This is a sermon I delivered at Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church on Sunday, Aug 22, 2021

If we haven’t met, my name is Gregg Caruso and I serve as a Managing Partner at VitalChurch Ministry and I also lead the Diagnostic Division. As such, I led the diagnostic process here at MVPC last summer, gave the initial oral report, and wrote the final report. I have heard good reports over the last year on how you are building on your numerous strengths and preparing for the upcoming permanent pastor search process. (I would just remind you of something I said in both the oral and written reports: The more you accomplish in this transition season, the higher caliber of pastor you will attract.)

As we saw in the bumper, we are in a series called The Grind, because sometimes life can be a grind, and last weekend Pastor Dave spoke on Parenting with Grace, and today we will be considering Parenting with Wisdom from Deuteronomy 6:4-12.

Before we read the passage together, just a bit more about me…Linda and I recently celebrated 43 years of marriage. We have four grown children and seven grandsons. Parenting is a big deal to me. Here’s why: Back in the ‘80’s, in one of my early seminary classes, the stated objective was for each person in the class to write a Life Purpose Statement along with a set of Personal Core Values. Here is what I wrote (shortened):

My life purpose is to continue to emerge as a father in the faith (1 John 2:12-14), believing that effective, reproducing fatherhood is the highest calling for a man in the body of Christ. As this relates to my immediate family, it is my intention to prayerfully and lovingly stimulate [them] to love God and honor God in all that they are, say, and do. As this relates to my ministry function, it is my intention to further expand the kingdom of God through leading, teaching, motivating, and mentoring leaders and potential leaders to fulfill their destinies in Christ.

Approximately 35 years later I can tell you that my Life Purpose remains the same. I am passionate about effective and reproducing fatherhood.

If you’re a parent, I probably don’t need to tell you that wise parenting is both the hardest and most rewarding job on the planet. And today, I would offer a special thank you to those of you who are adoptive parents and foster caregivers.

With this in mind, I’d like to read our text for this morning, Deut 6:4-12 (NASB): “

Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. ⁸ You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. ⁹ You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. ¹⁰ “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and carved cisterns which you did not carve out, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

[v. 7 – can appear to be sexist — the Hebrew word for sons is ‘ben’ and is used almost 5,000 times in the OT. About 140 of those times the word is used for children – both male and female.]

What’s significant about the book of Deuteronomy is that it records a series of sermons that Moses preached to the nation of Israel just before they entered the promised land. He’s coming to the end of his life, he’s raised his own children and essentially two generations of Israelites and he’s learned a few things about parenting and leadership. The essence of his final words to this generation is, “As you head into this promised land…this is what it means to follow God in your family, in your community, on the job, and in worship.” What he is essentially saying is, “all of this is connected to wise and proactive parenting.”

So, from our passage for today we will see (at least) three principles from Moses on how to parent with wisdom:

1. There’s a truth to teach.
2. There’s a way to live.
3. There’s a story to tell.

Let’s look at them one at a time…

There’s a truth to teach.

Verses 4-5 are the basis for one of the most famous and important prayers contained in the Bible and one we see the Hebrew people repeat over and over again throughout the Old Testament. “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ⁵ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 

This prayer is called The Sh’ma, which is the Hebrew word for listen or hear. The word can also mean pay attention to or focus on. What’s important for us to understand is that the word and concept of Sh’ma means to both listen and obey. In ancient Hebrew there is no separate word for obey, meaning that, for them, hearing and doing are two sides of the same coin.

Many of you will recognize these words as part of what is referred to in the New Testament as the Great Commandment. In Mark 12 and Matthew 22, some legalistic religious people were seeking to trap Jesus by asking Him which was the greatest commandment (of 613!).

Jesus repeats the Sh’ma as the first and greatest commandment and then adds Leviticus. 19:18 as the second greatest commandment: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The New Testament tells us that these two commandments sum up (or consolidate) the entire Old Testament: Love God and Love People.

Wise parenting (or grand-parenting, or god-parenting, or babysitting, or working in the Children’s or Student Ministry) means that, first and foremost, we seek to consistently model Loving God and Loving People.

