CONSIDER IT PURE CRAZY part 1

Joy is supposed to be a defining characteristic of the Christian life. More specifically, and frankly a bit more ridiculously, joy amidst suffering is supposed to mark the life of a Christian. You have probably read or heard that somewhere already so you may be casually nodding in agreement right now like all good Christians do when they fail to think deeply about or take seriously what they have signed on for as disciples.

Jesus wasn’t in a campaign spin room trying to garner votes from a gullible, unsuspecting constituency when he said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me... For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.” There are not a lot of democrats or republicans running for congress on the promise that a vote for them seals your own death. But Jesus has real guts.

The New Testament writers, who were the first to throw their lot in with him, and while still enduring the difficulty of their devotion, guaranteed that a life following Christ would be a life of suffering and not a life of ease. They even go a step further, as mentioned above, and essentially communicate that, “not only are you going to suffer, but you are going to like it.” Fewer people are nodding their approval at this point.

The Practical Implications of Rejoicing in Pain

Understand that functionally, James 1 admonishes the cancer patient to consider their condition and chemotherapy treatment “pure joy”. In Romans 5, Paul tells the mom who just miscarried to celebrate the loss of her baby. In Philippians 4, Paul also tells the recently fired husband and father who is facing foreclosure to rejoice in his unemployment and displacement. Anybody putting their name on the sign up sheet?

If you are like me, joy is hard enough to come by when things are going swimmingly, so the admonition to rejoice in the face of suffering should book a room in the asylum for the apostles. The most natural response is to consider them pure crazy for suggesting we should consider trials "pure joy." Yet, it's in God's word so there must be something to it.

A Biblical Classification for Pain

The Bible has a catch-all word for external circumstances that are beyond our control and cause us pain of various degrees and kinds. They are called “afflictions.” Your affliction may be physical, such as sickness, disease, injury or weariness. Your affliction may be emotional, caused by betrayal, abuse, isolation, loss, failure, or unfulfilled dreams. Your afflictions may be the result of circumstances such as natural disaster or a depressed economy, or they may be the result of sinful choices of others, such as persecution for being a Christian or someone deliberately deceiving you. Afflictions may come in the form of spiritual oppression that causes chaos, confusion and discouragement for no observable or definitive reason.

The Reality of Afflictions Throughout Scripture 

Abraham and Sarah were afflicted when they used Hagar to try to force God’s hand, unable to wait for Him to fulfill His promise to give them a son (Gen. 16). Joseph was so afflicted when he faced his brothers who had sold him into slavery that he sent them away so he could weep in private (Gen. 45:1). Hannah was afflicted over her barrenness, which caused her deep distress and to weep bitterly (1 Sam. 1). David was afflicted when he wrote “Why are you downcast, oh my soul? Why are you in turmoil within me?” (Psalm 42:6). Jeremiah was afflicted when he cried out to God “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jer. 12:1). Job was afflicted when he asked, “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?” (Job 3:11). Habakkuk was afflicted when he wrote, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?” (Hab. 1:2). John the Baptist was afflicted when he sat in a prison cell wondering if Jesus really was the Messiah. Jesus himself was afflicted to the point of sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he asked the Father, “if you are willing, remove this cup from me” (Luke 22:42). Jesus was further afflicted as he hung on the cross, crying out, “Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?”

One of the priceless treasures in Scripture is the testimony of faithful men and women throughout human history which give authentic and often raw expression to their grappling with sorrow, confusion, pain, loss and suffering. While the biblical narrative engages these realities, overly sanitized religion leaves little room for such wrestling. Many of us were sold a simpleton’s gospel that promised happiness, comfort and ease of life in exchange for outward compliance with a particular standard of morality, sometimes cloaked in spiritual language and sometimes not.

Some church sub-cultures respond to suffering and pain with “let go and let God”, which sounds spiritual on the surface, but is more likely to incite a brawl then offer genuine comfort. Heaviness of heart, sorrow and grief are too often seen as signs of immaturity. These tendencies ignore legitimate questions and insult those who pose them, exchanging transformational truth for trite platitudes that are unhelpful at best. Employing cheap religious cliches as a fix for afflicted souls also squanders an opportunity to offer real wisdom from God and real hope from the gospel to those whose hearts are cracked open to Him through the suffering and sorrow that inevitably confront all men.

