Study::Acts 1:15-26

Acts 1:15-26 (NIV)
¹⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) ¹⁶ and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus– ¹⁷ he was one of our number and shared in this ministry.” ¹⁸ (With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. ¹⁹ Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) ²⁰ “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the book of Psalms, “‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, “‘May another take his place of leadership.’ ²¹ Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²² beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” ²³ So they proposed two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. ²⁴ Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen ²⁵ to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” ²⁶ Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.

Interesting how Peter and the others seem to understand the scriptures (This seems to unveil another one of our “western mindset mess-ups”). Peter understands that he is in an ongoing story that God is writing. He looks back to the text (Old Testament) to understand where he may possibly be in the story at this time. As he recalls Psalm 69 & 109, he sees the whole tragedy of Judas’ defection and suicide in context. He understands that God new this part of the story would come and now Peter adjusts accordingly. However, this leaves me with a couple of questions:

…They cast lots…what’s up with that? I just need insight into why that was an “ok” option. I understand that they put their trust into God “knowing their hearts”, but why cast lots? Was this a plausible interaction with God in 1st century Jewish culture? Was this action taken because the Spirit had not yet come?

So what else is going on here that we can gather? Jesus tells them to change the world, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, but he says, “DON’T GO ANYWHERE, DO ANYTHING, UNTIL THE SPIRIT COMES!” So in the time between those words and the Spirit falling like fire, we see the followers doing three things: (apparently) Studying the text, praying, and waiting. Their time in the text helped give clues to where they may be in the story. So they took action on the scripture. They structured themselves by adding Matthias to the mix. They felt freedom to make the structural move, but they did not feel the freedom, or permission, yet to make a missional move…to go.

When you lay this text over the current local church, how does it shake out. Should we respond the same? Should we structure ourselves for movement but refuse to move until the Holy Spirit specifically comes in power. It seems as though the North American church has only camped out in the former…Read the scriptures and do what you want, not praying for the Spirit to come in power and move in a specific way to your context. In my context, should I structure student ministry to be ready for movement, but refuse to move until the Holy Spirit comes in power on us to move us in a specific way for our context (Canton, Ohio)? Is this an over-spiritualization of the text or is it a discovery that the Spirit’s power seems to be absent in so may churches. Let’s be honest, for much of what goes on in our organization, the Spirit really doesn’t need the credit…in other words, it is explainable in man’s terms. This leads me back to a recent belief of mine, you don’t need God to build a “church” in America, you just need some really good salesmen who are dynamic communicators and people will show up. How else do you explain huge churches that seem to not care about things that are so dear to God’s heart. Welcome to my journey of, “Am I just really cynical or is God growing a holy discontent in my heart?” journey.

A recent discussion with my friend added this truth to the dilema above…the whole waiting on the Spirit to come in power.  The Spirit lives within us as followers of Jesus…alright I have to stop for a second…

If GOD…think about that…GOD…GOD HIMSELF…THE HOLY SPIRIT…lives within a person, can you imagine how different that person’s life will be than the “pre-God-infestation” person that they used to be.  Am I expecting to much of us as followers?   Why in the world is there like NO POWER in most of our lives?  Makes me wonder if many of us have suppressed the Spirit or if the Spirit was never in us in the first place because we never really gave our lives to Christ…we were more just like, “Hey Jesus, I’m living my life here…uhhh, I could use that forgiveness thing you are giving out for free, so come on and join my life”.  But Jesus is like, “Ummm, I want to kill your life so you can come and join mine.”

Sorry.  Where was I?  Oh ya, so in Acts 1 the people are waiting for the Spirit to fall.  The thing is, for those of us who are followers of Jesus, the Spirit has already fallen on our lives.  He is in us.  The Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our bodies.  So what does praying and waiting look like for us post-Pentecost?  What do we wait for?  Do we wait for the Spirit within us to speak to us?  Does the Spirit come in power even when you already posses the Spirit.  Ya…help!  Throw me a bone here.

Passion::Washington D.C.

