The Name and The Nations

It’s a sunny afternoon in Northern Holland.  The breeze blows steadily through the courtyard as I sip on my newfound favorite European beverage, Bitter Lemon.  I’m perched outside of Café Studio in the square of Haarlem, familiar to those of you who read The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom.  If you haven’t read it, read it.  She led a resistance movement, spurred on by her pursuit of Christ, by hiding Jews during the Nazi regime.  She eventually spent time in a concentration camp before being released and travelling the world telling her story.  I’ve just spent the last hour of my morning away touring her home.  Actually had the opportunity to stand in the “hiding place”.  What an emotional moment.  But for now, my emotions and energies are focused elsewhere.

An accordion begins to play in the distant air as a young man and woman make their way table to table attempting to earn a living.  They hold my attention momentarily before my gazed becomes fixed on the stunning structure that stands just across the cobblestone path from me.  One of the most stunning church buildings I have ever seen.  I’m baffled that I didn’t notice it on my way to the café, but am thankful I’ve noticed it.  I hurriedly finished lunch and paid the bill in order to have plenty of time to explore before retuning to Amsterdam in the mid-afternoon.  As if it were perfectly orchestrated for photographing, the sun fades into the clouds, and I set off around, what I assumed to be a stunning feat of architecture, excited for the opportunity to explore, anticipating the chance to duck inside and take in the cathedral ceilings.  Maybe there’s and old pipe organ or unique stained glass.  The anticipation continued to build as I approached the front of the structure.  Then, it all changed.  In an instant, what had been so appealing became almost offensively frustrating.

Four large round metal poles.  Two on the top left, two on the top right.  Attaching the front of a once complete, beautiful, fully functioning church, to a now turned entertainment complex and office building.  I stood in amazement, taking a moment to make sure I had really seen things as they were.  The front portion of a stunning church.  The remainder of the building removed, replaced with new bricks, modern architecture, and all the latest luxuries.  Yep. That was it.  Front looks like a church. Back looks like it just walked out of the 21^st Century.  Stunned, I made my way back to a chair and table.  Needed to process.  A portrait taking shape in my mind.  And then He begins to put the pieces together for me. 

Don’t be relevant for just a season.

Don’t sell out for something less satisfying.

Don’t pretend to be something you’re not.

Unfortunately, the church in Europe did all of the above. Don’t be that way Jared. What God intended the church to be, it is no longer. Certainly it is making strides and great things are happening around the world.  However, this portrait is a clear example of the decline of the church.  Instituted to be ministers of reconciliation to the world, a body that displays the greatness and majesty of God to the world, a people created to be satisfied in Christ alone, no longer.  Whored out to the world in the footsteps of the Israelites.  Adorned with external beauty.  Stunning feats of architecture and great acoustics.  Now reduced to mere photographs.  Replaced with new windows that house lawyers and businessmen.  But they left a remnant.  The stunning entrance remains attached.  So all are free to gawk and marvel at the beauty that remains.  And walk away unsatisfied.  Because the church championed architecture and attractive meeting places.  But failed to champion Christ.  And everything else burns.

Now I believe that the church is not confined or defined by a building.  However, the point remains.  The church, broadly defined, has sold out to the notion that it has to be attractive enough.  And many are pursing the latest marketing strategies and newest ideas in this endeavor.  All well and good.  To a degree.  Where they will be tested and tried and found to be wanting, is in what they (we) celebrate and champion.  If Christ is not championed, we’ll be left with a front wall attached to the latest greatest entertainment complex or business park.  The church in Europe should be heard.  Don’t sell out to entertainment.  Don’t sell out to the demands of the masses.  Sell out to Christ.  And sell it all.

And the same warning resounds in my heart.  Champion Christ, and nothing less.  Anything less leaves you looking good on the outside, but the façade is always attached to something less satisfying.  Sure, it might be fit to photograph.  And photographs are worth a thousand words. But if those words tell the story of a people that were swept into eternity dissatisfied with everything they championed, well, then it’s the saddest story ever told.

