"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die--but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8
We weren't just weak, we were infants unable to move, being torn asunder in our sin as we waited to die and be hurled into the depths of God's wrath.
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" Mark 15:34
This is the pain and suffering, the passion that Jesus endured for us. We were to be entirely separated from God. We were to be thrown into the relentless torture of God's fury, His judgment, until Jesus stepped in and took upon Himself that which was our failure, our grief, our wickedness, paying for our sin with His purity.
Scripture says He died while we were still sinners. Still sinners is interchangable with hating God, for sin is the spurning of God's love and will for our lives- direct and purposed disobedience. So, while we still hated Him, Jesus died for our sins, had His soul ripped away from that of the Father's and cast into the perfect darkness and damnation of total estrangement to God.
Just as no words can fully encompass who God is, there are not even groans that can bring to summation the agony Jesus endured when His spirit was brutally wrenched from that of the Father's. The moment that God turned His face from His son and severed the connection between their spirits was what killed Jesus. It was a pain that is incomparable, and because of this Jesus took it upon Himself so that we may never endure it; rather, we can now experience the holy love of God, unity with God, and perfect peace under God.
"For I am sure that [Now, becaue of the sacrifice of Jesus] neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39 And for this I say Glory to God!
From time to time I find new writers that I enjoy by reading quotes and posts from my friends. One such friend of mine recently posted a piece of writing from James Meikle (1730-1799) that I simply loved. Because of this I too began to read from Meikle's writings entitled Solitude Sweetened. The particular chapter that I was reading was "3. If God gives Christ, what can he withhold?" From this chapter I found a passage that was nothing short of beautiful. It goes, "Again, how can it be possible that God should give his Son, himself, his all—and yet deny me any good thing? Will not he who is to crown me with glory above—strengthen me with grace below? Will he not bless me with peace of mind—who is to be my peace forever? Triumph, O my faith! all things are Christ's, and Christ is God's! And God, Christ, and all things, are yours! Time is his, and in it I have my years numbered! The air is his, and in it I breathe! The world is his—and on it I dwell; its fullness is his—and I am fed! Grace is his—and in it I stand! Faith is his gift—and by it I overcome the world! Tribulations are from him—and in them I glory! Perfection is his—and towards it I press! Death is his—and by it I arrive at home! Heaven is his—and there is my mansion! Eternity is his, and there is my treasure and glory forevermore!" All I can say to that is Amen!
Crack kids, track kids, hookers and robbers
The naked and hungry, mothers and fathers
Abuses, excuses, and guns in your hands
And I even welcome the arrogant man
I welcome you all to the biggest of feasts
A night of no shame to pause and to breathe
This is a night of love's renovation
A feast I am sure that could change a whole nation
Me, I am not such an excellent host
I am one who forgives but needs it the most
I found the liar, the killer of hearts
And I ran away with a new way to start
I journeyed a road where a bright man appeared
He looked into me, and my eyes filled with tears
My breath fast and short and my heart burning deep
He gave me new eyes and a new way to see
So come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
I still defiled his great love ways
I felt such a famine when I ran away
I missed the presence, the voice like a song
I was nasty and dirty, I knew I was wrong
But he ran to me like a dream like a father
This love is not earthly, this love must be other
He carried me home, and threw me a party
A party so loud like the greatest love story
Oh my dear friend applaud now please
I've invited you heart to announce you are free
He takes your chains, busting you out of prison
Just open your heart, let your heart come and listen
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Who could accept all your pounding and screaming
Your raging, your freaking, cussing, and beating
All while He holds you and always forgiving
This is the story of love and of living
Wipe off your tears and laugh just a little
Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver
Raise up a glass, a time to remember
Come break this bread, CELEBRATE THE FORGIVER!
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Come as you are, as you are, as you are
Charlie Hall - Hookers and Robbers - From the album "The Bright Sadness"
The Bright Sadness is Charlie Hall's newest album, although it's not really that "new" (2008). The album is a beautiful journey into the heart of the relationship between fallen man and loving God. It is a magnification of the follies of man and a gazing into the power, wonder, and grace of God. This whole album has been somewhat of an inspiration to me, or I suppose more accurately, a renewal of ideals. This song in particular clearly illustrates an issue that has been weighing heavily on my heart as of late.
