Pastor Judy's Blog

Jesus Is Lord

Two weeks ago I spent the weekend speaking at a high school retreat playing games and singing songs, giving hugs and just hanging out. Like most of the retreats I have spoken at in the past 14 years the retreat included four sessions during the weekend with the Saturday night session reserved for the altar call. I am familiar with the pattern because for the past 14 years the Saturday night session has been the place where I have preached the good news that Jesus wants to rescue people from power of sin, from the threat of death and from the harassment of the devil.

At the Saturday night sessions I have preached sermons that are summed up by the statements that Jesus seeks after you, loves you no matter what, invites you to come as you are and welcomes sinners home. And for the past 14 years at almost all of these Saturday sessions I have made clear that most of all what Jesus wants is to rescue and save you. I have offered this salvation message faithfully and at almost all of the retreat weekends at which I have spoken people have responded to this good news. After all, who doesn’t want to be saved, to be rescued and to be pulled out a pit and welcomed home?

Because I have grown up and been raised up in an evangelical tradition this has always felt good and normal to me; good to have people come forward and receive Jesus as their Savior and normal to spread the good news of eternal life. But in recent years I have wondered about my ministry? Is it as effective as Jesus wants it to be? Am I seeing the fruit that the Bible says will grow? When people come into a saving relationship with Jesus are their lives really changed? Do they truly do an about face and turn in another direction? Do they become disciples? Do they leave the retreat and begin to follow Jesus or do they just leave thankful that he has saved them and go back to life as normal until the next altar call?

So last week I switched it up a bit. Instead of a message about a Savior I spoke boldly about a Lord and Master who wants our entire lives in his hands. I told them that I didn’t want to invite people to be “believers” anymore because I had read in the Bible that even the demons believe in Jesus. Instead, I was looking for some new servants for my Lord. I told these high school students that God had plans for them, big plans, and if they wanted to experience his plans it would be good for them to make him the boss of their life so that he could direct them, and point them, and instruct them about how to go about fulfilling those plans. And you know what happened…. about 120 out of the 140 students at the retreat responded to this call.

I went to bed that night amazed that God would move in such a mighty way when something wasn’t sugar coated or soft sold or warm and fuzzy. But I woke up the next morning freaking out. My evangelical self was scolding me from the moment I woke up. “Now what if they believe that they are saved by works and not by grace?” “What if you screwed them up for life?” “Maybe you turned some people off by telling them about Jesus as Lord and not leading them to Jesus as Savior.” I was completely freaked out that I might have messed them up and so I went to God all flustered and looking for counsel.

Let me share with you what I felt God communicated to me when I went to him. “Calm down Judy. Take a deep breath. Remember what husband Jeff asks you after you preach when you’re freaking out? Did you tell the truth? Did you use the Bible? Did you tell them about Jesus? And if you answer yes to all three questions what does husband Jeff say? He says, “it will be fine.”

But then this is what I felt God went on to say, “I am not freaked out by what you said. I am their Savior, but if the only relationship they have with me is as their Savior, the moment they are not saved from their present circumstances, the moment they are not rescued from their current crisis they will begin to believe one of three things, that they are not good enough to be loved or that I’m not loving enough to be good, or that I’m simply not God. If all they know of me is that I am their Savior, when they are not saved from their circumstances the circumstances will rob them of a continued relationship with me.”

At that moment I began to realize that the reason husband Jeff and I have made it through the last eight years and a total of 11 miscarriages, made it through with our relationship with God intact, is because even though he didn’t save us or rescue us from the losses we have been acutely aware that he led us through them as our Lord.

As we continue to pursue our good God during this Lenten season I invite you to raise the bar a bit for yourself and to see if letting God be Lord of your life and not just Savior of your soul doesn’t provide a much firmer foundation for this journey through the circumstances of your life.

No TOV to Waste

In the beginning God created the world and everything in it and he called it TOV, which we translate as good, but which really means much more than just good. TOV means that things are beautiful and working the way they are supposed to work. TOV is creation running on all cylinders, beautiful by design and with not a piece of it going to waste. In the beginning God created everything good and very good. God created everything TOV and it was his desire that everything would remain TOV.

Although everything in the good garden of God was TOV there was something in the garden that God said was not designed for humans and that they should not eat it because if they did things would become unTOV. But in Genesis 3 the Bible says that sin snuck in like a snake and said to the humans,

“I have something TOV for you. It’s true that God told you it was off limits, but that’s just because God was keeping something from you and holding out on you.”

And from that moment the snake made that one thing that was off-limits shinier and seemingly more desirable than all the abundance of TOV that surrounded the humans. And it says, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good (TOV) for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.” (Gen 3:6)

Don’t you just hate it when that snake sneaks up on you and tricks you by telling you something is TOV for you when that something is not meant for you and isn’t it crazy how that one thing that God says is not for you seems so much more desirable than all the good gifts around you.

