The Other 99 Sheep

Jesus told a parable about a shepherd who has 100 sheep. As he's doing the regular roll call, the shepherd notices that one has gone missing. So out he goes, searching high and low for the lost sheep, until finally he hears the pitiful bleat in the distance. Then he lovingly carries the sheep home on his shoulders and throws a party to celebrate.

It's a story that's been told over and over again in churches, and it's one of my favourite books to read my children (check out "Cecil the Lost Sheep" by Andrew McDonough). It's a simple little story and it's pretty easy to figure out what Jesus was saying through the parable. God looks for the lost people, even the ones that other people overlook. And when a "lost sheep" is found, he celebrates!

Often I've heard a different message preached from this little story though. What happens sometimes is that when pastors preach on the same passage a few times, and when listeners have heard it many times, the preacher tries to find something new to say that hasn't been said before. This is not a bad thing. The Bible is an amazing book and God is a multi-faceted being, and sometimes you can read a passage a hundred times and still find something new to understand.

A few times now - mostly amongst church pastors and leaders - I've heard people point out that in the process of looking for the lost sheep, the shepherd left the other 99 where they were. "Who knows what might have happened to them?" The message being that as leaders we should do everything we can for the lost sheep (non-Christians), even if it hurts the people in our churches, "because the other 99 are already saved, right?"

Of course whether or not this is a good plan all depends on the circumstances. In this post I just want to point out that the parable doesn't read like this at all. The shepherd doesn't leave the 99 sheep in wild country to fend for themselves. An experienced shepherd who cares about even the 100th sheep wouldn't do this. It just doesn't work like that - and remember, shepherding was a common profession among Jesus' listeners. The shepherd would of course make sure the sheep he's got are ok first. He's probably counting them in for the night, and he'd most certainly find someone else to watch them while he's gone.

The lost sheep are more important than the people in your church? I really don't think Jesus would have said anything like this. A good pastor is missional, but not at the expense of the people already in his care.

It's our love for each other that shows we're Jesus' church.

Dirty God

I'm reading a great book at the moment. Check out these little passages from the chapter "The God with Dirty Hands"....

“The Bible teaches us that God “demonstrates his own love for us” (Rom. 5:8) in how he came to us in Jesus. He didn’t expect us to climb up to him. He climbed down to us. He got his hands dirty so that we could have our hearts cleaned.”

“Jesus didn’t keep his distance from the messy world that he descended into when he left heaven’s golden streets for earth’s dusty Middle Eastern villages, filled to capacity with the poor and frustrated, the disenfranchised and the rejected. Jesus didn’t revel in his priceless glory—rather, he gave himself completely to the opportunity to make the inglorious feel that they mattered to God.”

Excerpt from Johnnie Moore's “Dirty God.” Thomas Nelson, 2012-11-19. iBooks.

Very nicely put!

Marriage and Choice

Covenant relationships are an uncommon thing in our culture - many people don't even know what the word means. It sounds so old-fashioned. We're used to contracts - relationships that benefit me, usually without a real person on the other end, that I can get out of if I find a better offer. And we've heard the phrase "friends with benefits" frequently, which is a kind of anti-marriage - the sex without the commitment, which gives me freedom to use the "friendship" however I want, or until it doesn't benefit me anymore. No wonder marriages are breaking so frequently. We've been set up for it.

Jesus' view on marriage is a little different. If you marry a divorced woman, Jesus says, you're committing adultery with them. If you divorce your wife, you're causing them to commit adultery. Yes it's that strong. According to the Bible, the basic rule is "One person for life."

There's an escape clause if your spouse has been unfaithful, and I would add abuse to that too. Sadly this happens. But for most people it's not some kind of tragic event that drives them apart. I would argue that at the heart it's just selfishness. Because in our culture, selfishness is seen as a good thing. Keep your options open, our culture says. Something better might come along, or you might need to back out. Just do it now while it benefits you. You're worth it. Stay free.

One person for life? You can hear the objections already. What if I stop loving them? What if they get boring? What if an opportunity comes up and I'm tied down? What if they've got issues? What if their personality starts to annoy me? What if it stops me doing the things I like? "For life" is such a long time - who can really promise something that far in advance? Life happens, you know. Things change. And on and on....

We've heard them all so many times that we've started to believe them. It sounds like truth.

It's not.

Covenant relationships acknowledge that things won't always be good, that different life pathways will present themselves, that better things might come up, that the romance will go up and down and sometimes I won't be able to stand being in the same room as you, that at times you'll be boring, angry, depressed, anxious, annoying, obnoxious, irritating, unattractive, exasperating. But even if all of that happens in the same week, I am still committed to you and I will be for the rest of our lives.

I'm yours for life, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. Those words were written before covenant relationships faded out of our culture.

I want to bring them back. I hope you'll join me. For marriages, and also for friendships. Long-term, unselfish commitment, whatever happens. It's things like this that will change the world.

