Personal-Marriage-Mission

Sometimes in our lives we find ourselves unsure about what we need to focus on.  Thankfully, we have a good Shepherd who's voice we know and can follow.  Often, because of all the noise of life, we stop listening.  Noise is usually made up morally neutral things that aren't bad or good, they just drown out the Shepherd's voice.  I have learned there are three primary areas of my life I need to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd everyday.

Personal
Marriage/Family
Mission

Personally I need to be hearing God's Word for my own life.  Not for the life of my wife, kids, or message I am preparing.  I need the gentle specific and precise words of the Savior carrying me on.  My self-sufficiency will always take over and ruin me until I seek to find my strength in the Lord.

In my marriage and family I am called to lead by feeding, protecting, knowing my family.  Feeding looks like giving solid practical counsel.  Toby asked me how to ride a bike, so heck yes I am going to do my best to show him how.  I must protect them by looking out ahead and thinking about their needs.  Is Chase going to need to sit this one out because when he gets too tired he starts to breakdown etc.  You must know them to shepherd them.  Do you know what your husband or wife is currently struggling with?  Do you know how each of your kids are uniquely wired and how to gospel them individually.

Mission-  We are all gifted by God for the work of the ministry of building up the body of Christ.  Many people sadly have their personal time with the Lord and love their family yet they never see their family as the Lord's.  Instead family becomes the core of ambition and success rather than the tool of a calling.  The other extreme is to focus on mission at the expending your family to a toxic level.  1 Timothy 3 gives us the qualifications of leaders in the church.  They are to manage their own households well, because if they can't manage their own house how can they manage the church properly (this includes hospitality to outsiders 1 Tim.3:2).  Perhaps you are a family going through a busy stretching season of new babies and tiredness.  Your mission becomes your marriage.  Many guys really want to be on mission for the Lord but need to see the mission starts with their wives and children.  This is both scriptural and practical.  1 Timothy 3.

I digress to make a linear flow of priorities but here's what it would look like.

Personal Abiding in Jesus  
Marriage
Family        
Mission

When The Squirrels Don't Show

"That we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:4b

Today I took my three year old son on a "daddy date".  I'm not sure if that is a manly thing to call it or not but my boys know what it is and get super excited anytime it is their turn.  It is so rewarding to spend quality time with your children individually as compared to doing everything with a herd mentality.  Chase and I went to the Ike Box and split a white chocolate soy mocha.  He told everyone about his lightning McQueen car he was holding in his hand.  We proceeded from there to make our way to the state capital with the intention of chasing squirrels.  The squirrels were no where to be found and so Chase got really upset at them.  I told him they were in their beds for nap time.  Chase nodded like they were good squirrels and gave it his approval but he was on the verge of throwing a Chase fit.  We then decided to jump into the fountains and it was a refreshing delight to see his joy amidst the busy bus station and people in sleeveless shirts picketing on the capitol steps.

Parenthood is such a gift from God.  Parenting requires patience and the ability to comfort your children.  They get upset about many things like when the squirrels don't show.  We like Chase have our own fake super men that we trust will make us happy.  The Bible calls this idolatry.  It can be your job, relationships, success, your political allegiances, your kids, comfort, sex, your degrees, etc.


When I trace through the story line of the Bible it becomes clear that from day one of creation God has been showing us patience and offering us comfort.  The Lord comforted Adam and Eve by clothing their shame in the garden. Before Cain was thinking of murdering Abel the Lord warned him, and after Cain killed Abel the Lord still pursued Cain and protected him.  The Lord rescued Noah and his family from zombie like sinners bent on murderous destruction.  When Noah's descendants decided to build their rockstar to heaven building (symbolizing their self-sufficiency) called the "tower of Babel" God frustrated their plans in his grace.  Joseph's brothers tried to kill him exhibiting their appetite for the forbidden fruit as well, yet the Lord rescued Joseph and used Joseph for good even to bless his hateful brothers by providing for them. Finally, God sent us His Son to exhibit the ultimate patience and comfort. The God of the Bible has pursued us individually from the very beginning.  When's the last time you spent some time with your Creator?  Sometimes our misconceptions of who He is keeps us from coming to Him.  He is full of patience and comfort and His heart towards you is that you'd have joy and hope.  If you have a Bible, take some time to read the gospel of John and see what God in the flesh truly looks like.

