God Is an Atheist

KNU International English Church
Josh Broward
June 7, 2009

-- This sermon is part of the ONE PRAYER SERIES. --

(( Before the sermon, we will watch this video.))

I am an atheist. Don't look so shocked! You are an atheist, too. So is God. We are all atheists.
If you don't believe in God, you are an atheist. If you do believe in God, you are atheist.
Huh?
The early Christians were called atheists because they rejected the gods of Rome. They had the audacity to say that Rome's long-honored gods were false and that there was only one true God. So people called them atheists – people who don't believe in the gods.
Good Christians are still atheists in this sense today. Stan Martin was a professor here several years ago. He was fond of saying, “So you're an atheist … OK, tell me about the God you don't believe in. I probably don't believe in him either.”

Let's read our Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 44:6-20.

J.B. Phillips wrote a little book called, Your God Is Too Small, and in it he argues that the greatest barrier to faith is poor, weak, small, piddly images of God.1 So often, we believe these bad images of God, and they really mess us up. Let me tell you about the Gods I don't believe in – at least I don't believe them most of the time.

God is not the whammy hammer. You know those little games at arcades or outside restaurants with the big rubber hammer. There are little moles or creatures who pop up at random times, and you have to pound them back down as fast as you can. Some people believe God is like that, just pounding us down as fast as he can - “Oooh, there's another uppity human! I'll get him! Pow! Pow! Pow!” God is not the whammy hammer.

God is not your father or mother. Yes, God is our “heavenly Father,” but God is not your mom or dad. God does not possess your father's weaknesses or your mother's quick temper. If your Dad was hard to please, if your Mom was a push-over, don't confuse that image with God.

God is not old-fashioned. God is definitely old, but God is also very, very young. Infinity goes both ways. Tradition is important to God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But reformation is equally important to God. God is all about carrying forward the old traditions in new powerful ways. Jesus' biggest conflicts were with the old-fashioned religious leaders.

God is not the global wealth distributor. When we look out at the world and we see people living in poverty and kids dying before they go to kindergarten because they don't have clean water, then it's easy to blame all of that on God. But God isn't up there pressing buttons and pulling strings and sending money to some countries and taking it from others. God created the planet and the means for wealth, and he told us to share it. The distribution is our problem.

God is not a harsh, pressing coach. This is probably my greatest temptation. I believe that God really does expect a lot from us, but sometimes all I can hear is that whistle blowing in my ears: “Faster, Broward! Push harder, Josh! Don't quit! Don't give up. No rest, no rest, no rest!” God is not like that.

God is not a teddy bear. Sometimes we don't really want a God. Sometimes we just want this idea of a warm protector, something we can cuddle up with on dark, scary nights. God is much bigger than that.

God is not a TV dinner. I don't think you have these here in Korea, but in America – the land of super junk food – we have TV dinners, with these little compartments. Peas over here, mashed potatoes over there, baked chicken in the middle, and a little bit of cobbler for desert. Everything is neat and orderly, defined and easy, definitely convenient. God is not like that – some judgment and love on each side, some salvation for the main course, and heaven for desert. God is way messier and much less convenient.

God is not our friendly cruise director: “OK, now is everyone having a good time in life? Remember to put on your sunscreen. Ooooh, look, dolphins!” As my dad used to say, God is not primarily concerned about our happiness, but God is concerned about our goodness and the goodness of our world.

God is not gray. God is not lifeless, joyless, humorless. You might think God is like that when you look at some Christians and some churches, but God is full of joy and humor and laughter and hope and love and color and beauty.

God is not male. God is bigger than that. Both males and females were required to make humans in God's image (Genesis 1:27).

God is not white. God is way bigger than that. The human Jesus was probably a person of color, with coffee-and-cream-brown skin. But God himself is bigger than any color or ethnicity.
God is not American. Christianity is not American. America was fairly late to enter the Christian religion – only for the last 25% of Christianity's existence. God is bigger than any nation or people or group.

God is not Christian. It's not really fair for any of us to speak of “the Christian God.” God was God long before Christianity, and God is not religious. It's not like God needs a religion to understand himself or to relate to himself.

We could go on and on. God is not a sissy. God is not an environmental abuser. God is not definable. God is not in a box. God is not a beggar who only wants our money. God is not a church employee. And one of my personal favorites: God is not a nagging wife. So many gods, so little time.
We are like those people Isaiah talked about. We have crafted these gods out of our own imaginations and experiences, and we trust in something that can't help us at all. Yet most of the time, we can't bring ourselves to ask, “Is this idol I'm holding in my hand a lie?” (Isaiah 44:20).

But deconstructing all of these false gods is not enough. This still leaves us atheists and faithless, rootless and anchorless. We need to disbelieve these small, inadequate gods, but we equally need to believe deeply in the one, true God.
Today is Trinity Sunday. Around the world today, people will celebrate God as the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As Christians, we believe that God is fundamentally one and three. There is one God, but in a deep mystery, God exists as a family: Father, Son, and Spirit. All are one, but each is unique.

((Earlier in the service we read two passages, which you should read now if you are reading along on the net: John 16:5-15 and Galatians 3:1-14.))

There is no way that I can explain God to you today. But when we think of God as Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit), a few windows open up to help us understand something of who God is.

First window: God is mystery. It has always been amazing to me that the Christian theologians who were most important in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity were also the most emphatic about God's mystery. Take for example, Tertullian, the guy who “invented” the word Trinity. He said, “That which is infinite is known only to itself. … our very incapacity of fully grasping Him affords us the idea of what He really is.”2
The Bible pushes us consistently to think of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – one God. But when we face this reality, we must admit that we don't really understand it. God is an amazing mystery. “Holy God to whom all praise is due, I stand in awe of you.”

Second window: God is diverse. We have heard some about this already from the Native American theologian, Richard Twiss (Video: "My Neighbor's Music"). If God is truly Three-in-One, then God is diverse at the very core of God's being. God – the essense of all that is – is diverse!
This has profound implications for us as a community. Here in this church, we will always have differences of opinion, differences of taste, and differences of theology, but I hope that we will never let those differences drive us apart. Somehow, we draw closer to God as we find unity in diversity. Somehow, in God's great mystery, we come to know God more fully when we come to know and to love people who are different from us.

