What does it mean to "be strong and courageous?"
You could insert "be fierce and persistent" and convey the same meaning.
I made the comment "Women don't need men to be more like women." I was surprised at the response as most of the applause came from women.
We're seeing an increasing void of fathers, and the resultant feminization of society.
A recent www.cnn.com editorial states:
So what's wrong? Increasingly, the messages to boys about what it means to be a man are confusing. The machismo of the street gang calls out with a swagger. Video games, television and music offer dubious lessons to boys who have been abandoned by their fathers. Some coaches and drill sergeants bark, "What kind of man are you?" but don't explain.
Author Bill Bennett, in his new release The Book of Man, reports that 48 percent of men between the ages of 18-34 are "the biggest users of video games," two hours per day. Add on four hours of television viewing and this demographic consumes six hours of amusement per day.
Three times in Joshua 1 God says to "be strong and courageous" along with "do not be terrified, do not be discouraged."
I take great comfort in those words, because it meant Joshua was prone to weakness, lack of confidence, freaking out and despair.
What was God's answer for Joshua? It was to be careful to obey the book of the law (God's Word), to meditate on it day and night.
Somehow God was going to "Father" Joshua through His Word. Interestingly, that sort of fathering produced direction and "stopping points."
A powerful aspect of fathering is to provide healthy stopping points. I was watching my grandson a few weeks ago walk over to the "gate" by the laundry room which marked a stopping point. He just stood there with that look "Can you see me? What will happen if I climb over this gate? (something he has been trying) What are you going to do about it?"
Sadly, many parents remove all "gates" (stopping points) and allow kids to run rampant. The logic is "You can make the right choices... Do whatever you want so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else... Whatever brings you the most benefit is most important... You are the center of the universe..." We fail to realize every child innately tests boundaries in order to determine where the shoulder of the road lies, and the ditch. Seeing and experiencing the boundaries brings peace and rest.
Yes, some may have experienced stopping points with no love or even abusively. But that doesn't make strength wrong, it underscores the need for it to be expressed through love and conviction over what is right and good.
Back to Joshua, imagine his daily meditation on God's Word being the stopping point and the launching point for His conquests.
We hear many messages on being humble and caring for others.
Sadly, we hear very few messages on strength and courage, or other verses like the following:
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 1 Corinthians 16:13
King David's final words to his son Solomon before he died
"So be strong, show yourself a man..."
1 Kings 2:2
I'm hoping as we travel through Joshua we'll see and experience more strength and courage! And I'm praying as a local church community we'll experience more of God Fathering us through His Word!
I was trying to remove a large portion of ice from my driveway last week, very frustrating... It was packed down after 2 snows and being driven on for 2 weeks. I didn't want to use ice melt because it would damage the concrete. I've got one portion of concrete that looks like the moon, "spalled" as they call it, from ice melt. The snow shovel was inadequate but I made headway with the ice breaker/scraper and some help from my youngest son :)
The lesson in all this: Take the right approach -- remove the snow when it snows (and before you drive over it). Some things are unnecessarily hard...
I was thinking about how this relates to New Year's Resolutions and following Jesus.
We know Jesus calls us to follow Him and that we can't do it alone (we need community). But for many the experience of community is like removing ice from your driveway.
Why is that? I'm convinced our approach is what determines success or failure. We can tend to view everything in terms of how it will benefit us. We can look at life and people as though they owe us, and that destroys community, something like this...
- Family: "This is where my needs are met."
- Work: "This is where I get paid."
- Friendships: "This is where I have fun."
- Social networking: "This is where I share what I'm feeling, thinking and doing."
- Local church: "This is where I get fed."
- Community: "This is where people listen to me, encourage me, serve me."
We wonder why the ice is so thick (and other people just don't get it). It is because our approach is self-focused and not other-focused.
Now think about HOW JESUS CALLS US TO APPROACH COMMUNITY:
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45
What if we approached a small group (or local church community) in order to serve the people there?
"I'm going to pray for them. I'm going to ask questions, listen to them and get to know what's important to them. I'm going to look for what God is doing and affirm that. I'm going to be honest with them."
A side note on the subject of honesty.
Why does so much goofiness go on in community? Because people aren't honest. Have you ever had a friend point out you had food on your teeth? And told them "Whew! Thanks for being a friend!" For some strange reason people think love means smiling and tolerating (then avoiding any future contact). No, real love means being honest and walking together. Yes, we overlook offenses and bear with one another's weaknesses. But we also care enough to let people know when they repel, disrupt, dominate, self-destruct, or have spinach on their teeth.
