come to us, through His Son, so that we may be restored to God. We are given an identity, meaning, value, purpose, security by the only one who is capable to give it to us. It is by grace not by works you have been redeemed. As it was in the Garden so it is for those of us in Christ, you are who you are because God has declared you to be so. To continue the earlier analogy, the Christian message is like someone saying “I will first free you so that then you can come out and be with me.”

So you would then think that Christians would be the most secure group of people. You would think we would never try to prove our value, try to find identity in something other than God, that we would always rest our security in God and we would never rest our security in our career or 401k. At least as you read the NT you would see letter after letter arguing just that. But this is not the reality and sadly (and quite ironically) our response in the church is often to “work harder at it”.

As you look into the scriptures you will see that much of the NT has a common flow. Rarely do you find a new testament letter start with something we must do, it always begins with who we are because of what Christ did. In more academic terms the “indicative” precedes the “imperative”.

So I ask, is your identity, value, meaning, purpose found by faith in what Christ did? Or are you still seeking redemption through work and effort. I know most of us will proclaim the proper theological answer, but looking at your life what is the real answer that you are showing by how you live?

I know for myself God has been convicting me. I so often don’t accept that which I proclaim. I’ve spent too long trying to gain affirmation of who I am and affirmation of my calling through the response of others. If people are not responding to my preaching, reading my blogs, and attending an East End Ecclesia service my identity, my value, my calling is in jeopardy. This is because I’ve sought others to tell me who I am instead of listening to God as He tells me “you are my beloved child, an ambassador, a prince, a coheir with Christ.”

I want to particularly challenge other pastors. What drives you? Where are you finding your worth? Are you working and striving because secretly you are finding your worth or identity in the ministry you create? Or are you functioning out of a deep sense of who you are because your Daddy has told you so?

No matter what your answer is, the only way we can find our true identity, true meaning, true value, true security, and a true purpose is to Trust God at His word and Believe you are who God says you are because of what Christ did.

Three weeks ago we started a weekly Sunday morning service in the back of a Turkish coffee shop in central Lawrenceville. The first series that I’m teaching is on the Lord’s prayer. This past week I taught on “give us this day our daily bread”. One of the main points in the sermon was that God will provide for us what we need, but will not necessarily provide for our greed. The reality is that God often provides for us more than our daily bread, but often God provides us more than we need so that through us He can provide others their daily bread.

In the midst of my sermon prep I came across a quote by a Pagan philosopher named Aristides who wrote around 125ad. I was so convicted by this quote.

We so often talk about wanting to be like the early church. As I plant E3 my desire is that we would be a church that sees God move through us as He did with the early church. But as I’ve studied, one thing I have found is that the early church’s witness was not summed up in a program, marketing, cool worship, etc. The church’s witness was so powerful because the early Christians were radically devoted to God, each other, and the world around them. This devotion was so extreme that even the Pagans of the day had to take notice. This is the context in which Aristides is writing concerning this new Christian movement. Here is the quote:

“if they hear that any of their number is imprisoned or oppressed, all of them provide for his needs. And if there is among them a man that is poor and needy and they have not an abundance of necessities, they fast for three days that they may supply the needy with their necessary food.”

When I read this quote I’m so convicted. Notice how Aristides notes that the early Christians not only provided for others out of their access, but even when they themselves barely had enough, they would go without for a few days just so that they would have enough to care for others. As I read this I think about how much I have, how much God has given me, and yet I still struggle at times to let go of some of my comforts in order to care for others in need. I have to be honest, I don’t know if put in the same circumstances as many in the early church, I would fast to provide for others. But the reality is, I’m not in the place where I would have to do that. The reality right now is that God has provided me enough that I only need to let go of my access to care for my brother and neighbor. What is haunting me is that so often I get consumed with needing more “access” instead of looking at what I can cut out to be able to provide for the needs of others.

After preaching this sermon, I’m really starting to look at my finances and priorities. Too often we begin to think that all that we have has been given to us for us. But the reality is, yes some of what we have been given has been given to us by our Father for our needs and pleasure, but I believe that much of what God has given us is not for us, but, that through us God can provide for the needs of others. Right now Coleen and I are looking at all of the “stuff” we have that we just let sit around. So much that we have is wasted while right down the street there are those with nothing! I don’t know what it will look like, but I know that we need to change some things.