There are few things within the church (both in the larger sense as well as the smaller, physical body) that sicken me as much as hearts hardened toward local missions. My church is flourishing, and as such it has taken upon itself new areas of ministry. One large area of growth has been in the ministry of international missions. This sounds wonderful, and it is a growth worthy of praising God and rejoicing. The problem is that, somehow, my church has managed to possess such a timidity of local missions that we have skipped the step of going out and ministering to our local neighbors. We have instead decided to circumvent those lost souls in our back yard and have since stretched our arms out to Indonesia, Russia, Thailand, and Peru; even nationally we have gone to New York, yet despite our far reach it seems we cannot manage to go out into our own community and share the love of God.
Again, I have nothing against the international or far reaching missions. Christ has called us to go out to these places. I also have no problem with bringing people into the church and discipling them as we do. The has arisen for me as two things have become clear.
First, my church has never been one that is truly accepting of "people" as Jesus was. I use quotations because I mean people in the sense of: "And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples... And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. Mark 2:15,17” I don't want anyone to misinterpret what I am saying. My church, as a whole, loves all people (we really do), but this does not mean that we are willing to let any and all those "people" come waltzing in through the glass doors into our luxurious coffee shop or our stadium seating worship center without some menacing glares and shocked expressions. We are more of a country club at home games and a hospital on the away field. This bothers me to no end because I see the lost and hurting souls in this community and I know what could be accomplished if we would break down our pretentious walls and let love flow free, but we won't anytime soon.
The second thing that has been bothering me is that, even if my church is not ready to bring in the whole community of lost souls we could at the very least go out to them. Jesus said GO in the great commission, both locally and far away. Well, we have a fair grasp on the far away part, the hard part, but where is the local support? If my church would humble itself and the members would allow themselves to associate with the dirty and tired, the broken and hurting lost souls of our community there is no end to what God WOULD accomplish.
I love that Hookers and Robbers is followed by "I even welcome the arrogant man" in Charlie Hall's song. It is a reminder to me that one of the greatest sins is pride. Often put ourselves far above those sins that are so easily visible, drugs, sex, violence, yet we overlook lying, greed, and pride, the sins that are so easy to hide. We are quick to judge and slow to forgive, but we must remember, God has called us to open our hearts and homes to the lost. He has broken His son, Jesus so that we could be forgiven. Now he calls us to do the same as Charlie Hall says, "Come break this bread, celebrate the Forgiver!" Who are we to take the forgiveness of God for ourselves and deny it to others? I pray that we would humble ourselves before our awesome God, open our hearts to the dirty, broken, sinners of this world, break bread with them, and together, CELEBRATE THE FORGIVER!
Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. Jeremiah 15:10
Jeremiah, now there was a great man. He was a prophet, drawn close to the heart of God. But more than that he is often known as the prophet of sorrow. Speculated to have written Lamentations as well as the book of Jeremiah, this man was called to prophesy the destruction of Judah through the wrath of God. His prophecies were of mourning and judgment. They are beautiful declarations from God on a sinful land.
There are some days where I feel like my job is overwhelming, like I have it pretty tough; but I then read books like Jeremiah and verses like this one, and I find some perspective. I cannot give myself over to lackadaisical living while I have my mind and spirit trained on worthy examples of living for the glory of God such as this. I must rather strive with all purpose to be as deeply committed to my call as Jeremiah. I must find strength to endure my hardships and wisdom to understand I am more blessed than I can imagine.
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I call to You, LORD!
Lord, listen to my voice;
let Your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.
LORD, if You considered sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness,
so that You may be revered.
I wait for the LORD; I wait,
and put my hope in His word.
I [wait] for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning—
more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD.
For there is faithful love with the LORD,
and with Him is redemption in abundance.
And He will redeem Israel
from all its sins.
Just a Psalm of spiritual renewal I happened to be reading. Oh how God is great.
I feel so cracked and dried lately. I'm just burned out. My soul is crying for something. I can feel it reaching, stretching to find anything to hold onto. Even in my times with God I feel far away from Him. I haven't been able to find much joy or any peace in recent days, and I can feel it all weighing on my heart more and more. Normally I would say that I strive to achieve a slow, steady incline in my relationship with God, but I feel as if my soul has been riding a pogo stick. Life, the last few weeks, has been constant ups and downs, physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually.
