“His Name Made This Man Strong” (Acts 3: 1-26)

Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer (the ninth hour). And a certain man who was lame from his mother’s womb they laid daily at the door of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for some alms. 

And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, “Look on us.” And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but what I have, that give I up. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”[1] 

And he took him by the right hand, and raised him up: and immediately his feet and his ankle-bones received strength. And leaping up, he stood, and began to walk; and he entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.[2] 

And all the people saw him walking and praising God,  and they took knowledge of him, that it was he that sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple. They were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.[3]

And as he held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in Solomon’s Porch[4] greatly wondering. And when Peter saw it, he said to the people, “You people of Israel, why do you marvel at this man? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made him to walk? 

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Servant Jesus; whom you delivered up, and denied before the face of Pilate, when Pilate had determined to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted unto you,  and killed the Prince of life; whom God raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.[5] 

And by faith in his Name has his Name made this man strong, whom you see and know:  the faith which is through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. 

What does it mean that “His Name made this man strong”? I’ve been doing some work on this verse, and I am pleased to tell you…I have a tentative answer that may not satisfy you as we explore our faith and the faithfulness of God :)

First, of all, what is this ‘Name’? And what does it mean that faith in this Name brought strength?

“The Name… is not the syllables which are sounded ‘Jesus Christ.’ They are, in the view of the Old Testament, attempts at a summary description of things by their prominent characteristics… the ‘Name’ of God [is] equivalent to ‘that which God is manifested to be’…[6]

In Acts 5 we read that the Apostles ‘departed from the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for ‘the Name,’ and we find at a much later date that missionaries of the Gospel are described by the Apostle John as going forth ‘for the sake of the Name.’” (Maclaren’s Exposition)

That’s a good summary of what is noted in many commentaries. The Name of God is the being and reputation of God, revealed specifically in Jesus.

When in John 14:13-14, Jesus promises, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do," he is saying that when you ask for something that aligns with his character and nature – and thus his will – he will do it.

In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul declares that God has given Jesus ‘the name that is above every name’ – I mean, he was God in the flesh - so that every knee will bow and every tongue joyfully confess the lordship of Jesus. They won’t bow because of the syllables; they will bow in awe of Jesus.[7] Jesus IS the Name above all names.

It reminds me that the commandment not to take God’s name in vain is not about the syllables (though how we treat the spoken name of God reveals something about our heart toward God). Don’t claim to be in God’s family and then blaspheme God’s reputation. [8]

Meanwhile, who is having faith in this verse? Check out this translation, which highlights the ambiguity in the original language.

“And by the faith of his Name, this one whom you see and know, he has restored and healed, and faith in him has given him this health before you all." (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)

In this translation, the man is restored and healed by the faith of his Name – or, the faith/faithfulness of Jesus. There is faith in him, but it’s not clear what the source is. Was it his? It doesn’t seem to be, because he didn’t even ask to be healed. Was it the faithfulness of the Name in him? Was it the faith inside of Peter and John?

This isn’t the only time we see this kind of room for discussion. Galatians 2:20 can be rendered two different ways:

"The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in/by the faith(fulness) of the Son of God."

So, let’s explore the word we translate as “faith” in the New Testament, which has a range of potential meaning. In Scripture, “faith” (pistis) can mean:

·      trust, belief, conviction (something you feel)

·      faithfulness and reliability (something you do)

Both God and humanity are said to have pistis (faith or faithfulness):

·      At times it is what we feel and do (if we have faith in God)

·      Other times, it points toward the posture of God toward us (He is faithful to us).

Romans 3:3 is a great example:

“What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness (apistia) nullify the faithfulness (pistin) of God?”

So, is faith something we work to build, or do we have it in the measure God gives it to us? Or both? Is it like genetics, where we have been dealt a hand and we can decide if we want to maximize it by working at it? Or is it more like being given a finite allotment, and allowance, and some will get more than others? As you are likely already thinking, these differences matter.

