St. John Studies

Can you imagine what the disciples felt? Jesus knew His time was short and He wanted to tell them He had to leave them. And then He said this…

“But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you [John 16: 5-7].

Talk about confusing. I bet they thought “what is He talking about?”

What He was talking about is giving them the power of the Holy Spirit.

The catch…

The Holy Spirit will come after He is gone.

Is this a promise for all believers today? Is the Holy Spirit something we can count on to help us in life as we go through the situations we face?

The answer to that question is a resounding YES.

Pastor Graham* writes “No conditions were attached [to this promise]. Jesus didn’t say that He would send the Helper (or “Comforter”) to some believers and not to others. Nor did He say that we had to belong to a special organization or be higher on the scale of spiritual performance than someone else. He simply said “If I go, I will send Him to you.”

The disciples had to go through their time of agony, their time of waiting, their time of faith. They had to witness the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus and they probably had doubts that the promise of the Helper was real. They probably felt alone.
God said that they should wait and wait they did.

Possibly when Jesus rose from the dead and was glorified and then made his appearances to the disciples they thought this “ghost” was what He meant by Helper. Of course, Jesus had them touch Him so they could see He was indeed a real person, back from the dead.

But this was not what Jesus promised. He left them again and they had to wait some more.

A fifty day wait.

“And when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance” [Acts 2:14].

These members of the early church were transformed.

But can a believer be transformed today too? Can a believer get help from the Helper?
The answer is yes, if we come to The Lord. Peter said “Repent and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” [Acts, 2: 38].

When Jesus said He had to leave so the Helper would arrive, He was not just talking to the Disciples. He was sending a message to us. Graham states “we are no longer waiting for the Holy Spirit—He is waiting for us. We are no longer living in the time of promise, but in the days of fulfillment.”

It is interesting that Graham says “He is waiting for us.”

What does that mean? For me, that is a power that could be accessed to help us in life.
What else do we need to do to have this access?
Ask.

I know that sounds too good to be true. Ask.

In Luke 11: 13 pay attention to the following words: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.”

Ok, it is a bit more complicated than that. Some believers ask questions like who is this person Jesus has promised? How can this person transform our human nature? How can the Helper give you supernatural power to face the crises of life?

I have a feeling that all our questions will be answered as we get further into Billy Graham’s book, The Holy Spirit.

*Billy Graham The Holy Spirit

Well here I am…

Try as hard as I can, I have done it again. I start every day thinking about what I did yesterday, thinking about what I did wrong.

Thinking about my sins.

Wishing I had not done what I did.

It is very early in the day so I have not done much to get me in trouble with God, but I know as the day continues, I will trip up. I will sin again, probably multiple times. I don’t know what will trigger it, but I know it will happen.

It is just me being me.

You see, I am a human, far from Divine.

The big question is how am I supposed to live this life? Am I supposed to feel defeated? Am I supposed to be discouraged all the time? When I sin, I know I feel discord. My wife says I get “grumpy”. That is mild for what I am feeling. Sometimes it is inner strife and I choose to let it show on the outside as “grumpy.”

Is this the life God intended me to live?

Short answer: no.

Billy Graham begins his book The Holy Spirit with a very plainspoken discussion of what we all need. All men and women fail to live sinless lives: Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Graham says man has two great spiritual needs. One of those needs is forgiveness and the other is goodness.

For many those deep-seated needs go against their nature. To own up to sins and ask for forgiveness means acknowledgement of wrong-doing and a certain amount of humility. For many, to need anything is tough. The asking part is the hardest part. Many people don’t want to admit any need at all and they certainly don’t want to ask anyone for it…even God.

Goodness is problematic for some also. Often times in our world today it seems that goodness has gone “out of style.” What good is goodness in a world where winning is everything. We even have a phrase “good guys finish last” that touts the idea that it is ok to win by any means as long as you win.

Maybe that is why Graham says “Consciously or unconsciously [man] longs for both [forgiveness and goodness]. There are times when man actually cries for them, even though in his restlessness, confusion, loneliness, fear and pressures he may not know what he is crying for” [xi].

