I have always heard that Gospel means, "good news."  And that was enough for me.  I also know that Gospel was a biblical genre.  However, I never really thought about what shaped the good news or why it became its own Genre.  I'll spend more time in this post on the first thought.  I admit, I have sat in church all my life.  I was born on a Friday and was at church on Sunday.  So as I have sat in church all these years and have done ministry in churches this last half of my life I have defined "good news" or "Gospel."  The Gospel for me was that Jesus Christ came to this world and saved us through His death, burial, and resurrection.  That's not necessarily a bad definition, but it may not be a complete definition.  I just finished reading Scot Mcknight's book, "The King Jesus Gospel."  Mcknight says, "Let's make this point clear: the gospel is the Story of Jesus as the completing Story of Israel." (p.85) "Did Jesus preach the gospel? Yes, he preached the gospel because the gospel is the saving Story of Jesus completing Israel's Story, and Jesus clearly sets himself at the center of God's saving plan for Israel." (p.111) "...Jesus preached Jesus, Paul preached Jesus and Peter preached Jesus.  Preaching Jesus is preaching the gospel." (p. 111)  

I think Mcknight makes his case very well in this book.  We cannot simply define Israel's completed story only through the passion story, but through the entire life of Jesus.  That is the gospel.  When we live that gospel it will make why we live on earth at all make more sense.  It will strengthen our desire to live Kingdom lives and our resolve to share the Story.

In the last chapter McKnight lays out what the gospel is and what it means to be a gospel culture.  I look forward to being shaped into more of a gospel story and helping shape a gospel culture wherever I am.  The story of Israel has its twists and turns and since humankind cannot get it "right," we have Jesus who is the ultimate for our gospel.

Although I want to live the passion of Christ out in my life, what I want more now is to live out Christ's completion of Israel's story in the world and how that culture continues with me.

That's Good News!

For the Last 5 years there has never been a dull moment.  I remember the day very well, at our 8 week appointment hearing that we would be having twins.  What a miracle!  Then at week 20 hearing that they were both boys.  And while we still aren't completely sure if they are identical or fraternal, we do know one thing; they are a gift from God.  I cannot even begin to imagine life without these precious boys.  They bring such life to me and I hope I return to them a simple glimpse of Jesus.  I know God better because of them.  I trust in the Holy Spirit more now than 6 years ago.  I am incredibly more reliant upon Jesus because of Dylan and Brody.  They are my best teachers.  They convict me of my need for Christ.  I have learned gentleness, kindness, goodness, and love from them.  They've challenged me to patience, self-control, and faithfulness.  And now I can exude joy and peace.  I love them deeply and long for the day when their lips confess Jesus as their Lord.
So Here are my Five Favorites things of each.

Dylan:  
1.  His Independence
2.  His leadership
3.  His thoughtfulness
4.  His intellect
5.  His trust

Brody:
1.  His Humor
2.  His caring spirit
3.  His artistic ability
4.  His passion
5.  HIs ability to make friends with anyone

Each year I have had a special prayer for these boys.  At each birthday I add another phrase.  So on their 5th birthday this is their new prayer:

Dear God,
Help Dylan and Brody to grow strong and healthy (0), follow you always (1), be your servant (2), live with great joy (4), and give you glory (3). Let them care for those in need (5),...

In Jesus Name,
Amen.

Happy Birthday Dylan!  You are a big boy now.  May God bless your new year of life!

Happy Birthday Brody!  You are a big boy now.  May God bless your new year of life!

Two Sundays ago I finished a four-week sermon series on the book of Jonah.  This has been quite a journey for me as I have studied and absorbed the little we get in the Bible about Jonah.  It is a remarkable book that can give us so many ideas to think about.  I chose at the beginning for this series to take on a focus about God's mission.  There is no doubt that God has a mission for Jonah to go to Ninevah.  There is also no doubt that Jonah cares nothing for the terrorists of Ninevah.  And yet through a mighty storm, a big fish, a vomitous experience, a prophetic call, a prophetic proclamation, a repentant gentile land, and a vine that is there one day and gone the next, we see more than just Jonah...we see God.  We ultimately see the heart that God has for his people, including Jonah.  God never gives up on Jonah and never relents his grace for Ninevah.  Does God care more about Jonah?  Obviously Jonah cares more about himself than Ninevah.  Was this just a playtime for God to take Jonah on a personal journey?  Jonah definitely went on an extreme journey.  However, it seems that Jonah ends up in the very same place he began and God cares just as much for Jonah as he does for Ninevah.  The key verse of the entire book lies in Jonah 4:11, "And should i not have concern for the great city of Ninevah, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left--and also many animals?"  God has deep compassion on Jews and gentiles.  We tend to spend most of our time in the New Testament and if we aren't careful, we think the gentile movement begins with Paul.  Nope.  It begins with God and a reluctant, yet successful prophet, Jonah.

One cannot miss the ideas of repentance, salvation, and compassion.  God has great compassion for all people.  And while we have once regarded repentance as a bad word, we realize in Jonah, that repentance is reconciliation with God and through this reconciliation, Jonah is able to reconcile an entire city to God.

