Witnessing to the Faith That Drives Us

I'm writing this week's post from the comfort of a well-worn leather armchair at our local Caribou Coffee shop, Minnesota's version of Starbucks. I sometimes like to do my writing here because, 1) I'm addicted to Dulce De Leche Cafe Latte's (yeah, yeah...I admit...I'm kind of, as Gov. Schwarzenegger would say, a "girly man" when it comes to coffee.), and 2) I enjoy the atmosphere. It's interesting to witness the broad swath of humanity that walks in the doors of these places. 

Today a large percentage of the patrons seem to be company recruiters interviewing potential hires. In the forty or so minutes I've been here, I've overheard bits and pieces of three job interviews. In fact, there is one taking place right now at the table five feet to the right of me. A middle aged, confident recruiter type, or could be the Hiring Manager, not sure, is interviewing a twenty-something, probably a soon to be college grad, who is either very nervous, overdosed on caffeine or suffering from acute Attention Deficit Disorder. He's answering each question thrown at him as if he's in the starting blocks of a hundred yard dash and has just heard the crack of the pistol. I'm tempted to slide a note in front of this young guy that reads, B--R--E--A--T--H--E!

I can't be too hard on the poor schmuck. The last time I was in the proverbial "hot seat" I recall being pretty nervous myself. Although overall I think I remained fairly calm and collected, I do remember a severe case of sweaty palms and an involuntary twitch in my right leg. At least I didn't forget to breathe. 

It also helped that I went in prepared with canned answers to what I was pretty sure were the types of questions I would be asked: "Why do you think you're qualified for this position?"; "Do you consider yourself a team player?"; "What did you eat for breakfast and what does that say about your work ethic?"...questions like that. For the most part, with the exception I suppose of the last question, I was right on the money. (Hey, you never know when your going to have to answer for what you ate at breakfast.) 

There was one other question, though, for which I hadn't prepared, and my response to it almost capsized the entire interview. The lady in the suit across the table simply asked "So Tony, tell me about what drives you?"

What drives me? Hadn't thought of that one. It was more than just a work world question. It bridged over into the spiritual realm and I hadn't prepared to go there. In fact, it scared me to go there. As a Christian interviewing in a secular world, honest answers to questions like that one can get you in trouble. 

Initially, my mind raced to land on all the possible answers someone in a secular work environment might expect. What drives me? 

Secular answer number one: A desire to be respected in my field. 

Secular answer number two: A desire for a sense of personal achievement. 

Secular answer number three: The satisfaction that comes with a job well done. 

As I began to recite this list of "safe", secular answers, though, the truly honest response kept pressing it's way to the front of my mind, and it definitely was not "safe" and definitely not secular. But because it's not considered "appropriate" today to bring one's faith into the workplace, as quickly as it came to mind I pushed it aside and continued reciting my secular list. 

And it was sounding pretty good. The interviewer was smiling and nodding her approval, everything was on track, I was hitting all the right notes. But then it happened. Just when I should have put a period on it and shut up, that pesky answer that had been pressing against the front of my cranium found it's way to my lips. After a long pause, I took a big breath, looked into her eyes and said, "You know, to be honest with you, these are all important, but they aren't really what drive me. Personal fulfillment, job satisfaction, monetary reward, praise for a job well done, the respect from colleagues, they aren't really what I care about. Don't get me wrong, they are nice...but they aren't really what drives me. What really drives me is my internal belief system...my faith in Jesus Christ as my personal Saviour. That drives me regardless of whatever else happens on the job." (Gulp)

There. I had said it. I watched, horrified, as the interviewer stopped smiling, stopped nodding, sat down her pen, and just stared at me. I sat there, heart palpitating and right leg now twitching uncontrollably, thinking, "Now you've blown it Tony! It was going so well, and now your chances for this job are pretty much over!"

Then, after what seemed an eternity, to my surprise she said, "Yes...that really is what is important isn't it? That's what really matters." Every part of my body breathed a collective sigh of relief. Whew! I had found another Christian, or at least a sympathizer. 