In His infinite knowledge, God knows man needs forgiveness and to address those needs, He sent His only Son to die for our sins. This is His gift of forgiveness, His knowledge that humanity is in a constant struggle against sin. The Apostle Paul calls Jesus God’s “indescribable gift” in 2 Corinthians 9:15.

But to be honest, forgiveness is not enough. God knows that men and women need to move beyond their state of affairs to a life that is “good.” I don’t know how many times I have searched for answers for my sins, especially those that reoccur. I have used this example before but reoccurring sin is like going around and around the mountain when I really want to go up the mountain. Sinning, repenting, asking for forgiveness, receiving forgiveness and sinning again is a life that is going nowhere. This is where the Holy Spirit comes in, the power to get us to the next level of that mountain.

Graham was known as a powerful evangelist, but his writing skills are powerful also. Here is a prime example of his ability to drive home his point. “If we wish to be men and women who can live victoriously, we need this two-sided gift God has offered us: first, the work of the Son of God for us; second, the work of the Spirit of God in us [xii].

I am excited about the book The Holy Spirit. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to help me with my aforementioned “inner strife.” I know that the Holy Spirit is the source of power that I need, the power to change a stagnant life to a more vibrant life. The power that I need to get rid of some defeat, discouragement and discord in my life.

The power to quit repeating some of those nagging sins that reoccur.

The power to draw just a little closer to God.

“And when the day of Pentecost was now come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound was heard, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speaking in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying, Behold, are not all these that speak Galileans?” [Acts 2 1-7].

The Holy Spirit…

The life principle of the early church.

The Book of Acts provides Acts 2 and four other separate and dramatic instances of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on believers [4: 28-31, 8:15-17, 10:44 and 19:6]. If you have had teaching on the Holy Spirit, you know this “helper”” guides us in discerning the truth. The Holy Spirit directs your steps into the abundant life that Jesus intends for us. The Spirit can give you spiritual gifts such as wisdom, prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. This same spiritual power gives you the power to proclaim Jesus and guarantees your hope of heaven.

Yet why are there so many questions about the Holy Spirit in Christian circles?

Pastor Billy Graham, in his book The Holy Spirit, writes that “the misunderstanding and even ignorance” of the Holy Spirit is a major reason why he has written his book. The most common questions about the Holy Spirit range from the simple like, is the Holy Spirit God, to the more complex like how can I recognize the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Graham knew he wanted to write a book on The Holy Spirit because studying The Holy Spirit would give him needed insight. Many times people who study and write are given a chance to learn as they express themselves, but Graham is really driven by Christians who have little understanding of this important aspect of their faith lives.

Graham was such a popular world-wide evangelist that he came into contact with all kinds of people. Graham’s staff estimates that over three million people came to Christ as a result of his preaching. This amazing response put him in the forefront of religious leaders of his day and he found himself in contact with famous people throughout the world. In the preface of his book he reports that Pope John stated that The Holy Spirit is the church doctrine that Christians most needed to understand. Karl Barth, the noted theologian, personally told Graham that the next main emphasis on Christian theology should be The Holy Spirit.

Graham knew that this task would not be easy. He stated “The subject is so infinite—and our minds are so finite.”

But like me, don’t you want to know what happens when we are filled with The Spirit, slain by The Spirit, walk in The Spirit or become baptized in The Spirit. I look forward to the spiritual gifts The Spirit provides. I want to know more about them. I want to know when I am feeling The Spirit. I want to know how to pray in The Spirit. Can I speak in tongues today? Is speaking in tongues evidence of The Holy Spirit?

We may be confused and lacking knowledge today but from the earliest days, people were confused. Paul writes in Galatians 3 “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Why is he addressing the Galatians this way? Because they have the wrong idea about The Holy Spirit. Like many Christians today, they understood the role The Holy Spirit played in their conversion but they did not realize “The Helper” was available in the ongoing life of the believer. Isn’t the ongoing presence of “The Helper” good news?

Today we have to admit that we are still confused.

Pastor Billy Graham’s book was written to clear up our confusion.

Let’s look forward to exploring it together. Maybe together, we can avoid being “foolish Galatians.”