Let’s quickly review how we get to a place where we CAN become increasingly consistent in Loving God and Loving People.

Some of us were raised in a church context where we were taught that obedience is the primary goal of the Christian life. This is incorrect. Loving God and Loving People is the primary goal of the Christian life. A good Presbyterian will know this…The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism is: “What is the chief end of humankind? The answer is: Our chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”

So, how do we get there from here?

The Apostle John, who was the best friend of Jesus, states it succinctly in 1 John 4:19 that “We love because he first loved us” (emphasis added). You and I do not have enough willpower to make ourselves consistently obedient in Loving God (or Loving People). For the active intentional follower of Jesus, our obedience is not a fearful or legalistic striving to please God but a grateful and joyous response to the love He has already loved us with. God has welcomed and embraced us through the provision of the finished work of Jesus on the cross. God’s love made the first move.

This is the gospel, it’s not about what we do or don’t do, it’s about what God has already done for us IN and THROUGH Jesus Christ. As you and I surrender into that sacrificial love, God’s empowering presence begins to do IN us and THROUGH us what we could not do on our own – and we grow in our capacity to LOVE God.

Here are two application points…

1. When we blow it, we need to own it. When you’re around your children (or anyone) and you blow it and act in a way that doesn’t reflect loving God or people, we need to own that and confess that (even with toddlers). I’m a reactor on a lifelong journey to become a responder.
2. One of the best tools available is an app called New City Catechism. It’s an excellent family devotional and discipleship tool.

There’s a way to live.

There’s a Truth to Teach and There’s a Way to Live… Verses 6-9 provide us with two significant insights into how we are to live…

Verse 6 is interesting: “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.” Why ON our hearts and not IN our hearts? That’s the same question a student asked of his Hasidic rabbi. This is how the rabbi responded:

“When you study the Torah, it places Scripture on your heart, [because] only God can put Scripture inside your heart, and then when your heart breaks, the holy words will fall inside.”

Over the years I’ve heard hundreds of parents say, “I just want my kids to be happy.” No, you don’t. You want your kids to be joyful. There’s a big difference between happiness and Christian joy. The word happiness comes from the same root as the word happenstance. Happiness is circumstantial, it will come and go throughout our lives, but Christian joy is residential. Christian joy is not merely an emotion, it’s an inner state of being that is a gift from God (Rom 15:13), which grows in our inner being as we learn to continuously surrender to God’s love and care.

Heartbreak and suffering happen as a part of our maturation process. God doesn’t take us around heartbreak and suffering, He takes us through heartbreak and suffering. The good news is He goes with us. Job 42:5 has been on my heart for the last several years, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You.” A contemporary paraphrase might be: I’ve known ABOUT You, but now I KNOW You. Or, as as Tim Keller has said: “We go from understanding to standing under.”

Then, as we consider a way to live, the keyword in verses 7-9 is found in v. 7, it’s the word diligently – “You shall teach them diligently…”

• NIV – “Impress them on your children…”
• Eugene Peterson’s The Message paraphrase gets it right when it says: “Get [God’s Words] inside of you and then get them inside your children…”

Most translations use the word diligently and the Hebrew word means, “to sharpen.” Again, it’s important for believers to note that we don’t sharpen or stay sharp in our parenting by reverting to willpower, legalism, or regimentation. It’s more about the outflow or overflow of our own worshipful relationship with God. John 7:38 tells us that out of our innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.

Here’s an important and wise parenting tip: Your kids are not going to do what you tell them to do. They’re going to do what you do.

By way of a possible application here… Linda and I raised our children with (only) two core values in mind that helped us make the bulk of our parenting decisions…

1. We desired for our children to be tenderhearted before God and people.
2. We desired our children to be learners (disciple means learner).

The implication of these values is that we paid more attention to heart issues than behavioral issues.

There’s a story to tell.

