Vanagon of the Day

Heading east on Rosa Parks Blvd.

2007.07.29 | Sermon Notes

Read this first: Matthew 12:38-45.

The pharisees are back for more, and unfortunately for them, they haven't learned much. The issue on the table is still authority, but they are mistaking the Messiah for a performing poodle. You'd think they would understand that the first rule of the Kingdom of God is: it's God's kingdom, not yours. Jesus performs signs, but he says when, he says where, and so on. That is only natural, after all, for a person acting on their own authority.

"It takes a fairly wicked group of people to make sign demands on the Holy One of God, so here's your sign: Jonah. Just as Jonah spent three days and nights in the fish, so I'll spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth."

Jonah is one of the shortest stories of the Bible, and yet I think it is one of most misunderstood.
Chapter 1 - Jonah disobeys God and heads west by ship toward Tarshish instead of east toward Nineveh. In the bowels of a terrible storm, Jonah confesses this disobedience to the terrified ship's crew, who reluctantly and only at Jonah's insistence, throw him into the sea. The storm calms, and God provides Finding-Nemo-style transportation for Jonah back to Joppa.
Chapter 2 - After some prayer, Jonah repents of his sin, and God commands the fish to launch him back onto the shore.
Chapter 3 - Jonah obeys God's second command to preach to the people of Nineveh. The Ninevites repent and God forgives them.
Chapter 4 - Jonah gets irritated with God for being so merciful and compassionate, and decides he would rather die than have to watch the Ninevites be forgiven.

Nice story, eh? Jesus continues.

“On judgement day, the people of Nineveh will make this group look like a pack of pagans, because they repented at Jonah's sorry sermon. Now a preacher greater than Jonah is preaching—but you won't come forward. For heaven's sake! The queen of Sheba (Egyptian harlot that she was) will look like a saint compared to this crew on judgment day, for she traveled a long road to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now Solomon's wiser counterpart is here—but you won't hear it."

The truth is, Jesus would spend three days and nights in the heart of the earth for the exact same reason that Jonah would run away from Nineveh: the great compassion and mercy of God. The pharisees inherited Jonah's sin; in receiving mercy from God, they chose to see themselves as the lone center of God's universe. Rather than generously offering His compassion to other people, they chose not to see passed their own needs.

“Removing evil from you life is only half the job. Nature abhors a vacuum. If you don't fill the resulting void with the goodness of God then evil will return to you multiplied. Do not just enjoy the purity of God's deliverance. Fill your life by passing God's goodness on to others.”

Lord, in Your mercy You have blessed us. May we be a blessing as we walk in Your world, amen.

Vanagon of the Day

Heading east on Lombard Blvd.

Yosemite

After Pepperdine, we traveled up to Oakhurst and spent the night with Jeremy & Alicia Becker and their kids. It was a great time. The next day we drove into Yosemite where we got to hang out for three days. It was wonderful to be back in this familiar setting. Jason & Christa Hill and Darren & Stephanie Neilan also spent a few days there, and our time briefly overlapped. Jason got these great shot of our family while we were together.

2007.07.15 | Sermon Notes

Read this first: Matthew 12:22-37

For all of the power that Jesus displays in the book of Matthew, I don't think the author is really all that interested in Jesus' power. Matthew is very interested in Jesus' authority. The difference between “power” and “authority” is this: “Power” is your capacity to get something done based on your personal abilities. “Authority”, on the other hand, is your capacity to get something done based on the abilities of a person or institution that you represent. Authority is important to Matthew because Jesus expected a lot out of people; particularly out of Jews who chose to believe that He was the Messiah. You couldn't follow him unless you felt in your guts that He was who He said He was. In today's world where authority is mostly seen as an evil to be questioned, we are presented with a challenge of similar magnitude. Folks, if the very core of who we are is not deeply challenged by Jesus, we aren't reading the gospels right.

If today's story was about Jesus' power then the healing of the demon possessed man would be the climax of the story. It is not the climax of the story. It is the introduction to the story.

Most of the time when Jesus heals a person, he starts repeating the rules of Fight Club. The first rule of getting healed by Jesus is, you don't talk about getting healed by Jesus. The second rule of getting healed by Jesus is, you DO NOT talk about getting healed by Jesus. The third rule is, go find a priest and offer, you know, the normal sacrifice a person is supposed to offer, according to the law of Moses, when that person's demon possession or leprosy or blindness or lameness or deafness or muteness clears up.

Yeah, I bet those priests see that kind of thing all the time.

"Mornin', Rabbi Bob."
"Mornin', Phil. Hey! I see you finally kicked the sunglasses and that 'ol white cane to the curb."
"Yeah, the funniest thing really. I woke up this morning and after 38 years of total blindness, I opened my eyes and I could actually see the alarm clock to hit the snooze bar. You know, I think the wife used to move that thing around the room just to get me out of bed. Well, anyway, it looks like my blindness finally cleared up, and I was just in the neighborhood, so I thought I would stop by this morning and drop off a dove, you know, a little 'thanks' to 'you know Who' for the miraculous healing."
"Sure thing, Phil. I'm kind of busy. Just leave it there by the door; I'll get to it later."

Really? Because I don't think so.

Fact: Leprosy or demon possession or blindness or lameness or deafness or muteness or any of those kinds of -nessnesses doesn't just clear up on its own.

Fact: when it clears up for any reason, people talk.

What can you say? I guess people have never been able to keep their mouths shut because despite rules #1 and #2, it all comes out. Word gets around the village-wide web that this Jesus is different. Our playwright, Matthew, masterfully writes it into the lines of "all the people."

[ALL THE PEOPLE enters stage left whispering excitedly.] "Could this be the Son of David?"

(That's it, sweetie, chin up so the parents in the back with the camcorders can hear you.)

