Loving people

I enjoy spiritual conversations with people. On multiple occasions the discussion has gone in a direction where my conversation partner has advocated the viewpoint that unconditional or selfless love is the highest guiding moral principle. In theory, I don't disagree. However, I find this tightly packaged, neatly bundled statement to be less than satisfying in several aspects. One is the tacit or explicit assumption that all world religions really just boil down to loving people. This is an oversimplification that manages to simultaneously offend nearly all the religions (except possibly Bhuddism and its "generalized derivatives").

The second dissatisfying aspect is that such a theoretical statement must be grounded in practice to have any significant meaning. There is a popular American saying, "Love is as love does." I believe I will discover love in a much more meaningful way by getting out there and serving the poor alongside my conversation partner than by discussing it at a theoretical level.

I'm learning that I need examples of love in order to really understand it. For me, Jesus is the ultimate example. He loved tremendously. He loved unconditionally. He dared to physically touch the untouchables. He broke through social barriers and engaged in real conversations with people. He met people where they were at and dared to love them. Jesus DID first, then he taught and SAID things about love. Without such practical examples of how Jesus loved and how he engaged with people, his teaching on love is hollow, theoretical, correct but of no practical value--just like the teachers of the law of his day. What did he teach?

Matt 6: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' ⁴⁴But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I am learning that it is really easy to love the people that love me back. Casey, Jade, & Miracle make it especially easy! Jesus taught that even "though you are evil, [you] know how to give good gifts to your children" (Mt 7:11). But how hard it is to love those who are your enemies or who make your life difficult. How hard it is to pray for those who persecute you!

Miracle will visit her birth mother today for the first time in 13 months. I have very mixed feelings about it. It is very difficult for me to pray for this woman. Not because I want bad outcomes for her life, but because I so badly want to adopt Miracle and keep her as part of our family. Yet it changes me to pray for this woman's welfare. It helps me think about what life might be like from her perspective. The guilt, heartache, unfulfillment, and lack of power in her life must frustrate her daily. Today I pray for her to have a happy and joyful visit with Miracle. I pray that she can regain even the hope to change. I pray that she can get to know her Maker, the one who has connected me to her through Miracle. I pray that I can see and understand God's good plan for her life and for Miracle's life (Jer 29). I pray that I can see the good things about Miracle's birth mother and speak positively about her to Miracle. I pray that I can perfectly love just like my Father in heaven.

This weekend, God taught me another lesson on love as I visited the Agape Church of Christ that meets in downtown Portland at Lincoln High School. This group was highly warm, loving, and accepting. They successfully integrated people from a wide swath of life experiences, from the homeless to the highly successful and everywhere in-between. There was frank discussion of the community groups, which included a variety of recovery options. I was very impressed on a multitude of levels. For one, the core group was actually fairly small and yet the setup was rather elaborate to transform a high school cafeteria into a place of worship and fellowship: sound system, video projector, tables laden with donuts, coffee, and fruit, children's toys and programs, all caf tables put away and all the chairs arranged for the group, etc. Beyond this basic level of effort, everyone came to give, encourage, and love. The leaders Ron & Lori Clark are truly ministering to many people and loving them just as Jesus would. They have redeemed the word "minister" to actual mean something real again!

Returning to my "virtual conversation" I introduced above, I hope I am not being judgmental toward my fellow Northwesterners. All I can say is that Ron & Lory Clark's example and especially Jesus' example calls me much much higher than a simple verbal acknowledgement that love is the greatest virtue.

In the early church, apparently the same issue had come up in the area of faith, so the apostle addressed it rather bluntly in James 2:14-19. "¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ¹⁵Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. ¹⁹You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

Loving people goes so much farther and deeper than I once thought. It is so much harder and I fall so short of true love. Yet it is only by trying that I can see how far I am from loving the way Jesus did. It will truly be the work of a lifetime to come to love others the way Jesus did. The reality is I have no other option if I truly want to follow Jesus as his disciple.

John 13: ³⁴"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

John 15: ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command.

This obligation feels harsh until I remind myself that Jesus' love is personal. Unless I can see that he first loved me and has done something incredible for me, I will have no love to give.