Now I don’t think it is wrong to have stuff, I don’t think we are all called to a “monastic” vow of poverty. I believe that God often blesses us and in the proper context we are to enjoy those things God has given us. To continue the analogy from the Lord’s prayer, some time God gives us our daily bread along with a steak and some cheese cake. And it is Ok to enjoy that steak (at least I hope so or I’m in trouble cause I love a good steak). But often God will provide for us 3 loaves of bread and while we enjoy two of the loaves one is left to rot and be thrown away. The issue is not enjoying what God has given us and turning it back to Him in praise. The issue is hording what He has given us as we let it go to waste. Coleen just told me tonight that she is bothered because all around us are loaves of bread that are rotting, while others are waiting, hoping to receive their daily bread.

I’m asking all of you, are you hoarding that extra loaf of bread that God gave you so that through you He could provide another person their daily bread? Or in other words are you taking what God has given you to meet your needs and the extra He provided to feed you greed? Or are you thanking God for providing your need and looking at the extra provisions He has blessed you with as a means to provide for the needs of others?

I’ve always been a fan of boxing. I love the excitement, the strategy, and the personalities that you find in the world of professional boxing. One of the greats was Muhommad Ali. He encompasses all that I find great about boxing; skill, strategy, and definitely personality. When it comes to strategy there is one thing that Ali is always remembered for. The ropeadope. He first made this strategy popular when he fought the much larger George Foreman. Ali knew he couldn’t go punch for punch with Foreman, Foreman was just too powerful. So Ali had to use his speed and strategy. For the first part of the match it seemed that Foreman was destroying Ali. Ali kept falling back into the ropes while Foreman pounded away at him. Then all of a sudden in the latter rounds, Ali turned a now tired Foreman around and went to work on him. In the end Ali won. The whole fight Ali was using a brilliant tactic that is now referred to as the Ropeadope. The strategy is to allow your opponent to use up all of their energy throwing punches that may seem effective but is really not hurting you at all. In the mind of the person being tricked, they think they are pounding away, heading toward a sure victory. But little do they know, you are patiently storing up your energy while making sure that your opponent isn’t able to hit you with any “effective” punches.

Ok so what does a boxing strategy have to do with faith or church planting? Well I’ve begun to realize that it has a lot to do with these things. I’m reminded of a passage in 1 Corinthians when Paul is discussing his ministry. He finishes up with an illustration about a runner and a boxer. In 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Paul states this:

“Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Notice Paul states that he is not like a boxer who is just “beating the air”. He is making a connection here to his previous statements about how he is strategic in his ministry and is also strategic in is own spiritual training. Paul is showing us that he does not minister or better yet live out his faith in a manner that would eventually leave him unable to finish the race.

We are all limited in time and energy. The big question is “what are we doing with the time and energy we do have?” I’ve begun to realize that the enemy often enjoys using a good old fashioned spiritual ropeadope on us. As I look at my life I’ve begun to realize that I use so much of my energy and time “keeping busy”, worrying about things outside of my control, and even being sidetracked on issues that do not effect me or my ministry. How often do we waste our time on things that we think are necessary but have no value in producing righteousness and furthering the kingdom? How often do we get mired down in fruitless debates that do nothing but wear us down and wear down brothers and sisters that we may be debating? How often do we get consumed with things that are not in our control to leave us without time and energy to focus on those things God has entrusted to us to do? How often do we spend hours upon hours consumed with our own failings and shortcomings as opposed to spending those hours being renewed in the presence of God? And finally, as churches, how often do we spend time and resources doing “ministry” that ultimately only keeps us busy and doesn’t effectively build the Kingdom of God?

How often? Well in my life and ministry I can say “way too often!”

I fear that many in the church have bought Satan’s ropeadope. We spend countless hours, untold energy, and large amounts of resources throwing punches that have no real effect on the mission at hand. Just like Foreman, we think we are winning the fight, but in reality we are just wearing ourselves out.

I want to challenge anyone who is reading this to join me. I’ve realized what has been occurring and now want to redirect my “punches”. Try to take this week and look at your life. How have you been spending your time, your energy, your resources? Now the common thing to do is to look at how much “church” stuff you have done and maybe decide you need to do more. This is not what I’m talking about. Often much of our “church” or religious activity are just wasted punches. Instead ask yourself how much of what you are doing is truly building the kingdom and growing yourself spiritually? Over the past year, even with all of the Christian activity you have done, are you more like Christ than you were before? Over the past year has the ministry you are doing impacted the world around you for the Glory of Christ? Search the scriptures. God in His word shows us what will truly cause transformation in our lives and in the world around us. It is interesting to find that God’s people have always added to His commands, but God’s commands are not that numerous, they are just very effective.

