God and Afghanistan …

The news coming out of Afghanistan is not good.  The pictures of people hanging on to American transport planes are heartbreaking.  The enemy the United States has fought for twenty years has taken over the country. 

The politicians, of course, are blaming each other for the collapse of the Afghanistan government.  Media outlets are flooded with “We told you so…” and “If you had only asked us, we could have told you a better way.”  Most of us are not sure what to think.  Being a preacher, however, I could not help but wonder what God thinks. 

The church I serve is in a military town.  I know people who have gone to Afghanistan and pounded the ground, been under fire, and had to return fire in the heat of battle.  Friends have strafed Afghan positions and dropped bombs on the Taliban.  Just this week, I heard a story about someone who was in an area thought to be safe. A surprise missile attack one day crippled her friend for life. 

I think if I had served in Afghanistan, I would be asking, “What was it all about?  Why were we there?  What did we really accomplish?”  There really are no answers to those questions.   Sometimes you go and do your duty, but you never know the long-term results of what you did.  To everyone who served, I think God would say, “I know you do not understand the ‘why.’ I know right now it seems pointless.  But I am the God of the past, present, and future.  I know how this will turn out.  Tell me your pain.”  The biblical word for telling God your pain is ‘lament.’  Your pain and your questions do not have to make sense.  You simply need to tell God your pain.   Ask your questions.  He cares, even when you do not understand your own pain.  For all those who served in Afghanistan and feel the pain of events there, lament.  Tell God your pain. 

God, I think, must also sigh because what is happening in Afghanistan is one more example that all belief systems are not the same.  I imagine God gets tired of people generalizing about him.  The truth is all belief systems are not the same.  What the Taliban believe about God is not the same as what Jesus followers believe about God.  Just to cite a common example, in the West, women are valued.  Most Westerners do not stop and ask, “Where did that belief come from?”  It comes from Jesus followers, who boldly declared that in Christ, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are one in Christ Jesus.”  While the Taliban say they will not persecute women, their past performance indicates women will be relegated to second or third-class status.  This will be done in the name of God.  When Joshua challenged the people of God to choose who they would serve, he understood not all gods were the same.  We’ve forgotten that.  I think God wishes we would remember. 

In the same vein, God must be frustrated by the abandonment of absolute truth.  From what I understand, in Afghan culture, there is no shame in changing sides, lying, going back on agreements, saying one thing, and then doing another.  The scary thing in Western culture is these same ideas are taking hold.  This is not because people are influenced by Muslim theology but because people no longer believe in absolute truth.  Instead, truth is whatever you want it to be.  God must want to scream every time he hears someone say, “This is my truth.”  If Jesus is correct (and I believe he is), he is the truth.  Since he is the truth, he decides what is true and has the right to hold people (and nations!) accountable for the truth.  It is hard to have a nation if people do not hold to the idea of truth and honesty.  I think the Taliban will discover you cannot govern until people agree on the truth.

I know God is concerned about his people.  There are Jesus followers in Afghanistan, but not many.  I cannot imagine the courage it must take to follow Jesus in a place where your family will reject you and threaten to kill you.  Not every believer can get on an airplane and flee the country.  To be left in Afghanistan and still follow Jesus requires great faith and devotion to Jesus.  As an American, I am humbled by those who will suffer severe persecution because they believe and follow.  God will move to protect his work, but some will still suffer.  One of the overlooked meanings of eternal life is God will give special honor to those who were persecuted for their faith.   

I am certain of this: God has not panicked.  He is not surprised.  He knew this was coming.  And he is at work.  He loves all the people in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.  He wants good for them.  He is at work to bring all the good, all the love, all the grace they are willing to receive.  Just like us, the question is, “How much of God’s goodness, love, and grace do I – we – they - want?”   

My answer: “All He will send.”  What is your answer? 

Jesus and the Mobs…

Jesus had to deal with mobs of people frequently. 

When Jesus went back to his hometown, everybody crowded into the synagogue to hear him.  They had heard about his healing and teaching in Capernaum and wanted him to do something spectacular in their town.  But Jesus was more in a preaching mood that day and reminded them that God did not do miracles on demand to satisfy a crowd.  Then he got radical and reminded them God sometimes favored foreigners over his own people.  The crowd turned into a murderous mob in a hurry.  They drove him out of town, took him to a cliff and meant to throw him over it.  Luke cryptically tells us, “But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”  How did he do that?  He would not let the mob sin by murdering him. 

