For my readers that aren’t in the ICOC, you can safely skip this and save yourself 5 mins.
So, I guess there’s a new addendum to the document (United Plan for Cooperation, or UPC) that was to fade away for churches to sign agree to. Sheesh, I hope we don’t have another big signature agreement discussion / debate / brouhaha over this one.
Anyway, at one time it was a big deal to me, so I thought I’d acknowledge it. Now? Not so much. The original Unity Proposal has turned out to be a non-issue as far as I’m concerned. I guess it helped those who thought it was a good idea, from my perspective it had little to no impact on our church, which is a good thing.
Anyway, it’s there with more things to agree to, or maybe it’s the same things stated in a different way or something. I honestly don’t care, as long as it doesn’t effect what we are doing here. I only mention it out of tradition as it used to be a Big Deal to me.
My focus these days is both bigger (Jesus, the Gospel, the larger Christian community, etc) and smaller (my family, my kids) these days, so this is simply a momentary distraction. It was always sort of an answer in search of a question anyway.
Anyway, there it is. Sorry to waste your time.

If you haven’t read my prior post on Romans 9, you should do so for back ground on this.
To say that Romans 9 threw me for a loop is accurate, I’d guess, but not exactly fair to Romans. There was this pondering in the far back reaches of my consciousness, the dark corners of my mind, about election. It was brought on in no small part by discussions with and readings of Jared Wilson who I respect greatly and who is an unapologetic Calvinist. He hasn’t spend many electrons on the subject in recent years, but it was a more active topic at his former blog.
So, the idea that perhaps I’ve misjudged the idea of election or predestination has been rattling around in my head for some time now. Romans 9 simply reached into the shadows and yanked it forward where I had to deal with it.
The comments on my post and Codepoke’s writings on the subject (see this post about elephants. Really. Also, his series on the 5 points of Calvinism (read from the bottom up) which I’m not yet through). I’m not sure I’m on board with what he’s saying, but they’ve helped in two ways.
First, I really appreciate how he steps away from the obvious interpretation, takes all the facts, shuffles them like a deck of cards and rearranges them into a new way that wasn’t at all obvious going in. In other words, he makes it clear that from another perspective that I’m not able to see, things can make sense. Of course, God has a view that we cannot imagine and from where he sits, it makes perfect sense.
Second, He has illustrated plainly that God has in fact acted, with impunity, decisively and without concern for our sense of fairness to choose people at various points in time. Abraham, for example, was chosen to build God’s nation with no chance for anyone else or any other people to apply for the job. Isreal was built from his flesh when his flesh had been well past the time for tit to be making any new flesh. And God intervened in history and created a nation for himself. Hard to argue that as anything but divine intervention.
And yet, my flesh rebels against the idea that God is choosing without respect to man’s effort or desire. It feels disheartening. Makes me wonder, “Why bother?” If God is going to pick who He’s going to pick, what does it matter if I ppreach or share or teach or even seek? It’s up to God. Period.
Yet he also promises that he rewards those ho seek him and that those who seek will find. The world around us, which Romans also tells us teaches us about who God is, rewards men for their efforts. Hard work is rewarded and determination brings success. The Bible tells us that sin prevents us fom entering the kingdom. God looks at the heart, he said when choosing David, so clearly our efforts are not in vain.
So, there’s this mysterious ying yang going on where man’s effort and heart and God’s sovereign choice work hand in hand. He ultimately in control, yet we influence, somehow, and at some times. At others, He simply acts decisively.
Which is which? When does God do what? How do we make sense of it? How can I possibly understand it?
Well, the one thing I see from the diverse comments left here is that while none of you completely agree with each other, and none can claim to explain it all, you have each found for yourselves an interpretation of the scriptures that you can live with. Something that either explains it enough or you’ve made peace with the mystery.
As I prayed tonight, I was tempted to ask God to understand it, to know all what went into it, I realized what a foolish thought that was. If I had a few lifetimes to research it and ponder it, I’d never understand the mystery of God’s intervention in the world. I did not need the whole truth, although that would be nice. I simply needed to understand enough, to be able to imagine a possible resolution, to find a place where my faith and my understanding of the facts could co-exist.
What I needed is a place where I could stand with God.
A place where my limited understanding doesn’t clash with his perfection. A place where my rationalizations don’t negate his sovereignty. A place where I can believe something that I can live with but that doesn’t contradict his divinity.
So that’s my request of Him. Show me enough that I can make sense of it. Show me a way to look at it that I can accept. Give me just what I need so I can walk with you and know that you remain just and compassionate.
Is that a cop out? Maybe, but that’s all I can do right now. The alternative is giving up on God, and there are far too many reasons not to do that. His love for me in Jesus is enough to not ever consider that. So, a cop out, a compromise, a set of blinders placed at the proper angle, whatever.
I just need a place where I can stand with God.

