The Phil Files

Nothing is more dangerous than this prayer. Nothing is more powerful than this prayer. Nothing invites God into our world more completely than this prayer.

God is sovereign. He can choose to act or intervene or change or shake up or transform our worlds in any way He so chooses. Yet God frequently chooses to wait for us to ask … to pray this dangerous prayer!

“Your will be done!”

Don’t believe this is dangerous? Then go spend time with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 13:32-42). Don’t believe this is both dangerous and glorious? Then go read the words of one of the earliest hymns sung in the early church (Philippians 2:5-11)!

So today, as we say the Lord’s Prayer, let’s pay special attention to the words, “Your will be done!”

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us  today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.

Now for some questions related to this theme taken from my Heartlight.org article, Beyond Slogans:

Why do we feel like we have to say something more than “I love you and will stand with you!” when someone faces tragedy, grief, and loss?

• What are other more meaningful things that we can do besides offer folks slogans?

Do you think some of our slogans are intended to defend God when folks are hurt, angry, or feel abandoned by God in a crisis?

• What should we do when folks feel this way toward God?
• How can we help them in ways more important that talk?

What do you consider to be the most meaningful promise found in Romans chapter 8?

• Does it help you understand our disasters to be reminded that we live in a broken world crying out for deliverance from its bondage to decay?
• Why is it important that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us regarding matters that are too deep for words?
• How are the promises of Romans 8:22-29 given power and meaning by the Christ hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 and the example of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 13:32-42)?

Yesterday I was practicing my archery and using two different kinds of points on the arrows I was using. At first neither was hitting the mark — they were both off. But as I began to tune in my aiming device, I began to get one of the types of points to hit spot on target, but the other points hit low and about 4 inches to the right. This is not a good sign and no matter how careful I was, I was still off target. I still had work to do on my sights, and even more importantly, on the tuning of my bow.

Interestingly, the term for sin means to “miss the mark” or, as the apostle Paul describes it, “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sometimes despite our best intentions, we miss the mark or fall short of where we need to be with God. On the other hand, there are other times when we rebel against God and willfully sin — we trespass against the will of God. The mess our world is in, the mess we often find ourselves in, is a result of either missing the mark or willfully transgress against what God wants for us (Ephesians 2:1-3).

Thankfully, God’s grace has triumphed over our sin through Jesus and gives us a new purpose in life as God’s special creation (Ephesians 2:4-10). So today, I am thankful for God’s forgiveness. I am thankful that the Father has forgiven me for the times I didn’t measure up, fell short, and missed the mark he set for me. Even more, I am thankful for the grace and forgiveness God has extended to me even when I’ve rebelled and trespassed against His holy will for my life!

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.

I am so thankful that God didn’t just forgive and cleanse me, but that He also has a purpose for me and a life to live that honors Him. I am not just saved from sin and death, I am saved for a life that reflects His character and compassion. He has called me to live a holy life.

Unfortunately, we often don’t associate the call to holy living as an act of God’s grace. In fact, many don’t talk about God’s call for us to live a holy life. In my Heartlight.org article this week, “God’s Twin Grace.” There, I say:

God’s searching love welcomes all who will come to Jesus for life and that love transforms us so we can live our life in ways that reflect His character and honor His sacrifice.

I have often wondered why we have such a hard time understanding this principle and embracing the transformation of our lives as part of that gracious gift from God?

Why do you think so many in Western culture seem to understand grace in terms of mercy and acceptance and ignore the call to transformation?

How can we talk about salvation if it does not change us now?

What is the hardest, yet most wonderful, transformation that God has accomplished in your life?

Jesus built community. He wasn’t about building a movement or a religion or a collection of individuals, but the Lord focused His efforts on building a new kind of community. The two key terms are kingdom and family. The first is the place where people’s hearts and lives are surrendered to the will of God and are working to see that lived out in their daily lives. The second is a place where people view each other as brothers and sisters because God is their Father.

We are reminded of both in the Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever. Amen.

Great power is found in this family, this Kingdom where God’s character and compassion are seen. So in His ministry, Jesus was always trying to connect this new community with those who were outside it. Jesus was always working to bring outsiders into relationship with insiders. So Jesus shares meals with outsiders like Matthew and Zacchaeus. Jesus goes places, but always with His Kingdom family in tow. Life as a follower of Jesus was not lived in isolation. Much of the teaching of Jesus was done in and around the reality of human relationships in a family, a community. (For more on this, see my Heartlight.org article this week, For Insiders or Outsiders?

So how do we experience this kingdom family today?

How do we become the community of Christ today and then connect our friends with our community so they can experience the transformation of God’s power and grace in relationships with others following Jesus?

How could connecting your friends with Jesus’ community, His family, help you lead them to Jesus? How could it get in the way?

Can a follower of Jesus live in isolation, outside the influence of a community of other believers?

Does Jesus’ community exist for outsiders or insiders?

Can it function with both of these as a primary focus?

I encourage you to pray about and reflect upon these questions and then look at the people in your life — the circles of relationships into which God has purposefully placed you. Now, how are you going to connect those people to your spiritual family? How are you going to connect them to Jesus?

Here are two videos for you to reflect upon. They come from Worship House Media.

The first video is entitled simply, Community:

The second video is entitled, I Am Community:

Have you had some weird neighbors? Have you been a weird neighbor to someone else?

