Tag Archives: Appeal

Chapter-a-Day

Spiritual Health Assessment

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We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 1:9-12 (NIV)

Paul is a prisoner of Rome. In a way, this is a matter of his own free will and choosing. His crime was to show his face in Jerusalem where he had carried a financial offering collected from the believers throughout Asia Minor to help the followers of Jesus who were being persecuted by the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem and throughout Judea. Paul had been one of those Jewish authorities and led the persecution and prosecution of Jesus’ followers. Then, Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus and abruptly switched teams. His return to Jerusalem sparked a riot, and civil unrest was something the Roman Empire did not abide.

Paul, however, was a citizen of Rome, which was not very common. Being a Roman Citizen had tremendous privileges, and where Paul was from only 1-3 percent of the population enjoyed that status. One of the privileges of Roman citizenship was that if you were accused of a crime you could appeal your case to be judged by Caesar himself. Paul used his privilege and made his appeal. Now, he waits in Rome for his trial to make its way to the top of Caesar’s docket. While he waits, he lives guarded under house arrest.

There’s not much to do while you’re living under house arrest, Paul prays for all the believers he left behind in Greece and Asia Minor. Paul has a cadre of friends who have worked with him in sharing Jesus’ love and message wherever he went. They hang with him in Rome and keep him company. Friends from the local gatherings of Jesus’ followers travel to visit him and give him reports on how things are going back in their hometowns. They also provide financial support because Paul is required to pay for his housing while under house arrest. Paul writes letters for his visitors to take back with them.

In yesterday’s post/podcast, I shared the story of the runaway slave who ran into Paul in Rome. Onesimus had been the slave of Philemon, a believer Paul knew back in the city of Colossae. Onesimus became a follower of Jesus, and Paul sent him back to reconcile to his master with a letter in hand that we now know as Philemon. Also in hand, Onesimus carried the letter we begin our chapter-a-day trek through today, known as Colossians.

Today’s chapter is Paul’s opening greeting to the believers in Colossae. It is filled with both teaching and encouragement. Amidst the encouragement, Paul describes his desire for the believers by outlining four things he wants for them:

  1. Bearing fruit in every good work, fruit that he would define in his letter to the believers in Galatia as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
  2. Growing in the knowledge of God.
  3. Being strengthened to patiently endure trials and hardships.
  4. Giving joyful thanks to God for His gracious gift of salvation.

As I meditated on these four things in the quiet this morning, I thought to myself what a simple checklist they were to do my own spiritual health assessment.

What are the “works” that are currently on my task list? As I think through each project at work, at home, and in my community is there evidence of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

Am I growing in my knowledge of God at all? How so? What am I intentionally doing to improve my relationship with God? Am I reading, praying, meditating, contemplating, or having conversations with others?

What challenges, trials, and hardships am I currently facing? Do my thoughts, words, and actions show evidence of spiritual strength, patience, and endurance – or complaining, grumbling, worrying, and whining?

Am I taking time to mindfully and consciously be thankful to God for all of the good things with which I am blessed every day?

In the quiet this morning, I thoughtfully pondered the honest answers to these questions. The good news is that I’m feeling positive about some of the answers. At the same time, it didn’t take long for me to realize I do have some simple growth opportunities ahead of me today.

Here I go.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Of Differences and Discernment

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“Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way…”
2 Corinthians 6:4 (NIV)

As you might imagine, publishing these chapter-a-day posts and podcasts has an impact on my social media algorithms. I get a lot of social media posts pushed into my feeds from many different flavors of Christianity. There’s been a recent surge in posts rooted in the orthodox church, which is experiencing a bit of a revival. Good for them. And of course, there’s also a lot of traffic from the Roman Catholics and their new pope from the south side. I’m a bit sad he’s a White Sox fan, but I agree with my dear friend, Kevin: they could use divine help this season.

I have shared many times over the years that I’ve always been a non-denominationalist at heart. To borrow a phrase from baseball, I’ve been a bit of a journeyman along my life journey. I’ve worshiped in and served in different denominations. I adhere to the Apostles Creed and belief in the “holy catholic church” which means I’m part of the church that exists beyond denominational boundaries. The one made up of all believers everywhere.

Of course, as I scrolled through my social media feed the other day I saw posts from an individual dissing on those who weren’t from his denomination and arrogantly proclaiming his brand of belief to be the one true way. These conflicts have been around for hundreds of years. History is filled with Christians killing one another. The only winner in that battle is Satan.

One of the things that I’ve noticed in today’s chapter, and in this chapter-a-day trek through 2 Corinthians is the conflict that is brewing in the sub-text of everything Paul is writing. There is a conflict boiling among the believers in Corinth that Paul is addressing with teachers who are telling the Corinthians to ignore Paul and listen to them.

What I find interesting in today’s chapter is how Paul approaches the conflict. He doesn’t diss on these other teachers, how awful they are, and how wrong they are. Instead, Paul simply describes his personal resume. He points out his work as Jesus messenger and how he has always acted and behaved towards them “in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love.”

