Snatching Victory

Have you felt like you are experiencing life in a mirror?  Not the narcissistic gotta-see-myself kind of pathology – and not the Harry Potter Mirror Of Erised type of reflection where you see an image of your deepest desires having been met. 

There is another sort of mirrored-irony in life where what we want and what we get is often the very opposite of the image we desire.  One of the characteristics of a mirrored reflection is that of the opposite - the reversal of the object being represented.  Just hold up any word to a mirror and it will be turned around backwards. 

 

Such is the case with the well-known and often-used cliché, “Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.”  “To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat” means to suddenly win a contest when it appears that a loss is a forgone conclusion, to succeed in an endeavor through reversal of fortune, skill, effort, of good judgement..

 

Unfortunately, however, in our lives we often experience the mirrored opposite side of this phrase, or, “Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” -- also a well known and used cliché.  I think all of us as some point in our lives feel like what we want, and what we get somehow gets turned around leaving us to feel a bit like life is playing some cruel trick on us.

 

Is your life more a “Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat,” kind of experience or, like its mirrored reversal “Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory?”  One is freeing, while the later is confining - like being helplessly crushed upon or trapped with no one to extricate you into a victory life. 



On the night of November 19, 2011, we received the kind of phone call no one wants to receive.  The state trooper on the other end told us our 17-year-old daughter, Rachel, had been in a serious car accident and was being airlifted to the hospital.  

 

 

 

What they didn’t tell us was that she was literally “Snatched from the jaws of defeat.”  Before she could be flown the hospital for the emergency treatment, there was the matter of extricating her from the tangled remnants of her car which had been crushed in-around her.  And, the mechanism that was used by the rescue team to snatch the victory was called “The Jaws Of Life.”

 

Rachel was rescued, but she had nothing to do with it.  She could not be smart enough, faithful enough, good enough – she was asleep in a coma.  All she could do was be rescued.

 

Have you ever felt helpless? Maybe a time when you were faced with some difficult real-life issues? Sometime we find ourselves in a personal situation where life seems to be crushing-in around us and there seems to be no way out – at least by our own power or abilities. 

 

There are certain times where all we can do is be rescued.  There is one who can always snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. 

 

 

This Sunday in worship you can hear all about him. His name is Jesus, and He is “The Jaws Of Life.”

 

 

 

 

  

 

Viral God

Did you hear about the new reality drama being cast?  It features two very competitive sisters – one strikingly beautiful and the other a bit homely.  In the reality series, they are fighting for the affections of the only available potential husband in the area.  

 

Add to that mix an exploitative father-in-law looking for cheap labor with benefits, and stir in some behind the scenes “catfish type” shenanigans and you have an instant hit. 

 

 

The clips from this reality show will probably go viral immediately.  But how long will the series last?  One season, two, maybe five?  It actually lasted 14 seasons, but in one sense it lasts forever. (You can read more it in Genesis 29:15-28)!

 

We live in a video-clip, sound-bite age.   What is all the rage in one moment becomes old news in a 24-hour news cycle.  

 

 

This cultural conditioning seems to excite the desire of humanity everywhere for instant satiation of well - whatever.  We demand quick solutions, instant pain relief, and instant gratification.  I suppose you might say we long for a god of miracles gone viral!

 

  

Electronic posts can go around the world in seconds.  So, what happens to us when God doesn’t act in a like fashion?  When it seems like God isn’t posting fast enough – doesn’t go viral in our lives?

 

 

  

I think we all have a universally-held desire for God
(or for some, a higher power) to act on our behalf
without delay.  We need to know that pain, loss,
suffering, trauma, loneliness and the like won’t last
too long.  We want god-medicines that quickly take
away the pain.


So, how long should we give God to act? In today’s social-media viral-video age, everything happens instantaneously with just a click.


I think today, in a designer-god age, would we want him more like the proverbial tortoise who is painfully slow, or like the hare who speeds lightening fast toward the finish line of our dilemma in record time. We all know the answer to this one!
 

 Given our choice, we would want God to look and race more like the hare.  In today’s world, a tortoise-style God just moves too slow for us, our problems, not to mention the world’s problems. 

Our memories are short and our expectations for service or “need response” is immediate.  Like the viral video of last week, the rage of the moment, is quickly left behind and forgotten.   I think this “new reality” leads us to doubt God, His presence and His ability to reach us personally.  Let’s just say it, God’s promises don’t exactly seem to go viral! 
 