I am at the Passion Conference (www.268generation.com) this weekend in Washington D.C. Am am without my family, but only without their physical presence. They are definitely with me.

I knew God would speak to me this weekend, I just knew it. I have a full day ahead of me where I am sure he will speak more great things into me, but if he doesn’t He has definitely spoken to me something amazing already.

During a time of singing near the end of the day he explained to me where he has placed grace in my life. I am fully aware that I am unaware how big his grace is. I am fully aware that I do not understand how much sin he has had to cover in my life. Grace is something that I have struggled to get my head around my whole life…I mean the depth of it. I best understand grace as God giving me something I do not deserve and mercy as God not giving me what I do. But last night he showed me a new face to grace (actually 5 new faces to grace). God showing me this led to a time of weeping, it evens wells up in me now as I type. But this was a joyous sob.

So here’s what Grace looks like:

Daughter 1: God told me, “You get to be her father! You are so lucky.” She is so amazing. Something that just makes me cry tears of great joy and pride about her is that she has befriended the friendless at her school. She doesn’t understand yet how big of a deal that is. As I sat last night covered in tears I saw how much she resembles Jesus. I am so proud of her. I love her. And I get to be her dad…SO TAKE THAT WORLD! She is my daughter! That’s God grace. I sure don’t deserve to have such an amazing daughter, but I do.

Son 1: One again the voice of God said, “You get to be his father! You are so lucky.” He is such an awesome kid. He is full of passion (mostly for sports right now just like me when I was 8 yrs. old). He is animated. He is funny. He is an amazing kid for sure. I am pretty hard on him sometimes. I don’t want to be a dad that in anyway messes up his amazing spirit. Tonight, I got to the bottom of why I am tough on him sometimes….it’s because I want him to be so passionate for God. I want him to be a brave warrior for Jesus. I want him to be a leader that carries the same kind of passion, animation and humor that he carries now. So sometimes I overreact to his mess-ups because I see them as obstacles to the great kid that I know he is. He is an awesome boy and I want to be an encourager to him. I love him. And I get to be his dad…SO TAKE THAT WORLD! He is my son! That’s God grace. I sure don’t deserve to have such an amazing son, but I do.

Daughter 2: “Smiley”. That’s enough said really. She is just one big smile and I love her! Her smile makes my day when I see it, it brightens my day. It is like sunshine to me. I pray that the paths that she chooses in life always make that smile bigger and never take it away. I love her. And I get to be her dad…SO TAKE THAT WORLD! She is my daughter! That’s God grace. I sure don’t deserve to have such an amazing daughter, but I do.

Daughter 3: Ally is so beautiful (All my kids are really beautiful kids…they get it all from their mother). She is the little girl who has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. When I look at her, I just smile. When I see her I see God’s beauty. I pray that as she grows, her inward beauty makes her outward beauty look small. I pray that she would have a beautiful heart for Jesus. I love her. And I get to be her dad…SO TAKE THAT WORLD! She is my daughter! That’s God grace. I sure don’t deserve to have such an amazing daughter, but I do.

Susan: I have always seen Susan as a picture of God’s grace in my life. She is an amazing wife. God showed me last night that Susan loves the Brad that God has created. She loves me, the me that God has redeemed and purposed for this world. She has looked past all of the “dead Brad” that God has done away with. Without Susan I am not Brad. She is part of me. She is within me like the blood in my veins, she is one with me in life. I couldn’t be any luckier, any more thankful. I love her. And I get to be her husband…SO TAKE THAT WORLD…SORRY GUYS, I GOT THE #1! She is my wife! I can’t believe it! That’s God grace. I sure don’t deserve to have such an amazing wife, but I do.

God…Thank you for your grace! Thank you for 5 faces of grace that change my life.

Study::Acts 1:9-14

Okay, almost completely missed out on some great stuff because I thought I had nothing else to learn from this passage. I started reading these few verses and thought, “I really don’t want to start any discussions about the ascension. Don’t we all know everything there is to know about the ascension. Jesus rose, he’s alive. He beat the power of death, which (death) is the biggest stick in the enemies bag . The resurrection gives us eternal life. Learned it, got it, I’m good…thanks…next verse.”

