The Tyranny of The Temporal

I truly believe, at the end of the age, one of the greatest expressions for most of whoever lived will be that of regret. (Well…maybe not in light of His glorious grace for the faithful) but just imagine for a moment; when a person stands before the throne at the end of it all, how trivial will seem all the empty pursuits that preoccupied their preciously dispensed days? Could one encapsulating description be an “Ecclesiastic Moment”, when all toil has been sifted out and only eternal profit or loss is left exposed? Will a person desperately seek the redemption of wasted words and ill spent moments to invest of more wisely? Will the acquiring of the X-Box or the passion of one’s political affiliation seem tarnished when all that’s left are pathetic personal reflections in the midst of Majestic Glory? When a person has to give an account of how they invested their lifetime will the amount of time, money and energy spent on college football games, protests (take your pick), watching Oprah, wearing Versache, or saving whales seem worth it all?

I’m almost fifty and have developed a greater awareness of “passing”, by this I mean; the foundational truth behind scripture as it relates to the fleeting existence of a man’s lifetime. Maybe this awareness has something to do with having lived in the same town my entire life, being witness to changes most “transplants” may not be aware of. People, places, and events that “were at one time” but no longer are. Maybe it’s seeing grandkids in high school sitting at the family thanksgiving table next to the aunt or uncle who, just a moment or two ago, were themselves the high schoolers at the very same table. My dad now sits among the family in much the same role my grandfather used to, and I now hold a position similar to one my dad once did. My wife and I used to be the newlyweds, now our kids are.
The patriarchs and matriarchs who were once a part of these gatherings have slowly passed away, victims of their eighties and nineties, their presence now limited to nothing more than family photos siting on the entertainment center. They never knew the thirteen year olds who huddle around the computer playing video games, who in turn never seem curious enough to inquire of “those” in the black and white photos.

I find myself poised between barely knowing my great grand mother, expectant of the reality that I will know very little about my own children’s grand kids.
I look at black and white photos of my patriarchs, curious to know of those who came before me, all to aware that I too am destined to fill the same place in the life of someone who has yet to be, via a faded “color” photo proudly displaying me in tacky perm, plaid pants and platform shoes.

My kids look at John Kennedy the way I look upon Franklin Roosevelt. I was born sixteen years after Pearl Harbor, our son was born seventeen years after John Kennedy was assassinated.
I can stand in downtown Salem in front of an old brick building holding in my hand a photo showing that same building with people standing in muddy streets next to their horse and wagons. My fourth grade elementary class room is now a “historical structure” with a museum sign out front (the first students to attend it have long since passed away).
Most people would look upon this kind of observation as being some what depressing, desiring instead to desperately look for ways to avoid thinking about it, which is exactly how the world tends to live; maintain a heavily preoccupied existence, intended to keep them sedated to the fact that the last “tomorrow” is always out there, this formidable truth which has already shown very little respect for those in the black and white photos. But to have this sober awareness is a very real, truthful and mature position from which to live life. Without going into a long dissertation I can focus on one attribute. Wisdom. I have noticed that the more I come to terms with the reality of passing, wisdom gently settles in as a natural byproduct, .. at least for me.

The point? In some respects having this view is key as it relates to the prophet; they maintained, and still maintain, a razor sharp view of the temporal, allowing for a healthy, honest view of the eternal; being real about who man is as he relates to God in order to maintain a foothold, as it were, to effectively speak into the affairs of men for their sake and for the glory of God.
God is eternal, he’s not intimidated by a lack of “tomorrows”, he doesn’t try to keep himself busy to avoid thinking about “the end”. The prophet resides comfortably within this truth feeling at home while being “away” from home. They don’t posses a desperate tenacity to hold on as long as they can to this passing vapor. They know Who they are to eventually arrive to. God.
I really don’t know how to end this … so I’ll call it good. I’ll have another installment on prophets in a few days, I came across an offering by A.W. Tozer which I would like to take a few excerpts from. We’ll see.

Water, Worthiness and Worship

Jesus and the woman at the well, having a mid day discussion about water, worthiness and worship. He asks her for something and she asks him for something; he tells her a little of who and what she is and she unknowingly assesses a little about him. Once she realizes he isn’t put off by the revelation of who or what she is, she settles in to getting some answers regarding the “how” and “where” of worship. Is it here or is it there? Is it this style or is it that style?
Jesus says to her, “it’s neither one”. “Neither here on this mountain nor in Jerusalem”.
There’s a lot to be said for this passage of scripture, it’s crammed with really good stuff but for the sake of brevity, I will make one particular observation.