If nothing else I realize through this story that I must embrace my story of repentance and realize that repentance not only turns me from sin, but turns me to God and thus gives me a message for others who are seeking something deeper in this life than the world can offer.  They are seeking repentance, reconciliation with God.  If I can share how God has done this for me, then they can see that God can do this for them as well.  This is good news and our salvation continues.  I am Jonah.  I am Ninevah.  I am God's story of repentance.  And YOU are too!

I decided that since I was turning 36 (Feb. 11) that I would share 36 of my favorite Bible verses to commemorate a new year of life and a life lived for 36 beautiful years.  Here we go and in no particular order:

1.  Isaiah 64:8 (This became the theme of my youth ministry at my first church)
2.  Isaiah 58:10 (A theme for my current work)
3.  John 1:1 (A life verse for me)
4.  Matthew 28:16-20
5.  Ephesians 4:29
6.  Matthew 18:15-17
7.  John 12:24-25 (The Message)
8. Galatians 5:22-23
9.  Genesis 1:1
10.  John 5:1-14
11.  Luke 23:39-43
12. Philippians 2:5-11
13.  Hebrews 11 (the whole chapter)
14. John 13:1-17
15. Revelation 21:1-8
16.  Revelation 4:8
17.  Jude 24-25
18.  Philippians 4:13
19.  Matthew 5:3-12
20.  Matthew 1:1-17
21. Mark 16:8
22. John 7:53-8:11
23. Matthew 25:31-46
24. John 1:14
25. Matthew 3:13-17
26. Ephesians 3:20-21
27. Micah 6:8
28. Jonah 4:11
29. Daniel 3:16-18
30. Joshua 6 (whole chapter)
31.  Philippians 4:2-7
32. Romans 8:31
33. Genesis 32:22-32
34. Psalm 23
35. Psalm 29
36. Psalm 139:23-24

And one for this year:  1 John 1:1-7

What are some of your favorite scriptures?

Have you ever compared yourself to a biblical character? I've been thinking about this idea as I have been preaching on Jonah and have been thinking about my story.  O, how I would love to choose some great biblical hero.  I'm not sure that I see myself as hero or even a lead character.  I usually think of myself as a supporting character.  Over the years I have identified with Peter, Thomas, and somewhat Andrew.  I have never been able to put myself in the shoes of Paul or John (The Baptist or The Revelator).  I would love to think that I could be Sampson (think physical strength not weak integrity).  I would love to be some great prophet:  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, or Daniel.  But really I want their glory and not their troubles.  I'm not sure anyone wants to be Cain (too deadly), Esau (too hairy), Jezebel (too evil), Pilate (too cowardly), or Lot's wife (too salty).

Don't get me wrong I would love to ascribe to my story the story of one of the great biblical characters.  But is that fair?  Fair to them?  Fair to me?  Maybe in the drama of life we play different characters as their story intersects our story in life.  LIke the year of my life when I got tired of being a "good" kid and decided to leave the God-life.  That was a year that the part of Jonah was played by Michael Mercer.  Or what about in 2008 when our twin sons were born and I excelled in my full-time job and pulled a 4.0 that semester in my Mdiv studies.  I felt like Isaac who couldn't do wrong and was blessed with double the joy.  When I first began my ministry career I found myself being someone's Timothy.  When seasons of doubt come I feel the heart of Thomas. 

Is there a character that I identify with overall?

This is a question I will ponder as I dwell of my story and God's story this year.

Is there a character you identify with in your life?

I typically stay away from things Pop Culture as I write on this blog.  My aim is to really struggle with theology and following Jesus and the journey we walk together.  However, I cannot help but give some reflections from yesterday's game, Superbowl 47.  These are in no particular order.

1.  Commercials:  I've decided that the millions spent on commercial ads for the Superbowl aren't worth it for the business or the consumer.  I remember a day when the commercials weren't made simply to be provocative, but rather were stunning an audience into thinking about their product. The commercials were a new way to give life to the breaks of the game and make people laugh all the while making us think of a product in a new light and enticing us to buy the product.  Now it seems we have bowed to a god of sexual humor that says nothing in itself of the product and leaves us stunned only to want the game to return quicker and maybe walk out of the room the next break.  Marketers, you can do better!  Accept the challenge and advertise your product for what it can do.  Don't just simply try to shock us so we will see your branding.  We are already desensitized to the junk that media puts before us and you should fill a different bucket within us that has become empty, like truth or genuineness.  I challenge any marketing company to sell their product without using sexual images or content or illusions.  I dare you to try it!

2.  Sexually Explicit Material:  Okay so the commercials were filled with this kind of thing.  I don't go out and buy a website domain because a pretty girl chooses to kiss a nerdy kid.  There are so many wrongs with that commercial and it suffices to say that the company has taken a wrong turn and could use some Marketing 101.  The Superbowl is the most-watched show all year.  Which means that all ages are watching.  From my 4 year old boys to my 89 year old grandpa.  Is it really necessary (we won't event ask about appropriateness) to fill our minds with endless sexual content for the mere purpose of buying a product or being entertained at halftime.  This isn't just the Superbowl, but any professional football game I have watched this season.  You feel great seeing your 4 year old excited about the game and then when the half-dressed model-esque girl comes on the screen when there is a commercial, you want to take your kid, run and hide.   I'm thankful for DVR so I can watch a little late and fast forward through commercials. 