So, we have a truth to teach, we have a way to live, and finally, we have a story to tell…

In vs. 10-12 Moses is lovingly admonishing the people to remember and repeat their testimony of God’s amazing grace. They are about to take possession of the Promised Land with cities they didn’t build, houses full of all good things they did not fill, water wells they did not dig, vineyards and olive trees they did not plant, and then v. 12 says: “then watch yourself, that you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

These verses are a clear parallel to the New Testament salvation experience where God meets us in our captivity and His transforming and empowering grace liberates us to take possession of the life He has always planned for us.

I’d like for us to encounter a bit of Catholic author Brennan Manning’s story today. Brennan Manning struggled through alcoholism and divorce. He is probably best known for his book, Ragamuffin Gospel, but this (condensed) quote is from a subsequent book entitled, All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir:

“My life is a witness to vulgar grace – a grace that amazes as it offends…A grace that hikes up the robe and runs breakneck towards the prodigal reeking of sin and wraps him up and decides to throw a party no ifs, ands or buts…A grace that is the pleasure of the Father, fleshed out in the carpenter Messiah, Jesus Christ, who left His Father’s side not for heaven’s sake but for our sakes, yours and mine. This vulgar grace is indiscriminate compassion. It works without asking anything of us [except to acknowledge our sin condition] …[God’s] grace is sufficient even though we huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot cover. Grace is enough. He is enough. Jesus is enough.”[1]

The sincere followers of Jesus will have our own ongoing testimonies of God’s “vulgar” and incomprehensible grace. And if you don’t have a testimony of encountering God’s incomprehensible grace, I would invite you to ask God to show you, over the course of your life, where His grace has intervened – and as God’s intervening grace becomes clear to you, I would invite you to surrender your life and all it contains to the living God. This is how wise parenting begins.

In conclusion, I’d like to review the wise parenting tips that Linda and I have learned over decades of walking with God (sometimes stumbling with God), raising children, and pastoring people. And I will add one final tip…

1. The most essential tip is to live and love and raise children as active intentional followers of the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.
2. When you blow it, own it (even with toddlers).
3. Join me in the lifelong journey of migrating from reacting to responding.
4. Download the New City Catechism app.
5. Remember that your kids are not going to do what you tell them to do. They’re going to do what you do.
6. Be more intentional about dealing with heart issues than behavioral issues because behavior is the fruit of what’s occurring in the heart

My final and closing tip is to make attending church a priority. What’s happening in a worship service is a review and a restatement of the gospel that is designed to culminate in a (fresh) surrender to the gospel which our souls need every week. When church is optional, I believe we set up our kids to fail. The whole family needs to be refreshed in the gospel on a weekly basis.

Closing Benediction…

May the presence of God go with you, and give you rest (Exodus 33:14); Let your words as parents and caregivers be helpful for building up children according to their needs (Eph 4:29); and may God grant you, parents and caregivers, a wise heart, so that your words will be gracious like a honeycomb, bringing sweetness and health to your family and this church family (Proverbs 16:23-24). Go in peace.

[1] Brennan Manning. All Is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir, Multnomah 2005: 193-94.

Jesus presents Himself to us as the Good Shepherd… “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and they will become one flock with one shepherd. For this reason, the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father…

²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; ²⁸ and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”  –John 10:11-18; 27-29

Three introductory points to help us understand what The Good Shepherd does.

The first intro idea for us to reflect on this morning is that the motif (or sub-theme) of the shepherd is found throughout the Bible – from Genesis to Revelation. We read in Gen 4:2 that Able, Adam and Eve’s second-born son, was a “keeper of flocks.” Also in Gen. 48:24, as Jacob was dying, he summarized his life, declaring that God had been his “shepherd all of his life to this day.”  In Rev. 7:17, when the saints who come out of the tribulation are brought before God, John brings together two of the most striking images of the scripture by stating, “for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eye.”  This becomes a most glorious paradox: The Good Shepherd became the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. It’s also important to notice that the motif of shepherding is NOT confined to the Hebrew Scriptures and Christian Bible. Kings and rulers in ancient times also considered themselves to be shepherds of the people they were governing. The main idea behind a king or queen’s scepter was that it represented a shepherd’s staff.

