Clothesline Theology

Posted by Jim Thornber on July 5, 2019
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The following is an excerpt from my book Taking Off My Comfortable Clothes, which is available now.  The book recounts my thoughts during the four years I was an Assemblies of God minister and a monk with the Brothers and Sisters of Charity. 

A few years ago, my wife and I visited a church to determine if I wanted to become their new pastor. We drove to the church early on that warm, October morning, full of hope and expectation. When we walked into the small fellowship hall, it was obvious we were the visiting pastors, for new, younger faces were easy to spot in this small, elderly congregation. As we passed through the fellowship hall on our way to the sanctuary, one lady gave us a short glance, quickly scanned Barbara up and down, and walked by us without saying a word. Little did we know we had just committed a cardinal sin in this small church: we were not appropriately attired.

We didn’t mean to be under dressed; it just happened. Yes, we were fully covered, but not in their eyes. You see, my wife made the horrible mistake of wearing a pretty black dress that did not fully cover her knees. That didn’t bother me — I kinda like her knees. But it obviously bothered this woman. A lot. Furthermore, I chose to wear a suit and a silk pullover shirt but no tie. Strike two. The odds were stacked against us and we hadn’t even introduced ourselves. It was going to be a long day.

When I look back on it, I see that Barbara and I had a different definition of holiness than the saints of this small congregation. Without knowing our hearts, some pre-judged us as Christians based on nothing more than what we were wearing.

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When God Says “No”

Posted by Jim Thornber on June 14, 2019
Posted in: Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

The King David went in and sat before the LORD and prayed.” – 2 Samuel 7:18

When I was in Bible college, I met a girl that I was quite taken with. She was beautiful to look at, loved God with all her heart, and her father was a pastor and my homiletics professor. She was the perfect girl to fulfill my dream of having the perfect wife to accompany me in my ministry to teach God’s Word. God created me to desire such a woman and it seemed the right thing to do.

However, this girl had another plan, and this other plan was called “Jeff.” After spending the day with her at the beach and learning it was to be our last outing together, I was walking back to the car alone and dejected when God spoke to my heart.

“Jim, will you remain single for Me?”

I couldn’t help but wonder if this was some kind of cosmic joke. I was in the midst of walking away from one of the most beautiful ladies I’d ever known and God is asking me if I’ll remain single for Him. Being the biblical scholar I foolishly claimed to be, I quickly scanned my limited knowledge of Scripture and remembered Abraham getting Isaac back after attempting to sacrifice him to God. So I said to God, “Sure. If I sacrifice marriage, can I have it back?”

Can I offer you a piece of advice? Avoid quoting Scripture at God as a way of wiggling out of something you don’t want to do. It makes for a very tense moment between you and God until you answer His question. And I did answer His question. . . .ten months later! I said “Yes,” but it was a lonely ten months.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with wanting this girl to be my wife. God created me to want a wife. He created me to want to share my life with a woman where we would walk together in the ministry of His Good News. I wasn’t asking for something that was unbiblical. I was asking for something He created me to desire. But still He said “No.”

David found himself in a similar situation. After establishing peace in Israel and bringing the Ark to Jerusalem, David looks around him and realizes that not everything is in order. Sure, there is peace. Yes, Jerusalem no longer belongs to the Jebusites. Of course, David now lives in a palace, but the Ark of God lives in a tent. So He decides to build a house for God. He runs it by Nathan, his pastor and spiritual adviser, and the prophet says, “Sounds good to me. Go for it.”

But later that night God says to Nathan, “Not so quick. I have other plans for David and they do not include building a Temple. That is reserved for his son. Instead, I’m going to build a kingdom through David.” And this is the message Nathan brings to David.

And David’s response? He goes and sits down before the Lord. It took me ten months to sit before the Lord when my plans were rejected, but David does it immediately. I decided to sulk, whereas David decided to seek God.

When God has told you “No,” did you sulk or did you seek Him? Did you feel rejected like I did, or did you come to understand that God was simply redirecting you? That’s what God did to me. He redirected my steps from a beach in California to a move to Arkansas to meet another beautiful woman (who was also from California!), who is now my wife of twenty-five years.

 

I challenge you to look at the good things you’ve wanted to do for God and see that when He has said “No,” it is often not a rejection but a redirection. The Lord told David that his desire to build the Temple was excellent (2 Chron. 6:8). His heart was in the right place, but God had other plans. The Temple did get built by Solomon and David contributed tons of material for the project. It all worked out perfectly, as God knew it would.

Of course, we don’t often see the end so we take God’s “No” as a rejection, as I did on that beach in California. It took me ten years to realize that God’s “No” to one fine lady was also a redirection that allowed Him to say “Yes” to another. And had I just taken the time to go and sit before the Lord and seek Him, I’m sure my season of sulking would have been shortened by many months.