Third window: God is humble. When we read about how God interacts with God, it is amazing how humble God is. There is this beautiful give and take of love and affection, a mutual submission and uplifting.
Jesus only does what he sees the Father doing. The Holy Spirit only speaks what he has heard from Jesus. The Father shares his glory with the Son, and the Son returns glory to the Father. The Spirit brings the Son glory. Everything that belongs to the Father belongs to the Son, and the Son shares it freely through the Spirit.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are completely open to each other. They have nothing to prove. There is no competition. They are completely secure in each other's love. They are fully humble and cooperative.
Any time we see arrogance or pride, that is a lack of God. Any time we see competitive worth-proving, that is a lack of God. God is humble.

Fourth window: God is welcoming. In John 17, Jesus prayed one long prayer for his disciples: “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. … Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. … Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them” (John 17:22-26).
God is a diverse, loving family, and God welcomes us into that circle of love. In Jesus' greatest, longest prayer for his disciples, he prayed that we will all be included in the flow of love between Father and Son, that we will enter the river of glory and love in the Family of God.
In one of Jesus greatest stories, he tells about son who ran away from home and wasted his inheritance on wine and women. When he comes home, he is covered in dirt and pig slop, but the Father runs out to greet him. The Father hugs him and kisses him and welcomes him into the family again. God, the Holy Trinity, is constantly welcoming us into the loving life of God.

Fifth window: God is flesh. There is a Mexican meal called chili-con-carne. It's chili (or stew) with meat. God invaded our world in the human baby Jesus, and theologians call that the incarnation. That means literally: the en-flesh-ment of God, or God becoming meat. God took on flesh. God became muscle and tissue and bones.
Our greatest window to understanding God is not a set of truths or logical principles. God's greatest self-definition is within a 33 year period of history. God's greatest answer to all of humanity's problems is expressed within the life of one human body. Jesus is God-con-carne – God with meat or flesh. God wanted us to understand God, so God took on flesh in Jesus of Nazareth.
This means a lot for us. The incarnation, the en-flesh-ment of God, implies that we will not convince people about God with logical arguments or powerful speeches. Peter Rollins, an Irish theologian explains, “God is not revealed via our words but rather via the life of the transformed individual”3 and – I would add – via the transformed community. People will not be very attracted to God by what we say, but they will be deeply attracted to God if we live God, if God is re-incarnated, re-enfleshed in us, if God takes on a body again in us. And this is what God is after all the time! God wants to live in us so that he can show himself to the world through us and heal the world through us.

God is not like us. God is not like those humans in authority over us. God is not the embodiment of our deepest fears. God is not the giver of our cheap hopes. Don't believe in those false gods. God is bigger. God is better.
God is … the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, Spirit. God is mystery. God is diverse. God is humble. God is welcoming. God is flesh.

So the next time you start talking about religion or God with someone, and they say, “I'm an atheist,” you can say, “That's OK. I am an atheist too, and so is God.” Then, the two of you can start talking about the gods you don't believe in, and … maybe … just maybe … your friend will begin to see the one true God living in you.

Acts 2 - The Holy Spirit Is PINK (?)

KNU International English Church

Josh Broward

May 31, 2009

Read Acts 2.

As I thought about Pentecost this year, I couldn't help thinking of the song by Pink, “I'm coming up, so you better get this party started.” This might be a stretch, but I wonder if Pink is a metaphor of the Holy Spirit? Listen to some of the words:

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
Get this party started on a Saturday night
Everybody's waiting for me to arrive
Sendin' out the message to all of my friends ...

Last week, Yoni read Jesus' words: “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised … you will receive power when the the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere ...” (Acts 1:4, 8).

Making my connection as I enter the room
Everybody's chilling as I set up the groove
Pumpin' up the volume with this brand new beat
Everybody's dancing and they're dancing for me
I'm your operator, you can call anytime
I'll be your connection to the party line

I'm comin' up so you better get this party started
I'm comin' up so you better get this party started

“Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit …” and people from all around town “heard the loud noise” and “came running” (Acts 2:2-6).

Pentecost was God's coming out party. The disciples kept trying to talk Jesus into coming out in the open as the Messiah, but instead he stubbornly went to Jerusalem and died. Then, after God raised Jesus from the dead, Jesus kind of hid out with his disciples, teaching them quietly. When the disciples asked Jesus if it was finally time for him to “come out” and show the world who he is, Jesus basically said, “That's your job, and the Holy Spirit will help you do it. Now, go to Jerusalem and wait for the party to get started” (Acts 1:6-8). Then, Jesus left.

Now, on Pentecost, God finally comes out. God finally shows himself to the world. There is wind. There is fire – all kinds of cool stuff. But by all the other people show up, they don't see the wind and the fire, they just see a bunch of people talking in different languages.

Even at God's big “coming out party,” he only shows himself through his people. He fills his people and shows himself to the world through them. Even at the big party, God is still quiet enough that some people say those first Christians are just drunk. It's not all that different from when outsiders look in at the church and say that religion is just a crutch or that Christians are a little crazy. Something real is happening – something big enough to get attention, but not something clear enough to convince everyone right away.

So Peter steps up to explain to the crowd what they are seeing. Peter basically says three things.

1. This is a God thing. We aren't drunk or crazy or stupid. God is working in us, just like he promised.

2. Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. This is Peter's main point.

3. Repent and let Jesus give you a new life through the Holy Spirit.

For us to really understand what the word “repent” means we need a little background. Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian in – um – history, but at least once he played the role of international ambassador. In 66AD, Josephus was sent on behalf of Rome to try to stop the Jewish rebellion. Josephus told the Jewish leaders that their plan of rebelling against Rome would only lead to destruction (and it did). Instead, he offered an alternative way – peaceful compromise. Josephus talks directly to the rebel leader and says that all will be forgiven if the leader will “repent and believe in me.” Josephus wanted them to give up their deadly plans for independence and trust him and his plan for a new way of life.¹

Jesus said almost the exact same thing: “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:14).

We are all kind of like those Jewish rebels. We've got our own systems, our own ways of doing things, and our own plans for how our life is going to work out for us. Peter is saying, “Listen folks, give up your own plan because it isn't going to work. Your plan will just mess everything up. Put your trust in Jesus' plan instead. That is the plan for real life. Change your plan. Change your trust system. Start over. Refocus everything on Jesus. God will not only forgive you; God's Spirit will live in you” (Acts 2:38-39).

Well, it worked. God's coming out party worked. On the first day, 3,000 people were baptized. That's a big party!

