That’ll do the Job

I’ve decided to read through the book of Job. For years I’ve avoided it. Perhaps because I just didn’t get it. Have you ever noticed how most sermons you hear about Job are confined to the first and last few chapters of the book? Most preachers, it seems, aren’t quite sure what to do with the middle.

I avoided it because it’s hard for me to get doctrine out of it. I mean, sometimes Job and his buddies say things that are right on. Sometimes they say things that are…iffy. Sometimes they’re just downright wrong. Yeah, it’s hard to get doctrine from Job.

But then I realized what Job was. Check out what section of the bible it’s in. The poetry section. Look at how it’s written. In a prose style like the psalms. It’s a poem. A big, beautiful poem about the most widely asked question among humans. It’s almost like God wrote a play for us about the meaning of suffering in the world. God uses many mediums to get his ideas across. With Job the medium is a poetic play. Reminds me of Song of Solomon in some ways.

So God wrote us a great poem about men trying to figure out why good people suffer and bad people don’t. I really appreciate how real Job is. The preachers who say that Job’s faith never wavered througout his suffering should read the whole book. It wavered quite a bit! He calls God his enemy. He says that he would be able to prove himself right before God is he had a go-between that would stop God from squishing him. Job was a real human with real problems.

So yeah, God gave us a beautiful play with characters that ask the same questions we do. I’d love to see it performed on stage, though I bet the lines would be hard to memorize.

Err, and here are some less-artistic pics of goofs playing with a Macintosh. I think I might convert.

I wish I knew Hebrew

A few random thoughts I wanna throw your way from what I’ve been reading this week.

See to it…that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
- Hebrews

Sexually immoral? I quickly scanned to the beginning of the Bible and read about Esau. He wasn’t sexually immoral. Where did the Hebrew-guy get that from? For a good number of years I thought about that one. I just figured that maybe God sent this inspiration into the head of the writer and we were just to accept it without worrying too much about it. Kinda like when Jude quote Enoch.

And then I had a thought. For the man who believes in Christ Esau’s sin and sexual immorality are of the same essence. Check it out:

Esau sold his birthright, that thing that garaunteed him a lasting inheritance, for a pot of stew (lentils, in Urdu) that satisfied him for an hour. He traded something bigger than himself for something that he could have enjoyed lawfully if he just waited a little.

The believer in Christ who commits sexual immorality, or any other sin at all for that matter, forsakes the fountain of living waters and risks his inheritance for the cisterns of life that can hold no water.

Esau’s stew, just like your desires for sin, will never last. One day it will all be done and we will, like Esau, regret every time we forsook the fountains of living waters for those crappy cisterns that we did ourselves. So take the cue from Esau and don’t sell your birthright for a single meal.

I’m out.

A Husband’s Jealous Eye

Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road.

I recall while I was at KLBC we had a big conflict over The Prayer of Jabez. The school was neatly divided into people who thought it was fine, people who thought it was heretical and people who didn’t care. Because of the group I assosiated with I at once condemned it (without checking it out). As the months went by and I matured a little bit I decided to read it for myself. I realized that it indeed was promoting a Christianity and Christian worldview that was not matching with the Bible. But, with my newfound maturity, I didn’t continue arguing against it.

And so life went on and I started taking Church history and learned about how in the past both Catholics and Protestants would burn each other at the stakes. Even some of the folks whose books I read were said to take part in such things. I was shocked! And then Derek Webb came out with his song ‘Wedding Dress’ in which he condemns all the false teachers as knowing tricking the church for money. Just a few days ago I read a famous artist say that he had called Bruce Wilkinson a liar and a crook to his face. What was the deal with these people? Can’t we just live and let live?

And then I read the words of Moses. Cursed be anyone who misleads a blind man on the road. And I remembered the words of Christ. Woe to anyone who causes one of these little ones to sin. It would be better for him to have a millstone tied to his neck and thrown into the sea. Whoa!

I realized a sober truth. The false teacher is likely the most dangerous man alive. A murderer or warmonger causes the body to die. A false teacher leads the soul away from life! No wonder Elijah commanded that all the prophets of Baal be killed! The false teacher is like a lying prophet.

A message to all of us who have influence over people. To all of us who talk and write and preach. Be careful! Do not preach your opinions. Do not preach what people want to hear. Do not say a single word with the goal of being respected or liked. Teach only the truth, because anything less than the truth is deadly, sick and sinful to the core. No wonder James said that we teachers shall receive greater condemnation. No wonder Christ was always angry with the scribes and Pharisees. They bound up heavy burdens for people, did not enter into Heaven nor allowed other to go in themselves. Be very wary that your teaching is always pointing to Christ.

