Paul Clark

Rediscovering our imagination

In the Skye Jethani book I'm reading, The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity, the author challenges the reader to consider whether they have the capacity to see the Kingdom of God through their imagination.  Jethani writes:

"Learning to see the world as it truly is- saturated with the presence and love of God- should be the essence of Christian discipleship... most ministries and churches have focused their efforts at spiritual formation upon two areas- knowledge and skills- and have neglected the vital role of the imagination."

That's an intriguing concept for me.  I'm left brained; I have the spiritual gift of administration; I'm immersed in details; I see things as usually black and white; and I've never been accused of being an abstract thinker.

Yet I do sense that God wants me to be more aware of what he is doing all around me. What Jethani is saying dovetails with other things I'm reading that also point to the need to see beyond the two-dimensional reality that presses in on us.  John Ortberg says the same thing in, A River Runs Through It.  Dallas Willard says much the same thing in his VIM structure--calling us to grasp the vision of who God is and what he desires for us.

Jethani points to the church's fixation on "how to" Christianity: i.e. "5 ways to be a better ______." I know I've heard too many of those sermons without much transformation. As a church manager, it's easy to get caught up in a two-dimensional world. One of my prayers for the new year is that God would illuminate my eyes to see and understand the radical vision of Jesus and grasp the fuller reality of "God's Kingdom come down from heaven."

The Sin Tamer | LeadershipJournal.net

One of the best articles I've read in a long time on our human condition...  I hope you'll take the time to read it.

The Sin Tamer | LeadershipJournal.net.

The race isn’t over until it’s over

Last in a series of devotionals on Gideon's life...

If you read the end of the story in Judges Ch. 8, you’ll see that Gideon’s victory was so huge that the people wanted to make him King. Wisely, he declined. But for some strange reason, he asked them to show their appreciation for his leadership by giving him a portion of the gold they had taken from the Midianites.

I don’t think that was something he heard from God. In fact, I think Gideon ends his own story making the same mistake as the rest of Israel-- doing what seemed right in his own eyes. Instead of leveraging his position, his credibility, his leadership, to perhaps tear down the rest of the Baal altars, do away with the Asherah groves, or lead the people back to genuine worship of God, he gave them a golden image that they turned into an idol.  Just another image they could substitute for the true God.

It leaves me scratching my head. Gideon didn’t finish well. Running well doesn’t mean finishing well. The race isn’t over until its over. The epilogue in Gideon’s life is a hard reminder that what we do at the end is just as important as what we do in the middle. So whatever stage of life we’re in or whatever activity we’re involved in, there’s still the opportunity and the challenge for us to finish well.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4                       

At some point, you gotta get out of the boat

This is fifth in a series of Thursday devotionals on Gideon...

After we’ve dealt with our baggage, after we’ve unloaded all our doubts and fears on God, we have to step out in faith. Gideon was able to do that—which I think is what lands him in Hebrews 11 with all the other great people of faith. God told him to tear down his own father’s altar to Baal—he was afraid of the people in town, he was afraid of his family, but he did it—he did it at night when nobody was around—but he did it.

God told him to sound the trumpet and rally the Israelites to battle, he was afraid—he was full of questions—but he put air in that horn and he rallied the people.

God told him to send all but 300 of the 32,000 soldiers that showed up for battle home—he did it, this time with no questions asked.

God told him to break his small army into three groups and attack the Midianite camp with nothing but trumpets, torches and jars—and he did that too, no questions asked (Judges 7:15-18).

Each time Gideon overcame his baggage, overcame his fears, he learned something about trusting God. With only 300 soldiers, he partnered with God to route over 100,000 Midianites and rescued Israel from their tormentors. Each time God asked him to do something, Gideon had fewer and fewer doubts, and greater and greater confidence.

When God gives us a call—a call to ministry, a call to share our faith with our neighbor or person in the cubicle next to us, a call to a new career, a call to fix a broken relationship, a call to some task in his Kingdom, we may have questions and that’s okay, but ultimately we have get out of the boat—we have to take the first step. And each time we do, we grow in our own trust in God’s leading and we gain confidence in our ability to live in God’s strength.

