He Knows Your Name

When I was in my last semester of college at Pitt-Greensburg in the spring of 1997, I had the Sweetest.  Schedule.  Ever.  

All I had left for that lest semester were 12 credits of really easy classes (for me, anyway) – 2 mid level psychology classes, an entry level political science class and one mid level communications class.  It was a much welcome break after 3 ½ years of biology, chemistry, calculus and physics. 

What made it even sweeter was how my classes were scheduled.  During the day on Tuesday and Thursday I had 3 classes, with about 2 hours between each one, and a 3 hour Thursday evening class.  And my favorite fishing lake at the time was just 10 minutes from campus!  I fished pretty much every day that semester. 

But one day, after my fishing adventures, I was in a hurry.  I had 3 trout on a stringer that I wrapped in a couple of plastic bags and threw in the trunk of my ’87 Chevy Caprice.  I forgot about them.  For about 4 days.  And it got pretty warm throughout the course of those 4 days. 

One morning I went to get in my car to drive to class (I lived at home and commuted about 15 miles to school).  It was all I could do not to projectile vomit when the stench of rotting fish hit me.  I knew right away what the stench was from and it was no fun cleaning up that mess and trying to get the funky stench out of my car.

Things that have been dead for any length of time stink.  Bad.  And they repulse most people. 

But not Jesus. 

In the story of Lazarus in John 11 (and again let me encourage you to grab a copy of the Lazarus Life by Stephen Smith – it’s shaped and influenced many of the thoughts I’m sharing this week.) by the time Jesus finally shows up, Lazarus’ sister Martha responds to Jesus command to roll away the stone at the entrance of the tomb by saying in v.39, “But Lord . . . by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there for four days.” 

The stench of death didn’t repulse Jesus.  His love for Lazarus, and for the friends and family of Lazarus, was unstoppable. 

As we internalize the voices in our lives – the ones that say, “You’re worthless; you’re hopeless; you’re ugly; you’re unlovable; you’re not good enough” – and begin to believe what Henri Nouwen (in Life of the Beloved) calls the lie of self-rejection, we die on the inside.  The carnage in our hearts and minds is huge.  The stench can be terrible.  Like Martha, we begin to believe that there’s nothing that Jesus could do in our situation.  Even if he could, why would he want to?  If our mess is so repulsive to ourselves and others, surely it’s repulsive to Jesus right?

I hope you can find the courage and faith to believe that it’s not.  The same love that drove him to the tomb of Lazarus is the same love that drove him to the cross.  The love that drove him to the cross is the same love that pursues us and calls us out of the tomb and to new life. 

“. . . Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’” (v.43)

In The Lazarus Life, Stephen Smith captures this beautifully in helping us understand that in the story of Lazarus, the Voice of Love gets personal.  Just as Jesus called Lazarus by name from death to new life, so he calls us by name. 

He calls us out of the lies of self-rejection and into the truth of his love for us.  The truth that tells us we can be forgiven for our past sins.  The truth that tells us we are precious and valuable and have significance to him.  The truth that tells us that our hearts and minds can be healed from the carnage of these lies.  The truth that tells us we can be made new and made whole. 

Psalm 139:13-17 is a beautiful reminder that God knows everything about our lives and still chooses to love us.   Not only has God made us, he made us with special care and precision.  Wonderfully.  Marvelously.  Breathtakingly.  Beautiful, inside and out.  God knows all of the things that will happen in our lives – the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly – and his thoughts of love about us are rare, beautiful and incomprehensible. 

You’ll remember from yesterday’s post that Jesus mourns and cries over our hurt and pain.  It’s no wonder – He has made us for so much more!  He’s made us for love and He’s made us for significance. 

Take some time today to ponder how Jesus is calling your name, and calling you to new life.  He’s not calling with condemnation and judgment.  He’s calling you and I by name, in love and with the desire to give us new life.  

The Voice of Love Part 3 - Jesus Cries for Us

In January of 2006, I got my first hunting dog.  Hank came to me for free through a friend of my sister-in-law.  I was excited about my first hunting dog, but admittedly I wasn’t real excited at first that I ended up with Hank.  When we went to look at the litter of 10 lab puppies, my daughter Anna who was just shy of 5 at the time, picked Hank because he had a white chevron on his chest – the only one of the litter with such a mark.  He was the runt of the litter.  Friendly enough, but certainly not outgoing or gregarious.  Despite reservations about what kind of hunting dog he would become, I caved and we chose him.

