Crazy Ones

Change often starts in the fringes with an oddball group that doesn’t quite fit with everybody else. It starts with a passion and an idealism that believes things can be better than they currently are.

The Reformation began with a theological misfit  on the fringes who believed that the Church had drifted away from the Gospel.  Martin Luther began a movement with passion and idealism that believed the Church could actually be reformed.  He was crazy enough to believe that the Gospel was not about works but about grace.  And he was crazy enough to believe that it wasn’t just the priests that did sacred work, but all believers.

We are in a day that needs these kind of crazy reformers.  We need a group of crazy ones who are crazy enough to believe that the Gospel still does its work.  We need a group of crazy ones who are crazy enough to believe that God calls everyone of us to bring the Gospel into our communities the context of our ordinary, everyday lives.

We need a movement of reformers who believe that things can be better than the way they currently are.  The crazy ones who actually believe that because of the Gospel, we are freed to love our neighbor with no strings attached.  A group that embraces vocation; an understanding that God is hidden in us doing his work in the world as we serve our neighbors in our homes, our communities, and our churches.

If we want things to be the way they currently are, we should keep doing exactly what we are currently doing.  But if we want things in our world and in the Church to be different, something must change.

Steve Jobs once said,

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

What would happen if a group of misfits, rebels and round pegs aligned around a desire to bring us back to the pure Gospel?  What would happen if a group of reformers got together and pushed forward into this new day and culture with the message that has been handed down to us from the scriptures?

The Modern Reformation

The Crazy Ones go backwards.

The crazy ones in today’s world will be the ones that go back.

They will be the ones that go back to an ancient truth and believe that this ancient text is a message of hope for all the world.  In a world that is quick to throw out the Word, we need a recovery and love for the Word. In Churches that are quick to throw out grace for a list of dos and don'ts, we need a recovery of the Gospel that says “done.”  And in our Churches, that have ignored the doctrine of vocation, we need a recovery of the understanding that God calls all of us to our homes, neighborhoods, churches, and workplaces to serve our neighbor and share the Gospel.

The crazy ones won’t be the ones that are saying something new, but they will be the ones that are saying ancient truths in new ways.

The Crazy Ones go forward.

Not only do the reformers go back, but they go forward.

In order for the first Reformation to take place, it was largely shaped by the technology of the day.  It was shaped by the printing press.  Today, the changes (both good and bad) that take place in the Church are shaped by the new printing press - it is shaped by blogs and podcasts and social media.

The Reformation brought the ancient truth of God to the people of the cities in a language they could understand.  In our day as we recover what has often been lost in broader Christianity and in our culture, we will need to bring the message of the Gospel in the language of the people.

We will need to translate God’s word into the language of people we want to reach.  The way we sound and how it looks when we talk might change, but the message stays the same.  When Luther introduced the Reformation, people fought against it.  They feared his radical ideas like giving the Word to ordinary people or introducing music into the Mass.

But whatever Luther did, he did because he was crazy enough to believe that it actually served the message of the Gospel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA

The Gospel is the message of the Reformation.  And it will be the message of the new Reformation.  Perhaps it’s crazy to believe that this ancient message is the message that our world needs today?  Maybe it’s crazy to think that the message that God can use ordinary people like us to be the mouthpiece of God in this world.

And maybe it’s crazy to think that a story about a guy who was given the death penalty for his scandalous message of grace is the hope the world needs.  Paul himself said it’s a little bit crazy in 1 Corinthians 1:18 when he wrote, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

So for my fellow crazy ones, in the words of Steve Jobs, “Stay hungry.  Stay foolish.”

Church of Cain vs. Church of Abel

Two men.  Two different jobs.  Two different offerings.  The story of Cain and Abel is the story of the first dysfunctional family; two brothers come before God making offerings and find God responding in two very different ways.

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.”  And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.  In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”  Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.” - Genesis 4:1-9

At first glance, we can read this and think that perhaps something’s going on with the offerings.  After all, Cain and Abel did not bring the same offerings.  Did Cain bring the wrong type of offering and Abel did it right?  Was this a story about fruit versus livestock?

While it might appear that this might be the case, this is not a story about fruit or livestock, this is a story about worship. It is a story about two worshippers who worship two very different gods.

Church of Cain vs. Church of Abel

In many ways, Cain and Abel look a lot alike.  Martin Luther actually referred to them both as a picture of two churches.

There are two churches that are worshipping and making offerings.  On the surface, the Church of Cain and the Church of Abel look very similar.  They both make offerings, they both have sacrifices, they both require faith, and they both are worshipping.  But when the Church of Cain does the same things that the Church of Abel does, they don’t mean the same things.

Cain can do the same things and say the same words but it is clear that he means something different.

Cain worships, but his worship is not the same as Abel’s.  Can has faith, it’s just in his own offering and not in God.  Cain approaches God as though he actually has something to offer.  This is why he gets upset when God doesn’t look favorably at him; he thought he had something to offer.

Abel on the other hand worships God with nothing to give.  Abel doesn’t think that God owes him anything.  Abel’s faith is not in what he has to offer, but in what God has to offer.  Abel trusts in the radical message of grace; he trust that God’s favor is completely unmerited.

And this pisses off Cain.

Because Cain thinks he deserves God’s favor and he doesn’t get it.  And Cain thinks Abel doesn’t deserve it and Abel gets it.  The Church of Cain is not okay with the good news being shown to the Church of Abel.

The theologian Michael Horton said it this way when he said, “The doctrine of grace and the theology of the cross will always result in the wounded getting healed and the self-righteous getting angry.”