Think about what it would be like to experience real community where you are doing life together with others -- sharing good times and bad, loving and being loved, knowing others and being known, accepting and being accepted, doing the stuff Jesus did together...
I believe 2012 is to be a year of growing in missional community at SHV. Let's take a step in this direction together, first and foremost taking the approach of coming "to serve and not be served."
This past Sunday, January 1, my son Levi shared a word with us about "rolling away the stone" which he likened to getting out of our comfort zone and risking it in following Jesus. You can view the message online.
Levi pointed to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11, and to our tendency to say "but Lord..." and resist with all sorts of excuses, missing out on amazing things in our lives.
It was especially impacting to hear his own personal story of transformation.
For June and me, it brought back lots of memories, from heartache to celebration...
At one service dozens of people responded. I think the positive response was because people are hungry for something more and because we all need hope that God can turn things around.
One friend watched online and relayed to me how he and his wife received much needed assurance re: their own kids, esp where they had been struggling with doubts.
As I shared, I'm very proud of Levi for many things..., most of all for saying "yes" to Jesus again and again. Somehow everything else gets taken care of when that happens.
And what an exhilarating (and many times frightening) experience to "roll away the stone" in response to Jesus!
Not a Christmas goes by without thinking about my grandparents (Fred and Margaret). Every Christmas Eve we would gather at their home, eat a great meal and anxiously wait for it to get dark (time to open presents). My sister and I would comment at least 10 times during the meal "I think it's dark outside!!"
My grandparents were super generous, delighting in the volume of presents given. Grandpa was a self-employed carpenter and Grandma stayed at home. They earned a modest income and Christmas gifts came from money they had saved during the year. Uncle Freddie who lived with them grinned ear to ear as the most presents were set before him. Freddie had Down's Syndrome and was just as excited as we were, even more so at simple gifts (like Brut aftershave...).
With every present my mom would comment "Oh, you shouldn't have done that Fred and Margaret, that is so sweet of you..." We were thinking "Oh yes you should have, thanks!!"
The highlight of the evening was after presents had been opened, my grandpa would sneak back into his bedroom. He would come out with a handful of Christmas cards addressed to each person, with green stuff inside. It was always just a bit more than you'd expect. My dad would smile, shake his head and say "Rabbit, I can't believe you." That is what my dad called him, still not sure why :)
We would open our cards to see a $5, or a $20, or later a $50. Always more than we'd ever had in our possession. Grandpa was beaming and nodding his head, more excited than at any other time I can remember. That was his way of saying "I love you and you know I'm taking care of you..."
Many years have gone by. Grandpa, Grandma, Freddie and my Dad have passed away and are with Jesus. Many times God reminds me He is just like my Grandpa in that He gets a kick out of surprising me with His generosity. It can come in many forms, but after all the presents have been opened, He still has a surprise... He gets a kick out of blessing us.
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 NRSV
“I’m not religious, I just love the Lord” Scott Wesley Brown, 2004
My wife and I were on a jam-packed flight back to Denver and the gal sitting in between us started talking about her work, her family and then matters of faith. She relayed (with great excitement) how her life had been turning around and she was wondering where it was all heading… But she was struggling with going forward because of her husband’s perception of “religious people” at church. He felt religious people were mean, judgmental hypocrites.
Interesting how the word “religious” has changed in meaning over the years...
About 100 years ago
To be “religious” meant you were devoted, focused and of good character. As one author explained, “he was an essentially religious person which is to say he was always possessed of an irrepressible sense of wonder at and passion for ultimate reality.” Dennis McInerny
Wow, that’s pretty awesome!
Rewind 2k years ago to the days of Jesus
The religious people like the Pharisees were considered heroes. They had guarded and protected God’s Word with purity of devotion for about 200 years. Pharisees came primarily from the Middle Class and were born out of a battle against corrupting educational forces:
The Pharisees . . . wished to embrace the whole people, and in particular through education. It was their desire and intention that everyone in Israel achieve holiness through the study of the Torah . . . (cited p. 93, The Maccabees)
However, in a short period of time the Pharisees had become corrupt themselves. Paraphrasing what Jesus said in Luke 12 "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known.” Message Version
Check out Ephesians 5:6 "Don't let yourselves get taken in by religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don't even hang around people like that." Message Version
Fast forward to present
The term "religious" has primarily negative connotations. Ask anyone and you'll hear things like phony, bigoted, uncaring, hypocritical, uptight, political agendas, majoring on minor issues, etc.