She’s dry and parched, desperately holding on to the promise of God which has yet to materialize.
“I know that the Messiah is coming”.
The Messiah, the deliverer, her only hope for life in a very desperate situation. Once she hears his testimony about who he is a transformation takes place. She’s different. She believes in him, she believes in what he said; he’s the water that satisfies her thirsty soul, not only that, but the testimony of who he is? … includes her! She knows that he knows what she is, yet he gives her the gift of witness.

John 7:38
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have rivers of living water flowing from his heart.”

She then goes off to proclaim him before others, unashamed, unhindered, not afraid or intimidated to speak the truth of Christ’s words for the sake of others, even in the midst of those who knew her.
“He told me everything about me!” (Loosely translated? “You’ve been a five time looser and your still being a looser.”)

As a result of this transformation he started doing something that didn’t occur at those two places of worship. At those places there was method, process and ritual taking place along with a defending of each towards the other. Worship being performed by one in a manner different from the unacceptable place and manner of the other. A right and wrong based upon where it was, how it was. She on the other hand was operating out of an overflow of “now knowing”, evident by a joyful heart energized and illuminated by the proclamation of who Christ was. Proclaiming Christ to others? Hope? The extending of an invitation to others to, “come to him”? Weren’t they just talking about worship?

Having led worship for a local fellowship and most recently having the honor to teach worship, there’s something I find very disturbing in most church worship services, something in direct contrast to the actions of this once downcast woman. I recently witnessed this again at a church service my wife and I were at. The congregation is singing at the top of their lungs the praises of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Big, bold, confident with hands raised! Then the service director steps up and says, “Just speak out to the Lord, words of adoration.”
Clang!
Dead silence!
No one said anything. This may seem unusual but it’s very common in most services, I toss this out all the time when leading worship just to see where I am with a particular group of people. It’s not a definitive litmus test but there is a huge difference that takes place. Singing is easy, but actually speaking praises to and of God in front of other people? Get real!
For some reason we’ve managed to raise up a whole bunch of singers and not a lot of worshipers. By worshipers I mean those who provide a river of living “praise” out of an overflow of the heart. A life of true adoration devoted to His good pleasure and satisfaction.

I believe Jesus did get that drink of water he was looking for from that woman. It was her. Her testimony, proclamation etc. A flow of people (an eternal crop “of” the harvest) came to him as a result of her joy. She wasn’t detracted one bit by people, as it related to speaking of the good news she now possessed in Christ. So why is it we experience dead silence among the redeemed? Could it be that we too are more like the two places of worship Jesus and the woman had discussed? One knew not Who or what they worshiped and the other worshiped out of ritual? Each lacking Spirit and truth?
Jesus gave the woman the gift of himself for his own sake. A gift, once received by a grateful heart, becomes that which satisfies Christ and is found by the very God who was seeking it.
Could it be the silence is evidence of a lack of knowing? A lack of gratitude? Love? Adoration?

As for the church service?, fortunately to everyones awkward relief, the “worship leader” started the next song and everyone was able to enter into worship once more.
Thank God!

Foot note: It is interesting, but I tend to speak out in situations much like that. (I can’t stand the silence!) God is worthy to be praised from the heart! But it’s weird, when you do speak out there’s this even more intense silence that takes place just afterwards, like being the clumsy clod who manages to knock a porcelain plate off the shelf in an exquisitely quiet china shop.
Thank God!

A Little Advice For the Straight and Narrow

I have to say I really admire certain aspects of the gay and lesbian community, not for their immoral acts, but for the way they’ve gotten to where they are in society. They’re to the nineties and into the 2000’s, what the blacks were to the sixties. Here you have a distinct group of people living in the shadows of american society, who by their own determination and will to “be” stood up and proclaimed who they were, who they were going to be and what they were going to do.
“This is who we are, this is what we believe, and this is who we’re going to be, .. deal with it!” I think the actual battle cry was, “We’re queer, we’re here, and we’re not going away!” Something like that anyway.

