Who's the Fool?

There's a great story in the gospel of Luke where Jesus tells this story of a farmer who strikes it rich with a bumper crop that, in his own mind, sets him up for the High Life for the rest of his life. That is, until God shows up to set him straight.

Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus], "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.'

"Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '

"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'

"This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."
(Luke 12:13-21, NIV)

What I find interesting here is how Jesus' original audience would have reacted to the description of this rich farmer. His actions, really his attitude, probably pass right over the typical American reader of Luke's gospel, but for the typical Jew listening to this parable, the man's attitude and actions would have probably provoked mixed feelings. For one thing, there might have been some envy among the day laborers who were used to bringing in little to nothing by way of income, and might deem this farmer as having received a real blessing. For another thing, however, there might be real shock that in no way did this rich farmer's comments/thoughts include God in the scope of his hopes and plans - something that may be well outside of our cultural ground zero, but not Jesus' original audience. (*I credit a conversation with Dr. Diane Chen for some extra insights as to the possible reactions of the original Jewish audience.) But all in all, this man's attitude and position, while envious, would be categorically wrong.

Why, you might ask? Because the man's plans, and the attitude behind those actions, are completely absent of God. That is, if a man had a bumper crop of whatever, he would almost be responsible to look around at his fellow Jews in need and help out in some way. Instead, we Americans [Christians?] might be somewhat shocked at God's anger at this man, after all, isn't he merely enjoying what we might think of as a proto-"American Dream"? Doesn't he deserve to sit back and enjoy the fruit of his labor? What's wrong here?

Luke offers us two keys from earlier in his gospel that I think help us in understanding this parable. The first comes to us from Luke 9, where Peter has just professed that Jesus is "the Christ of God," and Jesus launches into warning His disciples of His coming suffering and death. This is part of Jesus' "invitation" to discipleship, that whomever would follow Him must take up their cross daily, and follow Him. Then he posits the paradox of what we might call true Christian discipleship, that whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life will for Jesus will save it. The punch line for us is, "What good is it for a [person] to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?" (9:25, NIV.)

The second key is in regard to our relationship with God. Earlier in Luke 10, Jesus is asked by an expert of the Law what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus, in good midrashic fashion, turns the question back to the expert, "how do you read the law?" The man sums it up by citing love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then he makes the mistake of trying to justify himself, he asks Jesus who is neighbor, and Jesus goes onto to tell the story of the Good Samaritan in order to illustrate the point that anyone and everyone is our neighbor.

And here's the breakdown for our "rich fool" of Luke 12. He was guilty of putting his temporal comforts first before and at the expense of eternity (and therefore, God), therefore, he neither loved God nor loved his neighbor. Instead of following God and surrenduring his life to God, he gained "the whole world," and thus forfeited his very self. Instead of loving God and loving neighbor(s), he made for himself a boatload, and rather than seeking to glorify God and care for the needs of his neighbor, he sought to live for his own purposes, his own comforts.

This is where Jesus' parable needs to hit us square between the eyes. Most of us Christians in the West, particularly in the U.S., are quite wealthy compared to the rest of the world. That joined to the fact that while a number of Christians are trying to live more simple, Christ-centered lives that allow them to share the many blessings that Christ has given them, too many Christians in our country live life much like the rich fool. We are blessed to be a blessing, yet too many of us have attitudes that betray the true condition of our hearts - we are number one. I must confess that this is one of my ongoing struggles. I admit it; more often than not (too often for my own comfort), I think about that really nice large, flat screen, LCD HD plasma TV that would be oh so much fun to watch movies on. Or I think about all the different restaurants I would love to dine out at this coming weekend. Or any number of far less interesting examples that still fit the bill of revealing in me a heart that does not love God or my neighbor.

These parables and words of Jesus should come back to us, as later in Acts, where Luke illustrates the living out of this parable in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). They see in the generous act of Barnabas' giving of his property to the Church a lot of positive attention that they themselves would like to have. In other words, they're only thinking of themselves when they sell their property, keeping part of the profit for themselves, and then proceeding to give the rest to the apostles', telling them that what they have turned over is the entire sum. They want all the fuss that was made over Barnabas, but none of the possible sacrifice. They still want to be able to enjoy the comforts of life, too. And just like God came that very night to the rich fool and demanded of him his life, so Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, leaving the entirety of their wealth to someone else to enjoy.

So who is the fool?

