What About Behave?

I’m often asked why there is no circle in the Be Diagram that might be labeled “Behave.” Certainly any framework for discipleship should reflect behavioral outcomes. We should expect that becoming more like Jesus as his disciple will result in actions and attitudes (behaviors) that will distinguish us as “peculiar” or “other worldly” kinds of people. It will be our behaviors along with our attitudes that will serve as a herald of the good news that there is an alternative reign within which I can live.

Believe Belong Bless Be

The short answer is that behavior is incorporated in the very center of the diagram under the category “Be.”  For me, behavior is merely the external or visible manifestation of one’s character. Character, or “who you are” (represented by “Be”), is what shapes ones behavior.  I behave the way I behave because that is what flows from the kind of person I am.

We should be concerned about Christian behavior in our own lives as well as the lives we are entrusted with as disciples of Jesus. The challenge is that for too much of the Church, we have found ways of being “Christian” without being Christlike. In fact, in Dallas Willard’s Renovation of the Heart, we learn that the very object of discipleship is to develop an interior character that is the same as Jesus’ character. Christlikeness is a collection of behaviors.

To me, “Be” does a better job of communicating character. It describes a deeper dimension of the person than merely observable behavior. It is language of who we really “are.” We are all thankful that when we “blow it” people are gracious enough to believe that the errant behavior reflects an aberration of our known character. In the deeper and more foundational sense, who we are is more important than we do.

This leads to a second and more important reason I did not place “Behavior” at the center of the diagram. For many reasons, which I am not likely to adequately explain here, humans are prone to believing that what we do is more important than who we are. This perspective flows naturally from our human condition since we are beings who would rather live under our own reign and rule. We have only our own record and accomplishments to bolster our sense of worth and so it is our behavior that we turn to for comfort that we are deep down “good people.”

Unfortunately, this type of thinking when employed by the not-yet-fully-transformed mind (including ourselves), is used to judge others. We might find ourselves comparing ourselves with others who clearly do not behave correctly because they “smoke, drink, or chew or go with women who do.” This is the road to life-robbing Spirit-less religion.

Years ago, I remember in the early “emerging church” conversation a useful critique of a dominant assumption that involved “Behave.” The assumption was that to become a good Christian, people must first Believe the right things. But, as the critique goes, before allowing people to actually Belong, they had to Behave correctly as well. The requirement to behave correctly (as well as believe correctly) before people could belong seemed to contradict the gospel way of Jesus (who let people belong before they believed or behaved correctly). Behavior is too easily manipulated for self-righteous justification and was something I wanted to combat not promote in a framework for a missional discipleship.

I did not elevate behavior to a label status because I don’t want merely to promote external actions for Christians to conform to. It is very easy to tell Christians that they should do this or that, or that they shouldn’t do this or that. They will happily oblige as best as they are able. But ultimately, our discipleship should focus on character and not behavior.

My last reason for focusing on character and not behavior comes straight from the Willardian teaching that suggests that the only way we can “bless those who curse me, love my enemies and so forth” (behaviors) is by becoming “the kind of person [(character)] –in my inmost thoughts, feelings, attitudes and directions of will—who will routinely do the kinds of things [Jesus] said to do.”

We must become (be) the kind of person that _______ (fill in the blank with a behavior that flows from who we are).

I do not seem to have to resources to consistently show patience, love and kindness to too many people in my daily routine. I know I should be, and you can keep telling me. I’ll keep trying.  But the promise of discipleship where I’m cooperating with God’s spirit to become the kind of person who is patient, loving and kind is a far superior way to go. As people who increasingly resemble Christ in character, we will more naturally do the things, which feel quite unnatural to us with our current character.

The best book I know of on discipleship is Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. The subtitle says it all: Putting on the Character of Christ.

 

 

The Lasting Legacy of Lesslie Newbigin by Michael Goheen

The Lasting Legacy of Lesslie Newbigin by Michael Goheen.

This is a great summary overview of the contributions that Lesslie Newbigin has made for the renewal movement of the church in the West.