I got my hands on a couple of books about training hunting dogs, and began to work with Hank when he was just 8 weeks old.  One of my first and greatest successes with Hank was teaching him to fetch the newspaper at the end of our driveway every morning.   I wasn’t a very good duck hunter the first couple of years I took Hank out, so it wasn’t until he was almost 2 years old that he actually retrieved his first game.  Hank became a great waterfowl retriever and wasn’t too shabby at flushing and retrieving pheasants either. 

Hank was more than a dog to me.  He was a hunting companion and even became a friend.  I got so much enjoyment and pleasure in hunting with Hank and watching him work, that deer hunting – something that had been one of my top passions – took a back seat to duck hunting.  If I couldn’t hunt with Hank, hunting just wasn’t as much fun.

In the fall of 2010, Hank got Lyme Disease.  Deer ticks are rampant in our part of Pennsylvania, and despite consistent use of topical anti-tick treatments, he got it.  We missed most of duck season that year as he recovered from the lameness and lethargy associated with Lyme Disease in dogs.  We had a couple of more great seasons of hunting together and then last summer, his Lyme Disease flared with a vengeance. 

By the time his symptoms appeared, it was too late to do anything for him, although the vet had given him IV antibiotics and fluids for a day.  The next day, the vet called with the results of his blood work – Hank was in total kidney failure. We could change his diet to eliminate protein and make things easier on his kidneys.  There were medicines and other things we could use to prolong his life by weeks, maybe a few months.  But Hank was born to hunt and he was miserable.  As Hank laid on our living room floor in obvious misery, I made arrangements with the vet to bring him in later that day to be put down.  It was June 28^th, and Hank was only 7 years old.

I have never cried harder or longer or from the depths of my guts than I did on that day.

Those of you that have, or have had, pets that you’ve loved know the feeling.  Until I had Hank and spent so much quality time with him, I would have LOL’d at what I just wrote above.  But all of us will, if we haven’t already, experience the sting of death and taste its bitterness when it comes to somebody, or something, that we love. 

Think for a moment if you will, about the tears of sadness, hurt and pain that you’ve shed throughout your life for whatever reason.  What we’ll find more often than not is that our tears flow because of love. 

In Monday’s blog, I mentioned a great resource – The LazarusLife by Stephen Smith – that really helps us to understand the process of spiritual transformation.  In the story of Lazarus in John 11 – and really it’s the story of our own hearts as well – Stephen Smith dedicates an entire chapter to what it means to hear the Voice of Love calling our name.  In the 3 or 4 times that I’ve read this book, I’ve really come to love and appreciate how we see and hear the love of Jesus for us and our own hearts in this story.  One of the ways that we see and hear the love of Jesus for us is in his emotional reaction when he arrives on the scene and sees the hurt and pain in the family and friends of Lazarus as they mourn the death of the one they love. 

The story of Lazarus shows us that Jesus is not indifferent to the pain and brokenness in our own hearts and lives. 

It’s hitting a little closer to home today for many of us that live in the Pittsburgh area.  News broke early this morning of a student at a local high school that went on a rampage with a knife and starting stabbing his classmates, teachers and administrators.  As I write this shortly before noon, we can be thankful that so far there have been no fatalities in this attack.  A few serious injuries have been reported, but so far all of the victims appear to be in stable to fair condition.  When things like this happen, the first thought for many of us is, “Where is God in all of this?”  We can debate and wonder about the “why” but Scripture and the story of Lazarus remind us that God is in the midst of our pain and suffering and that he is moved by it.

In v.33, John tells us that when Jesus saw the anguish of those who gathered to mourn Lazarus’ death, “. . . he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.”   V.35, the shortest verse in the Bible, simply says, “Jesus wept.” 

Those who were gathered saw the love of Jesus in his reaction.  V. 36 tells us, “Then the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’”  But still others said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying.” 

Two different groups of people experiencing the same thing and seeing the same response from Jesus came away with two totally different understandings of Jesus.  One group saw the depth of his love for Lazarus.  The other group said, essentially, “He doesn’t care.”  This is the choice we are faced with as we struggle against the lie of self-rejection as we try to hear Jesus’ Voice of Love.  Either he loves us fiercely, like he loved Lazarus and Lazarus’ family and friends or he doesn’t care. 

We’ll get to the rest of the story of Lazarus tomorrow, when the Voice of Love called Lazarus out of the tomb.  But today, let me challenge you to settle here on the reaction of Jesus.  Do you think He sees your hurt and pain and is moved by it?  Even moved to the point of grief and tears.  Or do you think He doesn’t care?

