Ready to Rejoice

Posted by Jim Thornber on March 20, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

 This is how I will know you have shown unfailing love to my master – Genesis 24:14

A while back a friend called to tell me his grandmother died. I didn’t know the grandmother very well, but I did know she was comfortable financially. Although I was sad for my friend, it also occurred to me that he might see a significant inheritance, and I was surprised my reaction was, “Why him? Why can’t I get something from someone?” Yes, I was disappointed in myself, but being the self-professed good Christian man that I am, I put aside my bad feelings and convinced myself they weren’t there.

But God knew better.

Two days later, I’m reading in Genesis as part of a “Read the Bible Through in a Year” program we were doing at the church where I’m the self-professed good Christian pastor. When I got to the above verse is Genesis, my reaction to my friend’s potential blessing came flooding back. It seemed God wasn’t finished with me. As a side note, have you ever noticed some of the programs we use to enhance our spirituality, like Bible reading programs, God uses to fix our spirituality?

What bothered me about the story was Abraham’s servant, probably Eliezer (Genesis 15:2), wasn’t looking for God’s blessings in his own life, but for God to bless the life of Abraham. Eliezer was sent on a difficult mission – to find a wife for Isaac among the family of Abraham. When Eliezer gets to the homestead, he makes a convoluted prayer about camels and drinking water in order to find just the right wife for Isaac. And when it works, Eliezer rejoices that God has shown “unfailing love to my master.” At that point, the Holy Spirit slapped me in the head.

Why is it so difficult to rejoice with those who rejoice without feeling a competition for the love and attention of the Father? Why is it so hard for me to ask God to bless others without wondering (not always, but sometimes) when I’ll get my piece of the blessing pie? Without malice, rancor or competitiveness, Eliezer is truly happy when God has shown favor to Abraham.

Now I’m thinking about this story and God won’t let me alone. I begin to wonder about the times when I was truly happy when God showed favor to a friend. I can think of a few. But then it occurs to me. Eliezer wasn’t rejoicing when his poor neighbor got blessed, but when his rich employer got blessed. Can I do that? Can you? Sure, we can be happy if the Lord sends our poorer neighbor a hundred dollars to put towards their winter heating bill. But can we truly rejoice when God dramatically and miraculously shows unfailing love to one of the richest and already most blessed people we know? Won’t there still be a bit of jealously and envy, a bit of “what about MY blessing” thrown into the mix? Continue Reading

Ready for the Banquet

Posted by Jim Thornber on March 10, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , . 2 Comments

 A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. – Luke 14:16

When I was boy, my family used to go to my grandmother’s house for those two great special food occasions: Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Thanksgiving always had the turkey, which my Jewish grandmother cooked in a paper sack to keep it moist. Does anyone remember that? On New Year’s, we usually had a leg of lamb or prime rib. My mom’s parents weren’t hurting for cash, and it showed when we ate.

My grandmother also had one of those beautiful, cherry-wood china cabinets with the glass doors so you could show off all the beautiful dishes you only brought out on Thanksgiving and New Year’s and, for her family, Passover. She also had one of those velvet-lined boxes that contained all her sterling silver place settings, including those big spoons and that funny piece shaped like a slice of pie. Grandpa’s duty on those special days, of course, was to teach the grandkids how to play poker and Chinese checkers, have quarters come out of ears and noses and make funny noises with their hands, all to the delight of the kids and the dismay of grandma.

These were the times when our family got out the best – the best food, the best silverware, the best tablecloth, the best clothes, and briefly, until grandpa entered the room, the best behavior. A table had been prepared, and since the grandkids got to eat first, it always felt like everything had been prepared just for us.

Wanting to give our family the best we have is a direct imitation of God’s desire to give us the best. He prepares for us, anticipates our arrival, has everything taken care of. If we, trying to be gracious guests, call ahead and say, “Is there anything we can bring?” God doesn’t say, “Yes, we need more rolls.” No, everything is prepared, so God says, “Just bring yourself.”

Entrance to the Banquet is by invitation only. The good news is that all are invited. The bad news is that not everyone has accepted the invitation. When I went to my grandmother’s home, I didn’t have to earn my way in – I was welcome because we had a relationship.

I’m looking forward to that table God has prepared of us and I’m grateful for my relationship Him. There may not be magic tricks and funny noises to laugh at when we get to Heaven, but I’m sure it will be the best Banquet the universe will ever see.

 

Scriptures That Bother Me — 1 Corinthians 12:12

Posted by Jim Thornber on March 5, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Church, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

Getting Out Of The Way

“The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. Si it is with the body of Christ” – 1 Corinthians 12:12

Last year I told my Bishop that I hope I never perform a baptism at the church I pastor. He looked at me a bit strange. Since I didn’t elaborate, he asked me if I knew that baptism was one of the ordinances of the church. I said I did, but I repeated that I sincerely hope I never did a baptism at my church. He said, “Okayyyyyy, I’ll bite.”

