What is the gospel?

Going back to my previous post, I was in southeast Europe for about a month and this is another one of the devotions I did. Again, just challenging myself to think through what it is I believe.

What is the gospel? At is base? At is core? Is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again from the dead?

Mark 1: 14-15 – “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.’”

So if the gospel is Jesus’s death, what then was he preaching three years before He died?

Luke 4:16 – 21 – ‘And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the snyagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of the all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”

Jesus claims to be the Messiah in Luke 4, he proclaims the kingdom of God is at hand in Mark 1 — so it seems to me that the gospel is that the kingdom of God has come. And if you have a kingdom – you need a king. In light of this – the gospel can be summed up in three words, “Jesus is King.”

I am not saying that Jesus’s work on the cross is not part of the gospel, only that his death and reseruction is part of it, albiet a big part.

Luke 24: 44 – 47 – “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everthing written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations…’”

So you can see that His death and resseruction brought him into the fullness of his glory. In Matthew 28, it is also said that he has all authority in heaven and in earth.

In the beginning God created man. That man dwelled in the Garden of Eden, where God walked along with him. And he gave Adam a task:

Genesis 1:28b – “And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful muliply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the birds of the heavens and over living thing that moves on the earth.”

This is the cultural mandate. The task was to take the Garden and expand it. Adam failed, bringing sin and death into the world. Christ is the second Adam.

I Corinthians 15:45b – 49 – “…’The first man Adam became a living being;’ the last Adam became a life giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

He did what Adam failed to do and began to bring things back to the way they should be – basically, a reversal of the effects of sin. Today we have a new task. It is to expand the Kingdom, bringing people under the Lordship of Christ.

Matthew 28:16 – 20 – “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and makde disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I am on a trip that I will not talk about here, but we share devotions every morning and this was mine a while back. I really like to challenge thoughts, ideas, words, phrases that I basically just accepted when I am became a Christian so here ya go, i can’t easily get the bible passage up, so you need to you look it up on you own – gasp.

What is sin at its base? At its core? I have heard it explained as a shortcut to the glory of the Garden of Eden. Maybe that has a ringing of truth to it.

In Numbers 13 and 14 there is a good example of the people of Israel sinning. The Isrealites, coming from slavery and bondage in Eygpt, have now come to enter the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So Moses sends some spies to look at the land and well, spie it out. Ten of twelve come back and speak of how horrible it would be to conquer the inhabitants because of how huge and many the people are, of how massive their fortified walls are around there cities. It is hopeless. Only two of the twelve stand up and say, ‘hey you idiots, look at what God has done already for us!” God had aleady brought them out of slavery with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm – parting the red sea; raining down manna from heaven; leading them with a gigantic pillar of fire and smoke. It is obvious that the Lord is with them. So the people listened to the ten rather then the twelve. They all grumbled and complained actually thinking that they would have been better off to be back in slavery and bondage in Egypt and were about to take a vote to elect a leader to take them back there! Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb tried to appeal to the people and they took stones to kill them! It was only the glory of the Lord appearing around them that saved them!

Read Numbers 14: 1 – 38

Harsh things happen when you reject the Lord. The people then, maybe thinking of how bad it would it be to go through the wilderness for forty years decided to go to battle. So they go out with out Moses, Aaron or the Ark of the Covenant. They go out in their own strength. They were in turn slaughtered just as they feared they would be when God was on their side.

Read Numbers 14: 39 – 45.

I think that that is a pretty good example of sin. But we can sit here and say, how stupid where those guys?

Just before I left read a blog plost that mentioned this passage.

Luke 8:26 – 39

Perharps ths is the best definition of sin there is: verse 37. Rejecting Jesus as King and making ourselves the center of our attention and striving to work and accomplish things in our own strength making a name for ourselves or working for own self-satisfaction. Rejection of the King. Re-read verse 37.

A Tumultuos Two Months

These past few weeks (coupled together — the past month or so) have been rather rocky.  But the reason I finally got around to posting today was not to talk about that, rather this is the anniversary of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming and Roger Youderian.  Here is an excellent post on that: { http://www.scriptoriumdaily.com/2009/01/08/today-jim-elliot-was-killed-1956/ }  Some of those quotes from Jim Elliot’s journal were very impactful, both today as I read them and when I first heard some of  them six years ago .