First of all, that is a really lame view of the resurrection, I know that deep inside. I almost feel dirty writing those thoughts out. But, it is often preached that simply from pulpits isn’t it? I think we save our one resurrection message for RESURRECTION SUNDAY, WOO HOO! Put your pastel tie on ’cause it’s Easter baby and Jesus is alive. But doesn’t the fact that the resurrection message only gets preached once a year prove that we don’t get Easter at all? I am keenly aware that this lad doesn’t understand much about how earth-changing (literally) that moment was in time.

Prayer: God, thank you for still speaking into me and loving me when you know that I don’t get you at all. Seriously, how many times do you look at me and go, “kid’s an idiot…but Me I love him!”. I know you do.

Side Note: Susan is cleaning out the fridge behind me…something has to be dead in there. I am literally typing with my shirt pulled up over my nose. She just brought at plastic bowl over to me and said “Think this could be it?” (A bowl crusted over with an inch of mold…couldn’t even make out what was underneath the mold.) I just about used the Dell Warranty that covers your laptop when you vomit on it! By the way, you’re all invited over for dinner tonight…we’re having left overs!

Alright, here we go:

Acts 1:9-11 (NIV)
⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. ¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

As I said before, I thought this was a “one-point” passage. However, I am beginning to see why Rabbis would say that the text is like a gem, that when you turn it ever so slightly you see something new and beautiful.

Your Thoughts Please: N.T. Wright says, “Talking about ‘heaven and earth’ is a way, in the Bible, of talking about the fact, as many people and many cultures have perceived it to be, that everything in our world (call it ‘earth’ for the sake of argument, though that can be confusing because that is also the name we give to our particular planet within our particular solar system, where as ‘earth’ in the Bible really means the entire cosmos of space, time and matter) has another dimension, another sort of reality, that goes with it as well.”…”The reality is this: ‘heaven’ is God’s space and ‘earth’ is our space. Heaven isn’t just ‘the happy place where God’s people go when they die’, and it certainly isn’t our ‘home’ if by that you mean (as some Christians , sadly, have meant) that our eventual destiny is to leave the ‘earth’ altogether and go to ‘heaven’ instead. God’s plan, as we see again and again in the Bible, is for ‘new heavens and new earth’, and for them to be joined together in that renewal once and for all. ‘Heaven’ may well be our temporary home, after this present life; but the whole new world, united and transformed, is our eventual destination.” What do you think about that?

Hang with me here on this ‘heaven and earth’ stuff because I believe our understanding of it has everything to do with how we view the church now and why she exists.

Part of the the amazing power of Jesus’ resurrection is that it was the beginning of God restoring all things (a new heaven and new earth) back to himself. Jesus’ death and resurrection then isn’t just about personal salvation (redeeming you and me), but it is much greater…He is redeeming the whole cosmos and everything in it back to Himself. Wright says it like this, “(God’s Power) could at last burst forth and produce the beginning, the pilot project, of that joining-up heaven-and-earth reality which is God’s plan for the whole world.”

Note: So if I understand correctly, Jesus resurrected body is the kind of body (and the only kind thus far) that we will inherit in ‘the age to come’. Your thoughts are most definitely welcomed on this.
So if heaven is God’s space and earth is our space then eternity, or ‘the age to come’, is when those things meet in perfection and this will be what we have traditionally (though maybe mistakenly as far as the actual word) know as ‘heaven’. This brings up and interesting point then: Where was it that ‘heaven and earth’ came together before Jesus? It was in the temple. God’s presence, his space resided in a particular place on this planet…in the temple, in the Holy of Holies. And after Jesus work was done, he claimed that we were the new temple…his church…because the Holy Spirit resides within us. Therefore it is the church (at this time…until he fully reunites ‘heaven and earth’ and his Kingdom comes in all its fullness) where the meeting of heaven and earth is displayed.

