Month: January 2012

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Tebow Chapter 1

“Have You Considered My Servant Tim Tebow?”

The Tim Tebow story really is amazing … with multiple 4th-quarter and overtime come-from-behind wins that, along with his public expressions of faith, give rise to a consideration of divine blessing and intervention. And still, the football experts (which I am not at all) say this is all a flash in the pan and temporary thing – that his skills do not portend a continuous excellence and success.

Tebow has become an illustration of the polarization of America – between the extremes of those who value an active and daily faith, with those who do, frankly, despise Christianity and faith as a sort of fairy-tale foolishness.

Since this is football and not something serious like baseball or distance running, I thought I’d have some fun with it by writing up a parallel account of the Old Testament Book of Job, chapter one …

In the land of the NFL, there lived a man whose name was Tim Tebow. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had 10 teammates on offense, 52 on his squad, thousands of fans in Denver, and a large number of admirers all across the land. He was the greatest man among all the people of the NFL.

He and his teammates every Sunday feasted on the broken defensive backfield schemes of the NFL. And early each Sunday, he would dedicate his game and his play to the Lord. He would make an offering of prayer throughout the day. This was Tebow’s regular custom.

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the NFL, going back and forth from division to division.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Tim Tebow? There is no one in the NFL like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil, and drives commentators and all your friends crazy.”

“Does Tim Tebow honor God for nothing?” Satan replied.  “Have you not put a hedge around him and his team and everything he does? You have blessed the play of his game, so that the word of his victories has spread all throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and afflict him with a terrible loss, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

So, how will the story continue, and how will it end?

I don’t know for sure what even the next week brings. This young man has quite a spotlight on him, but he does seem to have the character to withstand it … yet nobody is perfect, and any misstep will be publicized inordinately.

However, I do suspect that when the time comes that wins fail to materialize and the game goes against him, this chapter will end (as does Job 1) …

And Tebow said, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

In all this, Tebow did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

In the event that you are unfamiliar with Job chapter 1, here it is:

 1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

 4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

 6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

 12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”  Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

 

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Parenting 101

As I sit here and write this on a late Saturday afternoon, my middle son Aaron has arrived and is working with his guitar and chord charts – practicing for a gig tonight as Fratelli’s Restaurant. He is playing and singing there with his old high school pal Rhet Troxell. Most of my boys have done this sort of thing from time to time.

I wrote on Facebook that Aaron is performing there and invited everyone – which in my case is 680 “friends.”  He seemed to be struggling through the chord progression on a song, so I asked him how many songs they had ready, and he said, “Not enough!” So I answered, “So, I just invited 680 people, and now you’re gonna screw up!”  (He’ll be fine!)

Anyhow, the moment created a flashback for me. When I was quite young (like 14 or 15) and began singing solos in music programs and for specials at church, my mother – a fair musician herself – was so nervous she looked like she was going to just die any moment. Her lips were pursed, her brow furrowed, and her eyes were wide with fear. I learned QUICKLY that I should never look at her! It was as if she was communicating, “If you mess up, I’m gonna just crawl under the seats and hide!”  It was not encouraging.

I’m pretty sure I never did that with my boys and their musical endeavors, but I probably did with their running! But, a difference is that with running in cross country or track, I could scream and yell at them – unlike my mother, who had to suffer in silence. (She didn’t really suffer; she was the one who pushed me into that stuff, whether I wanted to or not.)

Any of you who have had more than one child know that they are never alike. Each is individual and endowed with certain talents and personality mixes. Though familial things may be seen – like music skills or running abilities – we need to remember they are all unique, and our encouragements need to be individualized as well.

That famous verse in Proverbs (which is not a promise, but rather a word of wisdom) should have the following emphasis to catch the original sense of it – “Train up a child in the way HE should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The encouragement here is to be a wise parent who looks to see what are the unique gifts, bents, and paths a child should pursue.

Haha… as I’m writing, Aaron is singing some song I don’t know (which is most all pop songs to be truthful) and Jesse comes running downstairs and says, “What are you doing singing that?  Is Kelly Garber going to be at this thing?”  And Aaron answers, “Yes, she is, so I’ll have to sing at least one Bon Jovi song!”

Well, I’m heading out to hear him. I’m going to post this now, but I’ll edit it later with a picture or two.