How The Gospel Changes The Heart – Tim Keller

Tim Keller is the one who has taught me, through his mp3s, what the gospel is. This is now how I understand and communicate the gospel.  Here is a recent recording of Keller presenting the impact of the gospel on who we are “on the inside.” If you’ve not heard him before, this, along with any message of his on the Prodigal Sons/God, is the place to begin.

 

How the Gospel Changes our Heart by Tim Keller from Vintage21 Church on Vimeo.

Renewal and Awakening – The Mind

There are few fat, theological books that I enjoy and read carefully.  Even fewer that I intend to read again. My current read is one of those books.  ”Dynamics of Spiritual Life” by Richard Lovelace wonderfully describes the various elements of a living and healthy orthodoxy and what is required to renewal individuals and congregations to this dynamic awakened faith.

Bold Statement Alert: I cannot imagine a minister, church planter, or missionary being able to have an effective ministry in the postmodern Western world without a working knowledge of this book. In my mind this book, published by InterVarsity Press in 1979, pre-dates and predicts today’s renewal movement (whether you called it emerging, missional, neo-monastic, etc). The spiritual renewal of Foster and Willard is in here. The gospel of the Gospel Coalition is in here. An un-dichotomized (call to theological orthodoxy vs. Social concern; or conservative vs. liberal) way of faith is wonderfully described as the normal way of Jesus.

In this point in my life and ministry, things are really beginning to make sense regarding how the Church must move forward to dis-enculturate ourselves from the “way things are usually done” and to re-imagine (Brueggemann) or renew or ways and forms, or recontextualize the gospel to a new generation. I suspect this book will be one of several that will frame the challenge before the Church.

All that to set up a great paragraph in the portion of the book that talks about the elements required to renew congregations. You do that, among other things, by renewing the faith of individuals. Among the things required for  that is “biblical doctrine” that is spiritually energized. We must begin with a renewing of our ideas, paradigms, and other ways of thinking. In Renovation of the Heart, Dallas Willard calls this the renewing of the mind.

Lovelace writes:

Propositions fall far short of the splendor of the One who is the Word and the Truth, it must be admitted. But by the power of the Spirit of truth they can be the medium of conveying to us the mind of Christ. The Christian who wants to encounter God without listening to what he has to say may remain in the condition of a smilingly subliterate and dis-obedient two-year-old. Sanctification of the mind is of pivotal importance in sanctification of the whole life, and sanctification of the mind involves an increasing ability to think biblically under the empower of the Spirit.

Our ideas of what the gospel is about (saved at death tomorrow or saved for life today as well), what the church is about (a place to attract people to or an attractive people), and what spiritual leadership is about (listening and following super-spiritual professionals or ordinary people listening and following an extraordinary God), must begin to change. And that change begins with renewing our minds to think theologically and biblically for today.

Propositions are important, but in the words of Oswald Chambers, “People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.” (My Utmost For His Highest Jul 2)

Blast away.

 

Called to Be

I’ve been re-reading in Os Guiness’, The Call, recently and wanted to share some thoughts and quotes on how the notion of calling relates to the kind of people we can become.

When calling is properly understood, it “comes into its own. Instead of being “constrained to be,” we are “called to be.” This strikes me as a critically important way to view ourselves and what we are living up to. We can run around life wondering if I’m going to make something of my life because I have to met someone else’s expectation, or even my own. Instead, the presence of a Caller helps me recognize that there is One who is drawing me into being something far more wonderful than obligation can get me to.

“Humanness is a response to God’s calling. This is far deeper than the exhortation to write your own script [or society’s script] for life. Responding to the call requires courage, but we are not purely on our own. The challenge is not solely up to us…Responding to the call means rising to the challenge, but in conversation and in partnership—and in an intimate relationship between the called and the Caller.”

God calls, and leads us forward. “Following his call, we become what we are constituted to be by creation. We also become what we are not yet, and can only become by re-creation as called people.”

We are free to respond to God’s call… or not. If we refuse the call, we “remain stunted—unresponsive and irresponsible. Or we may respond to the call and rise to become the magnificent creatures only one Caller can call us to be.”

