Evening Prayer

Almighty and Beloved, You have brought us to your banqueting table and your banner over us is love. We rejoice in you O Savior, offering to you grateful thanks for the bountiful gifts which this day has supplied: joy rising in our hearts as we revel in the presence of family and friends, the renewal of fellowship with covenant brothers and sisters, wonder in the beauty of your creation, and supremely in the banquet you prepare in your house. As we approach now the work to which you call us, grant us strength for the journey, faith in the face of every obstacle, boldness and love to make your Gospel known, favor with those with whom we work, excellence in our labors, peace in our homes, and the wisdom to discern rightly how to redeem the time each day offers. For the sake of Your Great Name. Amen.

Horns Hoops

Nice start to the college hoops season for the Horns - smashing UC Irvine. Dexter Pittman was amazing and this is exactly the kind of effort the Horns will have to consistently make to challenge for the Big 12 Title and National Title against the likes of Kansas. In fact, a Final Four match up between the two would hardly be surprising.

Wealth Creation and Liberality

I had some good laughs after the services today about my assertion that "God is a liberal". "No way", said one calm conservative, "Liberals take your money and God gives and gives." All good fun.

My use of 'liberal' of course refers to 'liberality', a word Paul employs in 2 Corinthians 9 to describe the purpose of wealth creation - "You will be enriched for all liberality...". The verse continues to note that liberality leads to human needs being met and God being praised. Yet it has to be noted that liberality in every way is preceded by people being enriched in every way - including being rich in the grace of giving (something the poor Macedonians had in spades: 2 Corinthians 8:1ff). So the telos of wealth creation is liberality, and the telos of liberality is the spread of the Gospel and the Glory of God. We don't worship mammon, a god which demands our death; on the contrary, we worship God with our money - killing it in a sacrifice to him. He alone resurrects what is given and makes it fruitful. He alone can take what is given - five loaves and two fish for instance - and apply to this what is applied to himself: he takes is, he blesses it, he breaks it, he gives it. Thus at the heart of who we are and what we do is Eucharist, and this is true for wealth creation too.

We are called to take hold of the creation and do two things - cultivate and keep it (Genesis 2:15). This means both glorification and protection. To 'glorify' something is lay hold of it with transformative power and bring it into God's service, recovering it for God's purposes. That's our calling as human beings when it comes to our work. Thus we have no 'Christian life' that is distinct from the rest of our life, but rather a life which is utterly Christian from head to toe, Sunday to Saturday, worship to work, from study to leisure.

Those called by God and gifted with the capacity to create wealth will have the opportunity to boast in their poverty and bestow on thousands the joys of secure family dwellings and growing civilizations.

This sufficiency leads to liberality and liberality to thanksgiving. The Good Samaritan could function as a true neighbor only because he had the wisdom to produce and preserve the extra needed to heal the wounds of his fellow traveler on the road to Jericho. Produce wealth; preserve wealth; provide wealth - that God may be glorified and the broken healed. This is the mind set that builds everything from churches to schools to hospitals to new ventures that secure future jobs for generations, publish books in a literate society, and mend the lawless political infrastructures of corruption that impoverish millions of people.

Wealth Creation is not anti-Christian; theft, greed, folly, and envy - those are the enemies.

Notes and Asides

1. Construction of the New Church and Moving Dates - We've been delayed as much as four weeks. After fourteen years we should not grow distressed over this, but be thankful that the job will be finished in a superb yet cost-effective manner. Lets continue to pray, pack (most of my books are now in boxes, thanks to the Murrah's diligent labors), and prepare our hearts. Hey, maybe the first official gathering will be the Feast of Epiphany rather than a Sunday service - water to wine anyone?

2. Great to see Doug and Cathy Collier back - and thanks to all who assisted with their unloading.

3. My admiration for our Staff, Deacons, and Session deepens with every passing day. We are being well served and for this labor that so reflects the life of Jesus I am truly grateful.

4. I often put prayers up on Face Book, but I am giving FB a rest. Prayers will appear at IHS in the coming weeks.

5. Its a small thing I know, but I am looking forward to hanging up my robe in the new place instead of carrying it back and forth - always afraid I'll leave it at home!

