Jesus had finished Passover with His disciples and had dismissed Judas to commit his treachery. His body was heavy from the long meal and drink that he had ingested, his mind was in turmoil over the horrendous journey to His death that he would have to undertake, and his heart was overloaded with betrayal, helplessness, sorrow and anguish.

He went with his 11 friends to a place on the Mount of Olives called Gethsemane, told His disciples to pray, and fell apart. He said to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” He walked a little farther through the garden, fell on His knees with his face buried to the ground, crushed by the immensity of it all and prayed, cried out to God, sweat pouring from his face as the reality of what was happening pushed down around Him. And in a voice wracked with sobs He said: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.” (Matt. 26:36-39)

What do your prayers look like in your most desperate hours? When you are far beyond the end of yourself and the inner turmoil threatens to tear you apart, what do you pray for? When the sweat pours like blood from your face and you can barely speak for the enormity of it all, what is your request of God? Maybe they sound something like this: “God, my financial situation is beyond hope. Please provide a miracle!” “Father, my work is cutting back and I am in extreme danger of being let go, please let me keep my job!” “God, I have been dealing with this chronic illness for years, heal my body!” “Lord, my life has become unbearably difficult, problems seem to spring up like dandelions, make my life easier please!” And you pray with all the earnestness of Jesus as he prayed that night; but what if you are praying for exactly the wrong thing?

What would have happened if Jesus would have gotten His request that night? No torture, no humiliation, no betrayal, no death, no resurrection, no salvation for us. See, the Father’s plan was bigger than what Jesus was going through at that moment. In Isaiah 46: 10 God describes Himself: “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.” He has a plan and He sees the whole picture. We don’t.

What if your financial situation is teaching you to trust God? What if your being let go from your job opens the door to a better future for your family? What if your chronic illness and the way you deal with it is instrumental in someone else coming to the knowledge of Christ? What if the difficulties in your life are the way that God is making you stronger? God knows the whole plan, and when we pray it is good for us to remember that or we may find ourselves praying for the wrong thing.

See, Jesus didn’t stop with his request for the Father to rescue Him from what He was about to go through, He continued with a few simple but profound words that changed the course of history: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.” He acknowledged that God was sovereign and that the Father’s will would be the best for Him, for those around Him and for everyone to come. With those words, He said that He understood that God saw the end from the beginning and He placed His trust in His Father’s hands. He trusted His Father’s perspective.

As we go to God in prayer, can we do any less? Should we put ourselves in the place of God and pretend that we know what is best for us? Should we impose our will over His? Understand that I am not saying that we shouldn’t express our thoughts, opinions and requests. By all means we should let our requests be known. We should tell Him how we see the situation and how we would like it to work out. But in the end, we need to trust in His perspective and let the last words of our hearts be: “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

pastorben@theporchonline.org

Genesis 1:6-8 “And God said, ‘Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.’ So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault ‘Sky.’” I was reading the account of Creation in Genesis 1 and I came across that verse. I began to think, what were the logistics there? What did that actually look like? Was there a big ball of water, and God lifted some of it up and it stayed suspended there like a lake above our heads? Was it all in dispersed form like clouds and some of it God compressed which became the water on the earth and some He suspended in the air? How did He figure out the amount of space needed between the waters? How did he know the size the particles of water would have to be in order to stay suspended in the atmosphere? It boggles the mind!

I continued to read and more and more was overwhelmed by one thought. God is creative! What kind of imagination does it take to come up with 4,629 different species of mammals?! Not to mention each and every representative animal in a species is different. What kind of thoughts go into creating a food chain: figuring what animals and plants are food for which other animals and how big the ecosystem has to be in order to perpetually sustain life? And as you look at the giant crystals in the Crystal Cave (Naica, Mexico), or the Grand Canyon, or the rainforest in Africa, or Niagara Falls in Canada, you hear each one of them cry out of the creativity of God.

vs. 26 “And God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” So at the tail end of creation, as his final flourish of creativity, God created us. In His image. Which leads us to one inevitable conclusion: We are made with creativity inside of us. It’s sown right in. It is intrinsic in our being. You can no more separate a human being from creativity than you can separate the hydrogen from water and still have it be water. Yet some of us don’t believe we are creative. We have defined creativity narrowly and placed ourselves outside of that space. But know this: everyone is creative. Everyone can imagine. Everyone can dream. It is what makes us different from the animals.