The second intro idea related to shepherding is an important historical implication. Ancient Hebrew shepherds apparently did not use sheepdogs. There are two reasons for this. Dogs were considered unclean at the time and rabies was rampant (the two may be related). What this means as we consider the role of the shepherd in the biblical text is that flocks were not driven, they were led. So, if flocks were not driven but led, what are the implications of that? The shepherd’s voice and the shepherd’s touch become the primary means of a shepherd’s wholesome and tender leadership. And as you’re probably aware, shepherds often played an instrument and the music (whether it was good or bad) no doubt, became quite familiar to the sheep. The implication for us, as part of the Church, is that musical worship also helps us to follow the Shepherd well.

The third intro idea is that John’s Gospel is a work of literary genius. There are several sub-texts, or layers in John’s gospel and the self-disclosure statements of Jesus are just one of them. Throughout his Gospel John is asking his readers to continually reflect on the question, “Who is Jesus?”

In John 10 with Jesus saying I AM the door of the sheepfold (or pen) and then saying I AM the Good Shepherd; John is combing the OT shepherd motif with the encounter that Moses had at the burning bush. Moses is in his second career as a shepherd. He had been raised as a prince in Egypt and God calls Moses to lead the Hebrew slaves out of captivity and into the Promised Land.

But Moses is reticent and he tries to talk God out of it…Finally he says (in Ex. 3:13-14)…“Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “~I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘~I am has sent me to you.'”

So, with the I AM statements in John’s Gospel, Jesus is claiming to be the voice that spoke to Moses at the burning bush…and John is weaving all this together in his gospel account. It’s pretty genius…

Six Ways Jesus is Our Good Shepherd

In John 10, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11, 14). In this chapter Jesus spells out what it means for Him to be our Shepherd and for us to be His sheep…

1. V. 11 & 15: The Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. Everything Jesus endured in His ministry and on Good Friday was for His sheep. When He gave Himself into the hands of the arresting battalion in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was for His sheep. When, as an innocent man, He was condemned to death, it was for His sheep. When He was beaten and tortured, it was for His sheep. When He hung on that cross in agony and finally died, it was for His sheep. (And this idea of laying down a life is also a good picture of marriage, parenting – and of the Church. Because of what Jesus has done, we follow His example with the help of the empowering Holy Spirit.
2. V. 12: The Good Shepherd will never leave or abandon His sheep – like the hired hand, who is just in it for the money, might do.Heb 13:5 (see also Deut 31:6, 8; Josh 1:5):“I will never leave you, nor desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”  Whether we feel his presence or not, He is there.
3. Vs. 14-15: The Good Shepherd knows His sheep completely.“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father…”  Jesus Christ knows you completely—inside and out! He knows our secret and besetting sins; He knows our deepest fears and our foibles. There may be times when you are a mystery to your yourself of your loved ones, but you are never a mystery to Jesus. He knows you completely. And here’s the thing…because He knows you completely, He is able to lead you effectively. The good shepherd knows what you need, and He is able to give you what you need at precisely the time that you need it.
4. V. 16: The Good Shepherd called His sheep and brought them to Himself.“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”  We are the sheep in His pasture. Gentiles (non-Jews) are the sheep “not of this fold.”
5. V. 28: The Good Shepherd gives His sheep eternal life. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish…”  We’re all going to have eternal life and we’ll either be WITH Jesus or we won’t…
6. V. 29: The Good Shepherd sees His sheep as a gift from the Father. “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” So, how would you know if you are one of Christ’s sheep? How would you know if you have been given as a gift by the Father to the Son? The identifying marks of a sheep belonging to the Good Shepherd are clearly stated in these verses: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (10:27).

But what does it mean to hear his voice? The sheep belonging to the Good Shepherd seeks to live in a state of humble attentiveness to the Good Shepherd’s voice—and out of joy, or responsive obedience, seeks to follow the Good Shepherd.

