Being Mad a God

"And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them...And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them" Acts 16:6-7,10.

It doesn't solve anything or do any good to be mad at God. You can try, you can beg and whine, cry, barter and make plenty of other deals with Him, but it won't amount to anything. I was reminded of that fact yesterday as it's somewhat the teeter-totter of my life right now. I read this passage last night right before crawling into bed and it was as though the very heavens opened up and spoke directly to me.

Can you imagine Paul going city to city, proclaiming Jesus, being extremely obedient, fasting, praying, giving everything up; basically being super-human, super-Christian, best all-around guy probably ever? Can you picture it? He's in-touch with God. He's got it. He goes to these regions but the Spirit forbids him speaking. Now this time the Spirit forbids him so this time he probably got the word directly and knew he wasn't supposed to preach in Asia. So that's comforting that he knows close to exactly what's why going, why things are going to the way they are and he's ok with it because it's directly what God wants. But then things change. He goes to the next region, Mysia and attempted to go into Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. What does that look like? Jesus didn't allow them to go into the city. They were just walking, just trying to do some good, just trying to save some people from eternal damnation and teach them about a risen Savior that could bring them current joy, current satisfaction and hope that nothing else could bring. But Jesus stopped them by whatever means and confounded their path. He didn't appear in a vision and say, "I don't want you going there so I stopped you. Please understand I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I think you're great." Nope, nothing. He just confounded their way and offered no explanation.

But they, Paul, Silas, Timothy and probably others chose to trust God, chose not to get mad or be frustrated that they couldn't enter the town. They chose NOT to doubt in His sovereignty or doubt His plan. They chose to think higher, think wider and believe that God knew the best way. Then Paul had a vision that they should go to Macedonia. It says "immediately WE sought to go..concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them." They concluded, they didn't know for sure, they didn't quite get all the answers about why they'd been stopped from entering Bithynia, but they believed in a God who works everything out for good, who has a divine plan that is so much better than our plans, even if our plans seem good or best at the time.

You can get mad at God. You can tell him how things would have worked out so much better if He'd just done this or that. You can sob and whine thinking He doesn't love you, He doesn't care, He doesn't have control. But He does, and He will continue to. So you can stand in God's way and make things more complicated or you can get out of the way and enter into your Macedonia.

Signs and Wonders

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance…Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles….so that the people even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them…And gazing at Stephen, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel…But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God…The Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands…An angel of the Lord said to Philip…And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more…” Select scripture from Acts 2-8.

I read all of this today from Acts. I got to thinking, mulling over what it must have been like to have lived during this phase. I’m trying to immerse myself in the faith, in the emotion, in the thought-processes that must have been going on at this time. And now I’m wondering what it would be like to have all of these signs and wonders, all of these people and their great faith transplanted into our culture. Picture it- Philip comes up to you while you’re reading something really difficult to grasp from the Bible. You’re confused, perplexed and delighted to find someone so eager to help break the words down for you. He adequately explains the passage; you get so excited about Jesus that you immediately want to be baptized (without the church class). You stop by the side of the road, get out and he dunks you (a non-ordained, uneducated person). Then, if that’s not enough, he’s gone, like gone, gone. The Spirit carries him away.

I find myself thinking how it would go over if someone were carried away by the Spirit in our culture. I think people would be screaming voodoo, witch or something black magic, not ‘neat, the Holy Spirit!’ I think about how many times I’ve needed to literally be two places at one time. I think I’d use this passage as a punch line more than I’m prone to actually attempt to wrap my mind around the circumference, as well as the sincerity and reality of these words. Something like, “Gee, it’d sure be nice to be Philip right now and disappear from one place, landing in the exact spot, the exact time I need to be in the next….” No really, can you imagine it actually happening in our world? Can you imagine an angel speaking directly to someone, telling them to go somewhere particular? Can you picture a man nowadays so powerful and mighty, performing so many signs and wonders that people wanted to touch even his shadow? I think people in 2009 would freak out- and not in a good way. I think most Christians would freak out too.