This is what happens in the story of Cain and Abel and this is what happens in the life of Jesus.  Jesus comes preaching this message of grace.  And this message is so radical and scandalous that Jesus even starts preaching it to sinful people like tax collectors and prostitutes.

And the religious people get ticked.

Because that’s what the self-righteous people do.  They get angry when the see God’s grace extend to certain groups of people.  When you and I believe that it is up to us to earn God’s favor, we will get angered by the scandalous lengths that God will go to in order to love everyone.

Everything Is Awesome

Tacos are awesome.  A great deal on a new pair of shoes is awesome.  Blog posts are awesome.  Saving money on your car insurance, awesome.  I recently watched a TED talk by Jill Shargaa suggesting that we “put the ‘awe’ back in ‘awesome.’

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Jill said, “When you use the word awesome to describe the most mundane of things, you are taking away the very power of the word.”

We far too easily miss the meaning of words like awe and awesome.  Awesome is defined as “extremely impressive or daunting, inspiring great admiration, or awe-inspiring.”  Do our tacos really inspire awe?  Does that discount really inspire great admiration?

The word awe is defined as “a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder.”

Jill Shargaa is on to something.  We use the word awesome so flippantly that we don’t even realize what we are saying.  But I actually think that while we don’t realize what we are saying when we throw around the word awesome, we are actually speaking to a great theological truth.

In the words of Emmet, the prophetic, ordinary Lego, “Everything is awesome!”

The ordinary things of this world might be too often described as awesome.  But at the same time, there is something awe-inspiring about the complexity of the simple things in this world.  Take for example that sandwich that you got from Jimmy John’s.

Is it really awesome?

The sandwich alone probably not.  But what about all that went into it.  Someone grew all the ingredients, somebody baked the bread.  Some business person years ago started a franchise that would grow into what Jimmy John’s is today.  We could go on… the sandwich alone might not be awe-inspiring.  But the way God worked in order to make that sandwich a reality in your life might in fact be awesome.

The Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said, "The insights of wonder must be constantly kept alive.  Since there is a need for daily wonder, there is a need for daily worship.”

Everything is awesome.

And as we are inspired by the awe and wonder of the world around us, we are driven to worship the one who created it.  From the the oddities like tacos and discounts on clothes to the truly magnificent things like a sunset or the Grand Canyon or seeing your kid take their first steps, they point us to the one who gives us every good gift.

It could be easy to get frustrated at how commonly we use the word awesome.  And maybe it’s even over-used.  But maybe, the people who use it all the time are onto something.  And the rest of us just haven’t been looking close enough.   Maybe they see something that we haven’t.

Photo Credit: Sunfox

Work Was Not Intended As a Curse

Do you ever have one of those days?  Those days were work just seems to drag on.  The day where the TPS reports are killing you and your sick of being told you have a “case of the mondays.”  I’m not sure there is such a thing as a job where you don’t have those days.

Because work is hard.

Work is hard because we often have bosses that are difficult to deal with.  Or co-workers we can’t stand.  Maybe we have a deadline that is fast-approaching.  Or maybe even clients that have unrealistic expectations.

Work is tiring and exhausting.  And not only that but for many of us, work follows us home.  And this happens with all work - even the most appealing, perfect, dream-jobs.

But there’s an important reminder for all of us in the midst of these days.  Work was never intended to be a curse.  Work was actually intended to be a gift for man.  A calling for man to fulfill in paradise.

“The book of Genesis  leaves us with a striking truth-work was part of paradise.” - Tim Keller, Every Good Endeavor

But then sin enters the picture.  Sin is the reason that both our perfect jobs and our less-than-perfect ones are hard work.  Sin is the reason why our work follows us home.  Sin is the reason why we have to work jobs just to make ends meet.  Sin turns a calling into an obligation.

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” - Genesis 3:17-19

Work is a good thing.  It is a gift from God.  It is a part of the way that God has wired humanity to work.  He has created us and called us to work in the various spheres of our life.  But with sin, our callings also become laborious.  Our gift also brings pain.

In Jesus, we have hope that this is not the way things should be or the way that things will always be. And we have hope that our work doesn’t define us.  And while we face the pain of hard work, we can with faith look to the pain of the cross and be reminded of what sin does.  It brings about a curse that affects every area of our life - our relationships, our homes, and our workplaces.  And it’s a curse that can only be solved by a cross.

Death by Checklist

Every week, I start out my work by creating a checklist.  I live and die by the checklist; without it I am pretty sure I wouldn't get anything done.  A lot of us also operate our lives around our checklists.  And not only do we use these lists to guide our decision-making, but many of us rely on our checklists to be our source of worth and validation.

Now most of us probably would never say, “I’m trying to secure my own salvation by checking things off a list.”  But the reality is that everyday when we try to find our worth and our value outside of Jesus, we are doing exactly that.  We are relying on something other than Christ to give us our identity.

In my own life, and probably in many of your lives, I often attach my worth and my identity to work.  I look at my job and can immediately start determining my worth based off of how well I check items off the list.  Am I successful in my job?  Did I get a raise?  Does my boss like me?  Do I like my job?  Is my new business growing?  Am I making enough money?

And if all of these things on my list are going right, it validates me.  It says that I’ve done something right.  And if these things on my list aren’t going right, then I must’ve done something wrong.  If I lost my job or didn’t get the promotion, it immediately makes me question, “What kind of man am I?”  Because if I don’t have the job or I don’t like the job or I don’t do well at the job, this says something about my worth and who I am.

The same thing happens in our homes.

As we take care of our homes as husbands and wives, we have a checklist of things that we need to do and we begin to evaluate ourselves by it.  Is the repair taken care of?  Is the house clean?  Is the laundry done?  Is the lawn cut?  Is dinner on the table?

