Coming up for Air

<GASP>

Okay, we have moved back to the USA in preparation for our new mission assignment, and normal life patterns are emerging.  It has been a crazy, harrowing, happy, sad, up, and down 3 weeks, so let me be brief but to the point.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT THROUGH THIS TRANSITION. Hope and I have been blown away at the kindness of God extended to us through his people, our friends, our partners, and even strangers as we prepare to plant a new church in Boston.

Secondly, PRAY FOR GOD TO MOVE IN BOSTON. Already we are feeling the wind at our backs as we walk into our next mission assignment.  Please pray for God to do something amazing in Boston.

Werre back.  Praise God.  Now its time to get to work…

A Missionary Goodbye…

Almost 6 years ago, God spoke to Hope and I and told us to stop what we were doing, and to move to Scotland to help plant a church. So, we did. I cannot believe that the time has come for us to leave this place. But again, God has told us to go, and we are.

I thank God for this place, and our time here.  I thank God for the pain.  I thank God for the joy.  I thank God for the costly nature of it.  I thank God for the way it has changed me. I thank God for the people.  I thank God for, well, all of it.

I know that we have obeyed him.  We have borne fruit.  We have won lost souls to Jesus.  We have been faithful, and I know that Scotland is better because of the people we’re leaving behind.  I know, too, that I’m better because of Scotland, and her people.

Now, six years on, we are saying goodbye to the place that we once only dreamed of.  We’re looking back on memories that we once only imagined we’d have.  We thankful for experiences that we never thought we’d get.  We stand at the end of this moment, and, turning back to gaze upon it one final time, we smile.

My Assurance

I’m about to leave Scotland.

I am filled with excitement, fear, faith, sadness, happiness, and host of other emotions.  ONE THING I AM NOT, HOWEVER, IS CONCERNED. I do not lie awake at night wondering, “will they do okay without me?”  Certainly not.  In fact, I’m convinced that if I were, I would be both an IDOLATER and a BAD LEADER.

I would be an idolater because I would be implying that this church were somehow built by me.  Rubbish.  This church, and every other church, is built by Jesus Christ who said I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I am not Jesus. I don’t build churches. To believe that I do would make me an idolater and a fool.

I would be a bad leader because I would have illustrated exactly what I didn’t do: make disciples.  I’m going to steal a riff from Steve Murrell here, WE MAKE DISCIPLES, JESUS BUILDS THE CHURCH.  If I were concerned about this church, I’d simply be showing off how for 5 years I didn’t make a good disciple.

But… by God’s grace, I have made a few disciples, and Jesus continues to be the builder of his church. I’ve preached the gospel, and I’ve done my best to lay foundations in people. So, this is my assurance; I HAVE BEEN FAITHFUL to try and make disciples, and I BELIEVE JESUS WILL BE FAITHFUL TO BUILD HIS CHURCH in Edinburgh, in Boston, and all over the world.

Just in Case you Thought you were Indispensable

Today I had a rare pleasure; I GOT TO ATTEND CHURCH WITH MY FAMILY. In my line of work, that doesn’t happen much. I think its happened 5 times in as many years.

I do a lot in our church. I preach, I lead worship, I run sound and video, I update all the graphics, I connect with people, I disciple young men, I teach, etc. So, on the way into church, I found myself thinking, “I sure hope they get on alright without me today.”

MISTAKE.

See, I briefly forgot that IT’S JESUS’ CHURCH, not mine. He’s more than able to make sure the show goes on, even if I’m not there.

Just in case you, like me, get to thinking that you’re indispensable, YOU’RE NOT and neither am I. You’re not God’s MVP, he doesn’t need you and he doesn’t need me, but he invites us to play anyway.

For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving…

Church was great today because JESUS WAS THERE. It was good of God to remind me it had nothing to do with me.

Words

My mom always told me, “Adam, its not what you say but how you say it.”  True… mostly.  However, WHAT you say is pretty important too.  In fact, it would appear that its all pretty important.

IT MAY COME AS A SHOCK to some of you that I am both verbose and opinionated.  This has its advantages and disadvantages.  Yesterday I allowed my words to damage rather than to build.  Amazing how once words are put out there, they can’t be taken back, and no amount of other words really helps to undo what has been done.  In fact, that’s a bit like setting fires to stop fires.  MORE FIRE DOESN’T USUALLY HELP THE BURN STOP.

And the tongue is a FIRE, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, SETTING ON FIRE the entire course of life, and SET ON FIRE BY HELL.

So, be careful what you say AND be careful how you say it.  You can’t take words back.

Joy in Suffering

Rejoice always.

Seriously?! Is there any command of Scripture that’s more detatched from reality? How can God expect us to actually obey that command when we live in world with real pain, death, sin, and struggle.  How can a woman who has just lost her child, a husband who lost a wife, someone who is dying of cancer, rejoice? How do you do that?