We say we want a mighty God. We say we want an all powerful deity that reigns supremely. We say we want a God that knows all things, has authority over all things, that makes miracles happen, but do we really? I think one of the saddest things about my generation and the world today is that we don’t spend time sitting in passages like these from acts. We don’t spend time glimpsing what it felt like to be Jesus- to be humiliated for a cause so great. We don’t spend time knowing scripture, figuring it out and unlocking more knowledge and power. We take the cookie cutter Christian life, we take what other people tell us about it, we read the best sellers and we think that’s pretty much all there is to it. We miss out on the authentic Christ, the authentic God, the authentic Spirit and settle for hearsay that truthfully always makes you question whether the bandwagon your on is actually real, is actually going to turn up true. I think it's because sadly a lot of us aren't on the authentic road and therefore that life is coming up short of the awe-inspiring one you thought you might have as a Christian. We've got to read the Bible, we've got to know what's in there so we know what we're getting ourselves into and what God actually exists.

Peter

Peter has always struck me as an interesting character. He's always trying to jump the gun, always so sure in all his actions and speeches. What I like most about Peter is that He wasn't afraid to look stupid in front on Jesus, at least not from my perspective. Take a look-

"Jesus said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, 'It is the Lord!' When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea..for they were not far from land, about a hundred yards off" John 21:6-8.

He threw himself into the sea? Can you picture it? John says, "It's Jesus!" and Peter clumsily puts ON his clothes and jumps overboard. It was a hundred yards, a few minutes delay would have kept him dry, but a few minutes he could not spare.He had to get to Jesus. It meant everything to him. Sure, you can say he's trying to make up for denying Christ, trying to show Jesus he's back being a good guy, but I think by now Peter is well aware that Jesus knows the heart instead of the actions. I think Peter genuinely thinks of nothing else but getting to Jesus as quickly as possible, forsaking being cool, looking good and saving face. Peter knew the importance of being near Jesus.

I also thought about Jesus washing the disciples' feet. Look how Peter acts here:

"Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, 'Lord, do you wash my feet?' Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.' Peter said to Him, 'You shall never wash my feet.' Jesus answered him, 'If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.' Simon Peter said to Him, 'Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!'" 13:6-9.

I love seeing how feisty Peter acts in life. He's a go-getter. He probably needed John and the other disciples to calm him down and make him think realistically about certain situations because he wanted to do something, wanted to take action and make change probably a little faster than was sometimes good. But look here, He comes unashamed to Jesus, asking him questions, wanting to know more. He says, 'are you really going to wash my feet? Shouldn't I be washing yours?' And instead of just following the crowd because everyone else is sitting in awe He says, 'nope, not going to happen. I should be washing yours not you washing mine. You can't do that Jesus, you're no servant, if anything we're your servants.' But Jesus had a lesson or two to teach Peter about true servant hood. When Peter understood that Jesus wanted to serve, wanted to cleanse him of the dirt that so easily clung to him, Peter got over-zealous and said, 'wash all of me!' But yet again, Jesus in all His wisdom says, 'you don't need it, Peter. You are clean everywhere but this one part of you. I'll fix it, I'll make it clean. You just let me, that's your part.' Peter didn't feel dumb because Jesus had to explain it to him. He didn't say, 'oh, well fine,' like our culture of embarrassment when we're wrong. He grasped on tightly to Jesus' words of correction and embraced the new knowledge and wisdom. He embraced Jesus' ability to cleanse and His desire to serve.

When Peter got to the empty tomb He ran directly in. He didn't stop to think if it was safe, if he should be doing that, or if it was best. He was searching for Jesus and logic was out the window. I think I could learn a great deal from the character of Peter. After all, he's the Rock, the great pillar of the church, the guy who died upside down on a cross because he realized just how unworthy he truly was and how fortunate he was to die for such a man that would wash even him of everything he'd ever done.

The Apostle's Creed

In what follows I have written a few thoughts of mine surrounding The Apostle's Creed. I've broken it into two days so stay tuned for part 2!

