Dying in Obscurity: In Praise of the Ordinary Life

After Steve Jobs’ death, and not to trivialise the death of anyone, I was left wondering about our success obsessed culture. Or, more aptly, it augmented things that I felt I had to be dealing with and indeed am still dealing with: the fear of dying in obscurity, not having been seen as someone who really did anything for this world.

Our culture and our time seems to view obscurity as the most saddest thing ever. In fact, obscurity is so shunned upon in this celebrity, success obsessed culture that you could swear it’s a moral sin. But who is defining success anyway? And for Christians, why should we be so worried about whether or not we will be a success?

For Christians we often like to talk about how “it’s all about Jesus” and that’s great and completely right, in my opinion, but if that’s the case why is it that so many of us – and I include myself here – are so afraid of obscurity? Why is it that we are driven to doing something big, something so all-important with our lives?

The good news of Jesus Christ is that, well, Jesus gets all the glory. He is the only one glorified. Neither you nor I are the true heroes of the story – it’s Jesus who gets the attention. The good news, and our life’s goal, is to be known by God (which we are in Christ) not to be known by men. I realise for non-Christians that doesn’t sound very appealing, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any less true. It may be that everything we’ve been taught in this world, everything about happiness, is actually just not true.

Our culture would view the ordinary person who lives and dies an ordinary life as so sad, such a waste of life. Well, is it a waste? Or is it because our culture hasn’t a clue what real life is supposed to look like, anyway? I suppose if you view your 60 to 90 years as all you have, the goal of life will be to try and squeeze in as much as possible. But the problem with this driven-ness and idealism is that it results in less contentment, frustration, disappointment and ultimately no happiness at all.

The drive for happiness becomes a slog and a mission, missing the very point. What if our culture actually has it wrong? It’s not an impossibility.

Having high ambitions, lofty goals and reaching them is the pinnacle of success in this world. Yet 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us to make it our ambition to “live a quiet life.” That hardly sounds like the adventure we’re all looking for. While many of us will say we’re not so keen on world-wide fame ala Tom Cruise style, we are so often looking for fame within our own circles – praise from our work colleagues, our friends, our family, and even in church circles for those of us that are involved in that kind of community.

Of course it’s good that our friends and family build us up, but when we are seeking our own glory we are missing our own freedom. After all, he who tries to save his life will lose it. The last shall be first and the first shall be last. These are hard-hitting realities about our Kingdom. (Luke 17:33, Matt 20:16)

If anyone would go after Jesus they are to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). Jesus is the greatest treasure, ever. If you don’t agree that’s OK, but I haven’t found anything else to be true, to be honest, and I have tried numerous alternatives.

But to have Him we need to deny ourselves and take up our cross. Hardly an easy thing. Yet there it is. Life is not about us. When we finally give it up that’s when we find the contentment and joy we’re looking for. We may die in obscurity, nobody will ever know who we were, yet we will die far happier than many of this world’s greatest heroes who go down in the history books as men and women to be praised. When we finally give up the drive to be known by everyone we can actually focus on those people who count in our lives and finally, at last, joy can be found in the ordinariness and humdrum of our lives. Because I believe that true and eternal joy is actually only found in the person of Jesus Christ, and that’s why I call myself a Christian.

Jesus, Psychology and the Holy Spirit: Don’t be the Victim

Isn’t it interesting how you can’t really find much psychology in the Bible? Unless, of course, you really start interpreting verses in a particular (and even awkward) way?

This has often been a frustration for me because when it comes to morality I want to know how I’m supposed to live morally, not just what morals I should have. But the Bible is rather silent on this.

For example, let’s look at the case of addictions. If you have a certain addiction problem, such as a sexual addiction, there are many answers in the world of psychology to help you deal with it. But when you go to the Bible you can’t really find anything rock solid in terms of a formula. What you’re told are really a few basic things:

(1) Don’t do it
(2) Walk by the Spirit
(3) Think of things that are good and pure

But we want to know how to do all these things. Which steps do I put in place to walk by the Spirit? How do I think of things good and pure? Doesn’t God know it’s not that easy? And yet the Bible offers not much (if anything) in that department. All it says is do it.