But what happens when God comes out? What does it look like when God really starts to work in his people? What are the basics of God's party?

The first Christian party basic is: Trust in Jesus as our Messiah. Peter and the Jewish Christians spent many long hours explaining that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. Jesus fulfilled the ancient Jewish prophecies. He was the one all the Jews were waiting for.

But if we are honest, that doesn't mean very much to most of us. Most of us don't really care if Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. We don't really care very much what Jesus meant to people 2000 years ago. We don't need to be set free from Rome. We don't operate within the old Jewish system of sacrifices and hand-washings. We don't really feel the need for a Jewish Messiah.

However, we deeply need to be set free. We deeply need to be healed, to be forgiven, to be empowered, to be refocused, to be led into this uncertain future, to be loved and to learn how to love. We need Jesus to be our Korean Messiah, our American Messiah, our African Messiah, our suburban-middle-class Messiah. We need a Messiah to lead us out of our dysfunctional systems into the God-way, the Kingdom of God that is all around us. Jesus fulfills our hopes. Jesus fulfills our deepest dreams, our heart-longings.

We need to understand Jesus as our Messiah for our age and our time and our culture. Jesus is leading us out of our broken down systems which are going to destroy us, and Jesus is offering us a new way of life – a life of love and trust. Becoming a Christian, means putting our trust in Jesus in this life now to live a new life now.

The second Christian party basic is: Live Deep Christian Community. They believed, they were baptized, and they “devoted themselves” to the basic Christian teaching, to fellowship, to eating together, and to praying together. They lived deeply. They shared deeply. They rejoiced deeply. They opened their homes and their hearts to each other. “And a deep sense of awe came over them all.” This kind of community is basic to Christianity. If you don't have this, something is missing from your life. If you don't have this, you haven't fully repented and trusted in Jesus' way – because this is what he taught. This kind of community IS Jesus' way.

The third Christian basic is: Be Filled with the Holy Spirit. A basic part of Christianity is having God in us. We actually live out the life of God. Paul said, “The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23).

The Holy Spirit is not always obvious to others. Even at Pentecost, the other people didn't really get what was going on. But they see that something is different, and, eventually, people start to ask questions. That's when the cycle starts to repeat. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, when we live with love and grace and generosity – like those first Christians, then people around us notice, and more and more people join the party.

More and more people put their trust in Jesus as their Messiah, too. More and more people live deep Christian community. More and more people are filled with the Holy Spirit, and on and on and on. “And a deep sense of awe” comes over us all … “And each day the Lord” adds to our “fellowship those who” are “being saved.”

So the three Christian party basics are:

1. Trust Jesus as our Messiah.

2. Live Deep Christian Community.

3. Be Filled with the Holy Spirit.

But these can happen in almost any order. The twelve apostles started with deep community. They didn't know Jesus was the Messiah when they started following him. Cornelius and his household kind of started with being filled with the Holy Spirit. God just sort of exploded in them, and then they figured everything else out.

It's not a three step process, but we've got to have all three ingredients, or we aren't fully Christian. We've got to have all three of these basics or we aren't really following Jesus or experiencing the new life he has for us.

When we have all three of these, life is radically different. We are being made new by God's love. God is changing us. God is teaching us how to be friends with others, and God is changing the world through us. (Sound familiar?)

About 2,500 years ago, there was this crazy old prophet named Ezekiel. God made him do and see and say crazy stuff, but hey, he lived in a crazy time. God's people were slaves in Babylon. Most of God's people decided that the God of Israel had lost the religious wars. God was a washed-up, dried-up, loser God, and Israel was a washed-up, dried-up, loser people.

One day, Ezekiel has this vision of a whole valley full of dried bones. These bones were long-dead, crusty white. God says to Ezekiel that these dry bones represent Israel – God's people. Have you ever felt all dried up, tired out, whithered, exhausted, used and abused? Have you ever felt like a failure? Have you ever stepped back and looked at your life and said, “This isn't going to work. I just can't do this”? Sometimes, it feels like all we are are dry bones – like we have nothing left to offer, nothing left to give, nothing left to be.

God tells Ezekiel to speak to the dry bones. God tells Ezekiel to tell those dry bones that God is going to make them live again, that God is going to breathe his Spirit into them and give them new life. And the bones come together – all clickety clack – and form skeletons. And muscle grows on them, like a science fiction movie, and then, skin grows. And finally, God breathes his Spirit into those dead bodies, and they all come to life and stand up.

Then, God tells Ezekiel to say this to the people of Israel: “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home” (Ezekiel 37).

God has the same offer for you. Whoever you are. Wherever you are in life. Whatever your religious background. No matter what you've done. No matter what has been done to you. No matter how dry your bones are. God says, “I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again.”

If you can imagine it, maybe God is speaking to us in the words of Pink, “I'm coming up so you better get this party started.” God offers us a whole new groove, a brand new beat. True Christianity is a new way of life for all of us. There is a new kind of party happening here.

Today is the day of Pentecost. Today is the day of the Spirit. Put your trust in Jesus as your Messiah. Live in deep community. Be filled with the Spirit of God, and you will live. Your life will never be the same. God will “come out” among us, and a party will get started that will change us all forever. If we really let God come out in our lives, we will never be the same. Never.

1N.T. Wright, The Challenge of Jesus, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1999), 43-44.

Acts 10 - Dangerous

KNU International English Church

Josh Broward

May 17, 2009

I grew up in Texas, and Texans love Country Music. I grew up singing songs by Garth Brooks, songs like:

I've got friends in low places
Where the whiskey drowns
And the beer chases my blues away
And I'll be okay
I'm not big on social graces
Think I'll slip on down to the oasis
Oh, I've got friends in low places

One of Garth Brooks' less famous songs is, “Unanswered Prayers.” The song is in a story form. He meets an ex-girlfriend at a football game, and he remembers how he prayed – how he begged – God to give him this one girl. Then, he looks over at his wife and thanks God for NOT answering that prayer. “Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers,” he sings.

I've been thinking this week that some of our prayers are pretty dangerous.

God, make me patient. Be careful what you pray for, right?!

God, make me like Jesus. – Uh, dangerous? Hello! He died on a cross!

God, help me to trust you. Remember what happened when Peter trusted Jesus. He ended up walking on a stormy sea.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. - Everyone who sins against us? No matter what the sin?