When Jesus cleared out the Temple of moneychangers and livestock salesman, people admired his boldness.  They saw his miracles.  The crowd kept coming back for more.  But Jesus did not trust the crowds.  He knew what was in human beings: a sinful selfishness that demands; a self-righteousness that refuses to see truth; and a resistance to submission to the will of God.  He knew every crowd is just a few steps from a mob. 

Once when Jesus was teaching a large crowd (5,000 men plus women and children), it grew late and stomachs were rumbling.  He told the disciples to plan a meal, and they told him they only had five loaves and two fish.  Jesus miraculously stretched that to feed everyone present and there were leftovers a plenty.  But the crowd turned into a mob.  They decided to make him King, whether he wanted to be a King or not.  It’s easy to see why they wanted him to be their King: food they didn’t have to work for and miracles for all.  Jesus escaped the mob and went to the mountains to pray.  Prayer was more important than the mob agenda. 

As Jesus’ popularity grew, mobs became a way of life.  A mob kept Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus, so he climbed a sycamore tree.  Jesus saw him and invited himself over for dinner at Zacchaeus’ place.  The woman with the bleeding issue fought her way through the mob to touch the hem of his garment.  She wanted to be healed and she was.  The mob told blind Bartimaeus to stop his cries for mercy, Jesus was too busy for him.  Instead, Jesus stopped, told him to come over, and he healed him.  Each time the crowd tries to shush the individual, Jesus seeks out the one and meets their need. 

In the last week of Jesus’ life, it was a mob that came to the garden to arrest him.  It was a mob that cried out to Pilate, “Crucify him.”  It was a mob that stood around his cross, waiting to see if God would rescue him.  All of these mobs had been orchestrated by leaders intent on discrediting Jesus, manipulating public opinion, and making sure their power stayed intact.   

When I think about Jesus and mobs, I realize he never participated in a mob agenda, he never trusted a mob with his mission, and he never incited people to violence.  Never.  Not once.  The mobs Jesus met were not pursuing his mission; they were trying to force their mission onto him.  Jesus understood there is no such thing as a righteous mob.   

If Jesus had been at the Capitol Building when the mob attacked, what would he have done?  Would he have tried to teach them?  Would he have moved through the crowd doing miracles?  I know for certain he would not have broken windows, assaulted police officers, nor posed for a selfie.   

I don’t know for sure what Jesus would have done.  Maybe he would have wept.  Maybe he would have said, “All they like sheep have gone astray.”  Maybe he would have left the mob and gone to pray. 

I do know for sure what Jesus did for the mob that stormed the Capitol.  He died for them.  He gave his life so their sins – all of them – could be forgiven.  He rose from the dead to give them a power greater than the power of the mob, the power of God flowing in their lives.   

Stop and consider the wideness of his grace.  Jesus loves everyone who was at the Capitol that day.  He loves the people of the mob, the Congressmen (Republicans and Democrats), and the Capitol police.  He wants good for them all. 

If you are a Jesus follower, truly a Jesus follower, then you must take seriously his words: “By this shall all men know you are my disciples: That you love one another as I have loved you.”  Was there anybody on Capitol Hill that you need to love as Jesus loves them?

The Last Time this Happened…

Despite what my children think, I am too young to remember World War II.  My parents, however, lived through that time.  It was the last time in American history when everyone’s life changed.

We forget there was rationing.  People were allotted only a certain amount of meat, sugar, and butter.  Only the sugar was problem for my people; they had cattle and a milk cow.  It was hard on one cousin, however.  He had a still in the swap and needed sugar for the shine. 

Tires and gasoline were rationed.  When my parents got married, my Uncle J.N., who had a service station, swapped out tires for my Daddy so he and Mama could drive off on their honeymoon.  I don’t know how they scrounged up the gas.

Household goods were not easily obtained.  Electricity had come to my family’s ranch, but they couldn’t buy a refrigerator.  Daddy knew Mr. J.W. Crews had a refrigerator in his camp house and somehow talked him into letting him have it until he could buy one. 

Every town within a hundred miles of the coast organized lookouts for enemy planes.  People grew victory gardens so they could get fresh vegetables.  There was no television, but almost everyone had a radio and listened hungrily to the nightly news. 