I said this to my Bishop after discovering that one of the greatest joys I’ve had as a pastor have been the times I’ve not ministered. I may be the pastor of the church, but I also know I’m not the only minister in God’s Church or in the local church where I pastor.

When I read this passage in 1 Corinthians 12:12, it makes me wonder why, in most churches, the pastor is the one who does most of the ministry and has all the key roles. The former pastor of my church was there for almost three decades, and his son was still at the church when I arrived. One day I said to this pastor’s son that one of the things I hope I never do is baptize. Again, that look. I said, “Why should the pastor have the privilege of baptizing people who were invited to church and, in many cases, discipled by others? I think the person who is most influential in the salvation of a new believer should have the privilege of baptizing them. Furthermore, why is it the pastor is the only one who gets to baptize his own kids? Why shouldn’t every parent have that joy?”

            At this point the pastor’s son looked at me and, with a bit of envy in his voice said, “I would have loved to baptized my kids.” I knew then I was on to something.

So, last summer when a young girl asked to be baptized, I sat down with her and her mother and explained baptism. I also gave the young girl permission to have anyone she wants to baptize her. She chose her mom and her aunt. It was then I had the honor of standing aside while others did the ministry. When I explained this to my Bishop, he finally concluded I wasn’t a complete heretic.

I’m also looking for ways to share the blessing of leading in the Lord’s Supper. Nowhere in Scripture does it say that the pastor is the only one qualified to bless the elements of communion. Last month I asked one of the members of our church to lead us in communion. I gave him free reign to do anything he wanted because I trusted him and knew He would honor God. He shared sincerely and emotionally his love for His Savior. He had his family assist him in distributing the elements, and chose a very appropriate song and video to share while we all took of the Lord’s Supper. After I received the elements and sat down, I looked up at the screen, relished the beautiful lyrics passing by, and thanked God for the humbling honor of being part of such a beautiful congregation. Now I’m pleased to announce to the world that last month’s communion service was perhaps the most beautiful Lord’s Supper we’ve had at Journey Church, and I was not the one in charge.

I believe very true leader in God’s Church has a gift called “Getting Out Of The Way.” It is a gift not seen very often in most churches, but one that more church leaders should rediscover in their lives. I encourage every pastor and leader to look for ways to let the Body of Christ be the Body and not just an accessory to their ministry. Doing this has been one of the highlights of my pastoral career, and I believe it will be one of yours, too.

The Faith to Doubt

Posted by Jim Thornber on February 17, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Publishing, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 2 Comments

There will come a time in your life, if it hasn’t already, that you will sense all you have in the universe is God, and then you’ll wonder if even He is big enough to deliver you from your pain and the soul-wrenching questions no human being can answer. You may even begin to doubt God’s ability to give you answers, but in desperation you pray with Job, “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him” (13:15).

Welcome to the new WWF, Wrestling With Faith. You may think you’re wrestling with God, and you are, but you are also wrestling with everything you’ve held dear, substantial and true over the course of your Christian walk. Your faith is in a crisis, because for years you’ve expected the Christian life to be different from the one you are experiencing.

You came to Jesus expecting all your worries would be over, that joy would fill your life and the Church would be a place of love, laughter and unconditional acceptance. But it isn’t. It is filled with people who are struggling, sick, selfish, transitory, naïve, hypocritical, angry and judgmental. Then you spend some time with God and realize that is a fair summation of your own life. You’ve met the enemy and he is within your own heart. And that is not a bad thing, because now you know where that battle will take place.

Do I have the answers to all your burning questions? No, not really. I’m writing this to tell you that you are not alone. Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — Luke 10:29

Posted by Jim Thornber on February 14, 2012
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The [expert in religious law] wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor” – Luke 10:29 (NLT)

Here I am, reading along and preparing for my Sunday sermon, feeling good about myself because I’m the pastor and a handful of people will get out of bed early and listen to me expound upon the Word of God, when it starts to occur to me I’m not as good as I like to think. In fact, sometimes I’m too religious for my own good, and it took a long-dead lawyer to get me to take a hard look at myself.

In the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), a lawyer challenges Jesus with the question, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replies, “How do you read it?” And the lawyer goes on to give the acceptable church answer: Love God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. “Great,” responds Jesus, “do it and live.”

The lawyer should have left well enough alone, but he goes on and tries to justify the way he treats others. Eugene Peterson says, “Looking for a loophole,” the lawyer asks, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus’ answer tells the lawyer he is asking the wrong question. We should not be concerned with writing a short list called, These Folks Are Acceptable Neighbors. Instead, we should ask the question, “What kind of neighbor am I?”

I’d like to think this parable gives the lawyer a tough time, and it does, but it is actually tougher on me than I like to admit. If I’m really honest, I’ll admit that I’m more like the lawyer than the Samaritan. Continue Reading

The God of Toddlers and Adults

Posted by Jim Thornber on January 30, 2012
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The other day I was thinking about the way people perceive God. Many times I’ve heard people complain that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. They observe that in the OT God was vengeful, angry and full of wrath, punishing people and killing sinners, annihilating people groups and even their children and animals. But when you get to the NT, God has somehow changed. Now He loves people enough to die for them. He’s not into wiping people out but gathering them so He can bless them. It’s like God developed a split personality – He was mean during one era but now He’s nice and calling everyone to be His friend.