God, lead us. Show us your will, and help us to follow. - Yeah, that will get you into trouble every time.

What about this one? We pray this one every week here. May God make us a loving community that changes our world. What if God really starts answering this prayer? What if God really starts fulfilling our vision? What if God pulls us together with all kinds of diverse people – people we are uncomfortable with, people who don't normally go to church, at least not our churches, people who might need our help? What if God really helps us to love like he loves? Would our hearts break more often? Would we have to change how we think, how we talk, how we work? What if God started changing the world by doing a radical change right here in us, right here in this church? What if God starts by radically changing you?

That is dangerous! Do you really want God to answer that prayer?

The book of Acts begins with a big vision: “In just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). In a few days, you're going to get God!

But the disciples don't get it: “OK, Jesus, but when do we start forming an army to kick out those dirty Romans? Are we there yet? Is it time yet? Now? Now? Now?” (1:6)

Jesus responds by making the vision even bigger, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (1:8).

And the disciples seem to kind of stand there and scratch their heads and say, “Huh, I wonder what that means.”

But they keep meeting together, and on the day of Pentecost, God fulfills his promise. He pours out the Holy Spirit in an amazing way, but God goes beyond their expectations. People from all over the world can understand everything the disciples as if the disciples are speaking the languages from all over the world. From day one, Jews from many different cultures and nations are included in the Churchs. (Acts 2) Dangerous!

Then Peter and John heal a crippled guy and get in trouble. And how does the church respond? They pray for boldness and courage and miracles. (Acts 3-4). Dangerous!

The very next scene is two people who try to cheat on their offerings. They stand there and lie to Peter's face, and then they fall over dead. Now, I honestly dont' know what that means, but I do know it's dangerous! People falling over dead in church – it doesn't get much more dangerous than that! (Acts 5)

The apostles keep preaching, and God keeps working. The religious leaders put the apostles in jail, and God busts them out. Dangerous! Then the apostles go straight back to the Temple and start preaching again. Hello! Dangerous! So the religious leaders order the apostles to be beaten with whips, and what do the apostles do? They thank God for letting them suffer like Jesus and go out and start preaching again! Dangerous! (Acts 5)

Next, the church has some problems with their widows feeding program. They decide to appoint seven guys to do the social work, so the apostles can do the teaching. But Stephen, one of the social work guys, starts healing people and doing miracles and teaching and debating and preaching about Jesus. That's not his job, remember. And, he gets arrested and killed. Dangerous! (Acts 6-7)

Then, the poop hits the fan. People start attacking Christians all over the place, and the Christians scatter. They run for their lives, but everywhere they go, they keep talking about Jesus. Dangerous! (8:1-4)

Philip goes to Samaria and tells people there about Jesus. Samaritans were half-Jews, religious rejects. Good Jews wouldn't even touch a Samaritan, but Philip tells them about Jesus. Dangerous! Then, Peter and John get in on the action and start praying for the Holy Spirit and preaching to other Samaritans. Dangerous stuff, here! (8:5-24)

Then, an angel sends Philip to convert that “genital-free African,”¹ and he asks, “What should hinder me from being baptized?” (8:25-40). So Philip breaks new ground. He baptizes a non-Jew who doesn't even have his male-parts – a big problem for Jewish culture. Dangerous!

Meanwhile, Saul is going around busting up as many Christians as he can find. He goes all the way to Damascus, in Syria, looking for Jesus' followers. Then the Holy Spirit knocks him to the ground and blinds him. That sounds dangerous! God tells a Christian named Ananias to go and help Saul because Saul will take God's message to the gentiles. So Ananias brings this Christian-killer into his home and helps him become a Christian. That is definitely dangerous! (Acts 9)

The story really picks up in Acts 10 with this guy named Cornelius. Cornelius is a Roman army captain. An angel shows up and tells him to send for Peter. He doesn't say why. He just says, “Go get Peter.” Dangerous!

Now Peter is living with Simon the tanner, Simon the leather-worker, Simon the guy who kills animals and pulls the skin off their dead bodies and scrapes the flesh off and stretches it out on racks to dry. Simon's house stinks so much that he has to live by the beach so the wind will blow away the stink from the drying animal skins. Simon is a Jew, but he is an unclean Jew. The very fact that Peter is living with Simon shows that Peter has already started abandoning some of the traditional Jewish rules. Dangerous!

Peter is up on the roof praying, and he has a vision. He sees all kinds of animals – clean and unclean, kosher and forbidden. Remember, Jews have very strict rules for what kind of meat they can eat. Asking Peter to eat pork would be kind of like asking us to take a bite out of a rotting human eyeball. It's not only gross; it challenges our very identity as people. So Peter says, “Uh, Homie don't play that!” or in more technical language, “Not at all, Lord.” Did you catch that? Peter said “no” to God!! So God says, “Don't call something unclean if I have made it clean.” Dangerous!

This is not the first time God has challenged Peter's religious rules. Years earlier Jesus said, “Can't you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you?” (Mark 7:18). Peter didn't get it then, and he doesn't get it now. It's just too dangerous for a good Jewish boy.

So the Spirit whispers in Peter's ear, “Three guys have come looking for you. Go with them without any reservations.” That sounds pretty cool – a supernatural doorbell with a hidden camera – but also dangerous, no questions, just go. Peter tops off the danger by inviting these gentiles in for a meal.

The next day they all go to Cornelius's house – also dangerous, as Peter points out. Jews aren't supposed to be hanging with Gentiles. That's just not allowed. Peter tells them about Jesus. He tells them about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and he says, “Everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name” (Acts 10:43).

That's where our passage picks up. Let's read Acts 10:44-48.

What is happening here?

• God is breaking out of the church's religious expectations.

• God is answering their prayers – far more than they expected.

• God is welcoming outsiders. God is opening the doors of the church for all people everywhere.

• God is teaching Peter the gospel just as much as God is teaching Cornelius the gospel.

• God is converting/saving Peter just as much as he is converting/saving Cornelius.

The Holy Spirit is working in amazing ways. Peter and the other Jewish Christians have a choice.

They could hinder the Spirit, put shackles on the Spirit, deny what they see, keep their religious expectations, keep their limited vision of God being only for the Jews, in the Jewish ways, within the Jewish systems.