Because money cannot buy
A husband’s jealous eye
When you have knowingly deceived his wife.

Encouragement from the dead

The Scripture takes to task the foolishness of men who ’spend their money for that which is not bread, and their labour for that which does not do us any real good‘. They spend their time and money chasing after perishing things, when something solid and everlasting is set before them. What do men think about most of the time? Some spend their time planning how to make provision for their flesh and how to satisfy its lusts. They spend their thoughts on sinful pleasures, refusing to behold the glory of Christ. Some continually worry about the things of this world, seeking promotion and rewards for all they do. So they are transformed in the image of the world, becoming earthly, unspiritual and stupid. The blindess, the darkness, the foolishness of poor sinners! Do they not realize who it is they despise? Do they not realize who it is they are rejecting and for what?
- Owen

Another good reminder from a man from long ago. Don’t work for the stuff that perishes. You are what you eat, and if your food is earthly and your work is earthly and your thoughts are earthly…I guess you’re earthly.

Here’s some pictures Shawn took while visiting us, enjoy them:

Fun with straws.

The two most important places to visit while in Karachi. The founder’s tomb and McDonald’s.

All these photos are listed on facebook, so if you don’t have an account with them you probably won’t be able to see them. Sorry. I’ll try to get them working later. But I’m tired and sleepy now.

Our dear friend Andrew(s)

Read this: Andrew Osenga

I read that the day after I had an invigorating talk the other night with Andy Mack about how Christian art has changed from magnificant to sucky in the last few hundred years. When I say art you know I mean art in all possible forms. Be it music, visual, poems, prose, dance, cooking, whatever. I used to be that the Christian world produced the most thought-provoking, honest, truthful and beautiful art there was. Think of folks like Dante or Bach. I’ll never know if the great artists of the past were regenerate or not, but at least they did their art from a worldview that accepted God as the center. And their art reflected that.

But it didn’t just reflect that. It was also good.

Have you ever noticed that ‘Christian’ music and literature is become…silly? Our hit songs are remakes of what was popular two years ago with the word ‘Jesus’ slapped onto it. I recently found a book of the ‘best Christian poetry’ of 1997. I’ll be honest. It kinda sucks.

God has given all men a creative gene in us. He has given double to the Christian. Once through his Image that is stamped on all men, and once again through the seal of the Spirit given to those of us who believe. So why, oh why, is Christian art totally disrespected? I think it’s our own fault. We have not learned how to express creativity. I wonder why…

Maybe it’s because we have a set pattern in our minds as to what a Christian is supposed to say and do.

Maybe it’s because we enjoy our relatively irrelevant pop-culture of psudeo-Christianity.

Maybe it’s because we, as a demograph, are lazy thinkers.

It’s probably all three put together. I so badly wish that we could do something to improve the value and skill of art from a biblical worldview. There are some beautiful exceptions. There are some amazing artists that clearly and beautifully express the turh in their worldview. But they are few and far between. What can we do about it?

I would imagine that most Christians deem themselves as uncreative. Most of us never grew up with deep songs or profound books. We failed poetry class and we can’t interpret a film to save our lives. But we can learn. I may be wrong, but I think that every human (especially Christians) has creativity living inside of them. I think that if you try to use it, it will awake. Just try it! Try to sketch a scene or write a poem. Try it!

And to those of you who are already trying it. Be original! There is nothing worse in the creative world than a hack (except, maybe, a backstreet boy). Pour yourself into you work without a second thought as to how people will judge it. Your job is to express truth, not get a hundred fans.

I’m out.

Shield and Buckler

1) Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
Fight against those who fight against me.
For though I don’t wrestle with flesh and blood
Many foes fly at me like a flood

Chorus) Take hold of shield and buckler,
Rise to save the day.
Draw your spear and your javelin,
Rescue me, then say
To my soul:
“I am your salvation.”

2) Let all those be thoroughly put to shame
Those who take my life and hate your name.
My bitterness, hate and anxiety
Always try to get the best of me.

3) Alone I walk though the death of this Shadow.
When will it end? I’m scared, I don’t know.
I know I’ll be free once I make this sin die.
But I don’t even know how to try.

Bridge) It’s not the sons of men that bother me.
There is no foe that you could see.
Flesh and blood is not my enemy.
The struggle lies so deep within.
Not with people, but with my sin.
There’s no middle ground, either die or win.
But I can’t do it, only you can win.

4) My foe lies right there, smiling in front of me.
Shall I kill him or let him go free?
But peace with any sin is death to soul.
If part is leavened, so is the whole.