And then there is the rocky part.  The company I worked for went out of business the fourth week of November, thus I lost my job a few days before Thanksgiving.  But that was not the start of the rockiness.  The last week of October through the first week of November I was in Oaxaca, Mexico with WA.   Any mission trip for me is a very spiritual time and most of that is intentional, the rest is just the circumstances (i.e., what God is doing in that place and through the people there, you cannot but be moved).  Oaxaca was no exception.  One day there though, I very intentionally sinned.  I threw it all out the window (figuratively).  That was the start of the current rockiness.  Afterward, I just felt so foolish and like I took so many steps backward after going forward so much.

Then I come back to work and there are just some bad politics in the company.  Both my coworkers and I were just miserable.   So we confronted our boss after a week or so and things immediately changed.  The next week, we finished up the project that we were being crunched for time on.  That day, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we went to the shop to get our paychecks.  The lead carpenter and the boss had a rather long conversation in the office before coming down and we found out the check we just got handed was the last one.  Big surprise to me.  It turns out that our boss was under heavy stress because of several different factors.  We had to confront him because of the effects this stress was having on the job and with his interactions with us.  After figuring out most of what was going on, I feel horrible for him.  My boss treated all of us very well.  He paid us good wages, always let me off to go around the world and was all in all just a wonderful person to work for.  But some people tried to take advantage that, and were subsquently let go.  When I first started with the company I was the third guy.  When I was in Thailand November 2007, the company blossomed to twelve or fifteen guys and by November 2008 there was four, including our boss.

One guy left the company when he hurt his back and filled a workman’s comp suit against us.  Everyone who was at that jobsite gave testimony as to what we saw happen that alledged day.  Of course my boss was on a ski trip in Colorado with his wife at the time, so he had to depend on what the lead carpenter had to say.  What we all said was not too pretty.  Turns out that guy won his case.  I found that out the day before my birthday when I ran into him at Wal-Mart.  I think that it is absolute and total bullshit and that he is in the wrong and coning everybody and getting rewarded for it with a lot of  money — at the cost of my job.  That is just one factor that closed the company.

Tumultuous is a good word.  I have not been able to find another job.  My parents, ugh, have paid my student loans and truck note and a few people in my church have let me do some work for them so I have been able to stay afloat.  But this time off has given me a lot of time to think and reflect.  Last night I was looking at my hands, weird, I know.  My rheaumatoid arthritis has began to deform my fingers and my toes.  Yikes.  That is scary as hell to me.  It is really subtle, I can tell, but you probably could not at first glance.  So that means to me, how long can I be a carpenter?

I also have just been pouring over my life.  My roomates wonderful girlfriend talked to me about the five love languages and helped me discover mine.  I am a huge quality time person.  For those of you who actually read this blog and even the fewer who actually know me, the real me, can understand that and understand that giving/serving was second. That realization was incredibly profound for me and made me think about my parents and how they actually expressed their love to me when I was growing up. Then my vocation.  Where will carpentry get me?  Why carpentry?  Why missions?  Why? Why? Why?  I started studying Farsi.  I decided that I want a higher degree and that I desire to go to seminary.  I am reminded of the parable of talents, have I been letting mine waste away burried in a whole? I began to follow a shcedule that will let me read through the bible in a year.  I found this nugget in Genesis 4:6-7. “…but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.  So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.  The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.””

Yeah, that was rather profound to me.   So in the end what is next?  Onward Christian soldier.

Famous Grouse and Poetry…?

I sat in darkness all alone.
Light was all around, yet darkness in there.
Cold, so I wrapped myself in warmth.
Little did I know the cocoon that I was in.
Was light at the end of the tunnel, so I emerged.
Hopeful of who I was.

Who knew? Surely not I,
‘Cause, nothing beautiful emerged
Rather a bright shining lie.

I sit in darkness all alone.
Light all around, yet darkness in here.
Cold, so I wrap myself in warmth.
Too well I know this cocoon that I am in.
Light at the end of the tunnel, so I remain
Fearful of what I will be.

I was reading in Numbers.  Of course, I found something quite fascinating.  After the tenth time the people of Israel complained and grumbled against the Lord, He pronounced His judgement on the people.  The subject headings are “the people rebel”, “Moses intercedes for the people”, “God promisises judgement” and “Israel defeated in battle”  Oh, yeah, this is Numbers 14.  In Numbers 13, twelve men are sent to spy out the promised land.  They come back and only two of them, Joshua and Caleb, keep their faith in God.  The other ten got scared shitless, and spread that fear to all the people.   Then we get to chapter fourteen.   The cries of, ‘i wish i were still in Egypt…now we have to die by the sword of these people…” So, naturally God gets pissed because the people despised Him, and did not believe Him in spite of all the miraclous things going around them.  I mean, besides the red sea parting, besides the pillar of smoke and fire, besides everybody seeing the glory of the Lord, and please do forget the manna and then quail.