Instead, they choose to work with the Spirit – even following the Spirit into dangerous new territory. This is truly dangerous! They aren't Jewish. They haven't been circumcised. They aren't committed to eating Jewish style foods. The only thing they have got is God, and Peter says that's enough! Dangerous!

Last week, Megan preached on the Ethiopian eunuch, and she quoted Rob Bell's discussion that Philip's difficult choice. If he followed the clear movement of God in his life, he would have to break a religious rule. Bell says, “This is the tension throughout the early church. What do you do when your religion isn't big enough for God? What do you do when your rules and codes and laws simply aren't enough anymore? What do you do when your system falls apart because the new thing that God is doing is better, beyond, superior, more compelling?”²

I liked that so much, I borrowed the book from her. Bell says lots of good stuff:

• “Everything's changing. … The gospel is leaving its former confines … and it's heading to the ends of the earth. And that means nothing looks like it used to.”³

• “Jesus is inviting them to participate in a reality so liberating and compelling that Jerusalem can't contain it. The disciples can't fathom something that new and transcendent.”⁴

• “Acts is a story of movement, motion, progress. It's people being caught up in something that simply must expand, and stretch, and go. Because no one city, no one religion, no one perspective, no one worldview can contain it.”⁵

What happens when God starts to do what he promised?

What happens when God actually starts to fulfill the vision he has given us?

What happens when gay people and hard drinkers and lots of migrant workers and liberals and fundamentalists and people who don't care much about religion and maybe don't even like church – what happens when they start coming here? What happens when they become members here and make their homes here?

What happens when God fulfills our vision beyond our expectations?

What happens if other churches get angry with us? What happens if people persecute us for our actions or style? What happens if people say a church like this doesn't belong in Korea or in the Church of the Nazarene?

What happens if the religious leaders call us into their offices and question us and argue with us and shout and condemn us because we lift high the cross of Christ and shout world-wide-welcome to all who come?

What happens if people leave because they don't want to be part of this kind of church?

What happens if all of this happens, but we can see undeniably that God is working? What happens if we can see the Holy Spirit working, filling people, saving people, transforming people – filling us, saving us, transforming us?

What will we do then? What will we do? What will you do?

I hope – I pray – that we will do just what Peter did, just what the early church did. We will remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ at all costs. We will simply tell what we see God doing and tell how we are trying to follow the Holy Spirit's leading. When we face a choice between our religious rules and the work of the Holy Spirit, I pray that we will choose God every single time, every single time.

I need to get better at this. We all need to get better at this. As God fulfills his promises among us, we will face these choices more and more.

Be ready. This is dangerous! Are you ready to get dangerous?

------------------

1Rob Bell and Don Golden, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, 93.

2Ibid, 101.

3Ibid, 107-8.

4Ibid, 110.

5Ibid, 112-113.

Acts 3 - Healing and Including

KNU International English Church
Josh Broward
April 26, 2009

Read Acts 3.

For 40 years, he sat.¹

For 40 years, he either crawled or was carried.

For 40 years, he needed help to get his food.

For 40 years, he needed help to get a drink of water from the well.

For 40 years, he needed help to bathe himself.

For 40 years, he needed help to go to the bathroom.

For 40 years, he watched other people do “normal” stuff of life, while he just sat.

For 40 years, he begged.

For 40 years, he was completely dependent on the generosity of others.

For 40 years, people insulted him as one who was cursed by God – punished for some unknown sins.²

For 40 years, he sat outside the temple and watched the people go in to worship.

For 40 years, he was not allowed to enter the temple because he was not “whole.”

For 40 years, he was too dirty for human touch.

For 40 years, he was just a beggar – not a person.

For 40 years, he was on the outside of social life, economic life, and religious life.

Then, three things happened that changed his life forever.

1. Peter and John saw him. So often, we don't see. We go about our daily life. We go to our religious events. We go to Bible studies. We hang out with friends. We go to work. But we don't see the people hurting all around us. Peter and John saw! This is the first miracle.

2. Peter touched him. They got involved in his life. They could have seen him and kept on walking, but they stopped. They talked to him. They prayed for him to be healed, and they helped him to be healed.

And remember, this guy was not “clean” physically or religiously. Bathing was difficult, and he was rejected as subhuman by the temple leaders. When Peter touched the beggar, he was making a statement of faith, “Those who are unclean don't have to stay unclean. The power of life is stronger than the power of death. Jesus' power to heal and to clean is stronger than any sickness or stain or sin.”

When Peter touched him, Peter was including him into the community. Peter was extended his friendship to him. After 40 years of being an outsider, an exile right at the gate of the temple, this man was finally included.

3. God healed him. Peter and John saw him – really saw him. Peter touched him. And he was healed! He walked. He jumped. He praised God. Then, he went into the Temple. For 40 years, he had been excluded from the Temple. For 40 years, he wasn't good enough. Now, he goes into the Temple running and shouting the praises of God. He can finally enter into the heart of God's community!

Why? How can he go in now? Peter and John saw him. Peter touched him. Then, God healed him.

Let me ask you a question. What if Peter and John never saw him? What if they never really saw him? What if they just kept walking? Or what if they saw him, what if they talked to him and thought, “Oh, this poor guy. We feel really bad for you. We'll pray for you buddy”? What if they were too afraid to touch him? What if they were too concerned about their religious purity to get involved with someone who was unclean? What would have happened then? Would God have healed the man? I don't think so.

God did the healing – absolutely! But led by the Holy Spirit, Peter and John did the seeing and the touching. They saw. They touched. God healed.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection offer healing inclusion to all who are broken and excluded. But for this miracle to happen, we need to see others (really see them), and we need to touch them (really get involved in their lives). Jesus heals, but first we see and we touch.

In Bangladesh, life is uncertain. 84% of the people in Bangladesh live on less than 2,600 won (US$2) a day. 41% try to survive on less than 1,300 won a day – just one roll of kimbap for the whole day.³

But the problems go from bad to worse for widows. In traditional Hindu-Bangladeshi culture, when a husband died, the body was burned in a funeral pyre. Traditionally, the widow was expected to join her dead husband on the fire, and sometimes even to light the fire herself. The death of a husband meant death to the wife as well.

This is horrible, but the alternative is also bad. For widows, life is almost a living death. Whatever land or possessions the husband had are divided among the husband's brothers, and the widow is left penniless and with no way to earn a living. She is forced into begging, prostitution, or slavery. Often, she is totally excluded from her family and community, as worthless, burdensome, or even evil. In fact, in some languages, the word “widow” also means “prostitute” or “witch” or “sorceress.”

