Worth It

On my list of useless societal concepts, feel free to add the idea that we "need to feel needed". It's just plain silly to think that the only way we can feel valuable or feel confident in our worth is if we are "needed". No wonder we've become such an achievement-based society! What happened to my value as a human being? Why aren't I worth something simply for existing, and why cannot I be content with that? Wouldn't it be better to be enjoyed rather than "needed"?

In our broken state we came to believe that we were the center of the universe, the pinnacle of the created world, the bee's knees. In our search for security we convinced ourselves that the whole thing pivots and turns on us. Fortunately, Scripture often reminds us that this is not the case:

Everyone who is called by my name,

And whom I have created for My glory,

Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.

                                           - Isaiah 43:7

See, God is the one speaking here, and He wastes no time beating around the bush when explaining why He made human beings. For HIS glory! God didn't desperately need us for something, He wasn't even in deep desire of our presence or lonely without us. As a triune God in perfect community, God had everything He needed in Himself - He could have gone on without us. All of this ought to be breaking that "man as center of the universe" paradigm right out of our heads!

However, at the same time, realize what God IS saying about us. God deserves all the glory and praise to be given to Him, and we exist as His creation, as a testament to how amazing, brilliant, creative, and divine He really is. We exist because He decided it was worth it to form us, to breathe life into us, to save us from our own sin, and so on. God made us because He wanted to.

Reflect today on the fact that you're not needed. God will accomplish His plan with - or without - you. I am humbled by this but I also breathe a sigh of relief, because if God made me because He needed me to achieve something and I mess up as often as I do, then He ought to cast me out and start over anew, as we do with a broken vacuum cleaner. But, if my worth comes from being an Image-Bearer for the most High King, if it comes from who He made me to be rather than what I do, then my place in the cosmos is remarkably more stable than I could have hoped for! I may not be needed, but I am wanted, and that - to me - is worth it.

Author's Prerogative

So, I don't know how many of you like to read books, but I assume most of you have read at least one novel in the span of your life. One of the most challenging parts of reading any novel for me happens when things occur that I disagree with or don't like. Sometimes bad things happen to my favorite characters, and sometimes good things happen to the characters I hate the most. In those moments, I want to argue with the author and challenge their decision to allow those moments into their stories. However, if the author knows what they're doing, then these moments help move the story in a specific direction and are necessary to achieving a certain end. The author has that end in mind from the beginning, and selects events - even some they don't particularly like - in order to complete the story exactly as they intend to.

As the creative spirit behind the book, the author has the prerogative to choose their ending and to get there by the means they see fit. We, as the audience, cannot see their ending and cannot judge their means until we see the whole picture.

We need to realize that the same is true of God and His universe. One of things that Scripture makes crystal clear is that God has an ending to this story in mind and a plan to get there. His plan is intricate, all-inclusive, and mostly hidden from us. God's writing the story - even if He doesn't always like what happens.

For example, think about Jesus' end of life. You think God liked that idea? He knew it was necessary, He began writing it into the story from the very beginning (Gen. 3:15). That doesn't mean it pained Him any less. So imagine, if you will, when in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays and says: "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from me" (Luke 22:42a). Of course God wanted to alleviate His perfect Son's suffering, but He also knew that for the sake of the story He couldn't. He had to go through with it.

What is truly telling here, however, is not God the Father's decision to go through with the plan for Redemption, but the rest of Christ's prayer: "yet not My will, but Yours be done" (Luke 22:42b). Jesus, as God the Son, understood that the story of the world had a specific direction, orchestrated by God the Father, and that this was a necessary part of the plan. He knew that the human perspective could not see the whole picture, and so He prayed for relief but also subjected His request to the mighty will of the Father.

We could all learn a lesson from this: we presume to know the will of God when we pray, but we are not the Author of the World. He has this story completely under control and we need to remember that. As Jesus did, we can fervently pray for whatever we feel moved to pray for, but we must always remember that our will is not the directing force of the universe and nor should it be! We must remember that if God was willing to subject Himself to humiliation, torture, and excruciating death for the sake of the most brilliant, beautiful, glorious ending ever conceived, then of course there are going to be other difficult plot elements along the way. Sometimes, God's going to make the hard call to let us go through the tough stuff - not necessarily as punishment directed at us either!

