What God Really Wants for You

 

I love the lamppost that is in our front yard.  The previous owner of our house was British and claims to have brought it over from London at one time.  Apparently it originally lit some street in that great city, probably for many years.

When I see the lamppost it always reminds me of one of my favorite book series, of course by C.S. Lewis, which we now call the Chronicles of Narnia.  In the second book, we are taken into England during World War II when a group of children are sent into the country to flee the German bombing of London and wind up staying in a large old house.  In this house is a wardrobe, and in the wardrobe are a bunch of coats hanging up where they have been for many years.  But during a game of hide and seek, one of the children pushes her way back to the back of the wardrobe only to find that the hanging coats end and she suddenly touches snow-covered tree branches.  She steps out into another world full of strange creatures, forces of good and evil, and a solitary lamppost in the woods.

After convincing her siblings to come with her into this world, they are involved for quite a number of years in freeing this land, Narnia, from the evil witch that has ruled the land for many years and who has maintained winter during her entire reign.  In the end, these 4 children become kings and queens in Narnia and are able to rule through adolescence and into adulthood.  That whole time, the lamppost remained alone in the woods, burning brightly and marking the place where they entered the new land.

In the end, the children, now adults, are on a hunt one day and come across the lamppost that they had forgotten about.  They find themselves clawing their way through a thick stand of brush only to discover that they are now touching coats, and finally they push their way out of an old wardrobe into the same room that they had left seemingly long ago.  However, they quickly find that they are children again and that no time has passed since they left.

To me, our lamppost is a reminder of what the Lord can do in anyone's life.  Like the children, we were going through life doing our own thing only to be enticed into a space that we had never been before, then to discover that it led to a land that we could never imagine.  Like in the story, our lamppost marks the place where God had us land in this new place.  It also is a reminder that, like the children, we may at some point go past the lamppost one last time and be taken somewhere else.  God is allowed to do that, you know.

I'm not saying that I think we will go back to Texas at some point.  I really don't believe that.  For whatever reason, our life there seems to be over, although I know enough now to not state anything about my life with absolute certainty.  I really don't even know what the next hour of my life will be like, so how could I even talk about a distant future?  What I am trying to say is that the Lord might, just might, continue this journey that he's taking us on into a new and different place.

Now, let's return to the original questions.

Why does the Lord ask us to do things?

Why and under what line of reasoning should you and I say yes to what the Lord wants us to do?

To find some answers, we of course have to examine what the Bible has to say about it.

Why did God ask Abram to move his family to a new land?
Why did God ask Abram to sacrifice his son, the one promised to him for about 30 years, on an altar?
Why did God chose Moses, Gideon, Sampson, and David to lead His people?  All were deeply flawed.
Why chose Saul to help establish God's Kingdom after Jesus left the earth?  This guy was a murderer and a zealot.

You and I tend to focus only on the results.  Didn't Saul/ Paul have great leadership capability and zeal?  Sure he did, and he was a good choice for the work.  Didn't David show amazing devotion to the Lord?  Without question.  God Himself even said that David's heart was "one after his own."  Didn't Gideon turn out to be a fantastic military leader.  He was.  Wasn't Sampson a natural leader in his own right?  He was.  Look at all of the people who followed him.  Wasn't Moses humble, and didn't he keenly listen to what the Lord told him?  He did, probably better than most people who have ever lived.

But if you and I stop there, we've missed the whole point.  God doesn't use people because He needs their skill set.  God doesn't actually need you and I at all.  His Kingdom doesn't unravel if someone doesn't do what He says, and He doesn't wring his hands expectantly when you and I are considering whether we will obey or not.  If we make a mistake, a building doesn't crumble in the Heavenly realm, and it doesn't set back the plans for 100 years.

The reason why God does things in you and me, and the reason why He asks you to do things for Him, is...are you ready for this?  Because He wants to be in your life, and wants you to know Him for who He is.

Think about it.  Yes, Moses was used in the single greatest event in the history of Israel, the event that the Lord himself referred back to in the rest of the Bible over and over again. But look at how close Moses got to the Lord during that time.  He spoke to God in a conversational style, in burning bushes, on mountains, in the wilderness.  He got to do that all of the time, and became so close to the Lord that it says that when he died, the Lord himself buried him in a secret place in the mountains.