The widow's children face a similar or even worse fate. Boys are often sold into child labor or abandoned to the streets. Girls are often sold into early marriages or sold as household slaves, where they have few rights and almost no protection.

Naturally, extreme depression is widespread among widows. Even though the traditional burning of widows is now very rare, many widows later commit suicide because of the extreme impossibilities of life.⁴

A while back, Nazarenes in Bangladesh began to help widows and their children in some beginning and basic ways. One day, Herman Gschwandtner, the South Asia coordinator for Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, visited Bangladesh and the Church of the Nazarene set up a meeting in a rice field with a small group of widows and orphans. They planned to talk about how Nazarenes could help in a more organized way.⁵

At first the meeting was what they expected, a small group of widows and orphans gathered with hope. But more people kept coming – alone and in small little family groups. Soon, there were a few dozen. More widows. More orphans. Finally, there were more than a hundred nearly-hopeless widows and orphans gathering on an empty rice field to talk with Nazarenes about hope. There were Muslims, Hindus, Christians – all seeking hope from the people who had seen them and touched them.

On that day, they talked and dreamed. They prayed for God's guidance and help. Later, with the help of a generous donation, the Nazarene church bought that field, and now they are converting it together into a village for widows and orphans. Two widows will live in each house, caring for five to seven orphans. Each house will have its own vegetable garden, and the whole village will share a farm and school.

What happened here? The Church of the Nazarene in Bangladesh saw. They saw the widows as real people needing their help. They touched. They got involved. They didn't stay on the sidelines. They reached out a hand to help. And God is healing. God is forming them into a community of love that gives life and hope to the hopeless and excluded ones. What would have happened if they didn't see? What would have happened if they didn't touch?

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection offer healing inclusion to all who are broken and excluded. But for this miracle to happen, we need to see and we need to touch. We see them as real persons, and we get involved.

(By the way, this is one of the candidate projects for a long-term partnership with our church.)

Teresa Navos is from a small mountain village named Guinsaugon on the island of Leyte in the Philippines.⁶ On February 17, 2006, 13 year old Teresa was in the next village over attending school. A huge storm blew in, and it rained so hard that the sky was dark. While they were having class, they suddenly heard “a loud and deep rumbling sound.” This was followed by the sounds of people screaming.

All of the kids rushed outside. Teresa watched in frozen horror as a huge chunk of the mountain collapsed and buried her village. The screams did not last long because no one had time to escape. The entire village was buried under 15 meters (49 feet) of mud and rocks. About 1,500 people died, including Teresa's mother and siblings.

In the aftermath, Teresa raged against God: “Why did you let this happen, God? I thought you were supposed to love and protect us!” Teresa felt empty and confused. She began to hate herself. She was falling slowly into a deep pit of sadness.

But Teresa was not alone. Christians saw her need, and they got involved. They kept visiting Teresa and her father and the other survivors. After a few months, Nazarene Compassionate Ministries started the St. Bernard Nazarene Child Development Center to help care for the children who lost parents and siblings in the mudslide. Stephen, a Philippino Nazarene, says, “The church became the hands and feet of God to restore their hopes and begin life anew.”

Now, Teresa is 15 years old. She leads a Bible study for younger kids in the St. Bernard center, and she plans to major in education so that she can be a teacher.

But what would have happened if the church had not really seen these people? What would have happened if they had only prayed and not touched? Would this miracle have happened? But they did see. They did touch, and God healed. Jesus' life, death, and resurrection offer healing inclusion to all who are broken and excluded. For people to experience this healing, we have to see, and we have to touch.

One last story. When I was in seminary, our young-adults group sometimes had older people from our church come in and share their testimonies. Once, a woman named Linda talked to us about her divorce. On the day of her marriage she remembers thinking, “This is either going to be great, or this is the biggest mistake of my life.”

It turns out that it was a the biggest mistake of her life. Their marriage was rough and rocky, and finally they decided to call it quits.

This was a big no-no for a conservative Nazarene family, and many people in her large church openly rejected her. Others gave her those disapproving sideways looks and gossiped about her when they passed her in the church hallways: “She's that woman who got a divorce. They didn't even last a few years.”

Linda didn't handle her divorce all that well. She responded to the pain and loneliness with a lot of drinking and sleeping around. But amazingly she didn't quit going to church. Somehow she couldn't let go of that.

In her adult Sunday school class, there was one core group of people who loved Linda and wouldn't let her go. Three or four married couples invited Linda into their intimate circle. They loved her and hugged her and joked with her and cried with her. They invited her over for dinners, for holidays, for games, for picnics, for just about everything.

They knew how she was spending her time away from them, and sometimes they would gently nudge her toward a healthier life. But here is the key part. They never made healthy living a requirement for their friendship and acceptance. They accepted her just as she was. They loved her with all of her weaknesses and poor choices.

Eventually, Linda began to face the emptiness inside her, or maybe the love from her friends and from God began to fill some of the emptiness inside her. She started making better choices. She recommitted her life to God. She found hope and peace again. She eventually married a not-so-famous Christian actor and became a significant leader in our church.

But it wouldn't have happened if a small group of Christians hadn't seen her – really seen her – as a person with real needs. It wouldn't have happened if they hadn't touched her and got involved in her life. They saw. They touched. God healed.

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection offer healing inclusion to all who are broken and excluded. May God help us to see – to really see those around us. May God help us to touch – to get involved in the lives of others, to reach out our hands to help them. May God work miracles of healing grace through us.

1See Acts 4:22 for his age.

2See John 9 for a similar case.

3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty downloaded 4.20.2009.

4“Widows in Third World Nations,” http://www.deathreference.com/Vi-Z/Widows-in-Third-World-Nations.html, downloaded 4.20.2009.

5Hermann Gshwandtner, “A Kingdom Imagination Has Come Alive,” NCM Magazine, Spring 2009, 10-11.

6Stephen Gualberto, “From Tragedy to Transformation,” NCM Magazine, Spring 2009, 8-9.

Psalm 19 - Prayers to Connect with God

KNU International English Church
Josh Broward
March 15, 2009

Read Psalm 19.