The reason they’ve done this is because they firmly laid hold of and have yielded themselves totally to what they believe to be true.
They’ve heard it, received it into their minds and eventually into their hearts, then by their will they have acted upon this “truth” so that what they believe is seen and witnessed by others. They also proclaim who they are based upon this truth and bow to no one who would be in opposition to it. A steadfast, sacrificial determination to “be” what they believe in has influenced and changed our society and allowed their truth an increased witness in the world. And they don’t do it as the individual, they do it as a community of one, seven days a week, all the time not just two hours one day a week and maybe wednesday night.

It’s interesting that with a casual observation we see there’s really only one city on the face of the earth which is identified by the people who inhabit it. Paris? Houston? Cairo? Beijing? Sydney?
No.
San Francisco! When we think of San Francisco the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is gays and lesbians. A city who’s identity has been determined by the people who inhabit it?
Sounds familiar.

God has always determined that the witness and glory of his kingdom was to be seen and increased by his people as they walked in yielded agreement to it, both in word and deed. Whether it was the word of God spoken directly, written on stone, or through an indwelling testimony, this has always been God’s will. A people, a holy city, giving witness to God’s glory on earth. How is this suppose to happen? Like this:
The christian is to firmly hold to and yield themselves totally to what they believe to be true about God. This truth is to have been heard by them at some point, received into their minds and eventually into their hearts, then by their will they have acted upon this “truth” so that what they believe is seen and witnessed by others. They also proclaim who they are based upon this truth, and bow to no one who would be in opposition to it.
Hhm?
The gay community doesn’t have denominations or individual fellowships to separate them from each other, thus weakening their cause and voice. They don’t spend endless hours teaching lifestyle behind the walls of multi-million dollar buildings. They don’t have a leader everybody looks to for direction, youth groups, missions trips, nor new believers classes. Instead they look to, depend upon and support each other from the position of “each for all”. Simply put? they “BE”.

A recent statement made by performer Elton John; “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people. Religion promotes hatred and spite against gays. But there are so many people I know who are gay and love their religion,” he said. “From my point of view, I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn’t seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it’s not really compassionate.”

Former president Jimmy Carter in his recent published book, Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis states, “When asked if they personally believe it is acceptable for gays and lesbians to engage in same-sex behavior, a majority of Americans respond affirmatively, which is a strong shift in opinion since twenty years ago, when responses to the same question were the reverse.”

Deut 10:12-22
“So now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? Only to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the LORD your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the LORD set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the LORD your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons; and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.

Gays don’t promote who “they” are as an individual, they promote their “lifestyle”.
Christians need to do the same; Promote their Life. Share God, speak God, testify God.

Elmer Fudd Evangelism

Have you ever seen somebody hunting quail in a Sunday morning service? Hunting deer during the offering? Bow hunting elk as the bread is served for communion?
You haven’t? Why is that?
The most likely reason might be that these highly coveted prey aren’t found in church buildings. Any hunter, fisherman or other sportsmen knows that if you want to bag a trophy you gotta go where they’re found. Woods, mountains, fields, etc, they just don’t come wand’ring down main street, through the front door of a church building wanting to get shot. Why is that? It’s not within their nature, it’s not what they do, or what they are, it’s foreign and unfamiliar to them. It would be a rather strange thing to see a sign on the front of a church building inviting bears or deer to “Come here and get shot Sunday mornings at 9:45″.
Does that sound strange or what? But I see it all the time on the front of church buildings, or at least on the sign board at the street; a big vinyl banner strapped across the front, “Come worship with us!”
?????
Are they talking to me? I know what worship is, … so I guess I could do that. See, being a Christian I know what worship means and I hope most other christians do too but in order to “worship with them” I would have to forgo worship at my own fellowship. Okay, that’s possible, but highly unlikely.
Is that what they really intended? I don’t think so.
I believe they’re extending an invitation to those who don’t go to church, to come and “worship” with them. Who else is left?

What a great idea? Rather than us getting trained, and equipped, to go through the personal sacrifice of actually having to venture into the woods to shoot a dear or bear, we just put a sign up on the front of the building that says, “Come in here and get shot”, and maybe just maybe one will walk by and think, “Hey, why don’t I walk in there and get shot?”
Cool! And maybe, if they just happen to come on the Sunday someone is explaining the advantages of hunter’s safety (the history of Levitical Law), they will suddenly shoot, skin, gut and quarter themselves, so we don’t have to actually get up and get messy?
And we don’t! The truth is, all we have to do is bow our heads, close our eyes and while we’re doing this someone is presenting them with the invitation to get shot, they simply raise their hoof and boom! they get shot. No noise, nice and quiet (kind of like a silencer).
Heck when we do open our eyes we don’t even know who got shot! We know someone did get shot because we heard the ‘head” hunter say in a nice soft voice, “I see that hoof, yes,…. bang! … your dead,…. yes, …. thank you”.

