Random?

In the zombie apocalypse world of The Walking Dead, we see characters dealing with some of the most important issues in life: survival, freedom of choice, hope, family, community, forgiveness. I see so much in the bleak world that speaks of how important hope is in the midst of our fallen creation. So you can imagine how fascinated I was to see the wall sign in this picture during the recent episode "Four Walls and a Roof":

For those of you who did not grow up in a small church, let me assure you this style of sign is very common. It usually has statistics such as attendance and offering amounts on it. But in this church, where the priest Gabriel has holed himself up to escape the "walkers," it has a list of Bible verses. Needless to say, I had to look them up. Surely there is no detail from these talented writers that is there by accident. So what do they say?

Romans 6:4 - Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death; so that as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

Ezekiel 37:7 - So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

Matthew 27:52 - The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

Revelation 9:6 - And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

Luke 24:5 - (A)nd as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?"

Yes, there does seem to be a thread of a theme, doesn't there? Each verse has some sort of reference to death and/or a renewing of life. One speaks of attaining life by dying to yourself. Another speaks of the impossible, dead bones coming back to life. Out of context, the verses are very strange - maybe that's part of the point.

The last two are the most interesting to me in the context of the show: 

• Clearly, the show's zombie apocalypse is a world where many people despair of whether life is even worth living. And in a way the show's premise is a representation of this verse: People don't really die, they just become walking, shallow shells of themselves.
• And the question "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" lurks in every corner of this world. And perhaps our world, as so many people live empty lives.

Anyway, a very interesting group of verses, clearly displayed for a reason. While I've shared a few thoughts, I'm not sure what they're getting at.

So what about you? Do you see a theme? Or do you think it was just a random collection, a meaningless prop?

What do you think?

Just do it

There is so much good in the world.

And so much heartbreak.

It's easy to get paralyzed, isn't it? When I think about all ways in which diseases like ALS and cancer devastate lives, all the hurricanes and earthquakes that strike unsuspecting masses, all the wars, all the persecution...it's just overwhelming.

The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, "The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior." Then Gideon said to him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us?"

- Judges 6:12-13a (NASB)

And so yesterday I was reading the Scriptures and came to the account of Gideon. Most of us who grew up going to Sunday school remember Gideon for the fleece that he put out to test whether God was really talking to him. Or maybe for the way God kept trimming his army size until it was only 300 men, so that he would know it was God who gave him the victory.

But this time, I was struck by his first encounter with God, the moment when he realized the Lord wanted him to take action. I had never noticed this before. So a messenger (angel) of God appears from heaven and addresses him in a strange way. For one thing, he calls him a valiant warrior even though Gideon has likely never even been in a fight. But the thing that strikes Gideon in not that; it's that the angel says, "The LORD is with you."

And Gideon thinks, Huh???

He sees no evidence of that at all. Read Judges 6:1-14. God'e people Israel have not been experiencing the Lord's blessings for quite some time. Their land was being taken, their livestock was gone and they were barely surviving. So, in the Hebrew mindset, God could not possibly be with them. He was gone.

The angel tells Gideon, No, he is with you. And Gideon responds like the rest of us: If so, why are all these bad things happening and where are God's miracles we read about in the Scriptures?

So the angel answers all Gideon's questions and lays out a detailed theological treatise of the problem of evil and how God is present in suffering and we just have to.................

Ummmmm, no.

Instead, he just says, GO!

Go, do something about it. Haven't I sent you?
____________

It would be easy for me to sit around and main about all the evil and suffering in the world, in the live of those I love, and even at times in my own life.  Lord, why has this happened to us? Why do you allow your creation to be like this? But as I read this passage, I heard God's answer. The same way he answered Moses, and Gideon, and Isaiah...all the way up to Jesus' final words to his disciples:

Go!

No excuses, just do it.

I don't know why. I don't know how it fits into his plan for creation? I don't know a lot of things.

But I can go. I can do something about it. I can give...I can just be there for someone...I can listen...I can comfort...I can work...I can share the gospel...

I can go. I can be. I can love.

And God says, Just do it.

"I never knew you"

Ever had something you have read or seen a hundred times jump out at you in a new way? Or maybe somebody pointed out a new way of looking at it and you wonder, "How did I not see that?" That happened to me last week with a very familiar passage of Scripture. Here it is:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23)

Every time I read this passage before last week, I focused in on the fact that faith is more than believing facts. That many will say they believe all the right things but will learn that their actions showed they didn't really know God. But I missed a really key phrase, and it was pointed out to me as I was reading last week. The phrase is this: "I never knew you."

Not "you never knew me" (the way I had always read it), but "I never knew you." Why not? I now think it's pretty obvious: because of the masks that we wear.

You see, Jesus had just spent a big part of the famous Sermon on the Mount talking about religious leaders who would pray for show, fast for show, and give for show. Nothing about them was real. They put on this big pretense for the benefit of those around them, but they were play-actors, wearing masks to hide their true selves. The word for play-actors was "hypocrite" and it was a word Jesus used often. So when he says at the end, "I never knew you" it will be for a very simple reason: how could he? They were never being themselves.

So what about me? Do I give Christ a chance to see the real me? Or do I go to church pretending to have it all together? Churches are full of broken, hurting people who desperately need the healing message of God's love and grace. But how can we receive it if we don't ever let on that we need it? No wonder Jesus will say to many religious people, "I never knew you."

Here is one of my favorite songs by Casting Crowns with the lyrics embedded on the screen, and it is right on point:


The invitation is open to every heart that's been broken. That's why he came. I don't want to be a fake, putting up walls around my weakness and saying, "Lord, Lord." I want to be real so he can offfer me his grace.

"Well done, good and faithful servant" sounds a heck of alot better than "I never knew you."