Practical Answers to Theological Questions

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

There is so much happening in this event John records for us in the 9th chapter of his gospel we will only be able to touch on one point.  Jesus and his disciples come across a man born blind, an interesting subject on the question of sickness in the world.  "Where does it come from?" his disciples wondered.  How many of us have asked this same question throughout the ages?

A logical question for sure.  We look around the world and see imperfection: sickness, disease, deformity, and something inside of us says, "it should not be like this.  Something has gone wrong?"  Unable to fix it, we do the next best thing (at least in our eyes) we try to assign blame.  We ask, "whose fault is this?  This is not right, this is not the way things should be.  Who is to blame?"

Isn't this what the book of Job is all about?  Things were not as they should have been for Job (at least that's what he and his friends thought) and so they sat around trying to figure out who has to blame.  The friends thought it was Job's fault.  Job rejected this idea and thought he could come up with the answer if only God would give him an audience.  But to Job's many theological questions, God only had practical answers.  Actually, in this case he had some questions of his own, very practical ones.  They could be summed up, "Do you really think you can ask questions of me?"

The account in John is like Job all over again.  A man was born blind, whose fault is it?  The man's or his parents?  Somebody caused this, who was it?  

But to their theological question, Jesus only has practical answers.  They are like two heads of one coin: God's glory/ his work.  He states no one sinned.  Here is an opportunity for God to be glorified and after all- this is Jesus work.  But it is a work that he will not always be able to do.  His time "being the light of the world" is limited.  Then it will be up to them, and by extension you and me.  Even then, time will be limited.  Thus, the injunction, "Work while it is day."  

Discouraged when you look around the world full of sickness, disease, sin and pain?  Feel this is not what it should be like? Tempting to sit down and ponder whose fault it is?  DON'T. Instead, work.  Work for God's glory, while it is day, "for night is coming when no one can work."

Get Rid of Your Small Ambitions

The title of this posting was the theme of a missions conference I attended some years back.  The phrase came to mind as I read Galatians 3:4 today, "He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

Abraham was a rich man without an heir.  The heart of men and women cry out for offspring.  I myself have walked the road of infertility and know the pain of unfulfilled desire.  This pain was the constant companion of Abraham whose longing to have a child was aggravated by the abundance of his possessions. Yet God made him a promise, not just an heir, but descendants as abundant as the stars of the sky and the sands on the seashore.  Wow, this would seem so much more than what Abraham had in mind.  And yet in comparison to Galatians 3:14, it is still small.

You see Abraham wanted an heir for himself, God planned an inheritance for all of humanity.  Abraham wanted biological offspring, God delivered the means to adopt sinners into His divine family.  In the interim: all the days, weeks, months, and years during which Abraham waited for God's promise to come to pass, God was slowly unfolding his eternal plan of salvation. He was setting in motion a way to bring "the blessing given to Abraham to the Gentiles," in other words, to all nations.

So of course I thought, "get rid of your small ambitions".  Abraham's desire, while great and his faith, which is to be applauded ("Abraham believed God" is a statement much repeated in the New Testament), pales and is minuscule in comparison to enormous plans the Father was working.  Not just redemption but the very presence of God restored to man ("so that we might we receive the promise of the Spirit").  It doesn't get any better or bigger than that.  God's presence indwelling man?  Now that's ambitious!

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?  What are you desiring?  What are you believing for?  Does it seem huge?  Does it seem impossible?  Does it take more faith than you currently have to believe for it?  Perhaps it is both huge and impossible (without God's intervention) and even difficult to believe.  Yet, after reading Galatians 3:14 doesn't it make you wonder if your ambitions may be tiny in comparison to some great plan our Father may be working behind the scenes, unbeknownst to anyone, including you?  I have to admit, that it makes me wonder. And so I hear again the challenge, get rid of your small ambitions. 

Holy Spirit Reliance

Belkis Lehmann

Everyone who dwells in this mortal body daily battles the struggle between their desire to live a life of reliance on the Holy Spirit and the flesh’s seemingly black hole attraction to rely on themselves.  Below are five encouragements I share with you, as I walk on this journey with you.  This list is by no means exhaustive but meant more to stimulate thought, and more importantly prayer.  Please take a moment and add your own thoughts and ideas by commenting on this article at the new Great Lakes Staff Facebook group   Let’s start a conversation to help and encourage each other.