(Read Mark Sayers' book, "The Road Trip that Changed the World," for some more in-depth thoughts on these subjects, and a more intensive perspective on our culture.)

Jesus Dream Short Course

Why is Jesus so important? What on earth was he on about?

Last year I became friends with a guy who wanted to know more about Jesus. I didn't want to just give him a book about it, and I thought the best thing would be for us to lock in a time each week, have a coffee, and go through one of those new-Christian discussion guides. But when I looked at what was available, I didn't find any that I thought would work well for an everyday Aussie guy - especially someone who hasn't grown up in a church (which is most Aussies now).

The ones I found were either too long (who will commit to a 10week religious course?), too impractical (watching a 40min sermon is not a normal thing for non-church people), too advanced (using theological concepts that are only familiar to people who've grown up in church) or misrepresented Jesus or the gospel. Some I felt just started in entirely the wrong place for non- church people (like calling for a commitment in the first session or starting with "you're a sinner" - which Jesus never did).

In the end I thought I'd just start the conversations myself and see where it went. In the process, through the conversations, questions and inevitable extra research by me, I ended up discovering a lot more about Aussie culture and about Jesus and his way of life. Most of all, I've discovered that Jesus and his way of life fits our culture to a T. He's the kind of guy that Aussies - even Aussie males - really respect.

So this year I've put together my own short course on Jesus that aims to fit Aussie non-church culture better. It starts where Jesus himself started, by calling people to dream with him about a new world. A better world of beauty and colour, free of pain and disaster, full of hope and light, creativity and passion, food and fun. It was a brilliant place to start, by a brilliant, visionary, revolutionary leader. So I figured I couldn't do better than start there myself. Jesus' dream is something we can all relate to.

This short course looks at Jesus' dream, his inspiring way of life and his amazing story. It's in six sessions for small groups or individuals.

After months of writing, editing and formatting, it's finally available on the iTunes iBookstore. Here's the link to the ePub version (which will work on most devices). And there's also a version specially designed for iPads.

http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/jesus-dream/id565908659?mt=11

Please go and check it out! I'd love to hear your thoughts. There's even a sample chapter there for free. And if you're using it somewhere other than Australia, I'd be especially interested to know how it goes. Thanks!

"We always marry the wrong person"

"Destructive to marriage is the self-fulfillment ethic that assumes marriage and the family are primarily institutions of personal fulfillment, necessary for us to become "whole" and happy. The assumption is that there is someone just right for us to marry and that if we look closely enough we will find the right person. This moral assumption overlooks a crucial aspect to marriage. It fails to appreciate the fact that we always marry the wrong person.

"We never know whom we marry; we just think we do. Or even if we first marry the right person, just give it a while and he or she will change. For marriage, being [the enormous thing it is] means we are not the same person after we have entered it. The primary challenge of marriage is learning how to love and care for the stranger to whom you find yourself married."

- Stanley Hauerwas

It's Not Fair!

"That's not fair!"

Three words my young daughters use fairly frequently to helpfully educate me on my parenting.
My basic response is: no it's not. Get used to it. Life isn't fair.

But I'm curious, where did we get this idea that everything has to be fair? Why do kids instinctively complain about unfairness? And not just kids. People have been whinging about it for eons. Right through the Bible we see people complaining about unfairness. "Why do good things happen to bad people, while I'm here doing the right thing, and it looks like I'm cursed.... That doesn't seem fair."

Actually, I can't find any reference in the Bible where it says things should be fair. Contemplate that for a second.

The fact of the matter is, God has created a world that isn't fair. And I'm not convinced this is a bad thing. Inequality creates some amazing opportunities for love and grace, generosity and sacrifice. It's an opportunity to show people that we care enough to be generous - to give love. And for those on the difficult side of the equation, it's an opportunity to receive love and care.

What kind of painting would it be if the painter only used white? It'd just be a blank canvas, or a sheet of paper. I can buy a 500-pack of those sheets for under $5.

It's all of our differences that bring the colour.

And go with me a little further for a minute....
I think this whole obsession with fairness might be a dangerous one that might be better left behind. If you think about it, God's blessings go far beyond fairness. His generosity is extravagant beyond what we deserve, and as followers of Christ, we should follow his example. We should go far beyond fairness - even beyond the point where we worry that our generosity might be abused or taken for granted - and extravagantly bless people way beyond what they deserve.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and possible implications you could see for the world.

There Are No Scraps of Men

Great talk, and an incredibly worthy idea, by Alberto Cairo, a physiotherapist in Afghanistan.

The Importance of the Ressurection

Here's a talk by Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, that's very much worth watching if you've got a spare 45 minutes.


Why Does Jesus' Resurrection Matter? Considering Its Relevance for Today Part 1 of 2 from The Veritas Forum on Vimeo.

Marriages of Tension

Just read this very interesting perspective on marriage by the "Orthodox rabbi and relationship expert" Shmuley Boteach. Thanks Mark Sayers for the quote, from his book The Vertical Self.

