messes – spreading the fame

Go Toward the Mess

July 7, 2024Posted in Ephesians, grace, missionsTagged 1917, Bible, but God, discipleship is messy, Ephesians, Ephesians 2:1-10, faith, george verwer, go toward the mess, God, grace, hope of the gospel, Jesus, Jesus stepped into the mess, mess we make, messes, messiology, messy Christianity, world of a messLeave a comment

When we returned to North Africa a few years ago, we returned to a mess. We weren’t unknowing—we were very much knowing the mess. We learned a few weeks prior that a main believer we discipled had fallen into sin and disappeared. In the wake of his fall, the groups of disciples and house churches imploded or disbanded—disappointed and disillusioned. It was tempting to cancel our flight and stay home, but we pressed on to reunite with our team on the ground.

On that flight back, I watched the film 1917. I might not recommend it if you want something lighthearted. At the least, it was adapted for the airline. It was a grueling film about WWI. The film followed the true story of a British soldier named Sgt. Reid who was preparing his battalion for battle and how he dealt with day-to-day difficulties of life in the trenches, triaging terrible injuries, and enduring exhaustion from limited resources. At one point, the film became too much that I paused it. The still frame was of a bombed-out church building. Although the church was in ruins it was still recognizable. It was a power image for me.

Our team was looking to us for leadership in the aftermath on the spiritual battlefield. We came back to a church in rubble and ashes. Our first team meeting back was a puddle of tears. We grieved—what seemed like—3 years of ministry gone in a moment. We wrestled with the anger of an MBB who walked away from the Lord and inflicted damage to a fledgling flock. We questioned whether we had it in us to endure more of the same. It felt like an insurmountable mess. (And you came to be encouraged, eh!?)

Our mission is to move/go towards the mess embodying God’s grace, proclaiming the mysterious gospel, and building up the Body.

We are in a World of a Mess. All arenas of life and every aspect of society are messy. Work. Politics. Marriage. Parenting. Life. Everything humans touch becomes messy.

Even the church is touched by human messes. You shouldn’t be surprised. Some people see the church and observe what you are like and say, “I don’t want any part of that.” Those who say this need to adjust their thinking to the real world that we live in. The church is made up of sinners—saved by grace, yes—but still sinners. How can one ever think you can have a church and not have a mess? That is ridiculous, unrealistic, and a destructive expectation. The church has messes. If your church isn’t messy then you’re probably new to the church or not well connected. The church is a mess hall—a place to gather, get fed, and get ready for battle.

This leads me to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. To give a little history, Ephesus was a church planted by the missionary and famous preacher Apollos (Acts 18:24). Later Paul stopped through Turkey on his second missionary journey to visit this fledgling church plant of about 12 people. He stayed on for 3 months. In that 3-month visit he saw a dramatic encounter with the seven sons of Sceva and a mob scene (Acts 19:8ff). He extended his stay to 3 years. So 3 years Paul was in Ephesus, forming and fortifying the church. At one point, Luke described the church in Ephesus as a place where, “the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily” (Acts 19:20). That sums up the church’s beginning. Ephesus was a poster church..for a little while.

George Verwer the long-time director of Operation Mobilization said,

“Where two or three are are gathered in Jesus name. Sooner or later there will be a mess.”(Messiology)

And there was a mess in Ephesus. So much so that Timothy was sent to Ephesus—not to a cushy pastoral position, rather to do clean-up duty. We don’t know the exact nature of what went wrong in Ephesus as nothing is spelled out exactly. Paul’s two letters to Timothy give us glimpses of what happened. The church was on the brink of a breakdown. Timothy was called upon to deal with certain persons and behaviors that invaded the church.

Pause for a second. Any messes in your life right now? If you’re at all like me, this probably doesn’t require a lot of mulling over.

We Know How to Make a Mess (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Kids do not need to be taught how to make a mess. That comes naturally. Humans do not need to be taught how to make a mess. Look at what Ephesians says about the mess we were in (2:1-3): v.1) We were dead and disobedient. Living in sin like the rest of the world, v.2) We were fathered by the enemy and his spirit directed our hearts, and v.3) Our desires were unhinged. This describes a hopeless condition (sick/dead). We were stuck (in a snare) in our mess and there was nothing we would do about it. Now don’t equate the word sin with simply a mess, mistake, or oops, but it is cosmic treason (spiritual bankruptcy). 2:12-13, 17 “you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated … and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world,”

What we have seen when evangelizing Muslims in North Africa that they can see that they are sinners, but they don’t see that their sin is that big of a deal. They believe humans are born innocent and pure, their prophets are perfect and sinless, and can’t see how their sin affects others or get passed on. They minimize sin and rank it (i.e. piety, lying, arguing, domestic violence). It isn’t that different in other places with other people around the world—and it may sound like our modern world. We can’t expect unbelievers to believe any differently.