In boxing it is not about how many punches you throw, it is about the amount of energy you put into the punches that matter.  In Christianity it is not how much “stuff” you do, but how much we put into what God has commanded.

As I said in my previous post, we all interpret reality in light of the stories we tell. This reality is especially true when we try to understand literature.

Have you ever walked in part way through a movie? Or worse yet have you ever watched a movie and have someone come in mid way through the movie? It can be quite frustrating. As you watch the movie the newcomer keeps interrupting with questions (so who is that guy, is he a good guy or bad guy, why are they running from that guy, etc). The problem is that the newcomer doesn’t have the proper “story” to interpret the particular scene. To the individual coming in midway, the specific scene makes no sense because he has no “greater story” to make sense of the particular scene. Also when it comes to movies, I’ve always enjoyed movies that have unexpected twists. I love when the good guy ends up being the bad guy, when the protagonists end up finding out they are working for the wrong side, etc. When you watch these types of movies, even when you start from the beginning, you end up “miss interpreting” parts of the movie because you still have yet to get the whole story.

I love watching a good movie, from beginning to end, then watching it again. When you have seen the whole story, then go back, you begin to notice little details you didn’t notice before, and many of the conversations and events in the movie make greater sense in light of the whole story.

I believe that the way we understand the scenes of a movie are in some ways very similar to how we understand particular stories within the bible.  Within the Christian scriptures we have the whole story from beginning to end. This is quite amazing because we are not finished with the story yet. We have a bible that is made up of multiple books, compiled over thousands of years, covering multiple literary genres, that come together to make one coherent story. In other words we can watch the entire movie, even though in real time the movie isn’t finished yet.

I think one problem that we have fallen into within modern western biblical studies, is that we focus on picking out particular verses (or scenes) without first understanding the entire story. Another problem is the fact that the majority of us in the west are not Jewish and are not well versed in the Hebrew OT. In some ways we are like people who have come in midway through the movie. We pick up the NT and read the Gospels and Epistles while not understanding these books in light of the story up to that point. We come to conclusions about a particular scene without first watching the beginning of the movie.

I have spent many years reading the OT stories merely to find a moral teaching point, trying to find an analogy from the story that can apply to my life or the lives of those I’m teaching. Now I’m not saying this practice is completely wrong, but we must remember that the OT stories are “historical narrative” first and foremost. They are telling the story of How God has worked in His creation through His chosen People. They are not teaching parables, that are made up stories to teach a truth, they are historical accounts revealing God’s action and will. The vast majority of the OT is narrative, even the prophetic section of the OT is written within a narrative framework. Actually after reading a few books of the OT you will see that the early Jewish people greatly valued stories. This is because God greatly valued stories. The Jews were commanded to tell and retell the stories of God’s great works through the people of Israel. One example of this is that every year the Jews were commanded to participate in a symbolic dinner to retell the story of God’s liberating the people of Israel from Egypt. For some reason it was critical to God that His people did not forget this important Historical story.

Often I have wondered what is the point of so many of these stories in the bible. I mean, if I’m really honest some of the stories are kind of bizarre and it is a real stretch to take some of these stories and make practical teaching points from them. Some of the OT does not make sense or at least seems inefficient if God’s intention was to purely to give a systematic list of theological truths and practical moral teachings. But if it is true that we all interpret within the framework of a shared narrative, what God is doing with these stories is quite brilliant (which should be expected because it is God after all!) Maybe God was inspiring these ancient authors to record these narratives to build a “meta narrative” framework for humanity to properly understand the pinnacle of His Story, Jesus.

I’ve seen serious bible expositors come to radically different interpretations of the NT claims due to different accepted “narratives”. I’ve watched the TV as preachers use the death and resurrection of Jesus as a confirmation that God wants us prosper in our pursuit of the “American dream”. What I see happening here is that these preachers are interpreting a particular passage in light of an individualistic, comfort and prosperity American narrative.  You see if you come to the bible with an assumed narrative that the point of the scriptures is to show us how to be happy, successful, morally good people, etc. you will interpret each passage radically different depending on your assumed narrative. And here is the problem, as much as one may want to deny it, we all come to the scriptures with our own “meta narrative”, and this will determine how you will understand any given passage.