This psalm is often seen as overused or cliche due to the hymn written after it, but it is nevertheless one that touches my core every time I read it. Especially in times like these.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Psalm 42:1-3
I would never consider working for the Lord a "job" in the classic sense, but working for a church definitely is. When you work for a church, especially one in the 1-5 thousand members range, there are many aspects that are extremely similar to any secular corporation. We have multiple pastors (the different section managers), all under our executive pastor (the vice president of the company) and our senior pastor (the president himself). These pastors each have assistants and staff underlings in proportion to the size job bestowed on them. There are even interns who are hired, more or less, as payed slaves trying to move up the pastorship ladder (much like many secular corporations).
Don't get me wrong, I love the quality of organization that is usually exhibited by the staff. Everything is double checked and filed in triplicate. The i's are always crossed and every t dotted... or something like that.
And while this process of transforming the church into a business is in many ways beneficial (better money managment, larger event capabilities, and greater staff organization), the question must be posed of how all of this is harmful. If we are trying so hard to mimic the secular business world is there a point where we eventually cross over and become part of it? In our extensive quest to be good at a "job" do we sacrifice our purpose? Are we, like so many superplex-churches, meticulously contributing to the transformation of religion into a business overrun by the laws and, possibly but not necessarily, greed of man?
This thought of mine comes from wittnessing the interworkings of my church. As a staff we are a tooth and nail crew, trickling gossip from the crevices of our hearts and using it as the glue that bonds us together. Rather than love and encouragment our work stations and relationships are often based on and fueled by sarcasm, competition, distrust, gossip, greed, arrogance, and pride.
I am not by any means implying that there is no hope for our church. We are largely fruitful, but if we desire to be a true religion rather than veering towards a secular one we must follow the words of James who said, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:26-27 We are to be in the world but not of the world. We are an example set before men of the love and grace of God. If we cannot demonstrate these qualities in the workplace (our church) among ourselves (the staff), but instead gripe and snivel to and about each other stirring discourse and malcontent, then what hope is there for our religion? "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing... For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." 2 Corinthians 2:15,17 With this said we must be examples of the love of God, living and breathing, walking and talking mirrors by which the world can see His reflection. Anything less, in my opinion, is unworthy of the title of church staff. And I do not mean to say that anything short of perfection should be excommunicated, for we are all imperfect and unable to attain God's request. What I am saying is that I pray to see such a spirit of humility among the church staff that as we make mistakes and sin we would beg forgiveness "with reverence and awe" (Hebrews 12) from God and strive to, by God's grace and For His Glory, better ourselves as we work to further and more completely serve Him.
So I have recently lost my Bible. It just up and vanished like a sneeze in the breeze. I have, after tossing my car, office, and house multiple times, given up the search. If I'm meant to have it I figure it will make its way back. I'm fairly upset since I have worn a lot of love into that Bible. It's been to Peru and most of the East Coast with me; although, I think I'm just as upset because now I don't have all of my markings and highlights in my new Bible. The new Bible being the ESV Study Bible that has just recently come out. I've had an ESV for 4 or 5 years now and love it, and I am sooo excited about the new Study Bible. At the same time, I almost feel like I need to dirty it up... would that be sacreligious? I think it would. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wear it down by doing some extra reading.
I feel compelled to highlight two vocalists whose works I have been allowing myself to indulge in as of late. I just feel as though there is something to be said for any artists these days who take such pride in the honing of their vocal skills to such a mastery.
The first singer is the world renowned operatic voice of Andrea Bocelli. While he does have many wonderful pieces I shall only post this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrfvP11Hbo He also does songs such as Nessun Dorma and Canto Della Terra which are amazing. You may have even seen him as a guest on American Idol or on Sesame Street.
The other artist is a girl named Cortney Wolfson. She is definitely not as big as Andrea Bocelli, but she is extremely talented in her own respect. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she is now a rising broadway star. The piece I have chosen to post is from her days at Michigan called Blue Hair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noR1WlBeTLc Her voice is very different from that of the opera, yet it has a quality of excellence all its own. Along with her voice, her personality is what sells the experience. She will no doubt rise quickly in the musical world.
More than actually comparing these two, I have tried to share two very different, very unique, and very talented artists both in their own areas of artistry. If nothing else I hope you have simply enjoyed listening to them.
So I just have to say that Lunar Golf in the Macon Mall is amazing! It's blacklight golf. You pay eight bucks, get some glow sticks, and play 54 holes. To top it all off I won a free round. Haha I love putt putt!
Tinman will keep posting... if he doesn't rust.