Child of God

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

th-11When I went looking for a picture to go along with yesterday’s Catch, I typed “peacemaker” in the image search engine, and got an array of pictures of a gun. Not quite what I expected. Apparently “peacemaker” is the name of a popular gun collector’s item, a Colt 45 that was the U.S. Army official service revolver from 1873-1892. I also found pictures of a very large aircraft — the Convair B-36 bomber — the largest mass-produced piston-engine aircraft ever made, and operated solely by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. It was designed specifically to carry nuclear th-8weapons long distances and could travel almost halfway around the world without refueling.

In both of these instances, “peace” was maintained by way of the threat of destructive force. You will be peaceful because I’ve got the gun and I can blow you away. Or, Your country will be at peace with us because you know we have the capability of wiping your entire nation off the face of the earth.

Not the kind of peacemaker Jesus was talking about, and yet it is the kind of “peace” many Christians have taken up in the last few decades. There is a militant strain of Christianity that has evidenced itself ever since Christians gained power socially and politically in America. Under the guise of a culture war, Christians have taken to trying to win back lost values by force, as if a Colt 45 in hand would make the country a more Christian nation.

When Jesus talks about making peace, He means to come from a humble, sacrificial place, not a place of superior firepower. Our weapons are not protected by the NRA; they are weapons of righteousness and the power of love.

We’re not going to set back global conflicts or generations-old hatred, but we can bring peace to our sphere of influence. We can return good for evil, and pray for those who set themselves up as some kind of personal enemies. We can spread goodwill everywhere we go, and treat everyone with respect — no exceptions. We can take the lower place and lift up the fallen and the downcast. We can be peaceful and make peace with everyone who will accept it.

We have the most powerful weapons in the world at our disposal: they are the fruits of the Spirit, and they are “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

This is the way we change the world as followers of Christ and representatives of the Gospel of Welcome, and as children of God.

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Be a peacemaker

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

th-10When our firstborn son, Christopher, was about six months old, I wrote a song about his toes. “Christopher knows Christopher’s toes,” was the opening line, and it was inspired by watching him sit in his little infant seat and grab his feet with such delight, as if he had just discovered them: “stuck in the air at the end of his chair/ten little toes just waiting to play.”

“It’s hard to believe that these little feet will walk into the next generation,” goes one of the verses. “May they be feet that bring the gospel of peace to every situation.”

It has turned out to be one of the most prophetic things I have ever written. Not only did Christopher grow up to be a peacemaker by nature, he is now paid by the City of Los Angeles to keep the peace, because he is so good at it.

I’d never known a peacemaker until I met Christopher. Even as a child, he performed this function in our family. It starts with a calm attitude. Christopher is not easily riled. And when everyone else is flying off the handle, his mere presence has a calming effect. Somehow he is able to transfer this calm over to you, and you suddenly realize that whatever it is you were fighting over just isn’t that important. Everyone takes a deep breath, and remembers the important things — why you love each other, and what are the things that really count.

I’m telling you this because I’m trying to figure out how he does it. I’m trying to find something in what he does that I can pass on to you, because I believe the world needs peacemakers right now, perhaps more than ever.

There is such a strong spirit of contention going on in the world right now. I’m sure it’s always been this way to a degree (with wars and rumors of wars), but lately it seems someone turned up the burner on the melting pot. Certainly there are global conflicts — there always will be — but even in our own country there is bitter rivalry and no love lost between political parties and the conservative and liberal elements in society that have become so polarized. We have an election coming up and everyone knows it’s going to get ugly.

Into this environment we come as followers of Christ representing the Gospel of Welcome. There’s nothing welcoming about being hit upside the head. We need to take a couple of lessons from Christopher: calm down and remember what’s important. We are here to lead people to Christ, not win an election. We are not taking sides. There are no sides to take except to come alongside everyone. We are ambassadors of reconciliation announcing that God isn’t mad anymore, so there is no need for any of us to be.

There are enough of us here at the Catch to make a difference. Take it from Christopher: may your feet carry the gospel of peace to every situation. Calm everyone down. Welcome everyone. Whatever it takes, be a peacemaker today. Be a child of God. Be blessed. Believe me, the world really needs you.

