The Phil Files

Been reading a fascinating book by Euguene Peterson: The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways That Jesus Is the Way. In one chapter, he talks about two powerful metaphors for the failed ways religion has tried to change people: professor and policeman. The first tries to educate people out of our sinful ways and the other tries to enforce the rules or punish people out of our sinful ways.

It occurred to me — just further proof of my warped perspective, maybe — that there is another metaphor that might be helpful here: plumber. A plumber is someone who sees our worst messes and works on the things that are absolutely necessary, but which are usually unseen systems. A plumber works to set those internal systems right so life can function properly. In many ways, that is a more fitting metaphor of what God did for us in Jesus than professor or policeman, but clearly it is not as glamorous. Plus, plumber is a metaphor that reminds us that God was willing to get his hands dirty in the mess of our world.

I know this isn’t earthshakingly theological or significant, but I wonder if it might give us a point of reference to think through Jesus in terms that are not neat and tidy, and put a little more of a “manly” face on Him than the movies and artist renditions do. And before you get all bent out of shape about me comparing Jesus to a plumber, let me just remind you of some of the Lord’s own words:

Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,  “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”

Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” …

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into your mouth does not defile you, but what comes out of your mouth, that is what defiles you.”

Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”

He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides.d If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”

“Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these defile you. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile you; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile you.” (Matthew 15:1-2, 10-20 tniv emphasis mine)

NUTS! Yes, the weather is officially off it’s rocker here in Abilene. Of course we can have weird weather in the spring. Yes, we can have a cold spell. But come on … 90’s yesterday, blizzard warnings today … now it’s sunshine but windy enough to blow the paint off our cars. I just saw a weather warning: “The National Weather Service has issued a severe winter storm warning to all pet owners: keep cats and small dogs inside today or else they will blow to Brownsville.”

Weather has always been hard to figure out for us mere mortals. I guess that is why I love Nahum 1:3 and the images it evokes. I felt like it was an idea to pursue with a Scripture graphic. The image and message seemed to go with where a whole lot of us are, caught up the whirlwind of uncertainty about the road ahead. So, hope you are blessed by the image and the thought. Oh, and don’t go outside with your cat today!

You can get free 1024 X 768 versions of this image and two related ones for free download from Heartlight.org:

Full Version (as above)

Title Only

Text Only

You can find thousands of other free Scripture graphic backgrounds and a search tool to find color, theme, or Scripture reference at Heartlight Backgrounds.

I love the following Scripture graphic for Perseverance. The Scripture is from Romans 5:3-4 and the image is right out of a rock climber’s dream. You can download larger versions of this image free:

Keep Reaching Higher

Free download of 1024 x 768 versions of this image from Heartlight.org

Full |  Title

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4 tniv)

Sometimes images say it better for me than trying to explain things. The biblical truth is powerful and with the image, I hope it is inspirational for you.

I have always been moved by 2 Corinthians 3:1-18, as the apostle of grace is emphatic: a written code cannot save us, redeem us, change us, or make us like God. Clearly, Paul believes that the Law is good in that it shows us the holiness God expects of us, but he is emphatic (Galatians brings it home powerfully) that the Law — or any law for that matter — can only convict us of our failures.

Jesus is clearly the answer for our shortfall and sinfulness, but with Jesus comes more than just forgiveness and cleansing. With Jesus comes the freedom and power to be what we could not be trying to fulfill law’s demands to be right with God (Romans 8:1-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18). This power is not some impersonal force, but is God’s presence in us, the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). This glorious freedom the Spirit brings us, to be what the written code could never make us, means that all of our goodness is the reflected goodness that comes from our glorious God who provided Jesus as our sacrifice and Jesus who sent the Holy Spirit to us to complete God’s perfection in us. I have tried often to capture this concept visually, never to my satisfaction. However, the old image below with the text of 2 Corinthians 3:18 is a helpful reminder that any glory in us and on us and from us, is always the reflected glory of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit to make that reflected glory genuine in our lives.

We are reflections of His glory, but through the Spirit, that reflection grows brighter each day as we know Jesus more!

This image is available in 1024 x 768 size in several options on Heartlight.org and can be used for any non-commercial use by churches, non-profits and individuals as longs as it is unaltered:

1. Text Version — Like Above Image
2. Title Version — “Reflected Grace”
3. Plain Version — Ideal for PPT Backgrounds

For a list of hundreds of images check out Heartlight.org Backgrounds Page and use the search window on the right.

What a week! Or maybe I should say, “What a weak!”