But I think one must ask, where does my narrative come from and how is this influencing me in my understanding of this passage? I will argue that as we study the scripture we must continue to seek to have the overarching story of scripture reshape our stories. Instead of looking to the OT narratives assuming that they are there just to give a moral analogy, or an example on how we can gain prosperity through faith, or as parables showing us how to become better people. Try reading the OT stories as Historical narratives, asking what is this telling us about God, creation, and His will. Ask how does this particular event shape our understanding of God’s greater story. No one would recommend watching a particular scene in a movie and then interpret it in light of another different movie. In the same way we must not try to interpret the scriptures in light of our adopted modern western narratives. You interpret a particular scene in light of the movie in which that scene is found. In the same way we must interpret any given passage in light of the whole narrative of scripture.

Paul says in Romans 12 to “renew our minds” so that we can understand “the will of God”. I don’t think this just means that we should learn new biblical facts to add into our assumed narrative. I think this means that we must let God’s story confront our stories, so that our minds (the way we perceive things) is transformed as our “meta narrative” is conformed to God’s overarching story. This will mean that we not only grow in what we know about God and His word, but also we will grow in how we understand what we know.

A challenge I would give you all is to read then entire Bible beginning to end as one grand story. Not focusing on the particulars, but focusing on the flow of the narrative. Not that the particulars are not important, they are. But so that as we grow in our  knowledge of particular passages we are also growing in our understanding of God’s overarching story that will give us the proper framework to understand the particulars as we study them.

Back when I played Rugby I was always the team “hit-man”. What I mean by this is that if there was a particularly large or “dirty” player on the apposing team, I was the one who was supposed to “make sure to contain that player.” I remember one particular game in which the opposing team had a rather large and imposing player that was purposefully seeking to injure some of our key players. Mid way through the match my coach called me over and told me to do whatever I could to “take care of” that particular player. Now of course I tried to fulfill my assignment within the rules, but this was Rugby so there isn’t much you aren’t allowed to do!

As I think back, the reality is I was never told to watch the occasional small guy who was not impacting the game. I was never told “hey Eric that slow passive guy wearing #3 isn’t doing much, make sure you hit him hard every time he gets the ball.” No in Rugby just as in other sports, you focus your resources on stopping the biggest threats.

To take the analogy further, when a nation is at war it always seeks to focus it’s limited military resources on the areas of greatest threat. This reality has given me great excitement while working to plant E3.

If what is true in Rugby and war is also true in the spiritual realm then God is up to something big in Pittsburgh’s East End. I say that I’m greatly excited because as soon as I think we have weathered the storm and I begin to think we have pressed beyond the opposition, a new wave of attacks come our way. I’m not going to lie, trying to get this church up and running in inner city Pittsburgh has been incredibly hard, some times scary, and often frustrating. But one of the things that keep me excited is the fact that God has shown me again and again that He is in this and the enemy has shown me again and again that he doesn’t want this to happen.

A realization I had a while back is that Satan is not like God. Ok now I know that we all know this, but I think we often miss the implication of this reality. Satan and his deamons are limited, created beings. This means that they are not omnipresent (able to be everywhere), they are not omnipotent (unlimited power), and they are limited in number. So if Satan or his fallen angels are attacking one person, that means that they cannot be attacking another person at the same time. If the enemy’s resources are being used to attack one area, those resources are not available to attack somewhere else.

Now Satan is fallen and twisted but from all I know, he is not stupid. Just as no coach is going to use his best players to contain the worst player on the other team. Or just as no general will expend his resources to control a region that has no strategic value. Satan is not going to use his limited resources to appose Christians that are not a threat to his agenda.

As much as I would like for things to come together more easily up here and often I wish things would finally work without having to have so many obstacles. I realize that if things just happened easily with no opposition, deep down I would be disappointed, because that would mean that the enemy is not threatened by what God is doing through us in this city.

Now there have been days that I’ve contemplated giving up, wondering if this is all worth it. But then I prayer walk my neighborhood and see all of the lostness, all of the pain, violence, poverty, hurt, and brokenness. Then I’m reminded that this is God’s kingdom and these are God’s children that Jesus died for. I’m reminded that Jesus is Lord and Will Take Back His Kingdom and has by grace allowed me to participate in His great mission. So, yeah I’m often tired and frustrated, but I love the fact that the enemy is ticked and I’m reminded that Christ will build His Church.