And so if I do these things, if I can check all the things off the list, it validates me as a person.  And if I can’t do them, it invalidates me.  It says, I’m not living up to what I should be doing.

And this multiplies if you have kids.  Because what parents often do is they not only evaluate themselves based on their performance, but also on their kids’ performance.  So if your kids do well, that says one thing about you, but if they don’t do well in school, that says another thing about you.  If your kids keep hitting their friends, then that says something about how you are doing as a parent.

And so we evaluate ourselves based on how well we perform on the self-created checklists of home life.

And when we do this, we either falsely inflate the way we see ourselves by thinking we’ve done all these things, or we deflate our value because we created a list that we can never live up to.

The same thing happens in our spiritual lives.  We create these spiritual checklists.  Did I have enough quiet time?  Did I evangelize to my co-workers?  Have I spent an hour in prayer today?  Do I only listen to Christian radio?

And it’s not that any of these things are bad things, but what happens is we begin to evaluate our worth as a Christian based on our ability to do these Christian things.  And so if I do these things, it means I’m a good Christian and God is happy with me.  But if I get stuck in Leviticus again because it’s kind of boring, then that somehow says, "God isn’t happy with me."

Killed By Our Lists

When we evaluate ourselves by our completion of checklists, it kills us.  We die a slow and painful death as our checklists either make us arrogant in our own abilities to check things of the list or make us wallow in our inability to ever check everything off the list.

And it’s not that any of the things on the list are even bad things.  Reading your Bible daily is a great thing.  Being a good parent and spouse is crucial.  Loving your job and doing well in your job is an important thing.  But when those things form your identity, we get into trouble.  When the checklists of our home life, spiritual life, and work life begin to shape our sense of worth, we stop trusting the Gospel.

When we evaluate our worth by our performance, we fail to believe that we have all we need in Christ.   And our worth does not rest in how well you do in your job, how great you are at taking care of your home, or even how incredible your devotional life is.  Your worth rests solely in what Christ has done for you.  It rests not in the checklist that you have to complete but in the one that has been completed by Christ.

Photo Credit: VisionsByVicky

Fantasy Football is Good for My Soul

Fantasy football is good for the soul.  Well, it is good for my soul at least.  For the past few years I have joined the world of grown men (and women) gathering together and building fictional teams,  watching football, and following stats as though they actually were coaches of real teams.

And I love it.

I don’t have many hobbies that have zero connection to any work that I do.  When I read, I prefer to read books by dead theologians.  When I write, I write about the Bible.  Even my technology use is usually connected to ministry activities.

But fantasy football is different.

When I get home from work on Sunday afternoons, there is not much better than turning on the game, following my team’s stats, and watching some football.  Fantasy football is just for my enjoyment.

Fantasy football is refreshing.

In Exodus 31:17, the sabbath is described this way, "It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”  God enjoys his creation and describes it as refreshing.

Fantasy football is an opportunity for me to enjoy the good gift of God in NFL football.  It is life-giving.  And that might sound silly that fantasy football is life-giving, but it gives life in the simple fact that it is an opportunity to enjoy God’s gifts and to rest.

After a busy day like Sunday, football is an opportunity to unplug.  Fantasy football for me is obviously about football.  I love football.  It’s obviously about cheering on the Lions and hoping for the best.  It certainly is about getting my lineup set and seeing who I can pick up on waivers.  But it’s about more than that.

It’s about the sabbath.

Abraham Joshua Heschel, a Jewish theologian wrote:

He who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil. He must go away from the screech of dissonant days, from the nervousness and fury of acquisitiveness and the betrayal in embezzling his own life. He must say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world already has been created and will survive without the help of man. Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul. The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone else. Six days a week we seek to dominate the world; on the seventh day we try to dominate the self.

Fantasy football for me is about disconnecting from work.  It’s about disconnecting from the everyday toils and stresses and doing something that doesn’t matter and simply enjoying God’s great gifts of football, the internet, and TV (this might begin to sound like I ignore my family during football season, I don’t but I’m choosing to focus on football for this post).

The Sabbath is about being refreshed.  And in being refreshed we are given life.  And we find that life in enjoying the gifts that God has given to us in creation and in redemption.  We enjoy gifts like football and the internet.  We enjoy God’s gifts of our family.  And we enjoy the gift of what God has done for us on the cross.

And so I play fantasy football.  And I enjoy fantasy football.  Because in it I enjoy God’s good gifts and it is refreshing and good for my soul.

Get That Dirt Off Your Shoulder

Often when I think about wanting to share my faith with unbelievers, I wallow in doubt and questioning about what I should or shouldn’t say.  My fear of how this person will respond often paralyzes my mission.

This creates a problem when I think about my call to live as a missionary in my neighborhood and family.  I often end up convicted that I am called to make disciples, but then find myself frozen not knowing what to say or what steps to take.

When Jesus sends the disciples to proclaim the message of the Kingdom to lost people, Jesus gives some instructions:

"These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’.” - Matthew 10:5-7

And he ends by making a fascinating, and freeing statement:

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you lave that house or town.” - Matthew 10:14

A friend of mine paraphrased this when he said, “It’s okay to shake dust.”  

When I think about the unbelievers I know, I rarely think “it’s okay to shake dust.”  I tend to think about the questions they might have, the doubts, and the arguments.  And those questions usually lead to a responsibility that I begin to feel as though their faith depends on my ability to argue them into the faith.

Sharing the Gospel is less about arguing and more about speaking up and letting God do his work.  We share what we have seen and heard; God does the changing of hearts.

