Anxiously Awaiting

Ancient fisherman did not fish the same way their modernized descendants do. Hebrew fisherman would take a light out to sea and shine it into the ocean with their nets dropped. As the fish would come up to the light all the fishermen needed to do was pull in the nets and haul their catch home. Modern fishermen have a much different method. The can have hundreds of shiny lures specially crafted to look exactly like the fishes prey, and they have developed special techniques and ploys in order to get the fish to bite.

How is this related to Matthew 4:19? Let’s look at both types of fishing as applied to the Kingdom of God.

The ancient fisherman relies on faith and the light. He has nothing else but himself, his boat, and perhaps a few friends. He may need to wait patiently while the fish congregate over the light, but there is very little effort other than simply waiting. Conversely the modern fisherman uses his lures and his perfected technique to catch the fish. He relies on his own wisdom or his special gadgets. This reminds me of how many modern churches are. They have so many programs and shiny things developed to bring in the largest crowd, or they have the most articulate and theologically educated teacher speaking at every event. Matthew 9:35-38 says:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Emphasis mine. In order for there to be a harvest to gather, some sort of work had to have occurred before the workers were sent out. In the same way, this points in every way towards relying on the Lord for our catch instead of ourselves and our own cleverness. The catch is ready, we just have to be diligent workers and obey the voice of the Lord!

The heart of the second related point I wish to make lives in 1 Corinthians 1:17:

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

And to take it a step further–and consequently make it even harder to swallow–Paul says in 2:1-5:

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.

First we must address “emptying the cross of its power” through our “words of human wisdom.” How often we bank on our own cleverness to deliver the Word of God, and how often we come up short. To me, emptying the cross of its power is a pretty serious allegation, and that makes me want to shut up more (see Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). As Paul says in the second passage, let our messages be preached not with wise and persuasive words–including five point acrostic and/or alliteration employing sermons with coma inducing power point slides, but in demonstration of the Spirit’s power. Why? So that the converts faith rests on God’s power not man’s wisdom. We should be relying on the light that shines from Christ through us to attract those that the Lord has prepared instead of our own intelligence and gimmicks.

So does all of this mean that we can collectively as a church sit back and do nothing? Absolutely not. It simply means that we should move our focus from being Martha to being Mary (Luke 10:38-42). Our chief goal is to maximize the amount of glory the Lord receives. What better way to start things off than to sit at His feet, listen to what He has to say, and be obedient to that instead of concentrating on what we think we should be doing.

I feel like there is a lot of change happening in me the past couple of weeks. The Lord has pointed out some things to me that I have been very hard in admitting. A big one is that I like the little pleasures of life. I like sleeping in and I like food. These two things have been specifically pulled into my mind. Also I have been struggling with the concept of dwelling on the Lord as applied to my workplace. In order to adequately perform in my job I must summon 95% or more of my concentration. Couple this with the fact that I tend to have a one track mind–a curse bestowed on me apparently because of my gender–and that leaves no time to dwell upon the Lord while working. A hard problem to solve indeed.

So with these facts upon me, I have decided to take some action in order to dull my senses to the pleasures that I currently indulge in.

1. I will fast once a week. Books have been written on fasting, I suggest you read this one.
2. I will get up at 7:00am as much as possible. I need quite a bit of help with this one, so I’m not committing to something like “every day” or something insane like that ;).
3. I will not take a hot shower for longer than 10 minutes. Seriously, I like warm water. Like, a lot. I’m a total girl when it comes to that.
4. I will eat more responsibly throughout the week. This is sort of like committing to a diet, except not really. This just means no more of my favorite fast foods, whose menu consists solely of items from Chik-fil-a.

Alot of these resolutions came from reading Ecclesiastes recently, and the rest from the personal convictions I referenced above. So, those of you who feel like holding me to this insanity, call me and ask me how I’m doing occasionally. I’ll try not to lie to you =P.

Hope is a small flame in the back of my head.
Feed it, ignite it, breath into me again.
Hold not Your glory from my grasp.
Bring my life back to honor.
Let me serve, let me give
Let me follow let me live

Life is a drop in the ocean of time
A small sequence over an infinite line
Adds up to nothing
Let my nothing be filled with light
Let my worries flee from me
I rebuke the cold
I rebuke the bitterness
I rebuke myself
I rebuke my enemies
I should cry out in joy
Instead I cry out in brokenness

I am unstable in all my ways
I am double minded
Let your glory burn my darkness away
Let me not see your face
For I will surely die
But just a glimpse of your feet
So I can live in Your pleasure
And my nothing
Can add up to something

Thought I might post this. I wrote this song about a month ago. It really is a miracle because it’s the only song I have ever written that I didn’t mull over the words, structure, or chords. It basically wrote itself. I need God to pass more of these along, since it’s much less work =D. It’s a translation of Psalm 67 into song form–chord forms provided.

Psalm 67
Esus4 Capo
Intro: E5  B  A9  C#m B/D# A9

E5   B      A9
God be gracious to us
C#m  B       A9
Shine your face down on us
C#m    B/D#    A9
That you are known  in     us
C#m   B/D#     A9
Salvation shown through  us

E/G#  A9
Let it Be
C#m B/D#     A9
Let it Be

Chorus:

E5             A9
Let the people rise
C#m
Holy and sanctified
A9           B     E5
Let us rise up and sing out of joy
A9
For the One who died
C#m
And brought us into Light
A9           B
Let Your people sing of Your glory

Tag: A9 B C#m B/D#

Esus4 capo, not relative–actual fret positions
Chords
E B E A B e
A9     5 4 0 0 0 0
E/G#   4 0 0 4 0 0
B      x 0 4 6 0 0
B/D#   x 6 0 4 0 0
C#m    x 4 6 0 0 0
E5     0 7 0 9 0 0

Question: What is the chief end of man?
Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

These words were written in a sermon by Thomas Watson, an early puritan pastor. How simple, yet resonant can two sentences be? Recently I have ejoyed reading some puritan and other older works. I am considering a copy of Body of Practical Divinity. If anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to post!