I believe that Jesus’ tears and anguish weren’t for himself.  I believe that they were for his friends that hurt.  I believe that Jesus was deep moved and troubled and that he wept because of His great love for his friends.  And I believe that he is still as moved today by our hurt and pain as He was on this day. As we continue to “Fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith . . .” fix your eyes on the cross.  The story of Lazarus points to it and his great love for us.  The cross reminds us that Jesus wasn’t just moved by sin, death and brokenness, but it reminds us that he did something about it.  

Learning to Hear the Voice of Love - God Chooses Us

All of us know what it’s like to want to be chosen for something. 

Maybe you dreaded recess at school, knowing that you’d be among the last to be picked for a kickball or dodgeball team.  Many of us remember the feeling of trying out for a team in Jr. High or High School, and waiting nervously until the coach posted the roster on his or her office door after the last tryout.  Would we make the team, or would be be cut?  Maybe you were a musician, singer or actor and you remember the feeling of trying out for a chair in the band, or a role in the school play or musical, and waiting nervously for the director to post the results. 

As we’ve grown into adulthood, the desire to know that we’re chosen for something remains.   We know well the pain of rejection in dating relationships or marriage when somebody decides that they no longer love us and no longer choose us.  We work hard and do our jobs, hoping to be chosen for a promotion, raise or recognition from the boss, only to be crushed when it doesn’t come.  Sometimes as our kids get older and become teenagers on the verge of adulthood, the choices they make and the words they speak may make it feel as if they reject our love. 

When we’re rejected or passed over or discarded, it hurts.  When those things happen, we internalize the rejection and believe that we’re unwanted and unloved and insignificant.  This becomes a huge part of the lie of self-rejection in our hearts and minds.  We may know in our heads, in an academic sense that God loves us.  But we start to believe that He would never choose us, because nobody else chooses us. 

Ephesians 1:4-6 tells us differently though:  “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

This is huge, wonderful, beautiful news for us when we struggle to believe that God wants something to do with us, and that He loves us and thinks we’re significant. 

I love the way The Message paraphrases v.4: “Long before He laid the earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by his love.” 

Let that blow your mind for a minute.

Whether we believe that the earth is 10,000 years old or even millions or billions of years old, God had us in mind before He made any of it.  Not only did He have us in mind, He chose us for a relationship with Him through his Son, Jesus Christ. 

Do you hear God’s love for us in that one statement?  We.  Are.  Chosen. 

Our lives are not an afterthought.  They are not a mistake.  They are not insignificant.  They have been planned by God for all of eternity and He chooses us.  God doesn’t choose us because we’re good at sports.  God doesn’t choose us because we can sing really well or play an instrument.  God doesn’t choose us because we know how to climb the corporate ladder.  God doesn’t choose us because we have everything all figured out and can handle things on our own.  God chooses us because He loves us no matter what. 

V. 5 tells us that God chooses to love us and to bring us into a life-giving relationship with Him through Jesus because it brings Him pleasure!  Rick Warren, in his bookThe Purpose Driven Life, puts it so simply and beautifully when he says that we bring a smile to God’s face when we believe His promises about us and learn to trust in his goodness and love through a life of whole-hearted worship and obedience to Him.  Not only does God choose us for a relationship with him, He takes pleasure in loving us and being in relationship with us. 

V.6 tells us that all of this comes through Jesus.  Because of Jesus, our lives can be a celebration of God’s goodness, even as we struggle to overcome the voices in our heads that cause us to reject ourselves.  As we learn to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), we are reminded that God chooses us.  As the author of our faith, all of these good things begin with him and his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.  As the perfecter of our faith, all of these good things continue in our lives when we see his love for us and hear the Voice of Love calling us out of darkness and into new life. 

Learning to Hear the Voice of Love - Part 1

I think yesterday was the first time I've ever assigned homework during a sermon!  

If you were at ALIVE! Community Church yesterday (April 6th) you'll remember that we landed on the story of the blind man crying out for mercy to Jesus from Luke 18:35-43.  We began to talk about Giving Up the Voices in our Heads and Learning to Hear the Voice of Love.  Hearing the Voice of Love is an incredible spiritual principle I learned from a trusted mentor, Stephen Smith, in his book The Lazarus Life.  The Lazarus Life is a wonderful resource for understanding the incredible transforming power of Jesus.  

We hit on a couple of really important things about this story.  