How can we learn to know and trust God’s Voice? We line-up the three lights. I heard this illustration decades ago…There was a port city with a treacherous harbor. When merchant ships attempted to navigate their way into harbor, they would run aground because of the rocks beneath the water. So, the city council set up three lights for the sea captains to line up in order to navigate safely into the harbor. And just like that port city, there are three “lights” for us to line up in order to effectively hear and act on the voice of our Good Shepherd.

1. The subjective skill of hearing God’s voice (for me it’s mostly an impression). It’s like “sound of a gentle blowing” (1 Kings 19:12) that we read about in when Elijah was running away from Jezebel and was looking for God’s direction. There was a mighty wind, an earthquake, and a fire but the Lord’s voice was not heard in those it was heard in a gentle it what amounts to a gentle whisper. Another passage that points to the quietness wherein we are able to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd is Psalm 46:10, “be still and know that I am God.”
2. When we believe that we have heard from God, it must be confirmed by the written word of God (Scripture) because there is no extra-biblical revelation.
3. And finally, we should seek to have what we think we have heard from the Good Shepherd confirmed by those we respect and trust in the Lord. We don’t need people to hear FOR us but we do need people to hear WITH us—especially in the big decisions of life. Proverbs 13:10 reminds us that,“wisdom is with those who receive counsel.”

So, what’s the takeaway?

1. Are you secure in The Good Shepherd’s sheepfold? You’re not going to be driven, you’re going to be led.
2. Have you received the death and resurrection of Jesus as accomplished on your behalf?
3. Do you accept His eternal commitment to never leave you or forsake you?
4. Can you surrender into God’s love knowing He knows you better than you know yourself?
5. Can you receive the gift of eternal life with Jesus and His other sheep?
6. Can you see yourself as a heavenly gift from God the Father to the Good Shepherd of your soul?

Small Group or Self Study Questions

It would be helpful to read Psalm 23 as we consider the Good Shepherd.

1. What are some ways we have seen God act as the Good Shepherd in your life or your church in the last year-and-a-half?
2. What are the main differences between a flock being driven or being led?
3. Why do you think it’s difficult for so many people to not be able to see themselves as a gift from God the Father of Jesus the Good Shepherd (v. 29)?
4. How often have you sensed God speaking something directly to your heart?
5. What are your thoughts on “lining up the three lights” of the subjective skill of listening/hearing, confirmed by Scripture, and confirmed/affirmed by those we trust in the Lord?
6. What do you think of people needing to hear with us but not for us?

Why do we call it, Good Friday? Just in case it seems confusing to you, Good Friday commemorates the day Jesus yielded Himself up to suffer and die as the only person in history to live a perfectly obedient life. God’s holiness demands perfection in order to gain access to the presence of God. The essence of the Good News of the Gospel is that upon our conversion we are clothed with the righteousness that Jesus earned by His perfect obedience. Isaiah correctly refers to salvation as a “robe of righteousness” (61:10).

We cannot ease our guilt, nor overcome our sinful tendencies by accumulating good deeds. Jesus did what we could never do for ourselves on that first Good Friday. May this day truly become “Good Friday” for us, as we confess our sins and put our faith and trust in Christ—perhaps for the first time.

Let’s consider Hebrews 12:1-2…“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I’d like to try and address three important issues in these two verses…

1. What does it mean to “lay aside every weight and sin”?
2. What was the “joy that was set before Him”?
3. What does it mean for Jesus to have “endured the cross”?

I will address these questions in reverse order…

3. What does it mean for Jesus to have “endured the cross”?

First, we need to notice that Jesus suffered physically, emotionally, and spiritually…

Physically, Is. 52:14: “everyone who saw Him was even more horrified because He suffered until he no longer looked human” (CEV).

Emotionally, Is. 53:3: “He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” 

It’s thought that Jesus suffered from a rare condition while He was praying at Gethsemane called Hematohidrosis, when some capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing bleeding. This condition occurs under extreme emotional (and sometimes, physical) stress.[1]

Spiritually,

2 Cor 5:21: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”

1 Jn. 2:2: “[Jesus] is the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Spiritually, Jesus bore the weight of every sin; past, present, and future.