God grant that we’d be a people that would champion Christ in all things.  

Thoughts on Stereotypes

This post has been brewing for some time.  It may be a tad offensive to some of my friends (maybe even family) from the south.  Being home this weekend and having some conversations about life and work in California finally prompted me to post my thoughts on the stereotypes that exist regarding life on the left coast, as well as life in the south.  So here goes.

For whatever reason, a move to the West Coast was a big deal for a lot of people.  A lot of people besides me.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, a move to away from home was a move away from home.  And that’s never easy.  But outside of that, I didn’t really think much about moving to California.  I didn’t think much of the differences in culture.  It just came with the territory.  Another culture.  Similar but different from the southern US.  Same language (for the most part J), different pace of life, etc.  No biggie.  Well, not so much.  See, for the first several months (and sometimes even today) I get asked by people how the transition to life in California is going.  To me, this is an interesting question.  The people who ask that are from California mostly want to know how I’m transitioning into my new job.  Some of them ask about what it’s like to live on my own away from parents and family.  Some of them, though, want to know how a southern boy is doing in the southland of California.  They want to know how I’m adjusting to the culture of California and it’s differences from Alabama.  Often, this strikes me as quite entertaining, because there are a lot of similarities to California that I see in Alabama.  In fact, sometimes I respond with the assertion that it’s not that different really.  Now, certainly there are some differences, and to say that California is like Alabama, based on my limited exposure to a fairly conservative area of California, is a broad generalization.  Still, it makes me chuckle that people sometimes worry that this southern boy is going to hate California.  Which brings me to the point of stereotypes.  See, (most) Californians think that Southerners are people who drive trucks (I’ve never owned a truck), are missing teeth (I have all of mine), grew up with an aversion toward black people (nope), went to home school (nope again), greatly dislike, even hate those living a homosexual lifestyle (I don’t at all), and sleep with their relatives.  Now, for a large majority of people from the south, I would be off base to say that’s a fairly typical generalization, and to some degree I say, spot on.  The reality is, I grew up with people, still know people, and am related to people who would affirm and live out (sadly) all of those generalizations (probably with the exception of sleeping with relatives).  Now, again, those are all generalizations about the south, but I’ve actually met a lot of people from California that would assert many if not most of those.  Because that’s the picture that has been painted for them.  Through the media and through the people who actually venture out to California and go to Disneyland or something and live out many of those stereotypes.  Unfortunately.  Cmon, I’ve seen many of them and I’ve only been here 11 months (though I have been to Disney about 15 times J).  So that’s coming from the West.  Now let’s move to the South.

What prompted this was actually a couple of statements that have been made to me over the past weekend and even months from people that live in the south.  Friends of mine.  Mostly.  When I mention to someone from Alabama that I live and work in southern California most of them cock their head sideways and look and me funny.  The next question (no lie) that comes out of their mouth is, “As a missionary right?  Because man they need to know God out there.” (Yes, I realize I am only about to further the stereotype Californians have about Southerners, but oh well).  My response at first, very early on, was to laugh, and then explain what I do and why I do it.  As time went on, and I continued to fall in love with California, I began to get more frustrated with the calls and emails and conversations where people would ask how I was dealing with the people and lifestyle of California.  Most of them would follow that by, affirming me that they were praying for me and my ministry there (again, thankful for the prayers).  However, they continued to miss it.  The stereotypes were that all of us out in California are smoking dope, wearing dreadlocks, surfing, dating people of the same sex, and hugging trees, killing the economy, in between daily earthquakes and wildfires (ok, so the fires part is kinda true).   Also the economy part.  But the point is, people from the south have an understanding of Californians that is shaped by (mainly) what they see on the big screen and hear in the media.  The reality is, most of them have never even been to California, and don’t even know anyone from California (besides me).  There were two statements this week that pushed me over the top and really encouraged me to write this post.  At one point this weekend I was talking to a friend and said, you know, you should come out to California and visit.  The response was a very sharp “I have no desire to ever go to that horrid place.”  I gotta admit I was completely floored.  Not necessarily at the response, but mainly because I saw what fueled the passion in their voice.  A second, and more frustrating statement was from someone I don’t even know.  They were “encouraging” me in my work in California, and said, “Don’t let California rub off on you now ya hear?”  My response was almost as sharp as the conversation previous had been toward me.  I quipped back, “Exactly what does that mean?”  Nothing.  It means nothing.  Nothing other than they have no idea about California.  No idea. 