But that’s the point! God keeps His promises to you, but not with a social-media timeline!  If we are looking for God to go viral in a social-media-second, we misunderstand the power and duration of His Word and His promises.  Even the old trickster Jacob figured it out -- and waited it out!  In the message this Sunday, you will see and hear what a guy who lived 3,000 years ago knew even before electricity -- God's promises doesn’t go viral, they go forever!

God Fits Us

Have you ever felt like a round peg trying to fit in a square hole?  As far back as I can remember, I have definitely felt this way.  It’s a bit disconcerting because deep down, I think everyone has a desire to fit it – you know, find our place in the world where we do belong. 

 

 

It’s like we are Cinderellas waiting for the prince to offer us to try on the glass slipper.  And, when “it” happens, the two matching shapes will fit and everything will be happily ever after!

 

 

More often, we are just in the long line of those who try hard to squeeze their foot into the unique shape so we can receive the reward.  Unfortunately, just like the movie, it only fits “the one,” so we feel rejected!  And, to make matters worse, in often looks as if many around us give the outward appearance that they do fit in.  This only has the effect of making us feel even more isolated, weird or somehow defective as a human beings.  Resonating yet?

 

Then comes the squeeze – trying for press ourselves into someone else’s mold or shape.  Usually, this means getting a hammer and just banging and beating on ourselves to make a forced-fit.  And, if we still don’t fit, we just get a bigger hammer!  Hence the phrase “beat up by life.”

 

What was God thinking when he made us?  Well, actually he was creating a perfect fit.  Did you know our brains were designed to operate by making perfect fits?  Neurons fire exact shapes that find their place in an exact receptor.  All other shapes are rejected to ensure the perfect fit and function -- we think, act, live, and love! 

 

 

In other words, God made our brains work on the principle of round pegs round holes, squares peg, square holes – a perfect fit.  It’s built into us.  We seek to fit in, to find the perfectly shaped receptor, and we are relentlessly driven to find this match – the place where we belong.

 

This Sunday we will explore God’s perfect design and discover where we actually belong – the place where our shape thrives.  Here is a hint – God fits us!

 

 

 

What does the church and 9/11 have in common?

Have you seen some of these demolition companies that specialize in imploding towering structures like old buildings and giant smoke stacks? 
They use a strategy of calculated physics to bring these antiquated monstrosities to the ground by their own weight. 
 

 They do this by placing explosive charges at key load-bearing structural components so that when the charges are exploded, the building collapses on itself.

 
The most grotesque example of this type of demolition technology, I suppose, is the strategic plan the Muslim extremist of Al-Qaida used to implode the twin towers on 9/11. 

They calculated the amount of energy required by a forced explosion - in combination with the precise location - to cause an unthinkable and devastating collapse.  The terrorists knew they could not defeat America, but they could attack its institutions. 

I like to ask questions, especially those which are spiritual in nature.  So here is a whopper: If the “evil one,” Satan, were to create a strategic plan for the demise – the implosion of the church – what would the elements needed to create a collapse look like and where would they be placed? 

 

Satan can’t defeat Christ; Jesus has already won the victory, so the best he can do is attack Christ’s church on a main street level.  So, first, he would locate and target the load bearing supports.  Next, he would weakened them just enought to create the instability needed to bring the Church down upon itself.  But, what type of explosive material would he use? 

If he employed only the strategy that C.S. Lewis’s creatively describes in the Screwtape Letters - a one-by-one, individual assault by little devils - it may gain him a few souls, but it would be highly inefficient.  Going after every follower of Christ one at a time would be daunting and impossible. 

 

However, if he followed a similar strategy of implosion as the 9/11 designers, (or maybe they followed Satan’s design) he could bring down to the pit of ground zero, towering numbers in Christ and weaken the Church to the point of irrelevancy. 

What if Satan has indeed strategically targeted the twin towers of the Christian faith, the institution of the Church itself at a local, main street level!  If so, are we susceptible? 


And, are there any signs we can identify to guard against this strategy to implode the structure of the church?  And, if not, what would the effect be on us, the very ones who make up the church.  Could this be a reason the church seems to be weakening in America?