Lock and load, Sqwue Eee Wabbit

Death With Divinity

I have to say, that over the last few years I’ve come to understand to a greater degree, the words spoken by God, “Be still and know that I am God”. At first one might approach it from a position of being able to sit still for more than a half hour pondering the attributes of God, and this is true to some degree, or being able to take time to be in awe of God by watching and seeing the world and all that He has created; having an awareness of presence, (or what have you).

I can be slightly wired at times, especially when it comes to things pertaining to God, Christ, scripture, the church, wrongs, injustices, people being taken advantage of, wasted time and dollars etc. Mostly when I see the people of God (followers) being wasted, believeing they are being led (by leadership) some where but never arriving, that kind of stuff.
But I have learned in the last few years to be still, not just remaining motionless, quiet or meditative, but “still”.
I prefer to look upon it as being yielded.
Yielded is good.
This understanding of God became very clear just a day or so before the death of my grandmother, (my dad’s mom) she was ninety three. After visiting her at the nursing home, I wrote down the experience in preparation for her death. Any thoughts or perceptions I had kicking around about “being still”, began to solidify during that single hour of the early evening:

“I’m sitting in the quiet room of a nursing home at the bedside of my ninety three year old grandmother, I had received a phone message from my sister telling me she had fallen down and hurt herself in a moment of confusion trying to get from a wheel chair to her bed by herself. It was determined there was nothing they could do for her injuries other than give her medication to relieve the pain. So here she is, sleeping soundly, a frail witness of the woman we have always known her to be. A woman who was always vital, confident, determined, and creative, packing a great big smile that usually erupted with a laugh of childlike expressiveness, this helped to offset the confident stubbornness associated with being, well, just a little opinionated.
It’s one of those settings that cause us to reflect upon our surroundings with a more deliberate attentiveness, a determined desire to be more observant, that we might not miss what we are truly in the midst of, a “seeing” that could easily be missed if not carefully pursued. Something to see that at first glance could be missed, but it was there. What was there to see?
Life.
Life, experienced in the very basic condition of being still; not found nor attained through our own efforts because in the true sense we are helpless to do anything. It isn’t in our doing but is a sovereign act of God upon us, for His sake.
If we but yield.
One must be attentive in order to see it, because it isn’t life or living as we are used to seeing it,(the seventy years or so devoted to the busy activity of us being us, for us).

In this room, slowly growing dark as evening approaches, I asked God,

“Let me see YOU in the midst of all of this”. “Allow me to hear, that I might see.”

So rather than watching life pass from this frail vessel of my grandmother, God allowed me to see the demonstrative witness of Himself, the One from whom all life comes and the One to whom life passes, for God says of himself,

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End”

If this is true when we speak of all that is created, the heavens and the earth, then we must surely confess that it’s true for us as well. For all things have been made, formed, and created by him, through him and for him. There is nothing that exists that cannot be found to have come from God. He sustains all that is by his creative, powerful and eternal life giving Word.

So here I sit, at this bedside, witness to an incredible display of glorious revelation.

GOD

Demonstrating his mighty power, not only before me, but before all that is eternal.

“Be still and know that I am God”

If we aren’t careful, with our lives, we will only see that which is temporal; the dissipation of the morning dew, the withering of the grass by the noon day sun, which can surely cause us to grieve and mourn, but if we see God, then we see eternal hope.
We see God, the One who receives unto himself those He has known before he laid the foundation of the earth, able to sustain us and care for us beyond the hopeless frailty of the body. For we are His design, His plan, His mighty power.

In the midst of God displaying His glory, so we are.

“Ken, in the midst of what would appear to be death, see me. See that I am able to create, that I am able to form and establish. I sustained all that she was and all that she appears to be before you this day, not only now, but forever.”

“I am able. I have brought her forth from that which is unseen and I am able to deliver her to that which has yet to be seen. All you can see at this time is death, but I am Life, and who has ever seen me?”