I’ve been both! I bet you have, too. And the Bible has some weird neighbors in back to back chapters. One of my favorite set of surprising Bible neighbors are the woman at the well in John 4 and Nicodemus in John 3. You would be hard pressed to find two more opposite people anywhere. Man/Woman. Rich/Poor. Connected/Abandoned. Respected/Outcast. Jew/Samaritan. Powerful/Powerless.  Night/Day. These are worlds apart and yet Jesus reaches them because He listens to their heart.

My Heartlight.org article, Strange Neighbors, is about this today. But even more, this whole thing has been on my heart since Monday morning. This strange neighbor combo that John gives us convicts me to my core. “How many folks who seem unlikely to respond to the message have I summarily dismissed?” I ask myself. Deep in my heart, I know that if God can turn the early church’s greatest persecutor into its greatest missionary (like God did with Saul/Paul), then what can he do with folks that I don’t think will ever respond to God’s invitation of grace?

In addition, as I try to speak and write to people on a regular basis, I find myself repeatedly in the shearing forces of extending grace to those who need it and calling people to holiness who know God demands it. It is a razor’s edge to walk and talk and write on. So frequently when emphasizing God’s holiness, I’ve hurt those who are broken by their sin but need to find their way back to God. And in frequently emphasizing God’s grace, I fear I’ve given permission to some folks to abuse grace and enter sin because they assume when they are done, God will take them back. Both directions wound people.

So how do we extend grace and mercy to the broken without sacrificing God’s call to holiness?

So how do we call for holiness and not find ourselves sacrificing God’s offer of grace to sinners?

To me, that’s the amazing thing about Jesus in John 3 and 4. He reaches both. But, He also do so by personally speaking to them. So that is part of the clue. But another part of it, at least in my mind, is that Jesus listens to their hearts and not just their words and certainly not just their external realities — man/woman, rich/poor, Jew/Samaritan, powerful/powerless, respected/outcast, connected/abandoned. He could speak to both.

One sleepless night as I grappled with my inability to do this, the following song from Jars of Clay began to play on my iPod. Tears formed and my heart was convicted. As far distant as Nicodemus and the Woman at the well were in their externals, they were closer in nature to each other than they were to Jesus. Yet Jesus bridged that gap. And if I am ever going to do that more effectively, I’ve got to let him tear my world apart and bridge that gap in me:

Jars Of Clay – Worlds Apart

What keeps us from being approachable by folks on each side of the grace/holiness gap?

Who have we recently dismissed as someone who might respond to the Gospel of God’s grace?

Is it someone who appears religious and we think already is connected to Jesus?

Is it someone who appears self-righteous and arrogantly religious that we don’t want to be identified with?

Is it someone who takes advantage of Christian charity and help for their own advantage?

Is it someone who has blown his or her life apart by poor choices?

Is it the person holding up the sign on the street corner?

Is it the person who left the syringe in your alley way?

When is the last time we have struck up a conversation with a wait person to really hear their heart?

How have we treated the person who came to the door to sell us something?

Do you know what the person in the convenience store you see each week really struggles with?

Yeah, Jesus, tear my world apart. I am on my knees. Give me the eyes of Jesus to see and the ears of Jesus to hear the heart of the people you place in my path each week!

In my Heartlight.org article today, I talk about Jesus knowing us personally and speaking to us. Here are some questions to go with the article that I’d love your feedback on as well as your input into the whole idea.

So if God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — are involved in our lives, and if the Lord speaks to us, then how does He do it and how can we can be sure it is really God and not some selfish desire or some worldly wisdom or some evil spirit trying to deceive us?

Ah! Two good questions. I’ll give you a response, but leave it to you to do some digging in Scripture to deepen your understanding and to discover God’s truth for yourself. (Try these ideas out and work through the Scripture references!)

How does Jesus speak to us today?

• While we sleep! (The Bible talks about God ministering to us while we sleep. I encourage you to read the article, While We Sleep.)
• During our times with our church family! We forget that church is more than filling pews and following a worship order. Jesus is present (Matthew 18:20) and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our worship becomes more than a sharing of words (1 Corinthians 5:4). Our songs are Spirit-filled messages where we speak to each other (Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:17-19). Those who speak are to do so as speaking the very words of God (1 Peter 4:11). So what is preached, what is said to encourage us by friends, the loving confrontations we help each other face in Bible study, and the messages we sing to each other are one way Jesus speaks truth and hope into our hearts!
• During our everyday life experiences. God is at work in us, speaking to us when we read His word, when we hear repeated thoughts from multiple sources, and through the well-timed note, phone call, or card we receive from a friend (Philippians 2:13; Romans 8:28).

What are some other ways you think the Lord may have spoken truth into your life?

But how can we know it is really from the Lord and not from some other source? Aren’t we taught to “test the spirits” to see if what is being said is true? (1 John 4:1-6)

Here are some ways to test to see if what we hear the Lord communicating is really from Him:

Know Jesus. Get into the Jesus story and recognize what has the ring of truth from knowing what the Lord said and how He lived (John 10:1-4; John 10:27; read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John).

Pray for the Holy Spirit’s help in knowing what is truth and knowing Jesus’ will. The Holy Spirit is given to us to help us know the truth from error and to recognize what is from God and from some other source (1 John 2:20-27;  1 John 3:23-24;  1 John 4:1-6; John 14:16-18; John 14:26; John 15:26; John 16:12-15).

Do what Jesus says to do. Not only is Jesus’ truth self-validating when it is lived by His disciples (John 8:31-32), but Jesus promises to reveal Himself to us and come make His home with each of us (John 14:19-23).

What are other ways that you believe we can discern what is truly from Jesus and what is from some other source?

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)