After the interview ended and I had time to reflect, I mused over the difficulty giving that simple, truthful answer had caused me. Why should it have been so traumatizing? After all, I wasn't trying to push my religion down her throat. I wasn't warning her that the end of the world was near and she must repent or die. I wasn't facing martyrdom unless I recanted my allegiance to Christ. It was a simple admission of the faith that defines who I am...who we are...as Christians. It shouldn't have been so mortifying. But in a culture where tremendous pressure is being exerted to extricate faith from every facet of civic life, it was. Thankfully, it appears the lady interviewing me hadn't yet gotten the memo. A few days later she called to offer me the position.

We're told in John 16:2 that "...the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service."

The truth is, the trauma that this little witness encounter caused me was minuscule compared to the trauma  suffered by many other Christians before me; being suffered now by Christians in other parts of the world; and will be suffered by all who profess faith in Jesus in the days yet ahead. If I can't witness even in the little areas now, how will I witness when so much more is on the line? It's a sobering question. 

In Revelation 3 our Lord says through the Apostle John to the church at Philadelphia, “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name." 

Though it's understood that Jesus is addressing the mission of the larger Church, I believe this also has meaning for us individually. Each of us has an open door set before us through which we, as opportunity presents itself, can witness to the world. The door of opportunity for our individual witness can open in front of us anywhere anytime. It could open during a conversation over the fence with the next door neighbor who asks where we go every Saturday; or the co-worker one cube over who notices that there is something different about us; or, the lady across the table waiting with pen and paper for an answer to the question "what drives you?".

As this world becomes more hostile to all things Christian, giving honest answers to questions like those won't get any easier. Our efforts to respond can often feel pretty feeble and weak. We may not always receive the positive response I received during my last interview. Sometimes, like the poor soul being interviewed at the table next to me, we might even occasionally make a mess of it. 

I'm pretty confident that regardless of the outcome of this young man's interview, he won't give up trying to land a job. Nor should we ever give up on walking through the doors our Lord opens before us to share His Name. Whatever the consequences, sweaty palms, twitchy legs and all, we just have to take a deep breath and step through, witnessing to the Faith that drives us. 

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"I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word." Psalms 119:15 - 16

Drain Pipes and Unleavened Bread

This past week I finally tackled a project that has been on my "honey do" list for quite some time...finishing our master bathroom. We added on to our home years ago. Having run out of energy and funds this final addition sits, mothballed, gradually becoming the dumping ground for seldom used treasures.

Well, this last Sunday, thanks to a block of free time, a spurt of energy and a little prodding...uhh...encouragement from my wife, I enthusiastically dove in, intent on crashing through this project in record time. I mean, after all, I remodeled an entire house a few years ago, how much trouble could a little bathroom be? A great deal, as it turns out. It's not that I didn't go into this with a plan, it's just that, in my impatience to get started, I didn't take the time to make sure my plans and my actual house would cooperate. To use a coined phrase, I had a serious case of "irrational exuberance." 

My first task was to frame up a couple of walls. No big deal, right? Except, after laying down the base plate and a couple of studs, I realized that the configuration of the floor trusses were going to require me to relocate some major plumbing connections, right beneath the wall I was framing. To get at them, I would need to tear up the floor. You guessed it. My newly erected wall came down. So, wall down and 3 X 5 foot square opening cut in the floor, I began to fit pieces of drain pipe together. I was mid way through this endeavor when it hit me; the pipe I planned to route through the wall, to my sink, and up through the roof were too large for the size of the studs. So, you guessed it, apart came the drain pipe. Thankfully I hadn't glued anything yet. It was just a dry test run.

In the end, the only work I actually accomplished that day was two hours spent in the plumbing department of our local hardware store, staring at various sizes and configurations of drain pipe fittings. Oh well, there's always next Sunday.

Sometimes our struggle against sin can seem a little like that can't it? We launch into this project of becoming like our Elder Brother with great zeal, building walls and piecing together the plumbing of our character, and just when we think we're ready to move on to the next phase, we realize that the work we've done wasn't as thorough as we thought. The same weaknesses we believed we had once and for all overcome resurface, forcing us to go back and tackle them once again. It can be discouraging to say the least.

Paul expressed the discouragement we all experience with overcoming perhaps better than anyone:

Romans 7:14 - 25 "For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ...For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ...I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

Reading this after my struggles with our bathroom, I can almost envision Paul exclaiming while tearing down a wall he just erected with a sledge hammer, "O...crash, bang...wretched....pound, crack...man that I...crush, grunt....am!" 