It’s moving day…

This move does not require a U-Haul truck rental. You don’t have to call a moving company. You don’t even have to load up your car.

Like a physical move, it requires a commitment. The idea is that you need to be somewhere else, so it does require some commitment and dedication to being somewhere else. The problem with this move is that it is not to a place where you may want to be but it is to a place where maybe you know you need to be.

It is a move within the Kingdom of God. It is a move that refocuses our hearts and minds.

Like most of life for the Christian, we hardly ever move in a straight line. Pastor Labberton says the move he is calling for “undulates, wobbles and slips.”

Yesterday my pastor spoke of her struggles; we all have them, times when we are excited about God and times when we are not excited at all. We have times when we feel He is close and then there are those times when we have moved away and He does not seem close anymore. Mountaintop experiences are wonderful but guess what, we don’t stay on that mountaintop forever. We all have our times in the valley.

We are finishing a book that urges us on every page to help our neighbor; locally, regionally, world-wide. We are finishing a book that urges us to examine our internal thoughts about people and take stock of our external actions. The book I have been blogging on since December 2017 has urged me to quit thinking so much about me and start paying attention to others; the needy, the displaced, the hurting, my neighbors.

This moving day is a move from isolation to involvement. It is so tempting to remain in isolation, to close the doors to the world, limit watching television and ignore social media. That allows us to kid ourselves that things are ok with the world. Poverty does not exist, trafficking is not real and drug addiction is just a fantasy. But all these things are real and isolation will do nothing to stop them. Even when we see evidence of people in dire need we may mentally protect ourselves by choosing to ignore others’ troubles. Many of us have grown very good at compartmentalizing our lives. We can attend to the “good stuff” and ignore the bad.

This move may mean pain because if we move, we are going to see people who are desperate, maybe victims of violence and maybe suffering from neglect. We may find out that they experience this daily, but this type of person may also have a chance to experience great joy. Labberton says the needy may suffer but they also may be rescued and healed by God. “Grace always gives in the midst of need” [209]. So maybe the move will not be totally dire.

From the beginning of the Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, Labberton has tried to get the Christian to see that moving into the world of the needy is a move into the heart of God: “Any who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ…this is not an optional side tour, a temporary distraction. It’s a move that the Bible depicts as a move toward home. It’s where we were all meant to live, where we are no longer fooled into thinking that the divisions we are so accustomed to are final or true” [209-10].

I sit here trying to get my thoughts together in the midst of a remodeled home. It is in the 90’s outside and I am cool from the air conditioner and ceiling fan. I know how much money was expended to get my wife and I to a level of stylish comfort that we wanted. Just a few months ago, we were all about the countertops, the cabinet finish and the matching flooring. Right in the middle of all this, I was blogging on a book that encouraged me to let go of my small-heartedness.

All that concern for our creature comforts seems so silly and so wasteful.

Let’s hope that The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor will help me to meet some needs. Maybe God will unveil opportunities for me to act to help the less fortunate. I already have had opportunities, things that I have done to help some people who are struggling, but I know I could do more.

It’s moving day.

Yes, we are moving to a new book. My next post will be from Billy Graham’s book, The Holy Spirit, but maybe it is moving day for me in other ways too. Maybe I can grow to love the Lord our God with more of my heart, more of my mind, more of my soul and more of my strength. Maybe I will grow to love my neighbor more and love them as I love myself.

“This is why we are.”

“This is how we are to live—seeking a just hope”

Today—everyday—is moving day.

I try not to get too personal in this blog; it is supposed to be dedicated to my thoughts about a book rather than my thoughts alone.

My wife says “David, you have to get to an end with this book about helping the poor, our neighbors. It is too hard on you and your readers.”

She is right.

I have been blogging since December 2014 and I have not dealt with a book like this before. Oh I have had moments of lack before, moments when I felt like I was not doing what I should be doing but this book has been non-stop guilt trip. Pastor Mark Labberton has made me feel sadly lacking every time I have posted on his book.

I should feel that way.

When I began working with The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor I dedicated my comments to John Allen. John was a close friend and his death shook me. I had known him for about twenty years and I knew he was in bad health these past few years and at times I wondered about him.