3. The Model and The "nerd" commercial:  Okay these are two wrongs that don't make a right.  We have elevated the idea that every girl should look some kind of mythical, model, perfect.  That  a "hot" girl is the kind of girl every girl should be.  I am about to be a dad of a girl.  I don't want her to be "hot", I want her to be godly.  I don't want her to be perfect, I want her to be genuine.  I never thought I would be so countercultural, but this untruth about beauty is causing me to swim upstream. Beauty is not in our skin, our figure, our hair, our smile, or our "attributes."  Our beauty comes from adorning ourselves with a cloak of Jesus and living for His kingdom.  I'm sure my daughter and I will have this argument in about 13 years.  And I'm sure I'm right.  The commercial also puts the contrast to test with having the geeky kid with rosy cheeks who would be thrilled in life to have a girl like the one next to him.  So, we are telling the world that it is awfully wrong to be smart and look different than the muscle magazines at the store.  This commercial is taking steps back into an ever evolving culture.  This is not right.  It is not right when we give the message to the world that to be "normal" means that you are lucky to ever be extraordinary.  Who makes the culture rules that we must look or be a certain way in order to be extraordinary.  I'm teaching my children that in order to be extraordinary we must align ourselves with Father, Son and Spirit.  As Christians we have a different measuring stick.  I worked with teenage students for 16 years and it never failed that we had to fight the battle of self-image and that God sees us as perfect in Him.  The "nerd" doesn't need any help knowing that they have become the bottom of the social food chain and the "model" doesn't need any more pressure to keep themselves atop it.  Get a new idea, preferably a good one.

4. Halftime Show:  It seems to me that this may have been the first time that the Superbowl has tested the waters again with a performer that attracts the young and hip.  Beyonce no doubt is a great performer.  I loved the music.  I thought she sounded good and was impressed with her ability to be so energetic and on top of her game.  However, I would have preferred that she had worn a different outfit.  Again this goes back to my comments about the unnecessary sexualization.  I personally could have done without the other two from Destiny's child. I didn't think they added much to the show.  I was glad she had them exit early.  By the way they looked, they were probably happy about that too.

5.  The San Francisco 49ers:  I think every 49ers fan in the first half was hoping Joe Montana and Jerry Rice would suit up.  They were embarrassing to watch in the first half and I would have loved to been a fly on the wall, when Jim Harbaugh gave them their halftime talk.   In the end though they made it a respectable game and should have got the holding call in the end zone.  They would have won with that call.  Can you imagine if we would have still had the replacement refs.

6.  Baltimore Ravens:  They won

7.  Power Outage:  Does it really surprise anyone that a power outage would take place at New Orleans.  I don't think so.  My friend, Adam, and I got on Facebook just to laugh at all the power outage jokes from our friends posts.  The buffalo wild wings, George W. Bush, and Ray Lewis references were my favorite.  And what truly made me laugh out loud was that a new stat appeared.  "Yardage after the Power Outage."  If I ever find a time machine and come back to February 3, 2013 I want to place all my money on a bet that there will be a power outage at the Superbowl.  While never expected, since it was in New Orleans, it wasn't surprising either.

8.  Ray Lewis Quoting Romans 8:31:  I will probably be in a minority amongst my preaching/ministry buddies.  I am not that upset by his comment.  Has he taken way too much liberty with the passage and used it completely out of context?  Yes.  Does he look somewhat silly saying that?  Probably.  Has he been caught up in the health and wealth nature of the gospel being preached today?  It looks that way.  Is he a theologian?  No.  Is he trying to do exegesis?  No.  He is a football player who believes in God and is willing to say that publicly.  He is an acquitted killer.  He is retiring from a game that gave him everything he has.  He is having a moment people.  A good moment.  And he mentions God.  Give him a break.  Don't worry about God and His word.  They are unshakeable and even the mighty Ray Lewis cannot take these things out of the game.  He could have said that Satan gave him extraordinary power to fight for darkness.  But he didn't.  He simply thinks that God has 47 Superbowl rings and chose this particular instance to allow Ray Lewis to not have defeat be against him.  And let's be honest, whoever has never taken scripture out of context for their own situation throw the first stone.

9.  Harbaugh Brothers:  This was an interesting story line for the Superbowl.  It certainly wasn't the only story line, but it was a good one.  I cannot imagine this game doing much in the way of good for their relationship.  However, they might be comfortable with the amount of competition this brings.  I hope this doesn't harm their relationship.  What is evident is that they are both pretty good coaches and I wouldn't be surprised if we don't see a harbowl again.

10. The End of the Season:  I am always a little sad after the Superbowl.  It is the last football game of the season and we wait until the fall for the next season.  Football is my favorite sport.  I'm looking forward to my Houston Texans making another legitimate run for Superbowl 48.  A man can dream right? And obviously he can rant too!