So why would anyone want to claim the label religious? It’s not a hill (or word) we should be willing to die on.
How about simply calling ourselves followers of Jesus? And how about proactively making it all about what Jesus cares about – loving God and loving people? We get to join Jesus in bringing freedom to captives, hope to the hopeless and mercy to the undeserving. After all, that’s who we are and what we’re experiencing!
Galatians 5:4 says "…When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love."
Our new friend on the flight was blown away that you could attend a worship service with friends and drink Starbucks at the same time -- maybe a place her "husband could come and explore relationship with Jesus..."
Going through the letter of 2 Timothy in our "Good Soldier" series I've been struck with the obvious: preparation, faithfulness and discipline.
Phrases in the letter include "hold on to the right pattern...," "follow the Lord's rules for doing His work," "work hard so God can approve you," "do not let yourself become tied up in the affairs of this life," "remain faithful to what you've been taught." (New Living Translation)
However, this is only part of being equipped. It would be tragic to miss out on the importance of improvisation in the battle. We are trained by God's Word so we can respond rightly in every situation.
My dad played trumpet in jazz bands and was amazing at improvisation. I tried to excel in the things that were important to him, including the trumpet. I could read and play the music, but really struggled with improvisation.
One day I asked him how he did it. He just smiled, shook his head and said, "You've got to play all the time, practice, do scales, listen to other great players, practice playing along by ear, build your 'chops,' work on your tone and range, a lot of stuff you don't like to do... Because improvisation flows out of discipline and hard work. There's a magical thing that happens when it starts to flow naturally in the moment." Pause. Another big smile, as though he believed I could feel and understand what he was saying. It only took me 20 years to figure that out, long after I put the trumpet away.
It is so easy to reduce our spiritual journey to right information and formulas -- if I can recite the right doctrine, check the experiential boxes, say the thing that sounds spiritual, pray the prayer that impresses...
The greater challenge is to put God's Word into practice. It is to step out of my comfort zone and exercise His love and gifts with people who are unimpressed (outside the walls). It is to view the unexpected as an opportunity.
It is very hard for religious people to improvise.
Jesus said it this way to a guy who had relegated it all to right information and formulas:
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8 ESV
Improvising in God's kingdom is not about self-expression or desire, but instead responsiveness to Jesus. The wind is blowing, God is on the move.
You are invited to join Him and give yourself to Him. Remember the challenges of 2 Timothy to hold on, follow His Word, work hard, to remain faithful.
And be prepared to join Jesus outside the box when it is time to improvise!
Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! Acts 16:25-26 NLT
What a mind-blowing picture of spiritual battle. Paul was provoked day after day by a girl who was annoying them (following them around and shouting that they were awesome). The girl who was a fortune-teller was under the influence of some evil power. Finally, Paul had enough and commanded the evil spirit to STOP, and the girl was set free.
Interestingly the girl was able to bring in lots of money through her fortune-telling and this stopped when she was set free. The guy who benefited most was furious that his source of income was cut off. He rallied a mob who almost killed Paul and Silas, eventually throwing them in prison.
So here they are on a "mission from God" with supernatural power bringing freedom to people. Sounds exciting. Then the counterattack. The devil is never happy when people get set free. And people aren't usually happy when their source of income dries up.
So what did Paul and Silas do? They prayed and worshipped.
They weren't praying the people who hurt them would be struck down by God. They weren't praying anything manipulative -- "God put all these people in prison so they can feel what we're feeling."
I think they were praying something more like Acts 4:29-30
"And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
Have you experienced backlash when following Jesus? Are you in some sort of spiritual or emotional prison, locked up, hindered, afraid? Have you been unjustly treated, even when your actions have been noble?
Take up your greatest weapons -- prayer and worship! Turn your focus to Jesus. Begin to pray for His kingdom to come. Pray Acts 4:29-30.
Pray "Lord take this situation in my life and be glorified. Come and have Your way. Break through so Your name is lifted up. Set even more people free from the power of evil. Forgive those who have attacked me."
Can you imagine Paul and Silas praying for their friends, at midnight in jail, crying out for God's blessing on each of them by name.? Think of being in the cell next to them, "What's up with these crazy guys? I'm trying to get some sleep. Why aren't they angry? What are they doing praying for all these different people, sounds like they're going to pray all night..."
And whenever we add worship to our prayer, watch out! Your perspective is changed to thankfulness. You can't really worship AND pray without being changed. You'll be filled with faith that God is good and He is in control.
And who knows but God will bring an earthquake and the prison doors will fly open.
And even if they don't, the ones worshipping and praying are already free...