• 1 John 4: ¹⁹We love because he first loved us.
• 1 John 3: ¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

Once I take it personally, I can start to tackle the tough scriptures:

• 1 John 4: ²⁰If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
• 1 John 3: ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Today is a good day to love.

God and Creation

Gen 1 & 2 are the classic chapters that describe how God created the world. However, the scriptures abound with references to God's role as Creator. In fact, Creator is one of God's key identities.

Gen 6:7. Here we find the Creator already saddened at what the creation has done with their freedom. The Creator was literally grieved by the creation and regretted making humanity.

Gen 14:19-22. Abram takes an oath and is given a blessing in the name of "God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth." Part of God's "height" (separateness) is the fact that God created everything we can perceive. By contrast, we humans are lowly for we have not created much of anything by comparison.

Dt 32:6. This is the first scripture we encounter in the Bible where an appeal is made to people to behave differently in light of the fact that the LORD (YHWH) created and formed them.

Here are some Psalms that simply praise God for the fact that He created: Ps 89:12,

Here are some scriptures that describe how God is still creating, within the context of human history and within the life of the individual: Ps 51:10, Is 4:5,

Some scriptures ponder the purpose for which God created finite beings: Ps 89:47, Eccl 12:1,

Isaiah makes some particularly poignant appeals to God's role as Creator to show how we can rely on God and express how truly powerful God is and what God can do for you. Is. 40:25-31, Is. 42:1-9 (predicts Jesus), Is. 43:1-7, Is. 45:1-8, 18.

Is. 45:9-12 brings up the warning, "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground." It is amazing to me that God allows us to use the minds that he gave us to question him! Brilliant scientists spend their entire lives trying to create scenarios that explain how the universe and people came to be that eliminate the need for God. We can discover powerful principles in genetics, evolution, and the Big Bang that match scientific observation. Yet so many fundamental questions remain unanswered. These questions show how pitiful our understanding really is.

• Chimpanzees and humans most certainly have a common ancestor. Scientists have measured our genetic difference at only 2%. But what is in that 2% that gives humans the ability to have morality, consider their purpose in life, strive to achieve greatness, and desire eternity? (Eccl 3:10-11)
  
• With certainty we now know that the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago. But what caused it? Where it did come from? Why was it nonuniform? What sort of universe would we have if the quantum fluctuations had turned out differently?
• We can clone sheep and other species. But do we have a diagram for all the 3D chemical reactions that must occur? When will we be able to clone without taking advantage of an already-existing cellular infrastructure? That would be truly impressive!
• Where did life first arise? What instigated the first cell? How long until scientists create their first functional cell that can live and reproduce? Why do all living cells have a preferred stereochemistry (everything is "right-handed" instead of "left-handed")? Where did that preference arise since the Big Bang postulates that all matter was completely homogenous at the beginning?! Yet let's not forget that God has gifted nearly every human being with the ability to procreate, even if they're retarded, on drugs/alcohol, very young (Mary) or even very old (Elizabeth).
  

Creation of a new future: Is 65:17-18. This is a very comforting thought that God knows our greatest desires and is creating a place of peace for us.

God mourns the choices of the king of Tyre, also apparently Lucifer, both of whom God created: Ezek. 28:11-19

God created marriage at the beginning and Jesus appeals to this when he reminds the Jewish intellectuals of the heart behind this sacrosanct institution: Matt. 19:1-8.

In Jesus, God began a new work of creating a people for himself, eager to do what is good: Eph 2:10, Eph 2:14-21, Eph 4:20-24, Col 3:5-14, James 1:18.

Romans 1:18-31 contains one of the Bible's most powerful indictments of the human race. Idol worship is perhaps the greatest possible insult to God, where people choose to worship the created things (sun, men/women's bodies, nature, etc.) and things of their own creating (jobs, sports, money, social structures, intellectual pursuits, cars/houses, etc.) rather than the Creator. If each of us are honest, everyone of us has succumbed to idol worship in one form or another and it is a difficult sin to root out of our lives.

The New Testament contains some powerful reminders of who did the creating: Col. 1:15, Rev 4:8-11, Rev 10:5-6.

Lastly, it interesting to observe how Paul uses the argument that everything God created is good. It is humans that assign a particular meaning to certain objects and therefore they become "bad." See 1 Tim 4:1-5. Paul does not advocate that people stop listening to their consciences (quite the opposite, in fact--see Rom 14, esp. v23).