I wondered why he did not take better care of himself.

He did not want to.

I wondered why he took time to care to help the poor.

Now I know why.

He knew the meaning of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

People says things like a person’s life inspires me to do better and in John’s case, I do feel like I should help less fortunate people in our society. But following his death with blogging on The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor has really impacted me.

My wife is my editor. I don’t put anything up on my blog that she has not read and she has witnessed my struggle. She has witnessed it in my words. She knows I lack.
I have to finish the book. I will write only one more post on it after this one. Pastor Labberton’s thoughts about “moving day” do bear comments so I will close with “moving day.”

John left behind a wonderful wife and I know her pretty well; not as well as John. I think John’s death is still very much a part of her life and it will be for some time. Grief is a slow, slow process and it takes its own time to work its way out. Sally, I know you will one day get beyond the sadness and bewilderment. God has plans for you; I know.

Months ago, I knew I wanted to take a prayer from the book and directly quote it on the blog. This post is the post for that prayer. It is so meaningful for me and maybe it will be for you.

“Lord open and soften my heat today. You have been so generous toward me. May I give out of all I have and even out of what I think I don’t have. Help me to see and respond to my neighbor as you do. Use and meet me as I walk down the street, stand in line, engage with friends who live on the street, in the classroom where I tutor, as I wait at the Social Security office for an elderly friend who is difficult to be with or as I write to my city council representative about the crack house I know about. Use my gifts and life as I am working, playing, relaxing. Take my time. Take my money. Take my power. Take my powerlessness. Take my weariness. Take my fears. Take my tongue. Take my questions. All that I have and all that I don’t have are in your hands.”

Thank you for this prayer Pastor Labberton.

Thank you for your life John Allen.

Thank you God.

It was a minor dilemma. My son married a wonderful Colombian woman. So a few years ago, my wife and I had an opportunity to go to Colombia South America for Christmas. We did not know Spanish and we knew we would be surrounded by native Colombian Spanish speakers. We were wondering how we would survive the week with the minimal Spanish we knew, a week staying with her Mom and Dad who were not very fluent in English, a week where there would be countless gatherings with her very large, affectionate Colombian family.

Needless to say, we made an effort to learn what we could before we went. We studied out of a Spanish grammar book and I began to use Rosetta Stone for South American Spanish.

Our efforts paid off, not because we were good speakers. We weren’t. The family just appreciated that we were trying to speak their language. We grew to really like them and they seemed to like us.

But it was a stressful week. I kept an open mind because I knew I was an American visitor in a Colombian culture. I did not want to take my American cultural views and try to assert them in a very different environment. Some Americans do this type of thing, expecting the whole world to copy American ways. It was not like that for me. I tried to adapt and assimilate as much as possible. It was hard at times. We did not want to offend; we just wanted to relax as much as possible and have a good time.

Pastor Labberton speaks of learning the new language of helping others. “Like any language learning, it takes practice and review. It will mean awkwardness and failure. It will mean breaking old habits and overcoming embarrassments. It will mean taking risks. It will mean having to admit that the language we are trying to learn is first outside us, and only gradually comes to belong to us” [203].

Why is this important? He says that as Christians we are supposed to be in the business of calling and inviting, comforting and assuring, forgiving and including. All this takes language, a language that we are not used to speaking.

Where do we find this form of Rosetta Stone? Where is this grammar book?
It is in our Bible.

Recently I was counseled by a Pastor who tried to help me with fear. I went to him because I had been feeling some dread about some issues. He said I could pray, I could fast, but most of all I must turn to the word of God. Labberton says “the Bible is the bedrock from which we learn the taxonomy of God’s heart.” To learn the language of God and speak the language of God it is necessary to read the word of God. Like any language, we have to know it well enough to know if it is the voice of God or it is not. Labberton says that people can be “ventriloquists, imposing their voices where God’s belongs.” Learning the language of God is hard work; it takes time and it takes discernment.

The language of God’s heart is a foreign language for us all. None of us are native speakers. We could all do it but we have to want to do it, and for many, it is just too time consuming. We have other interests. We are sometimes just too lazy. Learning God’s language is like learning anything. You have to feel it is needed and worthwhile or you won’t do it.

