What's Your Superpower?

Fifteen minutes until class starts and the room is buzzing. Kids came in right after being dismissed from the main session 45 minutes ago, but I am just now realizing I left my teaching notes in the room we are staying in down the hall.

Anchorage Baptist Temple can feel like a maze if you've never been inside before because it's not just a church with Sunday School rooms- this building serves as home to a very large Christian school with long hallways and rooms that snake around for two floors. Our group of nearly twenty from Homer is staying in a couple of rooms during the yearly statewide youth conference.

My classroom- the one preassigned to me- is a large room that is set up with five round tables, with about thirty chairs in all. Once the chairs fill up, kids start lining the floor in the back and in clusters around the room. I've chosen a popular theme apparently. "What's Your Superpower?" must be a question a lot of young people want to hear about.

But I am in near panic mode when I realize all my notes were locked up in our room after lunch. Class begins in fifteen minutes and my phone is threatening to shut down with a mere 1% of charge left. As I'm assessing the situation, two young men with camera equipment step into the room and ask, "Is it okay if we film your teaching?" I ask why they chose my class and they tell me their first choice was overly full and it appears I have more space to set up their gear.

"Sure- come on in!" My smile is a mask for the anxiety that is trying to take over.

Things are getting real, people. This is the moment I'm calling on Jesus to HELP! and I really need my notes! I step out the door to see one of the guys from our group and tell him what's going on. After describing my notebook, he offers to find the key and bring it to class - even if I've already started.

Whew. Crisis averted!

As I begin, I tell the class I've tricked them, because we're not actually going to spend the whole time talking about superpowers and the pros and cons of the Marvel universe versus DC comics. We're actually going to be talking about spiritual gifts and our place in God's story.

In 1 Corinthians 12, it seems odd to combine a list of spiritual gifts with an expose on the merits of the nose and toes and every body part being valuable. At first glance, it seems like two totally unrelated themes. But as we read, we began to see three things:

Every gift comes from God.
Every person has been given a gift.
Every gift is to be used to serve others.

In a demonstration of that idea, I began to pass out large puzzle pieces to different students in the room. "Write your gift on the back and initial it." When one girl informs me she doesn't have a gift, I smile at her and pass her a puzzle piece.

Then I call everyone to the back of the room and instruct them not to flip their puzzle piece over yet. I'm going to time them, so at the word Go! They may flip their piece over and assemble the 24 pieces into a finished product.

The girl who thought she had no gift looks over at me amidst the crazy room of students assembling in the back and whispers "What do I do?" 

"This is your piece, you can give it or keep it- it's up to you! If you keep it, they can't finish the puzzle - but I'm not going to make you give it."

She pauses a moment then heads to the back to find her place with the others. Within two minutes, it was complete. As I walk over to the completed puzzle, I began to speak.

"I know this is a puzzle, but today this puzzle represents more - this represents God's heart and the things He wants to do in the world. Because each of you contributed your part - your gift - we have a clear picture of God's heart and what He is doing in the world.

"Now one of you didn't know what your gift was, but instead of holding back, you signed your puzzle piece and brought it anyway. This is beautiful to me- and to God. This is someone who says 'Jesus, I don't know what I have to offer, but I want to give it to you. I'm not sure what my gift is, but I'm showing up. I'm not sure how I can help, but here I am!"

After class, that same girl- the one who didn't think she had a gift - came up to me to say: I think I know what my gift is now.

I felt such joy! I hope each student in that room came to see how valuable their part is in God's big plan.

Old Testament Template

Occasionally I have encountered teachings which so strongly affect my view of the world, and of God, that I feel compelled to share those findings with others. What follows is one such article. It is found in the first chapter of Landa Cope's book, Old Testament Template. (Forewarning: I know it looks long, but it is well worth the read.)

I was channel surfing, mindlessly flipping through scores of TV programs to pass the time. I landed on a show where a British journalist was saying that Christians believe that many of their members being in a community will affect that community for good. The greater the Christian presence then, the greater the benefit to the society at large. I agreed with the commentator. That is what we teach.

The TV journalist went on to propose that we look at the most Christianized city in America and see how this influence works out practically. He said the definition of "Christianized" he would use would be the community with the largest percentage of believers actually attending church regularly. This is a good conservative working definition of "Christianized."

He said that by that definition, Dallas, Texas was the most Christianized city in America at that time. More people per capita were in church on any given Sunday than in any other community in the country. Churches abound in Dallas and a large number boost full pews. Our journalist proposed that we look at the social demographics of Dallas and see how this "Christian blessing" worked out practically within that community.