Yet we often shy away from creativity, from dreaming. We relegate that to something that was part of our childhood and we have grown out of. We keep our creativity to a minimum because we are afraid that it will lead us to an unexpected place. That we will lose control. Isn’t that the point? If done correctly, creativity WILL lead us to an unexpected place. That’s its power. It allows us to see things we have never seen before, to experience the world from a different perspective. It broadens our minds and hearts. And in times of hardship, in times of despair, we need that! So don’t be afraid to dream, don’t be afraid to imagine, to be creative! Allow yourself to give control to the One that deserves it. Allow yourself to be reckless just a little bit, to think thinks that have never been thunk before and in the midst of all of it to be a little more like your Creator.

pastorben@theporchonline.org

Real love stinks. It is not a fluttery feeling that you get in the pit of your stomach as a pretty woman or a handsome man walks by. It is not how you describe your favorite food. It has very little to do with the emotion accompanying the birth of your child. It is not the rush of joy that envelopes you when someone does something for you. It is a choice. A gut-wrenching, self-denying, others-thinking, action-oriented choice. That’s why it stinks.

“And now these three remain faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:13

We have talked about faith and hope, and now we come to the most difficult of these attributes — love. Why is it difficult, you may ask since we are surrounded by examples of it; on television, in movies, in books, billboards, posters and advertisements? It is for just this reason that the subject of love is so difficult — it is misunderstood. In our modern society, the idea of love has become inextricably tied to emotions and romantic feelings. The type of love described in I Corinthians 13:13 though has little to do with emotion and much more to do with action. The early church coined the word agapé, to describe Christian love. It was used to depict God’s love, it meant good will, affection, benevolence or brotherly love. And it was to this type of love that Jesus was referring when He stated in John 13:34: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” It is a choice. It is an action. The simplest definition that I have heard for this kind of love is “always doing what is best for the other person.”

This is why real love stinks: if you take emotion out of it, if it doesn’t have to do with romantic feelings, then it means that we need to work for others benefit regardless of friend or foe, regardless of our feelings, regardless of our hurt, anger or frustration. And doing that is extremely difficult. Think about it: How easy is it to do what’s best for another person that has betrayed you? How can you ask God to forgive someone that intentionally hurt you? How willing are you to stick up for those that are mistreated even though it may mean that you lose your freedom? How willing are you to spend your money to benefit others, even if it means that you have to go without? Yet these are things that God calls us to do.

How can we do this? Just the thought of doing some of those things turns my stomach inside out! This request is well beyond my human ability! And I guess that’s the point: to truly love as God intends, we must rely on Him for the strength, the knowledge, even the desire. He doesn’t leave us without hope though. He gives us an example in Jesus as He hung on the cross asking God to forgive those that just wrongfully accused him, beat him and were killing Him.

What can we do in the face of such an incredible example? Try to follow it in our own halting, stuttering way — reaching out constantly for God’s help as we struggle to accomplish this most arduous of tasks. And that is just what God desires; our exposition of his definition-changing love and our reliance on Him are a sign to the hurting world the He loves them. It cries louder than our greatest screams of who He is and how he cares for them. It can change others hearts.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I Corinthians 13:1-13

So who do you need to love?

pastorben@theporchonline.org

There are times in life when you see something coming, and there are times in life where you just get totally blindsided.