While this is not meant at all to be an exercise in finger pointing, it's a question we must wrestle with, and where need be, allow it to confront those areas of our lives, those areas in our hearts, where we do not love God and neighbor as much as we love our own lives, our own comforts, and fall into the trap of avoiding suffering (and possibly death), while at the same time seeking to enjoy the whole world. In the mean time, may God have mercy on us, and patiently give us the grace and power to both recognize and repent of our foolish ways. May we live lives that point to Him who has blessed us, that our neighbors may see our good works, and praise our Father who is in heaven.

How do we come to faith?

I'm on a mission. It's a mission to try and do theology grounded in and defined by Scripture, utilizing the various tools and insights that we have at our finger tips, that empowers the people of God to be the called-out ones, the Church. So I've been reading and listening. Reading books, and listening to sermons. One of the things that has been on my mind is the whole thing of how we came to faith in Christ.

Paul McGlasson contends that it comes by hearing the gospel. Plain and simple. Quoting the apostle Paul in Romans 1, he reminds us that we should not be "ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power for salvation, first for the Jew, and then for the Gentile." Again quoting Paul in 1 Corinthians, McGlasson points to the seed bed for faith by what it isn't: "for the wisdom of God is a stumbling block to the Jew, and foolishness to the Greek." Rob Bell, in a sermon to his Mars Hill congregation quoted from Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, that it was not through wise words or eloquent arguments that the Corinthians came to faith in Jesus Christ, but it was through Paul demonstrating the power of God.

I'm a big fan of being a Christian intellectual. I'm all about studying and learning about the strange world of the Bible. But I also know learning's limitations. How does one come to faith in Christ Jesus? The apostle Paul tells us it's simply through hearing the good news. He also tells us that it also comes through seeing the power of God demonstrated. Interestingly, Paul doesn't go into any detail as to what that demonstration held. Was it entirely super-natural stuff like raising the dead? Was it super-natural by way of forgiveness, kindness, or showing love in a manner that could only befit the divine? We don't know, and we don't need to.

Ultimately, I think it's about understanding that it's not about trying to out-argue someone, or try to convince someone just how logical or reasonable the Gospel might be (to that point, I think we can see such merits because we've already received the grace to believe; God has given us eyes to see and ears to hear). That's why our bringing the good news needs to be a lifestyle that is all-encompassing, or holistic, if you will, in that (as my youth pastor used to say) our walk matches our talk. Are we demonstrating God's love? Are we loving our neighbors as ourselves? Or are we confusing our politics with our faith, and trying to baptize every plank and policy of our favorite candidate or incumbant, regardless of their political affiliation? Such discussion is for a future blog entry, but suffice it to say for now that as Christians, we need to read Scripture more, learn it more deeply, and seek to let the Holy Spirit guide us through its pages so that our lives, lived among the unsaved may be lights in the darkness, and our lives among our fellow saved may be encouragements in keeping the faith.

How are you demonstrating the power of God in and through your life? What one thing (or is it plural?) do you need to change in order to do so? What extra-biblical (that is, unbiblical) influences pull on the way you interpret Scripture and think theologically - i.e., influence the way you live out your faith?

What do you think? Let me know...

the new year

okay, so it's not exactly the first day of the new year, but I've been busy; what can I say?

But here we are, early on in 2007. How's it going for you? What's new? Are you "off" to a good "start"?

As I sit here typing, with my 9 year old kid leaning on me, and looking over my shoulder, I'm reminded at how God uses time to bring His purposes to fruition. This coming Easter 2007, I will celebrate my 22nd "birthday" since becoming a Christian. I sit here amazed at all that God has done in and through my life in those two decades and two. When I first became a Christian, my personal life was a great challenge. Coming to faith in Christ brought an immediate kind of salvation in the form of me having hope for the first time in a long time. And while faith in Christ didn't bring an ease to the challenges and difficulties of my life, it gave me a relationship with the Most High that I was desperately wanting, and had prior to then was not even aware of the need.

That was years ago now. Today, I'm working on finishing a Masters of Theological Studies in, what else, theology. After that I hope to be admitted to a doctoral program as the means to teach at a seminary. My life is somewhat easier today than it was twenty-two years ago, but there are new challenges and difficulties. The world is not the same. I am finding that there is great disagreement among the many who consider themselves followers of Christ as to what it means to be a Christian. In some ways, it's far more exciting to be a Christian today than it ever was. The world is in as much a desperate need for Jesus Christ as it ever was.

