The Sifting

I have always been fascinated by the exchange between Peter and Jesus that happened in the upper room after the Last Supper. In the midst of Jesus teaching his disciples about his impending death; infusing the Passover with new meaning; and radically reinterpreting greatness for them; he pulls back the curtain so Peter can see the battle that was raging with the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. In Paul’s words in Ephesians 6:11, Jesus was revealing the “schemes of the devil” against which Peter and the disciples were to stand.

The exchange is found in Luke 22:31-33. "'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’ And he said to him, ‘Lord, with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death.'"

There are a couple of things that we need to understand that will bring this passage to life.

First, the “you” of Satan’s demand is plural and therefore is applied to all the disciples who would turn their back on Jesus during the battle of the cross. I think Jesus addresses Peter specifically for three reasons:

1. He is the leader.
2. While they were all subject to the sifting, Peter would reject Jesus most publicly.
3. He was the most confident that he wouldn’t fall: “Lord with you I am ready to go both to prison and to death."

Second, there is more than meets the eye in the phrase “demanded permission.” Most translations interpret the Greek word "exaiteo" as ‘asked.’ The KJV renders Jesus revelation, “Satan desires to have you.” But I quoted the NASB because its interpretation gets at the heart of what's really being said.

When you read that “Satan has demanded permission,” the feeling is that Satan is operating with a sense of entitlement. A demand is generally based upon the perception of a legitimate claim and Satan certainly believes he has claim on us.

The word Jesus used, exaiteo, is a word that literally means to claim back for oneself. Satan knows that because of sin human beings are his. He is the Lord of the darkness into which we are born, and therefore we come into the world as children of darkness.

However, when we by faith are enlightened by the light of the world, we are transferred from darkness to light and become children of God by the will of God (John 1:4-12). This is a great loss for Satan and while he can’t take us back, he does work diligently to keep us mired in darkness. This is the sifting to which Jesus referred.

There are times that we endure sifting and while the battle is a spiritual one that transcends flesh and blood, it is waged in the flesh and we are sifted through the desires of our flesh.

Peter would be sifted by his fleshly desire for self-preservation. When he felt threatened physically by his relationship with Christ, he denied his spiritual reality. So Satan sifted him through the flesh because that is where Peter was most susceptible and where Satan could stake his claim most compellingly.

We are vulnerable in the flesh because we have been living in the flesh longer than we have been living in the Spirit. Our yearnings (our physical, psychological, and emotional cravings) find expression in the very flesh that Satan once controlled. He knows our weaknesses and he lays claim on our lives by exploiting them.

James 1:14-15 says, “Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.”

We are tempted, or sifted, when Satan baits us into believing that our fleshly desires are our reality. When we fall victim to the lie, we are giving birth to the death of the abundant life we enjoy by faith.

But we don’t have to fall down or stay down. We have an advocate who has defeated our adversary. He has prayed for us in the same way that he prayed for Peter. His prayer is that by faith our spiritual reality would trump the deception of our flesh. When we fall, when we are mired in the darkness of the sifting, he asks us to repent and leverage our lessons for the good of others who are being sifted.

The sifting will come. But we have to remember that in our weakness we find his strength.

Choosing Confidence in Criticism

Criticism is one of those rare commodities that even the stingiest of people are generous with. While no one likes to receive criticism, it seems the woods are full of people who are more than willing to dish it out. We could ponder the psychological reasons for our propensity to criticize, but that is for another time and hopefully a smaller audience. Today I want to explore how those who are connected to Jesus should receive and respond to criticism.

From my perspective there are really five general responses to criticism.

1. Attack the messenger - Feeling attacked, we strike back at the person making the observation, slinging mud at every facet of their lives in an attempt to maintain superiority.
2. Discredit the messenger - This is an indirect attack that undermines the credibility of the criticizer. When engaged in discrediting, we tell anyone who will listen about the personal problems of the one who has leveled the criticism.
3. Withdraw and sulk - Over-responding to the shame of the criticism, we shut down any interaction with the person who attacked us believing that ostracizing our enemy is a just punishment for their crime.
4. Blowup and then process - Initially we get really angry and say things that we regret. Then as time goes by we reflect honestly on the issue.
5. Check our emotions and search for validity - No angry reactions. If appropriate we offer an apology for a perceived offense and express gratitude for their concern. Then, having protected the dignity of our critic, we look for the nuggets of truth that lie within almost every criticism.

Obviously for followers of Jesus the first three responses are totally unacceptable, the fourth is beginning to move in the right direction, but only the last option truly reflects our commitment to Christ. Not surprisingly, the last option is by far the most difficult response to muster -- but it is not impossible.

