Wisdom?

I thought I might repost the blogs I have on facebook before writing new here. What follows is the first of a series I have posted there. Feel free to comment on them.

I decided that I might write a couple of notes regarding things the Lord has been educating me about prior to leaving for Africa. Given that I do not know where the Lord might take me while there or what He might do with me, I felt it prudent to write now rather than to put it off to never be done. I here disclaim that the things I write may indeed be without wisdom and blatantly obvious to the most casual observer.

Christians can be perfect.

It's true. We are perfect in Christ. We can walk without sin. I state this, because the Western Church... America... seems to believe that it is impossible to be perfect. Given this belief that they are incapable of walking perfectly before God, they choose to give up on it occurring and willfully partake in sin. It is a defeatist belief that results in... defeat.

Given the boldness of my statement, you might feel inclined to ask, are you perfect Jeremy Baker?

Of course not. Were I to attempt to answer such a question in the affirmative I would thereby demonstrate pride and be in errancy simply by answering. Appearances of pride notwithstanding, I also believe that I have sinful attitudes and thoughts at times which I am still working with God to bring into submission as I have successfully brought my body into submission to Christ.

Now you might wonder, if we can be perfect, why do we need God? My statement was that we are perfect in Christ. A Christian trying to be perfect on his own will not succeed. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I have endured this within my own experiences. When tempted, if I tried to resist the power of temptation on my own willpower and strength, I have failed. Continuously. Yet, when tempted, if I stopped what I was doing and turned my entire focus to God and Christ in prayer, the strength has been given to me to overcome, flee from, resist, or evade temptation and what sin might follow had I not turned to God for freedom.

We cannot, on our own, be perfect; nor can we walk perfectly unerringly until we have first accepted salvation and repented from our sins... turned from who we once were and become new creatures in Christ.

Do not be fooled. Being perfect is not a passive result. We are constantly at odds with Satan and his attempt to devour us. Just as an alcoholic takes one day at a time to continue living without partaking of alcohol, so Christians must walk daily with their guard in place ready to draw upon Christ's strength in order to avoid partaking in sin for that day.

I liked the way a fellow life group member restated my premise. He believes that maturing in Christ is coming to the realization of the promises that God has given to us and accepting them to be true. The Bible states that we are perfect in Christ. Paul admonishes that we should not willingly break the law but should abide by it. I believe it was a book written by Dallas Willard that compares the state of Christians to the state of slaves at the time the Emancipation Proclamation was made law. Many of the slaves were not aware of the fact of their freedom. There were slave owners that prevented them from knowing of their freedom and that convinced them they were still slaves. The concept was that if they were still doing all of the same actions that slaves continued to perform, then they must still be a slave. If you look like a slave and act like a slave, then you must still be a slave. Satan uses the same tactic to convince us that we are not free from sin. It only takes mild observation of the state of the Church here in America to realize the devastation this has wrought.

One of the biggest critiques made regarding Christianity here in America today is that it is not relevant... that Christ and his teachings are irrelevant. Certainly when we as Christians fail to live by the very things that we attempt to profess, we ourselves are giving credit to the validity of such an argument. If we continue to walk in sin, then clearly our beliefs are not working for us and are therefore irrelevant.

When our church leaders sin, we cover it up. More often than not, this is the case. Why would we hide our sin as Christians? There is no condemnation in Christ. We have been washed free of our sins. Guilt is a poor motivator, as one of my pastors once said during his sermon. God sees everything, does he not? Therefore, we are hiding nothing from God which means the only purpose for hiding our sin is to hide it from men. If we as church leaders are hiding our sins from men, then clearly our focus is on men and not God. Sin is anathema to Christians. If we are actively sinning, then we are not confessing it before God and we are unable to serve God. Sin breaks down the communication between us and God and we must repent of it to continue walking with him and serving him.

Now, hiding sin serves Satan's purposes. We can't hide it from God or Satan. Satan is all too happy to reveal when a Christian sins and hides it. He reveals it to the Christians and to the public. Then all the work of the man who had been dwelling in sin has been tainted by that sin. The world witnesses it and mocks the man's belief. The Christians witness it and some believe that it is ok to do the same thing. After all, the church leader is an example... a model to those he serves. To some degree, the followers will be negatively effected.