Don’t worry about if people won’t receive it.  If they won’t, take the words of Jay-Z to heart and “Get that dirt off your shoulder.”  Is your neighbor uninterested right now?  Get that dirt off your shoulder.  Does your cousin have too many questions to take Jesus seriously?  Get that dirt off your shoulder.  Has your coworker shut you down because of the other Christians they’ve encountered?  Get that dirt off your shoulder.

Share the message and if they don’t want to receive, shake the dust off and move on.

Phil Robertson and a Confusion of the Two Kingdoms

Duck Dynasty star, Phil Robertson, once again made news for the things that he’s said about politics and his faith.  Now, obviously, this is also a large reason why he gets interviewed.  People know that he is going to get attention and likely say something a bit out there.

This time Phil offered his thoughts about the ISIS terrorists.

 

"In this case you either have to convert them, which I think would be next to impossible. I'm not giving up on them, but I'm just saying, either convert them or kill them. One or the other.” - Phil Robertson

Those who are not part of radical Islam are being told by ISIS, “Convert or die.”  Phil Robertson’s solution sounds pretty similar.

It has not gone unnoticed that Phil is calling for a similar ideology of the terrorists.

Robertson’s solution of “convert or die” was a chilling echo of the ultimatum that Islamic State militants gave to Christians, Yazidis and other minority religious sects who live in their new “caliphate.” “Hundreds” of men have been killed for refusing to convert to the Islamic State’s extremist interpretation of Islam," Amnesty International reports. “Hundreds, if not thousands” of women and girls have been abducted and some may have been raped or forced to marry the fighters. - NY Daily News

A Confusion of the Two Kingdoms

As Lutherans, we have a beautiful doctrine that helps speak into these kinds of situations known as “the two kingdoms.”  It could help correct Phil Robertson where he has gone wrong and at least help him more clearly articulate what he was trying to say.

Luther said this about the Two Kingdoms:

"God has ordained the two governments: the spiritual, which by the Holy Spirit under Christ makes Christians and pious people; and the secular, which restrains the unchristian and wicked so that they are obliged to keep the peace outwardly… The laws of worldly government extend no farther than to life and property and what is external upon earth. For over the soul God can and will let no one rule but himself.” - Martin Luther

There are, properly understood, two kingdoms.  The kingdom of the right, which is the spiritual kingdom and the kingdom of the left, which is the world.  The kingdom of the right is the Church and is made up of only Christians.  It is ruled by God with grace and mercy.  It is ruled by the work of Christ and calls Christians to do the same.

The kingdom of the left is also ruled by God, but the mean by which he rules is different.  God rules the kingdom of the left through governments and other earthly authorities.  The kingdom of the left protects all people and does so by the authorities that God has put in place.  It rules with law instead of grace.

Luther also said:

"We are to be subject to governmental power and do what it bids, as long as it does not bind our conscience but legislates only concerning outward matters… But if it invades the spiritual domain and constrains the conscience, over which God only must preside and rule, we should not obey it at all but rather lose our necks. Temporal authority and government extend no further than to matters which are external and corporeal."

In other words, as Christians we live in both kingdoms.  And as a part of the kingdom of the left, we submit to the authorities and laws of that kingdom unless they directly go against the kingdom of the right.  And as a part of the kingdom of the left, we don’t take matters into our own hands to bring justice to evildoers but we rely on the authorities that God has put in place (unless the authority itself is the problem, i.e.: Hitler).

Phil Robertson’s Confusion

As Christians, we should desire that even the worst of people would be saved.  As a part of the kingdom of right, we are called to love, pray for, and desire the salvation of everyone.  This is where Phil spoke rightly when he wanted to convert the ISIS.

But Phil also gets himself into trouble when he suggests that if his conversion was unsuccessful that we should kill them.

The problem with this is not that they aren’t guilty and shouldn't be stopped, but in the “Convert or die” proclamation.  What if a member of the ISIS converted to Sunni Islam, which is not a radical, extreme form of Islam?  According to Phil’s statement, they still should be killed.  According to Phil, it seems that only the conversion to Christianity counts.

I’m not sure Phil actually meant this, but this is why people freaked out.  Because it echoes of the “Convert or die” tactics that led to what’s happening with the ISIS.  They don’t care whether your are Christian, Jew, or Sunni, if you’re not their brand of Islam, they will kill.

So how do we respond as Christians to ISIS?

So what’s a Christian to do?  Does the Christian seek the salvation of the ISIS?  Does the Christian hope that the United States steps in to stop the ISIS?  And can someone want a person’s salvation and their death at the same time?

When we properly understand the two kingdoms, we can actually answer yes.

Yes we want the ISIS to be saved.  And yes we want them dead.

We want them saved because “God wants all people to be saved.”  And we want them dead because justice says they need to die.  Because it may actually be less loving to let them keep killing.

But here’s the catch, it’s not a “Convert to Christianity or else...”  We can pray that there are family members who still have influence in the lives of the ISIS and that they will hear God’s truth.  But we also pray that if special forces show up, they eliminate the threat.

We don’t pray that the special forces has Christians who want to evangelize to the ISIS.  We pray that the special forces has Christians who have deadly accuracy as a sniper.  We don’t pray that a group of Christians show up trying to convert them with guns in their back pocket just in case.

We pray in the tension that God’s two kingdoms would be at work.  We pray that the kingdom of the left is at work rescuing God’s lost people, wherever they are found.  And we pray that the kingdom of the right is at work protecting and caring for all of God’s creatures.