Last week my wife and I sat down to watch “The Help” a movie about African American maids in the South during the Civil Rights era. As we sat to watch the movie I fully expected that this would not be a fun movie. I expected it to be a good movie, a challenging movie, but not a fun movie. I knew what it was about and expected to get confronted with issues of social inequality, racism and poverty. But, I wasn’t prepared to be confronted, directly and personally, by a completely different issue.

The scene that caught me off guard was a charity ball. All of the white women had organized a ball to raise money for starving children in Africa. One lady (who has been particularly nasty to her “help”) gets up and makes a speech praising everyone for their Christian generosity. While she talks, the camera pans left and you see a line of African American maids. As this woman keeps speaking in the background, you see one maid whose son died in a work accident because the colored hospital was too far away. Then you see another maid who, just one scene prior, was explaining what it’s like to leave your own kids at home with minimal care as you go to a rich lady’s house to raise her kids for her. Then you see another maid who has just talked about the pain of getting fired for a minor issue and having to leave the child she as caring for to his neglectful parents. Lastly, there is one maid who is missing. She has just been beaten and arrested for stealing from her employer to try to pay her child’s college tuition. Meanwhile, in the background, you still hear this self-righteous woman prattling on about how great, how generous, how Christian they all are. She feels so great about liberating these kids half a world away and can’t see that they are oppressing kids and their mothers right in their own homes.

It occurred to me in that moment the incredible danger of self-righteousness. I tried to picture myself as a 30 year old white male, living in that environment. I’d like to think I would’ve done better, that I would’ve seen the needs that were right in my face. But I wonder if I would have. I wonder if I could have. I think about my life right now and think, “Yeah, I’m not doing too bad. Sure I could be better, but really, I’m not that bad.” Yet I’m willing to bet that these ladies thought the very same thing. I was forced to stop, to really consider and examine my life. What habits do I have that harm others? How do my lifestyle choices effect my family, my neighbors, my church, my friends? I wonder, in 40 years, if my grandkids were watching a movie about my life, would they be appalled at what I did, what I justified, just like I was appalled as I watched this movie?

As I reflected on this, the most sobering thought of all came to mind. Self-righteousness eliminates any possibility of redemption. In Matthew 9:9-13, Jesus is questioned by the religious authorities about why he spends so much time with such sinful people. His response, “The healthy don’t need a doctor, the sick do. I haven’t come for the righteous, but for sinners.” It’s a flat and logical response. If you don’t think you’re sick, you don’t go to the doctor, and if you don’t think you’ve sinned, there is no need for repentance. If you’re self-righteous, what need do you have for the righteousness of Christ? None.

So I wonder, do I think I’m so great, like those ladies in the movie? Am I missing the obvious like the Pharisees? Am I so blind to my own sin? Worst of all, am I missing out on a chance to experience forgiveness, reconciliation and growth because I refuse to accept that I did or said something wrong?

Psalm 139:23-24 “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

pastorjon@theporchonline.org

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

We think that faith should feel different than it does. I’m not sure where we got the idea, but in our minds, decisions made in faith are backed by a bedrock of surety. Yes, there are moments of doubt, but all in all, we think it should feel like a warn groove that we fit into and are cradled by. This is what we believe, but the reality of faith is much different.

As I look at the chosen in the Bible, I can’t help but think there were many times that they were plagued by doubt as they acted in faith. Take Ezekiel for example: God told him to symbolize the siege of Jerusalem by drawing the city on a clay tablet, making siege ramps, camps and battering rams around it. Then he was to take an iron pan and put it between him and the city and lay on his left side facing it. He was supposed to lie there for 390 days. 390 days! And then he was to turn over and lay on his other side for 40 days. There must have been many doubts in his thoughts as people passed by him, asked what he was doing, looked strangely at him. What must have passed through his mind as he lay there for over a year? “Why am I doing this? Did I hear God correctly? Is it worth it?”

Or what ran through Joseph’s mind in the nine months after the angel appeared to him to tell him that his fiance was pregnant by the Holy Spirit? What doubts plagued him as he watched his wife-to-be swell with a child, knowing that he had no part in it?