Finding peace in a world of uncertainty

On Tuesday at about 5pm, Casey read me an email from Miracle's social worker that caught us both by surprise. The birth mother requested regular visitation. A few minutes later, the social worker called and explained that the mother is starting to follow through on a portion of the social services required to regain custody of her children in the foster care system (Miracle and now Constance, born this past March).

Of course, we were both shocked and all sorts of scenarios played through our minds. We began praying and really haven't stopped. They are repetitive since the nagging thoughts are repetitive: "what if we can't keep Miracle?" That night I wept as I started to get emotionally in touch with the situation. Every moment with Miracle is now precious. I just want to hold her & cuddle with her, play with her, watch her smile, and simply delight in her. I was up with her at 12am, 1am, & 5:15am since she got sick last night and threw up her bottle several times. But it was relatively easy to be compassionate and giving because I was suddenly back in touch with how much I consider her to be a gift from God!

God has always used songs and hymns to reach my heart. They touch me in a unique way and help me express my emotions. Here are the words that caused me to weep Tues night:

I must tell Jesus all of my trials;
I cannot bear these burdens alone,
In my distress He kindly will help me,
He ever loves and cares for his own.

Chorus:
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear my burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.

I must tell Jesus all of my troubles,
He is a kind, compassionate Friend;
If I but ask Him, He will deliver,
Makes of my troubles quickly an end.

The thing that is profound to me is that "I cannot bear my burdens alone." Jesus is there, available to help me carry them. God lost his Son once upon a time, but He gave Jesus up willingly just for me. God understands how I feel, more than I can really know.

Sometimes I wish Jesus were right here and I could curl up in his arms just like my daughters snuggle up and I hold them close.

Another song I have sung to Miracle the last 6 mths to help her get calm is:

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Chorus:
I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee!
O bless me now, my Savior--I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou near by;
Temptations lose their power when thou art nigh.

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly, and abide, or life is vain.

I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will,
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

This song reminds me how much I need to pray:

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear;
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful, who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer!

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer!
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He'll take and shield thee, thou wilt find a solace there.

What does the Bible Say? (a lot :-)
Luke 12:25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? No amount of worry, concern, or anxiety can lengthen the time I have with Miracle beyond what God decides is best.

Mt 6:25-34 is the single longest treatise the Bible gives us on the topic of worry. It encourages me not to waste our energy worrying about whether God will meet the basic needs of my life. Concerning myself with Kingdom priorities will put all these others in perspective. A brother helped me out last night and reminded me that when I worry, I am not at my best and in fact am probably not thinking clearly.

Luke 21:14
But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. Jesus was preparing his disciples for the time when they would be brought to court because of their faith. It would be an opportunity to share their faith, yet their lives also hung in the balance. He tells them to make up their minds not to worry. I think I'm out of touch with what/how I worry. Since I view worrying as negative, my perception of myself is that I don't really worry much (how about that!). I don't think that's so correct anymore. My worrying is expressed in staying busy or thinking tactically/strategically about the future and finding ways to control or influence a situation.

So how can the Bible and God help me?

Psalm 94:19 When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. I need to access the consolation God is trying to offer to me. I think this will involve turning off my racing mind and my agenda and meditating on how God is offering me peace.

Phil 4:4-9 is a banner scripture in many ways. It tells me to rejoice in the Lord in all circumstances. It reminds me that God and Jesus are near to me, and that should change how I view my life. It commands me not to be anxious about anything. I can exorcise the demons of anxiety through prayer, petition, and requests to God, who understand both my needs and my need to ask about my needs! This scripture describes the "peace that passes understanding," but it is only achieved through prayer. This peace can literally stand guard over my heart and mind to keep it from racing through the possibilities with Miracle. It can prevent me from over-indexing on every tidbit of news and information that comes from her social workers.

Lastly, this scripture tells me where to focus: on the good things that God put into this world. God wants me thinking about things that are true, good, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy. God is a God of peace and promises to be with me all the way (Phil 4:9, Mt 28:20).

