Daniel N. Lee

Let me just start by saying I love me some Chick-Fil-A. Their food is better than any other fast food chain in my opinion, and their employees are most often pleasant and helpful. Good food – good service – so they get my money. The fact that they are a Christian owned and operated company honestly has little to nothing to do with it.

I applaud their values as a company and will stand behind them, but all this ado is about nothing in my opinion.

You see, as a Christian I have no issue purchasing products or services from companies that are not “Christian.” Just because a company issues a statement supporting the rights of homosexuals doesn’t mean I will pull all my support from them as a company. I don’t play that game. I don’t draw those lines. Because as soon as you start drawing a line, where do you stop?

For instance, if you don’t want to support Disney because of their support of gay rights, then you can’t watch ESPN. You can’t eat McDonald’s, drink Starbucks, or fly Southwest. That is a ridiculous game to play. It has no end.

And Jesus didn’t play that game. Jesus was not a line drawer. In fact, Jesus was a line destroyer. Sorry, but I have a hard time thinking that a first century Jewish man who ate with tax collectors, conversed with Roman soldiers, drank with Samaritans, and befriended prostitutes would then turn around and want us to boycott Disney.

That being said, I am saddened by the backlash Chick-Fil-A has received from the secular community. Not shocked, just saddened. Because just as I think it is ridiculous when Christians boycott companies based on their beliefs and not their products, so it is just as ridiculous when the secular community does the same.

If a person, Christian or not, feels so strongly about their beliefs that they are unwilling to support any company that differs with their views, that person will have a hard time in this society.

So how do I try to let my faith inform my consumption?

1. Does the company turn out a high-quality, fairly priced product that meets my needs?
2. Does the company place the customer’s interests above it’s own?
3. Are the employees well treated?
4. Are the employees kind, helpful, competent, and customer-oriented?
5. Does the company knowingly exploit the poor anywhere along the way?
6. Would my refusal to do business with a company possibly hinder my ability to share Jesus with someone?

Seriously. Becoming a parent has had a bigger impact on my faith than any other event or situation in my life. Not only do I find myself praying more (“God, please let Aiden go back to sleep!”), but I’m understanding God’s relationship with mankind in whole new ways.

It’s funny. I find myself stringing words together in sentences that I never thought I would ever say. I never thought I would have to tell anyone not to hit a cat with a spatula. I never thought I would have to tell anyone not to feed his pancake to the dog. Leave it to Aiden to find whole new lists of do’s and don’ts!

Now he’s not even two. But if I had to keep telling him not to throw his drink down the stairs when he gets to be 13, then something would be seriously wrong.

And I think it’s the same way with God when he gave us the Law. He told them all the things they needed to know – and I mean everything. Don’t have sex with animals. Don’t touch a dead body. Take a day off during the week. Be nice to each other. You know – the basics.

613 commands in the Torah. That’s quite the list! I don’t think I had 613 rules in my house growing up.

But even with the rules I did have growing up, they were there for a reason. And now when I visit my parents they don’t have to hold me to all the former household rules. It’s not that the rules have been thrown out the window. Quite the opposite. Those rules and boundaries have become ingrained within me. They are part of who I am. And I know what kind of behavior my parents expect without having to be told.

Reading through Galatians has shown me that things are similar with God and the Law. It’s not that the Law has been completely scrapped. Rather, through Christ we have reached a certain level of maturity. We are no longer treated like little children. We are full grown sons – heirs of the Father and co-heirs with Christ. Through Christ we have the Spirit of God within us.

So do we need the Law anymore? No. But the Law has become part of us. It has taught us how God expects us to behave so that he no longer has to spell everything out for us. And the Law has taught us about God’s character so that we know what to expect from Him.

When Aiden gets older I won’t have to tell him not to hit the cats with a spatula. He will know that animals are to be treated with kindness and respect.

As we mature in our faith, God won’t have to tell us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We will just know that all people are to be loved with the sacrificial love shown first by Christ.