Leaving The Dirt Behind

Posted by Jim Thornber on June 4, 2019
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

“Then the Jews…incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium.” (Acts 13:50-51)

 

Like most of you reading this blog, I’m an avid reader of anything well written. I’m a big fan of history and biography, but I still like a good mystery, believe the world’s best science fiction (Bradbury, Sturgeon, Dick, Asimov, Lem) contain more truth the most of the evening news broadcasts, and enjoy the occasional novel involving conflicted characters who stumble into truth like a drunken sailor looking for fresh air. In fact, I just finished a novel I enjoyed but wouldn’t recommend in which a character did just that, but unfortunately didn’t understand the truth he rejected.

  In the novel (The Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel, if you must know!) a pastor called Amos is writing a sermon but isn’t having much luck. He’s been pondering Christ’s teaching about shaking the dust off one’s sandals and leaving a place if people treat you badly. Then Kimmel, through Pastor Amos, wrote the best two sentences of the book: “And don’t take the dirt with you. You won’t need it where you’re going.” The pastor, not seeing the truth he wrote, crossed it out.

But I couldn’t let it go.

Traditionally, the idea of shaking the dust off one’s feet is similar to Pilate washing his hands before the crowd, telling them, “I’m innocent. The responsibility is yours” (Matt. 27:24). Shaking the dust off the feet is a gesture saying we’ve done all we can and we’re not responsible for the consequences.

However, Pastor Amos stumbled upon a truth I’d like to explore, because everyone experiences rejection. We are fired from a job; we don’t make the football team; our political opinions are considered outrageous; our best friend stops talking to us; our spouse leaves us. Rejection is universal. Kimmel, however, understands the gift of shielding the people we will soon meet from the people we’ve moved on from by saying, “And don’t take the dirt with you. You won’t need it where you’re going.”

And she’s right. Why do we allow the dust of yesterday’s rejection to surround us like Pig-Pen’s cloud? I continue to meet people who are surrounded by the pain of the past, and thereby live more really in past than they do in the present. As a result, the dust of the past obscures their vision of what is truly in front of them. Even when people are genuinely nice to them, they can’t always see it because their fear of rejection keeps other people outside the boundaries of their cloud.

The people I meet shouldn’t have to dig through the hurt of yesterday’s dirt and rejection to see the truth of who I am just because someone else couldn’t. I shouldn’t make someone else’s rejection of me become your problem. Besides, the dirt doesn’t define me; God does.

Don’t take the dirt with you. You won’t need it where you’re going.

 

 

 

The Never-Ridden Donkey

Posted by Jim Thornber on February 9, 2019
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

“Go into that village over there. As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.” (Luke 19:30)

I’ve been teaching through the book of Luke at my church, and this one passage about Jesus riding the young donkey has been on my mind for a couple of weeks. I like this part of the story about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem because it reveals a number of things. It shows how often Jesus requires the use of our possessions and why it is always an honor to give back to God a portion of everything He has given us. But the takeaway part of the story for me is to realize how God can use those things little things in our life the rest of the world wouldn’t say is possible.

Matthew tells us the two disciples looked for a donkey tied with its colt beside it and brought both the donkey and the colt with them (Matt. 21:4-5, 7). Now, I’m thinking about the owners of this young donkey no one had ridden. Did they look back after they understood the significance of the event and marvel, saying, “God used us! US! All we really had were two donkeys and Jesus used the smallest one, the one no one had ridden, the one with the least experience, the one no one else would think of using, and with the least of what we had Jesus used it to accomplish His purpose on earth. Wow!” Ponder this: Can you see God using those little things in your life everyone else has dismissed as unusable?

God doesn’t need to use what I have. He could use anything He wants. The Father could have created a donkey out of mud and placed it where Jesus needed it, but He didn’t. Instead, this story tells us He wants to invite us into the events of His purposes. He invites us to trust Him with the gifts He has given us. To be honest, if I was the owner of this little colt, I’d be wondering when I’d be getting my livestock back. “When are you going to return it, Jesus?” would be my question. Or, I might go selfish and wonder how the Lord will bless my donkeys. Will He bring back four donkeys? Will my donkeys always have healthy colts? What’s in it for me? You’ve heard preachers tell you, like with Job, “God will give you double for your trouble?” That might be true, but I don’t want to go through what Job went through to find out!