So as you live out your role in this Master Story, remember you are not the Author. Remember that He isn't even looking for an editor. He knows where the story is headed every minute of every day. Pray fervently for the desires of your heart - because He wants us to do that - but be humble enough to remember that you cannot tell Him how what you're praying about fits into the grander plot.

Surprise Stitching: Illumination and Weddings

So, the new plan (in case you haven't caught it yet) is to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with reflections on doctrinal issues and the language of Scripture. However, sometimes out of the blue I get fired up about Bible-related stuff that isn't from what I'm studying. So I reserve the right at unannounced intervals to post on these subjects: I call them "Surprise Stitching" posts.

This afternoon I attended a wedding. It was absolutely beautiful! I watched as two believers, two children of light (Eph. 5:8), approached the altar of the church with excited and nervous steps to be united as one. I listened as Scripture was read over the start of their marriage and charges were given to them by pastors who explained the import of Scripture's teachings on marriage. I cried a little and beamed as they pledged themselves to each other in unity, and felt overjoyed as they placed rings symbolizing fidelity on each others fingers.

Then, something happened. As the pastor pronounced them husband and wife, a wave of spiritual light burst out of their hearts, filling the auditorium, and spreading who knows how far. In that moment where I felt the light blossoming all around me, I realized the power of Christian marriage. It is a union built on the Truth of Scripture, filled with the love of God overflowing, run by the hearts of humble servants, and made for the purpose of testifying to the glory of God. The whole thing must have a God-given purity, and produces a Godly joy of bountiful measure.

In short, a wedding is an illuminating thing. In some significant way it dispels the darkness of a broken world for a while and emanates wholeness, sanctity, holiness, wonder. It is a powerful use of the ebullient love of God.

I hope there are more waves of light like that. It gives one a hearty serving of hope.

Sweetest Symphony

Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. - Matthew 18:19-20

Today I want to talk about the opposite of a private prayer life: public, communal prayer. A whole lot of people, I'm sure, feel perfectly comfortable - or at least more comfortable - praying by themselves in a quiet room. Fewer people ever feel willing or excited to pray out loud in a circle of praying people. But this verse seems to make that discomfort a serious problem: it draws a connection between agreement in communal prayer and answers from God. Jesus basically sets up a promise or formula of sorts: If two or more Christians gather in Christ's name, then He will be present with them, and then God the Father will fulfill their prayers that they agree on. The statement is stunningly direct and forthright. But why would God commit Himself to such a position?

The key, I think, is in that word "agree". In the Greek it's sumphoneo, from which we derive the word symphony. This kind of agreement is no small task - think about what goes into a successful symphony. There has to be a group of instrumentalists playing different instruments, hence the "two or three" people. Next those instruments have to agree upon a song to play, presented here as "gathered in My name" with the purpose to pray. The instruments have to be tuned, meaning the praying people need to be in a good place with God, walking and growing in Him (Ps. 66:18). The instrumentalists must, of course, know how to play the piece - fortunately for us the Holy Spirit helps us when we don't know how to pray (Rom. 8:26). Finally, the instruments need a conductor who will guide them and keep the tempo of the piece - the beauty of Christ coming into our presence as we pray collectively.

A violin solo can haunt the soul and move us quite powerfully. But the sounds and power of a full orchestra playing a symphony cannot be matched in its power to move us, and this ought to be the image in our heads when we gather to pray together. We are playing a symphony for the most High King! If we are conscious of our role in the activity, God promises us powerful results.

Next time you're with a small group of believers, think about these words, and try playing a symphony for God with your prayer time. I firmly believe that your mindset will greatly affect your passion and focus in the time and you'll never want to stop praying ever again!

Intimate Life

As I return to prayer, we come to one of the most basic - but important - points about the subject, and no one introduces it better than Daniel:

Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. - Daniel 6:10

Daniel prayed in private - and before you jump up and say "that's because the king outlawed praying to God!", look at the language here: Daniel was doing that now that the prohibition was signed but he had been doing that anyways. Daniel spent daily, private time in prayer before, during, and after the prohibition.