It’s been said that whatever Jesus endured physically and emotionally, were like a fleabite compared to what He suffered spiritually, bearing the weight of our sin.

2. What was the “joy that was set before Him”?

In a word, it was you.

Eph 1:4: “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.“

1. What does it mean to “lay aside every weight and sin”?

Once our heart is awakened to what Jesus endured in willingly going to the cross and that you (and I) ARE the joy set before Him, we can more freely and more joyfully lay aside every weight and sin.

The phrase “lay aside” could easily be transliterated, “lay down,” as it is in Acts 7:58 when men “laid down” their cloaks at the feet of Saul (when Steven was being stoned to death).

So, because of what Jesus has done, we lay aside, or lay down, those things that weigh us down and our sinful tendencies.

It’s “get to” instead of “have to.” It’s always better to “get to do something” instead of “having to do something.” Right?

And we must ask the question, What’s the difference between a weight and a sin?

The word “sin” literally means to miss the mark (think of a bull’s eye), so anytime we deviate from God’s perfect will we miss the mark – or sin.

So, what’s a weight? This is where we take hold of the rock that we were given on the way in tonight.

A weight is anything you’ve already been forgiven for but you’re still holding on to. One example would be that God has forgiven you but you can’t forgive yourself.

Another way to view a weight is a besetting sin in our lives. A besetting sin is something that keeps cropping up in our lives.

In my experience, besetting sins are often tied to our family of origin. We will tend to deal with stress the same way our parents did. Or, anger, conflict – even parenting styles.

One Christian author has said, “You may have Jesus in your heart, but you have grandpa in your bones.”[2]

CONCLUSION

The most important question of our lives is: How can I run like this?

1. Take notice of what Jesus endured.
2. See yourself as the joy that was set before Him.
3. And in the light of those two certainties, let’s lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us.

[1] Freddrick Z., Dr Hematidrosis. Available from: http://enwikipediaorg/wiki/hematidrosis.

[2] Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Leader: How Transforming Your Inner Life Will Deeply Transform Your Church, Team, and the World, Zondervan 2015.

Owning What I Can Own Plus a Look at Nehemiah 1

(This post is adapted from a sermon given on June 7, 2020.)

In the church I am currently serving as an intentional interim pastor we have been walking through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). What we are discovering is that the sermon is NOT about moral conformity to a new set of New Testament rules (i.e., moralism), neither is it “picking and choosing” Bible passages that we think are relevant for today (i.e., secularism).

The SOTM is identifying a third way to live as a follower of Jesus… through the removal of our sin by God’s grace through faith, through the restructuring of our heart from the inside out, and through a whole reversal of values.

In this article, I’d like for us to take what we’re seeing in the SOTM and consider the events of the last few months by asking the question, “What is God trying to say to His Church in this season?

Here’s an overview:

• Over the years, I have found Nehemiah’s response to crisis to demonstrate an appropriate and godly pattern of engagement – and I’d like for us to look at the highlights of that today.
• I also want to begin to provide some specific action steps for us to take in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. I have also begun a list of resources on our church’s website blog…
• I also want to share two defining moments in my life – as a man, as a follower of Jesus, and as a pastor. Both of these defining moments happened when I was the permanent pastor of a church – one in the late 1980s and the other one in the early 1990s. I will share the first upfront and I’ll share the second one at the conclusion.

In the early 90s, I became involved in a 2-year racial reconciliation group for pastors from across our city that was facilitated by Spencer Perkins (the son of John Perkins) and an Anglo man named Chris Rice (Spencer’s family and Chris’ family lived in community under the same roof). In our pastor’s group, there were Anglo, Latino, African American, and a Japanese American…

That 2-year time period became, in itself, a defining moment for me but two specific occasions were particularly impacting…

One of the African American pastors grew-up on the East Coast (S.C. I believe) and the other one grew up on the West Coast (L.A. area). Both of these pastors grew-up in Christian homes. Here’s what both of them believed growing up: They did not believe that white people could be Christians because of the way they treated black people. That moment took my breath away and opened the door for me to begin to see the effects of institutionalized and systemic racism and the cocoon of white privilege.