2 Samuel records the sad story of Absalom's insurrection, stealing the hearts of the people of Israel and then taking the throne from his father, David. In 2 Samuel 16:5-14, there is a play-by-play account of David's exodus from the Promised Land that features a unique critique.

There is a man from the tribe of Benjamin, the family of Saul, named Shimei. You remember that Saul was the king who preceded David, so presumably this man had a bit of an ax to grind. Having heard that David was on the run and coming his way, Shimei took it upon himself to let David know that he was getting exactly what he deserved. The scripture says he cursed David and, if that wasn't enough, he ran alongside the party pelting David, his officials, and his bodyguards with stones and saying, "Get out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The Lord has repaid you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose place you have reigned. The Lord has handed the kingdom over to your son Absalom. You have come to ruin because you are a man of blood!"

Needless to say, Shimei wasn't the sharpest Benjamite in the box. By pounding the king with pebbles he was taking his life in his own hands. As a matter of fact Abishai, one of David's fiercest warriors, requested permission to go lop Shimei's head off. But David would have none of it. Somehow he found the strength to respond to Shimei with his emotions in check and with an open mind to the validity of his statements. Reading the account of David's response reveals how David was able to choose the noble way in the face of some extremely debilitating and enraging criticism.

First, David knew that he had bigger fish to fry than Shimei. In verse 11 he reminds Abishai, "My son, who is my own flesh, is trying to take my life. How much more, then, this Benjamite!" In other words, why would you expend any unnecessary energy on this person who cannot affect your future, when my own flesh and blood is out to kill me. Let's keep things in perspective here. We are getting what we expect from him, let it go!

Second, David chose to see criticism as a treasure map. David knew that the criticism was going to lead to treasure. The first possibility was that the Lord sent Shimei and there was a truth he had to face up to. In verse 11 he tells Abishai to leave him alone because it is quite possible the Lord instructed him to curse David. In verse 12 he mentions a more plausible possibility that the Lord will see his plight and "repay me with good for the cursing I am receiving today." Either way, David believed there was treasure coming if he endured the criticism.

Third David kept moving toward the goal. Verse 13 says, "So David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt." What a scene: A grown man pitching an extended fit toward the king. But as entertaining as that would have been to witness, the remarkable part is that David kept on going. The tendency when hurt is to quit. We accept defeat and stop progress by hyper focusing on our wounds. But not David. He had somewhere to go and he stayed the course.

Fourth when he arrived, he acknowledged the pain and sought relief. Verse 14 says, "The king and all the people arrived at their destination exhausted. And there he refreshed himself." David didn't try to convince himself that Shimei was just a bad dream, he didn't try to pretend that it didn't affect him. He was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally and Shimei was a big part of that. So when he got where he was going, he gave himself some time to process. He spent time with God, acknowledging the devastation brought about by Absalom as well as Shimei and no doubt taking some time to find the treasure buried at the end of the hunt.

The Big Squeeze

I don't buy the notion that there are no dumb questions. I fully believe that people ask dumb questions. I have asked you dumb questions and I have been victimized by yours as well. It is part of getting to know people, it is a part of speech really. I say this because I am about to ask you a series of questions that could easily be interpreted, or misinterpreted, as dumb. Indulge me; I hope these questions prove purposeful.

• What do you get when you squeeze an orange?
• What do you get when you squeeze a bottle of ketchup?
• What do you get when you squeeze a tube of toothpaste?

Obviously we all know the answer to those questions. If there is any doubt in your mind I would suggest avoiding tryouts for Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? The expectation is that when squeezed, you would get out of each vessel what is actually inside. So, when you squeeze a container of ketchup you get ketchup, when pressure is applied to a tube of toothpaste you get toothpaste.

If we extrapolate this out into the absurd, we could even formulate principles that govern our expectations for the squeeze.

1. When squeezed something is going to come out.
2. What comes out is what is inside.
3. What is inside is what has been intentionally placed there.

Silly but true.

Now, with all of that in mind, let me ask you an important question: What do you get when you squeeze a Christian?

Following the principles of the squeeze, the answer should be Christ. When a Christian is squeezed by the pressures of life the result should be that a likeness of Christ comes out. Do you agree?

Believe it or not, Jesus had something to say about all of this. In his Sermon on the Mount he addressed this concept.

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Matthew 7:16-20 NLT

Jesus was pointing out was that there are a plethora of people who say they are good and godly; they run with the right people and go to the right churches and have all of the right answers. But all of that stuff doesn't matter because it's surface stuff and can be controlled. To really know what a person is like, you have to wait until they are wedged in the vice of life, when they experience the Big Squeeze. It is during the pressures of life that you can know who a person is and whose they are.