God's Patience=Our Hope

Romans 15:4

4. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and the comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

 “For whatever things were written before”   The Bible is a book of prophecies forth telling the coming of the messiah who would suffer on behalf of  sin-fallen mankind. I recently asked some guys why they thought the Bible was the inspired Word of God.  After all, other books claim the same.  The answer is in the countless prophecies that have been given and fulfilled.  Just read through Isaiah 53 and 54 and Psalm 22. 

“were written for our learning”   God wants us to learn the story.  As we see the big picture of salvation our view of God’s character begins to clarify.  Our faith is not built on fuzzy feelings and staring at our belly buttons.  When we see Christ in the scriptures our faith ignites and we see that He has saved us to His mission in the world.  Many have not learned this reality yet.  They still think the answer to their joy, even as Christians, is to live for themselves. 

“that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope”  It doesn’t take long as you read through the scriptures to see the perfect patience of God displayed through His Son Jesus.  The Christian message is a message of patience and hope.  It's not a message of self atonement and guilt trips.  Some people will listen to a sermon that is not centered on Jesus at all and will come away saying "wow, that was great" because they haven't learned the scriptures and that platitudes of self-righteousness and self-sufficiency are traps.  Patience and hope are displaying reflections of Jesus.  Our whole lives Jesus has been offering us the most beautiful song for us to play with our lives, but there is just so much white noise out there.  When I look into the scriptures a calming sense of hope and peace invade my noise.  I picture my life as a pond that is easily disturbed, and it isn’t until it becomes calm that I can see my reflection again.  It’s like that with the scriptures. When I look in and see Jesus once again, I then can see He has patience and I therefore can have hope.  This affects the way I relate to others in the world.  As I see the patience of Jesus in dealing and bearing with my own sin, my heart is enlarged towards the people in my life.  

Sanctification

I know this is a big word, "Sanctification" but not really.  It simply means becoming more like Jesus.  I know this may not sound like rocket science, but it really is.  It's incredible that God wont just leave us the lame, cesna (as in the boring, lame airplane) way we are.  James 1:2 says, "brothers and sisters, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this that the trying of your faith works patience."  We face many things whether it be our own struggle with our signature sins, loneliness, pride, depression, anger, sadness, grief, traffic, walmart, America, suburbia, school, family, toddlers who act like toddlers, the U.N., and tiredness, .........you get the point.  Know that you haven't arrived, you are not a varsity Christian, you still desperately need Jesus as much as when you first realized you were an enemy to the King of all creation.

Ephesians 6:10-12

6:10  "Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might."

Strength is found as we realize our inability to produce strength from ourselves.  This power we are to seek is from the Lord, and is extrinsic of ourselves.  The Lord is the only one who has a inherent, intrinsic, all consuming, and never lacking power.  The eternal Jesus became a man just like us and modeled a life of dependency on the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus accomplished our salvation by "being strong in the Lord and, in the power of his might."

6:11  "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."

"Wiles of the devil"  this does not mean that Satan himself in person is coming against you, because Satan is not omni-present as God is and cannot be everywhere at once.  Satan can only be in one place at a time because he is a fallen angel and not God.  But it does mean you will deal with a third of the angels who fell with Satan and the demonic forces behind Satan and how they are organized against you and mankind.  They have been around for a long time and they know what you typically get tripped up by.  They can only observe you and make suggestions.  "Put on the whole armor of God"  The armor of God is simply made up of six pieces--  Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, and the Word of God.

6:12 "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

"We wrestle not against flesh and blood"  Oftentimes we see the "people problems" that we experience as if the people themselves were our root enemies.  Even though the apostle Paul was beheaded by the infamous Caesar Nero he could say "If I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing" (1 Cor.13:3).  We oftentimes get caught up in the lateral perspective of life in our daily situations when we are called by Jesus to be looking vertically in our situations and circumstances.  In 2 Kings 6:13-17, Elisha assures his servant as the enemy troops surround their house to "Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16).  Then Elisha prays for him saying, "Lord....open his eyes, that he may see.  And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha" (2 Kings 6:17).  What a powerful lesson that young man learned that day.