#1 - Like the blind man, who was reduced to begging day after day after day, all of us are beggars in some form or fashion, although we may not realize it.  Our begging comes down to this: we want to be loved and we want to know that we're significant.

#2 - When the blind man cried out to Jesus, he was crying out in raw faith.  He hadn't seen the miracles that Jesus had performed.  We don't know exactly what he knew about Jesus - perhaps he had heard him teaching, or perhaps he had heard second hand accounts of the miracles that Jesus had performed.  But his faith was in Jesus, Son of David.  He knew in his heart that Jesus was the promised Messiah.  The Greek word for "cried out" is krazo which is a little more than just shouting.  Krazo is the word used to describe the intensely loud and hyper cries of demons that have been cast out of people by Jesus.  The blind man probably sounded like a lunatic to those around him.  

He didn't cry out for his sight.  He cried out for mercy.  His faith was in the ability of Jesus to love him, change him and give his life meaning and significance.  

#3 - Some of the people leading the way for Jesus rebuked him.  This was more than just a "Shut up and be quiet."  Jesus rebuked demons.  Jesus rebuked illness.  Jesus rebuked death.  The people that rebuked the man were essentially saying, "Be gone.  You're worthless.  You're nothing.  Depart from this place and never come back. Jesus doesn't care about you."

#4 - Many of us hear these same kinds of voices in our own lives.  I shared yesterday how some of the most hurtful and cruel words I've ever heard - words that crushed my spirit - came from my basketball coach when I was a sophomore in high school.  We hear words of rebuke as children from our parents, teachers and maybe coaches or instructors.  As adults, we may hear words of rebuke from our bosses, co-workers or even our spouses.  Some of us have been incredibly hurt by voices in The Church, presuming to speak for Jesus just as those leading the way in this story.  We have been rebuked and told that our sin is too great, we're too far gone and that there's no way that Jesus could ever love us or change us.  

But these are lies.  We are not worthless.  We are not ugly.  We are not beyond rescue.  We are not stupid.  Somebody DOES love us.  Somebody DOES think that we're significant.

#5 - Over the years, we begin to believe these lies about ourselves and roll them into one big lie - the lie of self-rejection.  The lie of self-rejection happens when we internalize and believe these lies and begin to think and believe that we are worthless, ugly, beyond rescue, stupid, unloved and unlovely, and insignificant.  The lie of self rejection - as Henri Nouwen said in his wonderful book Life of the Beloved - is one of, if not THE, biggest obstacle to spiritual growth.  When we believe the lie of self-rejection, we begin to believe that nobody, even Jesus, could really love us or find us significant if they really knew who we were.  

#6 - We have a choice.  We can believe the lies, or we can believe the truth about who we really are to God.  We can believe that we're unlovable and insignificant, or we can believe that we are deeply loved by God and very significant to him.  

It was such a struggle to end here yesterday in my message, but we did.  And this is where our homework comes in.  I encouraged you to do two things this week:

First, explore the lie of self-rejection in your own life.  Identify 3 lies that you've believed about yourself that others have told you.  3 lies that cause you to experience feelings of worthlessness, ugliness, hopelessness, being unloved and insignificant.  

Secondly, explore this week what Jesus says about you.  Begin to learn to find your identity in Him as you hear his voice of love.  

Remember, Isaiah 53:3 tells us that he experienced many of the same things we do: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."  Jesus is not indifferent to our pain and suffering that comes from the lies we are told.

But as we put into practice the words of Hebrews 12:2, we begin to hear his Voice of Love calling us to new life.  The Voice that invites us to be loved and to know that we are significant.  "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

I think that one of the greatest places to start is by settling on one of the passages of Scriptures that's very familiar to many of us: John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Think about the reality of God's love for us in that one, single verse.  The God of all creation - The One who holds the universe in His hands, The One who made us in his image - loves US!  His love for us is not limited to a feeling or an emotion, but it's a love that's expressed in sacrifice by giving his one and only son.  The sacrifice of God's Son on the cross opens the possibility of forgiveness, healing, transformation and eternal life to us when we believe in Him.  

In Jesus, God screams to us, "You're loved!  You're significant!"  

Let's go a little further.  V.17 tells us: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

The lie of self-rejection is a lie of condemnation.  All of those voices that tell us we're worthless and unlovable are explicitly in rejection of the truth of God.  God's desire is not to condemn, but to save.  God's desire is not to exile, but to reconcile.  God's desire is not to isolate, but to redeem and to bring us into a deep relationship of love and significance with Him, through Jesus Christ.