Let me ask a more important question: What do we get when life squeezes you?

Whatever Happened to Peace?

In the last installment of musings I wrote about the apparent disappearance of sin from our collective conscience not that sin has made itself scarce, but that we have reidentified it as something far more palatable and, therefore, much less offensive.

It has been interesting to listen to people respond to that blog because it was widely interpreted as "out of character" for me. I am generally not that confrontational because I believe grace attracts, edifies and ultimately ends in voluntary self-correction (see Zacchaeus). After all, it is God's amazing grace "that taught my heart to fear, and grace will lead me home."

However, I felt compelled to write that blog about the presence of sin because of the absence of peace. We are not a people at peace, yet we fail to make the inextricable connection between our peacelessness and our sinfulness. When we are at odds with our creator we are at odds with peace. So it is vital that we identify those things that sabotage our serenity.

Since enmity with God is our natural experience and unrest is our typical environment, we may not have a frame of reference that enables us to recognize peace. So we need be able to identify it, too. We need to recognize when we are harmonizing with God's purpose for our lives. Then when we experience life as God intended, we will have a more radical commitment to exterminating the things (sins) that compromise it.

So what is peace? The peace that God desires for us is what the Hebrew prophets called shalom. Dr. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. defines shalom like this in his book, Not the Way it is Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin:

"We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means a universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight – a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be."

I don't know about you, but my heart yearns for "universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight." And the beauty is that God yearns for me to have it and has made it available. There is a path that we can follow that will ultimately lead to peace.

So whatever happened to peace? It's right where it has always been! It's on a narrow path sitting in the middle of the road less traveled.

Jesus encouraged us to find peace by finding that narrow road. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14)

When Jesus spoke of life he was referring to a life of peace. While the road to peace may be narrow, it is actually easily accessible through Jesus who also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me."

Peace is what you want and through the way of with Christ, God has made it available to all who ask.

What Ever Happened to Sin?

"Whatever happened to sin?" I wish you could hear me ask that question in the quiet of my mind. If you could, then you would understand that I am asking it like sin was an old friend who lived down the hall from me in college, someone that I would expect to bump into on FaceBook. I ask about it like it's someone that I used to spend time with and, because our paths went in different directions, we've simply lost touch.

I ask that question not because I'm too good to sin, I'm not. Much to my chagrin, I am as fully capable of falling today as I ever have been.

For me the question is far more communal than personal. I'm asking you, too! Have you heard about sin? Where did it go? When I was growing up I heard all kinds of sermons on it. I heard as much about sin as I did grace and love. Because I recognized the presence of sin I longed for the presence of grace and love.

Thinking through this, I decided to look at the last five years of my preaching calendar. Of the 250+ sermons I preached, surely I could find some that included "sin" in their titles. Guess what: The search yielded a series of sermons titled, "What's Missing?" Can you believe that? I'll tell you what's missing ....

Sin is missing from our collective conversations. It is politically incorrect and and therefore taboo. If we talk about sin then we are too negative and too narrow. To point out sin is judgmental and arrogant and so we avoid it like the plague. The only problem is that sin is the problem, and it needs to be identified.

Sin is not really missing, it's just hidden in plain sight. Sin is ...

• killing babies and calling it choice
• blowing up abortion clinics and calling it justice
• racking up credit card debt and calling it priceless
• living together before marriage and calling it cheaper
• looking out for No. 1 and calling it the American dream
• having an affair and calling it deserved
• eating too much and calling it a celebration
• talking bad about people and calling it a prayer request
• avoiding home and calling it providing for the family
• neglecting worship and calling it time to ourselves

In his book, Not the Way it is Supposed to Be, Neal Plantinga writes, "Sin is the missing of a target, a wandering from the path, a straying from the fold. Sin is a hard heart and a stiff neck. Sin is blindness and deafness. It is both the overstepping of a line and the failure to reach it -- both transgression and shortcoming. Sin is a beast crouching at the door. In sin, people attack or evade or neglect their divine calling. Sin is never normal. Sin is a disruption of created harmony and then resistance to divine restoration of that harmony. Above all, sin disrupts and then resists the vital human relation to God."

Whether we talk about it or not, the evidence of sin is all around us. It is stealing, killing, and destroying life as it was divinely designed. Things are not the way they are supposed to be. The irony is that, instead of blaming men and their sin for the problems and suffering we experience, the world we live in blames the God we believe in. The end result is that because of sin, God and sin have become figments of the imagination.