PEACEMAKERS, MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Rob Stutzman, Political PR expert, will join me next Tuesday, September 16, 2014, to discuss the upcoming elections through the lens of the Gospel of Welcome.

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Seeing God: Seeing good

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted. (Titus 1:15)

Whoever seeks good finds good will, but evil comes to one who searches for it. (Proverbs 11:27)

th-8The world doesn’t look the same to everybody. What you see is determined by who you are and what you look for.

What you see is a function of who you are, up to and including the fact that the pure in heart will see God. And “seeing God” is not set at some future date. The pure in heart will see God now. They will see God in the things that he has made; they will see God in the faces of those in His image; they will see God in the good that people try to do; they will see God in the love that people have for one another.

The argument that the world is bad and getting worse is a popular one among Christians today. It’s a perspective that has been exploited by some churches and Christian organizations bent on using fear as a motivator for involvement, fundraising, and even political action.

It’s a powerful argument because it’s true. The argument that the world is bad and getting worse is true because it is self-fulfilling. If that’s the way you believe the world to be, it will cooperate with you. The scripture even says that if you look for evil, evil will come to you.

But the converse is also true, that if you are looking for good, you will find that, too, and if you are pure in heart, you will be seeing God everywhere.

So which is it? Which world do you want to live in? Is it time for the Gospel of Welcome or the Gospel of Doom and Gloom?

It’s up to you and me.

Keep your heart pure and look for good, and you will find God at work in the world. Fear the worst, look for evil, and you will not only find it, it will find you.

Fearing the worst may be a good way to raise money, but it’s a rotten way to live. Be a part of change. Be a part of God’s will and work in the world. Look for God, and look for good, and be rewarded with finding both.

This is my Father’s world
He shines in all that’s fair.
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass
He speaks to me everywhere.

Postscript: Much to the delight of Los Angeles Angels fans like myself, the Oakland Athletics, who have led the Western Division of the American League all season, have gone through a major collapse in the last few weeks to where they now trail the Angels by eight games. Just a few short weeks ago, it was the other way around. In the midst of a critical 4-game series with the Angels, after the A’s had lost the first two games, their manager called a special meeting and among other things, it was reported he called their play, “pathetic.” Well, I guess his players have gone on to prove him right. So goes the power of perception.

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Pure in heart

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

This one eludes me. I can get the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, the hungering and thirsting for righteousness, even the merciful; I get all these, and can identify to a certain degree with them all. But the pure in heart seems way beyond my grasp. Is it really saying: “Blessed are those who know they are not pure in heart and who come to me to be made pure”? I do think that’s part of it, but somehow that seems a little too easy.

When I think of pure in heart, I think of people who are one with themselves on the inside. I think of someone with no guile, no secrets — someone the same on the outside as on the inside … someone turned inside out. Doesn’t mean it’s all good either; it’s just that it’s true. When I think of pure in heart, I think of someone without any mixed motives. And I think of someone who is definitely not me.

I am well trained at being deceptively righteous. I am not blaming anyone for this — I would like to blame my hypocritical Christian background — but that would be a cop out, because I am self-taught. I became this way all by myself, and I’m so good at it, I can even fool myself.

For years I’ve rested my case with Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, “I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.”

There you go: even Paul refuses to judge his own motives. As comforting as this is, that still leaves me short of “pure in heart.”

I do know my wife has this down much more than I do. Her character is such that she can’t hide. When she speaks of the Lord, it comes from a pure heart. When I ask her what that’s like — where it comes from — she tells me it’s an attitude; an attitude of obedience. It’s a decision in the heart to obey; to do the right thing. It’s a choice devoid of belligerence or disobedience. It’s not a reluctant, “Well, you leave me no choice…” but a real, born-of-the-Spirit desire to please God. And I know she’s right because I know she sees God.