Ok, so I have been a little fussy over this.  But here’s my issue.  It’s a heart issue, and it goes for us Californian’s just as much as it does for southerners (though born and bred in the south, I’m a Californian now J).  Here’s what I think we like to do.  We like to put “become all things to all people…” on teeshirts and bumper stickers and billboards.  We like to theme disciplenow’s and youth camps around the idea, but most of us have no clue what it means to do that.  Much less how to.  You see, I’m finding that in order to be all things to all people, you have to actually work to enjoy and appreciate and love their culture.  Which means, you have to work to let go of the stereotypes and idiosyncrasies that come with yours.  Now, I don’t live with the unrealistic expectation that we will ever be able to let go of ALL of our cultural biases.  That won’t happen until glory, however, I do think it is a vital, and oftentimes overlooked aspect of dying to yourself and following Christ.  I think it’s an aspect of being an alien and stranger here on this earth that we fail to emphasize.  Because, in reality, when and if this happens, it frees you (gloriously) to passionately and intentionally pursue people from all walks of life, races, and ethnicities with the Gospel of Christ.  The alternative is living comfortably in your given cultural context, believing God is white and speaks English, all the while missing the world that waits to hear the Gospel.  And the reality is that it has a great deal with culture and stereotypes that we form (sadly, for many, in their American churches on Sunday morning).  Maybe the church should get out of the way of fulfilling the Great Commission.  The reality is, many of them, are hindering more than they are helping.  It’s often said, and rightly so, the most segregated place on Sunday mornings in the south are churches.  And it is true.  Sadly.  But it doesn’t have to be.  See, I think that if we would just embrace what it really means to live the way of Jesus that all of that crap would fade away.  In fact, if we would just read the Word more devotedly and intentionally, I know it would.  It would have to, or we’d have to face the reality that the Spirit doesn’t live in us.  Because if the Spirit does actually live in us, He will begin to chip away (sometimes ever so slowly) at the issues that cloud and cover our eyes from intentionally engaging the world with the Gospel.  In California and in Alabama and in Cambodia and in Albania.  And it often is hindered because of stereotypes.  So let’s leave the elementary doctrines and move on to meat. 

Again, I apologize for all of you that this offended.  You may want to go back a couple of posts and look at children to make you feel better.  J

So, I could spend a lot of time here letting you all know the living nightmare I've been through over the past day plus.  Currently, I'm still stuck in Birmingham.  Not the weather's fault entirely.  Honestly, and this is just being honest, the people working here did not know what they were doing.  And as a result, I am still here.  I must admit that I've had to go back to several people over the course of the last 12 hours in the Birmingham airport, and apologize for losing my temper with them.  Let them know that's not my heart, and that I am sorry for being so frustrated with them.  As if that weren't humbling enough, Hebrews 4:14-16:  "Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  Yep, just read that at the gate here in Birmingham.  So, because I (we) have high priest in Christ, hold fast to my confession.  The confession that Christ is more satisfying and life-sustaining and enjoyable and filling than any set of circumstances in life.  That in the moments that I am most frustrated and tired and cranky, because I have a high priest, hold fast to that confession.  Because Christ is Christ, be spurred on toward holiness.  In this instance patience.  He was tempted in every way.  Yet without sin.  In.  Every.  Way.  Yet without sin.  Tempted to fly off the handle at people (in sin)?  Yes.  In every way.  Yet I fly off at people because I can't get where I want to go.  Really?  Because I can't get where I want to go?  Yeah.  Really.  So my confession doesn't always seem to add up to my confession (verbally or actively).  What to do?  Be thankful for 16.  Confidently drawing near to the throne of GRACE to receive MERCY and find GRACE to help.  In time of need.  Overwhelming, undeserved, grace and mercy.  To help. In times of need.  Like anytime you travel through Birmingham :).  