The young men were off fighting and those too old to fight were being pushed to produce.   Women started doing work they had never done before.  My mother attended Florida Southern College during the war.  There were almost no male students.  The women were expected to help constructing new buildings on campus.  My mother told of pushing wheelbarrows of concrete to build sidewalks across the campus.  In those days, you rolled up your sleeves and you did what you had to do.

My father was not drafted and did not volunteer.  He was a farmer, and the sole provider of his mother.  He fought the war by growing the food that was needed.  Other family members went off to war.  My step-father Lawrence trained as a pilot and flew B-24s.  My cousin Top Barlow parachuted into Sicily and Italy and landed at Anzio.  My Uncle Pete joined the navy.  Once, he roped a practice torpedo to get it back on board the ship.  To win World War II, everyone had to do their part.  

The wars that followed World War II were different.  They were distant affairs.  Korea and Vietnam were difficult because it was hard to know what winning looked like.  The war was fought by draftees, while the elite took deferments in college or grad school. 

In the first Gulf War, the military mobilized, but nothing was rationed.  After 9-11, again we went to war, the war we are still in.  Again, it has been hard to define victory.  Families of military members are impacted.  In a town like mine, with a large base, it is our neighbors who go off and fight and return.  Sometimes, they don’t come back.  But most for most our country, this war is a headline, a campaign issue.  Amazon is still bringing us everything we need.

The Corona Virus Pandemic is the first time since World War II every American’s life has changed.  Whatever normal was for us three weeks ago has changed.  Getting toilet paper and Lysol has become a quest.  We’re working from home.  Churches have gone virtual.  In my town, the movie theater, the car wash, and the YMCA have all shut down.  People are losing jobs.  Medical workers are courageously going in to wage war on a virus that can’t be seen with the naked eye.  School is out.  Teachers are teaching virtually.  It is looking like there will be no graduation from kindergarten or college this year, just a diploma in the mail.

The good news is people are adjusting.  We’re figuring it out.  Yes, we are fighting anxieties and some depression, but we’re fighting.  We will get through this.  COVID19 will not last forever.   There is more resilience in people than we think.

Through all these difficult days, we need to remember God is with us.  At the end of his life, after the people of God had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, Moses reminded his people: “The Lord has blessed you in all the work of your hands.  He has watched over your journey through this vast desert.  These forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and you have not lacked anything (Deuteronomy 2:7).” 

The Lord is watching over us.  No matter how long this lasts, no matter how abnormal these days, the Lord is watching over us.  Thanks be to God.

Forgive Me Fern, For I Have Sinned...

Union Theological Seminary in New York recently held a chapel service encouraging students to confess their sins to plants (I am not making this up).  The purpose of the service was to remind students that human beings have sinned against the created order. Loosely following Christian teaching, the organizers of the chapel service wanted the students to confess to those they had sinned against.

This raises a lot of questions for me.  I grew up in the middle of 10,000 orange trees.  Our livelihood was dependent on those trees.  We did not wish them harm or mistreat them.  We watered them, fertilized them, sprayed them, and kept them as healthy as possible.  When I was a child, we still had trees my great-grandfather had set out in 1860.  I don’t think we sinned against those trees.

The other part of our modest agriculture operation is cattle.  Cows eat grass.  I suppose I could go out in the pasture and apologize to the grass for being stepped on by the cows.  I suppose if grass had nerve endings it might scream when a cow wraps its tongue around a stem and chomps down.  But in all my years around the pasture, I never heard the grass scream in a tiny voice “Please don’t eat me!”  It’s hard for me to see where apologizing to the grass would do much good.

I wonder what the students in Union Seminary ate for lunch after chapel.  A salad would definitely be off the menu.  All meat comes from animals who process plant material into something amazing (Have you ever thought about how amazing a pig is?  It can turn plants into bacon!).  No bread for lunch either.  Maybe they could chew on some plastic.

If I am supposed to apologize to plants, can I do a blanket apology?  Maybe right before I go out to cut the grass I’ll go to the front yard and say, “I’m sorry.  I don’t want to do this.  My homeowner’s association is a cruel master and they insist on me keeping my yard neat.”  I’ll go to my closet and offer an apology to the 60% of my shirts that are cotton.  I’ll have to confess to my sport-coat, which is 100% wool, produced by a sheep, which eats plants, that I am sorry for the energy transfer.