Peace. There are 247 scriptures in the NIV that mention this word. I don't think I'll get to all of them this morning :-). Phil 4 was probably a good enough start for now... the Hebrew word in "shalom" and part of the reason it is mentioned so often in the Bible is that it was a classic greeting among the Jews and therefore "shalom" shows up in many of the narratives. In addition, the Bible describes many battles and conflicts; for every rumor of war there is mention of peace, too.

Psalm 4:8 I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 29:11 The LORD gives strength to his people; the LORD blesses his people with peace.
Psalm 85:10 Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.
Psalm 119:165 Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.
Proverbs 14:30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.
Proverbs 17:1 Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife
e.
Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 32:18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
Isaiah 55:12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Romans 8:6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
1 Pt 3:10-13. "Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

Why I can't help myself

Num 8:19 is interesting. "Of all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the Tent of Meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary." The Levites were doing work on behalf of the Israelites. It was work ordinary folks could not do for themselves. It makes me think of Jesus and his work of atonement and advocacy on the behalf of humanity. We simply can't save ourselves. Two months ago my daughter Miracle was crawling and pulling herself up on things. Occasionally, she'd get in a position where she couldn't get down without hurting herself (she had not yet learned to fall down gracefully). She'd begin to cry and cry until she got the help she needed. She simply could not physically save herself. Getting herself out of the predicament was exactly the thing she did not want to risk as she knew she might hurt herself. Spiritually speaking, I am just as helpless as little Miracle. I cannot save myself. However, I have many options to deal with the problem of sin in my life.

1. Enjoy sinning as much as I can since "today we eat and tomorrow we die" (1 Cor 15:32).
2. Work as hard as possible to be a good moral person in hopes that it will be enough. For example, eliminate all the sins that I know that I'm committing.
3. Do as much good in the world in hopes that it will be enough cancel the sinful things I've done, e.g., serve the poor like Mother Theresa.
4. Adopt a belief framework that eliminates the possibilities of heaven and hell after death.
5. Adopt a belief framework that eliminates the possibility of absolute right and wrong.
6. Adopt a belief framework that eliminates the concepts of sin and wrongdoing.
7. Compare myself to others in the areas of my strong suits where the comparison is favorable.
8. Surround myself with people just like me so that I and my behavior become the social norm.
9. Deaden my conscience so I can do what I want without guilt.

The interesting thing about all these approaches is that none of them deal with the root cause of the issue. There are only two sets of possibilities:

• There is a God who created a universe with both physical laws (e.g., gravity) and spiritual laws. Breaking these laws have unavoidable consequences. God will hold everyone accountable exactly for what they have done (no more, no less) and there will not be any wiggle room.
• Any partial negation of the above that results in a different conclusion. For example, if there is no God, then it is impossible to have any universal accountability.

We cannot establish one possibility or the other beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, each person should note the following for him/herself:

• Based on observing plant and animal life and my ancestors before me, I should not expect to live forever.
• If I were to live forever, it would be because some external force gave me this gift, for I cannot provide myself with eternal life.
• My death is a certainty, but its timing is unknown.
• I have a conscience that tells me right from wrong.
• At some point, I have gone against what my conscience told me. In other words, even if all morality is relative, I have broken my own relative morality.
• The messages from my conscience have varied over time in terms of quality, type, & frequency.

Let's explore each of these points more deeply (I'm sure this will require more than one post!). I should not expect to live forever This is a self-evident point. Yet the vast majority of people operate on a daily basis as if life will continue indefinitely as it did last week. The major forward-looking thrust people have is typically financial. How will I pay for my kids college? How am I going to retire (now that the stock market went down 50%)? But considering how you'll die is considered to be morbid and unusual. Things that bring people to a deeper realization of the fact above include:

• Death of a friend, family member, or even reading about a news story.
• Significant illness or disease that strikes someone at my age or younger.
• Noticing that you are aging: health issues, bifocals, looking in the mirror, what kids or others say, seeing the cultural & relational gap to younger people
• Nearly having an accident: driving, skiing, hiking, working on your house