³¹ “The time is coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CN)”>
with the house of Israel
    and with the house of Judah.
³² It will not be like the covenant <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CO)”>
    I made with their forefathers <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CP)”>
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt, <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CQ)”>
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CR)”>to them,”
declares the Lord.
³³ “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CS)”>
    and write it on their hearts. <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CT)”>
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people. <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CU)”>
³⁴ No longer will a man teach <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CV)”>his neighbor,
    or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CW)”>me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CX)”>their wickedness
    and will remember their sins <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(CY)”>no more.”

Jeremiah 31:31-34

I love watching ESPN SportsCenter on Fridays. Why? The Not-Top-10, that’s why. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s where the folks at ESPN gather all the worst plays, the errors, and the epic fails from the past week of sports and highlight those. Now I really like watching those bloopers and mishaps for a couple reasons. First, some of them are just downright hilarious. Second, it reminds us that these professional athletes are still humans. They make mistakes. They don’t always catch the ball. The don’t always run the right plays. They don’t always have it all together.

When I’m reading through the Gospel of Mark, I feel like I’m watching a Not-Top-10 reel. The apostles are constantly made to look like idiots, and things don’t always go as you would expect.

In fact, here are three of the biggest reasons I believe in the historicity of the gospels, at least from a literary standpoint:


1. The embarrassing stories about the apostles. Much emphasis was placed on the apostles, especially Peter and John, during the first couple centuries of the church. So much so that one would expect a great deal of veneration and esteem in the sacred texts of the church. We Americans know all to well that history is not unbiased. American history is written to reflect well upon our founding fathers. Triumphs are highlighted. Failures and shortcomings are briefed over at best, totally ignored at worst. Not so with the gospels and the early leaders of the church. All their flaws and imperfections rise to the top throughout the gospels. They are portrayed as dimwitted, hot tempered, and immature. Not exactly the kind of people you would expect to carry on God’s mission in the world.


2. The value placed on outsiders. Throughout the gospels Jesus encounters gentiles – non-Jews and/or non-believers – who have a stronger faith than his own people. In fact, they often understand his mission better than his own disciples. The woman at the well. The Roman centurion. The Canaanite woman. Even those who were Jews but were treated as outcasts by society showed much greater faith than others. We’re talking about those with leprosy, those with paralysis, the prostitutes, the tax collectors. In fact, the greatest show of faith in the Gospel of Mark is made by the Roman Centurion in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion. He is the first human to acknowledge Jesus as “the Son of God.”


3. The importance of women in the life of Jesus. Women weren’t treated badly in Jewish society. They just weren’t treated all that well. They were still second class citizens. But that did not stop Jesus from incorporating them into his ministry. His financial support came from women. He stayed in the houses of women. He took the good news to entire cities through his conversations with certain women. When all his disciples had abandoned him at his crucifixion, women stood nearby. Women saw where they laid Jesus’ body. And women were the first to hear that Jesus had been resurrected – and they were then told to go tell the men.


It’s no surprise that Paul calls the story of Christ a “stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the gentiles.” To the first century mind, the entire story is complete madness. It’s utterly ridiculous. But that’s the beauty of it. Because even through our own idiocy, God can shine through all the more. If the story had been about the apostles or the gentiles or the women, this movement would have gone nowhere. But the story isn’t about us. It’s about God. It’s not about our failures – it’s about God’s triumph.

On my jog this morning I was listening to a podcast from the Eastside Church of Christ in Colorado Springs. The sermon was about the scene in Acts 16 where Paul and Silas are thrown into prison on false charges while in Philippi. While in prison they were singing songs and praising God. Suddenly there was a big earthquake – the doors swung open and the chains fell free.

Paul, Silas, and all the other prisoners were free! God had loosed the chains of injustice. He had set the captive free. He had brought redemption to His people.

Only, this isn’t your typical Exodus story.

Paul and Silas don’t make a miraculous escape. None of the other prisoners makes a run for it. You see, even though God had broken their chains, they were not the ones who needed to be set free.

Because there was a jailer there, too, that night. In fact after the earthquake he was about to take his own life. According to the Roman code of honor, it was better to take one’s own life than to face execution for failing in your duties. He thought all the prisoners had escaped. Wouldn’t you?