Easter Meditations on the Cross

Thoughts from several conversations have raced through my head today as I’ve thought upon the significance of the cross and the magnitude of what was accomplished in and through the work of Christ on the cross.  I’ve read a lot recently, even had some conversations about the differing lines of thought regarding the death of Christ on the cross.  Most of them revolve around differing viewpoints as to whether Christ did or did not, on the cross, satisfy the divine justice of God in punishing sin.  Did Christ, in his death on the cross and subsequent resurrection purchase through His blood men and women for God by bearing the wrath that was justly due their sin?  Did He stand in their stead and absorb the divine justice of God?  OR, did He simply come to unite the divine and mere mortal, revealing some “better way to live” or idea of motivating people to live a better life of sacrifice and obedience leaving them to themselves to work to please the Creator God?  At stake here is the beauty of the Gospel.  At stake here, and relevant to the conversation, is the nature of God, for, if you have a right view of God, you will have a right view of sin.  And if you have a biblically informed view of sin and God, you will have a biblically informed and accurate view of the cross. 

Some texts have come to mind in considering the idea of Christ taking the place of one condemned and guilty, and bearing the divine punishment of a just and holy God which sin justly deserves.  So some texts and then a few thoughts.

Luke 23:18 and following: “But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder…”I have found no guilt deserving death”…But their voices prevailed.  So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted.  He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.”

Luke 23:39 and following:  “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’  But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Romans 3:21 and following:  “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.  This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

John 3:14-15:  “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”  I would encourage you to read the account of the people of Israel in the wilderness  from Numbers 21:4-9 for the context of this statement.  Also, see John Piper’s sermon “The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up—Like the Serpent”

2 Corinthians 5:19, 21: “that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

There are countless other passages both Old and New Testament alike, which speak to and clearly set the matter to rest.  Christ’s death on the cross both satisfies God’s anger in punishing sin in being condemned in the place of sinners who would repent and trust Him through faith, and upholds God’s justice in forgiving said sinners of their sin.  This is clearly seen in the narrative context of Pilate freeing Barabbas, who, the text notes, was a guilty and justly condemned criminal.  The portrait painted in Luke is that Christ is taken in to custody and punished through sentence of death, in the place of a man who justly deserved to die.  The narrative context is continued on the cross where we see one guilty criminal realize and embrace the reality that Christ was condemned and punished unjustly (in terms of the law), for he had done no wrong, but they, convicted criminals, got what they deserved.  Paul further illustrates this point as he expound the deeper theological idea that God’s righteousness is upheld in punishing Christ in the place of sinners.  Paul understood that it’s not a simple moral imperfection or disobedient bent that we have.  It’s a complete and utter hatred and rebellion toward a holy and just God.  It’s not something self-help can fix.  There aren’t enough volumes of better living books that could be written to help us gain insight.  At the end of the day, there is no hope.  Unless God becomes man, lives a life that is given to God in obedience and holiness, lives blameless and perfect, and goes to bat for those condemned, rebellious and living enslaved to sin and disobedience towards God.  And so he did.   Christ intervenes in the cross and satisfies God’s holiness by standing in mans place by bearing God’s holy anger and wrath in punishing sin.  This is the clear biblical portrait.  Christ does in fact stand in man’s place, bear the punishment and pain that we deserve, and not only this, but credits His righteousness to us who would repent of sin and turn in faith to Him.  From just the above texts we must affirm that Christ does in fact bear the punishment of sin, upholding God’s divine justice and righteous by becoming sin, so that we who believe might be made righteous before a Sovereign God.  I believe any other understanding of the atonement and cross work of Christ must be judged and found wanting.   