The latter more reflects the reality. When there is more challenge, more ministry, more need, and just plain ol’ more of more, in a collection of seven days, I am much more reminded of my weakness more than I think of it being just another week. Yet somehow, grace sustains me, God uses me, and people are blessed by my feeble efforts.

I fully admit, this does not make sense. Stellar accomplishments, a great week of work, clicking off the to do list items, making a great presentation, and other things I might “pull off” well could lead me to celebrate my sufficiency. But, it has not been that kind of week. Instead, it has been full of hurt, crisis, frustration, risk, conversation, failure, flawed efforts, grief, battling for life, unexpected awful surprises, wrestling with memories, and a deepening sense of insufficiency. So, at what point does it become perfectly clear that the challenge is beyond my ability to pull off?

The apostle Paul puts it this way:

But he [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9 tniv).

In our “Time in the Word” at Southern Hills, our focus is Colossians. So I came in after a day of ministry — with all its opportunities and reminders of insufficiency — and began to read Colossians … again … looking for some clear word of God to refresh me and help satisfy my spirit. Do you know what struck me?

In this vital letter to help this church stay on track, Paul repeatedly — even nonchalantly — speaks about God being the one who does the “heavy lifting” in the life of His people. Look at some of these key thoughts:

God called Paul to be an apostle: it was His will and commission of Paul (1:1, 25).

God can fill them with the knowledge and wisdom they need to be fruitful and live out His will (1:9-10).

God can strengthen them with endurance and patience (1:11).

God has qualified, redeem, and forgiven His people through Jesus (1:12-14).

God, in Jesus, created everything — seen and unseen — and reconciled them back to Himself (1:15-20.

God empowers Paul to proclaim Jesus and help bring people to maturity in Christ (1:28-29).

There are definite moments when I wonder, “God, who is sufficient for this? How can my feeble words be a blessing? How can my weak efforts make a difference in the face of so much hurt?”

And in those moments, God reminds me that no one is sufficient, but the Father has chosen to work with broken, simple, earthen vessels so that the power and the blessing are clearly not my own, but come from Him (2 Corinthians 4:5-10).

We joke that we have two seasons in West Texas — hot and hotter. In reality, we do have some cold weather in parts of December, January, and February. But we don’t have autumn: we call fall, football season or hunting season. Donna grew up in Ohio with autumn as her favorite season. With the rolling hills and big trees of southern Ohio decked out in a breathtaking array of colors, and the smell and feel of autumn in the air, I can understand why: it is a beauty experienced. However, Donna insists we don’t have autumn in Texas. We accurately call is fall. In her words, “It’s 95 one day, a norther blows through and it’s 25 the next night. On the third day, all the leaves fall off the trees and blow to Mexico.”

Our family, however, is going through a major change of seasons right now. Megan is begins Physical Therapy school. Donna has headed back to teaching for the year. I am geared up for the school year and it’s opportunities at Southern Hills — at church, we describe three seasons of the year (or ministry): Fall Semester, Spring Semester, and Summer Vacation.

But yesterday marked a huge change of seasons for us. Tiny, our miniature dachshund for 12 1/2 years had his back go out this weekend. Megan and I knew before we took him to the vet yesterday what the outcome would be, we just couldn’t talk about it. Tiny has been there for the kids journeys through high school, barking at everything that moved and never slowing down. Until the last two months, he would literally drag us on a two mile walk. It was a hard hour at the vet’s: they were kind, but we still came home without him. Lexi — our little black shy dachshund — looks lost without her guardian and keeper. With a bunch of other pressure, Donna’s start to school and continuing battle with IC, deep concern for a friend who is in the hospital ICU, the AC man stepping through the ceiling in the attic, and now Tiny’s goodbye, it’s been a rugged couple of weeks.

Changes in season are like that sometimes. We often romanticize how the summer slips into Indian summer, and then autumn gently falls upon us. But that’s seldom the way it is. Summer’s green gives way to winter’s chill with withering heat, then thunder, lightning, wind, flash-floods, and cold. We marvel at the flash, we are often humbled by the thunder, and we are rightfully fearful when the showers become torrents. Yet through the pandemonium of it all, we know we will emerge out of it into a new season of shorter days, cooler weather, and the richness of Thanksgiving and the joys of Christmas. So we, those of us in the Warehouse, wait for the flash, rumble, and torrents to pass and trust that somewhere beyond this time lies a great feast and the joy of Jesus.

In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly (Psalm 5:3 tniv).

In the morning, Lord!