Ministering to the Poor and Homeless: Another Visual Teaching From God

            Last week, Matt Winn, a member of my sermon advisory group, had a fun idea to illustrate the meaning of repentance. God shows his love for us in calling us to repent. He beckons us to leave behind our old thoughts, behaviors, and practices, and allow Christ to reshape us as we turn 180° toward him.

            To illustrate this in my sermon, Matt’s idea was to dress one of our members in old, shoddy clothes in order to make him look like a homeless person. Makeup was added, and he appeared to be in a bad way.

            As I began my sermon, our “guest” ambled up toward the front. I invited one of our members, who is known for having a heart for the poor, to escort this gentleman discreetly through one of our doors to the baptistery in order to offer some help.

            Of course, this was a setup. Volunteers cleaned the makeup off, and our “homeless man” had a nice clean set of clothes stashed away so that he could change. Near the end of my sermon, I brought him out along with our “volunteer servant.”

            At that point, most of our members recognized what was happening. To finish the illustration, I instructed our “servant” to dispose of the old clothes. At that moment, the “homeless man” tried to grab them. He acted like he wanted to put them back on again. No one in that auditorium would have wanted that for a real homeless man. To nail down the meaning, I asked our “servant” to throw the old clothes away in the dumpster.

            The hope in all this was to illustrate that all Christians are clothed in Christ. (26All of you are God's children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. 27And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes [Gal. 3:26-27.] CEV Emphasis mine.)

            With this being true, why would we want to return to our old clothes? (13 Let us live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or get drunk. There should be no sexual sins of any kind, no fighting or jealousy.14 But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self. [Rom. 13:13-14.] NCV Emphasis mine.)

            (12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience [Col. 3:12.] NIV Emphasis mine.)

            However, as often happens, I learned something else in this sermon, something I had never planned. When God invites his people to participate in ministry to the poor, we are channeling God. When we take homeless people and clean them up, give them nourishment, hope, and a way for the future, we are allowing God to do His work through us.

            We know what it means to take homeless people and to clean them up, give them new clean clothes, and pray that they not return to the old; however, this is also an illustration from God. Our service to the poor is a symbol of what God does for us. He allows us to re-create his spiritual acts with us, and hopefully, each time we do, it is a visible reminder of how God feels about us.

            God wants us to put away our old clothes, be clothed with Christ, and never return to the old clothes. May we remember this every time we minister to the poor.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Evidently, one of the hot new bloggers of the young evangelicals is Rachel Held Evans. She has already written one book Evolving in Monkey Town. Now she is at work on a second--The Quest for Biblical Womanhood.

            Here is how she herself describes it: “Think of it as John Piper meets Martha Stewart meets Julie & Julia meets A Year of Living Biblically. Just enough crazy to interest everyone.”

            I read A. J. Jacobs’ book THE YEAR OF LIVING BIBLICALLY. His goal was to literally live one full year according to biblical teachings—including the Old Testament. The results were sometimes hilarious.

            Now Evans aspires to do the same, except she plans to literally obey commands in scripture given to women. The book sounds promising. I cracked up when I read that she planned on staying in the back yard in a tent during “that time of the month.” (She must comply with the OT law of staying outside the camp.)

            My guess is her book will prove thought provoking and funny.

2. I refuse to get my hopes up—too much—for the Mavs. Nice win finishing off LA yesterday. Yet, I remember the Mavs destroying Miami in Game 2 of the 2006 Finals. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice…

3. Last week, we in the Shiloh office said “goodbye” to Sherry Bobbitt. Sherry began working for Shiloh before I arrived, and she was a wonderful help to me as I began to integrate myself into the Shiloh culture. Through the years, she grew to be valuable to my personal ministry. She was my proofreader, my archivist, and much, much more. I wish Sherry the very best in her next endeavor, but we will miss her greatly.

4. I finished watching the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg mini-series, THE PACIFIC, last week. My in-laws loaned it to me. One of the series’ characters, R.V. Burgin, attended church with Judy’s family when she was growing up. It was neat having that personal connection.

            I actually appreciated THE PACIFIC more than I did BAND OF BROTHERS, which I would have thought impossible. It does a magnificent job of revealing the Marines’ inner struggles—struggles understandable when you consider the hellish conditions they faced.

            One of the Marines, Eugene Sledge, stands on the brink of losing his humanity as the Marines invade Okinawa and face an enemy unafraid to use Japanese civilians to conceal weapons for sneak attacks. The scene where he reconnects with his humanity is one of the most powerful I have ever seen in a visual medium.