I’ve been reading Jared Wilson’s writings for some 5 years now. First at Thinklings, then at his first solo blog, Mysterium Tremendum, then at Shizuka Blog and now at the Gospel-Driven Church. His blogging, perhaps more than any other, has stretched and moved my thinking spiritually over the years. So when given the opportunity to review his book, I jumped at the chance.
The picture above should give some insight into how I liked the book. That’s my copy and each sticky note is for a quote that I wanted to come back to. There’s a lot of good, quotable stuff in here. Here’s a couple:

[Jesus] is a king who looks out at every single person in other kingdoms, sees them doing sinful things, and says to himself, I want that person.

Jesus the King, p. 192

He didn’t perforate the veil. He didn’t put a dotted line on the veil so we’d know where to use our scissors. He didn’t put a “tear here” label on the veil and add a ziplock enclosure so we could seal it back up if we wanted. He absolutely ripped the thing in half. One act. Fully complete.

Jesus the Sacrifice, p. 208

Reconciliation presents salvation as it really is – as Jesus the Savior taking dead strangers to God and transforming them into living friends.

Jesus the Savior, p. 274

Going in, because I had such high expectations, I wondered if I would be disappointed. Mostly, I was not (we’ll get to the ‘mostly’ later). The book delivered the excellent writing, the meaty content and the snark that I’ve come to expect from Jared.
Jared’s style is such that you might think this is a light weight, casual read. It is, but it’s chock full of meat and peppered with references to other books that I bet aren’t near as easy to digest. Jared puts deep theological concepts within your grasp, partly by skimming their surface, but mostly by putting them in deceptively plain language. He has a knack for putting powerful things in simple terms. As a result, while it’s an easy read, you never loose sight that this is a man who’s done his homework and knows of what the speaks. He writes with both ease and authority.
The casual, sometimes sarcastic, tone may be off-putting to some. In fact, Michael Spencer said in his review that older folks (past their 40’s) might not get some of the cultural references and may not appreciate the “Driscoll-esque rhetorical style” of Jared’s writing. I’m 42, so I’m on the bubble and I did find it tiring in a couple of spots, but mostly it adds to the topic rather than taking away. I mean you’ve gotta love stuff like this:

This man Jesus, who as a kid pooped in his diapers and wet his bed like the rest of us; who sweated and bled, and got morning breath, and had BO, and was sort of a mama’s boy, says to the religious leaders of his day, “Hey, before Abraham was, I AM.”

Jesus the Lord, p. 257

A couple spots of too much snark and a couple of chapters that seemed to go a little long were the minor things in the ‘mostly’ from above. Minor quibbles, frankly, that shouldn’t stop anyone from reading this book. But, if a little sarcasm and snark rub you the wrong way, maybe this isn’t the book for you.
Which would be a shame, because the one thing that stands out, above all else, in this book is Jared’s unashamed passion and enthusiasm for Jesus. This is something that isn’t heard much in Christian circles, unfortunately. Frankly, I hadn’t noticed it was missing until I saw Jared relentlessly preaching Jesus and the gospel. Oh, we hear a lot of Bible things that we can do to improve our marriages, our kids, our finances or be better or happier people, but not enough just plain Jesus (who is the answer to all that stuff anyway). There are several spots in the book where you can feel his excitement over what aspect of Jesus he’s describing. Like this:

This is what a prophet does. This is what Jesus the prophet does. He inserts himself into our workaday lives, he invades our space and exposes our hearts. He tells us the ugly truth about ourselves, but not to shame or punish us, but to open us up, to provoke is and prompt us, to disarm our defenses and turn us – all of us, our whole selves – toward him. He dismantles our bland religion and hypothetical spirituality, he tears down our heartless theology and our faithless works. He infiltrates the very core of our existence and proclaims not our betterment or our improvement or our worthiness, but his own glory and power.