I can only hope that through the Holy Spirit, I will live faithfully for Christ in this new year; that my life in 2007 will be a living testimony of the loving kindness of the Triune God of grace. As we move further into this new year, I hope that you, too, will discover God's call on your life afresh, and be empowered to do great things for His name. May you learn to love your neighbor, and live for the Kingdom of Heaven. God's best blessings in Christ be yours today!!!

The Day After Christmas

Merry Christmas!

I'm sitting here at my laptop while listening to the new ipod Nano that my wife gave me for Christmas. I've packed out its supposed 2 G capacity (it seems to only hold 1.7 G), and enjoying it. My wife really surprised me with it, as I was never expected such a gift. I only hinted at how nice it would be to have one just a week or so ago (she had already purchased it weeks before!), and lo and behold.

And speaking of lo and behold, as cool as it is to finally have my own ipod, it is hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone once more. Christmas Eve for my family started with us going to our church's second service (no Sunday School that day, so we slept in, and went to a local restaurant for brunch before heading over to worship). After worship and celebrating the fourth Sunday of Advent, we came home, cleaned up some for family coming over later (actually my wife did most of the prep while I played some video games with the kids). My mom and my cousin and her husband came over later in the afternoon, and we all headed back to the sanctuary for our "Family" Christmas Eve service, alias, the "noisy, I don't know how to behave in worship" service (but hey, I'm not bitter!). It actually was nice over all. My daughters both sang as part of the children's choir, and both my oldest daughter and I read from the gospel accounts of Christ's birth.

There's more to our Christmas evening, but I really want to just mention a thought about Christ's birth. To stop and think about it, it is absolutely incredible that such a thing happened, and became reality. The idea of God becoming a human being, and yet, still fully God. It is the most amazing act of love and compassion conceivable. God became one of us. God among us. And that effects of the incarnation still go on. In late Spring we'll celebrate Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was given to those who confess Christ as Lord. The Holy Spirit keeps the power of the incarnation alive in each of us.

This is God's love for us. Jesus Christ. Son of God. God with us. I hope that as you continue enjoy what time you have off from work or school, as you have fun with whatever Christmas presents you received, that you would remember this greatest of presents. May you be blessed by that great event of some two thousand years ago. Merry Christmas!!!

Wouldn't It Be Strange?

My friend, Fred Kofi Afedzi Hagan gave me the 1999 Charlie Peacock album 'Kingdom Come' this past summer, and I found that the second track has easily become my favorite. In a sense, it's a compilation of some of Jesus' hard sayings focusing on what it means to live in the Kingdom. "Wouldn't It Be Strange?" challenges our understanding of "right" Kingdom living. The choruses goes as such:

Wouldn't it be strange if riches made you poor,
if everything you earned left you wanting more?
Wouldn't it be strange to question what it's for?

Wouldn't it be strange if power made you weak,
if victory came to those who turn the other cheek?
Wouldn't it be strange to welcome your defeat?

Wouldn't it be strange to find out in the end,
the first will be last and all the losers win?
Wouldn't it be strange if Jesus came again?

These lyrics come from places in the Gospels like Matthew 5:39 and Luke 6:29, Matthew 16:25 and Luke 17:33, Matthew 19:30 and Mark 10: 43-45, and Acts 1:9-11. I think the problem is how closely the Church culture strangely reflects Worldly culture, especially in terms of what we place value upon. After working in the Church for twelve plus years, I can testify from first hand experience that there is subtle (and not so subtle) worldliness that has disguised itself as particular kind of false piety. The sad thing is, I think, that most people don't really recognize it. And it is difficult for most pastors and elders to communicate, teach, and model for congregations. One question that comes to mind is, what is normative for interpreting and living out the faith, both personally and corporately? The interesting tension here is the difference between appropriate ownership and indigenization of the Gospel by a particular culture or people group, and the Gospel becoming so acculturated that we equate the controlling of and/or participating in the culture with living out the Gospel rightly. So what is the difference? I'm feeling that there's little difference in the mind of many Christians in the West.

My questions are tough. Is your church preaching this? Is your small group wrestling with what this means? with the implications of this? Are you asking the Holy Spirit to help you living in a manner worthy of your calling? Wouldn't it be strange if Christians suddenly started to live like this?

What do you think?