Is there a decision you’re holding out on? Have you heard from God very clearly, but you just can’t get started? Whatever you’re hearing from God, no matter how big it is, or how small it may seem, whatever he is impressing upon your heart, that’s the most important step you can take. Life’s with God is an adventure, an awesome journey of great things, experiences, really cool stuff, if we just do what God asks us to do. If we step out and follow his lead.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

God doesn’t care about our baggage

[Read part 1]
[Read part 2]

Gideon seems to have had a horrible self-image. But God wasn’t turned off by Gideon’s low self-esteem. Look at Judges 6:14-16. When God finds Gideon, he’s hiding from the Midianite soldiers in the winepress, but he’s not pressing wine, he’s threshing wheat. He’s holed up, trying to stay off the radar of the Midianites. 

Gideon sees his nation, his tribe, his family, and himself as weak and insignificant. He’s afraid of the Midianites, he’s afraid of his townspeople, and he’s afraid of his own family. Even when God calls him “mighty warrior” and says he has all the strength he needs to save Israel, and promises to go with him, Gideon shrinks away. He’s got a lot of baggage to overcome. 

I saw a story on CNN a while back about a young man who was living on Skid Row who had every reason to let his baggage keep him from aspiring to something greater.  It's a great story—that someone would have that much hope, that much ambition, even when they have all this baggage hanging around their neck. Some of us have more than others, but we all have baggage. When our baggage gets in the way of responding to God, like it was with Gideon, when it gets in the way of stepping out in faith, then we’ve got a problem we have to overcome.

Get hold of Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter:  "Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God."

God deliberately chose Gideon—a meek, unnoticed, perhaps even cowardly man, to demonstrate his willingness to use anyone. God doesn’t call the best, the brightest, the tallest, the most attractive, he calls the willing…he calls those whose hearts are fully committed to him. God doesn’t care about our baggage.  That's an important truth no matter where we serve. God can use us.

God is always engaged with our life

[2nd in a series of devotional thoughts about Gideon; see part 1]

If you read Exodus and Joshua, you’d have to agree that God was totally engaged with the Israelites: he led them out of Egypt, he parted the Red Sea, he gave them the Mosaic Law, he brought them into the Promised land, and when they refused to take the land by faith, he still provided for them for all those years wandering in the desert. Then when it was time for Joshua to lead the people into Canaan, he gave them explicit instructions—he gave them a covenant to follow—he was totally engaged with them: you’re to drive the inhabitants out; you’re to break down their altars; you’re not to mix with them or make any covenant with them. And by the way, as you do this, I’ll go before you and give you success.

Even as you read about Israel’s disobedience in the early chapters of Judges, you find that God looks at them with kindness and compassion. He sees their distress, he hears their cries and he brings along these judges to rescue them. He’s engaged with their suffering, even when it’s self-inflicted!

When God first approaches Gideon (Judges 6:7-13) with the call to rescue the Israelites, Gideon responds with the prevailing thought of the day: “If the Lord is with us…” Israel perceives that God is no longer with them, yet we know looking through the window of Scripture that God was with them in a big way. Gideon just couldn’t see it.

Why is it that whenever we feel distant from God, whenever we feel alone, we assume God has backed away from us? I’ve felt that way at times.

I’ve wondered why I don’t sense the Holy Spirit prompting me to do certain things, say certain things, share my faith with certain people, like I very clearly have in the past. Like Gideon, I wonder why God isn’t doing the dramatic in my life like he used to, and I make the mistake of thinking that if God isn’t doing something big, he isn’t doing anything at all.

What I’ve consistently found, at least in my life, is that God is always offering to me as intimate a relationship as I am willing to accept. The problem isn’t God, the problem is me. God never moves away from us, we move away from God. God is always engaged with our lives.

a time to pray

This weekend, we’ll gather for an all-church prayer summit. We’ve done these for the last three years. “Prayer meetings” seem old-school, and maybe the image we have in our mind is sort of a throwback. But when the community of faith comes together to pray for the power of God, the presence of God, the holiness of God and the plan of God, it’s not passé, it’s awesome. Paul sets the example for us in his prayer for the church at Ephesus:

“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

Great leadership and sound management are important for any church to advance the Kingdom. But the foundation must be our dependence upon the power and grace of God. Here's a sample from one of our previous summits: Download Prayer Summit 06

Let’s pray…

life lessons from Gideon

I been studying the adventures of Gideon.  As you know, Gideon was a judge in Israel and his role is extremely interesting and encouraging.  Over a series of Thursday blogs, I want to highlight from Gideon's life some lessons that can instruct us as we face whatever we’re facing in our daily lives.