When my coach would call on me to handle the big threats from the opposing team, I would take that as a great honor. Sure I got beat up and often injured trying to handle these other players. But man did I feel proud of my broken nose, or black eye, because these battle scars came from getting to go up against the best the opposing team had to offer. In the same way I’m beginning to understand (in a small degree) Paul’s boasting in his persecution, because when the Lord puts us in the face of great attacks, it is a great honor.

I say this to encourage those of you who have stepped out in obedience to God’s calling and have faced attacks and opposition from the enemy. Stand strong, because it is exciting to know that the enemy views you as a threat. When you have that “spiritual” black eye or broken nose, wear it with honor, because the Lord has entrusted you to go up against the best that the enemy has to offer.

My son (Judah) will be 2 in July. He is in a really great stage. His personality is really beginning to come out, he talks nonstop (Coleen seems to be more fluent in his language), and he loves to go for walks outside. I love when we go out shopping or walk around the block and I hear this sweet little voice saying “daddy hand, daddy hand.” When we go anywhere Judah wants to make sure he is holding Daddy or Mommy’s hand. Now I’m pretty sure by the time he is 16 this may not be the case, but for now it is pretty sweet. As I look back at my journey in planting EEE in light of my walks with Judah I’ve realized a powerful truth.

To be honest I felt a calling to plant a church in Pittsburgh for a while before I actually stepped forward to begin this journey. I fought God’s calling because I was afraid, not so much about planting a church or moving back to Pittsburgh. I was afraid that I would make the wrong decision. Actually the fear of pursuing the wrong path has been with me as long as I’ve been in ministry. It seems that when I feel God calling me to something I always begin to question “what if I begin to pursue this and it is not what God was calling me to do?” I had this idea in my head that if I would happen to pursue a path God had not laid out for me I would end up so far down the road that I would never be able to return to the true calling God had for me. The funny thing is I was so afraid of disobeying God’s call to do something, that I would decide to do nothing, which is certainly disobedience to God’s call.

I would love to tell you that if you are prayerfully pursuing God’s calling you will never misread His call. I would also love to tell you that as I’ve stepped out and began down the path of following God in planting this church I never tried to pursue a wrong direction. But the reality is no matter how well intentioned we are we will miss read God’s calling and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to go down dead end roads while planting East End Ecclesia. I’ve pursued locations that ended up not being the right location, I’ve pursued facilities that ended up not being the right place, I’ve written countless numbers of pages laying out a vision and strategy that are now in the scrap pile. This journey has been far from being a brisk stroll down a clearly marked path. But one thing I can say for certain is that every time I began down the wrong path God has redirected me to the path He has laid out.

As an example, I spent about 3 months trying to make connections, acquire a facility, and begin a weekly bible study in a neighborhood called East Liberty. I was sure this was the place we were supposed to plant. It was a great location in the center of the East End and it was at a cross road for many of the East End neighborhoods we are hoping to reach. Yet we are now planting our church in another neighborhood called Lawrenceville, in another section of the East End, with a different strategy on reaching the diverse neighborhoods of the East End. How did I get to this place? It was by grabbing Hold of the Father in prayer and continuing to walk in light of His call.

I’ve come to realize that stepping out on mission for God is much like Judah stepping off of our porch to go for a walk through the neighborhood. If Judah and I were going for a walk down to the corner store, Judah’s only responsibility is to hold tight to his daddy’s hand and keep walking. Judah is a bright young 22 month old but he still hasn’t figured out how to get around the East End yet. Of course it doesn’t matter if Judah knows exactly how to get to the corner store or the playground, actually it doesn’t even matter if he knows what our destination is. The only thing that matters is that he keeps walking and holds on to daddy’s hand. Now when Judah and I go for a walk he doesn’t always keep on the path to our destination. He often gets distracted and begins to head towards roads other than the one we are taking.

As I walked with Judah I began to wonder, what type of father would I be if as we walked Judah began to head towards the busy street or go down the wrong road and I responded by saying “well son, stinks for you that you decided to head down the wrong road and I let him head into traffic or get lost down some side street.” I’m guessing you would not think too highly of my parenting skills. Just so you know when Judah tries to go down the wrong path, I hold on to his hand a little tighter and redirect him down the path we are taking.

As long as Judah is walking and holding his daddy’s hand he knows that daddy will lead him to where we are going.

