Where You Stay?

When I went to work in Mobile, Alabama in the 1990's, one of my drivers asked me, "Where you stay?"  I thought for a minute, and told him, "out west of town, off Airport road."  In bus driver talk, this was a perfectly adequate answer.  But, in spiritual talk, I think it is a much better, and more complex question and answer.  Where, actually, do I stay?

Last Sunday, we talked about Abram's (later to be Abraham) trip from Ur to Canaan.  In Hebrews 11, Abraham is inducted into the "Faith Hall of Fame," because he obeyed and went.  The writer of Hebrews gives a list of reasons for Abraham's honor, saying:

1. Obedience - He obeyed, even though he didn't know where he was going.

2. He went - Sometimes we speak the words ... Abraham applied the words and took action.

3. He lived in God's plan - Abraham set up shop in the promised land (Canaan) even though the residents of that land opposed him.

4. He lived in hope - God promised Abraham the solid foundation of God's presence, blessing, and protection.

5. He stayed in the Kingdom - Abraham lived, loved, struggled, and thrived in God's Kingdom, where God rules, sends, calls, and nurtures His people.

I love the words of the writer of Hebrews as he calls Abraham (after listing his faithful accomplishments) "as good as dead" before these amazing deeds!  Abraham, in his old age ... in his childless marriage ... in his comfort ... in his wealth ... in his influential position ... didn't stay dead.  Instead, he lived!

When I read all this, I can't help but remember our state as we come to God.  Paul calls us "dead in sin (Ephesians 2)."  Yet, God calls us to see what Hebrews calls "a better country" and a "city with foundations built by God."  So, here are our questions for this week.

Do you see that city?  Are you a proud resident of this culture, or are you willing to live in the land to which God is calling you?  Jesus defines this, and even calls us to pray for it, saying "on earth as it is in heaven."  Jesus talks about it all the time, describing the "Kingdom of God" and its attributes.  Where you stay?

Excitement, Danger, and Blessing

Sunday, Ryan Blalock will be singing a beautiful song written by Andrew Peterson.  It is called, Canaan Bound, and is a musical expression of God's promise to Abraham.  If you remember, God sent Abraham away from the safety, security, and abundance of his land in Ur, to travel to an unknown land God said "flowed with milk and honey."  The land was Canaan, and God gave it to the nation of Israel over 4,000 years ago (bet you won't hear this on the national news).

In the song, the writer speaks about the promise of offspring to "barren Sarah."  The song, correctly, talks of blessing for following and obeying God, including 1) amber crowned hills of Hebron, 2) many sons like the grains of sand, and 3) a vast love that has chosen Abraham.  All of these things come as a result of God's plan, God's design, and God's unstoppable will.  The song, and the subject are beautiful!

So ... 2 questions.  First, are you founded on the wisdom of culture and drawn to a false God that bends the knee to human logic?  Or, are you standing on the solid rock of Christ, who promises excitement, danger, and blessing as we follow him to the land He has promised us?

I guess we have to decide where we are bound.  Are we bound in the chains and throes of culture, that offers nothing eternal?  Or are bound for Canaan, "where the grass, they say, is soft and green, and the trees are tall and honey-filled?"  Are we staying or going?

Scaffolds

In our current series about Moving Mountains I have been encouraging us to reflect upon and change those things that are barriers to God's Supernatural work in/through/around us.  As school begins, there is an educational term that comes to mind.  That term is "scaffolding." The idea of scaffolding is that education is a series of building blocks.  Lower levels of knowledge are foundations for higher levels of knowledge.  You can't do math until you understand numbers and counting. You can't do language till you understand phonetics and the alphabet.  You can't learn music theory till you know notes and terminology.  And here's my eureka moment ... you can't know what you believe or who you believe in till you know the basics of the faith.  Knowledge needs those building blocks in every application ... so why do we think this is different in our faith journey?

Here's my point.  A pastor or teacher builds a structure for a Bible Study lesson or a sermon series.  Part of that structure is a foundation about where he/she is going with the teaching or message.  Yet, our society is fragmented, scattered, and fleeting, like a butterfly moving from flower to flower.  Our cultural condition causes us to be hit-or-miss with our listening availability.  The message or the lesson is diminished and/or diluted because sections of the scaffolding are missing.  The building either doesn't happen, or the building is unstable because sections are missing.

I imagine this problem happens at all levels of education, but it seems (to me) amplified when applied to something our culture fails to prioritize and embrace.  And I think Satan loves when he (or when we) can remove one of those building blocks or sections of scaffold.  So ... that's my venting.  What do we do?  In the Methodist Church, we learn from what John Wesley called "Means of Grace."  Wesley encouraged the people called Methodists to:

1. Engage in 2-way prayer, both sending and receiving from God.

2. Believe God's word/words over the voices of the culture ... that is where truth is found.

3. Study ... always be a student of Scripture, learning as individuals and in community settings.

4. Worship, because corporate worship is one way God builds those foundations and scaffolds.

5. Serve, because in serving we become giving humans, and we learn to interact, compromise, understand, and love others.

6. Participate in worship and the sacramants, because they are sacred by the presence of God ... and what Christian would not want to be in God's presence?

7. Fellowship because part of the learning "scaffold" is learning how to do life with other people.

9. Love God and others as we love ourselves.

10. Witness by being ready to share how God is impacting and changing us for the better.

I truly could go on listing all day, but this is a good start.  Parents ... bring your children/youth every week unless there is calamity that keeps this from happening.  Make sure you find out what was studied, and pass it along to your children.  Adults ... make sure you are part of a Bible Study Fellowship or Disciple Group and stay engaged in that study.  Don't miss a building block!  Christians ... follow the advice of the writer of Hebrews who said, "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His returning is drawing near (Hebrews 10:25)."  Our gifts (according to 1 Corinthians 12) are for the purpose of BUILDING up the Church.  Let's build, so we can realize the fullness of God ... the length, breadth, height, width and power of a supernatural God!  

The Room

Jesus, in His last statement from Matthew 28 (verse 20) says ... "And be sure of this, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  Mostly, we interpret this as being a time thing.  But what if this is one of those really big, and really small statements of Jesus?

C.S. Lewis posed that God, in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are the only beings in the universe big enough to exceed the size of the universe (and even that 'time' thing) and yet small enough to enter a human heart.  As I was considering this, I thought of a Tasha Cobb song called "In The Room."  Here are the lyrics ...

I'm not forsaken, never alone

The God of Heaven calls me His own

He's not just seated, upon the throne

I know He's right here, inside my home

I've got a treasure here in my heart

And in my weakness, it won't depart

I have a Savior who will abide

He's not just with me, He lives inside

When we sing this on Sunday, we will rejoice in the beauty of this fact ... "He's in the room!"  In the room of our heart.  In the room of the Family Life Center.  In the room of our church building.  In the hearts of those who leave to live out Jesus when they leave worship.  In Belize, where we share love and ministry with Ed and Arita Lemas.  In Costa Rica, our Costa Rica mission team will share a testimony this week] where we shared a little of life with David and Pamela Knapp.  In all the places, locally and internationally, where we become "acolytes" that carry Jesus and the Holy Spirit out into the world.  He's in the room!  I hope I can get an amen!