Luther understood this tension well:

…In the same way, when I think of a soldier fulfilling his office by punishing the wicked, killing the wicked, and creating so much misery, it seems an un-Christian work completely contrary to Christian love. But when I think of how it protects the good and keeps and preserves wife and child, house and farm, property, and honor and peace, then I see how precious and godly this work is; and I observe that it amputates a leg or a hand, so that the whole body may not perish…

…The office of the sword is in itself right and is a divine and useful ordinance, which God does not want us to despise, but to fear, honor, and obey, under penalty of punishment, as St. Paul says in Romans 13 [:1-5]… Martin Luther, Whether Soldiers Too Can Be Saved

Two Great Commissions

Vocation is a word that will occasionally get thrown around in our current culture, but it is also one that has lost the significance of its meaning.  Vocation literally means a “calling.”  It comes from the Latin word vocatio and speaks to God’s calling in the life of a Christian.

This calling happens in a variety of spheres from the workplace to the neighborhood to the home.  And because of that the way that calling is played out in the life of one believer is often significantly different than the calling of another.

One aspect of our callings as Christian is the calling we have to fulfill the Great Commission.  When we talk about the Great Commission, we commonly think of the call to “Go and make disciples of all nations.”  Robert Kolb and Charles Arand, two incredible theologians, suggest that when it comes to vocation we should consider two great commissions.

The First Great Commission

When God creates humanity, he gives an important vocation to the man.

"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26

The first calling is to manage the created world, to care for it, serve it, and protect it.

In the Genius of Luther’s Theology Arand and Kolb suggest, "They take up their vocations as places of service to others, where they can live as human beings according to God’s design.”  The vocation of every Christian is to serve within the places that God has placed them.  The calling of the Christian is to serve their neighbor.

And in this calling it isn’t about proselytizing.

The serving of the neighbor isn’t a means to an end.  The needs of the neighbor is the end.  The vocation is to love, serve, and care for all that God has created.  It is the unique calling of the Christian that often does not look distinctly Christian, but that does at the same time witness to the beauty and love of the Creator God.

The Second Great Commission

The second Great Commission is the one that is popularly referred to.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20

The calling of the Christian in this world is to be disciple-makers.  We are called to make disciples in the spheres in which God has placed us in this world.  It is similar to the first great commission in that it takes place out of love for neighbor and exists for the sake of neighbor, but it is unique in that it seeks to address specifically the spiritual realities of that individual and not simply meet physical needs.

In light of the second Great Commission, our vocations become opportunities for mission in which we carry out the task of making disciples.

Parents not only protect and care for their children, but parents make sure that there children grow up as disciples of Jesus.  Husbands not only provide for their wife, but they seek to speak God’s word to their wife.  Neighbors not only want to act neighborly and be a good friend, but they want to have opportunities to share the Gospel with their neighbors.

Because we each have unique mission assignments, our vocations should be an opportunity to share the Good News with the people we are in relationships with using the gifts, passions, and desires that God has given each of us.

The Emasculation of Vocation

Vocation is the forgotten doctrine of the Reformation.  Justification was & is central, but vocation has been lost & emasculated since then.  In Luther’s day, just like our own, people had a misunderstanding in how God’s calling worked and the way that God was at work in his people.

In Luther’s day, the priests were the mediators between the people and God.  The priests did God’s work.  They were the ones that had a sacred calling, and they were the way that God was at work in the world.

But Luther recovered something different.

God’s calling wasn’t reserved for the priests.  And God’s working in the world wasn’t exclusively through the so-called “professionals.”  God’s calling was for everyone.  Luther understood that God not only called the priests and monks, but he called the shoe-makers, the mothers and fathers, the bankers, and the farmer.

And all of these were sacred callings because God was at work in the world through these people.

God worked through ordinary people fulfilling their daily tasks in order to provide our “daily bread.”  And God worked through ordinary people in their relational connections to “make disciples of all nations.”

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

In Luther’s day, the priest was Christ’s ambassador and no one else was.  Luther’s understanding of vocation suggested what the Bible suggests; we all are Christ’s ambassadors.  We are all ministers of reconciliation.  And that plays out in our vocations as we serve our neighbors in our vocations..

The Professionalization of Ministry

I’m all about “professional ministry,” as I make a living doing the work that I do, but has it also created some in unintended problems? Recently, I was hanging out with some friends and my good friend Ken suggested that the Church has retarded the doctrine of vocation.

And he's right.

It seems that perhaps the professionalizalation of ministry has emasculated the doctrine of vocation and brought us back to a dangerous understanding of God’s calling.

Because now people are “called into ministry.”

As though there are Christians who aren't.

Even in the language we use, we’ll throw out a word like bi-vocational ministry.  Think about what that means.  Two-calling ministry.  That means you have two callings, one of which is typically seen as “ministry” and the other that pays the bills.

That’s not how Luther understood the doctrine of vocation.  Bi-vocation or “two-callings” ministry significantly handicaps that way God is at work in the world and the sacredness of all of work.  Calling isn’t about what you get paid to do, but about the way God is at work in our churches, in our neighborhoods, and in our families.

Luther used at least four primary categories to describe God’s calling:  family, work, church, and in the world as a citizen.

So that’s at least quad-vocational ministry.

But even within those vocations are more.  There are multiple vocations even within one’s home.  The calling as a husband or wife, which is distinct from the calling of mother or father, which is distinct from the calling to be a brother or sister.

And within one’s world, there are callings as a citizen, there are callings as a member of your neighborhood, and in our digital age, you might even consider that there’s a calling to your digital neighborhood.

In a person’s calling to their homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, and churches, they are called to serve and care for those around them.  This happens by taking care of both the first article gifts, like helping a person with their house, home, and any bodily need.  But it also happens in the calling to “Go and make disciples.”  A person is also called to their home, neighborhood, workplace, and church to be a missionary.

Do you see what’s going on here?

