There and Back, Again

Yeah I stole that from the Hobbit, but in terms of Israel I've been there and now I'm back again. My wife and I spent twelve days exploring parts of Israel and Jordan. We walked the land of the Bible, including in an ancient sewer. We visited Petra and walked the same path Harrison Ford rode to find the Holy Grail, I had no such encounter with a Crusader knight. And we spent time in the places of Jesus' final hours.

I'm still largely processing the trip, and I'm still adjusting back to Eastern Standard time (I've woken up at 3:30 am the last two nights). My appetite is coming back, for some reason the last few days I didn't each much. I've begun to get the last few things turned in, and for now most of what I have left to do is the stuff that I need to reflect on.

Two things have really been on my mind. In Jordan we got to take in the view from Mt. Nebo. The one downside is that it was winter. In the summer you can take in the view of Israel from the Dead Sea in the south to the Sea of Galilee in the north. And according to Deuteronomy you should be able see all the way to the Mediterranean in the west. Jerusalem, Jericho, and Bethlehem are all supposed to be clearly visible. Due to the winter haze we couldn't even see the Jordan River, and could just make out the norther tip of the Dead Sea. Disappointing yes, but as I thought about it I really shouldn't be envious of the view Moses got. I've been in the land twice now, which is two more times that he has.

I'm sure Moses would gladly have traded the view for my brief time in the Promised Land. But Mt. Nebo holds an important lesson. Moses' greatest ministry came AFTER he knew his dream would not come true. It is from the plains of Moab and the slopes of Nebo that Moses gives Israel the book of Deuteronomy, and the most sacred section of Scripture for the Jews. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (6.4-5).

Moses could have become bitter when God told him he would not be leading the people into the Promised Land. He could have lead silently and let them try and figure out who God is and how He wanted them to live on their own, but he doesn't. Instead Moses continues to pour himself fully into his leadership. And even on the edge of the land when most of us would be most jealous, he gives them perhaps the most important teaching ever. God is one, love God will all your being. Jesus Himself later said that this is the first and greatest commandment.

The lesson we learn is service to God is more important that personal dreams. Moses wanted to enter the land, and if anyone had earned it, it was him. He put up with a bunch of stubborn babies who constantly complained and insisted on going back to Egypt. He put up with it for 40 years, and even defended them before God. And yet in this we also see that no leader, no matter how great, escapes accountability with God. Moses chose to serve God and lead His people to the very end, even though his service ended on the east bank of the Jordan.

In Moses' position would you become bitter or better? I feel that most of us are bitter already. Things haven't worked out as we planned, and though we may put up a facade that we're faithful and ok with it, inwardly it tears us up and eats at us. Yeah I've been there, in some ways I'm there right now. I want to be better, I want to continue to serve, but right now I don't really seem to have anyone to lead. My days are spent alone with my dog. It's one of those situations in life that doesn't make any sense and you wonder what the point is.

Don't really have anything else to say on that yet, one of the things I need to reflect on some more.

Second thing came near the end of the trip. The crucifixion happened in one of two locations. Traditionally, the location is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but I'm a believer in Gordon's Calvary and the Garden Tomb. This trip my thoughts were given some more evidence. The Garden Tomb is a tomb that has been cut out of the rock face. It wasn't a cave that was converted into a tomb, but I learned this time that the tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was a cave. Why does this matter? Matthew 27.60 says, "his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock." Mark also has the phrase, "a tomb cut out of rock." So with that in mind I believe that it was the second site. Ultimately place doesn't matter, it's all about the event.

Gordon's Calvary is an old quarry that has what looks like a skull in the face of the rock. It was a place of execution outside the city gates on the road to Damascus. And I believe that this is the location of the crucifixion of Jesus. It was here at the foot of the hill along the road that Jesus was nailed to a cross to die for the sins of the world.

In Exodus 19.17, we are told, "Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain." The people are told not to come up the mountain, and God's glory on the mountain terrifies the people so they don't even want to try to. The people are at the foot of the mountain and God is on top. The people waiver in their commitment to God for generations, and then one day God comes down from the mountain.

In the Judean countryside Jesus is born as a baby in Bethlehem. He comes as a human and for the first time people see God as approachable. He sets an example of how to live life and shows us what God is like. But there is still a problem, people are separated from God by sin still. And so Jesus does what has to happen to bring us back into a relationship with God. He goes to the foot of the mountain, and lays down on a cross allowing himself to be nailed to it, and dies in our place. That is who God is.

"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you

Going Back

So I've been pretty quiet for a few a while. Not much is going on in my life. Still have no job, don't really have any ministry prospects, and really want to be out on my own again. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me and that I have a ton of potential that is just being wasted. I want something to do, I want somewhere to minister where I can be used to do something, and contribute to something worth doing.

Don't know why that all came out, guess I just needed to vent some of that. Anyway, tomorrow begins a journey that I have been waiting for for almost four years, I finally get to go back to Israel. Bags are packed and I'm just waiting for my wife to get home before we head down to Mt. Vernon. This will be our first vacation since our honeymoon, and a much needed escape from life for both of us.

As I've lived the past year I've done a lot of thinking and examining, particularly in regards to the Church. I've noticed some issues, and at times it makes me really angry. I initially started this post a few weeks ago as I was doing some work for the class I'm taking in combination with this trip. At first it was pretty harsh and negative, and typing it out helped me not post all of the thoughts I had and instead to begin to look at the Bible and what it said about the Church.

Today the Church would rather be comfortable than consecrated, traditional than transformed, secure than serving, and right than righteous. We've made church too much about US and not anywhere near about God. My biggest issue with the Church is the same as Gandhi’s. "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christian's, they are so unlike your Christ." In my twenty-six years of life, and the decade or so that I've really been aware of it, that's what I've seen to be true of the Church.

Part of me wonders how it happened. How did something that Jesus Himself prepared and the Holy Spirit began get so far from what God intended it to be? It's because we've lost sight of who Jesus really is, what He really said, and we've denied the power of the Holy Spirit to help us live as He did. Because of that His Church looks very little, if anything, like He originally intended it to. And so with that I think I'm going to take a slightly different approach to this. Let's look at what the Bible says about the Church.

During this trip, as I'm growing closer to my wife, meeting God in new ways, and walking in the footsteps of Christ, my goal is to do just that, look at what the Bible says about the Church. Once I get back I'll be sharing my findings in one way or another, possibly here, it might be the next sermon series I do if that chance ever comes. But for now I will simply ask for your prayers.

Pray for safety as we travel to and throughout the land of Israel. Pray for good weather. Pray for real encounters with God, and the wisdom to hear what He is saying. And pray for guidance as I seek His intention and design of the Church.

"I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread."

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you