We looked at various statistics and studies, including crime, safety on the streets, police enforcement, and the justice and penal system. We looked at health care, hospitals, emergency care, contagious diseases, infant mortality rate, and the distribution of care givers. We reviewed education, equality of schools, safety, test scores and graduation statistics. Jobs, housing, and general economics were evaluated. Could you get a job? Could you get housing? Did potential income match available housing? We looked at homelessness and programs for those unable to care for themselves. Each of these categories was evaluated using racial and economic factors. Was there equity regardless of color, creed or income? And so on.

The TV host had chosen the kind of statistics and information you would be concerned about if you where going to raise your children in a community. As Christians we want to be ready to go wherever God sends us. However, we also know that there are some places we would rather live than others, for obvious reasons. Will my children be safe on the streets? Can they get a respectable, safe education? Will I be able to house, clothe and feed my family? Will my children have blatant exposure to drugs and other destructive influences? Can my family be relatively safe from disease? Is adequate medical attention available if they get sick? Can I get legal help and a fair hand from the judicial system? Are the police equally interested in our protection, and, is all of this true regardless of my color, nationality or creed?

The program was, perhaps, an hour long and I watched it alone. By the time my English host was done with the Dallas study I was devastated. No one would want to live in a city in that condition. The crime, the decrepit social systems, the disease, the economic discrepancies, the racial injustice all disqualified this community from having an adequate quality of life. And this was the "most Christianized" city in America. I wanted to weep.

The program was not finished. The host now would take this devastating picture of a broken community to the Christian leaders and ask for their observations. He chose leaders of status and integrity. He chose the kind of Christian leaders other Christians would respect. One by one, each pastor viewed the same facts about the condition of his city that I had just seen. With simplicity, the narrator asked each minister, "As a Christian leader what is your response to the condition of your community?". Without exception, in various ways, they all said the same thing, "This is not our concern... we are spiritual leaders."

The program finished, the room was silent, and my world began to crumble. Many years of my work as a missionary had been spent addressing Christianity's critics, specifically those in the media. (This is not generally very difficult as their accusations are often ill informed or poorly formulated.) If this journalist had turned the microphone to me for comment at the closing of his program I would have been silent. A rare occurrence. I was shocked to silence... by the facts.

From this story, Landa goes on to share God's original design to affect every area of our society. The Good News is not just a message of spiritual salvation- it is a message intended to affect every area of our lives. Amen. So be it!

Ten Shekels and a Shirt

Someone once asked me, "Why do you serve God?" After I listed all the usual answers - He's been a Father to me, helped me through rough times, encouraged me when I've been down, etc., they asked again - "Do you have a reason that has nothing to do with you?" I was at a loss for words . . . until they answered, simply - We serve because He is Worthy. 

I was reminded of this as I read Paris Reidhead's sermon, Ten Shekels and a Shirt and thought I'd share his closing statements here with you:

Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000 slaves. And the owner had said, "No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he's shipwrecked we'll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave; but he's never going to talk to any of us about God. I'm through with all that nonsense." Three thousand salves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.

Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island for he wouldn't even transport them. As the ship left it's pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the North Sea, carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn't a four year term; they sold themselves into life-time slavery. Simply that as slaves, they could be a s Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping, for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm liked through the arm of his fellow, raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these: "MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN, RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!" This became the call of Moravian missions. And this is the only reason for being, That the Lamb that was slain, may receive the reward of His suffering.

Cheerful Givers

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows  generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his  heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times,  having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Why do we always associate this verse with money? Possibly because that was the original context of the verse. However, if God is blessed by us cheerfully giving of our resources,  how much more will he be blessed by us cheerfully giving of our own lives? Not reluctantly, or under compulsion, but cheerfully given out of an overflow of genuine love towards God. Samuel Chadwic hit the mark when he said, “A gift without a heart behind it is a bribe. God asks for our heart, not our gifts.” How true! God has always been more interested in the heart motive more than the perceived value of the gift given.

How often do we miss the mark when we try to lay down our lives for God? In Romans 12:1&2, we are commanded to “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.” As a result, we try to knuckle down and perform what we feel God is requiring, only to end up feeling frustrated at our inability to meet the standard God seems to have set. After all, how can we give anything less than our all for the One who so willingly gave His all for us? We miss the mark because we misunderstand two things about this verse.

Firstly, God will never require us to do something we are incapable of doing. To think that he would set a standard we cannot meet, and then stand in judgement of our failure, is to imply that he is an unrighteous God. Secondly, we assume that the word sacrifice implies that God has asked for something we are unwilling to give. After all, if it were willingly given, we feel it would not have been a sacrifice to begin with. What a faulty understanding we have!  When we assume God is after the very thing we want to hold onto, we reduce him to the level of a common thief. I assure you, God will never take our lives from us. It is something we must freely offer to Him.  After all, He loves a cheerful giver.