What about during the many years that Noah had a huge boat in his backyard? I can imagine him muttering to himself: “I have been working on this thing for 70 years! Every single day my neighbors pass by, laugh and make fun of me. I’m 530 years old for goodness sake! I’m getting too old for this! I have seen no rain, no sign of the impending devastation, why am I doing this?”

If someone did these things in today’s society, how would we react to it? I think these people would be labeled delusional at best and crazy at worst. Yet each of these men, in spite of their doubts continued on the path God chose for them. That is faith.

God calls us to live by faith (Hebrews 10:38), but we make a mistake when we assume it is an easy road. Comfort and security are a siren song that pull us away. Our belief that the walk of faith is not prone to doubt is a stumbling block to keep us from our path. We need to understand that the essence of faith is doubt. It can’t be faith if there is no doubt. As a Christian, God will ask us to stretch ourselves, to do things that others think are strange. God does not call us to be comfortable, to fit in. He asks us to change the world — to put ourselves in danger for His sake — to live in faith.

The path is different for each person, but requires the same level of stout-heartedness. It will look radical to other people. God has a calling that will challenge you, refine you and remake you into a stronger, better Christian — a person more like His Son. It may be to stand up for someone that others make fun of. It may be to sacrifice your wants and desires to take a job that God wants you to take. It may be to start an organization to defend the rights of those unable to defend themselves. God calls us to live by faith because he asks more of us than we can do on our own. Through our faith in Him, we accomplish the impossible. Will we answer the call? Will we commit to live a life of faith? Like Isaiah, will we say “Here am I, Lord, send me?”

What does faith look like for you?

pastorben@theporchonline.org

With the Christmas and New Year’s seasons upon us, we know that this is one question we will hear over and over again throughout the next couple weeks as we see family and friends that we may not have seen for months, a year, or even more. Usually it’s followed up with something like, “You look great, by the way!” or “I hear you got that job at _____.” or “I hear you closed on that house!” As though these external symptoms of success are the determining factors in how well I’m actually doing.

All too often our Americanized Christianity wraps up success with well-being. I’m not talking about the “health & wealth” gospel, which claims that if you’re following God like you should, then he’ll bless you with tons of money to spend as you outlive all the wicked people around you. (Sure it’s true that the Proverbs indicate that when the world is functioning as it ought, those who follow God will be blessed both now and later, but it’s also true that the Proverbs show a world doesn’t always function as it ought!) I’m talking about a far subtler version of this “health & wealth” concept.

When people find out I’m a pastor, inevitably they ask one or more of the following:
“How many members do you have?”
“What’s your average attendance?”
“Do you have multiple services?”
“How many ministries are there in your church?”
“How many people have come to know Christ there this last year?”
“Are you making your budget?”

The substance of the questions are easy enough to answer, but I fear that the heart of the question is misplaced. Is how Solomon’s Porch is doing (or any other church for that matter) really reflected in these numbers? Is the work of the Spirit amongst Christ’s body so definitively and easily quantified? Don’t get me wrong, I want to see the answers to the above questions going in a positive direction. Just like we want people to praise how we look when we haven’t seen them for awhile, or congratulate us on our latest achievement. But I think Scripture indicates that this is not how well-being is determined.

Compare Ezekiel and Jonah. There could not be two more drastically different prophets with two more dissimilar stories. Ezekiel is the epitome of obedience; Jonah is a picture of rebellion. Ezekiel obeys God even to the point of looking like a lunatic (Ez. 4-5) and refusing to mourn the death of his dearly loved wife (Ez. 24:15-18). Jonah pushes God away at every turn. He turns to God only briefly and temporarily when he’s on the brink of his own destruction (Jon. 2:2-7). Ezekiel is carried along by the Spirit to go and speak the words of God to His people (Ez.2:2; 3:12). Jonah has to be taken there against his will by a fish (Jon. 2:10-3:1). In God’s presence, Ezekiel bows in worship (Ez. 1:28). Jonah, on the other hand rages against God (4:9).