But beneath this frustration lies something profoundly deep, yet profoundly simple and profoundly liberating. If that’s all the Bible says about something like sex addiction, it means that God really believes we can just do it. You never see Jesus offer a psycho-analysis of a problem, ever. You don’t see him say things like, “Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye” and continue with, “I’ll tell you why. It’s because when you were a child your parents shouted at you too much and judged you. The need to perform was ingrained into you. So now you are judgmental of others.” Rather, Jesus simply says, “Hey, stop judging others. First take out the log in your own eye.” (Matt 7:3, paraphrased of course.)

We like to shirk our faults onto others. For quite some time our Western society has punted the victim mentality. Every action of yours has a supposed psycho-analytical background and, of course, solution. It’s not your fault – it’s the fault of your parents or even, in the case of pop-spiritual-psychology, it’s because your great grandfather was a Freemason or something like that.

It’s rather typical of our society and for humankind in general, in its thirst for knowledge of everything without having accountability to God (remember the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden?) to formulate mathematical equations even around how to become a better person. This is nothing new. Except it’s always complicated. For example, to sort out a judgmental attitude we have to travel back in time to when we were kids and assess what our parents did to us and forgive them and work through the hurt they (often ignorantly) caused. Because this kind of thing involves forgiveness many people think it’s a very Christian way of looking at things, but I daresay it isn’t. It’s good to forgive our parents – when I realised they weren’t perfect and forgave them for that it was liberating – but how many times must I go back to my childhood to find the source of my attitudes, problems, addictions, sins and guilt?

Jesus says we should forgive and yet provides no reason why. It’s something we should do because God says so and He knows what’s best for us. It seems obvious that forgiveness is good and healthy and all of God’s morals bring lasting joy (some of them require pain first) but there’s not always a logical reason why we should do something Jesus commands us to do. Such as love our enemies, for instance.

And what is the point of going back in time anyway? That’s like tripping over a rock during my morning run and breaking my leg, then going back to the rock later to see how I tripped over it expecting that knowledge to sort out my broken leg. There’s obviously no point in doing that. We can’t go into the past for everything, that’s blaming the past rather than taking care of the problem in the now.

I’m not advocating a problem with psychology and with Christians who feel called to that field. Their task is a difficult one, however, as that field is in desperate need of some decent moral reasoning. It’s also in desperate need to stop nurturing the victim mentality. But more than that so is our culture.

As a generation X-er I was psycho-analysed and characterised from the day I was born and grew up in a culture when psychology really had become the new religion for many. Talk shows were and are all about it. In school it was drilled into me. The subject of ‘guidance’, for instance, never equipped me or anyone for the real world but only ever was interested in psycho-analysis and sex, at least as far as I can remember.

I couldn’t even get away from it in the Church, except here psychological ideas were tagged with an extra spiritual component. For example, you need to find where you were hurt in the past and let Jesus heal there; your grandfather was a Freemason so you are suffering from some sickness; you were laughed at in school and so you have a low self-worth, and that’s the result of your depression, but Jesus can give you a better self-worth, etc. While this may sometimes be the case(s) (although I question the Freemason thing) it’s not always the case for everyone, but the problem with our culture is it expects a blanket answer and formula for everyone. Many churches, books, pastors etc. got on board with this thinking and pop-psychology became the new religion. This is still a problem. Go into any Christian book store and it’s plain to see.

Getting rid of guilt

We do look for where we can shift the responsibility for our actions in the great quest to ease our conscience and no longer feel guilty anymore. I acknowledge this wide-ranging problem of guilt, but I believe the solution lies in the grace of God – coming under his Fathering and knowing there is grace and forgiveness there. I also acknowledge that true moral living can only be lived in reality when we have the Holy Spirit, which requires us to be born again.