So after about 5 hours of haggling, charming, getting on the flight I needed to be on, having that flight get delayed, forced missed connections, and running down the cell battery, I'm holed up in the Sheraton, downtown Birmingham, the Magic City.  

I have much to write.  My time here in the Philippines has been some of the most rewarding and memorable of my entire life.  I have (again) fallen for another people and their country.  For now, some pictures I've taken of some of the children I've had the pleasure of meeting.  Enjoy.

Well, it turns out the dwindling economy has a few perks for those of us who travel internationally on occasion.  I’m on board an Asiana Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Manila, via Seoul.  38,000 feet.  Boeing 747-400, and I’m one of only 10 AT MOST passengers in the back 12 rows of the plane.  I have the entire center section to myself for sleeping and then have an “office” if you will, set up on the two rows adjacent to me.  It’s quite easy to fly for 14 hours when you can stretch out and sleep with no interruption.  It’s eerily similar to the lack of travel during the SARS epidemic in Asia back in 2003.  Just without the Asian women in surgical masks. 

I’ve grown accustomed to cramped quarters and little legroom, so here’s to you Asiana Airlines, winner of the 2009 Airline of the Year.  No kidding.  People will rave about you when you give them four seats to bed down in.  I certainly am.

I spent the last hour with Matt Chandler and we’re about 6 hours out from Seoul.  Just read through Psalm 18 several times and here are some thoughts:

“This God—his way is perfect, the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” (Psalm 18:30)

I find in my own heart this sick tension between knowing those statements about Him are true, yet failing to be able to actually appropriate the action.  Namely, actually taking refuge in him.  Knowing full well and affirming that His way is perfect, His word is true and that He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  Yet I often lack the discipline to actually take refuge.  This isn’t a new struggle with me.  In fact, it’s something that consistently haunts me, though haunt is probably a strong word.  There’s a reason though.  See, my story is that I was convinced for many years that I was following Christ.  Woke up one Sunday morning 14 years after “giving my life to Christ” and realized I’d never really given anything to Him, mainly because it wasn’t mine to give, it was His to capture.  And when He finally did, it turned my world upside down.  Literally.  Everything I ever knew or thought or thought I thought about God was in an instant smashed and broken by the glorious freedom of finally understanding and embracing the gospel.  But it hasn’t been without consequence or struggle in my own life.  You see, the struggle for me is looking back on a life filled with the rigors of “discipline” and “study” and “planning events for Jesus” or being the founding member of the Christian club at Carbon Hill High School or preaching my first “sermon” (which had to be the worst thing ever) at 16 years old.   I look back on all of that with the reality that I did all of that, disciplined and ordered my life with no real relationship with Christ.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I am thankful He saved me from myself and walk in that daily.  But the struggle for me at times is to completely turn and run from anything that feels “structured” or “disciplined” or “duty oriented”.  All this, to some degree, rightly so, but what I see in scripture clearly speaks to discipline and action.  Actively, take refuge in Him.  Actively, care for the widow and poor.  Actively, preach the word, etc.  You see, my aversion to doing things that seem too structured is because I was saved out of that type of lifestyle, and at times, my flesh wants to revert to that, yet my head sometimes convinces myself that I have to have these warm fuzzies in order to actually be serving Christ with the right heart.  But this notion doesn’t hold water, because Scripture repeatedly talks of discipline, of actively choosing Christ over things that are temporal or fleeting.  And it doesn’t say that the host of angels has to play harp music in your heart as you choose those things.  But for someone who was saved out of a “thought you had it but didn’t” lifestyle, you can sense the struggle.  All of this to say, I know, believe and affirm God’s goodness, faithfulness, and perfection.  And I long to see myself taking refuge in Him more than I do.  I long to have affections that are centered on Him, so much so that my motivation for doing whatever it is that I do, is an outflow of that affection, because I believe it’s what it means to live for Christ in the world.  Namely, that the things we do be motivated by the God we know, that we know Him rightly and therefore act.

