Matt’s Blog

Every week (mostly) I spend a good deal of time preparing to present some aspect of the message from Mars Hill Church to the community group that I lead. After I complete the discussion I thought it might be personally profitable for me to write out what I came up with, incorporating anything pertinent from the group discussion. This is the material from March 8, 2010.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Luke 5:27-32

This week we continue the study of the life of Jesus examining his interaction with the tax collector named Levi, and in his calling we find some great examples of what it means to practice good community. In this narrative from Luke we see three steps in the process (to borrow some phrases from Driscoll):

• Follow Jesus
• Start a Community Group
• Repent, Repent, Repent

Personally, I find the order of the activities particularly interesting. Of course the command to follow Jesus precedes all, for that is where the motivation comes for all that will happen later. But one might expect that the next step will be the revelation of sin in the life of Levi, and the inevitable priod of conviction and repentance that lead to a changed life. Instead we see that after meeting Jesus at the tax booth Levi’s immediate reaction is to call together all his friends and fellow sinners so that they too may come to know Jesus. The life-analysis and study that leads to the revelation of sin, conviction, and ultimately repentance follows, rather than precedes, the starting of this new “community group.”

Instead of having to “get oneself right” in order to participate in relationships with others (both Christian and non-Christian), we see that good community helps “get ourselves right” for relationship with God through conviction of sin and accountability. Thus the importance of involvement in community is stressed as an immediate reaction of the newly-called disciple of Christ.

But what makes good community and, considering many of us are already practicing good community of one sort or another, what are the risks to good community once established? Let’s limit the discussion for the time being to that of Christian community since, after all, this is a blog about Christian community groups.

There are two primary dangers that I see to the practice of healthy community. The first is that the success of our community group would lead to pride that is not focused on Christ. This can either happen in a religious or worldly sense. The second is that in reaching out to sinners we would become so blind to sin that we ourselves fall into temptation.

We find an example of the first risk in Galatians 2:11-14. Here we see that Paul opposing Peter who has refused to eat with Gentile Christian.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, l live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Galatians 2:11-14

In this case Peter had previously eating with the Gentiles exercising a freedom that he was granted in Christ to ignore the previously strict dietary guidelines that governed what Jews could and could not eat. But, upon the arrival of some Christians of Jewish heritage, Peter pulled back and excluded Gentile Christians from his fellowship. This rejection comes despite Peter’s previous affirmation of Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles expressed in the preceding passage: Galatians 2:7-10. Here we see the risk of allowing pride in our community to color our interactions with others. For me, this risk takes the form of wanting to get everything in my life “just so.” I can sympathize with Peter who in his refusal to eat with the Gentiles was reacting to the deep-seated beliefs that have their origin in the strongly-stated Levitical laws regarding what was permissible to eat. Although the laws from the Old Testament regarding food had been made obsolete by the redemption of Christ, there was still an uneasiness that came with the new dietary freedom that undoubtedly created significant discomfort for Christian Jews, Peter in particular. Although selfish and wrong, his decision was at least based on a desire rooted in the commands of the Lord. I’m convicted when I consider how many times I avoid dealing with certain people or situations to avoid discomfort not because of a misunderstood command of the Lord, but purely based on my own selfish desire to have things the way that I want them to be.

Such an attitude is toxic to good community. This not only expresses great selfishness, but it puts us in a position where we are completely ineffective for the spread of the gospel. By ensuring that we allow our “boat to be rocked” in this regard we ensure that the following positive benefits will come out of our community groups:

• Selfishness will be eliminated as we are forced out of our comfort zone.
• We will be constantly aware of the sinfulness and brokenness of ourselves and of the world.

The second danger to good community is found in 1 Corinthians 5 where we see the unwillingness of the Corinthian church to deal with the explicit sin found among Christian brothers:

It is actually reported that there is w sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

The second risk touches on the need for good community to help us realize our own sinfulness and urge us to repentance. If the first risk of community is being too judgmental, then this second risk is that of refusing to engage in accountability with our fellow Christians. This is important because we are all called to live above reproach, this is how the glory of God is demonstrated in the redeemed and changed lives of Christians. This means that, as good community members, we must be willing to put aside our comfort and have those difficult conversations and interactions in which sin can be exposed and put to death.