So Moses intercedes, and God basically said that no one of the current generation will step foot in the promised land, except Joshua and Caleb, the rest (those over 20?) will die out in the wilderness.  And then he tells them to turn around, and spend one year in the wilderness for each day the spies were in the land — forty days and forty years.

So here comes the part that i found fascinating.  Verses 39 – 45.  The people mourn, and then say, here we are — might as well go into the promised land anyway, we already sinned, so might as well do this – afterall, it is the land that was promised to us.  And moses says, you idiots God is not with you – you feared these guys when you expected God to be with you, and now you go out anyway without God?  And the end result was those who went down, were slaughtered.
But how often do I, in my own personal little life, here what God has to say.  I respond.  I see the open door.  And then I sin.  I do something.  Then I go back to that door, and think, oh yeah, I can go through this.  But that door is closed, or it something that I cannot and should not do because God is no longer with it.  Even though he was with it and in it in the past, he may not be now, but I go anyway, knowing it.

I am really not sure that makes any sense what so ever.  My stomache is growling and I have to mail a bat some where.

Storm

So, we are in the middle of a sever thunderstorm.  A gigantic tree limb fell off of a tree, and landed about two feet away from the back corner of the house.  I happened to be in the other back corner of the house.  Scared me.  And I think Seth nearly pissed himself.  My second thought after the loud crashing noise was, great excuse to buy a chainsaw.  Third thought was, I am broke, so I will just borrow my boss’s chainsaw tomorrow.  Either way — fun times a coming.  I am weird.  There is a tree down.  I will be happy when the storm is over.

Not sure if there is a point to this title, or this post, part 2

Mount Sinai was the mountain where Moses found the burning bush and the same mountain he went up to meet with God after the Exodus. While Moses was on the mount, the people saw, heard and felt the earth quaking, fire coming down from heaven and other mighty things. Then, look at Elijah. After killing the 450 prophets of baal, he fled for his life. To where did he flee? After being encouraged and strengthened by angels, he took forty days to get to the Mountain of God, Mount Horeb, Mount Sinai. This was not were God wanted him to go. Elijah went here to see God face to face. Remember, this is where Moses saw the burning bush and was told to, ‘Take your sandals off for you are standing on holy ground.’ It is also where Moses went for forty days and received the covenant. When Moses came down, his face shown bright because he had seen the glory of the Lord. Back to Elijah – God asks him, ‘what are you doing here (fool)?’ Then there was an earthquake, fire, and rushing wind. God was in none of them. This reminded me of the transfiguration. Where Jesus took the three disciples, he was transfigured before them, and Moses plus Elijah appeared. Was it Peter that spoke up and asked to build three tents there. He was missing the point, just as Elijah was. Instead of looking forward, he was looking backward. He was missing the point.

I often find myself doing something similar. Usually, I think, if I only I could go back to the way it was …. Whether that was when I first followed Christ in eleventh grade, going to Belhaven College, or any of the various short-term mission trips, the conferences I have attended – those were good for what they were, but they are not what I should focus on. Does that make sense? For instance, I say to myself that if I was only on fire for Christ as I was when I started the mission conference at Belhaven – then I would be okay. For Elijah maybe going back to where the covenant with Moses was it for him. Also, just imagine what Elijah must have been expecting. He recently came from Mount Caramel where God consumed a water soaked sacrifice with fire from heaven. He was expecting something spectacular. Instead, God was in the gentle breeze. How often do I wish God would speak to me with a loud and booming voice that shakes the earth and rattles my bones? Yet, God was in the gentle wind. This gentleness is often what stirs our heart, just as the hearts were stirred in Exodus 35.

What then is the desire of you heart? I wrote a paper once about Sodom and Gomorrah going on the idea that homosexuality in itself was a punishment inflicted upon these people. Then what was the sin that caused the punishment – Ezekiel 16:49, it is written that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had plenty of food and were arrogant, and they did not help the poor and needy. This was their sin, rather, one of their many sins. Romans 1:18-32. God has given people over into the desires of their own heart as their punishment. Have I been given over into the sinful desire of my heart in an attempt to show me how far I have fallen, to reaffirm that I cannot do this on my own? If so, my heart is most vile and disgusting. Jacob was stubborn, wrestled God and still would not give up, not until he got his hip dislocated. Am I hindered in such a way?