Marriages should be based not on trust, but on tension. Not on routine, but on raging emotion. Not on respect, but on jealousy. Not on confidence, but suspicion. Sounds crazy, right? But think of it this way: When you trust that your spouse will never be erotically attracted to a stranger and will never be unfaithful, you start taking him or her for granted. Isn't this really the number-one-killer of marriages? Isn't growing bored and "falling out of love" the most lethal of all marital illnesses? Won't a relationship be doomed if a couple is complacent and smug to the point of not having to work at it anymore?

Brisbane Floods, and Where is God?

A couple of weeks ago there was major flooding in my city and the surrounding areas, and in fact in an unbelievably large portion of the eastern states of Australia. Some towns are still waiting to see if their river banks will hold. The sheer amount of water is inconceivable, and the effects have been devastating. Many people have lost loved ones, and many more have lost their homes and businesses. And as if that wasn't enough, in the last few weeks a great number of these have since found out that their insurance doesn't cover this kind of flood.

If you entertain the notion of God (whether you believe there is one or not), it doesn't take long before the questions start rolling in...

If there is a God, why didn't he do something? Is he really all that powerful? And if he is powerful, is he really all that good? What kind of person would allow people to suffer like this?

I do believe that God is good and that he loves us immensely, and thankfully the Bible does have some answers for these questions.

First, the sad reality is that there is suffering in this world. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, bush fires, AIDS, SIDS and cancer are all part of the world we live in. Unfortunately, that's just how this world is. And it affects all of us, whether you believe in God or not.

This would be utterly demoralizing if that was the end of the story. But thankfully it isn't.

The incredible hope of the Bible is that one day God will restore this world. One day God will rebuild it and transform it into a more beautiful, more amazing, more life-giving universe. The Bible promises that in this new world there will be no more crying or pain, no more anguish, no more suffering, because the old world will have passed away. Not only that, but our own bodies (of those who belong to God) will also be restored and transformed - no longer subject to sickness, decay, cancer, or even death itself. One of the writers in the New Testament, Paul, describes this transformation as being something like that of a caterpillar to a butterfly. And those who have already died will be resurrected and given new life and a new body too. I can't wait for this new world, and new way to experience the depths and greatness of it. This is hope.

And what about in the meantime? Do we just wait it out, suck it up, and suffer through this world? Absolutely not. There's hope for right now too. Jesus' life and message when he was on earth was that this new world - which he called the kingdom of heaven - is even now breaking into our world. While the complete restoration is still in the future, the process has already started. It started with Jesus. Practically, he lived it out, and showed others how to live it. Things like love, grace, forgiveness, beauty, joy, mercy, compassion - heaven breaking in. And when we live like this, we're bringing light into the darkness.

But even more than that, Jesus' resurrection was the inauguration of this new kingdom of light. Easter Sunday was the start of an entirely new week. Yes, Jesus died, like we all do. But he then defeated death, and God resurrected him, wonderfully transformed. Now death means nothing to Jesus - it has no power whatsoever. He was the first to be resurrected - and all who believe and live this truth will follow later - and right now he is the reigning king of this world. Just think for a second about the implications.

And right now we can build for this kingdom, helping it break into this world. Jesus told us to pray for God's kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven, and now we can join with God to be the answer to that prayer. The restoration has begun. Yes, there is still darkness, tragedy and pain, but that's not all there is. Heaven is breaking in.

Many people who've lost homes in the last couple weeks have said while they were shocked by the damage, they were absolutely stunned by the generosity, compassion and selfless hearts of the thousands of people who came to help them get back on their feet again. Over 22,000 people flooded into Brisbane with mops, buckets and spades, from all over Australia and New Zealand - to help out their neighbours and friends - but more often to help complete strangers. Thousands of volunteers had to be turned away because there were just too many.

In the midst of pain, there can be breathtaking beauty, overwhelming love, inconceivable generosity. God is not absent, and he is not uncaring. He is building a new world, and it's already begun. Look for it, pray for it, see it breaking in, be a part of bringing heaven more fully into earth. And live in hope for that day when God will completely restore everything.

David Crowder Band - SMS [Shine]

Here's a very cool song, and a very cool video, from the David Crowder Band. The song is called "Shine."

Too Important to Help?

I love how blunt Paul is in this passage....

"Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important." - Galatians 6:2-3

Hayaku

Take some time out and watch this. It's breathtaking.

Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.

Missional Living for Regular People

Here's a great post on mission for those of us who aren't "missionaries." Some good practical ideas. Simple stuff. Just click the link below.

Missional Living for Regular People | Youth Specialties

How to Worship Together (and Stay Friends)

Here's a talk I did at church yesterday, on how to worship together well. Feel free to have a listen! If it's easier to download it, here's the link (just right-click and save).

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Lily's World

Lily: I love you, Mummy.

Tam: I love you, sweetie.

Lily: I love you, Daddy.

Me: I love you too, honey.

Lily: Yay! We all love us!