The other profound moment came on Oct 3, 1995, the day O.J. Simpson was acquitted for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. Do you know what my first thought was when I heard the verdict? This is the tiniest glimpse of the repeated injustice that African Americans have been subjected to in this country – for centuries!

These two related experiences were moments of profound clarity for me that grew in me a heart for reconciliation that has only become more and more impassioned over time.

The horrific video of George Floyd being murdered on a street in Minneapolis MN is, I believe, symbolic of the United States of America having our collective knee on the necks of not only African Americans, but Native Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian American people in this country.

Institutional, Systemic Racism is a gruesome and undeniable stain on our national conscience – and I believe we need to own it as Americans.

White Privilege doesn’t mean that the average white person hasn’t needed to work hard for what we have attained; White Privilege means that us white folks have, generally speaking, have (present tense) greater access to power and resources than people of color [in our same situation] do.

Let me speak in the “I.” The question for me is not, “Am I a racist?” I am a racist. I have it in me and on me by virtue of Institutional Racism, White Privilege, and my own insensitivities. And I have come to hate it. Here’s the question I must continue to ask myself: “Where am I still a racist?”

What I have just shared may be deeply uncomfortable for you. I get it. Let me take it a step further – I would like you to engage in some personal reflection, some reading, and some praying to locate yourself in this opportune moment in history. We have a grace disguised opportunity in our country as well as in the Church. None of us would have chosen to be here, but we are.

With that said, let’s look at what Nehemiah did in one of the most severe crisis moments in his lifetime…

I would like to look at Nehemiah 1 and list for you the specifics and priority of Nehemiah’s response…

V. 2 – Nehemiah inquired. We need to ask questions and we need to listen.

I have spoken with some non-white friends to inquire about how they are doing and to get their perspective and advice. In regard to asking questions and listening, one of my friends told me the greatest investment we can make is spending time. He said time is our most valuable resource and it takes time to really get to know someone. Taking time is not quick encounters to ease our guilty conscience but a commitment to building ongoing relationships with people who are different from us.

V. 4 – “I sat down and wept and mourned for days.” We see this same calling as the SOTM begins – to acknowledge our spiritual poverty and to mourn over our own sinful/selfish condition. We need to mourn (or grieve) over the current condition of our country. And this includes not only the racism but also the 117,000+ (as of 6/15) COVID deaths in the US and almost 428,000+ deaths around the world.

I want to introduce a biblical term that most of us have heard but perhaps have not understood. Lament. One-third of the Psalms (50) are categorized as “Songs of Lament.” Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations (it comes just after Jeremiah).

What does it mean to lament? Lament is a prayer (or prayers) that believers offer to a sovereign God when life doesn’t fit with what they know to be true about Him, or the coming of God’s promises seem to be woefully delayed.

Psalm 13: “How long, O Lord, will you forget me? Forever? How long must I take comfort in my soul having sorrow in my heart all the day?”

So, a prayer of lament is a prayer from a place of pain and complete honesty that leads to trust.  One author said, without prayers of lament we tend to fall into one of two ditches — either the ditch of denial, everything’s fine, or the ditch of despair, I can’t do this.[1]

In prayers of lament we take our sorrows to God and we talk to Him about them.

V. 6 – “Me and my father’s house have sinned.” I hope you see what’s happening here. Nehemiah is taking on and owning the sins of his forefathers. I believe we must do the same.

The Church as a whole has failed miserably in the areas of justice that include race, sexism, conflict resolution and reconciliation, and immigrant care.

One of the core beliefs and practices of VitalChurch Ministry is the perspective that corporate (or, all church) renewal begins with personal renewal, and personal renewal begins with each one of us owning our own issues. (If we’re honest, we’re much better at owning other people’s issues.)