Here is a snippet from Psalm 37 – “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of you heart.” My thought is if I delight myself in the Lord, than He is mostly likely going to be the desire of my heart. Just as intimacy in marriage bears fruit in that of a child, even though the goal is not that fruit, it is just a byproduct of the relationship – so to with God. Intimacy with the trinity bears fruit, but the goal is not the fruit – it is the intimacy. Somehow, this all ties in together. When your heart is stirred, when you are willing, and when the desire of you heart is the Lord – there you will find Him.

What is the desire of your heart? I have asked myself that question many times. Here is a paraphrase of something I heard a pastor say once, “What the ‘heart’ wants, the ‘will’ desires and the ‘mind’ rationalizes and justifies.”

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of you heart.

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.

– Psalm 37:4; 23, 24.

Not sure if there is a point to this title, much less this post.

I was reading Exodus on a recent trip to Eurasia. Not too sure why, but two or three things really stood out to me. The first thing was that God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to ask the Egyptians for silver and gold. God granted favor to the Israelites in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave them gold and silver – so much, that the Israelites plundered Egypt. Hmm…Why did God want the Israelis to plunder Egypt, surely not to reward Israel and punish Egypt? Hold that thought.

The second thing was pointed out to me by Frank, an Irish missionary. It is found in Exodus 31:1-5. God called Bezalel by name and “filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.” This was said to Moses concerning the tabernacle. Just after this passage, Moses goes down from Mount Sinai to confront the people of Israel with the whole golden calf thing.

Skip a few chapters over to Exodus 35. Moses tells the Israelites, “Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, bronze…” Then we find over in chapter 36: “And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work.” It just never occurred to me how the tabernacle and contents were built and from what – Israel was wondering in the desert, just brought out of slavery from Egypt. That is how they got the stuff, and that is how they built it.

What really stuck me was the willingness. Those who were of a willing heart and whose heart was stirred – they are the ones who responded. How often does my heart stir and I am not willing to respond?

Honestly, I believe that God has given me skill and knowledge, kind of like Bezalel. My heart is stirred to work for the Kingdom. Nevertheless, I love using the skills and gifts that God has given me to make money. To earn my income, pay my debts, keep a roof over my head and to do short term mission trips. I spend a week to three weeks here and there using my skills as a carpenter. I do not go to plant churches, evangelize, or to teach. I go to enable the church planters, evangelizers and teachers through carpentry. It is only after my heart is stirred that I can go. For Armenia, I got the email for an urgent request to carpenters for a sensitive trip. I said no, at first – way too short of notice, cannot take that much time off work, and do not have the money. After a week, my heart stirred so that I had to go. In three days, I got the time off work and secured funding.

I am really big on this theme – seek, hear and obey. I am sure you probably have heard or read something I spoke or wrote about it. While at OneDay ’03, either Heather Mercer or Dayna Curry got up on stage and gave a brief talk. Her message was simple – she was not called to missions, was not called to Afghanistan. She was simply just willing to go. I had a hard time swallowing that at the time, but it stuck with me. Now, after five years, I understand what she meant. I think. It is not so much about your calling, but your willingness to go once you are called. Seek God, hear his voice, and then obey.

Here is what I want to convey – Deuteronomy 4:29. Preceding this, Moses tells Israel not create any idols nor bow down to any idols. But at some point, he tells them that their descendents will do just that. When they do bow down to these gods of wood and stone, then God will punish them by exile, etc. In verse 28, Moses tells them that even then, in these foreign lands they will still worship idols: “And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” Now that there is a little bit of context, here is Deuteronomy 4:29 – “But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search for Him with all of heart and all of your soul.”