Some Good for What Ails You 

Peter warns us against such wasteful stewardship of the gospel when he instructs believers to be ready “in season and out of season” to offer an explanation for the hope that we have. If we are to offer such an explanation we must first possess such a hope and then we must be able to articulate the reasons for that hope. So, whether you are enduring affliction or positioned to encourage someone who is, over the next 2 posts, I will offer 10 truths, well supported in Scripture, that should help orient our perspective of pain and offer hope amidst affliction.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FULL-TIME MINISTRY

I talk about us being a missional church, a people who would live all of life with intentionality, building bridges that take us outside the comfortable, safe walls of the church to display and declare the truth of the Gospel. I say we want to see people meet Jesus. We want to see individuals, marriages, families and our community transformed by the power of the gospel. We want to be a church that brings hope and reconciliation to the people in our community. I preach these things from the pulpit, I talk about them in personal conversations, I promote this way of life in our small group. And yet, I talked to someone in our church last week who is trying to live that way, but he feels like his work is outside the church and it disqualifies him from leadership inside the church. I would love to dismiss the conversation and chalk it up to a guy who just isn’t listening and who doesn’t get it. But what if I’m the guy who doesn’t get it? And if I’m the guy who doesn’t get it, then it means that our church is probably filled with others like this friend, who feel, at worst, that their vocation and ministry “outside the church” doesn’t count in God’s eyes, or at best, their vocation and ministry “outside the church” doesn’t count in their pastor’s eyes.

I felt compelled to clarify for myself, and for our church, how God sees our vocation and relationships “outside” the church, not as separate from Christian ministry but rather as essential to Christian ministry.

In Genesis we find that God created man in his very own image. This is exceedingly important because God establishes, from the beginning, that man’s activity doesn’t establish his identity but rather emanates from his identity. Work is not a consequence of sin but an essential component to our lives as image-bearers of God.

In Genesis 2:15, in a still pre-fall creation, we are told that the “The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and to keep it.” Adam did not pursue a career, he received a calling from God. He didn’t select a vocation, God sent him. Adam’s calling and placement by God was not as a pastor or ministry leader in a church. God called Adam to bear His image to all of creation by diligently working a blue collar job, cultivating God’s creation and making a valuable contribution to the ongoing work of creation. This calling is a high calling even if it seems a common calling. Performing common tasks with an uncommon perspective is one way that God’s people are to be distinct from all other people on the earth. But like everything, our understanding of work has been corrupted through sin.

In His infinite wisdom, God designed our work to be fruitful and fulfilling but sin introduced frustration and futility to our labors. As a result, rather than reflecting the image of God in our work, by cultivating and creating as an act of worship for God’s glory, our understanding of work is distorted. In his book, Work Matters, Tom Nelson  considers 3 specific distortions of work.

Workaholism

Workaholism distorts the design of work by elevating work to the place of ascendency. Work becomes an idol when we seek to derive our identity from the accumulation of wealth, the ambition of status, the achievement of success or the more palatable pursuit of the assurance of significance. Workaholism further justifies itself as loyalty to the organization or supervisor, a deep sense of duty and responsibility, or as the necessary sacrifices on the path to promotion and security. A workaholic grounds his identity solely in his productivity and places his ultimate hope in his own performance. For a workaholic, work isn’t a way to worship God. Instead, work is the object of worship and the office is the place of worship.

Slothfulness

Slothfulness distorts work as unimportant and yields the throne of one’s life to the idol of leisure. A sloth only does as much work as is necessary to survive at their job or as much as is required to fund their next fun activity. They are likely to hide behind a facade of rightly prioritizing relationships and rest in relation to work. The reality is that they are experts at finding any reason not to work. A sloth may also resist responsibility and foster low expectations so that he never has to break a sweat. Slothfulness is what drives the work-for-the-weekend mentality of so many and the modern day retirement mentality that amounts to culturally sanctioned version of slothfulness - it’s just a much longer week followed by a much longer weekend. A sloth distorts the image of God by completely divorcing work from his identity. Instead of approaching work as a gift from God and worship to God, a sloth views work as an enemy of the one true god, their idol of a Good Time.