            This mini-series is not for the faint of heart. It is raw and graphic. Personally, I feel a vehicle such as this demonstrates the value of a society without censorship. It is a public service for citizens to receive just a little taste of how bad war is.

            Well done, HBO.

5. Related to THE PACIFIC, Hans Zimmer's music is haunting and beautiful--the perfect score. Check it out on I-TUNES. 

  

A Little Dab Will Do You

             I received good and interesting feedback on my thoughts on THE LORD’S SUPPER/COMMUNION last week. What I wish to do today is unusual for me; today, I wish to make an argument for the other side.

            It would go like this.

            There is no way we can replicate the Lord’s Supper/Communion experience of the First Century. First, for a substantial number of Christians, that meal was their biggest and best of the week. (This is one of the reasons Paul jumped on the more well-to-do Corinthians—they enjoying a relatively sumptuous meal; meanwhile, the poor had little to eat and left hungry.)

            Meat was not an item Christians could always afford. For Jewish Christians, a carry-over from some of the sacrificial meals under the old law was eating meat during sacred meals. Most of us regularly eat meat, and when was the last time you enjoyed a church’s potluck more than you did food from your favorite restaurant.

            Second, for some early Christians, the only time they would enjoy a full stomach would be after the agape meal (the meal experienced in the context for the Lord’s Supper/Communion.) Were we to eat our fill during the Lord’s Supper/Communion today, we would have to wait until—the next meal… before we would fill our stomachs again. Whether we desire to admit or not, most of us have enough food in our pantries to fill our stomach’s for a week or two.

            Most of us, Christians, in the U.S. are simply affluent. So why make a big deal about eating our fill during the Lord’s Supper/Communion?

            The fact is, we are not where we are going. We have not experienced heaven’s wedding meal with the Lamb. That is to come. Indeed, it says something about our present limitations that we can eat until our bellies are full, and yet we hunger again by the time the next meal rolls around.

            Why not partake of just a taste of heaven—a reign and an experience that is not fully consummated yet?

            Someday, that age will come—but not yet. The wafer of unleavened bread and the thimbleful cup size of grape juice remind us of our present existence.

            LIFE IS BETTER, NOW THAT WE KNOW THE LORD. However, we are not where we desire to be—or where we will be.

            Until then, we will eat portions influenced by a fallen creation to celebrate God’s work in Jesus, and encourage us to wait for what is to come.

            I am not saying this should be our regular practice. I am saying how we think could redeem our current practice.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Okay, I have read messages from some of my friends on Facebook—wonderful, spiritual, and godly reactions to Osama Bin Laden’s death. These included marvelous scriptures that really made me think.

            So now, I am going to offer my initial emotional reaction. I am not saying it was right. Indeed, in light of scripture, it probably was wrong. But here it is:

            Last night, my daughter, Haleigh, woke me up from a deep sleep. Excitedly, she said, “Dad, they just killed Osama bin Laden. The president is speaking.”

               This is one of the few times I can remember being awakened from a deep sleep, and feeling upbeat about the experience. Instantly, even as my mind was processing the news, I felt positive emotions.

            Entering our den, where Haleigh had the president's speech live on the computer, I saw and heard him talking to the nation, and to the world. By then, I was fully awake, and I felt deep joy.

            Ten years is a long time. The world is a different place.

            Recently, I began watching Tom Hanks’ mini-series, THE PACIFIC. Some of those soldiers experienced perhaps the closest humans will get to hell on earth. Suicidal enemies attacking them using island civilians as instruments to blow up and destroy American soldiers. I tend to give others the benefit of the doubt when they have to choose between two or more bad choices.

            I am blessed by the world those soldiers helped protect. It is hard for me to divorce myself from this country. I have lived in other countries; there is no place like this one.

            I like feeling safe. I like feeling free.

            I appreciate our policemen. I appreciate our military.

            When others risk much (including the possibility that they might be doing something morally wrong in the pursuit of doing what is right), with the result being I am safer and free, I cannot help but feel gratitude.

2. Someday, someone should write an updated theology of government. When you wake up and find yourself the most powerful government on earth, how do you handle that responsibility?

            I suspect it is similar to waking up and finding yourself receiving the responsibility of parenthood. You cannot serve without sinning; yet, to walk away from the responsibility is sinning.

3. Way to go Mavs! Way to beat Portland.

4. DeMarco Murray drafted by the Dallas Cowboys? Please! If he cannot stay healthy in college, how in the world will he in the NFL?

5. It was five years ago this week I began my ministry at Shiloh. I am grateful, and there is no other place on earth I would rather be.