Furthermore, I want to be like the owners of the animals who, when they heard, “The Lord needs them,” (Luke 19:31), they “immediately” (Matt. 21:3) let them take his possessions. While most people would consider the miracle part of the story being Jesus sitting on a donkey who had never been ridden without being thrown off, in my life the challenging miracle of the story is the “immediately” part. To be honest, I’m still working on my “immediately” responses. In too many ways, I don’t always believe Jesus can use my unridden donkeys, those areas of my life I don’t think anyone has any use for. But this story tells me differently.

Here’s the question I’ve been pondering, so I’ll share it with you. What is your unridden donkey, and how can God use it for His purposes? Then, when you find out, work on your “immediately.” I know I will!

Counting the Cost

Posted by Jim Thornber on December 29, 2018
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

“Good Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” –Luke 18:18

            I’ve been teaching my way through the book of Luke at my church, and the scene with the rich young leader has been challenging me. Like most pastors, when we get ready to write a sermon, we are mostly thinking about how to apply the sermon to the congregation, but God seems to have other things in mind with this passage. I’m finding myself very much like the young man in the story, trying to get God to give me a good answer when in fact, God wants to give me the best.  

            The young ruler asked Jesus, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” But let’s be real; isn’t that just another way of asking, “What is the minimal I can do and still get to heaven?” Haven’t we all struggled with the idea of giving everything we have to God and never looking back? If you keep reading, even Peter wonders about this when he says, “We’ve left our homes to follow you,” (Luke 18: 28), which can be rephrased as “What’s in it for us?” One of the reasons we become followers of Christ is the promise of heaven, which is good. But it also means our life on earth can be challenging, especially when everything around us seems to cry out, “Worship me. Desire me. Work hard to have me!” while the Holy Spirit reminds us, “You must not have any other god but me” (Ex. 20:3).

The problem most Christians have is the experience of first committing to be a follower of Jesus and then learning to lay everything down over time as God confronts us with our relationship to our riches, but that is not how Jesus taught us. Earlier in Luke, Jesus cautioned us about becoming His disciple by saying, “Don’t begin until you count the cost” (Luke 14:28). He reminded us if we want to be His disciple, we “must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26). In other words, we don’t follow Jesus and THEN lay everything at His feet. Instead, we abandon our self and our stuff and THEN follow HIM. It’s no wonder so many of us struggle with dying to our self. We’ve never done it! We’ve come to God backwards by allowing Him to be our Savior but not completely Lord of our life and, as a result of not truly counting the cost of discipleship, we find ourselves negotiating with God just how much of our riches we can keep and still inherit eternal life. Here’s the truth: we must count the cost before we embrace the Cross. But few churches teach this. They invite people to the altar for salvation out of a fear of hell and a hope of heaven, and later tell them the cost of discipleship is everything.

When the rich young ruler found out the true cost of discipleship, he wasn’t willing to pay it. I find it interesting that Jesus didn’t chase him down and give him a second chance. Jesus simply let him walk away. Why? Because this young man should have been a miserable, half-follower of God, someone who would never be fully committed to Kingdom principles and therefore unable to make true disciples.

Now the challenge is on my shoulders. Since, like most Christians I know, I was led in a salvation prayer before I counted the cost of discipleship, I find myself wanting to do good for God’s eternal Kingdom but struggling with my possessions. I no longer want to negotiate with God just how much of my stuff I can keep and still inherit eternal life, for the real cost was already paid at Calvary. I won’t let anything on earth distract me from that.

 

Caught In The Good ‘Ol Days

Posted by Jim Thornber on October 5, 2018
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , . 2 Comments

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. . . .because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.” Hebrews 10:32-34

 

When I was in high school I played soccer, which was a strange sport for a guy who didn’t like to run long distances. Being vertically challenged (I’m 5’3″ in two pair of thick socks), I was constantly falling behind the taller guys in the long runs. Because my legs were (well, still are) short, I was quick and usually the first one to the ten-yard line but most always last in the mile. My coach would yell at me for not running fast enough, and I would yell back, “I’m running twice as far as anybody else ‘cause I’m taking twice as many steps!” For some reason, he never bought that excuse.

We had to be in excellent shape because in the average soccer game, a player could run up to six miles, and soccer continues to be among the world’s most physically enduring sports. I’m sad to report that I have not maintained that level of conditioning since I left high school. But it was great while it lasted.

Christians also need to be in shape to stay in the “contest” (vs. 32). The Greek word for contest in this verse is athlesis. It refers to an athletic competition and is the source of our English word “athlete.” As Christians, we must not just remember when we were at our best, but we must keep at it and stay that way. We are not to be like the athlete I turned out to be – one who keeps in shape and maintains a peak performance for only a few years, only to grow old and spend time reminiscing about the good ‘ol days when we were on top of our game and the best in the league. Rather, we are commissioned not only to stay in the race, but to run it better and win it grander as our years mature and our love for God and His people expands. We should be the only athletic team in the universe who grows stronger in mind and spirit as the years mature us, so that the enemy knows without a doubt that the toughest players in the game are the “seniors.”

