Just preached John 13:1-20 … and was “locked in” to the phrase in v10 that the one who has bathed “is completely clean”.  What an amazing Gospel promise and one that we don’t probably consider often enough, and certainly don’t “live in” often enough.  The first picture Jesus is giving to the disciples at this foot washing episode is the complete cleansing that the cross provides.  The first and primary picture that guides the rest of the pictures is the “washing of regeneration” (Titus 3:5), the cleansing blood of the Lamb, the atoning sacrifice of Jesus that makes us not just clean … but completely clean.

Why is this so hard to embrace?  Because we feel so dirty.  Sin had left its crimson stain and we try so hard to scrub it off through our moralistic behavior, good deeds, and sacrificial service.  And guess what?  Not only do those things not “get it off”, if we are in Christ, it’s “already off”.  We are completely clean.  Judas wasn’t of course, and Jesus knew this … it wasn’t merely his feet that were dirty, his heart was dirty.  This was hard for the disciples to understand, which is why the narrative is so fascinating … it’s so much more than physical foot washing.  It starts with the washing only Jesus provides … and then once we’ve been washed in the blood, we can follow His example of washing “the daily dirt” that gets on us living as fleshly people in a fallen world.  I can’t make your heart clean, but I can serve you by reminding you of the ultimate cleansing you’ve already received, help you live in the reality of that, and push you to get involved in stinky feet sorta ministry with the world we live in.

Child of God … You are completely clean.  Justified, forgiven, and free!  Of course we haven’t arrived at perfection, we strive in the flesh to be all that God has made us.  And until then, we must live fully aware of the Gospel cleansing that is complete.  Not seeking to add anything to it … and daily loving each other, serving each other, and ministering the Gospel to each other!

Committed to washing your feet,

Pastor Mark

Presenting expository sermons book by book:

1. Allows God and God’s wisdom to set the agenda, not the preacher’s wisdom.

2. Prevents preachers from indulging their hobbyhorses.

3. Allows the preacher to learn along with the congregation, rather than limiting the congregation to what the preacher already knows.

4. Requires a preacher and a congregation to learn about God as God has revealed Himself, not as they want Him to be revealed.

5. Requires a preacher to preach the easy bits and the difficult bits of the Bible.

Jonathan Leeman

Reverberation, Moody Publishers, 2011, p. 118

I wonder how many people went around the table to say what they were thankful for on Thanksgiving Thursday, and then complained about the lines at the stores on Black Friday. It seems to me that we have become far too okay with grumbling and complaining about things … ok, maybe that just means I HAVE become far too okay with grumbling and complaining. We think it’s wrong to complain, but feel justified when we have a good reason to complain – “The service was poor, they totally offended me, they should be much more professional than that, those words were so hurtful, etc.” What ever happened to grumbling being a sin? I seem to remember a certain group of people wandering in the wilderness and not too happy with the menu that was being provided for them. They grumbled … and it clearly tells us in Exodus 16:8 that their grumbling was against the LORD. In essence they were saying, “You aren’t giving us what we want, You aren’t enough for us, You don’t give good gifts … we’ll take our business somewhere else Mr. Yahweh God.” It’s called idolatry, and we still do it today … every time we grumble. I think I’ve become too comfortable with grumbling in my heart, it’s one of those “acceptable sins” that everyone can identify with so nobody really thinks is a big deal. I’m just saying – It IS a big deal. It’s unbelief, selfishness, and sin! Philippians 2:14 isn’t a suggestion or helpful piece of advice, it’s a command – “Do all things without grumbling or questioning.” Yikes! A grumbling heart is not a loving heart, which is not a rescued-from-death heart (1 John 3:14), which is not a Spirit-filled heart, which, yes … is not characteristic of a saved heart. I don’t think that means everyone who complains is going to hell, but I do think it means those who have been loved by God with His great love will work hard at practicing loving others … even the ones who annoy us, don’t love us back, and hurt us. If this non-complaining, agape-loving lifestyle isn’t what the child of God is about, then I think the Bible says, “even unbelievers love those who love them back, what good is that?” Anyone (and everyone) can complain and grumble, shouldn’t it be the case that those of us who have been redeemed by His great love (Ephesians 2:4) love others radically and stop our grumbling? Yes is the right answer to the question. Let’s all get ourselves out of the way this Advent season (and forever), to steadfastly love and patiently endure some minor inconveniences and mildly annoying people. After all, I’m sure I’m sometimes that minor inconvenience and mildly annoying person … so thanks for patiently loving me!