But as he pulled his sword up to his torso to end it all, Paul stopped him – reminiscent of the angel staying Abraham’s knife. The jailer’s self-sacrifice was not necessary. No one had fled. All prisoners were accounted for.

You see, the prisoners did not need to be set free. The jailer did. He was enslaved to some obligatory code. He was shackled by the Roman way of life. He had only one way of seeing things. He probably didn’t know that he had even less freedom than the very men he was set to guard.

But that night God rocked his world. The prison bars around his heart were blown wide open. The chains pinning down his own mind were shattered. He was released from his bondage to his own government, his own occupation, and his own worldview. God freed him to see life in a whole new way.

That very night he displayed this change by taking Paul and Silas into his own home, cleansing their wounds, feeding them, and then listening to their message. Then and there he committed his life to God. He embraced the freedom that comes from a true self-sacrifice – not at the edge of a sword but through the waters of baptism.

The jailer was free at last. And so Paul and Silas would be the next day. It’s a pity we don’t know more about this man, where his life headed after this encounter. I can only assume that the Roman officials were impressed that he could maintain such order in a time of chaos so as not to lose a single prisoner. Whatever happened, I’m sure God blessed him and his family.

On this day we celebrate freedoms as a nation – but how free are we? Are we still enslaved to our worldview, to our code of ethics, to our government, to our televisions and computers?

God wants you to live a life of complete and utter freedom. Because only when God sets you free will you be free indeed.

Don’t let anything keep you from worshiping.

I usually don’t begin with my main point. There’s always some kind of background information, some story, some discourse, and the – BOOM – the main point. But tonight, I wanted to begin with the end.

Don’t let anything keep you from worshiping.

How many times have we complained in our heads or even out loud during a worship service? It’s too hot. It’s too cold. It’s too crowded. The seats are uncomfortable. We’re standing too much. The songs are too old. The songs are too new. The song leader is boring. The song leader is too peppy. The person behind me can’t sing worth anything. Ugh, this song again?

Don’t let anything keep you from worshiping.

Moses was in a cave (Exodus 34). It was there that he beheld the glory of God pass in front of him. He saw God more fully than anyone since Adam and Eve got their eviction notice. In this cave, he heard God proclaim his Name and his Glory. His reaction to all this “theophany” was to worship. In fact, he fell to the ground at once and worshiped. He didn’t worry about how comfortable the ground was. He didn’t worry about offending someone else. He didn’t worry about the “Five Acts of Worship.” He simply worshiped. He couldn’t help but to worship. Worship is the only appropriate response when you find yourself completely engulfed in the presence and glory of God.

Don’t let anything keep you from worshiping.

No matter how bad the pews are, you will still be more comfortable than in a cave. No matter how warm the building is, it will still be cooler than the Arabian desert. And no matter how dull and boring the service feels, you are every bit as surrounded by God’s glory and presence. So worship.

Don’t let anything keep you from worshiping.

I’m sure you’ve heard the story already. It’s been all over the news and the internet. It’s a story about a 68-year-old bus monitor who was bullied to the point of tears by the words and actions of some middle school boys.

If you haven’t heard about it, you can get caught up here.

In hearing the story and watching the video, several things stick out to me: Complete disrespect for elders; a lack of moral compass; the sheer helplessness of adults when it comes to out of control kids; fear that if anyone stands up for this poor woman, they’ll become the next target.

People across the country are livid – and rightfully so. Karen Klein, the bus monitor, was interviewed on Today by Matt Lauer. I’ve never seen him so angry before!

But I’ve also noticed a lot of finger pointing. Even though the content of these boys’ taunts would be deemed “mature/adult content,” they’re still kids. Children don’t naturally develop hate – these things are taught.

So the big question is: Who do we blame?

Here are a few brief observations:

• Many kids are going to school after their parents leave for work and return to an empty house.
• Including school days, bus rides, and ball practice, the VAST majority of a child’s daily interaction is with that of his/her peers – 8 to 10 hours every day – with little adult interaction.
• Schools are not allowed to teach morality.
• Fewer and fewer children are a part of a faith community – because their parents aren’t going, either.
• When they watch TV they see “reality” shows that supposedly portray adults in real life (e.g. Jersey Shore) – full of arguing, name calling, bullying, and flat out disgusting behavior.
• Then they flip over to Disney or Nickelodeon where the mean kids are the heroes and the parents are blubbering idiots.
• Then they play video games loaded with violence and foul language – even trash talking other players in real time.
• Then they get on the internet where they can have further freedom to say and do whatever they want without consequence.