In concluding, it’s important to note here that the judgment in this case is not directed to those outside the community, or to non-Christians, but rather to those members of the group who profess to follow Christ and yet still live in sin. In the passage from Luke, and all thought the ministry of Jesus we see his desire to reach out to the “unclean” and help heal them of their sin them as a spiritual physician. So like him, we must be constantly reaching out to the world around us maintaining the delicate balance between internal moral consistency and external unconditional love.

The past few weeks at Mars Hill they’ve been in this series called “It’s All About Jesus” which, as I’m confident you can clearly see, is all about Jesus. The overall theme is that God is authoring a story (or script) for all of His creation. Most recently Pastor Bill Clem, filling in for Mark, was talking about the idea that we are all part of that story and that the scope of our view the story depends on our understanding of our role in relation to God. Sadly for many, both Christian and non-Christian, the story is only about one’s personal journey. Because of our fallen nature we often reject supporting roles in the grand production that is God’s story opting instead for leading roles in small side-shows of our own. One analogy presented was that of a few acting students scraping together their meager resources for a production of their own script in what is basically a warehouse versus a young actress auditioning for, and landing, a minor supporting role in a major Broadway production. On this point Bill stated that those of us who take a narrow, personally focused, view of our stories will interpret the theme of our ”movie script” in light of our present circumstances. When we are blessed with success we see our life as a heroic action/adventure, when we find a special relationship a romance, and when we are plagued by pain or struggle we see life as a drama or perhaps even a horror film.

As Christians we’re all raised with the message that we must constantly give praise to God in the midst of our blessings. Whether we apply it or not, there’s definitely a sense (or at least an intellectual assent) that the blessings of health, friends, job, marriage, children, and so on are a part of God’s greater plan. We know well the risk of forgetting God in our success. But for me, and I would suspect for others as well, it’s not the times that I see success that I feel disconnected from the story of God, but rather the times of struggle. Although in times of difficulty the emotional connection to God may seem stronger, I think that the temptation is to look at the circumstances of life and introspectively label my story as one of woe and misery (a film of dramatic struggle against all odds) regardless of my emotional “spiritual high” or outward expressions of dependence on God. This gives rise to the questions like “how can a loving God allow so much pain” or “why do bad things happen to good people?” I replace God ‘s script with a much smaller one of my own design in my mind and heart. The film analogy can be extended in this sense by considering the difference in tone if an action/adventure script featured the victims as the protagonist instead of the rescuing hero.

Luckily I am not the protagonist of the story. I’ve been reading in Job (one of my favorite books) and I’m always struck by the way that God responds to Job starting in verse 38:1 and continuing throughout the rest of the book:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Job 38:1-7

I love this passage for multiple reasons. First because God uses sarcasm to righteously mock that unreasonable belief in Job (and in us) that there is any other story but God’s. Not only do we see that sarcasm has a justifiable place in the Kingdom, but it’s used to highlight the ridiculousness of our belief in anything other than the grand story of God. Second, God basically tells Job to put on a cup because he is about to be kicked up the middle in a theological sense. The tone of speech in consideration of the audience is as often important as the content of the message itself, and here God demonstrates that when speaking to men a direct, harsh application of the truth will have the greatest benefit. And finally, (back on topic) we see God not so gently remind Job that He is the author of the story, and that Job is merely a supporting character. He asks Job if he thinks that he has the power or the desire to author a story as grand as the one unfolding in the hands of the Creator to which Job gives the only logical reply:

Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:1-6

The difference to me is significant. When I remind myself that I am only a small supporting role in a much, much larger script I can keep both suffering and success in proper perspective. Like catching the game-winning home run at a baseball game, no one cares that you caught the ball. They are rightly caught up in celebrating the much greater victory. And you should be to, whether you caught the game winning ball or not.

So after all that what then is the theme of the story of God? I’m going to have to go with Mark’s assertion that the story presented in the Bible is a comedy (albeit a dark comedy) but that’s a post for another time.

Sunday I met with the small group leaders at Buckhead Church for the last time. Typically we have these lunch meetings once a month throughout the course of the semester. The objective is to get together to discuss everything that is going on in our groups, and share methods and ideas with each other. Last Sunday was the last meeting of this semester and, for me, the last one I will attend.