Still Learning to Love,
Pastor Mark

“Those of us in the American church must ask ourselves, ‘Am I following Christ, or am I just following the crowd that’s following Christ.’ In the persecuted church, they follow Christ. The personal cost to follow the crowd is too expensive. But there is something we must always keep in mind, whether we are in America or in one of the most persecuted regions on the planet; Jesus Christ is the head of His church. Everywhere. And despite our differences, in most ways we are all in the same business and the same family, pursuing the same mission under the same head. So even if the American church is somewhat crippled in certain areas, it’s still His church. Not ours. And He has every right to remind us of those things that we need to improve. His church has never been perfect throughout history, and yet He still chooses to work through it, and through us. It’s the number one vehicle through which the kingdom mission is being forwarded today.” (The Privilege of Persecution – Moeller & Hegg)

It has been one of the greatest joys of my life to learn about walking with God from my brothers and sisters around the globe. It can be really easy in my heart to be negative about the American church and champion the church-outside-the-West. In many ways I feel more drawn and engaged to the Ethiopian church than the church in the West. But, this is my mission field, my place to love, serve, and reach. And for that I am thankful, because I am a part of The Church. The Church that God promises to build! The funny thing is how we often measure that “building”, growth, and success. Paul, while in Ephesus, writes in 1 Corinthians 16:9 that “a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” The persecuted church gets this, we in the West, not so much. We equate conflict and trouble in the church as bad and we must be missing something. They understand that as part of the battle. We see ease and comfort as blessing and clear vision. They ask what they are missing and who are they appeasing to keep the peace? We need to learn how to think about comfort with some measure of suspicion: What are we not speaking out against? What sin is going undealt with? Who are we seeking the approval of? And we need to learn how to think about conflict with more faith: What do we keep at even if it stirs people up? Where do we get stronger and bolder? How do we make an even better call to courageous, prayerful living? God builds His Church in different ways. And in many ways focus on the glory of God in times of ease can be much harder than in times of trouble. Conflict can be good … (It delayed Paul’s trip to Corinth because he wanted to stay in Ephesus amidst the trouble for the open door to good ministry) … And comfort can be trouble (It orients the heart toward peace when there is no peace).

We need our “success/approval” scale re-oriented away from comfort and on to the right guidelines of 1 Corinthians 16:9 and the way the persecuted church thinks about what God has called them to do. Give us open doors Lord, and don’t let us run from the adversaries that brings!

Press on & Pray more!
Pastor Mark

Here’s the pesky quote I read on Sunday that has haunted and challenged me since I first received it back in high school.  Funny how reading it again 25 years later and I still have so many areas I need to DIE in …

 

“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ-that is dying to self. When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take all in patient loving silence-that is dying to self. When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it-that is dying to self. When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God-that is dying to self. When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown-that is dying to self. When you see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances-that is dying to self. When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart-that is dying to self.”

So my mom is battling the aggressive enemy of ovarian cancer.  I’m praying many Gospel prayers, prayers for healing, prayers offered in earnest faith to the God of the Universe, my Dad, who loves me, loves my mom … and despises cancer.  And I’m think a lot about these things and have had good wrestlings about the subject I write about this morning.  Perhaps my wrestling will come clearer as I write it out … and may be of some benefit to you.

James 5 teaches us to pray for those who are suffering (5:13), to have the elders pray over one who is sick (5:14), to offer prayers of faith for healing (5:15), and to confess sin and pray for one another (5:16).  Then we are directed to the ministry of Elijah who prayed prayers of faith to God and he was heard, and God answered as Elijah requested (5:17-18).  I have long admired the ministry of George Mueller who prayed for clear evidences that you could trust God in his ministry to orphans so people would believe in his prayer-answering God.  There is no doubt about it, the Bible links faith and prayer.  Our faith in the power and promises of God fuels our prayers, and a praying life fuels our faith.  We have a God who is near to us in our suffering, and whose arm is not too short to save.  Though the Fall has reversed Paradise and Satan seeks to devour, God still has rule and authority over His creation as the architect and sustainer of all things.  He has healed, will heal, and does heal today!  And so Jesus-loving, Bible-trusting, Spirit-led, Father-adoring people will live lives where prayer is as central as breathing.  And at times our prayers are in alignment with the sovereign will of the Father, and He answers … not simply because He does whatever He wants and our prayers happened to land on His number, But in some strange and gracious way through the earnest prayers of faith of His children.  And at other times we pray, with the limited vision of finite people, and the Spirit intercedes on our behalf for what He knows we most need, and the answer is something far greater (though different) than what we have asked for.  [I find it interesting that Mary and Martha in John 11 both were convinced of Jesus' power to heal the sick and were sad when Jesus didn't show up in time to heal their brother Lazarus.  All the while, He was coming to do something far greater ... He came to demonstrate His power not only over sickness, but over death itself.]