1) God is always engaged with us
2) God doesn’t care about our baggage
3) It’s okay to be human
4) At some point, we gotta get out of the boat
5) The race isn’t over until it’s over

On Thursday's over the next five weeks I'll take this space to look at each of these lessons in detail.  What are you studying?  How do you stay connected to God in the midst of crazy schedules, tough situations, high stress and long hours?

superficial faith- Samson pt. 3

[last of a three-part series on Samson]

Samson treated the calling of God, his Nazirite vow, the favor of God… callously, indifferently… Samson’s religion was superficial. Samson was a hypocrite. He was not the same person on the inside as he was on the outside. That’s the definition of a hypocrite.

On the outside Samson was a judge of Israel. For 20 years he was moderately effective in keeping the Philistines on their heels. They were scared of him. Rightfully so, because he was erratic and unpredictable. He was super-humanly strong. He wore the hair of a Nazirite holy man. When the Spirit of God came on him, he was something to behold. So from all outward appearances, he was God’s man in Israel.

But what was he on the inside? You can always tell what’s on the inside of a man if you know how they conduct themselves when nobody is watching. Sampson repeatedly violated his Nazarite vow, usually when his parents or others were not watching.

Samson was attacked by this wild lion, kills it, tears it apart, but in doing so, comes in direct contact with a dead carcass. A Nazirite is to have no contact with a dead carcass. Samson doesn’t perform any cleansing ritual, which is prescribed in Numbers 6 for just such cases as this, neither does he mention it to his parents. Later on he goes back to the dead carcass and sticks his hand in the shell and scoops out the honey, which he then shares with his parents! He drags them into his fraud.

Later in the passage it says Samson convened a wedding feast, and the Hebrew words denote a “place of drinking.” Guess what, they weren’t drinking Kool Aid. The area was a vineyard. They were drinking wine and fermented drinks like beer, which Samson was expressly forbidden to drink. It’s naive to think that Samson, who spent way too much time in and around vineyards, did not drink forbidden wine or grape products, when he so easily violated his other vows.

Samson kept his hair long in order to maintain the outward appearance of devotion to God, while all the time he was regularly violating that vow.

The last straw was when Delilah cut off his hair, which was the outward expression of what was supposed to be an inward covenant with God. And the Bible says, “the Lord left him.” Samson cast his pearls before swine when he told Delilah the source of his strength…and God walked away from him.

Samson could have rallied Israel to drive out the Philistines. He could have used his vow and his strength to lead Israel to judge these horrible pagan people, just like God wanted to do.

Is your walk with God penetrating the surface of your life? Or are you just wearing the “hairstyle” of a Christian, when the reality is there’s nothing happening on the inside?

• Transformation happens when we have a clear sense of who we are in Christ—we’re his redeemed, his beloved, we’ve been bought with a price… that shapes who we are and how we seek to live…
• Transformation happens when we face our weaknesses head on and ask God to guide us to victory over our own failed humanity… when we crucify the flesh as Apostle Paul says…
• Transformation happens when we live each day allowing God to get below the surface of our lives—letting his Word and his Spirit touch the biggest and the deepest issues we face as Christ-followers…

an unshakable faith

This week we launch our fall spiritual growth series (we call it our fall campaign), called “Unshakable.” We’ll have over 1,000 adults meeting in weekly small groups using a curriculum we wrote that includes brief vignettes from staff pastors and integrates the weekly sermon messages.The students and children develop their own curriculum around the same topic, so it's an all-church series.

It’s a huge undertaking, but one of the highlights of our year. Check out our website at

    www.unshakablelife.com

and feel free to contact me with questions or access to our curriculum. It’s awesome-- I can't wait!