And then something like this happens and we’re shocked. I’m almost even more shocked that this isn’t happening more often.


Yes, it’s up to parents to raise their kids. But it’s up to other adults to help. I’m tired of the narrow minded loudmouths who keep touting “Free Speech!” in any and all circumstances to the detriment of our youth. I’m sick of the government building up these glass walls between adults and students. Teachers and authority figures shouldn’t have to be afraid to discipline students! And surprise – children need discipline.


How many more Karen Kleins have to be harassed, bullied, threatened, and brought to tears by some middle school punks for us to wake up and realize that what we’re doing isn’t working??

You’ve all heard the cliche, “It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it.” Well, it seems like youth ministry could probably be lumped in with those “dirty jobs” when it comes to church work. Anything to do with children or teenagers will happily be left up to a select few – or even a select one.


I’m also reminded of a song by Acappella – “Everybody Said but Nobody Did.” The chorus is fitting:

When a church hires a minister specifically for youth the burden of spiritual development is then placed on his shoulders. You will have the youth minister, some select volunteers, maybe some substitute teachers, but that’s it. And we somehow expect a couple hours a week to be enough.


No one will ever develop expertise in a certain field through one or two hours of lecture-based study each week. But we are shocked when our teenagers lack spiritual development and thus leave the church during their college and young adult years.


No. There has got to be a better way.


And there is. It’s been there all along. Right in front of us.


“Write these commandments that I’ve given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9, The Message


Spiritual development of the children is first and foremost the responsibility of the parents. Truth is, parents aren’t talking to their children, especially their teenage children. But as I read it, this is not a suggestion. It’s a command. And if you haven’t noticed, God doesn’t care what our excuses are when it comes to commands.


This is your child’s eternal salvation we’re talking about! And believe it or not, parents are still the number 1 influence on a teenager’s faith development.


But what about those teens who don’t have faithful parents?


“Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

Have you ever noticed that we have a category for just about everything and everyone? Take a look around the lunch room or the office. You have your nerds, your jocks, your free spirits, your band geeks, your drama queens, your gamers, your potheads, your overachievers. We just tend to divide ourselves up by some arbitrary system of categorization. We call them cliques, and they’re as old as the human race.

These cliques are a common and even expected part of school and work, but what about our churches. We have the conservatives, the liberals, the traditionalists, and the progressives. We have the one cuppers, the multi-cuppers, the hand raisers, and the amen shouters. There are the clappers, the non-clappers, the pre-millenials and the amillenials. The institutional, the non-institutional, the Saturday night instrumentals, and the absolutely 100% non-instrumental, period.

There is definitely an “us and them” mentality within the church…and it’s been that way since the beginning.

We like to know what makes us us and what make them them. Where do we draw the line? What distinctions can we make so that the boundaries are clear? How can we nuance ourselves out of relationship with people we don’t necessarily like?

We are right.
They are not us.
Therefore, they are not right.

John had this same mentality. After all this time of following Jesus, look at what he proudly says to Jesus:

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 

The great irony is that just a few verses earlier, Jesus’ own disciples were unable to drive out one demon. And now we’re told that there is someone not of the Twelve who is casting out multiple demons in Jesus’ name. And the disciples tell him to stop!

Why? Because he was defaming Jesus? Because he was wanting attention for himself? Because he was leading other people astray? No. Because he was not “one of us.”

We’re familiar and comfortable with the saying “Whoever is not for us is against us.” If someone doesn’t say the same things, believe the same things, dress the same way, support the same causes, sing the same songs in the same style…then they must of course be against everything we believe. If they are not for us, if they in fact are not us, then they must be against us.

But what does Jesus say?

“Do not stop him. No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”

Did you catch that? Whoever is not against us is for us. Jesus completely reverses the old adage that we love and cherish. He takes all our categories and labels and throws them out the window. Our way of determining us and them is turned on end.