Our natural inclination is to "get it" for a moment, but then to go back to our normal lives. Psalms 39:4-6 sums it up pretty well. "Show me, O LORD, my life's endand the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it." I cannot source my own eternal life Advances in the 20th and 21st century have renewed people's hopes that they can live forever. This is not a new desire, however. We simply have to observe the pyramids that served as monolithic burial chambers for the dead kings of Egypt. Chinese kings possessed similar grandiosity and even had people buried alive with them! Nowadays people will pay millions to freeze their bodies with cryonics in hopes that future scientists could "resurrect" them and restore their body to full health. During college I became fascinated by a book entitled, "The Physics of Immorality." In it, the author went into extraordinary detail about how computers will become sufficiently powerful in the mid-21st century that they can fully simulate a human brain. If a computer simulated a person's brain, that person could effectively live forever. The author is acknowledged as a brilliant physicist and half the book were "proofs" that what he wrote was true. Very interesting tour of computer science and physics. Today in America, we try to live on through the lives and accomplishments of our children. There are plenty of stories of parents getting out of control at their kids' sports games. In Eastern cultures, parents strictly discipline their children's intellectual development in school and music. Some would say that the kids are not allowed to be kids. In contrast, some families place an extraordinarily important role on the children since they provide purpose and an outlet for creativity and generosity. Family events and schedules naturally tend to revolve around the children, both because they are the weakest but also because the adults have a "need to be needed." In Luke 17:33, Jesus observes, "Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it." The concept is that if I keep running around trying to save my life and cling to the small amount of control I can exert over my life, I will completely miss the point. My life was meant to be given to a greater purpose that is beyond my little self or even my children's little selves. The victory literally lies in giving up what is seemingly the most valuable thing (my life), which opens a whole new realm of possibilities where I am no longer the limiting factor.

Work 4 (God's work in my life, Leviticus/Numbers)

(continuing my conversion story of how God worked in my life)

The counseling I had received the past 9 months ended in June. Ironically, I started to feel worse about my life. Due to my pride and the spiritual subculture in which I was participating, I was not open with anyone about how I really felt. Consequently, everyone continued to look to me as a leader and in September, the church ordained me as an “elder” at the ripe old age of 25.

The Connections group I helped create got on the radar of the Washington Conference, and they contacted me to participate on a committee to reach out to the young SDA adults in the Puget Sound. This turned out as another circumstance God used to save me! We didn’t know what to call this new group, so I emailed five or six people who fit the profile of those we wanted to reach, from those on the fringes of the SDA church to those who had left. I asked them for their input on what to call the group. Allison Tait made the list and actually provided the most useful and enthusiastic input of anyone (how about that, she was already a disciple!). In her response, she invited me to attend church.

I casually decided to take her up on the invitation (I didn’t appreciate how hard God had worked in my life to give me this opportunity!) I thought a change of scene might be good to help me connect with God rather than feeling so responsible and distracted as I set foot inside the church I was attending. I took the bus from UW to the Washington State Convention Center downtown for a 5pm Sunday service. I got there late, but asked the usher for Allison Tait, and he seated me on the third row from the front! The slick-looking minister dude (Scott Green) turned out NOT to be a tele-evangelist and I ended up taking notes from his meaty sermon as best I could on a scrap of paper. The people were the most friendly folks I’d ever met and I wished that my church was this friendly to visitors. While I wasn’t so sure how well-founded their zealous faith was in the Bible, I admired and desired a sincere and enthusiastic relationship with God like they had. And the rest is history, as they say. I studied the Bible with Alex Whitaker, Ben Sanders, and Johnny Grady and I was baptized into Christ about three months later on Dec. 15, 1999.

Back to the “work” scriptures…

Work scriptures in Leviticus are basically a repeat of Exodus. One observation is that the Jews had a ton of festivals where work was not allowed. On those days, however, they would typically bring an offering as an act of worship to God. This offering was only possible if they actually worked when they were supposed to! God does want us to work, and feels honored by our sacrifices to him. When I’m giving my contribution, I want to think more holistically about what was involved in generating that X% of income and how I am dedicating those hours to God through this act of worship.

The other interesting aspect is that these days of no work also involved a “sacred assembly.” Certainly church service on a weekend is a sacred assembly (if we treat it as such) and we take up our offering to God. I actually love “assemblies” and have very fond memories of my UW campus days where disciples got together in groups nearly every day. My work at Microsoft can involve many meetings, often involving more than five people. This constitutes an assembly, but one could never call it “sacred.” Scott Payne recently told me about his workplace in South Carolina where they literally have meal prayers and prayers before meetings begin at his workplace. Unbelievable from a Seattle perspective! He found that very refreshing… it would be awesome to participate in a company where everyone has both business and spiritual values in common!