As I pondered the perceived differences between the OT and NT versions of God, I began to think the difference in the way we see God in the OT and NT is as simple as way a toddler sees his parents and the version an adult sees. As we know, a parent treats a two-year-old differently than the way they treat a thirty-two year old. In the OT, we see God treating people the way a parent treats a toddler, while in the NT we see God relating to the toddler who has now become an adult.

For example, the two-year-old sees the parent as large, strong, protective and big on discipline, whose primary word of choice throughout the day is “No.” Continue Reading

Got Character?

Posted by Jim Thornber on January 11, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Church, Leadership, Religion. 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.” Everybody gathered around laughed.

It is 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, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” 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.

God Factors In Our Detours

Posted by Jim Thornber on January 3, 2012
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

“As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years… In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” — Genesis 15:12-16

God confuses me. I’ve been reading the book of Genesis, and His whole treatment of Abraham seems like a bundle of contradictions.

First, God told Abraham he would make him into a great nation (Gen. 12:2), and then He withheld the birth of Isaac for twenty-five years. Then God told Abraham to “look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever” (Gen. 13:14-15), while in chapter 15 God tells Abraham his descendants would live as slaves in Egypt for four hundred years before they would come back and possess the land. I’ve discovered that reading the Bible is a bit like reading a spy novel; you really don’t know how all the pieces fit together until you’ve read the last chapter. Of course, the same thing could be about my life. I won’t really know how all the parts fit together until I’ve lived the final chapter.

This is what challenges me about Genesis 15—sometimes when I think I’ve missed God’s direction for my life, it turns out that God has factored in my detours. Furthermore, about the time I think my detours are a result of a sin, I often find they are God’s gift to prepare me for my promise.  Continue Reading

Scriptures That Bother Me — John 13:2-5

Posted by Jim Thornber on December 26, 2011
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Humiliated By Service

During supper . . . Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands . . . rose from supper . . . and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. – John 13:2-5 (ESV)

I have to confess that I’m not a very good servant. Yes, I pastor a church and yes, I’ve been a more-or-less follower of Jesus for almost forty years now, but I still struggle to be an effective servant. I still complain sometimes when I have to go the extra mile, especially when it comes to doing a job someone else is supposed to do.

What started me thinking in this direction is this passage from John. I’m teaching a Bible study on John and, after many months, we finally made it to chapter thirteen. And, as has happened many times before, I’m rereading a very familiar passage, a passage I’ve preached on more than once, when something jumps out and grabs hold of my pride, something I didn’t see before.

Foot washing was a very menial task. People went around barefoot or in sandals, and their feet naturally got muddy and dusty. Guests’ feet were usually washed on arrival at the host’s home—certainly before the meal—by a servant, because people didn’t sit at a table to eat but reclined on the floor. This put their feet at the same level with their head. It was a menial job to say the least, but it was also a necessary job.

However none of the disciples, upon arriving at the place Jesus arranged to have the Passover Feast, was willing to stoop to the lowly job of washing the feet of their companions. They may have been hanging out with each other for three years, but no one was going to volunteer to serve the others.

Finally Jesus, in the middle of the meal, gets up and washes their feet. I get the picture that He’s waited as long as He could for one of the boys to understand the true nature of servanthood, and when they don’t, Jesus takes the opportunity to teach them.

How humiliating! Here’s all the personally chosen disciples of Jesus, all too proud to wash each other’s feet, now having to endure having their feet washed by their teacher and soon to be Savior. How would you feel if Jesus did something for you that you were too proud to do for someone else? Continue Reading

Tale of the Towel

Posted by Jim Thornber on December 22, 2011
Posted in: Christian Spirituality, Religion, Scripture. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and]to the highest degree. . . .took off His garments, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He fastened it around His waist (John 13:1,4, Amplified).

Perhaps the best-known passage that shows us the servant heart of Jesus is John 13, where we see our Lord and Savior, the creator through whom God made the universe, washing feet.

Jesus was fully aware of who He was in God, where He was from, and where He was going. As such, He was not serving His disciples while He waited for God to bring Him into His “real” ministry. He didn’t wash feet as a way of passing the time before He got on with His studies at Seminary or waited for His first call to pastor a church. Those are the things I would do. Instead, service was at the heart of the life Jesus laid down for His friends.

What challenges me most about this episode is the fact that Jesus gave credibility and integrity to what He did because of who He was, while most of us are inclined to get that backwards. We have the tendency to define who we are by what we do. For example, if you go to any gathering or social event and meet somebody new, watch how long it takes for one of you to ask, “So, what do you do for a living?” Most of us define and categorize ourselves not by who we are in God, but by what we do in life. But in Luke 9:18-20, Jesus did not ask His disciples, “What do the crowds say I do?”, but “Who do the crowds say that I am?” Continue Reading