Let [the student of Scripture] approach the New Testament, not with an unholy curiosity, but with reverence; bearing in mind that his first and only aim and object should be that he may catch and be changed into the spirit of what he there learns. It is the food of the soul; and to be of use, must not rest only in the memory or sink into the stomach, but must pierce through the very depths of the heart and mind... Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) via cqod.com.

Well, here we go. Are you ready?

In the next week we will all be preparing as a church to quiet our hearts and listen for God's lead through The Infrastructure Project.

Participation is easy!

• You can go to Facebook.com/ColumbiaRidge and find it posted there, every day. 
• You can come to my blog every day and see the next devotional posted and ready for you to take in.
• You can to receive them via email.
• You can download the whole booklet from the link at the bottom of this post (for those who didn't pick one up at church and still want to hold paper in your hands while you read).
• Or you can do a combination of the options above...just do at least one of them!

So many ways to take in one little week of preparation. See you next Sunday morning...can't hardly wait!

Over my life as a Christian I have grown - though still need to grow substantially more - in my ability to bend in the direction of God's Word and in knowing the God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). On these themes, this quote seems quite true to me intellectually and experientially:

We need to be constantly reminded ... that theological knowing is inseperable from the life of obedience and faith. It is fostered through worship and prayer – those practices by which we submit ourselves to the Word and Spirit of God – and is borne of humility before the Word. (Murray Rae, 163) Courtesy of Chris Tilling via this entry.

Today is Maundy Thursday, which is

the special commemoration of Christ’s institution of the Lord’s Supper [and] is attested to as early as the fourth century. The English name Maundy Thursday comes from the Latin mandatum novum, “a new commandment,” in Jesus’ words to his disciples as he washed their feet on the night of the Last Supper: “A new command I give you: Love one another” (John 13:34).

Webber, R. (1993). The Biblical foundations of Christian worship

In my message last weekend, I spoke about this event (download or listen online /podcast feed/ iTunes.). What I tried to convey, but what we still may not realize is that Jesus was already in anguish even before the episode we observe in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-39). He was in agony even before his prayers alone in that Garden: the agony of being betrayed, of knowing his disciples would scatter and deny, and of a world loved so much yet going so wrong. John Cogdell reflects on this agony in these words:

We usually think of Jesus in the upper room as calmly and patiently preparing his disciples for their coming crisis; only in the garden are we shown his deep anguish over what lies ahead for himself. But if this verse ("They hated me without a cause." Psalm 69:4 as quoted in John 15:25) occurred to Jesus as describing his enemies, surely he was also identifying with the rest of the Psalm with its vivid description of overwhelming troubles and importune cries to God for deliverance. What in the upper room was still under the surface was openly expressed in the garden. (Source: CQOD.com)

Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God. Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head; many are my enemies without cause, those who seek to destroy me. I am forced to restore what I did not steal. - Psalm 69:1-4 (NIV) In this context Jesus' mandatum novum carries all the more weight: love as he loved on this day.

Wednesday / Hours 73-96 These are the silent hours of Holy Week (as the gospels don't record any of the events of that day). Perhaps this is fitting. After the triumph of Sunday and the contentions and planned betrayal of Monday and Tuesday, this is the calm before the storm - a storm that Jesus will walk through on his way to the cross (and beyond). This day...

• spend a few moments to sit ... and rest ... in silence, just as the gospel writers do;
• then ask God to prepare you
  • for what is to come in what remains of this week's 168 hours
  • and to prepare your heart to sit at the foot of the cross, meditating on its mysterious, heart-wrenching grace and power.

I'm playing a little bit of catch up here, but I wanted to post a time line of Holy Week. In studying for our "168 Hours" series at church, I've found myself to be much more engaged with Jesus and his experiences in those crushing hours (a subtle reference to his experience in the Garden of the Oil Press, Gethsemane). As you walk your week this week, be mindful of Jesus and his experiences during the very first Holy Week.

• Sunday / Hours 1-24: The Picture of a King - A Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem
  • Matthew 21:1-11 as well as all other Gospel writers
  • Message post and audio

• Monday / Hours 25-48: The religious elite begin their plot
  • Jesus curses the barren fig tree (Mark 11:12-14 as well as Matthew)
  • Jesus cleanses the temple (Mark 11:15-18 as well as Matthew and Luke)
  • Jesus meets with the Greeks and predicts his own death (John 12:20-50)
• Tuesday / Hours 49-72: Open confrontation
  • The barren tree is withered (Mark 11:19-25 as well as Matthew)
  • Jesus challenged as a teacher (See Mark 12 for single chapter overview)
    • In the city - The rulers challenge Jesus' authority (Luke 20:1-19) - Pharisees and Herodians try to trap Jesus (Luke 20:20-26)
    • In the temple court - About the resurrection (Matthew 22:23-33) - About the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) - Jesus silences his challengers (Matthew 22:41-46) - Jesus denounces his challengers (Matthew 23:1-39)
  • Jesus observes and teaches on the poor widows gift (Luke 21:1-4)
  • Jesus teaches on the end of the age in the evening (Matthew 24-25)
  • Jesus predicts his crucifixion, possibly at Bethany (Mark 14:1-2)
  • Jesus anointed in Bethany (Mark 14:3-9)
  • Judas sets the stage for betrayal back in Jerusalem (Mark 14:10-11)

I came into this day thinking that I had challenges ahead of me. After reviewing the events of Jesus final Tuesday before the cross, I am humbled. As you meditate on the events of Holy Week outlined above, perhaps even just Tuesday's events in Mark 12, may you be humbled as well. Traveling with you...