“You pray, ‘God grant healing and relief from suffering, long life and deliverance from evil’,

“I say, “So I am”

“For Life is shrouded in this very vessel set before you this hour; this earthly sanctuary of mine. This fragile veil of flesh is simply giving way to a demonstrative witness of my revelatory Glory, making fully know to her the One who has, until now, remained hidden.”

God’s desire is that we know the indwelling presence of His fellowship void of empty distractions, efforts, preoccupations, or anything that would hinder our complete devotion towards Him.

“Rejoice, for it is to my glory and for my good pleasure that the two of us should now see each other face to face.”
Matthew 11: 1- 10

When I see so much that frustrates me as it relates to christianity, it’s very comforting to know that a little “death to self” goes a long way in finding rest, contentment and the desire towards contending a little bit more for the faith we have in Christ, not to mention a little more maturity in the process.

Prophetic Tension

1 Peter 1:20
First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

A Hebrew word for prophet in early Old Testament writing means “to bubble forth” as from a fountain. This speaking forth is not an involuntary exercise, it’s more a yielded obedience based upon the prophet both knowing and honoring God. (and a little fearing)
The prophet is all about proclamation, testifying, witness, and declaration. In one word it’s safe to say the prophet is all about “Word”.
God is the God of revelation, He’s constantly making Himself known, and in light of that, he’s really big on witness, he never leaves himself without a responding witness to His glory.
More than likely, I believe, if God were to speak directly to the church, in a true audible voice, there would be few remaining witnesses left standing to speak of the event. His word, is not what we think it to be, it has power, a power coming from absolute Holiness, not like our words.
Jesus was the Word become flesh, the Word of God throttled down so to speak, in an earth suit. Survivable contact.
With two seemingly simple words Jesus testified to who he was and a pack of rough and tumble Roman guards get knocked on their cans. Things moved, people were fed and healed, oceans calmed and dead men raised to life.
This same demonstrative “audio power” is the plutonium which powers the core of the prophet; the indwelling testimony “of” The Word. The same character and nature who’s source is The One who sits enthroned in a shroud of terrifying glory. The true prophet, by the will of God, is deposited with this very nature, this gift, and subsequently as a gift from God to men, the prophet finds himself in the midst of the church, the body of Christ, speaking forth the testimony of Glory and Majesty before those who profess this same indwelling presence. The frustration for the prophet is an all to common empty silence, void of any resounding witness to establish the presence of God among them.
In the book of Revelation 1:5, Jesus is presented to the seven churches in Asia as, “the true and faithful witness”, I believe, as a reminder to the churches of their role in Christ, their personality, character, source, and a reminder of what they hadn’t been, what they lost or had failed to be.
Jesus said, “those who are my sheep know my voice”.
Everybody LOVES God, until He actually shows up, usually in the form of testimony, spoken through His Son, prophets or true disciples, most often HE’s shunned, ignored, written off, killed, beat, burned, crucified, beheaded or determined to be divisive and eventually is surgically removed.
The prophet is an audible witness “of” God, for the sake of the church, reminding them of Who they are to reflect, how they are to look, the image they are to manifest, and if that witness doesn’t match the witness being put forth by the church (and it seldom does) then one has to go.
History has proven many times, it’s the prophet who’s not welcome.
The prophet has this insatiable devotion that the witness of God’s glory be rightly acknowledged in the heavens and earth among those He has created. He’s kind of like a spiritual building inspector for the dwelling place of God, making sure the foundation (Christ) is laid correctly, and that everything built upon it remains consistent with it. If something is out of square, or false materials used, they are pointed out and requested to be removed and replaced. This ensures that the resulting effort is for the glory and exaltation of the name of God alone. The prophet finds all to often, that the faithful are being preached into a preoccupation with building an edifice which exalts either the name or reputation of their particular fellowship or that of their pastor.

2 Corinthians 1:2-4
“For I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. 3However, I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by its tricks, so your minds may somehow be lured away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For if someone comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or should you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you are all too willing to listen.”

I remember several years ago I was sitting in a leadership meeting of a local fellowship, the pastor went around the room asking each person what they believed their role was in the body of Christ based upon the gifting God had given them. (whatever!)
Several lofty, cool sounding responses flew forth and then it was my turn. “Well Ken, what’s yours?”
I thought for awhile and eventually said, “My role is to evangelize the church back to Christ.”
Clang!
Hey, it just bubbled forth!
Needless to say, that was the beginning of the end for me. Or maybe the end of the beginning?