This Sunday in worship, we return to our series, “Where did we learn that?” as we seek to find some relevant biblically based answers to these questions I just posed.  We will do this by looking at some very powerful, yet misguided, lessons we’ve learned about the institution of the church. If you can't be with us, you can view this message through facebook and from our web site http://mwpcusa.org/
 

 

Hangin' My Homies

Who do you hang with?  You know, who are your “boys (or girls)?”   It’s interesting that we very often become like - or have our identity shaped by - those we chose to include in our “circle.”  However, many might say they are their own person and that they are free to be whoever they want to be.  If we are truly free from the shape of our friend circle, why are so many people unhappy with themselves and to some extent, with life?  Why is it so hard to really find a better more positive and fulfilling life?

 

I believe, in part, this constraint has a great deal to do with who we “hang with” -- where we place ourselves in a life-context -- and who makes up our inner circle of influence.  There seems to be a strange dynamic of image-reciprocation in our circle of friends.  What I mean is that it’s as if we surround ourselves with mirroring images that create a perpetual reinforcement of a particular lifestyle and life-answers.  We take on the group image, group think and group character of our primary circle of friends, while they reflect back a similar life view – even if harmful or ultimately unsatisfactory in terms of life-fulfillment and personal-peace.

 

 

When caterpillars begin the process of transforming

from a butterfly pupa into the free-floating, fulfilled realization as the final form of a butterfly, they “hang with their homies" in a protecting and nurturing environment we call a chrysalis.  Nature has internally wired the pupa to create, live and perpetuate life by surrounding itself with the exact perfect environment while going through the life-stage transformation.  To choose other surroundings would spell disaster.  But human beings are different.  We may choose any number of surroundings; hang with a variety of desirable and undesirable influences.  And we do.   

 

 

I felt urged to write about this issue out of a real-life example.  Unfortunately, it’s a story I have heard many times.  A married person with a family succumbed to the lure of instant gratification and love without responsibilities by entering into an adulterous affair.  When you ask someone, “Why risk so much?  Why jeopardize your family and possibly the rest of your life?” the answer is never very rational or satisfactory.  Maybe the “love” word is tossed out without much thought of its true definition or commitment of character such a statement requires.  But ultimately, it’s about their homies who mutually reinforce the behavior:  “Go ahead, you deserve love.”  “We’ve done it too.”

 

When I look at the why of it, one clear factor (although there are several) seems to be who we “hang with.”  If my theory of the dynamic of image-reciprocation in our circle of friends is true, this is a classic case.  If in surrounding ourselves with mirroring images that create a perpetual reinforcing lifestyle and thought includes those who also would engage and approve of seeking extra marital “love pleasures” regardless of responsibilities and consequences, then the “chrysalis” is woven and hung to produce a like minded image and action.

 

I have taken over a thousand teens to retreats and camps during my years in ministry.  I have witnessed this phenomenon so often and worked hard to counter it by creating a new environment.  Often I would bring along a kid who had fallen into, been accepted by, or chosen to surround themselves, with a group of friends who perpetuate counter-cultural, character-diminishing, and self-destructive thoughts and behaviors.  The hope is to, if only briefly, offer them an alternative circle, through a week-long Young Life retreat.  It only takes about an hour for them to find their group of image-reciprocating circle of friends, and engage in the same behaviors that limit their success in a more fulfilling life.

 It takes more than a week or month or even a year “away” to create positive change.  If you want to have positive change in your life, first take a look at who you hang with!  Do they reflect principles and values that build character and create a truly freeing opportunity for fulfillment, or do they only reinforce proven life-lessness? 

 
Who you surround yourself with will absolutely determine your attitude, lifestyle and sense of fulfillment -- especially while going through the life stage transformation!  Where is the best place to hang with some positive homies, who wish you to find complete fulfillment in life and as a human being?  I know, it’s so corny, but it’s the only real and complete answer – it’s the Church.  It’s a group of committed friends who have based their life operating system on faith in Jesus Christ.  Find that group.  Bring them into your circle or seek to be a part of theirs.  Not all churches are the same, but within the church there will always be more good homies than not.  If you can’t find one, just look for the people who exude fulfillment, high character, available unconditional love, and a positive outlook,  not only in their life, but who are also interested in helping you find it too.  Now, go where they go.  Hang with them and stand tough!

 

What to do with worship?

Is Christians worship supposed to be entertaining or thought provoking?  In worship, are your experiences limited to sitting in a darkened auditorium watching a smoke enhanced spotlighted preacher?

 

Or, are you surrounded by a throng of jumping enthusiasts who could just as well be at a rock concert?  Who taught you what worship is suppose to look like and how you are supposed to act in order to fit in? 