The proper method to handling this sin is to bring it out before the congregation and the body of believers when it has been committed and realized. Confession. Then repentance before God and the church would restore the leader. Naturally there must be discipline to follow, otherwise we appear to the world to be condoning the sin of the man. The fact that men fail is not enough to shake the faith of believers or to turn away those with the potential to believe. It is the men that believe they can hide it, and continue acting as if they have never done wrong, and then continue, after exposed, in denial and unrepentantly that cause both other Christians and the world to stumble.

I look at the lethargy of our church and sometimes I wish that Christians were persecuted here in America. I do not wish for harm to come to people, far from it. I wish that we would instead turn from our lethargy, get up, and act. Yet, the Bible has demonstrated time and time again that it is during the times when we are put through the fire that we become refined. Persecution refines the church. It has been historically shown that when the church and believers have been persecuted, the church has continued to grow, unimpeded (I would claim that the church actually grows explosively when persecuted). Faith is stronger in those places where believers are persecuted for their faith.

Don't believe me? When was the last time you heard of the sick being healed? When did you last hear of the blind seeing, the lame walking, the deaf hearing, or the dead being resurrected? I have personally sought for God's hand to be evident through miracles to know if He is still working today. There is no reason that He would not be working... after all God is alive. What I found was that the places where it is recorded and known that miracles happen today are very scarce in America... and yet highly prevalent in places where persecution is greatest. There is a place in Africa where the church has regular resurrections. Regular. Resurrections. Yes... people being raised from the dead. Surely there are some of you who doubt, after having read this statement, that it is so. Go to Pemba, Mozambique. Find Heidi Baker. Witness it. Then tell me of your doubt. After all, the very reason for such miracles is to demonstrate to the unbelieving (and even to believers) that God is real and that He loves us.

My desire is that the church in America would wake up and practice relevancy. We can show love to America. If we show love to America... if we show Christ to them and we walk before God then His kingdom will be expanded and the sense of hopelessness that seems to be pervasive throughout this entire country (and even in many Christians) will fade away. Certainly the end times will come, and the prophecies of revelations will come to pass. Only God knows when that time will be, and only the Father is aware of when that time is. We were not ordered to give up in defeat and wait for Christ to return in complacency or lethargy. We were ordered to continue watching, to keep at it, to struggle against Satan and to continue serving until he returned. I have met countless people that have wanted to change things but not known how to go about bringing about that change. We need a movement do we not? Well, movements begin with individuals. It starts with you. Get up, go outside, and serve. You can make a difference. Show love to others. Through love, show Christ to others. Put away judgement and condemnation for your neighbors and instead show them unfathomable love. Do this, and they will want to know what you believe, because who could see the love of God expressed in an individual and not want to be a part of it?

If one person somewhere has read this and found it beneficial, then my words have not been wasted.

God bless.

Leadership

I was reading an article today about a playground fight in North Philly that ended in one 16 year old killing another 16 year old by accident. Having been away for so long I forget how common death is in the city. When I left the murder rate averaged more than one person per day and I'm sure it's gone up since. The numbers are heart wrenching. In the article I read in the paper today the father of the killer was quoted as saying, "It was another senseless killing. There will probably be another one tomorrow, and you'll be talking to another family."

Reading those words made me want to throw up. There are times that I am heartbroken by the amount of need there is around me. Depravity is everywhere although I am rarely touched by it. In fact I am so rarely touched by it that the majority of the time I am not heartbroken but complacent. One thing I do know is that even if I were to quit my job and devote all of my time to service I wouldn't be able to fill the void. Not even close

I've been realizing this past year how desperate we are for leaders. Not only do we need people to go out into our communities in order to impact the places of great need, but we need people to step up even within our churches to lead all of the programs and ministries. We even need people to lead within our own families and friend circles. So why is it that we don't have enough leaders?