1.       Live in the security of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life.  It does not matter the quality of building materials used, if the foundation is faulty.  The Holy Spirit is the restored presence of God for the people of God.  HE HAS COME.  He is here.  He dwells in you.  He works through you.  This is TRUE.   Embrace it and make it your foundation.

2.       Practice listening.  Listening is a large part of hearing.  We must listen to the Spirit’s voice in order to know what He desires.  His direction may be terrifying, but we can carry it out with confidence when we know it is His.  Practice is required for improvement. If you’d like to hear the Spirit’s voice clearer during a counseling session, an evangelistic opportunity, or a staff meeting, practice listening regularly every day.  The more you listen, the more you will hear.

3.       Embrace the cross.  In order to rely on the Holy Spirit, we must cease to rely on ourselves.  This is like trying to get away from yourself.  Everywhere you go, there you are.  Only the cross of Christ is able to accomplish this impossible task.  It is not ascetic self-denial, per say. It is the moment by moment decision to live out Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Practically it means choosing others over ourselves, taking faith risks (we don’t need to rely on the Holy Spirit for that which is easy for us), and living by faith that God’s presence is with us.

4.       Fellowship with spiritual people.  The Biblical word spiritual means “of the Spirit” nothing more, nothing less.  This is how I use it here.  Spend time with people of the Spirit, people who challenge you, encourage you, and perhaps, even at times, rebuke you.  Most importantly those who cause you to desire a greater fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

5.       Cry. This may sound odd, but bear with me.  As I grow older I realize more and more God’s heart for humanity is one of compassion, kindness, love, and grace.  When that heart looks at this world, I think it weeps.  So crying for me (not for my own needs but for those of the world) has become a great way to fellowship with the Spirit, who laments in a way only an infinite, omnipotent, omniscient God can. 

What about you? How do you rely on the Holy Spirit? Continue the conversation here. 

The Ministry of Crying Part 2

Last time I shared with you the value suffering has in the life of a believer.  Simply put,

"Suffering is the currency that buys intimacy with God."

"Wait a minute", you might be saying.  "I want to draw closer to God and I am prepared to suffer for the Lord here and there, but are you telling me that I cannot grow in intimacy with Jesus unless I am CONSTANTLY suffering?"  Well, yes I am.  And no, I'm not.

To my original saying I would like to add these important words,

"It doesn't have to be your suffering."

You see the fellowship a believer has with the Lord is not exclusive.  It is a fellowship shared with all believers.  This is how John can write,"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ."

You see fellowship with the Father is also fellowship with his people and fellowship with his people is fellowship with the Son, etc, etc, etc.  This is how you can "rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." I Peter4:13.  

As we "mourn with those who mourn" we fellowship with the Lord and with his body.  As we enter into the suffering of others through intercession and participation, we grown in intimacy with the Lord. 

So don't insulate yourself from the suffering of the world.  Embrace it.  Pray for those in pain, as if the pain is yours, because in the body, it is. 

The Ministry of Crying, Part 1

As a general rule I don't like to cry.  I much prefer to laugh.  Laughing is fun, enjoyable, and contagious.  Everyone likes it.  Yet, for several years now, God has been teaching me to cry.  He's been directing me to weep, mourn, and grieve as I fellowship with him.  Here's how it began.

I spent ten dark years seeking God for a child.  I was like Hannah whose sorrow was so great that as she cried out to God no sound came from her lips.  Though, unlike Hannah, many sounds came from deep within me as I struggled through the many emotions of unfulfilled desire: rejection, self-loathing, abandonment, loneliness and the theological implications of it all.  It was a difficult time in my life, to say the least.

But, as so often happens, out of great suffering came glory.  God used this time to challenge and correct  misconceptions I had about him, myself, the world, prayer, etc. etc. etc.  It became a abundant time of learning and drawing near to God.  It became a time of great intimacy.  From it God gave me this great truth:

"Suffering is the currency that buys you intimacy with God."