Now come to Gospel thinking with me.  We trust the completed work of Christ as the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin, the rescue of fallen man, and victory over the power and penalty of sin and death.  We believe that those called by God and adopted into the family are already redeemed, cleansed, and healed.  Jesus conquered sin and death on the cross, and Satan is a defeated foe.  Therefore, my mom, as a beloved daughter of God, is whole.  She has been redeemed from her sin, is constantly being refined, and her glorification is spoken of as something that she is already in possession of (Romans 8:30).  Does it not take great faith to believe this?  Absolutely!  To put your trust in a God you cannot see, embracing the historicity of calvary that you were not there for, holding fast to the infinite ramifications of this message that have been settled in eternity.  Great faith!  So when we pray for physical healing we have, in some sense, competing components of faith.  On one hand, the faith that says all is well with my soul no matter what calamity, sickness, or suffering comes my way.  And on the other hand, the faith that seeks God for comfort, healing, and deliverance from our present troubles.  Thus, the rub …

Are you familiar with the teaching that says if you are not being healed it is because you don’t have enough faith?  The proponents of this of course mean well (I’m giving the benefit of the doubt here).  They seek to stir up greater faith to see greater works to receive greater gifts.  But does not that call to faith, or “prayer of faith” undermine our faith that the Gospel has done it all?  That indeed ‘It Is Finished’?  That the work of Jesus has already healed our greatest disease?  That the present suffering is not worthy to be compared with our future glory?  You see, when our righteous (James 5) prayers of faith are offered and we don’t get the physical healing answer our finite minds long for, to give the reason that you don’t have enough faith is actually showing that you don’t have enough faith in the Gospel.  Those prayers of faith are actually no longer about faith.  They end up being more about what you want done then what Christ has already done for you.

Friends, trusting the work of the Gospel does not undermine praying great prayers of faith (ala Elijah and Mueller), but praying superstitious “prayers of faith” shows little faith in the truly greater things of the works of God.  I thank God that my mom is already healed.  She has been delivered from sin, death is defeated, and glory is hers.  I embrace that by faith!  And I pray earnestly for her physical deliverance.  I’m not ready to be parent-less, and she’s far too young to not get to play with her grandkids anymore or see her daughter get married.  So I pray in faith, with faith in the Gospel, to my Sovereign God who always knows best and accomplishes His purposes for His glory!

By Faith,

Pastor Mark

My Life Journal Entry for today …

The Sweetest Promise -

Zephaniah 3.17
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.”

The nation was in total spiritual decay. The people idolatrous, and the safety and security of the nation about to be obliterated. And after God strongly uses His prophet to call them to justice and repentance, He offers perhaps one of the sweetest promises ever given. Not only mighty to save, BUT rejoicing and exulting over you as He brings quiet and rest. WOW! What intimacy, what Fatherly care.

I see the strong warnings and the powerful wrath of a just God in the Old Testament, but I never ever want to miss the gentle joyful love of the Father who will do whatever it takes to get glory for Himself and love His people into the joyful relationship He designed.

These words refresh my soul this morning Lord. What tender care you bring to your children. I want nothing more!

Sorry for the lengthy delay in posting anything (for the 2 of you who actually look at my blog, thanks mom and Jill) …

Since my last post, I have discovered the tool of the Life Journal Bible Reading Plan (thanks Wayne Corderio). It’s not some crafty trick to grow a church or bring you instant spiritual growth, which is probably why I love it. It’s just an easy plan for individuals, families, and churches to read the Bible and interact about it. I have always enjoyed my “devotional time”, but found it difficult to involve others in that, not anymore. I do devotions with my kids, wife, friends, and now my whole church family. Check it out (www.life journal.cc). This post is a reflection on a familiar verse found in today’s reading:

Psalm 62:8 – “Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.”

Do you get the connections the Psalmist ties together here? They aren’t separate concepts just lumped together here to make it easier for the songwriters to come up with cool praise song lyrics. We won’t find God a refuge for us unless we pour out our hearts before him. I mean how much comfort do you find in a friend that you never talk to? Or how safe do you feel with someone you don’t know and doesn’t know you? You won’t find rest in a distant God you don’t know. You will find great rest, refuge, and refreshment in a God who is near to you. He is near as you approach Him on your knees, with a humbled heart, eager to talk to Him. So go cry out to Him!

