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Joy, fruit of the Spirit, happiness
Joy, fruit of the Spirit, happiness Entries in fruit of the Spirit (3)
Meditation: In Defense of the Hopelessly Happy
Monday, December 3, 2012 at 10:07AM 
When the Preacher, who confined himself to matters under the sun, intoned, “with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief,” he forever linked the idea that serious people were sad because disillusionment is the only choice of the enlightened. Camus, Satre, Voltaire (anyone from France, really) and most great thinkers have fallen in line with the fallen king of Israel. The wisdom of the wise is to expect disappointment, anticipate disaster, and gainsay anyone who prefers sunrise to sunset.
The worldly-wise require a dreary realism for club membership. The doorman greets the cynic, but keeps the hopeful behind the velvet rope. Happy people are hopeless, they say: hopelessly idealistic and hopelessly romantic.
In fact, the exact opposite is true: happy people are the hope-filled, the joy saturated, the ones so full of the Spirit he oozes out of them. The surprising testimony of the scripture, and the Lord of the scripture, is that history has a destination of unspeakable joy.
Even when we look cold-hard at the suffering of a desperate world, we can see the text of God super-imposed on the landscape, written with a feather-touch: “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” This week I invite you to meditate with me on the fruit of the Spirit, those nine attributes I can never seem to remember in order: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Discover again with me that “serious” is not a fruit of the Spirit.
The shipwrecked and beaten apostle reminds us, “against such things there is no law.” They cannot be legislated into existence, nor regulated out. They can only be lived into. They can only be discovered as the natural outgrowth of a life lived in concert with the Great Creator, the Feast-throwing Father, the one who invites us, “enter into the joy of your Master.”
Was Jesus Numerically Challenged?
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 12:43AM 
A few days ago I stumbled across a sentence that has absolutely captured my attention. It’s from the blog of a nationally-known Evangelical pastor. The sentence is part of a longer blog post, and as such is not meant to stand entirely on its own, yet it set the stage for the rest of the post that celebrated what God had done in the past and the lessons the pastor had learned in the first 15 years of ministry. Near the very beginning of his post, he said:
“The fact that we’ve grown to over 12,000 people worshiping and serving each Sunday at 14 locations in four states is proof of God’s grace.” ~ A Nationally-known Evangelical Pastor
I read the quote several times. It bounced around in my head, making noise like two random and unrelated piano keys struck at the same time. I couldn’t read the rest of the article. Instead, I pasted the sentence on to my facebook and Twitter pages and asked my friends for their reactions. Here are a few samples:
- It sounds like a dangerous presumption.
- Yes, I do think it's by God's grace, but it sounds more like "12k people! 14 locations! 4 states! Ergo, I AM AWESOME!" Somebody's big fat ego peeked out behind what was probably a sincere attempt at giving God the glory, which is His alone. Darn.
- The fact that I run circles around everyone shows that God is good. WhatdoyathinkofmeNOW?
- Jesus only had a handful of people, no building, and no cash. How sad that by Western standards, he didn't do a great work.
- More needs to be known . . . The numbers might be good, and might not be.
- It sounds like a guy who wishes he could cage fight Jesus :)
- The proof of God's grace is what the 12,000 people are doing Monday through Saturday.
- Numbers alone are only proof of crowds gathering.
- That quote isn't universally true, but it may very well be true of their situation. Numbers alone don't tell the whole story.
Now I’m asking for your help in sorting out my thoughts, which are a varied a bag of Skittles. Here, taste a few colors:
I’ve never met the megachurch pastor quoted above, but I believe him to be sincere. I trust his motives even if I do not understand his methods. The religious world of Christianity is filled with its share of competition and jealousy--I’m sure this man has been criticized unfairly and been the envy of others. I also wonder how he can appeal to a numeric accounting of the grace of God.
The Father isn’t against big numbers, because he loves the whole world, and that’s a pretty big number. On the day of Pentecost 3,000 were added to the church in a single day. That’s a pretty big number. John the Revelator looked into the heavens and saw the angelic host of heaven, “myriads of myriads, ten thousand times ten thousands.” According to my calculations that comes to, uh, give me a moment, uh . . . a pretty big number. God can count. He numbers the hairs on my head and calls the starry host into the night sky one by one. The biggest megachurch is yet to come, and I’ll be there without complaint.
Yet Jesus went about changing the world in a remarkably small way. A short life, few followers, and a handful of seed at the end. The resurrected Lord tossed the seed into the ground and said, “I’m outa here.” He left eleven un-cultured leaders, perhaps 120 people, no budget, no map, and no plan except “make disciples and teach them to obey.” The only asset they possessed was an imperishable seed. Any worldly accounting considered Jesus a failure and the ragtag collection of followers no threat to Jewish society, much less the nations of the world. Only in hindsight do we see the wisdom and grace of God revealed.
One of the largest churches in history was the Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, Turkey. Built for the glory of God in the 5th century, it housed Christian worship for a thousand years--until it became a mosque for 500 years. Today it is a museum. I’m pretty sure it’s a parable that’s been told very slowly. Thirty years ago the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California welcomed 10,000 worshippers and more than two million viewers each week. This year it filed for bankruptcy in its 46 million dollar debt.
Jesus didn’t do arithmetic. He did the higher level math. He engaged in human alchemy and turned human beings into living stones. He built good foundations and let the centuries gently press down on his church. The church he built will never change hands. It’s the only church that will last.
It’s the model I want to follow. I want to be the seed that falls into the ground and finds good soil. If I impact 30, 60, or a 100 people during my lifetime I’ll consider it a fruitful life.
Can you help me sort through these thoughts? What is your opinion? What kind of church is evidence of the grace of God?
Monday's Meditation: Gifts, Fruit, and Spoiled Brats
Monday, February 14, 2011 at 09:28AM 
My son has always been above average: even as a child, when he entered the terrible-two’s at 18 months. In the three or four days leading up to his second birthday he was nearly impossible: temper tantrums a dozen times a day, unhappy with everything around him. Finally, on the morning of his second birthday I looked at my wife and said, “That’s it! I’ve had it! There will be no birthday party today. Take back all his presents--he doesn’t deserve them.”
Who would refuse to give a birthday gift simply because a child was acting, well, childish? Now, years later, my son is in his twenties: married, gainfully employed, following Jesus, and a delight to be around.
This week’s meditation invites you to consider the difference between gifts and fruit: Paul’s letters to young churches mention both the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5) and gifts of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12). The Heavenly Father is a father of infinite generosity and infinite patience. He gives us what we need, and grows in us what we become. Both actions begin with him. Both actions reflect his character. Yet there are distinct differences between gifts and fruit.
It is too common among North American believers to fixate on one or the other: some believers celebrate the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the neglect of Godly character. Others concentrate on the fruit of the Spirit as if the Father has nothing more to give. Of course, we need both. And of course, the Father wants us to have both. No amount of Christian character can fill a supernatural need, and no supernatural power can replace Christlikeness.
As we launch into the everyday world between Sundays, perhaps we should consider the place of both gifts and fruit in our lives:
- Do I reject what the Father gives?
- Do I prize prize his gifts above his character?
- Do I follow the command of the scripture and “eagerly desire” his gifts?
- Do I lay hold of the call to become conformed to his image?
- Do I live a life of balance in all the Spirit wants to do?