The irony is that learning the language of God does have a huge payoff. The payoff is that we have a chance to be more fully ourselves as we begin to discern the will of God. Not only do we learn the true purpose of our lives but we begin to see that the purpose God intends for us leads us to true freedom and joy. Many don’t believe this. We need worship to convince us. We need Christian mentors, and teachers. We need to practice our language with others to really make it our own, so that it eventually comes out of our heart.

Labberton states that “the goal of taking every thought captive to Christ means moving toward the Rosetta Stone of the heart of God” [204]. It means looking at those our hearts call “strangers” and hearing in Jesus’ word that we should be calling them brothers, sisters and friends.

It was hard to travel in a new culture, not really speaking the dominant language, but when our trip was over, I felt like we had a successful trip. I did want to return home. I had days of stress trying to avoid horrible mistakes, but as our hosts took us to the airport and we said our final goodbyes, I began to cry. I tried to hold it in; I did not know where it came from, but I got very emotional.

I never became fluent in Spanish but over the week, communication occurred and it was good communication. I knew our Colombian friends appreciated us and I knew we liked them. I wanted to return to America where I was able to function better, but I felt a closeness to our new friends that was hard to explain.

Maybe a new language, a new language from my heart.

Labberton says God’s language takes time. “It starts on our lips, engages our minds and eventually emerges from our hearts” 204].

“God transcendently sees us from a wider vision of why and how we are.”*

I guess it is just human nature, the tendency to emphasize differences between ourselves and others, but I don’t believe that God sees us that way. I believe God sees value in all humans. After all, aren’t we made in His image?

Communication study has revealed the most important factors which make an impression on us as we encounter others. As humans, we jump to conclusions very quickly about other people due to the appropriateness or inappropriateness of their clothing. Body type comes into play next with the lean, muscular build [mesomorph] edging out the tall, less muscular build [ectomorph] and the heavy, less muscular build [endomorph] coming in last. Facial expression is the prominent feature as people draw closer. Positive facial expressions like the smile are much preferred [all features are going up]. Negative facial expressions are not preferred [a frown for example, with facial features going down].

Let’s stop.

Does any of this matter to God?

Not really. Judging people according to their clothing, their body type or their facial expression are concerns we have as humans. I don’t believe this is very important to God. Managing the impression we make on others is a conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event. Many of us try to manage our impressions because we want to be accepted by others or we want to influence others. Maybe we want to create a specific social identity through managing our impression.

If you believe in God, maybe this activity is futile. Labberton says “Our story is not finally our own. Our life is not our own. We ‘live and move and have our being’ because of God. We are the treasure of God’s design” [201].

Sounds like God is truly in control…of who we are.

If God sees through all of the stuff we do to impress others, what should we do? If we dedicate our lives to loving God, maybe we can begin to see ourselves and our neighbors more clearly. “The shadow lines fall in different places. Where there had been only shadows is now sight. What had been hidden is visible. What had seemed small may now be much bigger, and what may have seemed big might now be much smaller” [202]. In essence, we can begin to see the value in others as God sees value.

Differences begin to matter less, efforts at impression management may seem silly and harsh judgement can be abandoned for something more Christ-like…love.
Emphasizing my point of view at the expense of another’s is no longer appropriate. God does not want us to do that. Maybe even today’s focus on diversity is not correct. Emphasizing that culture is not monochromatic may be ok, if it keeps one perspective from overpowering all the others. But focusing on distinctions can draw people further apart rather than together. I believe God intends us to tear down walls of hostility. He wants us to live in peace and mutual respect.

Our discussion of Pastor Labberton’s book is drawing to a close and again his focus is on the similarity we see in all those who confess their love for Jesus.

“When every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, we will be a community.”

In God’s wider vision, maybe He sees us as a worshipping community, seeing each other as valued children of God, made in His image, loving Him, loving our neighbors and loving ourselves.

Ephesians 2:14 : “ For He himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…”

*Mark Labberton, The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor

Words come and go.