Maybe the purpose of all this overcoming we are supposed to do in this life is to lead us to the same conclusion. No matter how hard we struggle against our sinful nature; no matter how much effort and zeal we expend; we can never fully eradicate it from our lives. We will always be, in a sense, tearing down, rebuilding, tearing down again. Bottom line: We are wretched. 

But Paul didn't leave us, to quote a line from one of my favorite movies, in the "pit of despair" spiritually. He goes on to answer his own question, and what an encouraging answer it is.

Romans 7: 25 - "I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." 

Isn't that really the lesson of the Days of Unleavened Bread that are soon approaching? While Passover brings us into remembrance of the death of our Savior, and our entering into a covenant relationship with Him, Unleavened Bread reminds us of our continual need for His life living in us and through us. 

In preparation for those days, we attempt to remove all of the leaven, the biblical symbol for sin, from our lives. Anyone who has undertaken this process seriously has discovered that it's pretty much impossible to get all of the leaven out. Somehow, no matter how determined our effort, a slice of bread or a packet of yeast gets overlooked. We just can't eradicate all of the sin from our lives. But really, isn't that the point of the exercise? 

If the Days of Unleavened Bread were only about getting the leaven out, it would be quite the discouraging observance. We would all be left exclaiming with Paul, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" 

Thankfully, we aren't left there. In fact, it isn't even the main focus. God gives us these days, not to discourage, but to encourage us.  The days of self-examination and recognition of our wretched sinful nature are quickly followed by a powerful reminder of His righteousness and power living within us through His Son. For seven days, we are commanded to take in of unleavened bread. We take in, symbolically, of Jesus Christ, the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth. His life in us, His sacrifice, continually covering our sinful, weak, backsliding nature, making possible our continued access to and relationship with the Father. It's an awesome reminder that it is He who works in us both to do and to will of His good pleasure.

I've got quite a bit more work left to do on our master bathroom. But I know that regardless of how many stops and starts lay ahead, regardless of how many hours I will spend tearing down and rebuilding walls and walking the aisles of the local hardware store, the outcome isn't in doubt. With a little determination and continued prodding...err...encouragement from my wife, it will eventually get finished. My effort to become like my Elder Brother...now that's a different story. I'll keep working at it but thankfully my effort isn't responsible for the outcome. He's a much better Master Builder than I am.

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"I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word." Psalms 119:15 - 16

Passover: A Time to Party?

Another Passover season is fast approaching.  A time to examine; a time to look in the mirror and confront our sinfulness; a time to commemorate the death of our Savior whose blood was shed for us; a time to party!  Huh!? Hold the phone…party? Really?!!

Well, okay, maybe party is too strong a word (a ploy to get your attention…did it work?) so let me tone it down a little. Try this: Passover, a time to rejoice with exceeding joy!

But wait a minute.  Aren’t we told in 1 Corinthians 11,  “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.  For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.  For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”?

It sure doesn’t sound like there’s much there to rejoice about.  Examining is hard work and, well, the thought that we may be at risk of taking the bread and wine, the symbols of the New Covenant in His blood, in an unworthy manner certainly is nothing to take lightly.  This is serious business!

And while that is indeed true,  if you look below the surface, the very essence of this and other scriptures like it, are, in fact, calling us to rejoice on that night.  Why? 

What is Passover commemorating anyway?  Remembering the death of Jesus on the cross, His broken body and shed blood? Yes, of course.  That’s a solemn memory to be sure.  But, as we read here, His suffering is not where we are to stop. In fact, it's not even our primary focus. We are told to discern His Body…discern the meaning, the purpose behind the suffering, behind the sacrifice. 

Ephesians 2 makes it clear where remembering His sacrifice, correctly discerning  His body, leads us. 

Ephesians 2:11 - 13  “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

That’s huge isn’t it?! His death made possible our life, our rebirth as children of God.  It re-opened of a direct relationship between God and man, a relationship that had been cut off since the garden. With the offering of that relationship through His bruised and beaten body and His shed blood, man, once again, has access to the throne of God, to His mercy seat.  And when we come to the Passover truly discerning these things, that line of thinking inspires a whole different set of emotions.

