Psalm 94 – Shenanigans

I think it’s funny when I catch myself saying things to my kids that my parents used to say to me. I’ve yet to give the ole “you’ll poke and eye out” line, but I’ve certainly fallen victim to the typical parental clichés. Probably the one that I’ve thought even more than I’ve said is, “You know, it wasn’t that long ago that I was your age.”

I’m not trying to argue that I’m young. What I’m saying is that I haven’t forgotten how at that age I thought my parents were clueless, and how while I might have been playing dumb at the time, I knew exactly what I was doing.

It’s funny how our kids think we’re clueless to their shenanigans. As if we were never kids ourselves.

In Chapter 95, the psalmist reminds us that God is not clueless. If He is waiting or seems slow to act, it’s certainly not because he’s unaware.

Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?

Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?

The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.” – Psalm 94:9-10

This might be the most ridiculous thing we do as believers. We treat God as if he doesn’t know what’s going on. We treat Him as if He is unable to hear or as if somehow some circumstance or injustice can slip Him by.

Today, I’m reminded that He is God. The one who spoke and it was. Just as we can trust Him with our eternity, we can trust Him to bring justice. But let’s not forget… He not only hears and sees the shenanigans of others. He’s just as aware of ours.

Psalm 89 – The Next Generation

The moment I became a dad, things changed. If you have kids, you know what I mean. I felt like I went through a crash-course on God’s love. And I came out on the other side wanting two things: for my son to understand love and for my son to experience love. Over the past 11 years, and two more kids later, God has used them to teach me a lot about true love: I’ve learned that love is truly unconditional, that it surpasses knowledge, it casts out fear, it heals, it comforts, that it’s not self serving, that it’s not arrogant, it’s not controlling, and that it does not hold record of wrong (among other things).

I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations.

I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself.” – Psalm 89:1-2

My greatest challenge as a dad is found in this passage. It’s not hidden. It’s obvious. It’s to pass along an understanding of God’s faithfulness to my children. If that happens, all else will fall into place. So the question that follows: How will I make His faithfulness known to the next generation?

It’s interesting. I’ve met plenty of businessmen who find it easier to lead a large corporation than their own family. In the same way, even as a pastor… at times… it’s easier to lead a church than it is to lead my own family (thus the “preacher’s kid” syndrome. Scary.) If we were to analyze on paper why this is, we’d find some pretty obvious and glaring deficiencies and neglect in our leadership. If we spent half the time creating quarterly goals, managing our time, making sacrifices, evaluating and improving our home life like we do our business life… we would certainly see the fruit of our labor.

However, these verses make it pretty clear how a generation will truly know of His faithfulness: When we declare that His love stands firm forever (vs.2).

In other words, we get to pass on God’s love to our next generation. And it is indeed the understanding and experiencing of that Love that makes the passing along possible. Without it, it cannot happen. Not because we’re such great lovers, but because God Himself is love. We must embody that concern for one another, model that love with our spouse, and express that love to our children. If they see and experience anything, let them see and experience love.

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, 13

Psalm 78 – Parents

Just a short thought today on Psalm 78.

A few weeks ago we had our first Parent/Child dedication at Austin New Church. It was a really sweet time (As all parent/child dedications are). As I thought about what we could do to make it a unique experience, we decided to make one change from the norm. Instead of giving the infant or child a small pocket bible with their name on it, we gave a nice leather-bound bible to the parents.

That’s not a revolutionary change, yet is a simple reminder on how important it is for a parent to lead their children spiritually.  And a reminder and challenge to me as a dad, much less a pastor.

 “We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.” – Psalm 78:4

Why would we do this? Why would we remind them?

“…so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.” – Psalm 78:6-7

Psalm 72 – Taking Lead

We all have a following. It may be as simple as an individual child, an employee, a friend, or someone we’re mentoring. It may be as vast as a company, a team, an organization, or even a church. While the scope in which we lead may vary greatly, we’re constantly in a position of influence.

Leadership has become quite an endeared term to us, and honestly, rightfully so in many cases. However, when we allow the idea of leadership to surpass the significance of what or whom we are leading, and what we represent, we run the risk of losing what makes it special.

David understood this. When praying for his son, and future king, he prayed knowing the benefit of yielding his leadership completely to the path of the one who “spoke and it was”. Here’s what he prayed for and the appropriate response that comes with it.

“Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. He will judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.” – Psalm 72:1-2

A look into the Hebrew shows that this request was for God to offer a divine level of discretion (justice) and that He would grant him the ability to lead with His righteousness. The word righteousness is the Hebrew word “tsdaqah” which can be applied in a number of ways, each of which are amazingly appropriate: That he would lead with rightness (abstractly), rectitude (subjectively), justice (objectively), virtue (morally), or prosperity (figuratively).

It was a given that if granted, Solomon would then lead with a “straight course”, not veering to the right or left, and offer justice to the “afflicted” (humble, lowly, needy, poor). What a great example to us all, as a praying parent, a dependent leader, and as a developing child (His child).

“This psalm belongs to Solomon in part, but to Christ more fully and clearly. Solomon was both the king and the king’s son, and his pious father desired that the wisdom of God might be in him, that his reign might be a remembrance of the kingdom of the Messiah. It is the prayer of a father for his child; a dying blessing. The best we can ask of God for our children is, that God would give them wisdom and grace to know and to do their duty.” – Matthew Henry

Esther 9 – Influence

This is quite a remarkable story of influence. Influence is defined as being, “The capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others.” Esther, had influence. And at the right time, with the right words, in the right way, she used her influence. The result? She was given more favor and even more influence:

“The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa… Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.” – Esther 9:12

Each of us has influence, some more than others, but none-the-less, we all influence someone. Whether it’s a sibling, spouse, or child, eyes are watching us. That seems obvious to most. What I find as ironic is that the more authority we have, the less we may understand the impact of our influence on others.

In the definition of influence, we see it as being the power to be a compelling force on the obvious: the actions and behaviors, but also the not so obvious: opinions, belief, etc…

We can easily… how should I put it… “Drink the cool aid”. What I mean by that is that we are easily swayed on our opinions by those we look up to. Not just our actions, our literal opinions. That can be dangerous. Especially when they are human, just like us, and are not always right. Many white-collar crimes are committed because of the lacking moral compass and influence of those in charge. Much racism, biasness, and bigotry is passed on from generation to generation, even among “God-fearing” Christians.

So if someone is always listening and following our lead, we should be careful in choosing our words. We should take note of how much we throw our opinion around as if it is fact. When we want others to believe in us and follow us, we can often make generalizations that are damaging and come with limited perspective. We easily forget how we impact not only the actions, but also the opinion of those we influence.

Here is an example: My kid’s elementary school did a mock election around the recent presidential election. In order for them to learn from it, there was much discussion on the issues. My kids don’t know how I voted, but we discussed at length what was great about both candidates. Sydney (my 8 year old) really grabbed on to the fact that Obama could possibly be the first African-American president. Just the idea of that, shortly after learning all about Martin Luther King, captivated her. She also liked the idea that Obama seemed to talk often about helping the poor.

There were days she would come home from school crying. Literally crying because other kids were picking on her for her political beliefs. Seriously? Listen, my 8 year old doesn’t quite have the capacity to understand fully the politics that go into a presidency, yet when another kid is yelling out the window of the bus, “Get off my bus, I hate you, you like Obama!” something is wrong. Listen, kids will be kids. I know that, but for a kid that age to have such aggression towards someone on the other side of a political issue, influence has turned into brainwashing. This gives us just a glimpse to how much influence we really have.

So whether we’re a parent struggling to lead, a CEO of a major company, manager of a carwash, or find our selves as a Pastor of a church, how do we make sure our motives, our actions, and our ways are right? Well, for today’s purposes, and if we were to just look at the example of Esther, We would see at least three major concepts that we… honestly… often neglect:

o She came on behalf of others not herself. (always)
o She waited on God’s timing. (always)
o She listened to Godly counsel. (always)
o She was humble even in success. (always)

Translated: More of God and others, and less of us. It’s a simple thought, but profoundly indicting. As a leader, especially a church leader, I hope and pray that this is always my posture. But I know it won’t be. I’m constantly amazed by how much my flesh can get in the way (you’d think it’d be easier). So I pray I can see when it’s not, confess it, repent, and grow from it.

God, as we lead, whoever we lead, help us to lead in your ways. Help us to love you and love others with all we’ve got. Help us to see the benefit of that posture. Help us to see through our own selfish ambition and biasness to see only your truth. Help us to pass it along as we lead. And help us to identify when it is and when it’s not there when we follow. Give us courage and wisdom when it’s not. Make us better leaders, followers, parents, husbands and wives. Make us better people, God. Make us better Christ-followers. Amen.