 

 

Since I - like so many who are 50 and over - was initially raised in a mainline tradition church, I learned that first of all, worship was boring and basically irrelevant to my limited experience in the world.  The general lesson was this: worship was a place to be quiet, be still, behave or be exposed! 

Modeling this out very well was the pastor, who always looked like he had either just eaten liver, or was having gastric cramping.  With smiles limited to greetings at the door, we were left with little but an hour of stoic resignation. 

Now having worshiped in a variety of churches and denominations with a wide range of
worshiping styles, it raises questions.  Some of these worshiping communities look a bit scary to someone raised in the 50’s.  Maybe it’s the juice at the fellowship time – is it spiked or what? 


Back in the late 90’s we sang a song in the “emerging” contemporary worship movement call “Undignified.”  It was based on the II Samuel 6:22 passage where King David -- so overjoyed that the Ark containing the covenantal laws was finally coming into a proper house -- danced “naked” through the streets of Jerusalem.  When he was confronted about this "indignity" he said, (v 22) “if you think this is something (my indecent dancing) just wait, I’ll become even more undignified than this!”

What are we meant to experience and express in Christian worship?  Are we to be the more serious stoic-worshipers of Almighty God; or are we to raise our arms and dance in the aisle because the Spirit of Christ is upon us and we just can’t contain ourselves.  Should we all don loin cloths and taunt those who would criticize by saying, “You haven’t seen nothing yet, we can become way more undignified that this!” 

 

If you want the rest of the “loin cloth” story (a real one) we will continue our series this Sunday “Where did  we learn that?  Misguided lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith.” 

  

 

 

 

Where Did You Learn That?

How much do you remember from what you’ve been taught, be it school or life in general?   Would you like to test your knowledge?  Okay, here goes.  Write down your answers to the following questions.  When you get to the end, you can see if you get a passing grade.

 

 

1.     What are diamonds made from? 
2.     What percentage of our brains do we use?
3.     Who invented the light bulb? 
4.     Cleopatra’s famous heritage?
5.     Who invented the printing press?

Now for your grade:  1. If you wrote Diamonds are made from compressed coal, you are 100% wrong.  The carbon that makes diamonds comes from melting of rocks from the Earths upper mantle; coal is produced from plant material.  2.  If you answered that we only use ten percent of our brain, you are also wrong. Over the course of a day, most people use all parts of their brain.  3.  Edison did not invent the light bulb! Actually, historians list up to 22 invntors of the incandescent lamp before Thomas Edison, starting with Sir Humphry Davy in the early 19th Century.  4.  Cleopatra was the beautiful, charismatic queen of Egypt and the wife of Julius Caesar, but she was not Egyptian!  She was actually of macedonian Greek Heritage, daughter of Ptolemy XII.  5.  If you’re doing poorly, certainly you’ll get this last one correct.   If you answered Gutenberg, you are not alone in being wrong.  So you will base your knowledge on the truth, print technology originated in China in 593 AD, and the Chinese were printing from movable type in 1040 AD.

If you answered based on what you had been taught, or felt were commonly held facts, and still failed, please don’t fret.  What I am really interested in is this: Where did we learn these “truths?”  

 

Wherever or from whomever we learned them, we learned them well.  And once learned, these “truths” become incorporated into our life operating system (our philosophy, both socially and culturally) by which we live and act. 

 

Most of us realize that what we learn has consequences both beneficial and harmful.  This is because what we learn guides us; and like a tram on a rail, it’s hard to make a u-turn!

 

Practice perfect, right?  Wrong! Practice makes not perfect but permanent.  If you an idea reinforced over and over again it doesn’t get perfected, it becomes permanent.  But, what happens if what we learned, no matter how seemingly authentic and commonly believed, was wrong in the first place.  What if we’ve placed into our psyche misguided lesson we’ve learned?

 

Some misguided lessons are innocent and have little effect on life; there are others which do. What about the misguided lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith?  What if there are lessons about faith and practice we’ve learn very well that are actually wrong.  Then, like other such “learnings” we’ve incorporated them into our Christian operating system (theology) which guide us like a tram on a rail too!


We all bring “lessons” and “learning’s” into our faith.  However, some of what we’ve learned has no basis in Judeo-Christian biblical faith.  This Sunday, we will begin a sermon series, “Where did we learn that?”  In the coming weeks, we will examine some commonly misguiding lessons we’ve learned about the Christian faith.  The goal behind our exploration is to become more authentic and more fulfilled through our faith.   This week we will look at our worship of God in community.