I’ll be the first to agree that human beings don’t take very good care of God’s creation.  It’s not limited to the plant world.  We take no thought if trash blows out of our trucks or about the damage a gold mine does to the environment.  I’m not sure how to solve global warming, but I think we ought to recognize that the oil supply can’t last forever. 

It’s hard to think about taking care of God’s world when we don’t take care of our own souls.  We don’t care for relationships God provides or steward the bodies God gives us.  We neglect our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health.  Long before human beings learned to pollute the earth, we were masters at polluting our souls.  Maybe we need to take care of our own souls so we have the motivation to take care of God’s world.

God did tell the first people that the world was a good place.  He even told them to eat the plants.  Adam was put in a garden and told to take care of it.  As best I can tell God wants us to enjoy the world he made, take care of it, and let it provide for us. 

All sin is ultimately against God, because sin comes from abandoning God’s plan.  If the Union students had spent time before God confessing humanity’s failure to take care of the planet, they would have been on target.  That would be the logical extension of Jesus’ parable of the three servants and the talents.  In case you forgot, a rich man was going on an extended trip and gave three servants a sum of money to manage.  Two did very well.  They were praised.  One didn’t do what his master desired.  He was punished.  I think humanity is more like the third servant than the first two.  When I think about this parable, I remember I need to ask God to forgive me for my part of not caring for his world.

But confessing to a plant?  I’m sorry, students of Union Seminary.  I just don’t get it.  Plants feed me, clothe me, shade me, and process my carbon dioxide back into oxygen.  But if I confess, “Forgive me fern, for I have sinned,” I’m certain the fern will just sit there, like it was designed to do.

What I really need is a Savior who will tell me, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”  There is a Savior like that.  He once hung on a tree.  The tree never asked for an apology.  Hanging on that tree, the Savior said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” 

We don’t know all the wrong we do.  He does.  He forgives.  No fern can do that.

Cheap Faith, Expensive Faith…

I was at a gathering of people who had lot of wealth.  Where and when is not important. Let me simply say that it would incorrect to speak about a Lexus in the parking lot; there were Lexi in the parking lot.  Women were dressed to nines; the men were thin.  Everyone looked perfect.  I felt out of place.

Most of the people in the gathering professed faith in Jesus.  They belonged to churches and attended when they could.  The conversation at the gathering made references to Jesus, to God’s blessings, and to the sorry state of the government.  

Jesus once said it was harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  I get the analogy.  When you live in luxury it is hard to be humble.  Sometimes, in my cynicism, I wonder if the ultra-rich would still follow Jesus if said, “Go, sell your Lexus, give the money to the poor, and come and follow me.” 

It’s fun to be self-righteous.  It’s also dangerous.  Nothing attracts the attention of the God like the piety of a person who condemns someone else’s externals without first examining the forest of sin in his or her own life.  In that moment of spiritual pride, a thought from God entered my heart: “So Clay, if I ask you to give up your truck with heated leather seats and give the money to the poor, would you?”

Ouch.  The voice of God in my soul can bring troubling conviction.  If I am not walking with Jesus, I can begin to think I deserve all God lets me enjoy.  This is the temptation of blessing: believing God owes me something because I have been so good.

If you live this way, believe you deserve the blessings of God, Jesus said you will lose something.  You might gain the whole world, but you will lose your soul.  I don’t think Jesus was thinking just of heaven and hell when he said this; he meant you would lose yourself.  Think about it: have you ever heard a story about a person who made it big in their career and made a wreck of their home?  Or maybe they made a wreck of their lives with an addiction?  The track record of human beings staying healthy while successful is not good.

Caroline Mahendran was teaching children in the Sunday School of Zion Church on Easter Sunday.  If you have never taught children in Sunday School, you have no appreciation of the peace of heaven.  One of the tried and true methods of holding children’s attention is asking them a question that requires a mass response.  Simple “yes” or “no” questions are usually the best.

Since it was Easter, Caroline taught the children about the Cross of Jesus and the Resurrection of Jesus.  She spoke about Jesus’ great sacrifice for us and how he deserved our total loyalty.  She asked the class of twenty-four if they would die for Jesus, “Yes!” they shouted.

Fifteen minutes later, as these children were in the sanctuary, waiting for Easter worship services to begin, a suicide bomber entered, detonated his bomb, killing himself and twenty-eight other people.  Twelve of the dead were children, the same children who declared moments earlier they would die for Jesus.  Zion Church is in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, where almost 300 people died in Easter Sunday bombings.