Wow. What a great way of describing what God has in mind regarding the kind of person he is transforming me into being. It is awesome because I want to be that magnificent creature.  It is good news because it is a far more imaginative and perfect destination than I could ever imagine for myself.

“The more we get what we now call ‘ourselves’ out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become.” C.S. Lewis.

Guinness continues by reminding us that the alternative is the real disaster. “The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires.” Or in other words, the more I resist Him, and try to “be my own person” or “write my own destiny”, we are actually being dominated by externalities that shape us into the kind of people we really don’t want to be.

Only when we respond to Christ and follow his call will we become our real selves, the personalities, and the kind of people we long to be.

 

It’s All Here

There is a newly posted series of recordings of Dallas Willard and Todd Hunter called, “The Church as a Community of the Kingdom of God.” While it was recorded in Nov 2004, it feels fresh to me. This is in large part because it hits the most critical elements that, IMHO, churches today must understand and recover if it is to faithfully be the church to this coming generation. In short, I agree completely with what is presented… merely seven years after is was taught. Where have I been?

These elements include the centrality of the Kingdom, understanding how to be signs and instruments on God’s redemptive and renewing agenda in the world (or how to cooperate with him), as well as how we as a body/community are to live “missionally.”

It is all here. It is a must listen, over and over.

Titles

The Relationship of the Kingdom to the Church – Todd Hunter

Kingdom Communities: Basic Concepts- Todd Hunter

The Kingdom as Reality – Dallas Willard

Vision: The Cooperative Friends of Jesus (part 1) - Dallas Willard

Vision: The Cooperative Friends of Jesus (part 2) - Dallas Willard

Rethinking Church: Missional Communities- Todd Hunter

How Spiritual Formation Empowers and Informs - Dallas Willard

Whiter Than Snow

I have been really enjoying Whiter Than Snow, by Paul David Tripp. These are meditations on sin and mercy, prompted by Psalm 51 where King David pleads with God after his sin with Bathsheba.

There is a particularly poignant and powerful piece of poetry on page 63 entitled Nathan’s Legacy that has been deeply seated in my mind these last few weeks. It breaks the mold for me on how I have understood how prophets did their prophetic thing. Nathan is presented as one speaking calmly and simply, and letting God do what only he can do.

There are times when I would like to blast the truth into people who either through ignorance or maliciousness harm others. Surely that is the way a prophet would speak the truth. The problem with that for me is that it is so hard to know who is doing the speaking at that point because I’m certain my sinful and selfish agenda can leak in. Making it hard to know whose way I am seeking.

Here is the video promo for the book, using some of the words from “Nathan’s Legacy,” followed by the words of the whole poem.

Nathan’s Legacy

No shouts
No pointed fingers
No flashing eyes
No red-faced accusations
No inflammatory vocabulary
No bulging forehead veins
No derogatory names
No scary threats
No arrows of guilt
No cornering logic
No ‘how dare you?’
No ‘I can’t believe you would!’
No ‘what were you thinking?’
No public confrontation
No published rebuke
No arrest warrant
No handcuffs
No leading away to be charged
No list of crimes
No human tricks
No trying to do God’s work
No hope of forcing a turning
No confidence in the power of man
No human manipulation
No political posturing,
No, none of these.
Just a humble prophet
Telling a simple story
A sinner with a sinner
Not standing above
Alongside, together
Wanting to be an instrument
Hoping to assist a blind man to see
But no trust in self
Speaking calmly
Speaking simply
And letting God
Do through a familiar example
Painted with plain words
What only God can do
Crack the hard-shell heart
Of a wayward man
And make it feel again
See again
Cry again
Pray again
Plead again
Hope again
Love again
Commit again
To a new and better way.
Not the legacy of
Self-righteous
Impatient
Condemning
‘I’m better than you’
Anger
But the harvest
Of a man of grace
Giving grace
To a man
Who doesn’t deserve grace
But won’t live again
Without it.