For Luther, vocation was not something that happened only within the church.  Vocation was anyway and anywhere in which you serve your neighbor.  And because of that ministry is not something reserved for the professionals, but it is something done by ordinary people for their neighbors.  Core to the Reformation was this crazy idea that everyday, ordinary people were called by God to do their work and serve their neighbors.  There was this crazy idea that it wasn’t just the priests that had a sacred calling, but also the construction workers and farmers and mothers.

Where is God?

A family member dies. A diagnosis gets made. Lay-offs happen. A close friend goes through a divorce. A natural disaster strikes.

The inevitable response to suffering is often, “Why?"

Why did God let them die?  Why did God let me go through this?  Why me?  Why now?

The problem is that no matter how much we might speculate, we don’t get an answer to that question. God hasn’t told us. So trying to search for the mysterious “plan” that God must have is hardly helpful.  Because we won’t find it out.

And would we even want an explanation anyways?

In times of suffering, while we often want to ask, “Why?” we are better served by asking the question, “Where?"

For that we have an answer.

This doesn’t make it any easier.  It doesn’t answer a lot of the questions you face. But it is something that you can look to with confidence.  Where is God in the midst of your pain and suffering?

He is with you.

And he is for you.

Where is God?

As all hell breaks lose on your life.  As evil and suffering rains down on your family, you can be confident that God promises to be with you and to never leave you.  And you can be confident that as hell rages war against you, God as your warrior fights on your behalf.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? - Romans 8:31-32

That doesn’t mean it is easy to see God in these moments.  That’s actually why it is so often we need to be reminded that he is with us.  In the times where suffering hurts the most, it is often the most difficult to know God is present.  In fact, Luther actually suggested that God was hidden in our suffering.

Even in the suffering of the cross, it hardly appears that God is at work; it’s not until we get the full picture of the significance of the cross that we can clearly see God’s work in the midst of the suffering.  It is in the very act of suffering on the cross that God redeemed his broken creation.

In our suffering, God is at work.  This isn’t to suggest that our suffering is just for some greater purpose.  This is simply to suggest that in the awful pain we find ourselves that God is with us.

In the moment we may not be able to see God at work, but as we move beyond the situation we are later reminded, “God was in this place, and I was not aware of it.”  One rabbi suggested, "When you look closely and for a long time, you discover things that are invisible to others."

If you look close enough at your suffering, you might find that God is there in the midst of it.

If you aren’t in a season of suffering, you will be.  And in those moments, you will have unanswered questions.  You will wrestle with and be angered by your unanswered questions of, “Why?”  But in the face of those questions be reminded that God does reveal to us where he is.

He doesn’t promise to us that our suffering is going to go away in this life.  He doesn’t promise that we are going to like the end result.  But he does promise that he is there in the midst of the suffering.  He promises to be with us and to fight for us.

The Marks of a Church

marks of church.jpg

What makes a church a church?  There are all kinds of things that we can use to describe the ways that we prefer our churches to look, sound, smell, or feel, but what are the things that define the Christian Church?

Martin Luther described the church simply when he said, “A seven year-old child knows what the church is, namely, holy believers and sheep who hear the voice of their Shepherd.”

From preaching to the band, from membership to sacraments, from worship to the parking lot, the practices that shape the life of a congregation are endless.  So what matters most?

What are the marks of a Christian Church?

Martin Luther listed seven marks that we can recognize the church by.  His list is incredibly helpful and I thought it would be helpful to re-state many of the themes that Luther suggested but to say it in different words and add some nuances that are helpful for our own conversations.  At the heart of my list is what you could find in Luther’s work “On the Councils and the Church, 1539."

Word.

There is no church without God’s word.  God works through his Word and God’s church is formed by this Word.  Our churches should be places that are shaped by the word and who love and cherish the word.  In addition to the scriptures, this also would include the “visible word” or the sacraments.  God is at work in bread, wine, and water giving the gifts he promised to give just as he does through the preaching, teaching, and reading of Scripture.

*in Luther’s list, this would include the marks of God’s Word, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper.  

Mission.

God’s church is given a mission.  And that mission is to proclaim the message of the forgiveness of sins.

And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.” John 20:22-23

The church isn’t the place for good advice (although it might have some great advice), it is a place for the Good News.  The church proclaims God’s promise of forgiveness. It does this publicly and on behalf of the congregation in the vocation of the pastor and it does it daily in the personal lives of the church members in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces as members are given opportunities to speak God’s word of Law (binding sins) and God’s word of Gospel (forgiveness).

*in Luther’s list, this would be the mark of the Office of the Keys

Suffering.

The most surprising in Luther’s list of marks of the Church is suffering.  For Luther, the Christian is formed in his suffering and the Church is defined by its understanding of suffering.  The life of a Christian as a disciple of Jesus is a life that centers on suffering.

The disciple is called to “deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  Perhaps that mark of suffering might even be more simply considered the mark of disciples.  After all, is there such a thing as a disciple of Jesus who doesn’t suffer?

But to be clear, this isn’t about finding a cross to bear.  Suffering is inevitable.  We don’t need to go looking for our crosses.  The disciple of Jesus will find suffering in the midst of the daily struggles of life.  This often might be found in the depths of pain, hurt, and tragedy.  And it at times will come in the midst of the smaller struggles of daily life.

It might be better stated that suffering in and of itself isn’t the mark of the church, but the way in which the Church suffers that is the mark.  The disciple of Jesus suffers with eyes fixed on the one He follows.   The sufferer focuses on the one who suffered for us.

Shepherds.

Every church has a pastor.  The pastor is the person that God has called to the congregation to shepherd the people.