But the issue is that when we believe too strongly in psychology (you need to go through endless healing ever to live morally well) and too little on what God says (you really have the ability to do this thing) we find ourselves constantly battling to live the way we want to. As I’ve jettisoned pop-psychology in my life more and more I’ve found it really is easier to live the way God wants me to, because it becomes simpler to do so. It’s liberating. My mind and my attitude aren’t hampered by a victim mentality and endless formulas for getting things done.

In parenting my kids I want to teach them very early to stop pretending to be a victim and to take responsibility for their actions and just live well. Victim mentality is not helping anyone. Pop-psychology and spiritual-pop-psychology is creating a society that doesn’t know its right hand from its left anymore, because every action has an excuse. Don’t be the victim. Walk by the Spirit. Don’t rely on psycho-analysis. Take Jesus’ word for it that we can just do it. He has given us everything for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). We can do this thing.

Staring Into the Mirror

Wow, what a hectic week. I’ve had no time to blog.

Thought I would quickly post this quote from John Piper that I read last night and really enjoyed.

We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendour than there is in beholding self. Indeed, what could be more ludicrous in a vast and glorious universe like this than a human being, on the speck called earth, standing in front of a mirror trying to find significance in his own self-image? It is a great sadness that this is the gospel of the modern world.

John Piper – Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ. Crossway Books, ISBN 1-5813-4623-9. Pg 15.

I Don’t Live in a Democracy

Some of you might think this is going to be a political post, but it isn’t a rant about the ANC or anything like that — it’s about something far, far more awesome.

This weekend for me has been brilliant, and I’ve begun to really get this revelation that I, as part of the Church, have been transferred from this world and its oppressive systems into a Kingdom, a Kingdom with a King whose name is Jesus.

That might sound all typically-Christian-like but here’s the main thrust of the matter: ALL of this world’s political and economical and any other system you can think of have nothing to do with me whatsoever. They literally, not just figuratively, have nothing to do with me and I have nothing to do with them.

Essentially, I no longer live in a democracy. In this Kingdom I live in there is a King and I follow out his instructions to the tee. I don’t have a vote or a say. Because He is an exceedingly good King I need never fear His decisions, His council, and His rule. I can obey Him in perfect freedom because every one of His decisions are / will be perfectly just and good.

I’ve said before that I would prefer to live in a monarchy with a good king than a democracy. There’s a lot of pressure in a democracy — I need to make things happen for myself, I need to put the system to work, and everything revolves around me and myself, and I’m sick of that kind of self-absorption where the centre of the universe is me.

Now, I’m transferred into a Kingdom where the centre of the universe is a living (yes, living) King who rules in perfect goodness. Now I can just enjoy life as He takes care of the big things, while I just enjoy being His child and His agent on this earth, and do whatever He tells me to do. I know that He’ll take care of things and I needn’t worry.

I can’t tell you what a relief it is. I realise this little write-up probably doesn’t do it justice but now I understand more than ever why the early Christians used to say, “Jesus is Lord” and why we do too. Because Ceasar is not Lord — the systems of this world are not my Lord, and Zuma and Malema and Obama are not my Lord. Their governments have nothing to do with me and I have nothing to do with them.

Sure I still live in this world and that’s the point — I am in this world but not of this world. I’ll live with wisdom as God gives me direction in terms of my finances etc., and there’s nothing wrong with people being in politics either and we need to be salt and light to this world. All I’m saying is that His Kingdom is not of this world, and the Kingdom Christians live in is wholly and completely and utterly different — and free in such wonderful and unbelievable ways.

The Christianity of Principles, Keys and Formulas vs the Christianity of Jesus Christ

The diagram above is not what Christianity is actually about, yet so many treat it that way.