Sin snuck in like a snake and wrapped itself in TOV and pulled the life right out from under the humans, robbing them of God’s good gift of TOV and as a result the original plans that God had for Adam and Eve got wasted. But the breaking of TOV in the garden was not the end of the story but only the beginning. And since that very moment when the man and the woman by their own choice, picked a path that was unTOV for them God has been on a mission to repair what got broken, heal what got hurt and find what got lost. God has been on a mission to counteract the lie of the enemy that said from the beginning that God is keeping what was good from us and making boundaries so that we would miss out.

During this Lenten season we invite you to let go of the unTOV things of your life and return to a life that is good, beautiful and working by God’s design.

A Life Not Wasted

Several years ago one of our students found her way to my office. She was a bright young woman, gifted in communication, passionate about justice and wondering if her prolific social life was serving her well. Having had countless conversations along these lines I was fairly confident that a comment about personal piety and the perils of drinking would probably put an end to the discussion I said simply, “I’ve always thought that God is much angrier with the hangover than the party.” She responded with great wit by saying with a smile, “I didn’t know God and I were thinking similar thoughts,” and our discussion continued.

I told her that a hangover is a waste of life. Minutes and moments and often hours of time that God would want to use to bring light into this world wasted lying on a couch wanting the light to go away. And beyond that I pushed her to consider if perhaps a hangover is even an act of injustice. When dying people around the world would give anything to live until the light of morning in order to have one more minute with their child, when martyrs are praying for one more moment to live their mission and when hostages are hoping for one more hour to fulfill their hopes and dreams isn’t a hangover like full people taking food from the hungry?

Because she was still listening I continued by saying, “As I have walked with Jesus I have become utterly convinced that God wants to use the lives of his people and I am more confident than ever that anything that wastes or squanders the gifts he has given for his mission is an act of injustice because it robs from the world what is necessary for it to be whole, well and complete.” And the young woman said to me, “Well that makes my decision pretty simple.” And she gave up wasting her life drinking and she went into ministry. This is a true story and I wish I could tell you it works that way every time.

Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” The word debauchery literally means ‘an abandoned life’ or ‘wasteful living’ and a similar phrase is used of the prodigal son in Luke 15:13 when after the son is given an inheritance from his father he goes and scatters it to the wind, wasting his resources on temporary pleasures and wasting the mission of his life in a pen full of pigs.

God has a mission for our lives and God is not interested in his resources being wasted or abandoned or scattered to the wind. And so he says to us, “Don’t be wasted.” Don’t let your life be wasted on things that are temporary. Don’t abandon your mission while you pursue desires that will never satisfy. Don’t let the gifts that God has given you be scattered to the wind when they could be used to help make the world more whole, more well and more complete.

Next week marks the beginning of Lent, a season in the life of the church where the people of God intentionally fast from temporary pleasures in order to regain their focus on what pleases God. This year during the season of Lent we are piloting a campaign on campus called, “Don’t be wasted” and during the seven weeks that begin at Ash Wednesday (Feb 22) and end with Easter (April 8) we are inviting the campus to use their lives with intention so that none of God’s good gifts will be wasted.

University Ministries would like to invite all who would like to participate to join us in seven weeks of three commitments. 1. We are calling our campus to abstain from drinking, to not be wasted at all. 2. We are inviting the campus to be filled with the Word of God by committing to the memorization of seven scripture passages. 3. We are encouraging every North Parker to reclaim one additional area of their life for God’s mission. Perhaps you have wasted God’s mission by participating in gossip or bitterness or jealousy. Perhaps you have wasted God’s mission by racism, sexism or pessimism. Perhaps you have wasted God’s mission by wasteful spending, mindless thinking, or useless web surfing. During this season we challenge you to consider where you are most wasteful and we invite you to abstain from that behavior so that God’s mission in you would not be wasted.

The Kingdom Color

There is a large turquoise house on the main street of a town I often travel through. It's a house that turns my head every time. It turns my head not only because it's turquoise, although it is the only turquoise house among the others which seem to have experienced some sort of earth-tone revival, but primarily because it has remained only partially painted for the past several years. Each side of the house boasts some of the turquoise paint as if the painter wanted to test the shade at every angle but that is where thorough stopped for this particular painter because it appears as though they put down their brush mid paint stroke on most of the portions. Still it is possible that the partially finished paint job might not have given passersby much pause if the paint that was prior didn't provide such a powerful contrasting color.

Last weekend as I traveled past what is perhaps the most obvious partially finished project in town it dawned on me that the house provides a perfect picture of a prohibition found in Luke 14:25-30, which begins by setting the bar pretty high.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

These verses have always seemed a bit strong to me and I have often found it difficult to contend with the "if" and "cannot". Would Jesus really say to a curious crowd that unless everything else paled in comparison to following him, that following him was not for them? Did Jesus really mean to imply that someone who was unwilling to die on a cross was not fit for the cause? Certainly Jesus didn't mean to imply that all discipleship requires the embracing of "ifs" and "cannots". And then last weekend I turned my head to take in the turquoise tragedy and the verses that follow the "ifs" and "cannots" came quickly to mind.