I can only speak for myself on this, but I have a feeling I'm not alone. There are far too many times when I don't feel qualified to lead anything. I let my shame or lack of confidence or inexperience dictate my decisions in this area and never find my way into a leadership role. It's safer, isn't it? I mean, there is so much pressure on a leader to make choices that will satisfy everyone when more often it feels like you haven't satisfied anyone. Not only that, but when in leadership you can only lead people as far as you yourself are willing to go, which means you have to be willing to go. I can assure you that I'm intimate with the reasons not to lead, but I'm far less familiar with the reasons why I have to lead.

As I read this article this morning and thought about all the need that I see all the time I started to wonder, should we all be leading? Doesn't Christ tell us that all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to us? Doesn't he give us the power and strength to do all things? If I as a Christian were really ready to believe that with all of me, I would be leading so much more and I imagine that that is true for more people than just me.

I believe that there is so much more that the church could be doing if its members believed themselves all to be leaders. I think we forget that we are leaders already, so where are we leading people? I think I lead more people to the couch than to the street or to the church and that needs to change.

I don't know how many people read this, but if you do please consider this a challenge and challenge yourself with me. Consider the challenge of asking God where he has you leading that you might not even be aware of. Ask him how you can be a better leader and most of all ask if there are places where you could be leading and you're not. I'm asking you to do this with me because I'm honestly afraid of the answer. My hope is that in asking together that we might hold each other accountable to that which Christ has entrusted us with.

Good Soil

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on rock, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown." Luke 8:4-8

At a conference this weekend I heard a speaker reference the parable of the sower. He brought to light that one translation of good soil is broken soil.

This reference hit me hard. What does it mean or look like to live in a state of broken soil?

From the parable we know that this broken soil has had it's torn out, it's weeds ripped up and has been tilled so that it is no longer trampled on. It is the perfect place for seeds to fall into and put down their roots.

Am I living in a state of broken soil?

I am incredibly greatful that this weekend was able to be in the presence of people who do live in a state of brokenness. What strikes me about the strong role models I have around me is that they are not afraid. The are no strangers to pain or tradgedy, but they do not live as if they have been crushed by it. They are intimate with the joy and peace that comes from God, but they do not shy away from grief and mourning. They live in this place of confidence in God that allows them to enter into the hard places and to experience all the joy that we have in Christ.

I hope that one day I will recognize how complete my life in Christ both because of what has been ripped out and because of what has been planted. My prayer this weekend has been, and will continue to be, to be brought to this place of brokenness.

cease striving

Psalm 46:10

The NIV says
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

my NASB says
"Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

This word striving is helpful to me as i try to understand this.

dictionary.com tells me
strive – verb
1. to exert oneself vigorously; try hard
2. to make strenuous efforts toward any goal: to strive for success.
3. to contend in opposition, battle, or any conflict; compete.
4. to struggle vigorously, as in opposition or resistance: to strive against fate.
5. to rival; vie.

I play a part in what God is doing, but what He brings about will not come because of my striving. It will come as I trust that He is God and as I submit/yield to His will. This God that I trust - He delights to give us good gifts and He chooses to use us to bless others. I want to know this God more and I want to listen intently to Him, moving according to His grace and love. This won't always look like being still, but I don't imagine it to look like how I envision one who is "striving"... I think of striving as when I'm moving exhaustively according to my own strength and working myself toward the dead-end of burnout. The point that this verse is trying to get across to me is that I am to cease doing that. It doesn't mean that the pendulum swings to the extreme and I now have license for sloth. I am to let go, maintain open hands, and trust God. He says He will be exalted among the nations and in all the earth - I want Him to be exalted in my life.
less of me, more of Him...

Amazed

Today was my first time to play golf on a golf course. I really didn't know what to expect, but knew that no matter what, I would have a fun time with it -- even if I did hit the ball as hard as I could & it would just roll off the tee. I'm exploring new things I've never tried before & finding it all to be quite an adventure. One thing I didn't expect today was the feeling, seeing, smelling, & experiencing incredible power of God's nature in the way that I experienced it today. It was amazing - I think I'm still in shock that I was within feet of lighting striking a tree. Just as we were running for cover right after a sudden storm came through, the thunder clapped the loudest I've ever heard it. You could feel it run through your body & for a second, everyone who was in the same shelter as us, froze. Right behind our little shelter, you could see a tree that had been split from the lightning striking it. It's hard to believe too that if we wouldn't have left when we did or been in a different place in our game on the hole we were at, we could have been closer than we would have liked to have been to that tree without shelter. There are so many things I'm thankful for after experiencing this today: 1) Being able to experience God's power in this way 2) shelter that was close by 3) that one of our players on our team was familiar with this course & knew where the shelters were 4) the people we had a chance to meet when we were under the shelter that we wouldn't have had the chance to meet 5) being able to enjoy the day, even though I really had no idea what I was doing :)