And here’s the difference: Jesus is saying to start at the points of unity, not the points of division. What common ground do we and they both share? Let’s focus on that.

The disciples did it then, and we do it now. We tend to focus more on that which divides. We like to highlight the things that keep us on one side of the line and them on the other.

Jesus simply erases the line.

Begin on common ground. This man was doing the work of God in the name of Jesus. He was promoting the name and mission of Jesus. Sure, he may not have been one of Jesus’ closest disciples. He may not have had all the right answers. He may not have known as much about the Bible as others. He may have looked different, spoken differently, and worshiped differently. But that did not make him part of “them” rather than “us.”

I believe that the work of God is WAY bigger than we can ever realize. If there’s one thing we know about God is that he shows up and works in people and places we least expect. Who are we to limit God to working solely through “us?”

Whoever is not against us is for us.

So Jesus and his three disciples
come down from the mountain having just caught a glimpse of the true glory and
power of Jesus. The transfiguration was a key point in the life of Jesus and
the faith journey of his disciples. Heaven and earth embraced for but a moment.

If I could just be a “fly on the wall” for just one event of Jesus’ ministry, this would be it. Hands down.

Jesus took Peter, James, and John up on a mountain top and was “transfigured” before their very eyes. His clothes became bright white. Light radiated from his flesh. His truest, divine nature is revealed to these three guys.

Then Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain with Jesus and strike up a conversation. (I’ve always wondered how they knew it was Moses and Elijah. They didn’t have pictures of them. I doubt they were wearing name tags. Hmm…)

Finally, after a *facepalm* comment by Peter, a cloud surrounds them and the very voice of God booms out, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!”

Chills.

Anyway, I asked my teens what questions come to mind when reading this passage. The one question we kept coming back to was “Why?” Specifically, 1)Why was Jesus transfigured?, and 2)Why Moses and Elijah? Here’s what we concluded.

Why did Moses and Elijah appear?

There is always the initial answer that Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophets. God is saying that Jesus is greater than the Law and the Prophets. You no longer need to listen to Moses or Elijah. Just listen to Jesus.

And while that is true, I think there is something more going on here.

1) Who comes after Moses? Joshua. Who comes after Elijah? Elisha. Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus are all essentially the same name – God delivers. And that’s exactly what God is doing through Jesus. So it makes perfect sense that the mentors of Joshua and Elisha are now here conversing with Jesus.

2) If you’ve read your Bible enough, you know that God likes to do things on mountains. And mountains played a big role in key moments for both Moses and Elijah.

On Mount Sinai, God’s presence rested at the top in cloud form. After basking in the glory of God, Moses’ face shone so brightly that he had to place a veil over his head. On Mount Sinai the glory of God was revealed more fully than it had ever been.

On Mount Carmel, Elijah went head to head with the prophets of Ba’al. After an day long stand-ff, Elijah prayed to God, and God sent down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice placed on the altar. On Mount Carmel the power of God over other gods was revealed more fully than it had ever been.

The glory of God and the power of God are now coming together to be most fully revealed, if only for a moment, through his Son, Jesus.

Why was Jesus transfigured?

This is just past the half-way point in the book of Mark. Why bother at all? Jesus is going to be resurrected soon and everyone will understand, right? Well, yes, but his disciples needed something more right then.

The transfiguration is sandwiched between two predictions of Jesus’ suffering and death (8:31 and 9:12, 31). The disciples needed to know that this was not the end. Not all the disciples went, though. Just the three leaders and close companions. They needed to know that suffering and death are coming, but the coming glory is infinitely greater.

But, the glory could not come without the suffering. Just like gold cannot be refined unless it is first melted down, so Jesus could not be resurrected and take on his truest form unless he first experienced suffering and death.

You cannot separate glory and suffering.

So it is with us. When we die with Christ in baptism, we put to death our old selves. We bury our past in the water and are resurrected into a new life in which the glory of the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Jesus took the suffering on himself so that we might share his glory.

Glory comes after suffering. And the transfiguration reassures us of that hope.