By that I mean that the times we live in can create words, the technology, the culture, the politics of the time. Today, America is going through a time when people line up against each other, democrat vs republican, liberal vs conservative, Fox viewer vs MSNBC viewer.

Tribal

That’s the word that is so popular today. The word “tribe” has been around since Roman times. It meant a division within a state. Over time, tribe came to mean a social group existing before the development of a state, distinct people who depend on the land for their livelihood, self-sufficient to the point that they were not part of a national society.*
Today, it has taken on the meaning that a person belongs to a tribe and all people within that tribe are without fault. Folks belonging to other “tribes” are wrong, misguided, dangerous to be around, illogical etc.etc.

Mark Labberton addresses tribes in his book The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor. He cites Philippians 2: 10-11: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father.”

Every knee should bend. Did you get it?

There is no group that is right or wrong. God supersedes all the divisions that man creates.

None of us is perfect. None of us have the view that God has. We all get caught up in the happenings of the day. We all forget that for Christians, the name of Jesus is what names us. We forget that our true identity should be all wrapped up in Jesus Christ. For people who don’t identify with Christianity, that is ok. They can claim that their identity is not wrapped up in Jesus and if they are not believers, their point is well taken. But what about the tribes that are occurring today in the Christian community, Christian pitted against Christian according to “tribal guidelines.”

Labberton states “the Jesus of the Gospels transforms lives by truth-telling….The biblical purpose of the revelation of this ultimate reality is not to breed passivity now but to shape life today in light of the fact that this is creation’s kingdom future.” This is the mission of the Christian; to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself. This tells us what matters in life. Labberton has written a book several years before today’s cultural climate but he states his case in the words: “our mission…distinguishes the tribe from the kingdom” and makes loving God and our neighbors a top priority. This mission helps us “recognize the urgent and define the essential.”

“Tribal” behavior in our culture is a word that has come and I hope the current meaning goes. Life is too difficult for our society to be divided up into pockets of like-minded people who denigrate other groups. I live in a state in the United States that has a motto which encourages cooperative behavior. Kentucky’s motto is “United We Stand; Divided We Fall”. I wonder if the same motto should be adopted by all people in the Christian community.

Hold on, maybe we have a motto already, one that fits perfectly with the first and second commandment.

It is found in John 13:34 and it goes like this: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

Enough said…

*Wikipedia “The history of the word tribe”

It’s that time of the year. The days are longer, the temperatures are warmer and the dirt has a rich aromatic smell. I find myself drawn outside, wanting to make things grow in the yard. I want to make things beautiful but to get them beautiful, I have to get dirt and mud all over my legs, arms and hands. I have to get dirty and not mind it.

Pastor Labberton* says as much about the Christian. The Christian has to be able to get dirty and not mind it.

Recently, my adult Sunday school class has been studying the Sermon on the Mount. We often take Biblical occurrences and put a twenty-first century spin on them. I think most of my class envisions Jesus going to the Mount, surrounded by some believers and some curiosity seekers and He is preaching His message to change the world. He speaks with authority which is a surprise. The people do not expect his message to be so strong. “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at His teaching, because He taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” [Matthew 7: 28-29].

Then Jesus came down from the Mount and did something very unusual. He talked to a leper, He touched the leper and the leper was healed. We picture Jesus as a Holy person, special in His words, His appearance and His ways. Yet here He is, touching an untouchable person, crossing the great divide to help one who really needed a healing.

In the process, He got His hands dirty. He behaved in a way that challenged the status quo of His society. Everyone knew not to touch a leper. Leviticus 13 has extensive regulations regarding leprosy, 1, 843 words. The bottom line is this: “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.” The life of the leper was the life of an outcast.

When Jesus did this, He was sending a strong message, that if there is a need you should meet it. It is Jesus acting out what He has stated in Luke 14:5. When your son falls in a well or your ox falls in a well, won’t you get it out? The answer is yes, even if it is on the Sabbath.

When the leper approached Jesus, he said “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” There was no hesitation. Jesus acted.

Earlier in the Sermon, Jesus told the multitude that we are to be holy, perfect as God is perfect. That admonition is such a challenge. Most of us know we fall short of perfect and even if we worked hard to be perfect, what does perfect look like? Perfect looks like Jesus touching an unclean person.