I’ve spent years trying to unlearn much of what I learned about Christianity in my earlier years, because much of what I learned was about principles and formulas. Let me use a quote to drive home my point:

The French Author, Jacques Ellul, once said this:

“There are no such things as ‘Christian principles.’ There is the Person of Christ, who is the principle of everything. If we wish to be faithful to Him, we cannot dream of reducing Christianity to a certain number of principles, the consequences of which can be logically deduced. This tendency to transform the work of the Living God into a philosophical doctrine is the constant temptation of theology, and their greatest disloyalty when they transform the action of the Spirit which brings forth fruit in themselves into an ethic, a new law, into ‘principles’ which only have to be ‘applied.'”

What’s he getting to? Well, let’s maybe use some modern experiences to get to the point. When was the last time you walked into a Christian bookstore? What did you notice the bestsellers were? I’ll give you a hint on some of the kind of titles you might have seen:

How to Pray for Results
Sowing and Reaping: Understanding Prosperity
Ten Spiritual Disciplines for Success and Happiness

While titles may not be so bluntly obvious, much of the content is around the kind of ideas I’m talking about above. Heck, my book ALIVE: How to Enjoy Living is titled in a similar way, but I hope that its content is a far cry from the kind of content I’m making fun of above — where Christianity is relegated to principles, ‘keys’, and formulas. Where all of these are also directed at ‘our’ success. As Ellul is getting at, this kind of Christianity has been separated from its core — the person and Being of Jesus Christ.

God is a Living god, not a bunch of principles or keys we just need to do to see results. Even if we believe this, we often don’t treat Him that way, expecting that if we pray correctly or tithe correctly or do whatever correctly then, and only then, we will see results. But even the desire to see results can really also show that our heart is not interested in Jesus himself, but instead in results.

I mean, what do I enjoy about my wife? I enjoy her – her presence. If my relationship with her was about results then it wouldn’t be much of a relationship.

Christianity is about relationship. In fact, it’s even deeper than relationship, it’s Jesus Christ himself. (That’s why I think it’s also about enjoying God.) Jesus is a living Being, a real person, who lives in and through me. In the end, Christianity is Christ. That’s probably the best way to put it.

Am I a Product of My Time? What Church History Does to You

So I just finished reading Bruce L. Shelley’s Church History in Plain Language and thoroughly enjoyed it.

This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to trace church history from the beginning until now, whereas previously I’d only look at certain periods separately.

Personally, I think church history should be something all Christians get round to looking at. Understanding our own background helps us understand our own context, and the context of others, and makes us look at the basics of our faith very differently.

How? As one looks at church history they may begin to realise how many Christians believed what they believed simply because of the time that they lived in. They were a product of the time. And in so many ways one has to realise that they are too. So much of what I claim as true is just the influence of my time. In years to come, people will look back at many of my beliefs and say, “What was he thinking?”

Is there anything we can rely on then? Or is all truth simply so subjective? I think Shelley ends off his book by getting to the real point of Christianity, the one thread that carries through all the ages, regardless of what people believe, and we can rely on again and again.

The thread is this: Not WHAT we believe, but WHO we believe? As Shelley says:

“Christians can hope because faith always reaches beyond earthly circumstances. Its confidence is in a person. And no other person in recorded history has influenced more people in as many conditions over so long a time as Jesus Christ. The shades and tones of his image seem to shift with the needs of men: the Jewish Messiah of the believing remnant, the Wisdom of the Greek apologist, the Cosmic King of the Imperial Church, the Heavenly Logos of the orthodox councils, the World Ruler of the papal courts, the monastic Model of apostolic poverty, the personal Savior of evangelical revivalists.

“Truly, he is a man for all time. In a day when many regard him as irrelevant, a relic of a quickly discarded past, church history provides a quiet testimony that Jesus Christ will not disappear from the scene. His title may change but his truth endures for all generations.”