6. I think Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday and it disappoints me that our culture blows past it a bit too quickly, jumping from Halloween straight to Christmas. I love Christmas as well as anyone and have spotted my first Christmas lights already. Still, I wish we could slow the train down at the Turkey crossing.

7. Looking forward to reading 'The Next One Hundred Years" by Stratfor founder - and Austin native - George Friedman. I like the way the man exposes popular myths and will make us reconsider the conventional wisdom.

8. I think TCU and SMU are an amazing story this year in College Football. I think TCU might give FL, Bama, and even UT all they want. I also think UT will beat anyone and everyone they face for the National Title - I have never seen a defense like this. Just astonishing. I don't even think it will be close.

9. Had a terrific visit with Taylor Marshall and Dr. Chris Malloy at the University of Dallas on Saturday - both proved to be extremely helpful for my preparation of a lecture of Vatican II. Thanks gentlemen - for the fellowship, counsel, and for the Grand Marnier! If you are a little confused about the new Anglican Ordinariate recently created by Benedict XVI? Taylor's lecture on the subject is clear and, with the Q&A which followed, helps clear up what is happening with that initiative. Check it out over at Canterbury Tales (This is a strongly Roman Catholic site by the way).

10. The Cincinnati Bengals? THE CINCINNATI BENGALS????

11. UT will beat North Carolina in the Jerry World game in December.

12. Preaching next week from Acts 10 on "Launching into a Larger World" from Acts 10 - further spiritual formation for our upcoming move. Then on to Advent - which of course is all about, what else, preparation!

Quotable

Where humility blossoms, there God's glory bursts forth.

Isaac the Syrian

Sermon Notes for November 15, 2009

The Generosity of God and the Gratitude of Men

2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:1-15

November 15, 2009

We believe in that the old division between the material and spiritual, between God and man, life and liturgy, was bridged by God the Word made flesh

Bringing Life into the Sanctuary just as the Sanctuary flows into Life

Here is our Thematic Verse for the Coming Year

Three years ago this Sunday we began a journey together, dedicating ourselves to give joyously and generously to construct a new church home. As this year reaches its conclusion, we can celebrate together so many wonderful gifts of grace we have experienced in this season of above and beyond giving. All of this – and so much more! – is cause for rejoicing.

New Missionaries Going from Us

New Staff Coming to Serve the Congregation

New Members Joining us, even when we lost so many to moves

New Church Construction Just About Completed

YOUR GENEROSITY OF SPIRIT HAS OVERWHLMED AND AMAZED AND ASTONISHED ME. I HAVE BOASTED OF THIS GRACE IN YOU EVERY PLACE I GO.

Now we come to the borderlands of our next steps in grace. Does this mark the end of our generosity or the beginning of a new gratitude?

The Heart of God is Ever-Giving – 2 Corinthians 9:6-10

For God is Love; Love always goes out from itself to ‘the other’.

We can give without loving, but we can never love without giving

God is the Ultimate Good Samaritan – Our Greatest Neighbor.

Mercy from Us is Rooted in Mercy towards us.

We Ninevites have received great mercy!

“Freely you have received, freely give,”

“Charge that to my account”

The Heart of Man is Ever-Needy – 2 Corinthians 9:12-13

We are assaulted and left for dead

We are those who must be carried and cured by long-term care

Ministries in Education – from Kindergarten to Seminary

Ministries of Life

Ministries to the Dying

Ministries to the Struggling

But our GREATEST NEED IS THE NEED TO BE GENEROUS

Our Giving Contributes to the Needs of Others

Our Giving God (“What is the Chief end of man?”)

Our Giving Confesses the Gospel (Moved by the Grace of the Gospel and not simply the never-ending need of man)

Our Giving Conforms us to Christ who gave himself for us

The Heart of God and the Heart of Man Meet in the Offering –

2 Corinthians 9:11

The Purpose of Sufficiency – Liberality

God gives ‘seed to sow and bread to eat’

Don’t confuse your seed with your bread!

The Purpose of Liberality –

The Worship of God - 2 Corinthians 9:11-13

The Unity of the Church – 2 Corinthians 9:14

Tozer: The Transformation of Money Given to God\

The god Mammon will never die for you, but it will demand you die for it. By contrast with such envy and terror, the Generous Heart of God is seen supremely in the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ – the One who is the Rich Young Ruler who forsook all for a greater Love, the Pearl Merchant who sold all that he had to Buy us, our God who embraced our poverty to give to us the riches of his grace, dying for us that we might live. Our Savior continues to give to us – take eat, this is my body; take drink, this is my blood. This is our Glorious and Generous Savior; we are his Body, and the Heart of our Head beats in this Body supplying the flow of life to all.