Understand, I am in no way suggesting that we pick up our rocks of righteousness and begin stoning our neighbors. I don't think we need to return to the days of hell-fire and brimstone preaching. I'm certainly not asking for a revival of judgmental sin-speak that alienates the church from the culture we are called to reach.

What I am asking for is a reduction of sin in the church. Wouldn't it be cool if we had fewer sin addicts? Wouldn't God's kingdom come and his will be done more if we sinned less? Like they say in AA: to solve a problem you have to admit you have one. Can we admit we have a problem?

If we are going to talk about sin, calling it what it is, let's talk about it in-house. Let's get the church that enjoys the forgiveness of sin to begin living victoriously over sin. Then we will see that the compelling story of positive life-change inside the church will lead to transformation outside the church.

The Ingredients of a Life Well-lived

I missed writing last week because I made a trip to my hometown, Walhalla, South Carolina. While I have heard rumors of Internet access there, I have yet to confirm them so I took the week off. For the four of you that care, my apologies.

I made the trip because after 90 years of unwavering consistency my grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Her name was Mattie Eliza Wilson. She is survived by my grandfather Clayton and 55 others who knew her as mother, grandmother or great-grandmother. If ever there was a group of people who understand the concept of a true matriarch, these 55 people get it.

I've heard that no one is perfect so I guess it's true, but my grandmother made a run at it. She was a wonderfully dependable, perfectly predictable follower of Jesus. Her love language was selflessness. If there was a need she met it. If there was a void she filled it. If there was confusion she cleared it up. If you needed some advice she gave it, whether you asked for it or not.

I think if Jesus had spoken at her funeral he would have described her as great. She fit his description to a tee: "Whoever wants to be great among you, must be your servant." While I am certain that the pursuit of greatness never made it on her to-do list, it was her reality. She was a true servant who never allowed unfavorable circumstances or personal inconvenience to interfere with her pursuit of others' happiness.

At the end of the day my grandmother really cared about two things: living for Jesus and caring for others. By all accounts, these are the ingredients of a life well lived.

"Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30).

The Parent Trap

We've been going through a sermon series at Skycrest titled "Reel Families." The idea is to take titles of well known movies and build the talk around them. Yesterday we explored The Parent Trap. The whole talk was essentially an interview with T. C. and Rebecca Staton who are two of the most effective parents I know anything about. (If you weren't there it is really worth a listen at www.skycrestfamily.org.)

In in preparing this study, I became convinced of an aspect of parenting I had previously thought little about--parental discipline. As I read through the book of Proverbs, I rediscovered the familiar encouragements and benefits of disciplining children for the child's sake.

Proverbs 19:18
Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.

Proverbs 23:13-14
Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.

Reading those verses reminded and even reinspired me about the benefits of discipline for my children. But it wasn't until I read Proverbs 29:17-18 that it all fell into place for me.

Proverbs 29:17-18
Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul. Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.

I would imagine I've heard no less than 15 sermons on Proverbs 29:18. The NAS says, "Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained ...." The talks are always about cultivating vision for the future and then working towards it. But as I read verse 18 in context with verse 17, my understanding about what Solomon was teaching began to change.

At first I saw it as an echo to the other proverbs as it related to my children and discipline: If they are disciplined throughout life they will be blessed. But then I realized this verse was not about the benefits of discipline to my children. This verse was about the benefits of discipline to me!

Look at verse 17 again. Who gets the peace? Whose soul is delighted? The parent's! From that perspective it's clear that verse 18's invitation to cultivate vision as a means to restraint is for the parent. The idea is that parents need to have a vision of the benefits of discipline so they will be disciplined in their parenting. And the promise is that if a parent is disciplined in keeping the law as it relates to training their children, then they will be blessed.

The laws of sowing and reaping apply to raising children. You cannot reap what you do not sow. If you aren't disciplined as a parent, then you will not have discplined children. If you don't consistently honor God and His word in disciplining and discipling your children, then they won't honor God and His word as they respond.

The Parent Trap that we identified yesterday was the trap of being a reactive parent. This is parenting with emotions only, always responding to your children based upon the level of agitation or embarassment they cause. Needless to say, reactive parenting is extremely undisciplined and unpredictable. The boundaries are always moving based on your mood and the result is that the child can't gain any traction or confidence because they never know where they stand.

On the other hand, God's word teaches proactive parenting which has a vision for the value of discipline for both parent and child. It is not easy. It demands prayer, creativity, intentionality, authenticity, and a willingness to make the difficult decision to hold your kids accountable for their actions. Hebrews 12:11 casts a compelling vision for disciplined parenting. "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

It is always a challenge to discipline yourself to be a parent and not just a friend to your children, but in the end disciplined discipline is a gracious act of love that equips the child for God-honoring success in life.