Again, while in Armenia I began to read a book called Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. There is a part where the main character, Christian, who at this particular point in the book is clothed with the full armour of God, fights the devil in form of dragon. Ultimately, his armour held out and when despair was most apparent he stabbed the dragon with his sword. Shortly after, Christian journeys through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Well into this valley, a daemon sneaks up behind him and whispers into his ear. Christian has become so weak and fatigued from traveling through the arduous valley; he can no longer make distinction between his voice and another. So he believes what he hears is his very own voice. This was very profound to me because it made me realize that we must take captive our thoughts and when that voice inside my head becomes sinful, it is time to rebuke it. The apostle Peter tells us that if we resist the devil, then he will flee from us. (Obviously, this does not deal with demonic possession and such). In II Corinthians 10:5, Paul tells us to ‘take captive every thought to obey Christ…’

Here it all goes back to the willingness. After I realized I could rebuke my thoughts, I did not always want to. My heart was not always willing. When Christ was in the Garden praying before the crucifixion, he said to Peter, “The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak.” Oh how true! And it is not just my thoughts. What has God gifted me with – silver, gold, bronze, or some other material possessions? What about my ‘spiritual gifts?’ Am I one of the people who will be selfish and greedy? Even though what I have been given, I do not deserve. Even though what is given me was meant to be given back?

My dog was put down Monday morning. His name was K.O. It stood for Knock Out. He was a stud muffin of a boxer. Lived nearly fourteen years. I will never have another dog put down. One of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life was carry his body, limp and lifeless out of the vets office. It sucks. You know, he has been beaten once or twice by some bad people when I was a child, too young to do anything about it. He has heat stroked once. He was run over by a pick up truck. He attacked a grader (big huge bulldozer, sort of) he survived testicular cancer. He was shot not once, but three times by the police. Last Tuesday my dad called me. He had collapsed. He went to the vet, they took and x-ray. There was a tumor pushing on his heart, lungs, spine. He went into heart failure. My mom, a nurse, nursed him. He pulled through. I went up to Memphis on Saturday afternoon. I had to carry him around sometimes, but for the most part, he would need help to get up, but once up – he would walk a good bit. I couldn’t stand to see him laying in a puddle of his own urine because he could not get up. His hind legs and feet were bloody in places from where he would drag them, or fall down. He would cross his back legs and weave around. I swear he knew what has going to happen at the vet Monday. He was so intelligent. Even in that state he was full of life. He was a fighter. He was a boxer. He was K.O.

My eleventh birthday present from my mother, he was born on October 29^th 1994. I picked him out on December 3^rd; three days before my birthday. He was the last male of litter. He grew up into a gorgeous boxer. And lived four or five years longer than a normal boxer. When I went to college, I left him behind. Whenever I visited or otherwise stayed with my parents, I loved hanging out with him. We had been through a lot, me and him. I was there right after he got shot, and held him, as he lay dying in my arms in the back of squad car as we sped to our vet. My heart sank so much when they were closed on that Saturday. But the vet was there checking on the dogs in the kennels, and seeing a cop banging on the door – I carried him and three days later, he was walking around like nothing happened. There were so many times when he would lick my tears away when no one knew I was crying. He was always there for me. I feel like we let him down on Monday. I wish he had died naturally. I can never forget the vet saying his heart stopped. I can never forget his gasp of air when she injected him. He was such a fighter all of his life. Even in death, I was expecting him, really expecting him to fight it and live.

Me and my brother buried him alongside my brother’s dog, Woof Woof. It was nice. His death brought me and brother together, we talked a little bit while digging. I never want to dig another grave. He was such an incredible dog, my K.O., my Knock Out. His memory will be with me and his spirit will never fade.

Well. I am going to go on another trip with WA. This time I am going to spend two weeks in Eurasia. I am reminded of people saying if you want to see the world join the navy/Marines/army/usaf. I say, if you want to see the world, just be a carpenter who is passionate about missions.

My church is paying my airfare, which is incredible. WA got wind of the trip a few days before contacting me in a personal email. I sat on the email for about a week. Honestly, as soon as I read it I started making excuses on why I couldn’t go — very short notice, too much money, don’t want to/can’t take that much time off of work, would I be burdening my co-workers with more work, so forth and so on. Then, last Friday, I took another look at the email and replied that friday evening. Saturday morning got a phone call and the details of the trip were laid out — wowsers is what i thought after that. I went to my church on Sunday and talked to the co-chairs of the outreach committee, explained the short notice of the trip, the money, what I would be doing — they were very supportive, just needed to get final approval. Monday morning, talked to my boss — got the time off of work. Monday evening, got the news the church is fronting the money. Wham. Bam. Thank you. Ma’am. I am going.

I am pretty darn stoked.

Something I read in the African Bible Commentary — there is a correlation between Daniel 7: 10 -15, or so and Matthew 28:16-20.