Sola5 Wednesday Recap - 9/10/08

This weekly topic is an effort to recap the Wednesday night Bible study I teach at Sola5, my youth group. I hope it serves to help us all in contemplating the ceaseless riches of God’s grace as revealed through the Scriptures.

If you could change one circumstance in your life, what would you change? That’s the question I posed to the Sola5 students last night before we began our study of John 18:1-14. Often, we think that if we could only change this or that about our lives, suddenly everything would be a lot easier and life would be better. This is the natural, human reaction when our circumstances in life seem to disintegrate. But what did Jesus do when the circumstances of his life fell apart? How did he react when the hour that he would be betrayed by a close friend and brutally tortured and executed finally came? The answer is one that calls us to turn away from our circumstances and place our focus squarely on the God who is in control of all things.

In John 18, Judas brings a squad of soldiers to arrest Jesus. However, last night we focused on the careful attention to Jesus’ attitude that John paid in his description of the event. We see in Christ a man who is not cowering in fear of what is coming or trying to frantically change it, but a man who submits to the plan and purpose that the Father has given him. Notice the details John chooses to give us. First up, in verses 1-2, we’re told that Jesus – knowing Judas was betraying him - went with his disciples to a place that they all visited frequently. He’s not hiding from Judas, but instead he goes to a place that Judas knows well and would find him at easily. Next, in verse 4 (after John reminds us that Jesus knew all that would happen to him) once the soldiers arrive, he approaches them, and when they say that they are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, he simply steps up and says, “I am he.” When they cower away, he repeats the statement a second time, telling them to leave his disciples alone and do what they came to do. Why would Jesus be so calm in the face of those who came to take his life? Well, if we’ve been paying attention throughout John’s gospel, the better question is “why wouldn’t he?” Consider what Jesus has constantly stated was his purpose and mission in passages like John 2:18-19, 3:13-15, 6:51, 7:33-34, and especially 12:27-28. Jesus knew for what purpose he had come to the earth, and he was focused on fulfilling the charge given to him by the Father. Thus, when his circumstances turned south, his focus was not on them but on the God of those circumstances, the one who had orchestrated them for his good purpose – namely the salvation of the human race.

But what about us? Our first instinct when things go badly for us is to react like Peter in verse 10, seeking to change our circumstances in the way that we see fit. Peter charges into the crowd of soldiers, sword drawn, and hacks off a guy’s ear. He aims to change the circumstance that he sees as unfavorable by killing those who have come after Christ. We often seek to change the circumstances that we see as unfavorable in all sorts of ways, when what we need to do is to remember what the purpose of those circumstances is. Now, obviously we haven’t been sent to be killed for the salvation of the world, but we have been given some specific ideas about the presence and purpose of suffering in our lives. Passages such as Romans 5:1-5, 2 Timothy 1:8-10, James 5:10-11, and 1 Peter 4:12-13 tell us that God uses suffering and difficulty in our lives to build us into the people that he intends for us to be. Our suffering builds character and faith in us in a way that ease and comfort cannot. As people who believe that God is in control of all things – and is working all things together for our ultimate good - we need to remember that belief during difficult times.

Remember that circumstance you wish you could change in your life? We closed last night by asking the better question, “What do you think God might be teaching you through that circumstance?” This prompted some great discussion at the close of our study, and it prompted some great meditation for me personally last night. God is sovereign and he is good, and though we don’t always understand why some things happen (and sometimes we never will – see Job) we can trust his love and grace and seek to see his face more clearly through suffering. Next time suffering comes your way, don’t ask how you can change it, ask how God could use it to change you.

...And They'll Make Your Eyes Bleed

I didn't think it could possibly get any worse than yesterday's video. Holy crap, can it get worse.



HT: Vitamin Z

Beware the Pendulum

Blogger Julian Freeman gives a great warning about one the most subtle and dangerous temptations Christians face - the temptation to run so far from grievous error that we run headfirst into the opposite error. This is such a difficult problem because we can be so focused on fleeing what we clearly see as wrong that we are blind to other less-blatant sins. In what areas in your life is your pendulum swinging too far? Pray for wisdom and discernment, then pray for grace to move forward rightly.

Jesus Will Zap You, We'll Just Make Your Ears Bleed

Any words I add would simply dampen the hilarity of this video. Wow.