Given the ‘Knowns’ and the ‘Unknowns’, let us together –

Honor God with our Tithes

Continue to Give as Able and Directed to AHFMN fund (Those finished and those with commitments still outstanding)

Pray for Our Businesses and Our City

Grow Wise in our Personal Stewardship

As we present to Christ our tithes and gifts, the fruit of our life before him, he brings out to us the supremely magnificent gifts of bread and wine, giving to us his very life.

“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Recent Lectures

Its been a particular joy to be recently afforded the opportunity to offer some lectures/presentations on two subjects I have studied for some years now, but which could not be treated as subjects for in depth Sunday sermons. This past week, Mike Hayden and Steve Ottolini welcomed me in St Louis to New Covenant Church where I taught five sessions on Christology, followed by a Sunday sermon on the same subject, emphasizing the Return of 'our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ'. These are available from New Covenant Church in St Louis. In addition, the good people at City School asked me to present two talks on a Biblical View of Wealth Creation and I enjoyed giving these at the UT Club over the past couple of weeks. Those talks will shortly be available from City School, and should be of interest to entrepreneurs and others in interested in a Biblical view of Economics.

Bringing in the Sheaves

Bringing in the Sheaves

Most of the time we ponder the relationship between ‘liturgy and life’ we are thinking about separation - viewing worship as an exit from life for a few moments, though perhaps there are some who might wish to hastily add that this exit is to get enough provisions to head back out to the mission - we are carrying supplies out of worship into the world. Of course it is true that we need to take the blessings of the sanctuary into the world and that’s why the service ends with the benediction - sending us in God’s name in the power of God’s grace to live and proclaim the truth and love of God’s Gospel. Yet I profess to being bothered at our apparent lack of awareness of what we are brining from the world into worship, and I mean by this the very good things we bring.

• We bring musical composition and hymnody to offer praise and thanks
• We bring words for prayers, confession of sin, and profession of faith
• We bring study and thought for sermons (well, we hope that’s the case!)
• We bring water for baptisms
• We bring bread and wine for communion
• We bring artistry that designs worship folder covers and banners
• We bring engineering that creates comfortable environments and decent sound so we can hear God’s word.
• We bring years of lessons on instruments and vocal song to offer to God
• We bring money for offerings

I could go on. We bring all of this and more from the world into the sanctuary so that we might meet with God and hear his voice and receive his grace. God still ordains the transformation of Egyptian Gold into furnishings for his Dwelling Place.

Transformation is the perfect word to describe what happens to what is brought into worship - whether bread or ourselves. God lays hold of what is offered and makes of it something which by his hand is ‘glorified’: as we ‘with unveiled faces behold the glory of the Lord... we are transformed from glory to glory into the same image...’ (2 Corinthians 3:16ff). This bringing of creation and human gifting into worship is a precursor of the restoration of the whole creation which as yet ‘stands on tip toe’ waiting to be released from its captivity to sin (Romans 8). The world God made good is recovered from sin and for the service of the Almighty.

That’s what consecration is all about. To ‘consecrate’ a person or thing is to return it to God, sometimes as a representative of the whole. We are baptized in a moment and the water is on our heads alone, but the baptism embraces the whole of existence, transcending time, and makes the whole person God’s, body and soul. We give a tenth of our increase, yet this offering represents all we possess; in other words, the partial sanctifies the whole.

Not only does the ‘one’ consecrated to God in worship represent the ‘many’ we employ beyond worship, the one in God’s hand becomes an instrument of remarkable grace. One kid, five rolls and two sardines? In the right hands such small gifts become the sustenance of thousands. This is why AW Tozer wrote, "As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. "

I was asked once if Christians worship money. “Yes”, I replied, “We sadly and sinfully do this at times. Our hearts are idol factories and we’d worship cookies given half a chance.” Then I asked my interlocutor why he asked the question. “Oh, I just wondered why you brought money to the front during worship.”