Do you recall what David did when the Ark of the Covenant was carried into the City of David?   He danced half naked in the streets as it was being brought into the city, didn’t he?  He was, in a very real, literal sense, having his own little party.  In fact, his antics made for such a sight that his wife, shocked and embarrassed by what she felt was an undignified display, ridiculed him openly.  I’m sure she was not alone in her disgust.  There were probably others there among the crowd who thought his behavior inappropriate for such a solemn occasion. After all, this was the presence of God coming back among them. People had died just for touching it. That’s pretty serious stuff!  And to have the gall to dance around in your underwear before it?! C’mon. In who’s book is that acceptable?! There were probably a few who wondered why God didn't strike him down right then and there?

What did David get that his critics, including his wife, did not?

Of all God’s servants it could be argued that David was among the most humble.  He was a man, it seems, constantly given to self-examination.  He says in Psalm 26:2 “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me. Try my mind and my heart…” He knew that he, and the children of Israel, were altogether unworthy of that relationship. So when God showed His favor by blessing his people so richly, and symbolically allowing His presence, through the symbol of the Ark, a type of His throne, His mercy seat,  to be brought back among them, David was so overwhelmed with joy for the occasion that he couldn’t help but jump and dance for joy. He couldn’t help but celebrate.

Isn’t that really what the meaning of the Passover is for us? Isn’t that where God really wants our focus in this season? 

Our human nature tends to pull us toward a focus on ourselves. After all, the god of this world is always broadcasting. The message he broadcasts is either one of pride and self-dependence or, conversely, of despondency and depression.

It’s easy for us as Christians living in this world to let these attitudes seep into our hearts.   We either fall into an “I’m okay, you’re okay mentality” or, we get stuck in the mud and dirt of our weaknesses, our failures, our sin, letting them imprison and define us.  We lose our focus on who He is and who we are in Him.  That’s where our enemy wants us to be.  He wants us to remain in denial or defeat and forget the joy that has been set before us.

One of my favorite passages, Hebrews 12:2  instructs us to look “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“…for the joy that was set before Him endured…”  As terrible as that night was for Jesus, what kept Him focused, what gave Him strength to endure, was the tremendous joy that would be realized by the fulfillment of the Father’s purpose for Him.  Mankind would be freed from bondage. 

A focus on our sin and weakness definitely does have a place in this season. We examine ourselves yearly, prior to the Passover, and hopefully throughout the year, to re-establish the fact in our hearts that we are unworthy, that even at our best state, we fall immeasurably short of His standard.  Of ourselves there is no reason that God would ever enter into a relationship with us. We need His sacrifice to cover us. We are dependent on His mercy.

But then, having remembered our dependence on Him, we approach the reaffirming of our Covenant with Him, the taking in of the bread and wine, much as David approached the returning of the Ark to Israel, or with the focus that Jesus had on the glorious outcome of those terrible events that night.  We rejoice in the fact that God, in His mercy, has given us access to Him through the blood of His Son.  We, who were far off are made near by the blood of Jesus.  It’s an awesome, joyful thing! We are commemorating, yes, celebrating that God once again dwells among His people.
 
No, not as did the Corinthian church whom Paul rebuked for the manner in which they approached the Passover. They used the night as an excuse to satisfy their appetites.  They were joyful all right, but it was all about them, it wasn’t about what He had done for them.  They were not discerning the Lord’s body, and, as a result, taking the bread and the wine in an unworthy manner.  Their error wasn’t in the rejoicing, it was in the focus.

The truth is, if you and I are sitting at the Passover service, holding the bread and the wine, still trying to solemnly determine whether we are worthy to take it, we have missed the point. While a period of time spent in recognition of sin and the examination of sin has an important role in this season, it's role is in the period of time leading up to that night, not the night itself. God doesn’t want us to come to the service focused on ourselves.  The purpose of recognizing our sin is that we might be all the more joyful for who we are in Him.  This season is given to us to point our attention to Him. It’s about the new nature He has given us.  Our focus that night is to be on Him, not on ourselves.  

If we really come to that night  with a heart full of thankfulness for the relationship our Lord has made possible for His people, like David, we might just be tempted to break out in a little dance, perhaps not for real, but definitely in our hearts.  I, for one, can’t think of any greater reason to party….errr…rejoice with exceeding joy, can you?

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"I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word." Psalms 119:15 - 16