 

The Master Plan

In recent conversations, I’ve been reminded of the classic book by Robert Coleman called, The Master Plan of Evangelism. I cut my teeth on the book some 25 years ago and I am pretty sure I didn’t really get the message back then. I’m sure I was looking for some grand master plan that would allow the church to convert the world.

You can imagine my disappointment when all it talked about was how Jesus collected and trained disciples. What’s that got to do with changing the world? Apparently everything since “men were his method.”

“It all started by Jesus calling a few men to follow him. This revealed immediately the direction his evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with the programs to reach the multitudes, but with the men whom the multitudes would follow. Remarkable as it may seem, Jesus started to gather these men before he ever organized an evangelistic campaign or even preached a sermon in public. Men[*] were to be his method of winning the world to God.” P. 21

(*While the original Twelve were indeed men, we could and probably should replace “men” in the last sentence with “people” in today’s more inclusive language for the call to discipleship is for both men and women.)

Jesus was calling to himself people who would live as both a sign and a foretaste of the Kingdom of God. People who were unique and peculiar, odd and strange. Different because they knew how to love others, how to have hope, and how to experience peace in an unnatural (indeed, supernatural) way. These people would be different because it was clear they looked like those who had walked with Jesus.

Disciples are those who are learning from Jesus how to do the things that Jesus said to do and to be the kind of people inwardly that resembles who Jesus was inwardly.

99 Honda CRV Clock Fix

My daughter’s 99 CRV needed a few interior dash light fixes. A little googling saved over $200 on a clock fix so I thought I’d post my repair procedures in the hope that it might help someone. These should be applicable to Honda CRV clocks from 1996 – 2001.

It took about an hour if you are comfortable with these sorts of things.  If you aren’t, then I’d suggest following the instructions at www.autoclockrepair.com and send your clock unit to them. They were helpful in providing the clock removal procedures that I followed.

This is what the clock unit looks like (Front and Back) after it is removed from the vent bezel assembly (click on photos for larger images):

In the second photo you can see the shape of the clips that hold the white back to the black front. Gently pry the white “loop” section over the black tab, just enough to clear the catch on the black tab. If you have three or four hands, you could simultaneously gently depress the black tab. The photo below shows the clock unit opened:

The arrows are pointing to the buttons to set the clock. Be aware that these plastic parts will slide out easily so don’t lose track of them. With your attention to the circuit board, you can see below that the green board is held to the white case by two clips (circled below).

Gently pry those away just enough to free the circuit board below. After you free the two clips, pull the circuit board apart carefully as the four pins that stick out the back of the unit still need to clear the white housing.

After this it is a matter of identifying what went wrong on the circuit board. In other posts, people seemed to identify the part marked “510″ often had cracks between the part (referred to online as a resistor, but I’ve no idea if it is actually a resistor) and the circuit board. On my circuit board, the culprit was the part marked “300″ as you can see below.

I fired up my soldering iron on the 30 watt setting.  All I needed to do was touch the hot tip to the joint for a second or two to melt the joint back together. Don’t hold it too long or you’ll cook the part. You can see my fix below. It’s not pretty, but it did the job and the clock is now happily telling time.

Reassemble everything in reverse order and you will be good to go.

Goodbye Tin Man!

It has been revolutionary to me to understand that the behaviors I desire to see in my life, and in the lives of others who follow Jesus, is actually the fruit of God’s work in my life.  That by itself may not be revolutionary to you, but think about it.  How much of the teaching and preaching that we have heard and repeated suggests that the bible is the “instructional manual” telling us how to live and behave? It is as if being the kind of person I want to be is the result of my own work in my life. This can be awfully life-robbing.

In the Divine Conspiracy, Willard quotes C.S. Lewis on an alternative way to understand what God is doing in our lives:

“So, C.S. Lewis writes, our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and “trying to carry it out.”  Rather, “The real Son of God is at your side. He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself. He is beginning, so to speak, to ‘inject’ His kind of life and thought, His Zoe [life], into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man. The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.” – (as quoted in Divine Conspiracy p. 20, original reference is from C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp 148 f.)

I’m not the one that needs to set out and try to change my life in my power. Jesus is the one who is walking alongside me, bringing me to life.