“Oh!” I said. “That’s exactly when we’re NOT worshipping money. That’s when we are worshipping God with our money, giving it to him and waiting to see what amazing thing he will do with it. We do the same thing with babies. We bring them up, pour water over them in the name of the Trinity, pray for them, and then wait to see what God will make of their lives. We aren’t worshipping the babies when we do that; we’re worshipping the God who gives us children to begin with.”

“So when you bring the money to the front you’re saying the money is God’s and he can use it however he wants?” he continued.

“Actually”, I replied, “when we bring the money to the front we are saying everything we have and are and will ever be is from him and he can do with US whatever he wants. He bought us with his blood and that includes not only our souls but every gift and ability he gave us, the days and years he gives us, everything from our toes to our dreams.”

He seemed a little shocked. Look, we don’t have a little box in the back into which we secretly put our tithes. We bring in the sheaves, publicly rejoicing in God’s good gifts to us. We bring music and song and words and air conditioning and wine and everything we can get our hands on, sanctifying it all to God who first called everything ‘Good’. The Word was made flesh, making the creation a permanent part of the Godhead. That is why we say ‘From thy hand we offer to thy hand” - everything came from God, exists through him, and returns to him.

We’re not paying our dues, we’re worshipping in Spirit and Truth, joyously bringing back to God the first fruits of all creation - and watching to see what his hand can make of that. One things for sure - its going to be Good!

Quotable

“Listening to a pastor talk about business is like listening to a eunuch talk about sex: he may have studied the topic, but he doesn’t know anything about the mechanics.”

- Rich Karlgaard, Forbes

The Transfiguration of Finances Through Giving to God

As base a thing as money often is, yet it can be transmuted into
everlasting treasure. It can be converted into food for the hungry and
clothing for the poor. It can keep a missionary actively winning lost
men to the light of the gospel and thus transmute itself into heavenly
values. Any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth.
Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. "
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Exodus Reversed - 2 Kings 24

Following the death of Josiah, his son Jehoahaz comes to the throne of Judah, a kingdom that has run out of time. Pharaoh captured him and enslaved him in Egypt, where he shortly died. Pharaoh also imposed a burdensome taxation on Judah's people, carrying off their silver and gold. He then named Jehoahaz' son Eliakim the king of Judah, giving him a new name - Jehoiakim - to demonstrate his authority over him; Jehoiakim became the slave/son to Pharaoh.

The end of Judah is the reversal of the Exodus and forms the other end of Israel's historical chiasm from slavery in Egypt to freedom under God to license under idols and a return to slavery under Egypt.

Ft Hood and the Religion of Peace

Could we get past all of the politically correct nonsense? Islam is a religion of violence and hatred. Period. Not all Muslims are violent - thanks be to God. Yet it is precisely here that the difference between Islam and Christian Faith is clearly seen: when Christians behave in violent ways in the name of their faith they are acting in ways inconsistent with that faith; when Muslims act violently towards non-Muslims they are acting in ways perfectly consistent with their religion. If you doubt that, you haven’t read the Quaran and you must be getting your talking points from a TV talking head who possesses all the religious and historical sophistication of an fifth grade term paper. This country - and the Church - better wake up and smell the coffee. Turn off the TV and read a book.

Reformation Day Quote

The world and its god cannot and will not bear the Word of the true God, and the true God cannot and will not keep silent. Now these two Gods are at war; so what else can there be throughout the world but uproar?" ~Martin Luther

Quotable

"The world at its worst needs the Church at its best."
DG Hart

Four Friends and Raising the Roof

Raising the Roof

“And they came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.” – Mark 2:3

The searing pain that shot through my ankle, down into my foot, and up my leg told me immediately what my brain did not want to believe – my ankle might be broken, and it was at the very least badly sprained. I had taken a blindside hit from a defender turned blocker as I pursued a safety who had just intercepted an under thrown pass from our quarterback. So there I was, laying on the ground in terrible pain and unable to even get up and hop to the far sideline; the pain of embarrassment was at least as bad as the pain in my leg and foot. After all, six-three, two hundred won’t make you a College tight end, but it was OK for high school, and now I’d have to be ‘carried off’.

Just then a couple of very short, not very hefty people came and knelt down to ascertain the extent of my suffering. After some probing and mind-numbing pain inflicted by those pokes and prods, they told me I was done for the night (knew that), and that they would get me off the field. It took four people to get my carcass vertical and then two of them slung my arms over their shoulders and helped me limp off to the ambulance and a night at the ER. After that, I decided to stick to basketball.

