Grace That is Greater Than All Our Sin

Things have been picking up around here lately. We have been on campus every day meeting college students and sharing with them. Some of my conversations were exciting, and some not so exciting, but the gospel was shared either way. I have made one really good friend, named Hashim. He is a second year student, and he comes from a muslim family. He has come to church with me a few times and said that he really enjoys the service. We have had many good conversations, and yesterday he invited me to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr with him and his family. Eid is the festival marking the end of the fast of Ramadan. All I know is that there will be much food, one white guy, and subsequently one Christian at this festival.

So on a different note, I am really excited about some cool things that God has shown me lately. I have been reading a lot of different parables of Jesus, and really trying to find some solid application for them in Dar es Salaam. Which wasn't hard. Very quickly I learned that they all have overtones, if not blatant demonstrations of grace. My two favorite parables have always been The Prodigal Son, and The Parable of The Workers and Their Pay (cliche, I know, but what can I say). I read them again, and its grace and hope everywhere. The father comes sprinting down the road to meet his son. The son who so readily said, "Dad, I'm sick of this life you got here. Give me the goods, I'm outta here!" He greets him with no questions asked. Just thrilled that his son would come back. Or when the employer chooses to give the laborer who only worked for an hour the whole days wages. "It's my money right?" "Can I not do with it what I choose?" Those men, in a system where you get ONLY what you earn, 

deserved very little. But they were given much. They were given grace. Not pay.

So in thinking about all this grace I began to question two things. One is, how is it possible? Two, what was the cost? 

So the answer to the first question is kinda hard... so hard I gave up looking.  In short, I don't know how its possible. I guess the only explanation is supreme love. God would rather make a way for his family to return than to let us die in our sinful rebellion.  

The second question gave me chills when I sought to answer it. Obviously the cost was Jesus Christ's perfect life, given as a bloody, gruesome sacrifice. But for me, this time, there was more. Try and follow this scatterbrained farrago of thoughts. I am a little ashamed to admit what I am about to share, but its the truth, so I'll try and get real honest. Until recently, I kind of thought that sending Jesus wasn't that big of a deal. And I was a believer at this point too! Crazy huh? But my thinking was that if we sin, God could just make a sacrifice for us. Jesus. Done deal right? NO!

Jesus wasn't drummed up as a solution to our sin. Shame on me for ever thinking so. God did not look down at His wayward people and say, "I need a sacrifice for these people that I love. Let me see what I can come up with." He looked at his Son who had always been with Him. ALWAYS BEEN. From the very beginning, to creation, to his death, and will never cease to be. To assume anything else, takes away from the deity of Jesus. So the cost of grace was higher than I had ever thought. Maybe I am just ignorant, but I think that I have vastly underestimated this grace thing here. It is truly unbelievable. God did not fashion something else, in an attempt to not have to come down to a lost and dying world. He did not try and shirk this task of redeeming the world, to put it on someone else. He did it. HE CAME DOWN. GOD HIMSELF. IN THE FORM OF JESUS, THE FATHER'S BELOVED SON.

 

I hope to never ever let the magnitude of this grace, and as a result, this scope of love, escape my thoughts. Grace is what needs to be my song. More than any doctrines or dogmatic approaches to a person's belief system. I need to preach grace, and the hope that is found therein. to the people that I am meeting here. I am excited. People don't need to hear what I think about things. They need to hear grace.

Peace,

JOel

Sorry its been a while...

I read 1 Corinthians the other day; chapters 1 and 2. A verse in Chapter 2 really began to make me think about my ministry [not only here in Dar es Salaam, but my life's ministry(ies) in general].

   "For I am determined to know nothing among you 

except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."

                                     -1 Corinthians 2:2

So Paul, writing to the crazy church in Corinth, just gets done telling the people to be united and without division in the Church. Then he says, you know what else guys, I don't even care about all that other crap- not one bit. Because I AM DETERMINED to know NOTHING among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I think this says a whole lot about the way the church ought to look, but it also speaks to the way I need to relate to people. Do I always keep the gospel of Christ central?

 In chapter 1, Paul tells the people not to be divided because the things that were causing strife were pretty trivial, and in some respects took glory from Jesus Christ. So when we get caught up in lame crap that really doesn't matter, it robs Christ of glory that is due to Him and elevates our "wisdom" and ways of doing things to a place that it does not  and cannot deserve. (1:18-25 says much about our wisdom... or lack thereof).