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Pray for THAT guy??

Well, it is a new year with the new blog, so, might as well start if off with a bang and with a topic of emotion, if not controversy! This is probably why people who grow up in New Jersey shouldn’t grow up to be pastors!

In church Sunday, an illustration was used of praying for and supporting President Obama. The point of the reference was not to necessarily get this specific application as an action step, but to make an illustration that would cause the listener to stretch emotionally. The speaker presented it in terms of “if Obama claims to be your brother in Christ, then you need to support him in prayer, and so forth …”  Is that really true? How do we evaluate that?

Well, before it was out of his mouth fully, I was already hung up on the “if” portion. I’ll confess that I don’t see the POTUS very much as my brother in Christ, apart from the most general sense of those words. Yes, he has called Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior. And I guess I believe he really does espouse the Christian faith and is not a closet Muslim, though he has done and said enough things to fuel the doubters on that subject. And the Christian connection he had in the years leading up to his public ascendancy is one that we would not find biblically accurate. It was in a culture and vein of thought heavily endowed with a brand of “liberation theology” – which redefines the Gospel away from the spiritual issues of the blood payment of Christ as the atonement for sin, to seeing the work of Christ as an example to follow of liberating oppressed peoples from establishment power systems. (One can easily see how this category of biblical worldview would energize a left-wing activism.)

HOWEVER … the question is not ultimately one of prayer support by determining if he is truly a Christian brother or not. After all, we know that the world is full of people who carry the Christian label who do not really have a life changed by the Gospel. Jesus said there would be many like this – people who don’t really embrace the Gospel in a way of life-giving change.

The reason to pray for President Obama is because the Scriptures say to pray for all people in authority.  (1 Timothy 2:1-3 … “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior.”) And I remind you that Paul wrote those words while under the heavy hand of a persecuting Roman government. The thought here is that our prayers for civil authority may work toward an establishment of peace for the sake of the Gospel and its proclamation … that as a peaceful civil society succeeds, so does the context for the work of the Church and the spread of the Word.

Some years ago, at the height of controversy in the Clinton administration, I referenced this passage and prayed for the President. A person in the church thought this was dreadful and went to the Elders with a complaint on the issue – about the pastor praying for an avowed abortion-rights person, etc., etc.  Of course, it was a simple matter to point out that praying for the President is a clear application of the words to Timothy.

So, we may pray for and support civil leaders in this way, while also NOT supporting their policies and even working for the success of alternative views. We may pray for their ultimate success (as in the terms above) while also accepting the reality that they do not hold to our values – which we may in turn give energy to through our efforts. So, for example, we may pray for the Administration to honor God on the issues of the value of human life, yet understand that they see it differently than the Scriptures, and so our energies are thrown toward what can be done through agencies like the Hagerstown Area Pregnancy Center. When the Romans threw away unwanted babies in the first century, it was the Christian community who went around and took them and gave them life. And they were ultimately respected for this work.

A difference between the Roman Empire and now is that there was no legal and practical means for protest or political action then. However, standing in opposition publically is a cherished right of the system of governance that we have, and I do not believe it is wrong for a Christian to participate appropriately – to call publically for a redress of grievances and speak to the decay of historic values and foundations. As many of you know, I have done this in a very public way.

Yet in it all, we need to remember that our primary mission in life personally, and in life together as a church, is to be God’s ambassadors as reconciling agents of the Kingdom to a lost world (2 Corinthians 5). Some may have a calling by God to serve in the systems of this world, but we are primarily citizens of another, eternal Kingdom and warriors in that cosmic conflict. I can honestly say that I have, in this season of my life, that calling to serve for a time in a political capacity. It found me; I did not seek it. I will tell you that honestly, I don’t really like it that much and am disappointed that even in the Conservative movement, there are too many who do not live exemplary lives and walk by the values they publically espouse. This is very sad.

So, I will pray for the President and all those in authority – which of course include many with whom I have much in agreement. My goal – our goal – is to see this country thrive … yet we know that there are historic values that have made this place exceptional in history. That exceptionalism is not because we are better as a people, but because there has never been another culture with the same “stew” of freedom and opportunity – for advances on all fronts, including the spread of the Gospel – as has been facilitated by the God-blessed ideals of those founders some 200+ years ago.