What a great journey. While Shelley’s history covers the Western church, I think I’d like to pick up something next on the Eastern church. Should be fascinating.

PS: I think the period that fascinated me the most was the High Middle Ages, the Gothic era. Check out the two Gothic cathedrals below. Fascinating. The architecture itself shows you the prevalent thought of the day — that heaven and earth were intertwined in majestic and mysterious ways. Love it.

(Picture thanks to this guy)

(Picture thanks to Wizardmydude.wordpress.com)

Nothing Can Separate Us From God’s Love. Nothing.

I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Devil: You Can’t Be Serious

One of the things that I have struggled with in my own faith, and I know others struggle with in regards to my faith, is this thing of a being called the Devil, or Satan.

See what 1 John 3:8b says:
“The reason the Son of God (Jesus Christ) appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

It’s become helpful in understanding how the New Testament in particular deals with the devil. Firstly, the name “Satan” means “Accuser” — this is a first clue as to what “the devil” is about. He is “the accuser” who brings all sorts of accusations against us with regards to who we are, our identity, how guilty we are etc.

These ‘accusations’ don’t come from a little red man sitting on our shoulder, however, they come from the families, societies and systems of thought we find ourselves in. So “Satan” is not just a real being, but represents the accusations we find running through our lives and even in our own conscience.

And here’s how ‘the devil’ works, by implementing harmful systems and cycles and thinking patterns in our lives that cause us to think of ourselves in certain ways and act in certain ways.

I believe that “the demonic” is real because I’ve seen some crazy stuff happen. Guys doing crazy things that seem humanly impossible. I’ve seen stuff. I can’t deny there is something out there working against us because of what I’ve seen and experienced.

At the same time, I don’t believe there’s a devil sitting on our shoulder trying to get us to do naughty things or telling us how to think about ourselves. What ‘the devil’ and ‘the demonic’ have done is implement a wicked system in our world, through deceiving us in many ways, that runs its course unless God steps in to break it. This is what God did do in Jesus.

It’s helpful to understand how the New Testament talks about Jesus destroying the devil’s “works”. The book of Revelation shows how Jesus will eventually destroy the devil himself, but at the moment it’s his works that are destroyed and being destroyed.

Peter in Acts 10:38 says this:

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and … he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power (or oppressed by) of the devil, because God was with him.”

And finally, Ephesians 6:12 says that our battle is not against “flesh and blood” but against “the authorities, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

So, Jesus came to destroy his ‘works’ — the cycles and systems we see working in our own thinking, in families, and in societies. As Christians we implement his victory over the devil and his works into all these aspects of living.

From a scientific point of view, I’ve found it interesting how many sceptics are happy to accept that intelligent life could exist out on other planets but are not happy to accept that angels and demons exist. Angels and demons are simply an intelligent life, although they are not visible to our eye directly. So? Why should we assume all intelligent life has to function in the same material sphere as we do?

I’ll expound on this later this week. I’ll also talk about some things I believe Jesus came to break, such as sickness, poverty etc.

Raised with Christ – The Body of Messiah

(The Resurrection of Christ by Irina Kolbneva, see www.arthit.ru)

Eph 1: “…what is the immeasurable greatness of his power to us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ [Messiah] when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

(The word ‘Christ’ means ‘Messiah’, and I like the word ‘Messiah’ because it seems to carry more meaning to me than the Greek word ‘Christ’.)

The Christian idea that the church is the body of Messiah is a very mysterious and very interesting idea, one that encourages me greatly but also challenges me in terms of my work and purpose in my life.

The Scriptures are emphatic that the church is the actual, real, body of Messiah Jesus – in a spiritual way, of course, but a spiritually practical way.

As the body of Messiah we carry the same authority of Lord Messiah, who is Jesus. I’m speaking about it in this way because the word Christ is often used as a surname for Jesus rather than a title. Messiah means “anointed, chosen saviour”. So, in a very spiritual way the church is the anointed, chosen saviour’s body.