“God of wonders, beyond our galaxy, You are holy, holy. The universe declares your majesty. You are holy, holy.”¹

The first six verses of Psalm 19 use a very ordinary, generic name for God: El. El was the ancient all-purpose word for God. El was the word you used when you looked up and thought, “Wow! There must be Something Great up there or out there that made all this.” The “Something Great up there or out there” was El or God.

In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller tells the story of when he went on a long road-trip to find God and to find himself. He says he found God at the Grand Canyon. He was tired and hurting from a long day of hiking, and they camped beside a river.

I was in a lot of pain from the hike, so I was in no mood to mess around. There was no trying to impress Him, no speaking the right words. I simply began to pray and talk to God the way a child might talk to his father.

Beneath the billion stars and beside the river, I called out to God softly.

“Hello?”

The stars were quiet. The river spoke in some other tongue, some [special language] for fish.

“I'm sorry, God. I'm sorry I got so confused about You, got so fake. I hope it's not too late anymore. I don't really know who I am, who You are, or what faith looks like. But if You want to talk, I'm here now. … I feel like You're trying to get through to me. But I feel like you are an alien or something, somebody far away.”

Nothing from the stars. Fish language from the river. But as I lay there, talking to God, being real with Him, I began to feel a bit of serenity. I felt like I was apologizing to an old friend, someone with whom there had been a sort of bitterness, and the friend was saying it was okay, and that he didn't think anything of it. I felt like I was starting over, or just getting started. … I felt a lot of peace.

There is something quite beautiful about the Grand Canyon at night. There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He's doing. (They hang there, the stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) And as I lay there, it occurred to me that God is up there somewhere. Of course, I had always known He was, but this time I felt it, I realized it, the way a person realizes they are hungry or thirsty.²

Sometimes, we just need to know God on this primal level. Like a caveman or cave-woman, we look out into the sky … we feel the ocean waves … we stand on the mountaintop and breath the air of trees and flowers … and something deep within us connects with Someone deep within the universe, and we know there is a God because we feel him in the very fabric of the world. Sometimes, we need that natural experience of God. We need to breath God's air, climb God's rocks, smell God, taste God, feel the breath of God on our skin.

Back in the Grand Canyon, next to the river, under the stars, Donald Miller takes the next step:

The knowledge of God seeped out of my brain and into my heart. I imagined Him looking down on this earth, half angry because his beloved mankind had cheated on Him, had committed adultery, and yet hopelessly in love with her, drunk with love for her. …

I lay there under the stars and thought of what a great responsibility it is to be human. I am human because God made me. … God is reaching out to rescue me. I am learning to trust Him, learning to live by His precepts that I might be preserved.³

In every culture, in every place in the world, people try to connect with the mystical, with the spiritual, with the Beyond, with the El, with God. But how do we connect with this God? How can we little humans touch eternity? What is this God, this El, this Great Mystery, like? What does He/She/It want?

We can't find these answers in the stars. We can't find these answers in the forests or the mountains or the deserts or the oceans. We can't find these answers in yoga or meditation or Feng Shui.

We can recognize God on our own. We can experience God on our own. Because God is always speaking through the stars and the sun and everything that is, we can have that primal knowledge of God, but we can't get far beyond that – just cavemen looking up at the skies and saying: “Wooohhhggg! Bigggg!”

Now, there is something very good about that caveman “Wooahh!Goddddhhh!” Most of us need a little more caveman in us! But if we ever want to get beyond that, we need help. We need the Bible.

Amazingly, the Great God of the Universe has chosen to work through puny little people like us. Amazingly, the Great God of the Universe has chosen to teach us his character and his ways through the words of ordinary people. Amazingly, the Great God of the Universe has left a scattered journal of his dealings with people throughout thousands of years as a guidebook to help more people have similar experiences with God.

God gets our attention through the stars. God gives us the details in the Bible.

The revelation of God is whole
and pulls our lives together.
The signposts of God are clear
and point out the right road.
The life-maps of God are right,
showing the way to joy.
The directions of God are plain
and easy on the eyes. (19:7-8, The Message)

The Bible stands before us like a Lonely Planet Travel Guide. Countless people have traveled these roads with God before us. They have taken wrong turns and hit the speed bumps. They have tried out the motels and restaurants. They know which foods to avoid so you don't end up puking your lunch into a toilet by the beach.

God's instructions are here for our good. God is not just trying to keep us under control or keep us from having fun. The Bible is here as a guidebook of life with God, to help us make this journey well. When we read the Bible like a guidebook, this is a form of prayer. When we sit down to read, expecting to learn, expecting to hear, expecting God to guide us in how to live, this is a form of listening. We are putting ourself in the classroom of the Great God of the Universe, so that we can learn His ways.

And this is worth more than gold or diamonds or emeralds. Living life God's way tastes better than strawberries or honey or ice-cream or chocolate.

We need God's nature because we need to feel God on that deep inner level. We need to know God like we know we are hungry or thirsty.

We need God's Word because we are on a journey to a new place. We have never walked this road before, but others have. We need a guidebook to show us where to go and how to go.

May our words and our thoughts and our actions and all of our lives be pleasing to you, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer!

Prayers for Guidance - Psalm 25

KNU International English Church

Josh Broward

March 8, 2009

Imagine a story with me. Somehow your friends convince you to take a once-in-a-lifetime trip. After three planes, an old pick up, and a sputtering boat, you are in the heart of the Amazon Jungle. ¹

Your guide leads your group into the thick forest. For the first two days, you walk along in awe as your guide points out the various kinds of plant and animal life. On the third day, you are walking at the end of the line. You see a Bird of Paradise, a rare and beautiful bird. When you take out your camera to take a picture, your backpack comes unzipped, and everything spills out onto the muddy trail.

By the time you get everything cleaned off and back into your backpack, the Bird of Paradise has floated off into Paradise, and you are alone on your jungle trail. You can't see the rest of your group anywhere.

You run ahead to try to catch up, maybe a little too fast. Suddenly the trail just disappears. There is a hint of a trail to your right, so you try that, but no luck. You tumble 20 meters down the side of a hill. Now you’re standing in the middle of the jungle with no trail and no people in sight, and you’re not even sure where you left the trail. You scream, “HELP!!” But the only thing that answers is a little monkey in a nearby tree, and you're pretty sure he's just laughing.

You search desperately in a hundred different directions trying to regain the trail, but eventually you must face the bitter truth. You are lost. Hopelessly lost. It's just you and the wild animals and the jungle.