So, who is doing well, and who not is doing so well? The answer is obvious. Ezekiel is thriving, and Jonah is deteriorating. But what about the about the “standards of wellness” we saw above? Who looks better? Who has achieved more? Who has the biggest results for their ministry? Let’s run the numbers…

Results of Ezekiel’s ministry?
Converts: 0
Jerusalem: Massive destruction and exile experienced by God’s chosen people
Results of Jonah’s ministry?
Converts: 120,000+
Nineveh: Massive reformation and repentance by Gentiles

And on top of this, they both knew what was coming. Ezekiel is told twice before his ministry even begins that it will result in failure (Ez. 2:3-8; 3:4-11), and Jonah’s resistance stems from his anticipation of repentance in Nineveh (Jon. 4:10-3).

So, which of them had a “better year” so to speak? Which can say they did well in God’s eyes? Jonah in his “mega-church” or Ezekiel alone in his empty sanctuary? It seems from the stories of Scripture that God is more interested in obedience than success. More interested in love than ambition. More interested in compassion than achievement. I find this to be true of all Christians, both as a corporate body and as individuals.

So, when you reflect on the last year, let me ask you, “How have you been?” Did you do well and walk in the footsteps of Ezekiel, or did you pull a Jonah?

pastorjon@theporchonline.org

That statement brought me out of my 8am classroom stupor and made me sit up and actually listen to my prof. How could he say that? I’ve grown up in the church, I’ve heard more than my fair share of sermons about not being lukewarm, about being passionate for Christ and His cause. Now here I am listening to a man who has 40+ years of experience in the church telling a bunch of future pastors and teachers that they don’t need passion!?

To say the least, I was shocked.

The focus of that class period was exploring the life of Israel in the desert. I was pretty skeptical about how he was going to make the connection between a bunch of Hebrews wandering in a desert to our churches being too focused on passion, but I heard him out, after all, it was that or get up and leave in the middle of class (which is generally frowned upon). The gist of the conversation was that Israel’s time in the desert was a time of learning to obey and trust God, and thus, the church today needs to worry less about developing passion and more about encouraging obedience.

I’ve chewed on that statement, and that whole class, for quite awhile now and as I have it’s occurred to me that Scripture portrays the church as the bride of Christ. And what’s a marriage without passion? Pretty dull, uninteresting and unappealing. So there has to be passion. But what happens when the passion wanes? What happens when late night dates become late night feedings, then late nights up sick or wondering where the kids are or when they’re coming home? What happens when the joy and excitement and passion of being newlywed gives way to the 9-5 work days and commitments to friends and family that eat up our time? What happens when instead of anticipating time alone with your spouse, you begin to dread it? What happens when the passion gives out? Is that God’s way of telling you your marriage is over and it’s time to move on?

Life with God is no different. Whether it’s the first commitment to Jesus, or the beginning of a new church or ministry, it always starts with passion. It always starts with joy, excitement and anticipation. But what happens when that wanes? What happens when the explosive new ministry becomes the ministry that’s been around for 5 years and can’t manage to find new volunteers? What happens when the new church on the block becomes the old church on the block? What happens drudgery of everyday life and challenges preys on the optimism of a new believer? Is this God’s way of telling us to find a new church or close down a ministry?

I think that was the problem my prof. was identifying. If we’re only all about passion than what happens when it wanes? And it will wane!

When passion wanes, devotion has to kick in. Devotion is the commitment to work at something that we don’t want to work at. It’s the recognition that, whether I feel passionate about my wife or not, she’s worth the time and effort to work at our relationship. Whether I wake up feeling excited about church or God or ministry, God’s worth my time, the ministry is worth my effort, church is valuable enough to work at it, even if I don’t feel like it is.