We all have times when our supposed strength has been brought to nothing, when our vaunted wisdom is turned to folly, when we just can’t move another muscle. Those are gifts from God, though we don’t often recognize them as such. They bring us near to him, and they connect us to people we might never have known except for this season of need. We have to discover our basic need of one another, the essential quality of living in community rather than in isolation. The people we discover when we’ve been blindsided are the grace of God bestowed on us in very tangible physical and emotional ways. When we are paralyzed they carry us to him.

That’s why the men named in the Gospel simply as ‘they’ are some of my favorite people in the Bible. ‘They’ carried their friend to Jesus. ‘They’ couldn’t get in because the meeting was already overcrowded. ‘They’ didn’t give up and say, “Oh well, gave it a shot.’ ‘They’ lifted the man onto the roof of the house where the meeting was, figured out about where Jesus would be sitting down to teach, and ‘they removed the roof above him and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith…” – and you know the rest of the story.

Here’s the question. Who carries you when you fall? Who won’t give up on you when others might go home? Who ‘raises the roof’ for you and lays you down at Jesus’ feet in your deepest need? Is there anyone in your life like that?

“Can I speak to the King on your behalf?” Elisha asked the lady in our sermon lesson today. ‘No”, she replied, “I live among my own people.” What a response. I don’t need favors from the powerful; I am surrounded by the ordinary – my people – and it turns out that they, these friends all around us, are the most extraordinary people of all. They are the very ones who will be at the weddings, and the funerals; the baby showers and baptisms; they will be the ones who send birthday cards and bring soup when you’re sick; the ones who picked you up from the body shop after, well, that nut back-ended your car on Mopac; they are the ones who get it done – the ones who carry us when we can’t take another step, who carry us to Jesus with faith when our faith is gone.

As we make the move to our new home, we should pause for a moment and thank God for the friends he has given us, our ‘neighbors of the heart’. We can also ask him to grant us this grace with increasing measure, making us the friends we need to be while rejoicing in the friends that we have been given. Through my entire life I’ve been surrounded with the finest and most gracious of people filled with the fruit of the Spirit. I have frequently been carried to Jesus by others. They have formed the tapestry of my experience of God’s love and shown me the true fabric of fellowship. We have been knit together in the household of faith. How thankful I am to be surrounded still by people who will raise the roof when I cannot take another step.

“I live among my own people.” Do you?

Sermon Notes for November 1, 2009

Redeemer 8.0

The Call to Community 2

The Joy of Dwelling Among Your People

2 Kings 4:8-17

Building on Jesus’ example in Luke 6, we are looking at the Calling of God’s grace to life shared in a community of Faith, Hope, and Love. Jesus said, “You are a city set on a hill” (Matthew 5), and we have to recover our ‘civic’ sense of discipleship to express the love of God in the world. The life of the Trinity finds expression in the life of the Church - the one and the many, unity and diversity, made manifest in lives that are joined in heart and shared in authentic love. This was the testimony of the early Christians - people who met both in the Temple and from house to house. These ‘circles of fellowship’ are ‘wheels within wheels’ that carry the glory of God in the world.

The Reality and Sufficiency of Community

Life Lived in Love - 2 Kings 4:8-10

Here is a woman of wealth who lived beyond herself

She stands with the poor widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7, who also lived beyond herself

- Both receive sons ‘back from the dead’

Love for the Word of God

Love for the People of God

Life Lived in Contentment - 2 Kings 4:11-13

“I live among my own people.”

In a world of ‘It isn’t what you know, but who you know’, Elisha was the Lord of the Strings - he could put in a word with the powers that be and make things happen.

“Shall I speak to the President for you? Anything you need from the Senate or the Joint Chiefs?”

This woman found her sufficiency in her community.

Life Lived in Hope - 2 Kings 4:14-17

Her self-offering came back to her in fruitfulness

Her contented spirit returned to her the greatest of joys.

So then, how do we enter into a life of community, of sensing contentment in ‘my people’?

Return to God’s Word as Source of Life

Renew Covenant with God and his People by the Bread of Life

Recognize your People as the Fabric for Life

Receive your People as Gifts for Life