Here is a succinct review of what we see, not only in the first chapter of Nehemiah but in the whole book…

• Nehemiah listened
• Nehemiah learned (he took four months to pray, fast, and to plan)
• Nehemiah lamented
• Nehemiah loved (Not only did Nehemiah lead in the rebuilding of the walls of desolate Jerusalem but he also helped to lead a spiritual renewal, along with Ezra, after the wall was completed – all because of a deep love for God and the Jewish people returning from exile.

I want to invite you into that space. God has been up to something since the pandemic began. As I said earlier, the SOTM is about the removal of our sin through admitting our spiritual poverty and receiving God’s grace through faith, it’s about a restructuring of our heart (individually and collectively) from the inside out, and a whole reversal of values.

There’s been a lot of fluff in the Christian Church in America. The easy believeism, the me-centered choruses, the lack of doctrinal sermons, and the lack of integrity, which the culture has noticed (is noticing?) and we have been pushed back out to the margins of society. The good news, of course, is that the Bible was written to people who resided out on the margins.

My second defining moment that shaped me as a man, a Jesus follower, and as a pastor will, I hope, will sum-up much of what I’ve been trying to say. (I hope this is the beginning of a church-wide dialogue.)

It was the late 1980’s and I was pastoring the same church I spoke of earlier and the AIDS Epidemic was in full-swing and I decided to take a class from the Gay and Lesbian Task Force on caring for AIDS patients. My mother was a Hospice Nurse, so I grew up in an environment of care and compassion.

As one might imagine, when the two guys who were teaching the class found out I was a pastor it caused a bit of a stir and I ended up staying late after a few sessions to talk about God, Gays, and the care of AIDS patients.

Here’s something I learned from them… It involves the difference between sympathy and empathy – and for the sake of time, I’ll condense several conversations into learnings…sympathy says, “I am SO sorry!” Sympathy says, “I will certainly pray for you.” Or, sympathy will write a check. Those are good, awesome, and appropriate responses.

Empathy, on the other hand, says “WE have a problem and what are WE going to do about it?” Empathy is shoulder to shoulder.

My defining moment happened when I clearly made a distinction between sympathy and empathy – and how both are necessary in their own time and in their own way, yet they are distinctive. And then these two guys told me something that broke my heart…They told me that, while they had both received sympathy from the Church, they had never received empathy.

Friends, it’s shoulder-to-shoulder time. We have work to do. Let’s start a conversation that leads to action. And I hope you see that I’m not just talking about sexual identity issues regarding sympathy and empathy. I’m also talking about racism, sexism, and immigrant issues – reconciliation of all kinds that is rooted in the gospel.

To be rooted in the gospel means that Jesus Christ, the Great Reconciler, is our greatest hope and boast, our deepest longing and delight, and our most passionate song and message. To be rooted in the gospel means that the good news of God’s empowering grace is what defines us as Christians, unites us as brothers and sisters, changes us as both sinners and saints, and sends us as God’s people on mission. When we are rooted in the gospel, the gospel is exalted above every other good thing in our lives and triumphs over every bad thing set against it.

Discussion/Reflection Questions

Read through the Bible verses addressing ethnicity as well as the definitions of racism and white privilege on the blog.

1. After reading through the verses is there one or two that stand out to you? Why?
2. After reading the definitions of racism and white privilege, what stands out to you that you either may have not thought about for a while or that you are seeing for the first time?
3. Just like there are sins of both commission and omission, do you think there could be both explicit as well as implicit racism ingrained in American culture? How about ingrained in the Evangelical Church?
4. What does it mean to be “rooted in the gospel”?
5. In considering Nehemiah’s response to crisis (1:2-6), he listened, he learned, he lamented (and repented), and he loved. Which of these responses do you feel are strengths in your life and which ones would you identify as weak?
6. In considering the difference between sympathy and empathy, where do we need to grow as a church? Where do you need to grow?
7. Do you have specific thoughts of what God is seeking to say to the Church during this COVID and Racial Injustice Protest moment?

[1] Mark Vroegop. Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament, Crossway 2019.