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, 'This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.

It became clear to me in that moment that Jesus' prohibition against following without finishing makes perfect sense if you consider the fact that Jesus is leaving his Kingdom project in the hands of his people. Jesus is making it clear that he has no interest in the Kingdom project becoming an eyesore on Main Street, which is exactly what will happen if his disciples fail to consider the "ifs" and "cannots" of the Kingdom project up front.

Jesus was looking for people whose would let their lives be so radically changed by the good news of the Kingdom of God that those who passed by would easily see the contrast between the old and the new. And Jesus was calling people who wanted the new Kingdom color to cover every corner of their lives, people who wouldn't put down the brush until every bit of trim was painted including the parts that were imperceptible to passersby. Jesus was well aware that people were going to poke fun at the Kingdom project even when it was fully painted, for turquoise houses in an earth-tone world will always take a few hits, but Jesus was not interested in increasing the reasons for ridicule and so he speaks clearly to those who wish to follow him the words, "if" and "cannot".

This week I invite you to reflect on the fact that followers of Jesus are meant to turn heads and I invite you to consider whether or not you are willing to be the turquoise house on an earth-tone street. Before you begin it is important that you take into account that undergoing visible change in front of those who pass by always opens you up to other people's comments and a critique of your Kingdom color. And if you have already begun the painting process I invite you to ponder if there portions of your project that contain a only a few strokes of contrasting Kingdom color and to consider the call to a more thorough treatment so that God's kingdom project in you will not be ridiculed?

Commited to Correction

I've had a job of some sort since I was sixteen years old. I worked in a food court and at a record store (which definitely dates me), a hotel and a hospital, a law firm and a landscaping company. I worked in a jewelry store at a mall, in admissions at a college, and on some scaffolding during a summer job painting houses, but in 1993 I got a real job.

It was my first job out of college. I had graduated with a sociology degree, which I soon learned qualified me to do very little without an accompanying graduate degree. I applied for dozens of jobs, working and reworking my resume to try and make it appears as though there was a theme in my previous employment. However, placing "laying new sod" and "changing bed pans" under "having a vision for change" did little to inspire potential employers.

I had an inkling that I wanted to work in a place where my work made a difference and although I had no experience in the area of education or working with youth I applied to countless jobs that were posted as looking for "counselors", or "case workers" for at-risk youth. Eventually a small day treatment agency on the near south side of Chicago, which served students who had been expelled from the public school system because of their assaultive behavior, called me in to interview for the position of case worker.

I knew from the moment I applied that I was unqualified for the position and as I walked through the school door in my new blue interview suit I knew I had no business presenting myself as equipped to carry a caseload of emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disordered adolescents. After a very short interview I was offered a position, not as a caseworker but as an educator. With absolutely no experience working with youth and not a single education course under by belt, the director of this program asked me to take over a junior high classroom which had already seen three teachers come and go in the previous six months.

There wasn't enough money in the budget for books. I purchased pencils and paper with my meager paycheck and I soon realized that the reason this agency didn't care about my qualifications was that they had no real expectation that these students would ever be students at all. These young people didn't fit in the system. They were seen as too hostile to be trusted in the hallways of a junior high school, they were too behind and beleaguered to hold their own with their peers in a classroom and they had been passed around and passed by for long enough that there was no longer any pressure to pick them up and point them in the right direction because the system felt it was pointless.

These students were at this "school" and I was their "teacher" because nobody expected them to learn anything at all. Although I was elated to have a real job I knew from the beginning it was an act of injustice to hire me. These kids deserved someone qualified and these kids needed someone certified but instead they got me, someone who could make quick work of changing a bed pan and who could write a great blue book essay on why the underclass has become a permanent part of our economy. These kids needed more and deserved more than my moment of altruism and my commitment to optimism ...they needed a sustained commitment to justice.

Last week I urged you to cultivate the heart of God within you; to practice being present with other people's pain and to let their pain move you so deeply in your gut that you cannot help but move that compassionate feeling into action. I urged you to become like the Samaritan who was called good, who was willing to cross the road to help a stranger who had been brutalized and left in the ditch. (Luke 10:25-37).

This week I want to push you further and call you to look deeper into the issues that may have lead up to this man lying in the ditch. What made this man vulnerable to attack? Why did someone bully and brutalize him? What stereotypes existed that made it so easy for the first two people to walk past this man's pain? What excuses for inaction were underlying, what systems of protection were missing, what avenues for advocacy were lacking? And would you consider moving past compassion and beyond a one-time action, past altruism and optimism and into a life committed to correcting the systems that are failing.