This is more than my personal experience.  It is a Biblical and historical pattern. The Apostle Paul testifies, "I want to know him, the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings."  In Romans 8:17 he adds, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory." If you look up the word "suffering you will find many Pauline passages that mirror these words.  He willingly endured hardship and pain, yes, for the sake of the gospel, but also to fellowship with Christ.

Recently, I read an account of a former Muslim believer who was imprisoned for more than two years in a metal shipping container in the Assab, a port town on the Red Sea.  Heat indexes reached 140 degrees.  He was fed very little and given only a small cup of water a day.  When asked how he was able to bear such suffering his response was, "Never have I felt so close to Jesus as when he was with me in prison."*

Why are we surprised at the rich fellowship that suffering produces?  After all, we serve a suffering servant.  Jesus life and death were both marked by great suffering.  He never ran from grief or pain, but embraced it fully.  Yes, on the cross, but also at Lazarus' tomb, in his family, his town, with his people. He experienced all the same reasons for suffering we do: loss, rejection, poverty, betrayal.  And many more most of us have yet to experience: persecution, an unjust trial and public execution.

Many believers desire greater intimacy with our Lord, but are unwilling to meet him in the place of suffering.  Who of us would abandon a spouse diagnosed with cancer, or a child wounded in a terrible accident?  Would we not rather embrace them, draw near to them, and stand by them.  This and much more is exactly what our Jesus does when we are the ones with the bad report, the one who's lost a loved one, or experienced rejection or betrayal.  He offers us his very presence, his companionship, his intimate fellowship.  Does it make sense to turn it down?

And so I encourage you, don't run from the tough, the difficult, and the painful.  Run into the arms of he who is familiar with suffering and pain. What you will find there will there will eclipse your suffering and transform your perspective.

But wait, there's more.  Don't forget to check back for Part 2.

*Live Dead Journal: 30 Days of Prayer for Unreached Peoples, 30 Days of Challenge 

Relevant or Counter-Cultural

Yesterday, as I talked with a friend the questions came up, "should the church be relevant or counter-cultural?"  Wow!  What a big question!

Of course, much has been written on both sides of the issue for many years. Each side has its proponents and detractors.  The divide between them can at times seem as the American church's own demilitarized zone in which each side lives in idealogical safety, periodically lobbing bombs across to the obviously deluded.

The question itself is the problem, since it allows for only one answer.  The Biblical mandate is for the church to be both relevant and counter-cultural.  Jesus exemplified this dynamic in his life and teaching.  He preached the gospel of the kingdom in such a way that people could "relate" to it.  He used analogies and parables from their everyday life and experiences, making deep spiritual truths "relevant".

At the same time he called for an ethic beyond their current culture.  He called his followers to love their enemies, choose service over position, and embrace a standard of righteousness greater than that of the Pharisees.  He walked a path marked by such extreme counter-culture, that at the end of his life, he had almost no one who remained by his side.  

How do we, as the people of God, live out this same dynamic today?  The answer is in the gospel itself, which calls us to take up our cross daily and follow our Lord.  You see, without a crucified life, one quickly moves from counter-culture to self-righteousness.  Without the cross, being relevant can become being comprising.  Both of these pitfalls are covered over with the lure of self-interest, self-protection, and self-pride.  The cross, praise Jesus, is a trully effective method to kill self.  

The answer to the question of what parts of a culture the church should relate to and what part it should counter is, no pun intended, relative.  It all depends on the cultural element in question.  But before we run to our side of the zone and pick up our weapons, let us instead run to the Lord and pick up His cross.  From here we see Him, the gospel, people, and ourselves much more clearly, avoid pitfalls and, by His grace, walk in His ways.  

Get It In Writing

Genesis 15 tells the account of Abram cutting covenant with God. God made him a promise and Abram said, “how canI know it’s really going to happen?” God’s response would be the modern equivalent of saying, “I’ll put it in writing.”

He used the then method of committing to something: he made a covenant. Today we would write up a contract and sign it. A contract signifies obligation. The person is obligated to keep their commitment under legal penalties. Of course, there is no one greater than God, who can force him to keep his commitment. So says in Hebrews 6:13, “When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself.”

God reassured Abram by sealing his commitment in a culturally appropriate manner, he cut covenant. Today we have the written Word of God. What promise of God do you need reassurance of today? Look it up. He’s put it in writing.