So why don’t you want to go cry out to Him? Because you don’t trust Him. Sorry, it’s harsh and direct, but true. You won’t go talk to that friend and pour your heart out who has burned you or hasn’t really demonstrated faithfulness. But God is, has, and will. He has not never, no never broken one of His promises. He is altogether true! You can trust Him. If you find no rest in Him, find no desire to pour your heart out to Him … start with talking to Him about why you don’t trust Him. Be honest, He can handle it … and ask the Spirit to give you the faith to really truly trust the Father who is greater than all. Then watch your prayer life soar, and heavenly soul-rest fill your soul.

Trusting the Father,
Mark

Take a guess … Number of US kids who don’t have an IPod? Number of Men right now who don’t know what March Madness is? Number of US women who don’t know who Martha Stewart is? Probably true for all of those, but I have no statistics to back those up. But here’s the statistic that has the corner-on-the-market on my prayers right now …

0.2 Percent of Ethiopians in the Northern region of Amhara that have trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Why? Because they’re too busy to listen, too rich to see their need, or too apathetic to care? No. Because the lie of Satan has blinded their minds under the darkness of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and as of yet no great Gospel awakening has happened.

But we’re praying for that all to change. We’re praying for a Church Planting Movement to be unleashed with such spiritual power that churches spring up like new flowers all over the area quicker than can be counted. And it starts tomorrow. 50 Ethiopian church planters from the region will begin a three day training equipped to unleash the Gospel like wildfire. E3 Partners, Horn of Africa Ministries, and Leroy Chapel are here to bless it, pray for it, and give heart and soul to start something far bigger than we could imagine. So God gets famous all over the world!

Will you pray for this like a beggar needs food and our lungs need breath? I want every ounce of my human skepticism and fleshly unbelief taken away so I can see and believe the true power of God unto salvation – the glorious Gospel of grace! Will you teach your kids and grandkids to love the lost, care for the broken-hearted, and be motivated solely by the glory of God? May Amharic Ethiopians taste and see that Jesus is good!

Amaseganalo (Thank You),
Mark

I’m sure I’m just slow on the uptake, but I feel like God has helped me make a connection between a couple things in my heart that have proven so helpful in the process of self-evaluation and self-confrontation.  It’s the connection between my fight against pride and a passion for prayer.  (Yes, I’m fighting my pride even now in writing this for fear you’ll think me slow in recognizing something so basic).  It’s not that I haven’t preached, taught, and counseled on how a humble heart is a key ingredient in a heart that longs for God in prayer.  It’s not even that I haven’t seen God grow me in brokenness and the increase of prayer with that.  It’s that I trust the sound Biblical wisdom of men more than the desperate pleas for grace to Daddy.  Here’s how God has shown me this – I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated being prayed for or prayed over, like I do now.  When I’ve struggled, physically or spiritually, I’ve sought instruction and the sound truth of the Gospel to flood my soul.  That is a good thing, don’t think I’m suggestion something other than that.  BUT, when someone might ask me if they could pray for me, I’d think (honestly), “Sure, prayer is good … I already know what I need to do/think/be in this situation, but by all means pray if it helps you feel like you’re being a good friend to me.”  I hope you hear the arrogance in that response.

Perhaps it’s that I’ve now lived life long enough to know that there is SO MUCH of life that I don’t (and can’t ) control, fix, or manage, and out of that humble realization I want (and need) the supernatural power of God to intervene.  Now, I know that prayer isn’t the magic lever that I pull to get God to do His magic on me.  I know it’s not a “work of righteousness” that God keeps tally on so that when I reach the gold level He rewards me with a free drink.  I just know that the “flesh is of no benefit” and out of a sincere humility I want to pray, be prayed for, and pray for others.  If the pastor had asked if people wanted prayer over something in their life at the end of a service 10 years ago, I would have responded to that invitation 0 out of 10 times.  Now, I’m getting prayed for 10 out of 10.  And likewise, I find my counsel and shepherding relying far less on my sound words of Biblical counsel (though I give that because it must be there), but recognize that the real help someone needs is not going to be in only “understanding” the truth I give, but in the Spirit “transforming” their mind, heart, and soul.  So I love to pray for people, pray over people, serve people through prayer, bless people as I talk to God on their behalf with them hearing.  I don’t get on my prayer voice, I don’t wave anything over them, I don’t put confidence in my prayer, process, or posture … I just lovingly put my hand on their shoulder and talk to Dad about what they are going through, what I see in their heart, and for grace to be lavished on them in abundant measure.  Pride and Prayer just make prayer a silly religious activity that feels token at best and fake at worst.  So my word for you – Respond to invitations to be prayed for, and pray for people because God loves to hear the prayers of His people and to act on their behalf!

Talking to God about you,

Pastor Mark