Max Lucado says that life is a jungle. “Not a jungle of trees and [animals]. … Our jungles are [made] of … failing health, broken hearts, and empty wallets. Our forests are framed with hospital walls and divorce courts.”² The animals hungry for our life-blood are our bill collectors, our teachers, our bosses, and the forest around us is our hurried pace of life. Our jungle is full of roaring temptations: workaholism, gossip, entertainment-escapism, debt, over-shopping, fear, selfishness, worthlessness, manipulating others for our own gain, judgmentalism, hypocrisy, and apathy.

David understood that life can be a jungle. David's jungle was made of human enemies who attacked him, thoughts that ate at his soul, and even his own sins. Listen to David's prayer about life in the jungle. Let's read Psalm 25.

---

If we are honest, life is always a jungle. Sometimes the jungle is a little more tame – like we've cleared away some trees and built a house. The jungle is still there, but we feel like we're in control. Other times, we are completely lost in the deep, dark jungle, disoriented, and wondering where to go or what to do next.

In the jungle, what we really need is guidance. We need to know where to go and how to go. And so, we pray. We pray: “God teach me where to go. Teach me how to live.”

This is what David prays. He is surrounded by enemies. His “problems go from bad to worse,” and so he prays for guidance. David is so desperate for guidance that he uses almost every possible verb:

• “Show me the right path” (4).

• “Point out the road for me to follow” (4).

• “Lead me by your truth” (5).

• “Teach me” (5).

• “He leads the humble in doing right” (9).

• “He teaches them his way” (9).

• “The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness” (10).

• “He will show them the path they should choose” (12).

• “He teaches them his covenant” (14).

• “Save me” (17).

• “Protect me” (20).

• “Rescue my life” (20).

• “Ransom us all” (21).

God has guided me in many different ways throughout my life.

The summer before I entered high school, God overwhelmed me with a strong feeling that he was calling me to preach. It wasn't a voice, but it was an overwhelming, very clear feeling that God wanted me to be a preacher.

When I was trying to decide where to go to university, I made a chart of the advantages and disadvantages of my top two choices. Then, I prayed and prayed about that list. Slowly, one set of advantages seemed to become more important.

When I was a university student, I was famous for sleeping in class. But one day, when I wasn't sleeping, I heard God talk to me. My professor was talking about how God said to Abraham, “Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). A Voice in my head said, “I want you to do that, too.” The Voice was so strong that I turned around and looked behind me. I was sitting on the back row, so all I saw was the wall about two centimeters from my nose. I thought, “I'm either talking to myself or God is calling me to missions.” I started praying, “God if that was really you, please confirm it in my spirit.” Over the next days and weeks, I felt very clear that God wants me to be a missionary.

When I was finishing seminary, I started searching for a multicultural church to pastor, so that I could get experience to be a “real” missionary. We were thinking about big cities in North America, but one day I said, “Sarah what about that little English church at KNU. I wonder if they need a pastor.” Not long after Gail Patch replied to my email, I had a growing feeling this was the place – that we were supposed to come to Korea and pastor this church.

We signed the contracts, and we started making plans to come to Korea. Then, one of my mentors invited me to come on staff at her church. This was a job I had been trying to get for years, but I had already promised to come here. “Integrity and honesty” protected me (21). That church kind of fell apart, and this church is far better in terms of my calling to missions.

People often ask us how long we will stay here at this church. The longer we stay here, the longer I feel called to stay here. Slowly, a deep sense of calling to this place and to this church is building in me. I can't predict the future, but it seems to us that God is guiding us to stay here for a long, long time.

But most often, God guides me (and most of us) in much simpler, less dramatic ways. Most guidance is not about where to go but about how to go. Most of God's guidance is not about the big decisions of life: where to live, where to work, who to marry. Most of God's guidance is about basic character: how to live, how to work, how to love, how to be a friend.

Most of the time, God guides us by teaching us how to be like him. David asked God to teach him God's way of life, and David's prayer also shows us what God's way is: faithfulness, compassion, unfailing love, forgiveness, mercy, goodness, friendship, integrity, and honesty.

“The Lord is my shepherd. … He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name … Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me” (Psalm 23:1-4). God's rod and staff often come to me and to most of us in the form of simple callings and reminders. “Love more.” “Forgive her.” “Ask that man to forgive you.” “Be his friend.” “Be faithful and reliable.” “Humble yourself and serve others.” “Don't push for your way.”

This prayer of David in Psalm 25 is actually an acrostic. Each verse starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is like writing a poem with the lines starting with A, B, C, or ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ. This is a teaching method to help people remember the prayer.

So, today, I'm going to do one of those cheesy preacher things. I'm going to give you an acrostic for prayers of guidance. God will answer your prayers for guidance if you are HOT. (No, I don't mean you have to be sexy for God to answer you.) God will answer your prayers for guidance if you are Humble, Open, and Trusting … H-O-T.

Humble. God “leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way” (9). Why does God only teach the humble? Well, because, when we're proud, we can't learn. Before we can get help, we have to admit that we need it. Before God can show us the way, we have to admit that we're lost. The path to righteousness starts with repentance.

Open. Sometimes we only pray part of Psalm 25. Sometimes we pray, “Save me! Protect me! Rescue me! … But do it my way. I don't really want to change. I just want you to solve my problems.” If we really want God to guide us, we've got to be completely open to letting him change us.

That takes a lot of T – Trust. David starts with total trust, “O Lord, I give my life to you. I trust in you, my God!” (1)

A man was on an African safari deep in the jungle. The guide was walking ahead of him, hacking away the leaves and weeds to make a path in the jungle. The traveler was hot and tired of walking. Full of frustration and mosquito bites, he shouted out: “Where are we? Do you know where you are taking me? Where is the path, anyway?!” The guide stopped and looked back and the man and replied, “I am the path.”³

God is our Guide. He is our path. When we pray for guidance, we are asking God to show us how to live his life in our life. This takes total trust. We trust that love, faithfulness, integrity, and compassion are the best way to live in the jungle of life. We trust this path because we trust God our Guide.

If you want God to answer your prayers for guidance, you've got to get H.O.T.: Humble, Open, and Trusting. May God make us all H.O.T.

1 The references to and images of the jungle are heavily dependant upon: Max Lucado, Experiencing the Heart of Jesus, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2003), 82-6.

2 Ibid, 83.

3 Lucado, 85.