2 Sam 13 – Moral Influence

There were many signs that David was beginning to lose his moral authority and influence in the past few chapters. It’s recognized in the actions of his military subordinates in the prior chapter, and now in chapter 13 we see the fruit of it infesting his own children. And it’s simply awful.

“When King David heard all this, he was furious. Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad; he hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar.” 2 Samuel 13:21-22

David knew of all that was going on, and he did nothing except get angry. In fact, we have no record of what happened for the next two years.

We underestimate the power of moral authority. It impacts everyone around us that we lead, are responsible for, or care about (and many that we may not). How others perceive us goes far beyond what we think of ourselves. What is gained over years can simply be lost in a moment of neglect, selfishness, or poor choices.

If we remember, the same thing happened to Samuel himself in 1 Samuel 8. I went back to read my journal from that day. It was on Moral Authority… Here’s a part of that entry:

“Simply put…” said Andy Stanley, “…moral authority is maintained when your creed matches your deed”. Individually this is both simple and profound but also true. Culturally and corporately it is as well.

Moral authority has everything to do with how people view whether or not we do what we say is important to us. Because if we don’t, we lose respect (credibility), and when we lose respect, we lose our ability to influence (lead).

As a church leader, this is an important thing to understand. Andy exposed the fact that we do not have an official authority over anyone. We may think we do, and many times we operate as if we do, but we really don’t. If we lose the respect of our members, they just leave. If we lose the respect of our staff, they can do the same. They may last for a while, but eventually we lose our influence and ability to lead them.

Most unchurched or de-churched people aren’t reading our church purpose statements, values, and doctrinal statements to see how we’re different one from another (Other Christians who treat the church like a buffet line at Luby’s do, but not the unchurched). They somehow just know that Christians are supposed to love others and not judge others. To them, that’s our true “creed”, it’s ironic that our reputation in the secular world is the exact opposite. Ed Stetzer wrote recently in “Lost and Found” that a massive majority of unchurched and de-churched claim hypocrisy and judgment as their number #1 and #2 reason they stay away from the church. That’s a problem. We’ve lost our moral authority in the eyes of many. To them, we’ve lost their respect. The result, we’ve lost our influence with many. Our cultural reality is that this is how the “church” sits with the majority of the unchurched in America.

Today I’m reading in 1 Samuel 8. In it we clearly see that the sons of Samuel had lost the respect of the people as well as their moral authority. Inevitability their moral influence was compromised. Their deed did not match their creed. Verse 3 says, “…his (Samuel’s) sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.”

They had lost their Influence… their credibility… and their power. And so the people called out for a different kind of leader. They called out for a King.

But in our nature to make everything about us, let’s not lose our perspective. God reminds us that this condition is not fully conditional. This loss of influence was directly impacted by the degrees of separation of the nation of Israel from their God. Not just the lack of influence of Samuel’s sons. They were already one click away from falling… and the loss of the Judge’s moral authority was the tipping point. This is evidenced through verses 7-8, “And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.”

Israel was big, and as they say, “the bigger they are the harder they fall”. Even a small ripple can have a massive impact. As Leonard Sweet put it, “Big trees fall over in a storm; the little and mid-sized trees are best equipped to stand and sway in the storm”

I don’t think they knew why they felt they were in a vulnerable position, they just knew that the leader and process they had, they no longer had confidence in.

We are in a similar position in the American church today and most certainly in our post-modern culture. Our personal gods are numerous. Money, position, pride, success, the list goes on and on. And moral authority is often questioned. I would venture to say most feel we are one “click” away as well. And in these moments of felt crisis and uncertainty, the world needs to see the church rise in their influence. We don’t rise by our words and creeds alone, we rise through God’s truth and our actions… it’s HIS creed and our deed.

When we think about making an impact on the unchurched world, we should shape our efforts from this posture. That’s our hope at Austin New Church. That it would shape our starting point. When we don’t, we’ll see that our target is really other believers or the churched, not the lost, unchurched, or dechurched. When we look at those who are skeptics of faith, we should acknowledge their true starting point and meet them there. That’s what Jesus did. He went to Samaria. He went to the Sheep Gate Pool. He went to the temple to address the Pharisee’s. He went to the wedding party. He went to the Tax Collectors house. And His creed matched His deed.