Arasaratnam Verl lost his only child, V. Jackson.  His oldest sister was also killed.  His younger sisters and his brother-in-law are in critical condition.  I can’t imagine what this man feels.  He is not counting his blessings.  His faith is under faith.  In the face of loss, he will face the toughest test, to believe God is still good while his heart hurts.  “Love your enemies, do good to those who persecute you” is not a quaint notion for him. 

When I read this story, I was brought low.  How can I claim any spiritual maturity when there are people who must live with this kind of threat?  How can I judge anyone when my faith has never faced this kind of test?  All my complaints about the difficulty of life seem trivial compared to the faith that is required to believe when a father sees the blood of his child spilled on the floor of the sanctuary.

King David once said, “I will not give God an offering that costs me nothing.”  Every kind of faith, Christian or not, will face this kind of test.  The test will be simple, though the circumstances seldom are.  The test is this: Is my faith cheap, an imitation of the real thing, a faith that breaks under pressure?  Or is my faith expensive, willing to sacrifice, willing to believe in the face of pain, present in times of trouble? 

Cheap faith or expensive faith.  Which faith do you have?

Jesus Meets Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un…

When Donald Trump and Kim Jong-Un meet at The Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, they could not come to an agreement.  Kim would not unilaterally give up his nuclear weapons and Trump would not unilaterally lift sanctions on North Korea.  I could not help but imagine what would happen if Jesus had made himself visible at the moment the talks were breaking down.

Kim Jong-Un would have been surprised.  He lives in a rarefied atmosphere where his word is law and no one tells him “no.”  I can imagine Jesus telling Kim that he isn’t God and he really should stop acting like one.  Jesus might even tell Kim that one day he will die, and despite the big propaganda machine of his government, after his death he would have an eternal destiny controlled by God, not by himself.  He will be held accountable for his actions; as a leader, his accountability will be higher. 

Probably Jesus would also tell Kim that his nuclear weapons were no match for the power of God.  Would Jesus quote the Old Testament to Kim? “Some trust in chariots and others in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.”  Maybe.

I am sure of this: Jesus would tell Kim that he loved him.  He would tell Kim, “You have manipulated people into declaring love for you, but their words are driven by fear.  You have never known a love like mine, a love given not based on your commands, but based on my heart for you.  I can and will forgive everything you have done.  Follow me.”

What would Donald Trump’s reaction be?  I can imagine President Trump knowing immediately who Jesus is, and perhaps being glad that Jesus is there.  He might even hope Jesus will show Kim Jong-un a thing or two.

But I can also imagine President Trump being surprised when Jesus turns to him and reminds him of a story from the book of Joshua, when Joshua sees a man standing with a sword in his hands, right before the battle of Jericho.  Joshua asked him whose side he is on.  The man answers, “I’m not on either side.  I am the commander of the Army of Lord, and I am on the scene.”  God follows his own plan, not ours.

Jesus might also go on and say to President Trump, “Don’t overestimate the art of making a deal.  Make sure you are asking where I am at work and join me there.  Donald, try a little humility.  Remember I am not on your side or Kim’s side.  I am on my side and your job is to be with me.”

Jesus probably would say to President Trump, “Look Donald, while I’ve got your attention, it’s time for you to repent of some sins.  You’ve tried to hide them and that’s not working very well.  You can’t hide any sin from me.  You say you believe in me.  Show the world your faith and confess your sins.  Ask for forgiveness.  Make amends to those who have been hurt.”

The truth is I think Jesus was at that Summit.  God is interested in things like nuclear war, peace, and his creation.  I’ll bet through the Holy Spirit God was speaking to Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.  The real question is: were they listening?  Only God knows.

Unlike Kim Jong-un, who will force people to listen and declare their love, God allows people the weighty responsibility of choice.  God allows people to choose to obey, choose to love, and choose to follow.  God will not even make world leaders obey (but he will use their disobedience to accomplish his will.  Exhibit A: Pharaoh in the book of Exodus).  Nothing of long term good happens when you do not do God’s will.

This is also the truth: Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is with you.  If you are a child of God, he wants to guide your decisions and choices.  If you are not follower of Jesus, I believe the Spirit is still at work, trying to help you see that you are not God, you need help in your life, and you need to discover what real love is, the real love of God.  God wants to speak to you about your self-centeredness, your sin, and your repentance.

Like Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, the real question is: Are you listening?