So, for me, when I begin to dwell on ways that I can be more appealing, and relevant to more people, is that really what I need to do? .... maybe, maybe not.....Is a trendy production required for the gospel? Apparently not- but I do love them. I thoroughly enjoy leading worship in a packed out room with all the lights and video screens and  as many super cool things as I can get my hands on. And I think God is cool with that. A laser show can glorify God. But I know in my life, sometimes I find myself getting caught up in all the shuffle, and I lose focus of the gospel. 

I have been reminded of this often lately, and  repeatedly been encouraged to remember this one simple truth, That whether recording a new cd, serving in Africa, leading a Bible study of 4 guys in Americus, GA, or a ministry to people who like chocolate, this truth must be always central:

I am a sinner; always by nature and  far too often by choice.

I have rebelled and strayed from my creator, and offended Him to the nth degree.

I am deserving ONLY of Hell eternal, and nothing more.

BUT 

I have been loved supremely. 

God sent Jesus who knew no sin, to become mine.

He was scorned and rejected by men; and killed.

However, He was raised from the dead, and was not defeated. 

He was bruised, but sin, He crushed. 

I am saved by God given faith, and grace that will never end.

By no merit of my own, only by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Therefore, I must make up my mind to know nothing among anyone, except Jesus Christ, and the fact that he was crucified because I was helpless to get out of my sin apart from Him.  I am very guilty of the opposite far too often. 

It is my prayer that I will always desire to preach the gospel and KEEP it central. If I am to boast in anything, let me boast in the cross of Jesus Christ. 

Peace,

JOel

BLAH BLAH BLAHG

I have an apology to make. I am sorry that I am so lazy and have not updated this blog in a long time. I am lame and have been to "busy" to do it. By busy I mean lazy- it just sounds better to say I was busy. So to all three or four of you who have ever read this blog, I am sorry.

I am also sorry for wasting your time on this one. Maybe if both of you wait patiently, I can get a mediocre update for you- like the ones you're used to.

Peace,

JOel

Beautiful Things Stored in Disgusting Containers

God is still doing amazing things in Dar es Salaam. Many of them are taking place in my own heart and life. Lately I have been looking through the new testament for things that I have not read before, or at least not in a long time. I came across this a few days ago.

. 

2 Corinthians 4:1-12- (particularly verse 7) 

"... but we have this treasure in jars of clay

to show that the surpassing power belongs

to God and not to us...."

-2 corinthians 4:7

In previous blogs, I have mentioned this treasure. It is the message of the new covenant; the ministry of reconciliation as Paul later calls it in chapter 5. I have also mentioned the fact that I need to carry this treasure in a manner worthy of its magnitude. This is the way to salvation. It is the very words of Jesus Christ, the Messiah and redeemer of all people. So I am still being convicted daily to minister to people with more and more passion.

But the other part of this verse, the "clay pots" image is also very interesting to me. I am no theologian or Bible scholar, but if I have the treasure [the gospel of Jesus Christ] inside of me, and the verse says the treasure is stored in jars of clay, then I am nothing more than a clay pot... like that transitive property. If a=b and b=c, then a has to equal c, right?- yeah, I got math skills. Thanks Mrs. Roland. So I am merely a clay pot, holding a beautiful treasure. All to the glory and praise and power of our great God.

I have seen a very real, practical example of this in my life since I have been here in Dar. 

You may or may not know this about me; I am a very shy person around new people. If I know you well, I will say or do anything around you, often leading to hilarious and embarrassing moments. But if I just met you, I will not say much at all. In fact, I will probably just stare and watch in silence until I feel like I know you "well enough" to loosen up. That is just how it is. I am nearly socially inept around new people. So, how does a guy like me end up working for the IMB, on a team in Tanzania, when his only task is to meet new college students everyday for 4 months? ... at a school of over 17,000 students. 

I didn't know how. I thought I was the worst possible choice for this trip. I can think of several of my friends who are more outgoing with new people than I am. But after reading this passage, the fact that I know I am nearly incapable of doing this task excites me all the more. Why? Because the more I suck at something, the more glory God will get when there is any success that comes from it. If I was super outgoing, any success on campus meeting new students and sharing the gospel with them could be seen as, " Oh that Joel; He is so outgoing... just perfect for this task." That does nothing but rob God of due glory. The fact that I am bad at meeting new people, says that any success MUST be only because of God's power and glory.

We are clay jars. Nothing more. Probably caked with dirt, full of cracks, not fit to decorate the ugliest yard in the whole world. But, God uses clay jars rather than beautiful vessels because a dirty, rotten, self-centered person brings God more glory. Glory that is His, and His alone. It is not for any man to give to any other man, as if men do things to merit such glory and power. I am praying that when people see us as Christians, they never see anything more than  rotten sinners, capable of no good thing, redeemed and being used humbly by the King of ALL.

Peace,

JOel