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe: the deep cry of our souls so desperately wanting this first eternal statement of the Apostles’ Creed to be true. Not only to be true, but to radiate power, authority, dominion- Almighty-ness. Deep breath. The maker of heaven and earth. How far around that statement can we actually wrap our minds? Do we even scratch the surface of realizing the incomprehensible nature of the breadth and depth of the makings of heaven and earth? The making of such a vast expanse from nothing, not even thin air or dirt. To believe in God, the Father who made all of this by speaking it, although not even necessary in itself. Even the act of speaking things into being could be God’s first application of limiting Himself, or better, arranging Himself in such a way that the human mind might more easily comprehend His workings from the beginning. Limiting not in a sense of boundaries to God, but limiting in a sense of deep, perfect, seamless love that realizes so intricately our make-up, since He is the maker, that it limits its incomprehensibility in order that our fleck-of-sand faith might have a possibility of even catching the hem of his tapestry.

And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord. His only son. You and I are not original sons and daughters. We are adopted heirs bought, as in normal adoptive cases, but given the same privileges of the only rightful heir. Privileges to live life the way He lived it. Privileges to put the Father and His creations first before ourselves. Privileges not to try and pay back our adoptive price tag or earn our Father’s favor by deeds of obedience, but privileges that embrace the goodness of God and His abundance because He is our Lord, our Messiah, our Redeemer, our infinite God that made Himself finite that we might be able to inherit Kingdom entry because of our adoption.

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary. A young virgin having a baby, unmarried while pregnant. Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing is conventional about God. Those things which make the least sense often emerge as the most powerful. Those things that require faith often become the most profitable.

suffered under Pontius Pilate. Oh Pilate, didn’t want to go against the grain, didn’t want to disengage the crowd and terrified to be a waves maker. Luke says Pilate was “desiring to release Jesus” (23:20) and he “did not find this man guilty of any of the charges against Him” (v14). Pilate, when will we learn the costliness of your mistake? When will we see that following the crowd’s orders and being more afraid of them than God will never make us succeed or be complete? When will we stop seeking others’ affirmation for voids only God can fulfill? He had a life in His hands that He could have sold everything he had, purchased that life, and lived more abundantly from then on than all His riches held. He could have been a follower of the true leader but instead chose to be a leader of a bunch of false followers. He chose appeasement, he chose fame, he chose prosperity and popularity. . I’m fortunate I wasn’t around in Biblical times. So often in daily practice I stand beside Pilate in the same decisions. My name should be right alongside his in this sacred creed. Suffered under me. Suffered because of my sin, my self-righteous actions, my arrogance, my ideals and my desire to be liked. But he suffered not because of me but for me. He suffered under my sin, under my great desire to deviate from His plan, but not because of my great folly. He chose to suffer and willingly entered into it. He may have prayed in the garden, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42), but He knew when He stood at the beginning with the Father (John 1:1-5), that He would in fact have to prove that life He had in Him was and is the light of men by coming here and suffering for crimes He didn’t commit but willingly took upon Himself. He stood at creation and wholeheartedly agreed in unison that all of creation was very good.

was crucified, dead and buried. Would that be the end, some wondered. Others sat crushed, some feeling duped, some feeling saddened He wasn’t the messiah they were looking for. He wasn’t the king who came to take back what the Jews thought rightfully theirs. He wasn’t boisterous, daring and outspoken. He was a soldier, but a much different one that they imagined or truthfully wanted. And now He was dead so did any of it even matter? They knew the prophesy of the Old Testament, they memorized the scriptures for lack of ability to read. They listened at the synagogue with unparalleled attention to each word coming out of any teacher’s mouth. They had heard Jesus say on multiple occasions that on the third day He would rise. But this crucifixion, this dishonoring and disrespectful way of dying was not according to the human plan. It was not how they saw their King riding into victory. They didn’t understand, but they didn’t ask or stop to think that these three harsh words- crucified, dead and buried could come to hold the most glorious tidings for each of us. He truly did turn that which is most horrid, most terrifying and most ugly to most freeing, beautiful and perfect.