This is why he has made us a Kingdom of Priests (Exodus 19:6, 1 Peter 2:9), because we are to bring heaven to earth and put the divine on display by loving the Lord your God with all your heart (being set apart)…and loving your neighbor as yourself (being on mission).

Now this will tie us back into the purpose of worship, prayer and waiting on the Holy Spirit to come with power. Why do we then worship and pray as a church? Because that is how we reach into God’s space, heaven, while still keeping the other hand at work with the mission on earth. It is the act of worship, prayer and waiting that will allow the Spirit to yield His power to us.

A struggle (one of the very, very few) I have had with this movement of God to move his church back to being missional, is the fact that when we are in these times of transition in history we tend to swing the pendulum to far the other way. To Worship and pray without being on mission would leave us void of what God has purposed us for (this is where I have seen the North American church for as long as I have lived)… and to be only about mission (namely justice, or the bringing of ’shalom”) without being a church of worship and prayer would leave us powerless to bring God’s real restoration to anything. Therefore we are to be a holy people (set apart) who are on mission (sent out). We are to me light (set apart) in the darkness (on mission). Am I making any sense?

PATH MARKER #2

A recent truth that God has pressed upon my heart is that church has erorred in focusing solely on holiness (not being of the world) or focusing solely on mission (being in the world).  We need to be both.  One without the other falls short and is not the full gospel.

Church =  Holy + Missional

Church = Set apart + Sent Out

Church = Not being of the world + but being in the world 

So what does a local church look like when it is a pure reflection of just that?  That’s the million dollar question.

The beauty of living on this side of the resurrection is that we have the great privilege of partnering with God in a mission that has a guaranteed outcome, thanks to the death and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ. It is the power of the resurrection that has given us a glimpse into the reality that all things will be made new, all things will be restored, there will be a ‘new heaven and a new earth’. Jesus is the first of all who will know this full reality. We will know it one day. We will receive our new bodies (1 Corinthians 15) that will be able to exist in the ‘new heaven and new earth’. Until that day, may we ever be reaching into ‘heaven’ through worship and prayer, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us, His work on ‘earth’ may continue to move toward completion.

Study::Acts 1:1-8

I am studying the book of Acts right now. My main source is N.T. Wright’s commentary Acts for Everyone Part 1.
I have been encouraged by a friend with the following:

“You have experienced much, and helped lead the youth into places that you didn’t even know existed as you have followed God. But as good as it is, it’s only a drop in the bucket to what God wants to do. The Kingdom really is the pearl of great price and it’s better and worth more than any of us can imagine. I share this because movements of God seem to quit moving if leaders lose the vision to keep pressing on–not in discontent, but true hunger and thirst to know God more deeply and to be used by Him. Secondly, I’d like to ask you to think and search and research about what the Church really is. If we strip it of all cultural expressions we’ve learned, what is it? To me, that is the central question of the season. If Jesus is building something that the gates of Hell cannot prevail against, what is that something? What do the scriptures say? How is that applied in Canton, or Columbus in specific cultural contexts. What is flexible? What is never to change?”

So I have chosen to begin to reflect on the book of Acts…uhhh…so here we go with a sense of expectation that God will reveal Himself and His rule to us in more clear and amazing ways!

ACTS
N.T. Wright suggests that the book of Acts is like “The Deeds and Teachings of Jesus II (Part 2)”. I can jive with that. I have heard others say that it should be titled “Acts of the Holy Spirit” instead of Acts of the Apostles. At the end of the day if we get stuck at the title, aren’t we missing the point before we get started. The whole “what should we title this?” thing by pastors seems to be such a gimmick sometimes to add flash to their point or to package a truth so that consumers…uhhumm “members”… might buy it. So may we leave the title and get to the story and how God continues to write it (cynicism grabs at my heels often…this is one thing that I hope to leave behind in my journey.).

Acts 1:1-5 (NIV)
¹ In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach ² until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. ³ After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. ⁴ On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. ⁵ For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

All the things Jesus BEGAN to teach – I love how this indicates that Jesus continues to be at work today.