Look at Gideon.  He was a coward who was hiding from the invading army of people until God gave him a task to fulfill.  He lead armies, and he led a few people who conquered an army of several hundred thousand.  Over that time, Gideon learned to know the Lord and to trust Him with bigger and bigger things.

Look at Saul/ Paul.  The Lord completely turned this guy's life around.  He learned who God really is, learned about His purpose for the world, and followed that path down a road of hardship and pain.  And in the end he was probably one of the most joyful people who ever lived in spite all of the hardship because he knew the Lord so intimately.

You can say the same thing about Abram/ Abraham.  The Lord took him through successively greater tasks and accomplished a much greater purpose for millions of people in the life of this one guy.  But what Abraham would tell you is that he learned to know the Lord during that time.  He didn't even get to experience the end result of God's plan for His people because he died before it came to pass.  But he did get closer to the Lord and in the end was referred to as "God's friend."

My life has so far been patterned after that of Abraham, and that isn't lost on me.  Would God lead me to the Northwest just because He wanted to see if I would do it?  Yes He would.  And He would do it because He has more of Himself for me to discover later.  The first step on a life of obedience to the Lord is obedience right now.  And in just the sheer act of moving here, I'm a lot closer to the Lord than I was several years ago.  Yet I still have far to go with Him.

Be assured that whatever the Lord wants you to do now is more about His relationship with you than it is about what you will accomplish.  What He wants more than anything else is for you to know Him.  You and I have a hard time believing that, but it is true.  He doesn't need you.  Instead, He wants you.  You didn't choose him first.  He chose you first.  You didn't die for Him first.  He died for you first.

Hopefully as you hear the still, small voice of the Lord speaking into your life, you will listen and be curious about Him.  You hopefully will choose to follow simply because the King asked you to follow, not because of the task.  That's what He wants from you and me.  He is on a mission in this world and chooses to invite us to participate in that mission here, but the benefit isn't the number of people who are saved, the good works done, the people loved, or the brokenness healed.  Those things are all beautiful and wonderful, but they can't be pursued as a goal or an end.  No, the benefit in getting to participate in these things is in getting to know the Lord Himself, and that is what He ultimately wants to do in you.

Turning the Other Cheek

 

There are moments in life that I remember pretty vividly.  For someone like me, it is always associated with strong emotions;  some positive and others negative, but always strong.  I had one of those a few months ago while in downtown Everett with my family that, as it turns out, has been a pretty pivotal situation when it comes to how I think about what I've been put here in Everett to do.

We were in downtown for a car show and had a small group from Texas that was with us over the weekend to help us serve at the show.  We try to be out on the streets to get a feel for what's going on in the city and to talk to people so this was for us another opportunity to gain better understanding of the culture we find in downtown.  I highly value time like this whether I get to talk to people or not because it is great time to pray and spend with the Lord.

On that day myself and my kids were wearing our "what is your purpose?" shirts that connect to Purpose Church.  We have found that questions like this are good for starting conversations similar to the one that we posed a couple of years ago, "who is Jesus to you?"  They aren't meant to be offensive and both questions have netted some interesting answers from people.  The Jesus question is interesting because I've found He is many things to many people:  myth, good teacher, prophet, Son of God.  For the purpose question, that's a harder one for people to answer because I think many people just haven't thought about it.

So there I was with my 5 boys, wearing our shirts and enjoying the sunshine and classic cars on a very pretty day in downtown while walking down the sidewalk.  I remember seeing ahead of me that we were approaching some tables outside of a bar where two guys were sitting and watching the parade.  I wasn't paying a lot of attention until the voice of one of the guys interrupted my thoughts.

"You got a purpose?"

I looked up to see one of the men looking at me intently.

I replied pretty quickly.  "Yes, I do have a purpose here but I'm curious about what you have to say?  What would you say your purpose is?"

The man's snide reply also came quickly.  "Want to know what my purpose is?  Here's my purpose."  And he immediately raised his middle finger to me.  "That's my purpose, right there."

Here time stopped.

My five boys were around me at the time and all of them were looking at the man with huge eyes.  They were probably wondering two things:  why did that man do that?  What is Dad going to do?

My mind was frozen.  What do you say in a moment like that?  Why would anyone say this when my kids are right there?