Now when we have seen Muslims come to faith in Christ they bring a lot of baggage into their new faith. They have a lot of spiritual hangovers from their old faith of trying to live holy (i.e. prayer/fasting forms, renouncing vows, relating to wife/kids, redeeming shame). The discipleship journey is messy and takes time, patience, and persistence to help them walk the right path. We can wrongly expect a new follower in Jesus to get overnight what has taken us years to know and grow into. And for some of us, we are still growing into years later.

Thankfully the story doesn’t end with verse 3. There is an amazing turn of events. ”But God…” All the best parts of the Bible come after BUT GOD. What John Stott calls the greatest two syllables ever spoken in the English language. BUT GOD. God comes to the rescue. God delivers. God gives us what we need to get unstuck. What God has given us: life (2:4-9). This new life give to us is—1) a God-initiated life (vs. 4-5), 2) a God-resurrected life (vs. 6-7), and 3) a God-gifted life (vs.8-9). It was a life undeserved. The word that is repeated over and over again in these verses that helps us to understand is grace.

We Must Grasp onto Grace that is Greater than Our Sin (2:4-9)

Grace isn’t an exclusively Christian concept. At the time Paul was writing his letter to the followers of Jesus who lived in the city of Ephesus, the idea of χάρις (grace) was well established. All the way back to folks like Aristotle and Plato, you see the term grace used to describe something that is given, absolutely freely, with no expectation of return. Everyone understood grace to be about a generous gift, something you received for no reason, and something you couldn’t pay back—even if you wanted to. So that was the scroll on which Paul sketched the Christian concept of grace.

You were dead in sin, but God gave you life because you couldn’t. That’s grace. You didn’t earn it, you can’t return it, and you can’t undo it. That’s grace. In Christ, God has seated you in His system of grace. The remedy for your mess is grace.

When you read the Gospels we see Jesus stepping into your mess (our world). He was grace on display. From his birth to his death on the cross he oozed grace to bring you peace. When you consider this you cannot help but sing: Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace. Freely bestowed on all who believe! All who are longing to see His face, Will you this moment His grace receive? Grace that will pardon and cleanse within; Grace that is greater than all our sin!

God is at work in the mess. God in his patience, grace, and passion brings men and women to himself often doing great things amid a mess. Yet in the mess is not where one is to remain …

God Moves us to Go toward the Mess (2:10)

Grace is transforming. It changes you. It’s contagious. It moves your church. It has to be shared and spread. God has designed grace to be walked out (2:10). 1) You are a display of God’s workmanship. 2) God has prepared in advance. 3) God moves you to go towards the mess by embodying grace, proclaiming the gospel, and building up the Body.

Workmanship comes from the Greek word poema, which we get our word poem (handiwork, masterpiece, artistry, creativity, performed). Grace is an extension of God’s beauty and his beautiful plan. Grace in you is God’s artistry that he has designed from eternity past that you walk in it today. Walk is the action of going. God’s grace leads to action. Movement. Toward.

3 ways we extend (walk out) grace to others.

How can I show God’s grace to my family, friends, co-workers, or even strangers? 1) Extend forgiveness. First, we can forgive because we have been forgiven. “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7) God is not a furrowed browed Father who says, “What’s wrong with you? Why can’t you get it right?” God is a tender Father who says, “I love you. You are forgiven. Get up and go at it again. I will help you!” Every day we experience God’s grace because every day we make messes. No mess is too much for God. And only God can forgive me, cleanse me, and redeem me from my mess.

Second, I can extend that forgiveness to others, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (4:32) Messes must not separate us, but bring us together. Grace takes away judgment and leads to compassion. Grace creates a bond over our brokenness and the beauty that God makes of us.