Somebody is finally getting it. Jesus isn't just the man, he is the Man. And as you should expect, just about the time somebody starts to get it, somebody else starts to get mad about it.

[THE PHARISEES enters stage right. Pompously clearing throat] "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

That's it.

It's on.

[JESUS enters stage wherever He pleases thank you very much.] "There is no such thing as a civil war with Satan. That's a losing proposition for a losing kingdom. I'm doing the same thing your people do, so what are you implying about your own people? How kindly do you think they would take to your satanic accusation? On the other hand, if the Spirit of God is in fact the authority by which I operate, then that would mean that the King of kings and Lord of lords is here to establish His kingdom... and that kingdom is pretty much in your face."

It is written in the law and the prophets and the holy writings of wisdom:
THOU SHALT NOT tug on Superman's cape.
THOU SHALT NOT spit into the wind.
THOU SHALT NOT pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger.
BUT THOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE SERIOUSLY CRACKED THINE NUT TO GET INTO AN AUTHORITY FIGHT WITH JESUS.

"The only reason a servant of Satan would obey Me is because he knows that I have more authority than Satan. You like apples? You like apples? You might be afraid of Satan. Satan is definitely afraid of Me. How do you like them apples?"

This is too ugly. What's that? You say He's not yet finished with them?!

Welcome to right now: it's choosing sides time. You are either with me or you are not with me. You want to talk bad about me? Fine. But when your pride has you so far gone that you can't see the difference between Satan's authority and God's authority? That right there is the endgame of all endgames. Make no mistake: you lose, and it is a losing of the forever and ever kind."

Move along people...this fight. is. over. Though one could hardly call it a fight. There's nothing left to see.

Hang on, now. Even still, Jesus stands lingering over his pulverized opponents and speaks to us all with sincere warning.

“Your mouth ships the products that are made in the factory of your heart. You will never see high-quality product come out of lousy factory. If your heart is a good factory, you will ship a quality product. If your heart is an evil factory, you will ship a lousy product. You can't improve product quality as you are loading it on to the big brown trucks. Don't watch your mouth. If you are watching your mouth, it's probably already too late. Instead, promote goodness in your heart. When your heart is right you don't have to watch your mouth."
"Either way, never forget this: God is very seriously concerned with Quality Control. Sooner or later He will demand an explanation for your words. And it will all be on you. That is, it will be the words produced in the quality of your heart that will lead to your ruin.”

“Or to your salvation.”

The condition of our heart is an idea worth our meditation. We don't see as much demon possession these days, but people's hearts can be possessed by all kinds of other-than-God-type things. I have known people possessed by anger, selfishness, addiction, sex, and materialism just to name a few. I am one of them. The good news is that Jesus is still a healer with all of God's authority behind Him. He is ready to act on our behalf, if we are willing to be released.

Son of David, release us from our bondage and into your kingdom, amen.

It's time to fast. [The Sequel]

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

- Jesus

Well, I'm a little surprised by the immediate response to the calendar. Thanks to those who have initiated the fasting conversation, and blessings to those that are exploring how fasting might become a more accessible devotion. I understand that we might be hesitant to announce our spiritual disciplines on a public calender given the nature of some of Jesus' teaching (like the one quoted above.) For those of you who may be feeling this way (including a number of people who have emailed me in the last 24 hours), I submit the following observations for your consideration.

• It is good to remember that as Jesus speaks to a rather large crowd of disciples, that the disciples really understand their spirituality within a sense of community. Almost every time Jesus directs his teaching to "you", it is "you" plural and not "you" singular. Over the last century we have "privatized" our faith by making it "all about me", or the individual. As far as I can find, there is no biblical spirituality for the individual.
• As is the case in most Sermon on the Mount teachings, Jesus' teaching here is concerned with the matter of the heart. If you fast with the motivation of being noticed by others then others will notice you. If you fast with the motivation of being noticed by God then God will notice you.
• The Fasting and Prayer Calendar is a public calendar, but it is a public calender among millions of other calendars exactly like it. I guarantee that no one will lose their spiritual reward based on its visibility on the world wide web. (for more on this, see point immediately above.)
• The purpose of a community calendar is not to be noticed by other people. Rather, it is to invite others to join and support you in ministry. If you are concerned about the impression others might get by your posting on the Google Calendar, you are always welcome to post anonymously so that your potential spiritual reward is safe.

For what it's worth.

It is time to fast.

It is time to resurrect the community fasting discipline. Is there anything in your life worth so much to you that you would stop eating to talk to God about it? My guess is yes.

Pick a meal, a day, a week. Put it on the calendar. Send an invitation to your friends or family. Check the calendar and pray with/for someone else.

If you are going to fast and pray for any reason or for no reason, add it to the calendar (you may have to email me the first time, after that, it's your calendar too.) If you will put it on the calendar, I'll fast with you, and my guess is other people will too.

Technological Acquisitions

After 11 faithful years, our old laser printer gave up the ghost. With Kaelea in school, it was important to keep the down time to a minimum, so after a bit of research I picked up an HP LaserJet P2015d.

It doesn't scan, fax, copy, print in color, or iron your clothes. It will print pristine black and white laser copies (front and back) at 27 pages per minute. Mmmm, for all of the research papers, lectures and music we've been printing lately, that kind of production is yummy!

eP has been creating some most excellent music recently. Last year began our most serious discussion about recording to date. Since Pepperdine, the desire to digitally capture good musical ideas has just gotten more and more compelling. Last week I dropped by SuperDigital and purchased an AT-4050. What drew me to this particular mic was audio-technica's excellent reputation and the versatility of pick-up patterns that this mic in particular offers. Initial tests are encouraging. Any eP readers can expect some emails regarding the recording progress sometime in the next month or so.