Warning: this is a a little longer post than usual but I needed to work through some thoughts on prayer. So if you've wondered about how prayer works and how to understand the difficult passage of James 5:14-18, then read on (and leave a comment). In his epistle, James makes the following assertion:

14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:14-18 (NIV)

Reading this passage at face value seems to imply that prayer can heal people. Not only that, but it can also shut and open the skies. This makes many uncomfortable (and not because they don't believe in God's ability to work through prayer of in God's goodness). Rather, it makes many uncomfortable because they don't understand why, if this is indeed the case, only some prayers change the weather and the health of our loved ones. In light of this, some interpret this passage in purely spiritual terms; however, most scholars looking into the intricacies of the original language find this to stretch James' words beyond a reasonable point. Their consensus is that James believes he's talking about physical healing. For sure, the spiritual and physical are linked in this passage (and linked in reality), but to completely eliminate the possibility that James believes that prayers offered for the sick can be part of their physical healing seems inappropriate given the text. Since this is arguably the case, what are we to make of the fact that many millions of prayers fail to produce the results that James discusses? Let me offer three main thoughts as to why this might be:

1. It is not God's will that everyone should be physically healed. The fact is that sometimes affliction reveals God to both the afflicted individual and to his or her community (consider John 9:1-4 and 2 Corinthians 12:6-12) and to heal that person prematurely (if at all) could short-circuit that revelatory expression.
2. Sometimes the "righteous man" to which James refers doesn't pray a prayer that leads to physical healing. It could go without saying that Paul could be nominated as a "righteous man." It could also be said that he had prayed a healing prayer in faith and as a consequence healing did indeed occur (Acts 28:8). But there were also instances in Paul's life where his prayers for another didn't produce such results (Philippians 2:25-27 and 2 Timothy 4:20, if we assume that he prayed for them at all). Does this mean that Paul didn't pray for them? No, I believe he most certainly would have, yet, he didn't pray a prayer that led to physical healing for them. This brings me to my third thought.
3. For James, a "prayer offered in faith" is a prayer offered in response to the revealed will of God. In this passage, James is in no way saying that every time that the elders are called to the bedside that they should pray a prayer of faith for the physical healing of that person. Rather, if the elders are fulfilling their God-given role in the community that is Christ's Church, they will seek out God's will and lead the people of that faithful community with thanksgiving into that will. That is, they are to first pray for wisdom and God's will in the moment (James 1:5) and if they perceive together that God will reveal himself through a miraculous healing, then - and only then - should they pray a bold, convinced prayer of faith for healing (which will simultaneously be humble because they are praying in accord with God's will rather than their own ideas or even hopes). As Barrier and Goetz, who have challenged my thinking here, suggest, "The prayer of faith can only be prayed after God reveals his intentions." This then is what a "prayer offered in faith" means in this passage: it is a prayer in response to the will of God revealed to his saints and that is why it produces healing. It doesn't produce healing because the pray-er worked themselves up into "greater faith" or "stronger belief" or said the right words in the right way.

Does that mean that other prayers aren't prayers offered in faith? No, rather, I believe James is using "a prayer offered in faith" as a sort of technical term in this context. In reality, all prayers that are willing to submit to God's will are prayers of faith, the only difference is that sometimes we know that will and sometimes we don't and we should pray differently in those two situations. When we know the will of God it takes faith to step out in that promise and pray what has been revealed; when we don't have the wisdom to know God's specific will in a situation, then it takes faith to pray for what we desire (James 4:2, Matthew 7:7-11) and then to close with "yet, not my will, but your's, Father" (Mark 14:36). We do this because we are ready to submit to his will if it is different from what we wish. What do I do if I don't know God's will for someone who is ill?

• First, pray for wisdom and for God to reveal his will in the situation (James 1:5).
• Then, if you still don't have a sense of his specific will, which may be the vast majority of the time, pray for complete healing (in light of James 4:2) because sometimes we don't have because we don't ask. But we must be faithful in doing so, trusting in God's will, whatever it is in light of the passage in Mark quoted above.
• However, if God does reveal to you that he will be working a miracle, pray with humble boldness - humble because it is in submission to God's will and bold because in response to God's will you will be praying for a miracle.

Okay, that's my thinking so far on this passage. Let's chat. Post a comment of question by following this link.