I will leave the final word this morning to one of my mentors, the late Ray C. Stedman, who wrote about this: “The word pure does not mean someone who has never been exposed to evil. It means literally “the purged” in heart. Blessed are those who have been cleansed, those who know the grace of forgiveness. As David put it so beautifully in the 32nd Psalm: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity,”
(cf, Psalm 32:2).

So if you talk about the grace of forgiveness, I know I qualify for that. The pure in heart would be those who trust in that forgiveness and nothing else. No religious pedigree, no hiding, no hypocrisy. The pure in heart is that grace turned inside out.

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God’s Hall of Fame

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

th-4We are looking into the teaching of Jesus, and so far it reveals to us the kinds of people who have favor with God. So far we know the impoverished of spirit do, as do the humble, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they know their unrighteousness, those who mourn, and those who are merciful because they know how much they need mercy. These are they who have God’s favor.

The first thing we should notice about this list so far is that these are not your typical spiritual giants. In churches and in most Christian contexts, these are the least likely to be picked as being God’s favorites. And yet, here they are in God’s Hall of Fame. This should tell us right off that we are not thinking the way God thinks. We have our own ideas of those who please God that generally consist of those people who impress us. Things like success, wealth, power, position, personality — these are the things that impress us, and we make the common mistake of thinking people who possess these qualities are the most godly; the ones who can be the most effective for God. We even think that God may have made them that way. Nothing could be further from the truth.

God is impressed with people who are not impressive. These are people who would not be on anyone’s Most Likely to Succeed list. They are probably the most likely to be forgotten. I find I have to make adjustments to my own thinking if I want to find myself on this list, mainly because I have not been seeking these things in my life. And the further we delve into God’s hall of fame here, the stranger it gets. This always impresses me every time I look more deeply into this teaching. Why do you suppose this is so?

God does not help those who help themselves, because if they can help themselves, they don’t need God. God is closest to people who need Him.

God has His own Most Likely to Succeed list and this is it — one of the least popular, certainly least understood, passages of scripture we have. And this is where the teaching of Jesus starts.

We have a tendency to be most impressed with people who don’t seem to need God because they have so much going for them. We even think these people will help God’s cause more because they are already famous.

Fame in God’s world consists of poverty of soul, humility of heart, sorrow of mind, emptiness of spirit, and hunger for more of everything that has to do with God.

Every time I study the teaching of Jesus, I find I need to push the reset button on my values. How about you?

Next week we’ll talk about the pure in heart.

 

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Showing mercy

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

th-3As we saw yesterday, these two go hand in hand. You can’t be merciful without receiving mercy, and you can’t receive mercy without knowing you have no shot at righteousness any other way.

Conversely, if someone can’t be merciful, it’s because they can’t stand living outside the constraints and definitions of the law.

If someone can’t be merciful, it’s because that person can’t stand for someone to get something for free when everybody else has to work for it, even if the person who can’t stand it is the one who gets it for free.

Jesus told the story of a man who, after being forgiven a debt he could not repay, immediately went out and threatened someone who owed him money, but couldn’t repay him. That would be someone who could not, for the life of him, be merciful. He was basically saying he did not want to live in a world where anyone can get something for free (except I notice he didn’t turn down his forgiveness).

Mercy is something you have to give out if you are going to receive it for yourself. You simply can’t have it both ways. You can’t really experience God’s mercy while still wanting everyone else to get what they deserve.

You can see this whole dynamic at work these days in the current debate over immigration laws. America is a country of immigrants. The only ones who truly belong here by right of being here first are Native Americans. Someone like me, of European descent, is here by way of immigration. This is a free country that opened its doors to my ancestors. On what basis do I, then, have the right to close those doors and not let anyone else have what I received freely?

Jesus chided the Pharisees for holding the keys to the kingdom, while standing by the door and refusing to let anyone in. The Pharisees were people who simply could not be merciful. Mercy blew their whole system.

Another parable Jesus told was of the landowner who paid all his workers in the field a full day’s wage, even if they only worked the last hour. The only people this bothered were the people who worked all day. If you work for what you get, then it matters what everyone else gets. If what you get comes by mercy and grace, it matters little (in comparison) what happens to everyone else.