Ciao for now.  

It's hard to believe that I've been a California resident for just over 7 months.  I must say, the past 7 months have been some of the most amazing months of my life.  I have a great job.  I work with great people.  I sit humbled daily before a Great God.  Deserving nothing that I get on a daily basis.  Not even this horribly polluted but gloriously refreshing Southern California air.

“He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what shall I compare it?  It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”  And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

Though I’m an Alabama boy, I didn’t really grow up around a farm or cows or horses.  Although I remember someone close to our family had a llama.  Shocking I know, because most equate Alabama with farms and barns and rednecks.  We have our fair share of each, but I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to grow up surrounded by farming friends, but not in a farming family.  There were certainly times that I found myself kind of jealous that they got to do a lot of cool things that I didn’t get to do.  They knew how to do a lot of cool things I didn’t.  Like tip a cow.  Or something along those lines. 

When I read Luke 13:18-20, I think, maybe I might understand this passage a little better had I been a farm boy.  See, I distinctly remember a friend of mine whose father owned a hardware store.  And sometimes after school we would go into the hardware store and go over to the seed section and play around for a while. I was in first or second grade so it was cool back then.  I remember looking at the seeds and “knowing” how it worked, namely that you’d plant it in the ground and it would grow.  As much as I knew how it worked I’d never experienced the process of sowing that seed and watching it grow up.  Especially a mustard seed.  Obviously the desire never intrigued me to the extent that I actually tried to plant something, but I think if I had, I would’ve understood this text a little more clearly.

Jesus is saying to a crowd of people that he has just rebuked, shamed, and called hypocrites, “I will tell you what the kingdom of God is like”.  The text opens with, “He said therefore…” So the encounter He just had with the religious rulers is directly tied to the statements He is about to make regarding the kingdom of God.  In verses 10 thru 17 He is dealing with the rulers of the synagogue who rebuked the people because Jesus had just healed a woman who had been plagued with a disabling spirit for 18 years.  The issue the ruler took was that the healing, seen as “work”, was done on the Sabbath.  Jesus retorts with clear frustration exclaiming that even the rulers and Pharisees untie their donkeys and oxen on the Sabbath so they can drink water.  The text goes so far as to note that the rulers were put to shame but the crowd rejoiced.  This is the context of Jesus’ teaching on what the kingdom of God is like.

Jesus paints for us, two pictures comparing the kingdom of God.  First, He says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed.  Ok.  A mustard seed.  Really?  Yes.  A small, tiny grain of a mustard seed.  I’m told it’s one of the smallest seeds in the world.  One grain of mustard seed that a man sows in his garden.  So the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed planted.  Starts out small.  Two things.  First, in our own lives, we should look back and see this pattern.  That initial encounter with Christ in salvation.  Small seed.  You may not even remember all the details.  They got lost in all that was going on.  But you knew you were different and that you were different because of Jesus.  But over time, that seed began to grow.  You began to work out your salvation with “fear and trembling”.  You began to grow and learn what it means to follow Christ wholly.  And God’s intention and design for that seed of the kingdom of God in your life and in mine, is that we would grow up and be deep-rooted unmovable trees.  Trees that when the winds of trial come are rooted and grounded in who HE is in our lives.  Second, though the man is the one who “sows” he is helpless to plant the seed, sustain the seed, or force the seed to grow.  God is the one who grows the seed of the kingdom of God in our lives.  Though someone certainly came along and planted the seed, someone else came along and watered the seed in our lives; GOD is the one who gives the growth.  God is sovereign in and over the salvation of man.  He is the one who moves in the heart of man to initiate growth.  And He is the one, through the Spirit, who sustains, maintains, and motivates the growth of the seed into towering tree with deep roots. 