If faith – the feeling or belief - is something that we work to build, then it seems like when miraculous things (like the healing of the lame man) do or don’t happen, it’s because of us. This would mean my dad died because he or those of us around him lacked faith. God was just waiting for us to get stronger, and we ran out of time. This would mean that our bad health reflects weak faith. This would look at almost every situation in which there is sin or sickness and lay the blame at our feet for our lack of faith. That’s a heavy burden to carry when we have been promised a yolk that is easy, and a burden that is light.[9] I wonder how Paul would respond to this considering how he prayed for a “thorn in his flesh” to be removed (2 Corinthians 12:9) and Jesus basically said, “No, but relax. My grace is sufficient.”

On the other hand, maybe a big part of understanding faith has to do with understanding God’s faithfulness towards us, how God is faithfully present with all of us in whatever journey we are on, working and moving as God sees fit, sometimes moving by His Holy Spirit, and sometimes moving tangibly through us. This would mean my dad’s story unfolded the way it did not because we didn’t even have faith the size of a mustard seed,[10] but because God’s sovereign plan did not involve my dad’s temporary healing in this world, but instead involved his ultimate healing in the world to come.

This list could go on. Name the situation in your life that did not go or is not going as you hoped it would. In this view, God is present, active, and faithfully at work not either because of our faith or in spite of it. (Here I am thinking of Paul again, when God intervened in his life while he was persecuting followers of Jesus).

The Bible seems to say both these things at different times, almost as if faith is complex and God wants us to wrestle with this together My goal today is to accomplish two things: I want to help us to rest in the confidence that God, the author and finisher of our faith, has given us a measure of faith by His grace. I also want to invite us to embrace what that means as we step into the high calling that comes with faith.

Let’s start with verses (and there are definitely more!) that present faith as something we are given, and then we strengthen it.

·      “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver…”(James 1:6) 

·      “Beloved, build yourselves up in your most holy faith…keep yourselves in the love of God...” (Jude 20–21).[11]

Then there are the verse that suggest it’s something God gives us.

·      Christ is “the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)

·       “To another, faith by the same Spirit” in reference to spiritual gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:9)

·       “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has measured out to each of you.” (Romans 12:3)[12]

* * * * *

So, how is it both God’s free gift and something we build?

The Eastern Orthodox church likes to talk about the synergy of faith: God initiates; we respond and build with the help of the Holy Spirit in the process of becoming more and more like Jesus. God's grace-filled gift of a measure of faith is the primary and essential factor, yet we respond to this through our choices, actions, and spiritual striving (think of Paul “pressing on to the high calling of God” in Philippians 3:14). 

In this view, perhaps we could think of faith as a dance. When our boys got married, Sheila and I practiced dancing. This was not in my wheelhouse. It was fascinating to me to slowly learn the subtleties involved in leading and responding in slow dancing. We both had to be attuned to the rhythm of th song, paying attention to nudgings and promptings. It took us a while, but we figured it out. It was such a better way of dancing than we had tried before.

Where God leads with His grace-filled offer of faith, we are invited to respond, to follow His lead through obedience and trust, becoming more like Christ by cooperating with the Holy Spirit. God is always going to lead, and we are daily choosing to follow His lead or not. We will need to be attuned, responding to the nudges of the Holy Spirit. We will need to be focused with that relationship as the primary point of our focus. And then we dance a holy dance filled with faith as we follow the lead of our Savior.

If you like gardening analogies, think of God planting a seed we are called to tend.[13] God’s going to make it grow (1 Corinthians 3), but we participate by adding fertilizer, watering, etc. God gives us the privilege of investing sweat equity in His plan.

You might be thinking that this means we CAN tell who has the most impressive faith. They will have more impressive fruit, right?  (And usually by that we mean an outward sign or wonder like Peter and John did).

Since God “assigns the measure of faith”, we must remember that the result of our cooperation will look different. Don’t forget what we just read:

“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has measured out to each of you.” (Romans 12:3)

When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth about the way they were being generous with the finances they had been given, he noted an important principle:

“For if the willingness is there, the what you give is acceptable according to what your have, not according to what you don’t have.” (2 Corinthians 8:12)

It would have been easy to see what others were giving and reach a conclusion about the state of their heart. Only a dollar? I doubt THEY are righteous and generous. Yeah, but what if they only had ten dollars, while the critic had a thousand and gave ten? Who is the most generous?

This is a good reminder not to compare people and make assumptions about whether or not someone is walking in faith based on marquee events like healing. We don’t know what measure of faith God has given to others; we don’t have insight into how they are tending the seeds of faith God has planted.