It’s a true test of whether someone belongs to the kingdom of heaven, if Jesus can let in anyone He wants, and it’s fine with them. If there is someone you can’t be merciful to, it’s a pretty good indication you are trying to have salvation by works, and not by grace.

fischertheidentical

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Mercy for judgment

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

th-2Mercy is probably the most useful tool in our Gospel of Welcome toolbox, but perhaps the hardest to find. Believe me, we’re going to be pulling this one out every day. The reason for this is: we are all naturally judgmental. Passing judgment comes much more easily to us than showing mercy. It’s the natural reaction to pass judgment on your fellow human beings; it’s supernatural to be merciful.

The opposite of mercy is judgment. Mercy is not easy for me. My whole character leans toward judgment. When you grow up learning to be a Pharisee in the company of Pharisees, it’s hard to shake the tendency to judge others first, ask questions later.

Just yesterday, Marti, Chandler and I were doing some back-to-school shopping for Chandler when we noticed a large group of women taking a yoga class on the lawn in the middle of the outdoor mall. I mentioned something to Marti about how silly they looked, fully expecting her to share a little laugh with me over it. Instead, she rebuked me by pointing out that: 1) they were not all women — there were some men in the group — and 2) if I think they look silly, I should try it, and show us all how silly I would look trying to do the same thing.  Ouch!

This is the ultimate embodiment of Christian hypocrisy: to sit on the sidelines and judge everyone who is participating.

Being judgmental takes no effort. Everybody’s already guilty, so help yourself — there’s plenty more sin and stupidity where that came from; in fact, we’ll never run out of stuff to judge.

Since everybody’s already guilty because of sin, to be judgmental is like taking an unnecessary step. The truth judges us. Our deeds judge us as they reveal our sinful nature. And on top of all this, we are all judged already on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus says in the gospel of John that when we accept the gift of salvation He offers, we are judged already. This whole process is already over and done with.

This is why I think Jesus purposely put this backwards in this beatitude. He knew we would eventually find this out. We find out what mercy is all about when we find out what it takes to love and forgive us, jerks that we are. You don’t go muster up a bunch of mercy so God will be merciful to you. You become merciful when you realize what it took for God to be merciful to a scoundrel like you.

You can’t be merciful without God being merciful to you, and God’s mercy to you means nothing until you realize how badly you need it. This is where we learn mercy. We learn it from God. The gentleman I wrote about in yesterday’s Catch who didn’t point out my flaws without also mentioning his own, was being merciful to me. He was handing me something he had received through his own process of walking with God.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” Does that mean that if you aren’t merciful you won’t get any mercy? No. It means that if you aren’t merciful, you wouldn’t know mercy if you saw it.

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The teaching of Jesus

th-1I just got off the phone with a friend who, after pointing out some of my flaws (he was right, of course), immediately mentioned his own so as to put us on the same level. And let me tell you, from this side of the equation, that felt really good. It took a little of the pain of my screw-ups away. Not as an excuse, but as a process of identification. Suddenly we could identify with each other.

When someone points out your flaws, even in a constructive way, and walks away, you suddenly feel like you’re the only guy in the universe with this problem. You’re not even sure where to go to get help. You’re just left to mourn your own sin. But when the person who put a finger on the holes in your heart, points out the holes in his or her own heart in the process, suddenly you’re on the same level. You are both messing something up. And now, you don’t have a corrector, a perfect example, a judge or a taskmaster, you have a friend.

In this current series, we are seeking to familiarize ourselves with the teaching of Jesus. The reason for this is John 8:31-32 “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The end result is freedom; the process starts with holding to the teaching of Jesus.

Here’s what I surmise: Most Christians are only vaguely aware of the teaching of Jesus. My guess is that we are much more versed in the teaching of Paul than the teaching of Jesus. The teaching of Paul is systematic. It’s practical — much easier to follow than the teaching of Jesus. You can outline Paul; you can’t outline Jesus. Jesus deals with the heart. He cares about our attitude. Jesus cares that we are loving and serving each other, and He doesn’t tell us how to do it, He gives us pictures of Himself doing it and He tells stories to illustrate his teaching.