The second part of verse 19 states that the seed becomes a tree, and “the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”  Interesting.  The seed becomes a tree and the birds of the air live in it.  Two things.  First, clearly this is a portrait intended to convey the shelter and life that is found in the kingdom of God through the Gospel.  The birds of the air find shelter in the branches of the tree, just as the people of God find shelter and comfort in the Gospel in difficult times as well as good times.  We find shelter in knowing we are part of the kingdom of God.  But there is a second I think more profound implication.  I don’t claim to know definitively how the birds of the air choose the place where they nest.  I mean, I’ve watched birds choose places to nest.  Some do it in the strangest of places.  Clearly, not ALL of the birds of the air will make their nest in the tree that is grown from the mustard seed.  And to that end, I think this is a very clear and profoundly God-centered view of the kingdom.  In my mind, the birds of the air chose their nesting place because they view it as the most valuable, attractive, protective, life-giving place to build their nest.  So, following that line of thought, the kingdom of God, for those of us who embrace it, is intended to be viewed as infinitely valuable and treasurable.  Not simply because it provides us shelter and protection from the wrath of God.  But because it is life giving and all satisfying.  Birds of the air build nests where they do because they are convinced that it will provide them the best opportunity to live and thrive.  Not just because they want to be safe.  We in the same way are not intended to view the kingdom of God as the safest of all possible choices.  That does not communicate that we value it at all.  We are to look upon the cross, and the kingdom of God as the ultimate life-giving gift and to embrace it because it seems to us beautifully satisfying and enjoyable.   The kingdom of God is a shelter in time of need but if you only value the shelter and not the King who rules the kingdom you take advantage of the King and don’t really value Him at all. 

Christ continues on with another portrait of the kingdom and states that the kingdom of God is like leaven.  A woman took some leaven, which was used in baking and swells over time, and placed it in three measures of flour.  Eventually, all of the flour will be leavened.  Three things.  First, Jesus is again highlighting the nature of the kingdom of God beginning in small portions, and being placed or planted by human hands.  Though He doesn’t need us to accomplish His purposes, He continues to use us just as the woman was used to place the leaven.  Secondly, the kingdom of God is again portrayed as growing and expanding.  And so it is.  All across the globe the kingdom of God is growing and expanding as nations come to know Him.  A final personal application from this picture.  As His followers, we are that leaven.  Many of us find ourselves surrounded by what would be “unleavened flour”.  Some of us in seemingly impossible situations, surrounded by those who do not know Christ and have, (as supposed) no need for Him.  Well, take heart.  This text clearly communicates that GOD will accomplish His purpose and that eventually, “it was all leavened”.  If you find yourself in a situation where you feel as if you are the only one in the midst of great darkness trust that the kingdom of God is expanding and will expand.  The leaven has no control over itself; it simply does what it was created to do.  You and I also.  We were created to glorify God through our lives.  To be a light for Christ in all places and circumstances.  So press on friend.  You may find yourself in three measures of flour but God is sovereign over the heart of man.  Fight on and trust Him to continue to expand His kingdom as He has been from the beginning of time.  In that, we rest. 

Peace.

Rev. J

"Christians today appear to know Christ only after the flesh.  They try to achieve communion with Him by divesting Him of His burning holiness and unapproachable majesty, the very attributes He veiled while on earth but assumed in fulllnes of glory upon His ascension to the Father's right hand.  The Christ of popular Christianity has a weak smile and halo.  He has become Someone-up-There who likes people, at least some people, and these are grateful but not too impressed.  If they need Him, He also needs them. 

Let us not imagine that the truth of the divine self-sufficiency will paralyze Christian activity.  Rather it will stimulate all holy endeavor.  This truth, while a needed rebuke to human self-confidence, will when viewed in its Biblical perspective lift from our minds the exhausting load of mortality and encourage us to take the easy yoke of Christ and spend ourselves in Spirit-inspired toil for the honor of God and the good of mankind.  For the blessed news is that the God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension stooped to work by and in a through His obedient children."  A.W. Tozer in The Knowledge of the Holy