Perseverance is of great necessity here. I had soccer practice five days a week, three hours a day when I was in school. What bothers me is I spent more time conditioning my body for a game than I did conditioning my spirit for life and eternity. Unfortunately, that remains true for most Christians, who tend to spend more time in the shower and in front of the T.V. than they do in the Word and on their knees. It is by our actions that we prove where our priorities are.

I wonder why the author of Hebrews found it necessary to warn his readers against throwing away their faith and confidence in God, and in so doing lose their reward. Were they tired of the constant battle? Were they growing weary in the fight? This would certainly be true of some. Others had probably become complacent in their faith. Rich, fat, lazy, and lacking challenges in their life, perhaps they no longer perceived Christianity as a need in their lives. Like many of us today, they turned to God only when life was beyond their control. But what about now? Have we stopped exercising our faith muscles because we don’t like the direction the contest had taken? Is our faith a fine thing when everyone can see it, but a cumbersome bother if it means being loyal to God on a daily basis when nobody was watching?

So what is my point? I don’t want to be an old Christian athlete who is caught up in the good ‘ol days with nothing more to offer than fond memories of the way I used to be. I want everyone to know that the best of my spiritual life is still yet to come.

 

Got Character?

Posted by Jim Thornber on September 15, 2018
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Church, Leadership, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being (Hebrews 1:3)

 

A few years ago, a church I attended in Arkansas hosted a Thanksgiving service to raise money for the ministerial alliance. The alliance asked our church to lead in the praise and worship, and I played the piano on the worship team. Looking over the congregation, I noted a pastor from another church who, no matter what we sang, refused to either clap his hands or raise them in worship. He simply sat in his pew with his arms folded.  That struck me as strange, because outside of church he was a happy, vivacious, demonstrative man.

I have never been known for my extreme subtly or bashfulness, so as we gathered for refreshments after the service, I questioned him his about posture. “Why, when Scripture instructs you to lift up holy hands to the Lord, and you have a chance to do so in a public service, did you sit with your arms folded across your chest?”

“Well, you see,” he began to stammer and laugh, “I’m a . . . .” and he named his denomination. I cut him off and said, “Are you a denomination first or a Christian first?”

At this point, he began to look around for help from the people who had gathered, including my pastor. He asked, “Is he always like this?” to which my pastor replied, “Hey, he’s going easy on you.” And everybody who had gathered around laughed.

I find it sad that many church members (or goers) around the world are more concerned with offending their denomination and the people in the next pew than they are in obeying the Word of God. The congregation led by the pastor in my story will have trouble obeying Scripture because he was not setting an obedient example. In a simple sense of the word, this pastor lacked character.

Regarding His eternal relationship to God, Hebrews tells us that Jesus is the “exact representation of his being” (1:3). James Moffat says He was “stamped with God’s own character.” The phrase “exact representation” translates the Greek word charaktēr, which gives us our English word “character.”

Originally, this word meant to cut, to scratch, to mark. It indicated the tool or agent that did the marking, and eventually came to mean the mark or the impression that was made. It also indicated an impression made in a wax seal. Or, think of a coin: its image, numbers and letters bear the exact image of the raised numbers and letters of the original die from which the coin was cast. To see a dime or a quarter is to know exactly what the original die or stamp looked like.

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the father” (John 14:9). This is true, because He was the “exact representation” of God, “stamped with God’s own character.” To see Jesus is to see God, for He is the exact image of God, the perfectly engraved representation of the very nature of God.

This brings up a very difficult question, especially for me: “If to see Jesus is to see the Father, then, when people see me, do they see Jesus?” As I was looking for the Christ-like qualities in that pastor, I began to wonder:

  • When I am at my church, what do people first see in me —   ­­­­­­­­­the Kingdom of God or a denominational version of God?
  • Am I stamped with the very character of God?
  • Do people see Jim or Jesus?
  • As a disciple of Jesus, am I exhibiting the character of Christ the way that Jesus the Son bore the character of God the Father?
  • When people see the church out working in the world, whose character do they perceive? Are they seeing the compassion, mercy, patience, and love of God, or do they see the values of MTV, ABC, Wall Street, Hollywood, Cosmopolitan, and Men’s Health?

We must all ask those tough questions if we are going to live the character of Christ and represent God in all we say and do. Jesus said,  Now I want to be able to say, “Anyone who has seen me has seen Jesus.” Maybe one day, at my funeral, some kind soul will say, “Jim was the most Christ-like person I’ve ever met.”  Then I’ll know I got character.