Someone who looks like they are crushing it might be squandering an immense gift they have been given. Someone who looks like they are struggling might be tending their mustard seed of faith with great care.

It also might be the case that a different kind of sign and wonder is taking place that others don’t see. A transformed heart, a healed soul, a new ability to love, a first step into repentance or forgiveness, freedom from greed or lust. All of this is indeed a wonder. It’s all a sign that faith is making us whole. (Mark 5:34)

I wonder sometimes if part of what makes faith hard to understand is that we assume it to be grand and showy and outwardly observable, when it is often quiet and ordinary and transformative in ways not so easily seen.

* * * * *

We still haven’t landed on a clean definition of what faith is. I’m looking for foundational things. Let’s go to Hebrews 1. I find this translation to be helpful.

“Now faith is the foundation of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)

We already noted that a faithful God gives us a measure of faith as a foundation for our lives. What results from that? What does this enable us to do according to Hebrews?

First, it enables us to believe in the reality of things we can’t see with our eyes. I think this is a call back to Jesus telling Thomas that those who didn’t have to see Jesus in order to believe in him were blessed.[14] I do have that faith: I believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be: God in the flesh, the Savior of the world, the Great Physician, the Healer and Restorer we all long for in our hearts. If you believe this too, we are joined together in this kind of faith in Jesus.

Second, having hope in the power and love of God to do hopeful things in the world seems to be a sign of having faith. Another good way to think of this is having trust. If we trust that God has in fact reconciled the world to himself through the cruciform love of Jesus,[15] and that He is going to finish the work He begins in us, and that one day He will make all things new,[16] then we are joined together in our trust in the faithfulness of God.

I have often wondered just what kind of man of faith I am. I’m just looking for a mustard seed’s worth.[17] Like I said, I’ve never healed a lame person. I have prayed for the sick, and sometimes they got better and sometimes they didn’t. I have dealt with anxiety for years, and also had really good stretches of peace. Sheila and I had times of despair in our marriage where it was not at all easy to lean on Jesus in trust and hope, and then other times when it was clear that God had not abandoned us at all. There have been times when, like the Psalmist, I want to yell, “Where are you?” and then other times I think: “Oh. You were right here all along.”

So because I wonder this a lot, I started to make a list this week of what measure God has given me if I gauge what it means to have faith by biblical standards. I am sharing this with you not because I expect it to put me on a pedestal - there will be no healings on this list - but because I am inviting you to find yourself in this list to find the seeds of faith God has given you to nurture.

·      I trust that Jesus is who He said He is: God incarnate, the hope of our salvation, the Risen Savior who takes away the sin of the world. I think that’s faith.

·      I trust that God can do anything God wants to do, and that whatever God wants to do is good even if I can’t see it. I think that’s faith.                                                               

·      I trust that God is love by nature, and that “the steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning,”(Lamentations 3:22–23), even when I don’t feel it.  I think that’s faith.

·      I trust that God heals us either by healing us now or by ushering us into eternity for our ultimate healing when He reconciles all things to Himself (Acts 3:21) and will wipe all the bitter tears from my eyes. I think that’s faith.

·      I trust that following His lead in the dance of faith is good, even if I don’t understand it and even while I might question Him about it. I think that’s faith.

·      I trust that the path of righteousness God has laid out is for my good and God’s glory, so I have sought to follow His loving path through my love-motivated obedience. I think that’s faith.

·      When I stumble in the path or wander from it, I trust that He runs toward me not away from me because God is for me, not against me, and a good Father does not abandon His children, but will instead search for His lost sheep until they are found. I think that’s faith.

·      I trust that God can take my life and make something good of it[18], in spite of all my attempts to undermine it, or in spite of the harmful things done to me by others. I think that’s faith.

·      Here is my last, and most important one. I rest in the fact that God’s faithfulness depends on His nature, not my perfection. “If we are faithless (apistoumen), He remains faithful(pistos), for He is not able to deny Himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13). I rest in that. I think that’s faith.  

I invite you to anchor in this unshakeable truth: God is faithful. Whether your faith feels strong or fragile today, God's faithfulness holds you in the measure you have been given. God is enough, and His gift will be enough.