I was very encouraged by what I read today at the end of the Book of Exodus. In this climactic portion of the book we read that the people of God had finally constructed the Tabernacle and the result was amazing: God's glory descended upon that place and rested like a cloud in the midst of their community. In that moment, they knew that their God would be with them throughout their journey to the promised land; he had "tabernacled" among them. In light of this great gift, here's the response of a people desperate to get to where they wanted to go:

Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Exodus 40:36-38 (ESV)

The wonderful thing about having God rest in the midst of your community - in the midst of your life as a person of faith - is that they knew he would be leading every next step. Because he was "tabernacled" with them, they had confidence that they would move to a new place, and that they would take that next step, at the right moment in time - no sooner, no later. So often in our lives we long to take some next step on our journey of faith. It may be because we feel somewhat restless where we are at or it may be because others have suggested it's time to move on. In reflecting on the lesson we find in this passage, it behooves the people of God to wait on him before they walk. In a sense - a deeper sense - those who are in Christ have the Lord "tabernacled" with them too, only in a more intimate manner: the Holy Spirit really lives inside of us! The key, then, is to wait not on the "perfect timing" for our next step as we or our friends might appraise it, but rather to wait on the next step that the Spirit indicates, even if that seems somewhat counterintuitive (if called to move forward) or frustrating (if called to wait). In this way we can live out both Galatians 5:25 and James 4:13-16 simultaneously. Easier said than done... but true. To post a question or comment, follow this link.

The other day I was thinking about what had been the single most important factor in my own spiritual development over the past decade. After just a moment the answer came to me: Allowing God to speak to me by reading and studying my Bible regularly. Having reflected upon it for several days now, I know that my first impression was spot on. Before I became a pastor my bible reading and study was pretty extremely hit and miss. There would be a few times when it was consistent, but most of the time it wasn't. However, when I was called into my role role as the pastor of the church I love, all that changed. Now, in part because of external contingencies (like being called to lead others and to preach most weekends) I have read or studied my Bible most every day for the past ten years. Please note that I would not have read and studied so regularly had I not had the extrinsic motivation to do so - I'm not at all tooting my own horn AT ALL! Regardless of what motivated me to be more consistent, the result was profound. I haven't experienced those "dead spots" in my faith like I used to on a very regular basis. I haven't experienced the sense of "needing to be fed" like I used to on a very regular basis because God feeds me through His Word. Finally, I haven't struggled nearly as much as I used to with the depression I was stuck in on a regular basis throughout my teens and most of my 20's. I attribute all of this to the grace of God as He shaped me by His Word. And all of this seems consistent with what God himself says about the Scriptures (e.g., Jesus in Matthew 4:4 quoting Deuteronomy 8:3; Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Now I can't promise that if you read and study the scriptures regularly that you'll never get depressed or stressed out (knowing life, I can almost guarantee that you still will from time to time). Nor can I promise that your faith won't lag sometimes or that you won't feel the need to be fed (because you will have those senses sometimes). But what I do believe is this: Your faith, your spiritual life, and your emotional life will grow and become more stable. You and your life won't be perfect - not at all - but God's word, when we allow it to speak to us, changes us for the better nevertheless! So do whatever you need to do to read and study His Word regularly - it is a real key to your own spiritual formation. If you need, create external contingencies (like a daily to do list to read the Bible or by signing up to receive a Bible reading each day via email / link) or even extrinsic motivation (like having a Bible reading partner or by leading a bible study). Whatever you do, don't neglect this...for your relationship with God is the foundation of everything else in your life! May God bless you as you hear from him. Traveling with you... Reed Want to ask a question or post a comment? - follow this link.

Why not judge others? This is a fair question given the fact that there is actually so much wrong in our world and so much that is wrong in individual lives. The simple answer is that Jesus explicitly tells his followers not to, as I was reminded of in my reading this morning from Matthew 7:1-5. But the simple answer is incomplete, and like my four year old, I want to ask "Why? Why is it wrong?" I've never been one to do something without understanding why. So as I pondered the passage this morning it seems that two answers emerge in response to my question "Why?" The first is that the process of judging another brings judgment upon oneself (verse 2). That is, we will be judged when we condemn someone else, and this isn't something I really want to experience (see also Romans 2:1-3, written to those who felt they could judge others). But the second answer to the "Why?" question is the one that really captured my attention: When I condemn another person my ability to help them is diminished (verses 3-5). Looking at these verses, it seems that Jesus is saying that the process of judging another clouds my vision, putting the proverbial log in my eye, so that I am of no good use to my fellow human being in need. I have specks in my eye to begin with simply because I am a finite, fallen human being; my vision isn't clear to begin with. Why cloud it even more by judging another, which places not another speck in my eye but a log, making me completely unable to accurately see their need? If I truly want to be of help to my fellow human being, I've got to resist the temptation to condemn them. When I grow the point in my soul when I can do this (when I can see the struggle and even darkness in other's life and not condemn but rather love), that is when the log is removed from my eye and I can apply the truth I see, together with the love, grace and hope of Christ, as medicine for the soul of my fellow human being. Not judging isn't just a rule, it's a tool for me to be part of the healing God wants to bring into another's life. And what's more, it helps me begin to see as Christ saw, not a people to be condemned, but a world to healed. Lord, help me to speak the truth in love, not in condemnation springing from a judgmental heart. Help me to love as you love because I see as you see.