Threat v.s. Fact

One of my favorite movies is the 1993 Texas based film “A Perfect World” where Butch Haynes (Kevin Costner) plays an escaped convict from a Huntsville prison who, while stealing a getaway car, ends up taking a young boy hostage and eventually being hunted down by Texas Ranger “Red” Garnett (Clint Eastwood). The whole movie ends up being about Butch’s connection with the kid who is being raised in a home without a father, is oppressed by an overly obsessed “mother hen” mom, and his journey towards “manhood” through Butch’s influence. It’s kind of a like the secular movie version of “Wild at Heart” (I know, seems weird, but stick with me). The whole story is a “let boys be boys, sometimes we gotta show them how to do that, and then give them permission” movie.

Turns out Butch hates his escape partner, Terry, who is quite a weasel… One of my favorite scenes is one where they were driving down the road and Terry mentions his ear still bleeding from something Butch did earlier, he mumbles under his breath to Butch, “If you ever try that again…”

Butch interrupts, “What? You in the middle of threatening me?”

Terry replies from the back seat, “That’s not a threat…” he holds up his gun and cocks it “… that’s a fact.”

Butch leans over the seat and says, “In two seconds I’m gonna break your nose. That’s a threat.” He then grabs the gun from Terry, smacks him straight in the face, and as blood begins streaming out of his nostrils… says, “Now… that’s a fact”.

In verses 24-25 of 1 Samuel 12 it says, “And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

This sounds like a threat. But it’s not. It’s a promise and a fact. Samuel has seen the evidence of God’s hand. He knows that our God does not offer empty threats and promises. Let’s not forget that God was using Samuel in his very own punishment as a poor father. His boys were supposed to be in charge yet because of His neglect, they would lose their influence, and as God put it NEVER be atoned for (1 Samuel 3:14).

Samuel kept his bearing because of “fact”. Without it, it seems hard that he would have ever maintained any type of desire to do what God was telling him to do. After such failure in faith, most of us would reject, point the finger, be angry, and say God’s not fair. Samuel’s continuance was in the evidence. It was in the facts. Samuel knew God was God and what He said would happen, would indeed happen.

Samuel said, “It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your forefathers up out of Egypt. Now then, stand here, because I am going to confront you with evidence before the LORD as to all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your fathers.” – 1 Samuel 12:6-7

He confronted them with all that God had done in the past. He confronted them with evidences of His hand and His faithfulness. He confronted them with the facts.

I’ve always thought it interesting how we go through an experience with God’s obvious hand yet fail to remember the power of His movement down the road. What’s that about? Hindsight is truly 20/20… for a season anyway. We reason away and we forget the significance. Knowing their (and our) nature, God gives them this “promise of fact”. If they remembered and served faithfully, the Lord promised to show the way. If they did not remember what He had done, like Samuel’s boys, they would surely reap what they sowed.

I dunno. Seems to me that God is so very just. The more I know Him and pursue Him, the more I see it. He spoke and it was. Literally. He promises amazing things… honestly, all our heart desires (even the ones we don’t know of). He just asks that we seek Him and His righteousness first.

We just have to remember: The journey is not about the broken nose. The journey is about Glory to Him, and us learning how to be a part of it.

Raising Godly Boys

Today I fearfully consider the position of a father. Even more so as a Pastor who has boys.

“Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD.” (1 Samuel 2:12) This blows me away. What a profound and awful statement to be said of anyone’s children, much less of a man committed to the Lord.

Here are some thoughts from Mathew Henry on this reality, “Eli shunned trouble and exertion. This led him to indulge his children, without using parental authority to restrain and correct them when young. He winked at the abuses in the service of the sanctuary till they became customs, and led to abominations; and his sons, who should have taught those that engaged in the service of the sanctuary what was good, solicited them to wickedness. Their offence was committed even in offering the sacrifices for sins, which typified the atonement of the Saviour! Sins against the remedy, the atonement itself, are most dangerous, they tread under foot the blood of the covenant. Eli’s reproof was far too mild and gentle. In general, none are more abandoned than the degenerate children of godly persons, when they break through restraints.”

And the opposite which is said of Samuel, “Samuel, being devoted to the Lord in a special manner, was from a child employed about the sanctuary in the services he was capable of. As he did this with a pious disposition of mind, it was called ministering unto the Lord. He received a blessing from the Lord. Those young people who serve God as well as they can, he will enable to improve, that they may serve him better.”

God, make me the father I need to be. Protect my boys from the world. Protect them from my scars and inability. Make them into Godly men, who become Godly husbands and fathers themselves. Make them men who “serve you as well as they can” that you might enable to improve, and that they may serve you better. Amen.