Why does this matter? Well, if you go and read Daniel, you'll discover a guy who was blessed beyond measure by God. He killed a bear single-handed,  attended a slumber party in a lions' den and survived to tell the tale, and in case those two weren't enough he had to win favor with one of the craziest kings told of in the Bible and prophesied much about the end of the world. From all perspectives he had a pretty active life and God has a lot to do with him. Why?

It turns out that God's not into religion. He wants relationship. Hence He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. Hence, in Isaiah, God reaches out to Israel and says "Come now and let us reason together" (1:18). God atoned for sin through His son Jesus so that we could have relationship with Him, not so we could have religion.

And that's where private prayer begins to make sense: God wants to talk with us, He wants us to linger deep in conversation with Him. He desires to become our chief confidant, our closest friend, our strongest relationship. He know everything already but He wants to hear it from us!


Spend some time with Him; I can guarantee that if you're open to His presence then you'll never regret it.

Why?

Hello all!

I've been absent from here for a long while! Summer has been stunningly hectic and challenging, but as it draws to a close I feel led back here to resume finally, so here we go! Instead of diving right back into theology, however, today I want to talk through my reasons behind doing this blog - which, in fact, is what I spent a lot of my time off thinking about. I think that you deserve to know my heart and my mission if you're going to continue reading my blog.

1. The Bible actually says some things. I know that we live in a postmodern world and that what I'm about to say is so counterculture, but there's not much I can do about that. I firmly believe that words do actually mean something and that words combined into ideas, sentences, paragraphs, books, and compendiums therefore actually mean something. From very early in church history we have held a belief known as Harmonia Scriptura, or the harmony of Scripture. What it means is that if the Bible truly is the Word of God, then it ought never to contradict itself or prove itself wrong unless establishing a divine paradox (trinity, the nature of Jesus Christ - the list of these is smaller than you think). A culture has emerged in the church whereby Christians are told that they can believe the Bible whatever way they want - after all, everyone sees it differently. But "you read it your way, I'll read it mine" does not create one body of believers as the Bible talks about (1 Cor. 12) but a body of one believer. Left to our own opinions, we will divide as a church until we worship only with ourselves. If, however, we commit to studying Scripture and finding out what IT says, then the sound doctrines taught in Scripture will harmonize us, just as Scripture itself is harmonized.

2. The Bible doesn't say some things. There exists a whole list of "issues" that remain unresolved in church theology. They remain unresolved for one of two reasons, primarily: either we do not yet understand what Scripture is teaching, or Scripture doesn't fully explain the concept so that we can feel resolved. It's okay that Scripture does this: "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29) God expects us to study and understand what He revealed and doesn't expect us to study or attempt to understand things He hasn't revealed - which I think is very reasonable of Him. Ironically, these unresolved "issues" stir up a lot of discussion and generating of opinions, and most denominational and church divides occur over these opinions. Did you catch that? We divide over things we can't even fully support from the Bible, which we claim as the centerpiece of our practices. We divide over things that we cannot be right or wrong about, and thereby ought not to be dividing over. Again, if we spend more time digging into Scripture and studying it, then we'll figure out what matters and what doesn't based on what Scripture does and doesn't say.

3. Studying Scripture is exciting! The third major reason for this blog is that Scripture is absolutely fascinating and too many people have either forgotten that, lost sight of that, or never known it. My hope is to stir up and awaken that passion in others. I don't want to be just another person telling people what to believe:  I want to share what I'm learning so that others can go and search Scriptures to check my statements and so that people will see that there is much to be learned from reading the Bible and start studying themselves. I'm not here to look smart but to look passionate: I've found that the best way to start a fire is to be a spark, so that's my aim - to spark your Scriptural appetite into full-force activity.

That's it - my heart. I want to see the fights between denominations end. Actually, to be perfectly blunt, I want to see denominations end. I want to see Christians earnestly aligning themselves with the teachings actually found in Scripture. And I want all people to find their inner drive for studying the Bible and to fall in love with Scripture's brilliant Author.

In Service to the King,
Matt