I really don't know what the man was thinking.  It is possible he was drunk.  It is likely he's angry at the world and drowning it at the bar like many people do, attempting to kill an old pain or gloss over an unhealed wound.

I had a few options in that moment and had to make a decision immediately.  Would I start a fist fight with this man who had insulted me and shamed our family?  Would I get into an argument with him and try to convince him that his response was wrong?  Would I passionately argue with him that his worldview was all wrong?  Or, would I let it go?  My kids were waiting to see which option I would take.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it in that way," I said.  "Come on boys."  We walked away at that moment as the man sneered at us.

"Dad...why did he say that to you?"

"I...don't know buddy.  I don't know."

I think this guy knew we were members of a church.  It is possible also that he knew we follow Jesus.  I only say that because we've had other cases on the street where there wasn't any other explanation for people's behavior to us.  To follow Jesus and state His name seems to get a rise out of people that is either peaceful or hateful.  There isn't an in-between.

I'm sure many people would read this and come up with a bunch of snappy comments that could have been shot back at the man.  Others would thump their Bible and say "well, why didn't you say this?"  You could probably come up with many different things that could have been said in that moment or things that could have been done, and I'm sure many of your ideas would be good.  But I didn't do those things.  Instead, I walked away.

In that moment I believe I did what was supposed to be done, and said what was supposed to be said.  Remember, my kids were around me when this happened.  While they wouldn't care to admit it publicly, I know enough about them to know that they do observe me and will mimic my actions when their time comes.  Kids do listen to our words, but our actions actually have a larger impact on them than words.  I can say that they shouldn't yell at each other, but if I yell over things they did, they learn that behavior from me.  Alternately, if they see me caring for the broken or the down and out, they probably will do the same more often than if they just heard me talk about it and not take action.

But when it comes down to it, you and I are also children and pay a lot of attention to actions as well.  Are there specific behaviors that your parents did that you yourself now do?  Maybe they had a volatile temper and now you find yourself with that same temper.  Maybe they loved people from all backgrounds and with all skin colors and you do the same now.  We mimic what we see modeled.

And of course the one that I follow modeled this behavior for me.  While I wasn't there to witness Him saying these words or to see him follow them with action as he was slapped, beaten, spit upon, insulted, and abandoned, I know He modeled them perfectly.

 

Matthew 5:38-40  New International Version (NIV)

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’^{[a] 39} But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.

So it seems that children really do examine and follow the example of our Dads.   

I don't draw attention to this to glorify myself.  Some of you who know me well know that I sometimes struggle with anger.  My first inclination with the man on the street was to do what Jesus did, but for a while after it happened I entertained the idea of going back and giving him a piece of my mind.  Yet it's important to note that this Jesus helped me in the moment to live in the way that I'm supposed to live, and to model for my kids what has to be done in a situation like that.  That's what Jesus does.  He takes a broken vessel like myself and makes it new.  He takes someone with rough edges, faults, and deficiencies and turns them into a new thing.  It's not in a single moment that He does this either.  It takes a lifetime of walking with Him, and He does that for those who follow.

Could the Gospel story have been shared with this man at that moment?  Perhaps.  Could a sermon have been preached in that moment?  Maybe.  Could I have sat down and heard his life story?  It is possible.  However, the purpose of that moment, I believe, was to instruct my kids. 

These days it is hard in American society to behave in the manner that Jesus described, but I believe we are still called to do it.  It is unfortunate that we've not degraded ourselves to the level that we argue about everything.  Disagreements in political philosophies have now turned into discussions of people as "good" or "bad" human beings. Facebook posts get more and more bold, and listening to talk radio and reading blogs only emboldens us to speak in abrasive tones to others because we are right and everybody else is wrong.   Yet Jesus wasn't one to argue.  He had definite feelings about the way things are in this world and He shared those openly, but in moments when He was accused of wrongdoing though He was innocent, He didn't even respond to those charges when given the opportunity to argue.  He saw the uselessness of that, and He was on a mission and determined to complete it.

How about you?  How do Jesus's words impact you, and how will you live differently in this broken world this very week?  What will your actions say about you this week?  Is your allegiance to being right all of the time, or to truth?  Is it with political philosophy, or with God's Kingdom?