Dualism

Dualism distorts work by drawing an unbiblical distinction between full-time work in the secular sphere and full-time Christian work. This distortion is every bit as common as workaholism and slothfulness, but sadly, it is much more broadly acceptable among Christians. Dualism considers vocational ministry, either in a church, religious or ministry organization, as a higher calling than work in the business world. Dualism distinguishes between the sacred nature being a pastor and the secular nature of being a plumber. In the American church culture, it is common language to speak of a pastor or missionary being “called” into ministry, to proclaim Christ to others and to love and serve people for the glory of God. We elevate the importance of such roles. But to our peril, we neglect the importance of this common call of all Christians to full-time ministry.

"All vocations are intended by God to manifest his love in the world.” - Thomas Merton

As a pastor, it is my privilege to have God demonstrate His love by showing care, concern, patience, devotion and compassion for others, by teaching biblical truth and proclaiming the gospel, by giving leadership and vision to our church, by opening our home and lives to others and by countless other means entrusted to me by God. In the very same way, before I was called to be a pastor, I was called to be a pool service technician, a job through which God also demonstrated his love for people. Swimming pools certainly don’t seem sacred at first glance, but if you have ever seen families, and children in particular, enjoy a swimming pool, then you know God is loving those people through providing such an avenue for fun, fellowship and enjoyment.

When pools are dirty, pumps are broken or pipes are leaking it is a reminder that nothing has escaped the effects of sin, that everything is subject to decay. Both my parents, and my wife’s parents have swimming pools and I can tell you that the futility and frustration that stems from the fall in Genesis 3, extends deep into maintenance of swimming pool. The calls around summer celebrations such as Memorial Day, Graduations, Brithdays, Independence Day and more, would flood in because the pool is essential to pool parties. People would call, stressed and worried that their pool wasn't going to be ready or working for that party a day or two away and I was often God's way of showing them that He was in control and He would take care of it. 

With responsive and patient customer service, product knowledge, quality workmanship, diligence and integrity, God used me often to show his love for people. I certainly didn't have a perfect track record in that vocation, neither in practice or in perspective, but as I grew to see a job I once resented through a biblical grid I came to understand, and even delight in God's calling on my life to be an expression of his love and care for the people he positioned me to serve. People of course don't always recognize God's love expressed through the work of one of God's children. However, we aren't called to govern the responses of men to God's love, only to be a channel of His love. 

Clarifying Your Calling

Despite what you may have thought, or what messages have been sent by pastors, church leaders and even well-meaning Christian business people, if you belong to Christ, you are called into full-time ministry. Like Adam, our activity is supposed to flow from our identity. You are called and placed by God in your particular vocation to worship Him and to manifest His love in the world. You are in full-time ministry. You are a missionary. Your job is sacred. 

Dorothy Sayers writes that "The Church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usally confined to moral instruction and church attendance. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables.... Let the church remember this: that every maker and worker is called to serve God in his profession or trade - not outside of it... The only Christian work is good work well done." The role of pastors is not more sacred than the role of engineer, accountant, physician, educator, contractor or software developer. Neither is the role of pastors to recruit men and women out of their ministry context of the workplace in favor of ministry in the church. The role of pastors is to equip God's people for the work of ministry in order that the body of Christ might be built up, not used up (Eph. 4:12). Too often the message we send is that people must do more for the church and in the church rather than giving great vision for and recognition of that which they are doing as an extension of the church. 

Monday through Saturday are sacred days, involving sacred activities like work and recreation. It's time that church leaders and lay people alike started to see all of life as such. If you you have a job, then you have a calling. Your calling is to see approach your vocation as an opportunity to image God the way He intended, through working with excellence, as an expression of God's love to others, for His glory and for your own joy. And as you do, know that you are not working apart from or outside the church, but you are working from the church as an extension of the church into our culture that desperately needs their own distortion of work reshaped and restored by the hope of the gospel. So go... do good work and do it well.

Thanksgiving

I got up early this morning with Daniel, our 7-month old son. At 5 am when a little baby is communicating his displeasure and you have three other sleeping children in close proximity the natural response is to rush to the bedside of the infant and restore quiet to the house. In my hurried effort to hush Daniel I threw off the covers, through on some sweatpants and scurried to his crib... shirtless, which seemed innocuous enough at the time.