Whatever role Peter and John played in the lame man’s healing, the man ultimately walked because of the faithfulness of Jesus’ Name. We too are being made whole — maybe not always in the ways we expect, but always by the same faithful Name. The Great Physician will complete His good work in you, restoring all things in His time. Let us respond in trust, stepping into His mission with hopeful hearts, knowing His mercies are new every morning

________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Interesting that this isn’t about the lame man’s faith (since he likely didn’t know Jesus).

[2] The Messianic age is here. Isaiah 35:3-6 prophesied the lame leaping like deer in the messianic age.

[3] Quick note: this is a Jewish audience at the Temple. Peter’s upcoming speech is going to pull from their Jewish history.

[4] A covered walkway in the outer courtyard.

[5] Note again the collective responsibility. All had some accountability even if they had not participated directly.

[6] Proverbs 18:10: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.”

[7] In Acts 4:12, Peter boldly proclaims, ‘There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’ The Name of Jesus isn’t just a label—it’s the embodiment of His authority, His character, and His saving power.

[8] “Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes, “This use of name = power, and even as an absolute equivalent for God, is very Jewish; cp. Acts 4:12. The usage grew out of such passages as Psalm 106:8, “He saved them for His name’s sake.”

[9] Matthew 11:30

[10] Matthew 17:20

[11] Or this one: “[Abraham] grew strong in his faith…” (Romans 4:20-21)

[12] Or these: “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not from works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)  “It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.” (Philippians 1:29) Peter will later talk of believers as those “who by Him do believe in God, that your faith and hope might be in God.” (1 Peter 1:21)  

[13] “Faith is not what makes God’s love true for us; faith is what allows us to enjoy and participate in it.” (Brad Jersak)

[14] John 20:29

[15] 2 Corinthians 5:19

[16] Revelation 21:5

[17] Matthew 17:19

[18] Romans 8:28

Harmony #7: Out With The Old, In With The New (John 2:13-22)

If we are like Jesus, zeal that our lives and our church become a holy space, “set aside” for God’s purposes, will consume us. So, what tangible Kingdom attributes should we be zealous to put in the courtyard of our church and our lives so that the church flourishes as God’s transforming presence is made manifest in our transformed lives? 

Sweep out Fear and replace it with Love – (agape) loving people sacrificially and freely  

• “Perfect love casts out fear (phobos, fleeing to avoid because of dread: involves the dread of punishment).” 1 John 4:18 This in reference to understanding God’s love for us and not fearing eternal judgment. But the very next verse says, “We love, because He first loved us.”

• “God has not given us a spirit of timidity or cowardice, but a spirit of miraculous power through God’s strength, agape love, and acting out God’s will through sound reasoning.” 2 Timothy 1:7

God’s love removes our fear; a different way of saying it is that the more we as children of God experience and understand God’s love – free; unearned; lavish in spite of being known; characterized by sacrifice; and in every way for us[1] – the more we can rest in the love of God. 

In the same way, the church is intended to be a community of people through whom God’s love is passed on to others. The more we experience and understand God’s love through God’s people – free; unearned; lavish in spite of being known; characterized by sacrifice; and in every way for us– the more we can rest in the love of those around us.

Sweep out Discord and replace it with Peace – bringing righteous order to sinful chaos

• “He is the embodiment of our peace, sent once and for all to take down the great barrier of hatred and hostility that has divided us so that we can be one. He offered His body on the sacrificial altar to bring an end to the law’s ordinances and dictations that separated Jews from the outside nations. His desire was to create in His body one new humanity from the two opposing groups, thus creating peace.  Effectively the cross becomes God’s means to kill off the hostility once and for all so that He is able to reconcile them both to God in this one new body. The Great Preacher of peace and love came for you, and His voice found those of you who were near and those who were far away.  By Him both have access to the Father in one Spirit. And so you are no longer called outcasts and wanderers but citizens with God’s people, members of God’s holy family, and residents of His household. You are being built on a solid foundation: the message of the prophets and the voices of God’s chosen emissaries with Jesus, the Anointed Himself, the precious cornerstone. The building is joined together stone by stone—all of us chosen and sealed in Him, rising up to become a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you are being built together, creating a sacred dwelling place among you where God can live in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-22)[2]

I love this image.  A building is being created out of each one of us who are residents of God holy household. We are being joined together to be a sacred place where it’s obvious we live together in peace with the Spirit of God as the mortar that holds us together. To the outcast and wanderer, welcome. Join the family of God. No hatred and hostility should divide us, since the Great Preacher of peace and love came for us. 