As this is the last week of class, and next week is finals week, it’s inevitable that there are going to be a lot of these “lasts”.

It’s difficult for me to write about this because I really don’t know how to feel. There’s definitely excitement, but there’s also a great deal of fear and uncertainty. Imagine looking around at everything you can see or experience and being afraid to like it because it will be a 7-hour airplane ride away in a couple months. Not that Seattle is a bad place, quite the opposite in fact. The quick glimpses that I’ve gotten through my visits there and by listening to Mark’s podcasts are promising. It’s just that I’ve done this whole move-across-the-county thing before when I came to Georgia from Colorado, so now I’m burdened with the knowledge of what that move will do.

I’ve had a really good time here. That’s what is clearly apparent in the “lasts”. If I hadn’t had a good time, then there wouldn’t be any “lasts” worth experiencing. As I reflect back on the time I’ve spent here I’m amazed at all the great things I have to remember. But as I began writing about them I realized that if I put them all in one post it would be close to a mile long. So instead, I’m going to parcel them out over the course of a few days/weeks starting with this one:

Small Group

I started my small group experience at Theta Xi before I was even a brother. Charlie Wright, who would eventually become my big brother, invited me to join a group my sophomore year at Tech. As I was really struggling for Christian guy community at the time; I joined. Eventually my involvement in the group led to my pledging at Theta Xi, but that’s another story. The next couple years I led groups of various size and effectiveness through the house. When I entered graduate school, however, things really took off. I decided that I wanted to join a group (not lead) through Buckhead Church to branch out beyond the fraternity. I didn’t want to lead, because I didn’t feel that I had the proper experience or knowledge to adequately lead. Apparently God thought differently. He brought a group of young guys to me, and for the next two years they asked me to lead them as we all “did life” together.

The last two years have been some of the most exciting years of my life in small group. I’m so amazed at the growth and maturity that each of the members of our group has experienced, myself included. It’s hard to remember all the things that we have done together outside of the regular meetings; going to Kenya, mini-golfing, feeding the homeless, and generally just hanging out. When we first all met I think there was a significant doubt that we would even work together, but now I can safely say that if I get married I know a couple guys who will be standing with me at the altar.

I hate that my roommate’s last drive out as wreck driver was marred by the classless “prayer” the U-Miami players decided to have:

• Before the game.
• In front of our student section.
• Directly in the way of our mascot.

I really hate this sort of thing. Prayer at football games is fine, just as long as it’s intended to glorify God and not men. Which usually means it’s done unobtrusively (center of the field, not in the opposing endzone), after the game (so it’s not about who wins), and involves both teams. I can’t believe how angry this video made me.

At least we won.

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
“Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay him?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

So, for the first time in eight years I did not vote for the man who was elected as our President. While many of my fellow political ideologues have expressed frustrations ranging from apathetic to really extreme frankly, I’m just glad that it’s finally over.

Now, for the most part during the campaigns I refrained from comment on the various candidates. I maintain no delusions that I have anything approaching a major platform from which to voice my opinion. The “readers” of this blog are mostly friends and family and so I saw no compelling reason to instigate major debate with speculation on the performance of those not-yet-elected. Now that the people have spoken though, I have some observations that I felt strongly enough about to share.

In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that my political leanings are fairly strongly towards the conservative/libertarian side of things, and that on almost every issue I find myself directly opposed to President-Elect Obama. These opinions are not the result of some die-hard dedication to the Republican agenda (if such a thing exists anymore), but instead are based on my individual beliefs tempered by my own observations and my understanding of the way things work. I think it’s imperative that everyone think for themselves and not allow anyone, right or left, to write or speak their views for them. This is one of the key reasons I publish this blog.

That said, this isn’t an anti-Obama post. This is simply my reaction to the actions of those around me and my observations of the challenges facing Obama and all Americans as we move into this new political era.

On Outrage

I noticed two primary emotions among my friends who supported Obama immediately following the election. The first was joy (understandable, if slightly annoying) and the second was outrage. The outrage perplexed me a little. After all Obama won, what was there to be outraged over? His margin? I was somewhat confused until I remembered how much white people love to be offended.