As a friend of mine said, "That’s a strange word. Sounds so archaic. Unsophisticated. Definitely not as impressive as Chief Executive Officer."

The shepherd cares for the flock.  He feeds the sheep, keeps them where they are safe, and he shoots the foxes.

My friend also described a “good” shepherd as one who knows:

what it’s like to be lost,

what it’s like to be rescued,

what it’s like to be strengthened, healed and bound up,

what it’s like to be fought for, defended, protected,

what it’s like to trust and follow,

what it’s like to listen for “the voice”.

*in Luther’s list, this would be the mark of the pastoral office

Family.

As a family of believers, we don’t just go about our individual lives as Christians but we must gather together.  A church is marked by the family gathering together around the Word.  The church should not just be individual family members worshipping privately, but the family gathering together to worship corporately.

Luther suggested:

“However, we are now speaking of prayers and songs which are intelligible and from which we can learn and by means of which we can mend our ways. The clamor or monks and nuns and priests is not prayer, nor is it praise to God; for they do not understand it, nor do they learn anything from it…”

The family gathers.  The family learns together.  The family praises together. The family prays together.  As the family gathers together, they are served by the God who promises to be present.  The family gathering in a sense is the “work of the people” in which we receive from the gifts that God has promised to give and respond to those good gifts he has given to us.

*in Luther’s list, this would be the mark of prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God

Ordinary Radicals

We need more ordinary Christians.  I know that sounds boring and will hardly start a movement, but I’m serious.  We need more Christians who live their everyday lives, doing their work, loving their families, and being a good neighbor.

The problem with this is it’s not very sexy.

People don’t like the stories of the people who are engineers working hard to provide for their family and come home to care for their wife and children both physically and spiritually.  People like the stories of a radical giving up of something to follow God’s call.

People want radical obedience and extraordinary stories of people selling their house and giving up all their belongings and moving their family across the world.  And that might be what God does indeed call certain people to do, but not everyone.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  I’m all for people finding new, extraordinary ways to sacrificially give of their times, talents, and treasures to go to places across the world in all kinds of different ways.  But I’m also concerned that we can easily celebrate God’s calling in the extraordinary, while ignoring God’s calling to the very ordinary, average places that you and I often find ourselves in.

There is great appeal in pursuing exotic or “extraordinary” mission. But the Bible calls us to look a little closer as we live out Jesus’ mission: those in need and our neighbors. - Ben Connelly

In our desire to serve other people, we can’t ignore the simple fact that we are called to love people radically in the context of our ordinary, everyday lives.  We don’t have to travel across the ocean to love our neighbors, we just need to walk outside.

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. - 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

What’s an ordinary radical?

They are ordinary in that they embrace their God-given vocations.  This means they embrace that God has called them to the places he has placed them.  For some this means that God has called them to be a missionary in Africa.  For others that means that they have been called to make pizza at Little Caesars.  For others that means being a stay-at-home mom.

And here’s the thing about these callings, they are all important and equally sacred.

An ordinary radical embraces the ordinary.  He sees that while changing a diaper might not be sexy when compared to somebody else who does something “extraordinary” for God, it is an important and spiritual act of service.  She sees that while she might not be called to go across the world, she has been placed in a mission field in her own neighborhoods.

The temptation in our modern world is to do what was fought against in the Reformation.  In seeking to do something radical for God, we ignore the sacredness of the ordinary.  In Luther’s day, it was the priests who had a sacred, spiritual calling and not the average person.  But Luther embraced an understanding of vocation that understood everybody had a sacred calling whether that be in the church, in the home, or on the farm.

When we measure the importance of a person’s calling based on our pre-conceived notions of God’s calling, we can easily be tempted to ignore the importance of ordinary callings.

"For him who heeds his vocation, sanctification is hidden in offensively ordinary tasks." - Gustaf Wingren

And ordinary radical cannot simply focus on being ordinary, however.  There is a radical component to the ordinary radical.  An ordinary radical, while perhaps having a very average, ordinary vocation, they have a radical calling in the command to “Love your neighbor.”

The ordinary radical embraces the ordinary.  But they also embrace the call to love their neighbor.

And because of their understanding of their calling, they do it exactly the way that God created them to do it and with the gifts that God has given them to do it.  The ordinary radical radically loves their neighbor in very ordinary ways.  They love their kids by providing and taking care of them.  They love their co-workers by showing up for work on time and by speaking well of them.  They love their neighbors by inviting them over for meals.

Ordinary radicals show the radical, scandalous love of God in all the places God has placed them in their normal, everyday lives.

God's Calling When You Hate Your Job

It’s fun to talk about God’s calling when we are talking about a career we love or even our future dreams.  But what about when you don’t like your job?  What is there to talk about when you are stuck in a job you hate, that seems menial, or that you makes you want to stab yourself in the eye with a fork.

Does the doctrine of vocation still apply?

Can you be called to a place that makes you miserable?

Yes.

God can and God does call us to work in places that might not be the best places of employment.  Does that mean we should put up with being treated horrible or that we shouldn’t consider employment elsewhere?  By no means!  But it does mean that until we find a different job, we are called to the one we are at.

In Genesis we learn that after the fall, the earliest vocations of man and woman become difficult.

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken.”  - Genesis 3:17-19

Work was created as a good thing.  God gives Adam and Eve callings even before sin enters the world.  But once sin enters the picture things change.  There isn’t a job in the world that is stress-free.  Even the best job in the world will be accompanied by days of pain and toil.

This is evidence of the broken world that we live in.

What Do I Do if I’m Called To a Job I Hate?