My daughters and I play a game called “Jesus is better than…” Here’s how the game goes: you think of something you really like, and then say, “Jesus is better than that.“  In my kids’ case, that is often ice cream, barbies, or their favorite movie. Why do we play this game? Because in this little game is the secret to joy that never fails.

If Jesus is really better than all your favorite things, then you can’t have your joy taken when you lose them. We suffer when we lose what we love. If we love what we can’t lose, then suffering will only be momentary, light, and passing, because no one can ever take Jesus from you.

The Adequacy of Inadequacy

Have you ever been utterly and completely aware of your inadequacy?

Recently, I have been feeling the weight of what God has asked me and my family to do. No doubt our personal calling is weighty, but if I’m honest, so is yours. Jesus has commanded you and I to go into all the nations, be holy, be merciful, walk in love, be honest, serve the world, and to give our lives away. Do you honestly think you can do that?

It’s one thing that know that we’re called to do all this, but its another thing to look into yourself and find, in vacuous absence, the tools you need to fulfill the commands. I simply can’t go that far, love that much, serve so well…  What’s the deal with that? Why would God ask us to do so much knowing that we’re capable of so little?

Despair. Angst. Self-doubt. I have known them well recently.

Then, whispers from eternity come to my ears…  Exactly. Of course I’m inadequate to the task, and so you are you.

Inadequacy is the very thing we need, because its only the empty buckets that can be filled up. That is, only in our inadequacy can God’s grace come to make us able. If our lives are so full of rediculous confidence in self, then God simply can’t pour grace in.  We’re too full of self. But only when we see and realize the vastness of our lack and need can God fill us with the greater measure of his grace.

So, rejoice in your inadequacy, because God is well able to more than make it up and accomplish you and I something greater than ourselves.

Radio Silence

This past week I’ve purposely unplugged from blogging, or in military terms, I’ve been maintaining radio silence.

People like me (that is, people who have opinions, like to preach, talk, and generally let everyone know what is on their minds) need to do this every now and again. It’s a good thing sometimes to be silent and listen sometimes. You’d be surprised at what God might say to you.

Try this: be silent. Hold your list and just ask God to speak to you sometime.

He might just talk back to you. I know he did to me.

For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.

Justification by Social Justice

There is a new religion.

Tim Keller has noted that every act of the human will, be it obedience or disobedience is to fill the need to feel accepted by others, and in a deeper way, by God. So, if we are very religious, its so we can say, “look how good I am, God must love me.” And if we are very irreligious, its so we can say, “I’m my own person, and I’m accepted to myself.” Both are religious, and both seek acceptance… what the Bible calls Justification.

Today there is a new religion. Worship services have been replaced with charity appeals. Hymn singing replaced with “live aid, band aid, earth aid” and other such events. WWJD bracelets replaced by the Fair Trade mark, and traditional religion replaced with a new one: social justice.

Think about it. To feel loved and accepted in days gone by, we used to go to church, lead clean moral lives, and make our kids attend sunday school, etc. To feel loved and accepted today, we go to Fairtrade cafes, we buy locally, we drive a Prius, and we recycle. So, you’re asking, what’s wrong with that? Nothing wrong with Fairtrade, recycling, stewarding the environment well, and supporting local farmers, is there?

No.

And yes.

Religion like this does one of two things: it gives you the ability to feel self-righteous, looking down on everyone else because you are following all the rules that they aren’t, or you feel deeply depressed because you can’t follow the rules and it seems like everyone else does. This sort of religious work never ends in free, happy, accepted people. Its ends with two groups: obnoxious, self-righteous jerks and hand-wringing, insecure, depressed wimps. 

So, now the conservative, bible-toating, religious man who looks down on sinners has everything in common with the hippy, liberal, vegan. They are both religious, and they are both wrong. Both mutually excommunicating each other from their respective form of religious acceptance. 

So what’s right? Perhaps the next blog’s for that one…

Our Untamable God

For all the books written about God, all the doctrines defended, all the churches planted, and all the degrees awarded by seminaries, you’d think that we’d have this God fellow down to a pretty sure science. To be sure, we can know Him, and know a lot of true facts about Him.  But, let us never think that we have him tamed.

See, I do this all the time.  Just today, I was thinking about my money, thinking how faithful I’ve been to tithe, pay down my debts, and be transparent in my dealings.  Then, unexpected expenses come up sapping all of my resources.  ”Why would you do that, God?” I accuse.  ”I’ve been faithful, do your part!”  Then, the Holy Spirit firmly reminds me, “Could it be that I’m doing something in you that requires this?  Could it be that I know what I’m doing, and you just didn’t see this coming?  I did, trust me.” 

Rebuked by a God that I cannot predict.

Sometimes I (and I think we) confuse God for a force, like gravity.  God has a personality, likes and dislikes, and a will.  Forces have none of these.  We prefer forces, though, because we know how to manipulate them.  Not so with God.  Not so.

He is untamable, and not subject to my will. True his character never changes, but his methods may.  His goodness is never in question, but neither is his sovereignty, which gives him the right to do whatever he would like. 

Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever pleases him.  For, our God is a consuming fire.