Jesus the Prophet, p. 55

This is a man passionate about his Savior, amazed by him and, frankly, shocked that you aren’t floored by Jesus too. And if you read this book and aren’t more passionate about Jesus, I wonder if you were paying attention. His enthusiasm is contagious and ought to move you when you’re done.
Jared’s done a lot for my faith over the years, and I think this book will do a lot for the faith of those who chose to read it. It will stick with you and make you think. I highly recommend it.
This post is part of the blog tour for Jared C. Wilson’s new book, Your Jesus Is Too Safe, Outgrowing a Drive-Through, Feel-Good Savior. In return for writing this review, I was given a free copy of the book. No expectation or promise of a favorable review was given. It just happened ’cause the book is darn good.

Notice, though, what Jesus says to do: leave the weeds – don’t try to pull them. For now, leave the weeds. Because in the reality of the kingdom, the dead come back to life. Goats become sheep, weeds become wheat. When we see with kingdom eyes, we don’t write anyone off or leave anyone for dead. Instead, we do the radical, revolutionary, counter cultural thing – bear with the unbearable and minister with grace to those who don’t have what we have. We coexist with the weeds – peacefully, humbly, lovingly – in the hopes that more and more stalks will come into the light and be transformed into wheat.

Jared Wilson, Your Jesus Is Too Safe

I’m reading Jared’s book and participating in the blog tour that starts next week, but I couldn’t resist sharing this quote. There are are lot of sharable quotes in this book. Look for my review on Thursday.

Great discussion at church tonight about the nature of Abraham’s faith. I’m not sure how successful I’m going to be in articulating my thoughts but here goes.
The key passage we looked at was from Romans 4:

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Romans 4:18-21

Was his faith blind or without thought? No, it says he considered, the NIV says he “faced the fact”, that his body was as good as dead. He didn’t put blinders on to his circumstances nor ignore the facts of his surroundings, he faced them head on and chose to believe God instead.
Why?
A hint might be found in Genesis 18. God tells Abraham that the sin in Sodom is great and he’s going to destroy it. Abraham stood before the Lord and basically said, “Hold on God. What if …” 50 good folks? 40? 20? 10? He’s interrogating the Lord – humbly – but he’s grilling him. He wants to know what kind of God this is. Is he fair to the righteous when punishing the wicked?
Abraham had been hanging around God for a while, listening to him and following him. I think this is a turning point in their relationship. This is the first time that God let Abraham in on his plans. Sodom is wicked, and this is what I plan to do about it. This was a side of God Abraham hadn’t yet seen. Up until then, it was God saying follow and promising to bless him and Abraham following.
But here, Abraham stands up to God saying what if? And God patiently listens and answers. I think that this added to Abraham’s understanding of who God was.
So, when God promised him many descendants, Abraham looked at the facts. He was old, as good as dead. He was no longer equipped for fathering. But, there was another set of facts, perhaps more elusive or even subjective. That was the fact that God, who was powerful enough to rain fire down on Sodom, had never left him, had never let him down and had demonstrated his justice and fairness.
So, while the plain facts indicated that it was impossible, the facts of faith allowed him to proceed anyway. God had proven himself able to do the miraculous and had proven his trustworthiness. God was true, so his promises could be trusted even when tehy made no sense.
Faith isn’t simply ignoring the facts and believing God, it’s looking beyond the obvious to see the facts of faith. That God is with us, He sent Jesus to rescue us, that he is able to rescue and all those personal ways that we’ve felt his presence and that he has worked in us in ways that we cannot explain. And he has promised to never leave us, that all would work for good if we follow, that he would rescue us and that we would not be tempted beyond what we can bear.
So faith is looking squarely at the Earthly facts but seeing God who is over all, bigger than any circumstances and who already showed us how much He loves us in Jesus. In a way, faith is choosing to see the larger picture, or perhaps more accurately choosing to trust teh one that can see the larger picture that we cannot.

Matt Chandler on the Gospel vs. moralism. Excellent.
Via. Jared at The Thinklings.