Matthew 16:5-12, 21-23

Jesus just had another run-in with the ever critical Pharisees. After stinging them pretty good he leaves and grabs his disciples. On the way to wherever he was going he gives them some advice: “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” This comment sparks a memory peg in the brains of the disciples. They suddenly realize they forgot the food at home.
“Andrew, did you bring the bread?”
“I thought you were bringing it!”
“Why would I bring it? I brought it last time!”
And on it goes. Jesus shakes his head when he hears them talking about this. “O you of little faith! Don’t you get it? Don’t you remember those two times it looked like we were stuck without food and I took care of it? What makes you think I’m talking about bread? Who cares about bread? I’m giving you a warning that is healthy for your soul and you think I’m talking about bread?”

People think that one of the greatest mistakes in Bible interpretation is over-spiritualizing the text. As I look at the church I start to think that’s not our biggest problem. The biggest problem in our interpretation of the Bible is over-carnalizing the text. We read the parable of the talents and think it has to do with economic planning. We read “sell all you have and give” and we think it’s talking about tithing. We read the Great Commission and think we can fulfill it my tipping big at restaurants and leaving a gospel tract. We don’t make the text too spiritual, we make it too worldly. We take the teeth out of it. We get distracted away from the spiritual guidance and blessings because we remember something about something we don’t even need: physical bread. Jesus was frustrated with the disciples because he was trying to teach them not to rely on bread but to rely on him! It took them a while to figure out.

So later Jesus starts to talk about how he would be going up to Jerusalem to be beaten and killed and raised. Peter hears this and figures he needs to take his teacher aside and set some things straight. Not wanting to embarrass him he pulls Jesus away from the others and starts to point out how what he’s talking about isn’t right. God would never kill such a good man, or whatever else his reasons were. Jesus gets upset: “Get behind me Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

In what way was Peter a hindrance to the Christ? In that his mind was still wandering around where it was a dozen verses earlier. He was still thinking about earthly things. Still concerned about bread or physical life. Still thinking about earthly, temporary, non-God things. Jesus simply has no use for such thinking. Jesus commands an entirely new thought-pattern from those who claim to be in him. A new worldview, not just a modified sub-culture. A new man, not just a cleaner version of the old one. What does Jesus say to those who claim to be in him yet insist on thinking like a man? “Move. You’re in my way. I’m trying to get something dazzlingly wonderful done and you are hindering me. Just get out of my way.”

It’s a scary thing to be in his way. He’ll get his radical mission done, we can either hop on board by living a radically different life and thinking radically different thoughts, or we can be pushed aside. Jesus at this point decides to tell all the disciples what it really means to follow him:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

Thoughts after a talk with a dear friend.

I have often envied the prophets. Most people look at their lives and see how difficult it must have been for them. How difficult it must have been to preach with no fruit. To live friendless, without family, without material things, without a comfort in the world. They seem like very unenviable people. But I envy them. You know what I envy? The certainty of their call. Moses heard the voice of God from a burning bush. Elijah had fire fall from heaven to confirm his ministry. The Apostles looked at the Son of God in the face and heard his commands directly. There was no doubt. Even walking through the valley of the shadow of death there was that one thing they could still bank on: God told me to walk here.

So I envy them at times. I certainly don’t suffer like them, but at times I think I would be willing to if only I could have their certainty. It’s the scariest thing in the world to lie awake at night and wonder if I’m on the right path. I don’t mean the right path as in following Jesus; I’m not haunted by those doubts anymore. I mean if the path I’m on, or the path I’m shooting for, the path that Jesus is on? Am I actually following him or did I jump on this train as a result of my own ambitions or desires to look radical and nuts? I never had a burning bush experience. God didn’t speak to me one night from a whirlwind and tell me to kick it off to the Sindh, but here I am anyway. Why? How have I been called to this work? Have I been called?

But whenever these doubts come up I remember what I have heard. How hundreds of tiny circumstances in my life (each one meaningless on its own) have worked together to bring me here. Coincidences that just cannot be coincidence. The people and events that God called into my life have practically driven me here without my help. Has God sent me here? Sure as hell (or heaven, for that matter). And I think of the general call of Christ. Remember his last words in Matthew? Most preachers focus on the part that says ‘into all the world’ or ‘make disciples’. You know what part I like the best? “All authority has been given to me. Go, therefore…” I am the king of the world. So go. The highest authority has told me to go. So I must go.