Sunday a lay speaker preached at our church. Over the years she has been on many mission trips to Costa Rica. She has described her trips, the rough terrain, the poverty, the lack of clean housing. She has taken her time to go there to help those less fortunate. She has chosen to leave her clean environment, running water, air conditioning and all the comforts that we have and go to a place where people are struggling to better themselves. Where people have a hunger for God.

Labberton comments on missionaries, feeling that they are not afraid to get dirty. “They encounter God in the dirt of it all. When they show up for forgotten people, it may not smell good. When they develop honest enough friendships in such settings, they learn that the aroma of their own life isn’t neutral or savory all the time either. Sometimes it takes being in the smelliest or dirtiest place to discover human dignity despite our biases. God’s presence amid the poor” [198].

God’s presence amid the dirt.

*author of The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor

As we get closer to finishing the discussion of Mark Labberton’s The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor, Pastor Labberton begins to call us to imagine what God sees when He looks at us.

Maybe this is the beginning of transformation: “taking stock”.

Maybe for us to adopt God’s view, it can be compared to that sideways look in the three way mirror in the clothing store when we see an angle that is not the straight-on look we are used to seeing. It can be a bit of a shock but it is the truth nevertheless. We are seeing parts that we are not used to seeing and we may not like what we are seeing, but those parts are there.

Labberton has written throughout his book about our distorted view of ourselves, that view that excuses our inaction to help our neighbors, that view that looks right into the mirror and “good Christian” looks back at us when maybe that is not quite the image we should be seeing. The problem is that without the inspiration from Jesus and God, “Left to our own devices, human beings feebly and anemically reflect the heart of God” [Labberton, 191].

Yes, we have reached the point in the book when we have to be honest. Maybe you are feeling like you don’t do enough to help your neighbors. What do you need to do to get that passion for helping others? What do you have to do to have just a small part of the heart of God? What do we need to do to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God [Micah 6:8]? You see, God’s ways are not our ways; God’s heart is not our heart. Sadly, our heart is horribly distracted by the world; we most often move toward those who have stature and away from those who do not. What can we do to feel the passion and fight the distraction?

Labberton states that first and foremost, we must know that we have a God who deserves to be worshipped and we need to worship Him. Worship of God is a “central catalyst” in making our heart mirror God’s. Labberton says that “placing ourselves in contexts where we deliberately seek God’s transforming, renewing grace is a vital spiritual exercise. [Worship] means the Holy Spirit can come into our hearts and minds, replacing the mirror by which we see ourselves, one another and God” [193]. The new mirror may be more accurate.

The second place to find passion for helping our neighbors is regular reading of God’s Word. God’s Word can do so much for us. It can inspire us, it can inform us, it can regulate our behavior and yes, it can transform us. Labberton writes about the many stories of Jesus’ effect on those around Him, the fact that His Disciples had hearts that were not like His. They were “scandalized, argumentative, embarrassed, clueless, offended, adamant, dismissive, and distracted” [192]. They were just like we are. But what happened to these men over time? Their hearts moved toward the hearts of the powerless, toward giving grace to those who suffered. The woman with the flow of blood got attention, when they really wanted to run on their way. The tax collector’s invitation was accepted even though he was a socially undesirable man. Jesus spoke truth to the scribes and Pharisees because He was redefining what really matters to God in this world, not the countless man-made rules.  But Jesus was stating practical commandments that made sense in the world of His day, commandments that reflected the grace of God.

Worship and study of God’s Word may inspire people who are already Christian but what can we do to get people who are not Christian see our ways and understand? What can we do to help others to transform from our transformation?

It is our actions. The people of God, filled with the Spirit, seeing and naming the world in God’s compassionate ways can take action. It is our service that will convince others that we are “real”.  Becoming people who help those less fortunate is the biggest action we can achieve. This will convince them that our calling is real.

God sees us and says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Imago Dei is at the core of everyone’s life. Imago Dei means that God shines in everyone’s life. It can be the image that we glimpse in the three-way mirror, what Labberton calls the “marker that makes us unmistakably God’s and unmistakably ourselves” [193].