Numbers 3-4: describes the work of the Levites in connection with the Tabernacle. There were a broad variety of responsibilities ranging from the burly dudes literally carrying the enter Tabernacle through the desert to the singers to those keeping things clean. God honors all these types of work. The Levites were counted and highly organized, not unlike what is going on at the new Westside SCOC building committee!

Numbers 7-8: a few scriptures illustrate how the Levites were equipped properly to do their work. At Microsoft, my equipment is basically a laptop and a few webcams. What they really pay me for is creativity, leadership, insight, experience, communication abilities, and good decisions. These are all gifts from God. 2 Tim 3:16 describes how the Bible will equip us for every good work. A good thought to meditate on today—how does God want to equip me spiritually?

Work 3 (God's work in my life)

In Exodus, God lays it down in these adamant words regarding Sabbath observance. “Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death… It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” (Ex. 31:14-17; Ex 35:2 has a similar admonition).

Without the clause, “sign between me and the Israelites forever,” the modern reader would probably enter a panic. 99.99% of the people on the planet are not observing the Sabbath. America has a large number of stores open every day of the week and some are even 24/7!

Why was God so serious? I’m not sure. Resting is an essential aspect of being human. Without proper sleep, people do not function properly. People typically work a quarter to a third of the time in a week (168 hours), typically spending at least as much time in bed sleeping. There is something profound about recreation and play and the absence of work that enables us to return to work reinvigorated. I find it interesting that the modern calendar uses a 7-day week with no work on Saturday or Sunday. Is the concept of a 7-day week universal to all cultures? I sort of doubt it, but I’ve never looked into it.

Anyways, as disciples, we are called to follow God’s example, and Ex 31:17 explains that God rested and so should we. Here are some additional scriptures about some of God’s work for us to consider. “The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets” (Ex 32:16). One of God’s special works was the writing on the tablets of stone. I wonder what they looked like! Did God use his “fingers” or did he just zap the writing on all at once?

“Then the LORD said: ‘I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you’” (Ex 34:10). God’s works are wonderful (see Psalms). God works at all sorts of scales. He created the differentiation and tiny variation in the big bang that resulted in the conglomeration of stars and galaxies just as he wanted. If there had been complete uniformity, the universe would have just been a big homogenous soup and we wouldn’t be here! God operates at a global level, fashioning the earth over the course of five billion years, culminating in homo sapiens who was capable of worshipping and loving their creator.

God operates among the nations. It is powerful for me to reflect on the following facts:

• Hitler’s oppressive 3rd Reich lasted little more than a decade.
• Saddam Hussein was brought to justice within two or three decades.
• Even the Cold War with the Soviet Union lasted less than a half-century.
  

God cares about and works in the lives of individuals. The number of things that had to happen for me to become a disciples is rather astounding. The times and places orchestrated is really quite amazing. In 1998-99 I underwent counseling at SPU since I felt I needed help processing some issues in my life. This ended up helping me create the room to make independent decisions in my life. In spring 1999, Shannon Jackson (a friend from high school 1990-92) visited her friend Allison Tait in Seattle. Shannon and I had not seen each other for years, so we got in touch and she took me to airport to visit my sister in Tennessee. On the trip over, she mentioned she was staying with Allison, who also attended Walla Walla College with Shannon and myself. WWC is a small school (1500 people) but I’d never met Allison; I just knew she was on the softball team. At the time, I was a young adult leader at Green Lake Church and I was trying to network with all the Seventh-Day Adventist young adults in Seattle. Thus, when I got back from Tennessee, I gave Allison a phone call, told her about the “Connections” group I was forming, and asked if she wanted to be on the email list. She said, “sure” and we chatted a bit. Unbeknownst to me, she had just finished the sin study that night with Lisa La De Route Lewis.

In June or July, I was talked to my friend Len Kandt who was on the periphery of the SDA young adult group and I was hoping to get him more involved. He was getting his master’s in mechanical engineering at UW and we had a class together. He said he had hung out with Allison and that she was going to a new church and had some strange new beliefs. My ears perked up because SDA’s hardly ever leave to go to a different church. They just stop going.