2) Extend encouragement. Grace is constructive not destructive. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29) And this is echoes other one another’s in the letter, “bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2) “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32) “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” (Ephesians 5:19) “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21) Waiting to encourage others until their life is cleaned up and less messy is like waiting to go to the ER when they’ve stop bleeding. God doesn’t love some future version of others. He loves in the mess.

Grace gets dirty. Sarah moved Sarah to step towards a boy chained up next door, suffering, and needing deliverance. For years he had been hurting himself and tormented by demons. Sarah asked to pray over him in Jesus’ name. With permission from the head of the household, she prayed over the boy and witnessed his healing and freedom.

3) Extend the hope of the gospel. Paul described his role as a “stewardship of God’s grace… that was given to me for you,” (3:2) which means you and I carry a responsibility (moreover privilege) to give out grace as freely as we have been given grace. In the Bible, stewards were the trusted managers of a household, palace, or large estate. Royal stewards were second only to the king and often had control over the king’s treasury, his palace, and some military assets. They were also representatives of the king, carrying out his work on his behalf until he returned. That’s you! Paul continues, “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things.” (3:8-9) Whether you speak, love, or serve, you are to extend hope of nothing less than greatest news in the world. You are the King’s messenger.

Sarah was able to see a breakthrough in our crusty neighborhood. She began by reading Bible stories to a group of children at a Quranic School who couldn’t afford a teacher. She met with women and children to study and memorize the Scripture. She was able to pray over a young boy who was demonized. She was able to nurture orphan children from a mother who came to faith but died. We were able to see the formation and influence of a media project ministry that touched souls around the city and country with the good news. We were able to see the launch of two new teams in Chad among the unreached. We were able to experience a new dependence upon the Lord that we would not have but through the messes, we stepped back into.

Read any mission biography and you will see men and women going towards messes. David Brainerd served a few years among the native Americans and died of TB at 29, BUT GOD used Brainerd’s diary to stir a new wave of missionaries to the unreached. William Carey lost his life’s work of Bible translations in a tragic fire, BUT GOD caused the Bengali church to grow and spread. David Svea led one boy to Christ in the Congo before he lost his pregnant wife to malaria. He left his newborn daughter and the mission field never to return. He became a drunk, BUT GOD used that one boy to lead 600 others to Christ in his village and spread the gospel to hundreds of thousands of others. We have seen carnage in Chad due to marriage conflict, team implosions, unforeseen illnesses, and more. Our own family was on the cusp of being a statistic due to burnout, depression, and identity battles. BUT GOD is building His church in Chad! What is your BUT GOD story?

Three questions to ask yourself:

1) Am I going toward the messes within me? Are you allowing God’s grace to touch all areas of your soul and life? Has the gospel taken root in you?

2) Am I going toward the messes close to me? Are you seeing the messes in your community (or church) and stepping toward them rather than away from them? Are you bringing the gospel to those around you?

3) Am I going towards the messes into new places/nations? Am I asking the question, “Where next, God?” Or even, “Who next, God?”

Go towards the mess in you, others, and the world. Watch God’s grace shine!

just your average Joe

October 2, 2011January 23, 2012Posted in attributes of God, family, GenesisTagged all things, average joe, family, Genesis, Genesis 37, hiking trip, joe, Joseph, just your average joe, life is not fair, messes, Romans 8:28, spoiled rotten brat, tattletail, technicolor dream coat, tough times produce tough people6 Comments

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up in a family—wealthier or better known—than your own? Do you daydream about the day you break free and become noticed or distinguished? Do you feel like an average Joe or ordinary Jane? You are not alone. The majority of people and families you meet are just like you.

I grew up in what many would call a dysfunctional family. My teenage parents divorced before I could remember them together. I did not like my lot in life for the better part of my childhood. I would daydream about the day my mom and dad would get back together and our family would be normal, which did not happen. I wondered whether or not I was the cause of my parent’s divorce, which was unfair. And I wondered what it would be like to live in a normal family, but defining normal is impossible. Since those early days, I have learned to love my God-given family for reasons I will describe later.

I love the Bible because it is filled with examples of imperfect families just like mine that He uses for His purposes. From the beginning of the story of Joseph—which will carry us through the remainder of Genesis—we learn four truths that are common to human including you and me.