Passion needs to breed devotion. When we’re passionate about God or a ministry or our spouse, that’s when we need to work hard at developing habits of obedience and commitment. When you’re excited about it, that’s the time to be intentional. And when that passion wanes, let the devotion kick in. That’s the time to work even harder. That’s the time to remember what life was like when the passion was present, and be committed, loving, obedient, and devoted in spite of the lack of desire. That is the time to work hard in spite of the lack of passion, and to work to restore the passion. Devotion is the backbone of passion. When the passion returns, and it will return, (if you work at it) it’ll return with a vengeance!

I think life is a cycle. A lot of stuff starts with passion, and a lot of stuff ends when the passion wanes because we lack the devotion to trudge through to the other side. But on the other side is more passion, greater passion that will give birth to greater devotion, that will be the backbone of more passion…

Are you feeling passionate about something or someone? Use that energy and excitement to work hard at developing habits of commitment and devotion.

Are you feeling like the passion is all gone? Have hope, keep devoted, keep working at it. When you come out on the other side (and you will) it’ll be worth it!

— Jon Moore

pastorjonattheporchonline.org

On Monday morning I found myself on the phone with the passport hotline. I was not happy. Our family was leaving for Korea in six days and Hannah’s passport hadn’t arrived. We had applied over two months ago and through a series of misadventures found ourselves in doubt as to whether or not the passport would arrive on time; thus the phone call.

I explained the situation to the person on the phone telling her that the passport office had asked for additional documentation eight days ago which we had sent the day after they requested it. She checked her computer and said that the passport was still in process and that they had not received the document according to her records. My head was about ready to spin around like a person possessed, but I kindly asked her how to proceed from here. She said we could try to send the document again. I informed here there was not enough time, that it would take a day to secure the document, another to send it and still no guarantee that the document would satisfy the passport office or that the passport would arrive on time. I was more than frustrated. I asked if there was another way we could proceed. She said that she could have the passport office call me. I asked for that option and hung up with a heavy heart, unsure how this could turn out well.

Sue at the passport office in Buffalo, New York called me back and asked if we could resend the document. I explained again the difficulties with that scenario and then she said the magic words: “Well, you could fax it.” I called the court and had them fax her the document. All was well, right? Wrong. Sue called back and said that this document wasn’t sufficient. I called the court back and left a message asking if they could work on providing the type of document the passport office was requesting and in the meantime, I went searching for any piece of official paper that we had that might satisfy them. I found a letter that had the possibility of working and faxed that to them. In the meantime, the court also faxed them an affidavit. Lo and behold, Sue called back and said that the documents were sufficient and they were issuing the passport that day. Hannah could go to Korea! (In fact, the passport arrived as I was writing this.)

Going through this process, I was reminded of the story of the persistent widow in Luke 18. Jesus told the parable of a widow who went to the judge and asked for justice against her adversary. The judge refused. Time and time again, the widow returned seeking justice until finally the judge relented and gave her justice. That was much like the situation that I ran into with the passport. There was no way that I was going to give up. If it took staying on the phone all day, I would do that. If I had to fax or mail 500 documents to the passport office, I was willing. If I had to get in my car, drive to Buffalo, NY, and pick up the passport, I would do that. I had a single-minded determination to see the situation through and I was willing to ask and try as many times as it took, in the same way the widow was persistent.

Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow to show us that we should always pray and not give up. Are there areas of your life that you need to go to God in persistent prayer? Are there things that you have given up on and even stopped asking for that you need to go back and seek again? Do you need to pray for healing of an ongoing illness again? Do you need to restoration of a relationship? Financial help? Have you stopped asking because you felt sheepish coming to the “judge” again, seeking “justice?” Don’t be afraid to ask. Jesus wants you too. Sometimes the seeking builds our faith. Sometimes it takes a while. Many times it takes longer than we feel it should. But when our “passport” arrives, it is all worth it.

— Ben