HT: Vitamin Z

The Glory of Discipleship

From our Minister of Missions' sermon yesterday morning at Hazelwood - not sure if the quote is from someone else or not. It sounds almost Piper-esque, but I can't find it attributed to him anywhere, so I'll credit it to Chris. Remember this the next time you're tempted to neglect the importance of discipling new believers.

"Discipleship is living for the glory of God in others." - Chris Thompson

Return of the Cardiac Cats

If you can pull yourself away from the 24-hour coverage of Tom Brady's knee, check out the highlights from Carolina's riveting 26-24 upset of the San Diego Chargers. The Panthers shocked everybody by going on the road and beating the trendy Super Bowl pick without star receiver Steve Smith, who has been suspended for the first two games of the season for punching CB Ken Lucas. Yesterday, Lucas called on his teammates to dedicate the game to Smith, and Jake Delhomme and company came through in a game eerily reminiscent of the 2003 season-opener against Jacksonville. Bring on Da' Bears!

Friday's Featured Film - 9/5/08

New movies are usually released to theaters every Friday, but who’s got 10 bucks these days to drop on a movie that may well be a load of crap? Given those odds, each Friday I offer an alternative on DVD that you can rent at your local video store (or in some cases, avoid at all costs). Some will be new releases, others you may have to hunt for, but all of them are available to light up your small screen should it be a lazy Friday night.

To End All Wars

Well, for one reason or another, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done a Friday’s Featured Film. That’s a streak I aim to end today. Last night, as I was up late feeding my little girl, I got to watch John McCain’s acceptance speech the Republican National Convention. I thought the speech was a good one for McCain, given that speeches aren’t usually his strong suit, but I found particularly compelling his telling of his experiences as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. His tales reminded me of one of my all-time favorite movies, a small-budget World War II POW tale called To End All Wars. If you’ve never seen the film – or never even heard of it – and you want to see a moving war film that takes a beautiful look at the Christian faith put to action in the most difficult of circumstances, go down to your local movie rental store and check it out.

The film is based off of the memoir of the same name (originally printed as Through the Valley of the Kwai) by Ernest Gordon, a young man from Scotland who was captured by the Japanese during WWII. The movie tells the story of Gordon’s (Ciaran McMenamin) imprisonment in Burma where he was forced to labor on the project that inspired Alec Guinness’ The Bridge on the River Kwai. He finds himself in brutal conditions, struggling for survival with a ragtag group of POWs including his commanding officer (James Cosmo), brash and defiant Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle), jaded American lieutenant Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland), and the quiet and deeply spiritual Dusty Miller (Mark Strong). As conditions deteriorate and their captors become more and more savage and demanding, the prisoners face the crucial choice between violent rebellion or an even more dangerous option – love for their enemies.

Plainly put, this is what Christian filmmaking ought to be – not a lousy attempt to rip off popular culture (see: Left Behind), but a movie that simply and beautifully tells a redemptive story. Screenwriter Brian Godawa (himself an evangelical Christian) crafts a movie about ideas without becoming overly preachy and director David L. Cunningham turns a shoestring budget into a well crafted film. The cast is good – especially Sutherland and Carlyle – but the real star is the story. The picture of true heroism that is painted is one that is incredibly moving and extremely relevant to Christians from all walks of life. Here, we have a picture of how to love one’s enemies in even the most extreme of circumstances – an idea that sadly is too often neglected by believers. This is a quiet, introspective film, so don’t go in expecting Saving Private Ryan. However, a war film with very little war gives us the opportunity to look inside the characters with a depth sometimes not often present in the genre. All-in-all, the next time you want to watch a film that will be deeply moving and cause you to reflect on the love and grace of Christ, give To End All Wars a shot.

To End All Wars is rated R for strong war violence and some language.

Jack's Back

Heather and I join legions of 24 fans eagerly anticipating the return of Jack Bauer this year. Here's a sneak peak at this fall's 24: Exile, a TV-movie which will act as a prequel to January's season 7 of the hit show.

Back to the Blog

Well, after a crazy couple of weeks following my pastor's resignation, I feel like I'm ready to get back to blogging. In the past few months, I've found blogging to not only be a lot of fun, but also a great way of processing my spiritual thoughts, and I've missed it over the last couple weeks. I look forward to many posts to come, and I covet your prayers as our church contines to move forward in the service of Christ.

Can't Wait

Check out this video for the upcoming PS3/Xbox 360 game Red Faction: Guerrilla, the first game to feature destructible environments where every building is completely rendered in a real-time structural physics engine. Translation - if it would fall down in the real world, it will fall down in the game.