And this is one of the overlying factors of the teaching of Jesus: humility. It runs through everything. Blessed are the poor in spirit, choose the last place, go to the end of the line, blessed are the meek, wash each other’s feet, and on and on it goes, until you realize that Jesus gave us the ultimate example when He set aside His right to be God, and humbled Himself, taking on the form of a servant who was made in our likeness and came to serve and not be served.

It’s a good beginning to start with humility. It permeates the teaching of Jesus. Choose humility and you will always be on the right track.

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Labor Day 2014

th-1Experts are saying it was the shortest summer on record. Well, didn’t it feel like that? Of course everything gets shorter as you grow older, including you own height. Chandler, who will be 15 in eight days, is now taller than me. That’s because he’s growing and I’m settling. At some point, a few days ago, we met in the middle, and he passed me.

Children everywhere are complaining about having to go back to school so soon. Some parts of the country have been in school already. For us, it starts tomorrow. We think that’s too soon. At least give a day after Labor Day to go get all the stuff for school you simply could not bring yourself to get until now, because you refused to believe that summer was over so quickly.

Actually, it was one of the shortest summers ever, because Labor Day, the key indicator of the end of a good thing and the beginning of something dreaded, falls on the 1st Monday of September, which also happens to be September 1 this year. It couldn’t come any sooner.

The United States Department of Labor says that Labor Day is “dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

Of course, the mood was a little different in the late eighteen hundreds when Labor Day was founded. That was a time of great promise of what the Industrial Revolution would afford the nation. Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.” I’m not sure smoke-bellowing factories were exactly well-described as full of “grandeur,” but it was a time where much faith was placed in progress.

It is no longer the age of industrial progress, but it is still a time to appreciate work, jobs, and the people who perform them, from the least of them to the greatest. God values work; He also values a day off from work, which is why we have Sunday. So celebrate your employment today, and as you flip burgers on the grill, or whatever else you do today, thank God for the value of work, and the privilege of providing for your own needs and the needs of those you love. It’s a basic right that shouldn’t be taken lightly. And maybe, let a little of that attitude bleed over into tomorrow, when, with everyone back in their workplaces, you can appreciate the jobs people around you do, and tell them that.

And as you return to your own work, make it your aim to bring about the reality of this highly practical word from Paul: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

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Hungry and thirsty for God

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6)

thThis teaching of Jesus is most important for what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say “Blessed are the righteous.” That’s terribly good news for all of us.

This point is worth making, because many people would have assumed it would say, “Blessed are the righteous.” Righteous people go to church. Holy people are religious people. God blesses people who have their act together. After all, doesn’t the Bible say, “God helps those who help themselves?” (No, it doesn’t.)

God promotes righteousness, but when it comes to you and me, He rewards those who want it, not those who have it, and if they want it, it’s precisely because they know they don’t have it that they want it so badly.

Hungering and thirsting for righteousness tells you two things about the person who is blessed: 1) they aren’t righteous, and 2) they know they aren’t.

You only hunger for what you don’t have. These people God blesses know their sinfulness; they know they are not righteous, just as the Bible says, in them dwells no good thing (Romans 7:18). Still we want it. We want to please God with our whole heart. We are starving for a righteousness we know is beyond our grasp, and guess what, God blesses us with it.

But here is something that is true about all these beatitudes: you don’t just hunger once and then walk through the rest of your life filled; you don’t cry once and then you are comforted; you aren’t meek today and inheriting the earth tomorrow; you aren’t poor in spirit once and then you get heaven from there on out. These attitudes are constant states of being. We will always be hungering and thirsting for righteousness; we live in a constant awareness of our own spiritual need.

Actually, it fits the profile … spiritually impoverished, meek, broken, unrighteous people are the people God blesses. Why? Because they come to God empty and He fills them, day by day, moment by moment.

Heaven is going to be populated with people who don’t think they deserve to be there. Christians are flabbergasted people. The Gospel of Welcome promotes sinners. Believe me, you’ll love this group! Welcome in all those who know their need, and know that God has everything they long for.

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