Apparently those on the right weren’t nice enough when Barack Obama’s victory was announced. I know, I’m spoiling all the fun. Now don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of nasty, racist and inappropriate things said around me in reaction to Obama’s victory. But you can’t honestly expect me to believe that Democrats are blameless in their behavior towards the McCain-Palin ticket? And let’s not get into the response to Bush’s first or second elections which saw grossly inappropriate sentiment expressed for 8 years.

I would advise Obama supporters thusly: Welcome to being the party in power. You should probably prepare yourselves for a lot nastier criticism than has been expressed in the past few days.

And while we’re on the topic of respect for the President-Elect, I would like to take a brief moment to address the use of the “pray for our leaders” talk that’s been going around the Christian circles. Often this is accompanied by the Romans 13:1-5 admonition that you respect those in authority over you. Before I continue let me be clear: Do I plan on obeying the law? Yes. Do I plan on praying for and supporting President-Elect Obama? Yes, I believe 1 Timorthy 2:1-4 speaks directly to the prayerful support of our leaders. However, I must admit that I find people who expressed what was at best sly disdain for our sitting President and at worst a call for outright rebellion (impeachment), who have now turned to the “God commands you to respect Obama” a bit rich.

On Hope

A good deal of the Obama campaign centered around Hope (or was it change? I can never keep it straight…) But hope for what? A better world? A perfect world? While I was greatly impressed by the passion that Obama ignites in his followers I would hope that he, and all people, would recognize that there is only true source of hope, Jesus Christ (Psalm 130:2, Psalm 146: 5, 2 Thessalonians 2:12).

I’ve been reading in Romans the past few weeks and I cam across the following which I think is of particular relevance here:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Romans 8:18-27

The hope in this sense is not in the alleviation of our suffering through some political or sociological means. It is through “our present sufferings” that we are delivered into the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. If we possess the facilities to address or redress suffering in some capacity, then we should do so but only with the understanding that we cannot manifest God’s Kindgom of our own power, that duty is reserved for God Himself. To say: we cannot immanentize the eschaton. We read that, “hope that is seen is no hope at all” which is to say that we cannot hope in what we already have. If our hope is in Christ, then we cannot expect His promises to be fulfilled through any other means or our hope is not in Him. In other words, if Obama was capable of resolving all ailments then there would be no need for hope in God. Knowing this to be absurd in light of the previous passage is one thing, but the falseness of the claim seems less clear in the zealous words of our President-Elect.

Obama once made a claim that, “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” While I certainly understand the passion to encourage our own self-motivation to address the issues facing our country, I also think it important to stress that “we” are not the complete solution. If history has proven anything it’s that we as humans are utterly incapable of solving our own problems. Yes we may have averted disasters, or cured diseases, or won wars and defeated evil. But we still get sick, we still fight against evil and we still die. We will never achieve deliverance from the consequences and horrors of this life through our own effort, but through the power of Christ Jesus expressed in His sacrifice for us on the cross (Titus 2:13). Truly He is the one we’ve been waiting for.

To Conclude

I have written far more on this subject than I originally intended to so I will conclude with the eloquent words of a man with whom, on this subject, I completely agree:

I’m very proud to have supported Senator McCain and the only regret is that more Americans didn’t share my conviction that he would have made an outstanding President. I not only recognize, but respect that we are a nation in which the people choose and tonight they have chosen Senator Obama. He was not my choice, but he will be my President and I will pray for him to lead this great nation with God’s help and grace. He will face serious challenges to lead our country and he will need all Americans to give him a chance.

Governor Mike Huckabee, November 5, 2008

[HT: loswhit]

So I had to download some drivers from the HP website for my scanner tonight. I fired up Google chrome and went to good ol’ hp.com:

Now, as usual, there were some user interface issues with chrome. So I decide to switch over to firefox which gives me the following rendering:

And I’m like woah! Did I go to the same site? Sure enough, it’s the same hp.com address that I was viewing in chrome. So, with my curiousity peaked I load the site in Internet Explorer thinking that they must have a reduced version of the site for unrecognized browsers like chrome:

Apparently not. Interesting, the site available in chrome and IE appears most like the original site. I wonder if they are rolling out a new design, or if they just like firefox a lot more.

Two guesses as to who I marked for the Presidential candidate.