Sweep out Merit and replace it with Mercy – giving grace (unmerited favor) wherever possible

•  Luke 6:36  “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

•  Matthew 5:7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

•  Matthew 23:23  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

“The world will give you that once in awhile, a brief timeout; the boxing bell rings and you go to your corner, where somebody dabs mercy on your beat-up life.”   Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

That image makes me happy; it’s an oasis of goodness in a world that is so broken. But we serve a savior who didn’t just dab mercy on us; he poured it out on us, covered us in it – and we are expected to be in the corner’s of the lives of those around us, ready to shower them with mercy when the fight is going the worst.  

I like this as an image to organize our time with others. What if we thought of everyone you talk with after this service as someone in need of a brief timeout from a life that’s beating them up, and what then need from you is for you to be in their corner dumping a Gatoraide cooler of mercy over them.

Sweep out Callousness and replace it with Kindness – treating others with goodness

• “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

• “Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.” (1 Peter 3:9)[3]

• “Love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.” (Luke 6:35) 

I don’t know about you, but I find myself getting jaded and hardened if I’m not careful. There are so many things that make me want to develop a “thick skin” so life doesn’t hurt anymore. Callouses on our hands are a blessing when you do manual labor that rubs our skin raw; why wouldn’t callouses on our hearts be a blessing when we work with people who rub our souls raw? 

 Why not? Because we are called to be kind (combine some of the others in this list to get the idea: merciful, loving, gentle, and nurturing). The harder our hearts get, the harder it is to do those things. 

• I don’t want to merciful, loving, gentle, and nurturing to the person who passed me in the roundabout, or who constantly poses in front of the mirror at the gym, or the person next to me on the plane who can’t seem to stop saying the name of Jesus loudly, or…. But I must. 

•  I don’t want to be merciful, loving, gentle, and nurturing to the online troll who blows up what were meant to be thought-provoking conversations. But I must. 

• I don’t want to be merciful, loving, gentle, and nurturing to that person who unfairly judges my motivations or never gives me the benefit of the doubt. But I am told that I must pass on to others what Jesus gave to me.

I must pass on what Jesus did for me.  See the previous point about mercy.

Sweep out Fickelness and replace it with Faithfulness – having a consistently righteous character others can count on[4]

• “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity and dignity…” (Titus 2:7)  

• “Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.” (Hebrews 13:18) 

• “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12)  

We often think of faithfulness in terms of actions, and that’s clearly not wrong as you see here. In Revelation, we talked about faithful endurance that had to do with living a godly life; in friendships, a faithful friend “sticks closer than a brother.”[5] I want to look at a different aspect: having a consistently righteous character others can count on. This is the” clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.”

This is not a demand for perfection. This is about the consistent presence of our lives. Maybe another word is integrity: our words, actions and attitudes are integrated so that they work together, and the testimony of our lives tells the same story over and over.   

A couple months ago, a person who has been a consistently righteous presence in my life had a noticeably inconsistent moment with me. But as I thought about it, I realized it was notable precisely because it was not the norm, and that I was blessed to have someone in my life whose presence is so consistent that inconsistencies stand out. This person apologized the next day, by the way – which did not surprise me at all. They have a consistently righteous character others can count on; they desire to act honorably in all things. 

Sweep our Error and replace it with Truth-telling – speaking honestly about…everything.

•  Ephesians 4:25   “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”

There are lots of ways to talk about the devastation of falsehood. Today, let’s look at the practical trouble with the lack of honest truth-telling.

1.  When you consistently practice dishonesty, you eventually will lose touch with what’s true, and you will become an ‘unreliable narrator’ about the world. I have had several friend who, it became clear to me, just lied all the time, almost without thinking. It had just become part of who he was. He did it in the most ordinary of things even when it made no sense. At some point, I just stopped taking you seriously. I had no idea if anything they said was true. 