This means we carry the anointing (the call, commission and ability) of Messiah, which is an anointing to save, heal, bind up the brokenhearted, and set the captives free (Isaiah 61). It also means we are to carry the sufferings of Messiah, which was a suffering of persecution and the turmoil of wanting to see people saved (not sickness, I must add, but persecution).

It also means we have the authority of Messiah, authority over principalities and powers (Eph 6). These principalities and powers are demonic (evil) powers at work in the hearts and societies of men, which bring injustice, poverty, sickness and tyranny.

So we bring healing, salvation and all of that to not just the hearts of men but the societies of men.

We are to implement Messiah’s authority into society – which is bringing his kingdom into society. What does his Kingdom look like, though? Is it a tyrannical theocracy?

No, rather it is a kingdom of justice, peace, abundance (shalom in Hebrew), healing, reconciliation and salvation. This is what Messiah Jesus was anointed to do, this is what we’re to do.

I love this! It’s exciting and it reveals the purpose of Christianity. I don’t believe in Jesus just because it’s an insurance policy, but because I want the same anointing Jesus had to bring healing and salvation to this world – this comes both through the message of Jesus (that He alone saves) and the good works of His people (which includes forming systems of justice in place of systems of injustice).

So we have purpose, and it’s a grand and powerful vision indeed.

For those in the Sandton area, Shannon and I will be preaching about this on Sunday, which is Resurrection Sunday, at Church on the Square at 8 Stella Street, Sandton. Starts at 9:30am.

Why Freedom of Speech and Politics is Spiritual

In my #SpeakZA post from yesterday I mentioned that the topic of freedom of speech and press was, in my view, a ‘spiritual’ topic as much as any.

I thought I would make it clear why I believe that. Some people might find such a statement unusual, others will agree with me, so this is obviously for the former.

The idea of freedom of speech has, in its original form, to do with justice in this world — allowing people to air their opinions without the sword of the state coming down on them. Justice is, of course, a spiritual topic as much as a governmental or a political one, although ultimately it is a spiritual topic because government and politics are too.

Note what I am not saying. I am not saying it is a ‘religious’ topic. Religion and spirituality, although sometimes intertwined, are not really the same thing, at least not in the way I make my definitions.

Religion has more to do with doing things or acts that will somehow help someone to attain favour with God or attain salvation. I don’t believe that’s a healthy spirituality.

Tradition (worth a mention) is simply a way in which someone may live out their spirituality, so there is nothing wrong with tradition in my eyes, until tradition becomes a religion.

Spirituality is an all-encompassing term for living, in the way I like to use the term.

Let me put it another way. Many Christians prefer to live a faith and spirituality that’s about Jesus rather than the faith and spirituality of Jesus. The spirituality of Jesus is clear when one reads the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the Bible. Here are some pointers about Jesus’ spirituality:

1) He was compassionate to all.
2) He had a strong sense of justice mixed with mercy. (No justice system is truly just unless it understands mercy– but mercy cannot be mercy without a proper justice system, either.)
3) He healed all who came to him. Both physically and emotionally.
4) He was a Hebrew man, which means that he never separated spirituality from living. (This is part of my point. The separating of spirituality from living is a Greek tradition, not a Hebrew tradition.)
5) He worshipped the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh.
6) He called himself the Son of Yahweh.

There’s more too, of course. This is only a small list to get to the jist of my point. From this list we can see where politics and government fit in — our government ought to be compassionate, just and merciful. But these are issues that primarily have to do with the heart of man. Hence, a spiritual issue as much as any.

I mention Yahweh to show that if I follow the spirituality of Jesus I think it is necessary to also worship Yahweh. This, and the fact that Jesus called himself Yahweh’s Son, shows that spirituality is ultimately a relational thing — a relationship with God and our fellow man. I believe Jesus is the one who can bridge the gap in our relationship between both God and man, if we believe in him.