Defining Success

Miranda and I stayed up late talking about what success looks like for our future.  It was a tricky question.  How do you measure success?

 Fulfilling the work God has given you:
Consider Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17, "I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work you gave me to do."  Consider how work was a gift given to us before the terrible Fall in the garden (God gave Adam and Eve the role of keeping the garden, and naming the animals, etc) part of "success" is finishing the work God has designed us to fulfill. This is why in 2 Thes. 3 God warns idle believers to get going, in view of the Day of the Lord (his coming return). In the book of Titus, the Holy Spirit instructs the young pastor by saying, "The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.  These things are excellent and profitable for people.  But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless." Paul's heart as a pastor was not to create a fear of losing the love of Jesus in his people, but for the love of Jesus to be fully formed in them.

A Promise For Success:
Psalm 1, Joshua 1:7  Meditation and prayer is one way we align ourselves with the work God has given us to do.  The work is not to earn anything, Jesus has finished the ultimate work on the cross.  God in his grace now allows us to join with him partaking of his mission in the world.  Cutting through the noise of life is necessary in tuning our spiritual ears to what God is doing in our lives.

 A Few Overarching Roadblocks to Success:
Jesus worked extremely hard to create a culture that would mirror and begin the kingdom of God on earth. The kingdom of God is like a garden in our lives that needs constant tilling, seeding, watering, and fertilizing.

Roadblock #1 Easy street
Believing the Christian life is easy, and that when Jesus said "Abide in me" he really meant "do nothing".  Growth in any area of life requires our effort.  We find both active and passive commands throughout scripture describing our spiritual growth.  "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (active),  for it is God that works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (passive).  It would be silly for my wife to say, "I am all yours" and I say in return, " Great! I'll just do nothing".

Roadblock #2 Unrepentant Lives
Romans 12:9 says to, "Abhor what is evil, and cleave to what is good."  "Abhor" is the strongest word for hate in the Bible, and "cleave" means "be glued to".  In Joshua 7, Joshua is bummed out because the children of Israel were defeated at Ai by a sandlot group of warriors.  For days Joshua is depressed and keeps coming to God questioning his character.  Finally God tells Joshua, "Get up!" there's sin in the camp and you need to deal with it."

Ruthless Trust

The Christian people I have met here in Haiti operate by a ruthless trust in God.  There is no room for ambition in worldly aims, because there is no such thing. There are no ladders to climb in life, ministry, or hobby.  There is one daily aim--make it through the day and help others do the same. My friend Joanna Howard lives here in Port Au Prince.  This is her life everyday.  Yesterday, at 7 am, a woman went into seizures as she delivered her baby in the back of a truck.  After a trip to Burkina Faso, Africa, and now Port Au Prince, Haiti I feel that I can almost begin to express what God has been so graciously trying to show me.  After my Africa trip, I came back with a sense of the brevity of the brief flicker that my life is.  That trip put a large dent in my heart that led me, I believe, to plant a church.  I knew more Bible than 90% of the world and it dawned on me that Jesus could use me at 25 years old--I went out in ruthless trust and planted a church that has grown in the gospel.  After drinking Port Au Prince in, I am letting go of my idol of ambition in life and ministry.  Everyone wants clarity, and it is the very idol that keeps us from a ruthless trust.  I walked through a tent hospital last night, and watched Haitians who were broken in horrific ways, it's not possible to describe.  They were worshipping and praying together in a ruthless trust.  Some of them will go to be with Jesus, others still got work to do here.  A human heart that pours out a ruthless trust is more precious in the eyes of Jesus than 10,000 cathedrals, pedigrees and degrees. Leaving Haiti is going to be very hard for me.  Unwavering trust is a rare and beautiful thing.  I know the Father absolutely delights when we trust Him.   I can state unequivocally, that a childlike faith and trust in God is the foundation of authentic discipleship.  Many, sadly believe, that a cautious life is some how heroic and an evidence they are walking in God's blessing based on their "togetherness, and carefulness".  I have seen enough of the world to spot the lie inside this framework of thinking. Truly, we must be good stewards of our faith, it is the only currency accepted in heaven.   

with all sincerity and grace

Russ