2.  If you are comfortable lying to others, you are almost certainly comfortable lying to yourself. “That was a good 1 hour workout!” No it wasn’t. It was 45 minutes of mediocre effort. “I got fired because my boss is a jerk!” Or – hear me out – you were late every day, did as little as possible, and undermined the boss around the other employees. Eventually you will become an “unreliable narrator” in your own life. You construct an image of yourself (for better or worse) that is totally at odds with reality. I read a book a while ago called I Wear The Black Hat (an image for bad guys). The author was challenging our image of ourselves. He asked a sobering question: What if we wear the black hat in our lives? We like to think we are the heroes in our own story, but….what if we are the villain (or at least more villainous than we think), and heroic people around us are picking up the slack?  “As each individual reads Scripture…they are Esther, never Xerxes or Haman. They are Peter, never Judas, never a Pharisee. They are Jews escaping slavery, never Egypt… [they have] no lens for locating themselves rightly  in Scripture or society.”[6] Truth about ourselves, not just others, matters.

3.  Finally, I think we tend to assume people are like us in a lot of ways. I found out a couple years ago that some people carry on conversations with voices in your head. Like, they go after it.  I had assumed everyone was like me: it’s quiet in there. They assumed everyone was like them. I am conscious of my weight (this goes back to my childhood), so I assume everyone else is conscious of their weight too. We often tend to project our interior life into the interior of others. And if you are a liar, the world becomes a very unsafe place because as far as you know, you are surrounded by liars.

The practical blessing of truth:

1.  You become more discerning about truth and become an increasingly reliable narrator of the world. This brings clarity, true knowledge, honest insight, etc. People increasingly give weight to your voice because they see your commitment to seeing the world as it is. Even when people disagree, if both parties know the other person is really committed to an objective view of the world, each voice has weight. (Quick note: if you change your mind on issues at times after studying and talking, that’s probably a good sign.)

2.  You are likely becoming an increasingly reliable narrator about yourself. You are able to look honestly at instead of away from the hat you are wearing.  Odds are good that you will become so committed to honest assessment that you ask others to weigh in on what they see in your life. This is both personal and relational gold.

3.  You won’t assume others are like you – because you have an honest view of the world.  And then you are at a much healthier place internally (not projecting onto others) and relationally (able to relate with a view of the actual reality of what people are like). 

Sweep out Pride and replace it with Humility – having a modest/honest estimate of ourselves[7]

• “Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  (1 Peter 5:5)”

•  “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”  (Romans 12:3)

• But [God] said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

When is it most obvious that God is at work in our lives? When our strength and skills fail – when what we bring to the table is inept at best and disastrous at worst -  and yet God brings something good from it. 

When is it most obvious that God is at work in our church? When our strength and skills fail – when what we bring to the table is inept at best and disastrous at worst -  and yet God brings something good from it. Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain, right?[8]

If I can be transparent about pastoring for a moment. Most Sunday, something goes wrong here on a Sunday morning, from mechanical issues to computer breakdowns to awkward sermons (and sermon topics) to lack of smooth transitions to the worship team having to scramble with last minute sicknesses to nursery workers not being able to make it to somebody sticking their foot in their mouth in a conversation, and that someone is often me. And more often than not, it seems like someone is here really looking for be ministered to through whichever area is “weak” that particular morning.  And it feels like, “Well, we blew it.”

This used to eat me up. God has been working with me: “Let it go. My power is made perfect in these moments.” In other words, CLG is not going to flourish – really Kingdom flourish - because the preacher or the band or the Kid’s Ministry leaders or any of us navigating relationships are  knocking it out of the park; it will Kingdom flourish when the power of God builds this house. And that is comforting indeed.

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[1] Romans 8:31

[2]  “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19 

 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God (sharing in the same nature their Father).” Matthew 5:9

 “So then we pursue the things which make for peace (wholeness, unity) and the building up of one another.” Romans 14:19  

[3] 1 Corinthians 13:4 “Love is patient, love is kind.” 

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:12-13  

[4] Verses about faithfulness to God: 1 Samuel 12:24  “Fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.”

Revelation 2:10  “Do not fear what you are about to suffer….Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

1 Corinthians 4:2  “It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.

[5] Proverbs 18:24

[6] From Christiana Collins. I don’t know who that is, but it’s pretty good stuff.

[7]  “Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the LORD, and humility comes before honor.”  Proverbs 15:33 

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”  Proverbs 11:2

 “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.” Romans 12:16 

[8] Psalm 127:1