The fact that Jesus spoke of the Kingdom in those days between his resurrection and ascension means much to me. If you had 40 days to “rewind” with the leaders you were about to trust the organism (not organization) too, what are you going to focus them on? Jesus’ priority seems to still be same as he taught us in the Lord’s paryer, “Let your Kingdom come.” Jesus opened up the Kingdom’s “breaking in” and now he is reminding them about what that means. Obviously this risen Jesus with his new body, a body that is more than our ordinary bodies (not less, like a ghost), is a very real visual that part of what the Kingdom breaking in is saying is that when the Kingdom breaks in at any level, it means “better” comes to the world.

- So then, part of the church’s role is to bring “better” to hurt world. We should be moving with Jesus as he moves to better all things unto full completion (best). So if we are moving forward, swimming in the flow of what God is up to, then our focus is on “bettering” ourselves, others, the earth, etc. I am not speaking on a “self-help” level of bettering, all though maybe that has a place as well.  I am more so speaking of justice and grace issues.

vs. 4 – Jesus takes them back to what it looked like when his ministry began, when he began to unfold among us what it looks like when the Kingdom comes. He is saying, there will be a start like that. Just as the Spirit was present at Jesus baptism, so again he (the Spirit) will be present at this new beginning. And what are we to do to await that start (I’m jumping ahead aren’t I?…upper room)? We are to pray and wait.

PATH MARKER #1 (“Path Markers” are BIG things, ideas, thoughts, etc. that God has been laying on my heart)
Path Marker #1 that God is saying to me is that praying and waiting have been forsaken by his church. This is why we have mega-churches in cities all over our country and yet those cities largely remain the same as they were before that “church” showed up. I really believe this, we are growing massive organizations with no power in them. And guess what, in large part, I feel as though I have to include myself in that powerless growing of a ministry.  I can’t honestly mark myself as a man filled with power from the Holy Spirit through prayer and waiting.  And yet I know the Spirit lives in me.

Acts 1:6-8 (NIV)
⁶ So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

I understand this as follows:

First, Jesus completely wrecked their game plan/expectations with his death and confused them with his resurrection. I can imagine their roller-coaster of thoughts, “He’s the Messiah, he’s going to overthrow Rome and restore Israel to rule over the world…(Mother to Jesus) Jesus, can my boys have a top position in your government?”…then…”What has happened? How could he die? I thought he was the Messiah!”…to…”Whewwww, you scared me there for a minute (or 3 days). Ok, so are you ready to overthrow Rome now…LET’S GO! CHARGE!”

And yet Jesus ruins their refreshed game plan yet again. He instead speaks the language used in the situation when a new king is put into power…in essence he says, “the Kingdom is already in place and I am ruling, and you are to go and announce, “We have a new King!” to others. Such a predicatable Jesus move. This isn’t about brute force or violence or overthrowing a governmental world power…it’s much bigger than that! This is a declaration that the forces which hold the world captive are now under a holy attack…the King has come and he has brought his Kingdom with him (my blood pressure is rising as I type that…I feel like shouting, man God is so good!) and the powers of darkness are in grave trouble.

And Jesus isn’t preaching an escapist message. He isn’t saying, “tell everyone that in the near future we are all getting on a spaceship and escaping this hell-hole.” He loves his creation. This brings up questions of “a new heaven and a new earth”. Does that mean this earth is restored? What would make us believe that this restored Kingdom is the sweet bye and bye that we have been taught in Sunday School?

And my last thought:
So to keep a right perspective: God has the authority. The authority in the Kingdom does not belong to any man, no matter his position. The Kingdom authority is God’s alone. What he gives us is the power (through the Holy Spirit) to accomplish the further in-breaking of the kingdom. And we can expect that power to come as a result of prayer and waiting correct? Man, I can see so much how we get so wrapped up in our “church-building adventures” or our strategies of “getting more people to come to this sucker!” Sometimes our North American church seems SO FAR from where God’s heart is. I desire a community of people who move only on the giving of the power of the Holy Spirit. I want to finish knowing that I helped the King move his Kingdom closer to it’s full completion. That’s all I want.

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