So you didn’t get that dream job that your fancy college-degree and a butt-load of debt promised to get you.  What does that mean for God’s calling in your life?  Do you have one?  Is it not what you thought it would be?  While you may not like your job and it may not be what you hoped it might be, there are some helpful things to consider when the calling you have today is not the calling you hope to have someday.

There is a myth floating around these days that has some folks feeling down—particularly those twenty or thirtysomethings who expected to find themselves settled in a job that makes them wake with the dawn and leap out bed grinning because their work completes them. - Read more

Your job isn’t your only vocation.

Your job is a calling from God.  And it is a place that God’s desires to work with and through you.  But if that job does not utilize all your gifts and passions, it is important to also realize that your job isn’t your only vocation.

In fact, in our world of entrepreneurship, people frequently make a point that we shouldn’t quit our day job in order to pursue our dream job.  Your dream job that you work on at night and on weekends might be a calling that you pursue alongside your day job.  Or your volunteer work for the local non-profit might be the place that utilizes your gifts and passions in a way that your workplace can’t.

You might not be passionate about your job or even feel like it is the place that you should be at long-term, but their are other significant areas in which God wants to use you and your gifts.  And these other areas are important callings to consider.

Your job might be primarily about your calling to your family.

Luther in his conversations about vocation actually primarily categorized the workplace within the vocation of family.  In Luther’s understanding, the job you had was primarily about fulfilling the vocation of providing for a family.

It wasn’t until more recent history that jobs were seen as a place to pursue your passions and find fulfillment.  It used to be that your job was what you did to put food on the table.

You might not like your job, but it pays the bills.  And if it is your responsibility to provide a home for your family and put dinner on the table, you might have to work a difficult, unfulfilling job for the sake of the people you love.

Your job is an opportunity to serve.

In that same light, you’re work becomes an opportunity to serve.  God doesn’t need our works.  We don’t seek to fulfill our vocations because God needs it or it is going to earn us some spiritual points.  We do it because our neighbors need it.

Even if you don’t like your job, you are serving someone.  You are serving the customers that drive you crazy.  You are serving the boss that makes you miserable.  And if all else fails, you are serving your family by working hard at a job you don’t look forward to doing.

So you may not like your job.  Most of us at some point in our life have a difficult, miserable job.  But even in the midst of a job you hate, God’s calling is still present.  And he has called you to the place you are to serve those are you in and through your workplace, he has called you to serve your family by your job, and he has given you all kinds of opportunities to have other vocations alongside of the work you get paid to do.

2 Biggest Lies About Homosexuality that Threaten the Gospel

In our culture, the biggest problem and threat to the Gospel being preached to the homosexual community are the false beliefs that are perpetuated by both those within the community and those outside it.  People within the homosexual community and outside of it often falsely belief that “they are not like us” and that “our sexuality is our identity.”

This is dangerous for us as we understand the message of forgiveness.  This is dangerous for all the people throughout our country who come out to friends and family and falsely believe things about themselves and their identity that are simply contrary to what the Gospel proclaims.  And I write this not to point out what those who struggle believe, but to primarily point out what many of us who don't struggle with this issue falsely believe. 

The Two Biggest Lies People Falsely Believe

1. They are not like us.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.  They are just like us.

In 1 Timothy 1:8-10, Paul describes the lawbreakers and the rebels:

We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul makes another list.

Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

But here is the point; we are all on these lists.  Paul’s point in the list isn’t about calling out only homosexual behavior, but in calling out all of our sin.  We are all the lawbreakers and the rebels.  We are all guilty.  And just for good measure, in case you don’t think you find yourself on the list, Paul even says “and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine.”

That means anything that go against right belief.

So even if you are arrogant enough to think you aren’t on the list, he still adds the kicker to make sure you’re still counted as:

Lawbreakers. Rebels. Ungodly. Sinful. Unholy. Irreligious. Wrongdoers.

This is why Paul says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Because the Scriptures description of human nature makes it clear that we are all broken.  It is clear that we are all guilty of sin.  And that brokennness expresses itself differently in each of our lives.

For some brokenness gets expressed in our sexual behavior.

For others that brokenness gets expressed in greed or gossip.

In others, it happens in drinking.

Homosexual behavior is not a worse sin, but a different one.  It simply expresses the same brokenness that is true of all of us differently.

This means that anyone who believes that they are a sinner in need of a savior can with confidence trust the words of Psalms 103:11-12 when it says, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

When Ephesians says we are saved by grace through faith, that goes for all of us.  We are all in the same boat.  Our root problem is the same.  And the grace we receive through faith is the same.

2. Our sexuality is our identity.

Sin is not our identity.  It is not the identity of those who struggle with homosexual behavior, it is not the identity of those who support it, and it is not the identity of those who oppose it.

When your sin becomes your identity, you desperately need to hear the Gospel.

You are not what you do.  You identity is not found in your own behavior, but is found in Christ who gave of himself on the cross.  Your sin should be your identity, but because of the crucifixion your identity becomes that of a saint.

This is why 1 Corinthians 6 says, “That is what some of you were…”  Because in Christ, no matter where you fall on that list, you are given a new identity in Christ.  No matter who you are or what you’ve done, by faith your identity can be found in Christ. You are called a child of God because Jesus took on your brokenness and sin and made it his own.

You are not what you do.

You are not your sins.

You are not your relationships.

You are not your addictions.

You are not your sexual preferences.

You are not your career.

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” - Galatians 3:28

Your identity is not found in any of these things.  By the grace of God, we can find our identity completely outside of ourselves and in Jesus.

Because it can be hard to capture this in a short blog post, I encourage you to listen to a recent sermon I did on the subject.  Even that leaves a lot that could yet be discussed, but I feel it is helpful in getting a fuller picture.