But this call business is pretty tricky, isn’t it? I’ve lay awake many a night before coming here trying so hard to figure out what I was supposed to do with my life. All the while scared to death that I might pick the wrong path and be screwed for the rest of my life. The path didn’t really show up until I stopped trying to hard. That’s the thing with a call, you can’t figure it out until the call actually comes, then you just have to answer. But how on earth do we know if we are called? I thought of a few ideas:

First, realize that you are called. Whether you live in Canada, India or Saudi, if you are sealed by the Spirit of Holiness you have been called. God doesn’t divide his people into levels with missionaries and monks on the top and normal folks somewhere near the bottom. Whether you are preaching in a desert tent or fixing a leak in your home in Niagara Falls, God has called you to display the riches of his glory. There is a general call for all children of God to live radical lives of obedience that show people around that Christ is our treasure and only him. In this way you have been called. But what about a special call? Like a call to a ministry or crazy-go-nuts place?

That brings us to an inner witness. Jeremiah said that the Word of God was like a fire in his bones, he was weary of holding it in. That’s an inner witness to a different type of life. Some of us simply feel (perhaps subjectively, perhaps fallibly) that they should be somewhere doing something different.

There’s the witness of circumstance. When everything in your life seems to be pointing towards that one thing that keeps coming back to your mind. God is in control of every atom in the universe, it makes sense that he would use the events of our lives to point us in the way we should go.

There’s the witness of joy. Joy is very important in the Christian life. If you truly are aching to see what God’s will is for your life, follow the joy. If your heart is close to his your joy will be what honors him. And what honors him cannot be bad.

There’s the witness of Scripture. When a part of the Bible speaks to you about something specific in a new way.

Can we ever figure out what the will of God really is for our lives? Of course! In fact, you should know it already! The Bible says that God’s will for our lives is our sanctification. God’s will for every single believer is to see them sanctified. We talk about calls to go and calls to stay, in the end they are all just ways that God uses to get us (and others) sanctified, made holy.

So I would offer this 1.5 cents worth of advice to those of you who are wondering what the heck God wants with them: Look at your life. Look at where you have been and where you are now. Look at the people who are in your life and the options around you. Look at your heart. Where does the joy lie? Where does the chance for sanctification lie? I bet none of you will have rock-solid answers for those. I’ve been here for almost two years and I still don’t know what’s going to happen down the road, but I’ve thrown my chips in here. I’ve bet everything on this single hand. The comforting thing about working for the Kingdom is this: When you’ve bet everything, there is nothing to lose. And Jesus promises to pay me back. I guess if all you want to do is make Jesus look glorious, get yourself sanctified and love every human you come in contact with, it doesn’t matter much where you go.

Visual Updates Galore!

I don’t have any words right now, so be pleased to feast your eyes on some visual delights from the last few days. Forgive the quality as most were taken by the cell phone camera of a friend. On we go:

The ever necessary family pic. Perfect for adding to your desktop wallpaper. Or for printing and hanging on your fridge, or slapping it on a mug, or making a wall mural for your kid’s bedroom.

I have become a cowboy. It’s true. Check out the cool Paki cowboy hat. Ye haw!

Ruth has also become a cowboy…though more like the girl version. She’s pretty cool anyway.

Alright, alright. I know that three pics doesn’t quite count as visual updates galore, but gimmie a break, it’s getting hot here and I’m tired.

Bye bye!

Not a coronary blogger. More adrenal.

“For the sake of your traditions you have made void the Word of God.” – Jesus

We read this and what do we think of? Usually we think of staunch, stale, old-school Christians who refuse to change the music or color of the church service. Those people who refuse to let a piano play at Lord’s Supper or revile each other over issues like head coverings and evangelistic strategies. Everyone has a picture in there head of a certain person that they think is the embodiment of this passage. That’s what popped into my head when I read it this morning. But then I thought a little more…

I am supposed to use the Bible as a tool to kill my own sin. I have no power to hurt the sins of others, so why would I think about how bad another person is while I read it? I should be using The Book to keep my own life in check. I started to think about what traditions I held to that make void the Word of God. I came up with a little list.

A tradition of passivity. In preaching the Gospel, in doing good for others, in dealing with my sin and my pursuit of God.

A tradition of laziness. In abiding in Christ and doing godly work.

A tradition of anger and impatience. Keeping me from love.

A tradition of self-consciousness. Keeping me from properly displaying the glories of Christ by my life and world-view.

A tradition of timidity. Choosing false, shaky peace over radical obedience.

These are the traditions that hold me back, and they may be more dangerous than physical traditions because they are harder to spot and harder to kill. Gotta break these traditions. They actually do make void the Word of God. And if the Word of God is void in my life then my life and influence are also void and useless. Just as the Pharisees were void and useless in bringing themselves and others into the kingdom, so will I (and you) prove useless if we cannot recognize and break the traditions that are making void the Word of God.

Random muse: I wonder if an Injil hafiz is possible…