Daniel calmed down and I walked around with him for 20 minutes or so before settling in the recliner in the living room. He eventually dozed off into a light sleep as I held him against my chest. I may have failed to recognize it before, but the biting chill in our living room this morning told me that fall is officially upon us and I was ill-prepared for that reality this morning. The thing is, once you get the baby asleep too much moving around disturbs his slumber and you don’t want to tempt him. At that point, getting a shirt on or digging up a blanket somewhere has inherent risks that I was unwilling to take and the lack of foresight when I initially woke up became evident. For 2 hours I was refrigerating myself. The other kids woke up around 7 and Betsy too. She came and got Daniel and fed him and put him back in his crib. I returned to my bed, just vacated by Betsy who serves has a natural space heater, and Thanksgiving morning really began...

I am thankful for warm blankets, especially the heated blanket that makes it’s way onto our bed every Fall. I am thankful for coffee in general, but the first cup of the day in particular... it warms the body and the soul. I am thankful for slippers. I am thankful for the light humming of the dehumidifier that drowns out some of the noise in a noisy home. I am thankful for early morning hours when everyone is quiet and sleeping, the calm before the storm. I am thankful for the way the light breaks through gradually beautifully announcing the gift of another day. I am thankful for the sweet and especially pleasant demeanor for the first 30 minutes after the boys wake up when they are most rested, and I thankful for the next 13-14 hours each day of goofiness, laughter, conflict and chaos... every “awww” moment and every “oh no you didn’t moment” is a gift. I am thankful for extra sauce on pizza at a time when the food service industry is being stingy with the ingredients. I am thankful for paper plates and plastic cups... I know they aren’t helping the environment much but they cut dish washing time significantly. I am thankful of Ibuprofun. I am thankful for chocolate chip cookies... which reminds me, I am thankful for milk. I am thankful that I am a daddy... nothing else brings so much joy or frustration, nor does anything else demand so much work and yield such profound reward, nor does anything else expose my sinful heart so plainly or reveal God’s grace to me so abundantly. I am thankful for Nintendo DS, even when an 8-year-old takes me to school in Mariokart... of course he cheated. I am thankful for football, both real and fantasy... how else would I ever realize my dream of being a General Manager for a pro football team? I am thankful that TV hasn’t always existed because I am thankful for books by dead guys and I assume the absence of the one led to the beauty of the other... people just don’t write the way they used to. I am thankful for Facebook... how else would I have 500-plus friends all of who know I am doing on at a given moment. I am thankful for terrible cartoons and kid’s shows... they buy us a few minutes of peace here and there. I am thankful for nephews and a beautiful little niece... our boys have the most fun when they are together with their cousins. I am thankful for $1 menu infiltrating the fast food market... I mean, it’s all just $1. I am thankful for the gas leaf blower, what I call “the breath of God”... it’s just slightly more efficient then the push broom. I am thankful light sabers... both real and plastic... Jedi’s make the world a safer, better place. I am thankful for being called by God. I am thankful that he has chosen to love me in Christ, and that he has seen fit to invite me into partnering with him in reconciling all things to himself. I am thankful for Jesus’ bride, the church... in all her weaknesses, flaws and shortcomings she still somehow advances the Kingdom of God and reflects the beauty of her husband even if only dimly... the fact that He gave his life for her leads me to believe she is worth giving my life to as well. Speaking of which, I am thankful for my bride. I am thankful that I wake up every morning to the most beautiful woman in the world... and the best looking too. I am thankful for her partnership in everything, especially in raising four men of God... I am truly a much better man, husband, father and Christian because of her. I am thankful for anything that makes her smile... even if it’s at my expense. I am thankful for her patience and tolerance of me and all the ridiculousness that sharing life with me entails. I am thankful for her love for Jesus that fuels her love for me and her children... only because her heart is His is she able to love me so well. I am thankful the scriptures, that through them God chose to reveal himself to us. I am thankful that his Word truly is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. I am thankful for the cross of Christ that saves me from my sin and the resurrection of Jesus that saves me to a new life. I am thankful that his grace to me is not without effect... it’s like a warm blanket.