1. I do not choose my family [Genesis 37:1-4]

From the outside looking into Joseph’s home life you would think they were quite redneck. His father, Jacob, had thirteen children with four women, two were maidservants and two were wives. He loved his wife Rachel and hated her older sister Leah. Jacob also played favorites with his children loving his first son with Rachel, Joseph [cf. Gen 30:24-25], more than his other sons. Jacob did not hide his favoritism for Joseph. He adorned him like a king in an expensive coat of many colors. All who met Joseph knew he was his daddy’s favorite dressed up in his Hebrew bling from Burlington Coat Factory.

Jacob also favored hardworking Joseph by giving him authority over his older brothers and sent him out to the fields while his brothers worked to supervise and report back to their father.[1] The brothers view Joseph as a spoiled rotten tattletale, “When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.” [37:4] The brother’s anger sounds a lot like Cain’s boiling anger towards Abel’s sacrifice that God had favored [cf. Genesis 4].

Joseph is only seventeen. Most teenagers his age have issues with their parents and siblings. It is easy for us to wonder, “Why did God give me this family?” Maybe you’re a child of divorce, abuse, or neglect. Maybe conflict is all too common in your home and you can relate to the sibling rivalry, favoritism or ungodly habits of Joseph’s home. Remember you did not choose your family, but God chose your family for you. This can be a hard truth to swallow depending on the degree of difficulty you have with your family. As difficult as your family may be they are still and always will be your family.

It is interesting how important the family unit is to God. God uses the family analogy to describe Christ’s relationship with the church [Ephesians 5:22ff], the relationship of the Trinity with one another [i.e. Father and Son], and uses family to describe His relationship with those He adopted into His eternal family through faith [Romans 8:14-17]. God promises to create a people for Himself to use for His purposes. Joseph’s dysfunctional family was surviving only by the mercy of God, but He will use them for His divine purposes to shape the character of the youngest son, Joseph.

2. I am mostly responsible for my messes [Genesis 37:5-17]

Compounding matters for Joseph and his already ragged relationship with his brothers, God had given Joseph dreams in which his whole family was bowing down to him in homage. When the dreams should have been kept private he made them quite public. This did not help Joseph build a bridge of bonding with his perturbed older brothers. ”His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.” [37:11] Jacob rebukes what he thinks is a ridiculous dream and didn’t do anything more than keeps the matters to himself. Then he sent Joseph out into the field to supervise his brother’s work [37:12-17].[2] The one quality character we see in Joseph that will come into play later in his life is his willingness to obey authority.

How should Joseph have responded to these dreams? Perhaps he should have taken them as a subtle warning about the place of pride in his life and began cultivating humility. Or maybe he should have taken the details about the future as an opportunity to wisely prepare for the leadership role that God was going to give him. Instead, he used the dreams as hot air to further inflate his already puffed-up opinion of himself. It’s a recipe for a messy situation.

As people we are also prone to take the good gifts of God—our positions, our possessions, our intelligence, our education, our sexuality, our ability to pray—and use them, not for the benefit of others and the glory of God, but only to make ourselves feel better. Think about it. What good gifts has God given you that you are tempted to use solely for yourself?[3]

3. Life is not always fair [Genesis 37:18-35]

The brothers grew jealous of Joseph and stripped him of his regal robe and tossed him into a waterless well. There they conspired whether or not they should kill him [cf. Genesis 4] or sell him into slavery. Rueben tries to reason with his brothers, when he should have stood up and said, “Listen, I know Joseph has been a pain in the keester, but we’re not going to do anything to harm him” Instead, Rueben along with Judah who led the brothers to spare Joseph’s life, but make some money selling him into slavery. ”So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels” [37:28].[4] Joseph was taken to Egypt.

The brothers mean-spirited prank was well planned, but they were missing one detail, how would they inform their dad what happened to his darling son? To cover up their sin the brothers slaughtered a goat and sprinkled its blood on Josephs coat. They took the blood soaked coat back to their father and they tricked the trickster [cf. 25:26ff] into believing their lie. Jacob mourned bitterly believing that his most beloved and irreplaceable son had been ripped apart by animals. The guilt of this prank would haunt the brothers the rest of their lives.

Last summer I took a hiking trip with my wife through Rocky Mountain national park. She was 5 months pregnant and thought that climbing a 6 mile hike up a mountain to over 14,000 feet elevation would be a good idea. Halfway through the climb I ended up carrying most of the backpack weight and coaching Sarah up the mountain. Needless to say we made up the mountain, but I wasn’t a happy camper. Life is like a hiking trip through the mountains. In life you have a number of peaks to climb. Some steep and some slick. Some reasonable and others seem ridiculous. Some fun and others seem unfair.