If this is true about a child and his fallible daddy, how much more will this be true when we walk with our Perfect Heavenly Father. As we step off our porch into the great journey of Mission with our Father, we are responsible for two things, to keep walking and to hold tight to our Daddy’s hand. I can attest to this in my own experience planting EEE. I’ve started down many “wrong” roads, but as I hold on to the Father in prayer He has continued to be faithful to squeeze my hand a bit tighter and redirect my steps.

I want to challenge all of us, if you feel God has called you to step out on mission for Him, you may not know what it will look like, you may not even know where you are going, but you can have confidence that as long as you are holding tight to your Daddy’s hand He will not allow you to go too far down the wrong path.

Do you truly trust our Heavenly Father? If so get off the porch, hold tight to your Daddy’s hand, and begin walking.

Day 3: John 12:28

o 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

o As Jesus wrestled with what was to come on the cross, he pleaded that none the less God would be glorified through Him. The death and glorious resurrection of Jesus is the ultimate act to bring glory to God.
o Pray today that the truth of Jesus’ atoning death and victorious resurrection would be proclaimed and realized throughout Pittsburgh to the Glory of God.

Just today I started thinking back to my college days when I played rugby. I love that sport. I realized that I really miss the competition, I miss the excitement of warming up on game day, I miss the thrill of scoring a try (what you call a touchdown in rugby), and I miss having my coach who is a native of England yell at us and tell us how much of pansies Americans are. I think I only enjoyed the last part because he was yelling in a very thick British accent. Most of you may think I’m really strange but I also miss the pain! It is not that I’m a masochist, but there is something about the sore muscles and bruises after a well fought game. I loved the feeling of knowing you put all you had out on the field, sacrificed your body to make that big hit, and took some cheap shots and kept pushing through the pain to finish the match. I can remember going out with friends after a match and limping with pride, making sure not to hide the black eye and bloody nose. I remember playing a match in which a guy that was probably 40lbs heavier than me punched me in the face when I went to tackle him. My nose was bleeding and my 2 front teeth got pushed back and I almost lost them. But I kept playing and I couldn’t wait to get back to school to take my wife (who was my girlfriend at the time)out for dinner afterward. Well to be honest you can’t beat coming home wounded to your girl so you can gain all of the sympathy attention, but there was a sense of honor and pride in coming home slightly wounded from a day of battle. I remember another instance when I made a tackle to stop a guy from scoring. While I was tackling the guy he elbowed me in the face and broke my nose. I remember walking off the field at the end of the game, head throbbing, blood all over my jersey with gauze stuck up my nose. A broken nose never felt so good. Before everyone thinks I’m completely insane I must tell you, it wasn’t the pain I enjoyed but it was that the pain was something I endured to fight with my teammates on the rugby field. I have had many injuries in my life and usually I hate to be in pain. But when it was pain from a hard rugby match it was different. This was because the pain was acquired with a purpose.

Just today my wife shared a verse with me she had just read. It is a verse I know but in the circumstances I have been facing it seemed new. The verse is 1 Peter 4:12-13 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.” My wife made a very profound comment about this passage. I have always read the end of this passage as talking about Christ’s second coming, but my wife said she thought it made more sense if it is understood as the glory of Christ being revealed through the endurance of suffering. I think she is right. There is excitement in facing suffering for the sake of the kingdom. There is excitement because God will use that suffering to ultimately reveal the glory of Christ. As I would find honor and even motivation to keep playing harder in the pain I received playing rugby, how much more should we find honor and encouragement in the pain we endure for the kingdom. In romans 5 Paul tells us that he will boast in his sufferings for the Gospel. In 2 Corinthians 11 Paul says that if he must boast he will boast in the things that reveal his weakness.He says this in the context of just telling of the many beatings, stonings, and trials he has faced in proclaiming the Gospel. In some ways I see the pain we endure for the Gospel as good pain. It is pain that produces endurance, character, and hope, and through the endurance of that suffering for the gospel Christ’s glory is revealed.

When playing rugby I didn’t dread the pain, but took it as a mark of honor. This was all for a silly temporal game. I’m convicted by this. How much more should I be rejoicing in the many trials and suffering that comes my way for the sake of the Gospel. If there is such thing as good pain, I would have to say that the pain we endure for the Gospel is the best pain we can receive. Not because the pain is good, but because of what it was received for and what it will produce.

If you have taken some hard hits and gotten a few bruises in your pursuit in furthering the kingdom of God, maybe start walking with that limp with a little more joy knowing you are in the midst of one great fight!!!