In summer 1999, I got depressed despite the beautiful Seattle weather. The curtains went across my eyes and I could not get anything out of the Bible and felt very disconnected with God. The key components in my disconnection with God were my sin (obviously) but also the church politics I had experienced and a lack of true Biblical spiritual & soulful fellowship. Simultaneously, I was not finding complete satisfaction my grad school experience and wondered about the purpose for my life and whether I should pursue my Ph.D.

(to be continued :-)

Work part 2

Continuing with the scriptural exploration of work...

• Ex 12:16. This is the first occurrence of a vacation day, festival, or rest day since the 7th day of Creation. The Sabbath is a major theme of the Pentateuch.
• Ex 15:11. "Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?" All of us are given tasks and work to do. We work the soil, work the client base, work the audience--but only God works wonders!
• Ex. 18:18. Jethro visits Moses and quickly realizes that Moses is burning himself out. "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?" Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God's will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and laws." Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone."
  
  I find this to be a profound scripture. I see a lot of my life wrapped up in Moses right here. I find it natural to be wanted, to be important, to accomplish things and have a purpose in life. What better purpose than to help people? And yet this role can be completely consuming. There will always be more needs! The world is full of needs and they can't possibly all get met by a single person.
  
  For me, this is where faith in God can rescue me. God created the church, the body of Christ to function as a unit (1 Cor 12). The whole is much much greater than the sum of the disparate body parts. When our efforts are coordinated and unified, God can use a few people to accomplish anything! (Gen 11:6)
  
  This is why it's important to be part of organizations where teamwork is emphasized, valued, and built. Microsoft rewards me for being an "individual contributor," but without a strong team, my contributions won't have the impact they otherwise could because I'd spend all my time building infrastructure rather than focusing on my area of specialty.
  
  God used Jethro to help Moses see his need to build an excellent team to share the mental, physical, and spiritual burden. As I've been raising kids the last three years, the need for teamwork with my wife has become abundantly clear. Without teaming up, we will not succeed. I'm really not sure how single parents do it!
  
• Ex. 20:9-11. "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
  
  "Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
  
  These are the two Sabbath commands in the Bible. Same command, but different reasons for obedience. The Exodus scripture encourages the people to imitate God. The Deuteronomy text tells the Israelites that Sabbath is a weekly reminder of God's deliverance from Egypt (the core event in their faith) so that they remain spiritually focused on their need for God. This is not unlike our Communion where we remember Jesus' crucifixion, the core event of our faith and through it our powerful deliverance from sin. We need this weekly reminder!
  
• I grew up keeping the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday just as the Jews were instructed (the Jewish tradition is that the day begins at sundown rather than sunrise). However, in my Seventh-Day Adventist subculture, the details of Sabbath-keeping were left as an exercise to the reader. The core command was "thou shalt not do any work" at which we were fairly successful. The outcome of this way of life, however, was that my family worked very hard six days a week. In college, I did homework right up until sundown Friday, and then started back into it on Saturday night after sundown. There was certainly a benefit from taking a 24 hour break, but I did notice the effect of compressing the rest of the week.
  
  When I attended church at Green Lake in 1997-99, my church and leadership responsibilities grew to the point that Sabbath was not very restful. When I became a disciple and no longer had any responsibilities at that church, I had some very extended QT's on Saturdays while I still kept Sabbath.
  
  Correct Sabbath behavior is certainly a moving target in the Seventh-Day Adventist religion. My family was the only one at church who did not know who won the Blazer playoff game the night before. SDA's do not attempt to interpret the scripture literally as do the Orthodox Jews, who in my opinion are following the 4th commandment most closely by not causing anyone else to work. We depend on one another in our modern culture that it is nearly impossible to prevent others from working unless you live a self-sufficient lifestyle in the woods or like the Amish.
  
• Ex 26-31, 35-40. The Israelites undertake the task of building a tabernacle for the worship of YHWH. This endeavor brought people's various talents to bear on a spiritual problem. The curtains were the "work of an embroiderer" (26:36). The ephod was the "work of a skilled craftsman" (28:6). The sacred anointing oil was the "work of a perfumer" (30:25). The tunics for the priests was the "work of a weaver" (39:27). Moses inspected it and "finished the work" (40:33).