Joseph is experiencing a rocky road hiking through mountains [grand dream] and valleys [sold as slave], which seems to be out of his control.[5] I wonder what he is thinking as he’s being sold into slavery? Is he taking it in stride? Does he doubt God’s fairness? Is God even on his radar? Young Joseph’s may have been dealt an unfair set of cards. He’s been snookered and shackled. Life at times is unfair to our eyes, but God is not distant He is at work.

4. Sometimes I am blind to what God sees [Genesis 37:36]

Can you imagine what is going through Jacob’s mind as he is being carted of to Egypt as a slave? What would you be thinking? “Why me God? This is so unfair. Why did I have to be born into my family? I am only a runt. What about that dream you gave me? Like that will ever happen. Now nobody will ever notice me.”

God seems to be completely absent from the brains of the brothers. However this by no means indicates that God is absent or not actively involved in what is happening. God, in fact, is superintending everything that is happening in Joseph’s life as He does with you too.

In the last verse we have an amazing setup to Joseph’s future, ”Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.” [37:36] What this verse hinting at after an unfair handling of Joseph is that his dream does have some significance. In spite of the persecution and the deception, God’s program will continue. God is sovereign! When your life seems out of control God is still in control. You might be blind to the next step, but God sees the course of your path.

God truly does cause “all things”—including those seemingly random things like sins against you and even your own sins—“to work together for good” [Romans 8:28]. If you really believe that, then you won’t feel the need to throw others into the pit when they hurt you—and you will also have hope in the midst of guilt and regret over your own personal sins.

Maybe you weren’t the faithful parents you should have been. Maybe you wasted your youth in self-centered living not content to be just an average Joe. Maybe you didn’t speak up for Jesus when you should have. If you are God’s child, you need to know: God works all things—even your failures—for the good of His people. He will work something beautiful out of the mess that you have made.God is big enough to forgive your sins through Jesus Christ [1 John1:8-10]. He is big enough to help you overcome your sins [1 Corinthians 10:13]. And He is even big enough to use your sins as part of His bigger plan. Even though you may have meant it for evil, God will work it for good! That is God’s sovereignty at work!

All these facts combine to make the account of this unusual family not a story of godly heritage so much as a story of mercy! Thank God that, in His Son, He is just as merciful to irresponsible, stumbling sinners today! God uses imperfect nobodies as examples to everybody that reflect the character of the Perfect Somebody He has chosen.

It was my normal dysfunctional American family that I thought was unfair as a child that drew me to Christ as a teenager, that taught me about my unreasonable expectations for my parents, that led to reconcile with my mother as a college student, and that has given me motivation to lead my own family to follow Jesus as an adult. I am so grateful for the family that God has chosen for me. God has given me many opportunities to minister to countless others who are struggling with understanding God’s purposes and goodness. I’ve encouraged them to look to Jesus who takes average Joe’s and invites them to a lifelong relationship as children of God.

[1] Note: this will not be the first time Joseph is elevated to a position of authority. A theme this narrative is how God empowers people despite the circumstances. The lesson is timeless: God will choose a faithful, righteous person for a position of leadership in spite of the jealousy of others.

[2] The fields are about 64 miles away. This is an early indicator that famine was coming since they were going so far away to find ground for gazing. The ground is also surprisingly in Schechem where two brothers shed blood [cf. 34:25-31].

[3] Now difficulty in our life can happen even when we are living in humility and integrity. Jesus does promise that living for Christ can be followed by intense hardship and suffering [2 Corinthians 1:3-7].

[4] An amazing archeological fact that corresponds to the reliability of the Bible is that 20 shekels [est. $2000] was the going rate for slaves during this time period.

[5] The choices Joseph makes at this period of his life are critical and life altering. Joseph is only seventeen, but in the next 10 years he will make the biggest decisions of his life. What are some decisions you make between the ages of 15-30 years old? You solidify personal habits, moral habits, and spiritual habits. You turn the pages to monumental chapters in your life such as: graduation from high school and college, make career choices, may enter marriage and have children. Joseph is entering the period of his life where he will make some of the most important decisions of his life.