Not too long after the lighting struck, it rained really hard & even hailed a little bit as well. Within 10-15 minutes it was done & the sun came out & everyone went back to playing their rounds. The rest of the day was beautiful, the sun was out & dried everything up within an hour. It was hard to believe that it even rained earlier that afternoon.

I am just amazed & so grateful that we're safe, but also grateful that I got to experience God's power in this way!

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. (Deuteronomy 15:15)


God has used the story of the Israelites being set free from their slavery in Egypt to speak to me at many different points of my journey.


This blog has resonated with me over the past couple weeks http://stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com/2009/07/575-refusing-gift-of-desert-road.html


It is about the gift of the desert road based on Exodus 13:17-18
“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.”

Excerpt from blog “I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they'd face a war they weren't ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out of a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.”


I've been thinking about the Israelites time out on the desert road that He took them out on...

…and the Lord with that deep, big love would deliver them when the Egyptians came to try to reclaim them as slaves. The Isrealites had just tasted their freedom and very quickly their captors were on their heels trying to bring them back into bondage.

(Exodus 14:13-14) Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still."


…and the Lord would demonstrate the depth and breadth of that love by having them pass through the Red Sea on dry ground displaying His power and destroying the power that had long oppressed the people.

(Exodus 14:29-31) But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

…and the Lord returned the sea to its shore, closing the way behind them, and setting a boundary between the land of captivity and the land of promise.

The lyrics of a Sara Groves song “Painting Pictures of Egypt” speak to me of His lovingkindness closing the waters behind me, so that I will not return to that place from which I have been delivered.

I’ve been painting pictures of Egypt
Leaving out what it lacked
The future seems so hard
And I want to go back
But the places that used to fit me
Cannot hold the things I've learned
And those roads closed off to me
While my back was turned

Today, I am looking toward the promise and trusting God to fight for me on the desert road, to make a way through the waters though there seems to be no way, and to set the boundaries that will lead me into spacious places.

Joy

"Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times." -Romans 12:12

"This day is sacred to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." -Nehemiah 8:9-10

It's hard to know how to put into words all that God is teaching me about his joy. This theme is one that has been persistent over the last few months and I am so glad that it has. I don't know that I've ever been good with changes, but I think that some things about change get easier as we get older. However, there are some changes that get harder as time passes thanks to all the hard things about changes. Thankfully as God teaches me to open my hands to the changes, He's also teaching me about His abundant joy.

This weekend I went back to Philly after being away for about a year. I revisited family and friends and places that hold a lot of memories for me and a lot of unrest. I got in pretty late on Friday so I didn't have time to do much besides sleep, but when I woke up on Saturday morning I was hit with a whole heap of anxiety over what was in store for me. After I went downstairs and had breakfast with my grandma I noticed on her windowsill sad Romans 12:12. I don't know what the translation was but the first line read be glad. I must have read the passage over and over again this weekend and I was constantly struck by that line be glad and prayerful always.

God always defies my expectation by speaking to me in the places where I'm not looking and sending me answers to the questions I don't think I'm asking. Someone pointed out this weekend how God is always joyful. I've been encouraged and convicted to take a step back from my world and step into God's where the victory is already won and where we live in a land of joy over who God is and what He's done.

I slowly learn and relearn this lesson and as I do I see God slowly opening my hands to change and joy and to perseverance.

My hands are open to the knowledge that you have healed lepers with nothing more than water
with nothing more than words
My hands are open to the promise that you love me more than I will ever know or understand
and my hands are open to the hope that I will one day be able to open my hands

But until that day
I sit
with hands resting on knees
open to the promise of you.