At the heart of Paul’s argument is his realization that he can’t control these other teachers, what they say, or how they behave. Getting into an antagonistic battle of egos will only escalate things and, once again, the only winner in that battle is the enemy. So, Paul appeals to the Corinthians’ spiritual discernment. They know Paul and how he has always affectionately loved them and been concerned for their spiritual well-being. They will have to decide for themselves if these other teachers dissing on him are true and if their motives are pure.

Which brings me back to the social media feeds of teachers and leaders dissing on those who don’t belong to their brand of belief. I’ve encountered these individuals in every denomination. I’m reminded of Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats that I referenced a few days ago and that we recently read in our chapter-a-day trek through Matthew. On Judgement Day Jesus doesn’t describe denominational lines. He just describes sheep and goats. My experiences and observations along this life journey are that there are sheep and goats in every denomination and every local church. I don’t think denominations matter other than offering different experiences that appeal to different people. The only thing that matters is whether I am a sheep or a goat. Paul seems to understand this same reality as he addresses his Corinthian conflict.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Just Appeal

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Just Appeal (CaD Ps 17) – Wayfarer

From you let my vindication come….
Psalm 17:2a (NRSVCE)

Years ago, I found myself the object of unfair criticism by an individual who I thought was my friend. He was unhappy with me, though instead of confronting me and discussing his concerns, he decided to take his grievances to the court of public opinion. I confess that I was both sad and angered by his actions. My friend proved to be my enemy.

As luck would have it I found myself, sometime later, in possession of information regarding improprieties this person had committed. I had the opportunity to act with vengeance against the person who had injured me. I had a smoking gun that would pay back my enemy’s injuries with compounding interest. He would be out of a job and would be publicly humiliated.

I ignored the evidence. I let it go. I made a conscious choice to continue treating the person with kindness and deference whenever I run into him. Which, I still do on occasion.

Today’s chapter is yet another song penned by King David. The fascinating thing for me was not something I found in a particular line or verse, but the song itself as a whole. David structured this song like a legal appeal one would make to a King. As king, David would have heard a million legal appeals brought to him, and to King Saul while he served as a court musician, by people wanting their case decided. King David, however, is making his appeal to God, whom he places in authority above his own royal position.

It starts with a formal appeal to God to listen to his plea. He then establishes his position of innocence. He reiterates his request to be heard and praises God for his goodness and mercy. He then lays out his case against his enemies and asks God to vindicate him by judging and righteously punishing his enemies. He ends with a statement of confident trust that God will do right by him.

Sometimes in this life we find ourselves wronged with little or no position with which to get justice. Sometimes, we find that the only justice at our disposal is the justice we take into our own hands.

As a follower of Jesus, I am called to choose against my human desire for vengeance and vindication. Jesus tells me to consciously turn the other cheek, itself a conscious act of response that he exemplified time and time again as he suffered through the kangaroo court of the high priest, then the religious elders, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Pilate again, the crowds who days earlier had hailed Him as king but now shouted for His execution, and finally His enemies who stood at the foot of His cross and hurled insults at Him.

David’s psalm is a testament to Jesus’ teaching, and to David’s own example when he had multiple chances to take personal vengeance against his enemy, King Saul, while personally ensuring his ascension to the throne. With each opportunity David chose to ignore the opportunity, to let it go, and treat his enemy with deference.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about individuals who, along my life journey, I’ve considered enemies. There’s a whole bunch from childhood who I now consider friends. There are some that the road of life led in a completely different direction, and any hard feelings I may have once felt are as distant as they are. There are others, like the person I described at the top of this post, who remain in my circles of community. Their actions would indicate that they consider me some kind of enemy, but I’ve made a choice to keep treating them as friends.

Along my spiritual journey I’ve learned that pleading my case to the only Just Judge, and choosing to surrender my need for vengeance, frees my heart and mind from toxic emotions and actions which will only perpetuate and escalate circumstances. Turning the other cheek is not a passive response, it’s a conscious choice to make my appeal to God and leave it there.

I know. It sounds crazy. Following Jesus usually leads me to make choices that run opposite my natural inclinations. But, I can’t say I’ve ever regretted it.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Perplexing Mystery

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The Perplexing Mystery (CaD Ps 10) – Wayfarer

The Lord is king forever and ever;
    the nations shall perish from his land.
O Lord, you will hear the desire of the meek;
    you will strengthen their heart, you will incline your ear
to do justice for the orphan and the oppressed,
    so that those from earth may strike terror no more.
Psalm 10:16-18 (NRSVCE)

We don’t talk much about evil anymore. It gets used as a weapon-word fired at the political “other” in the empty, name-calling wars on social media. It is referenced in conversations about acts so heinous that everyone agrees that they reached a depth of depravity so dark as to be inhuman. I observed, however, that even people of faith are dismissive of the notion that evil is set up in active conflict against good in the spiritual realm of this world.

Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”
Matthew 4:8-9

The evil one was able to offer Jesus the kingdoms of this world and their splendor because this Level 3 world is where evil holds dominion until the final chapters of the Great Story. At every level of the socio-economic ladder from the grade school playground to Wall Street and Washington D.C. are those who will exploit anyone to advance their personal power base and portfolio of wealth. Unlike Jesus, they have knelt before the evil one and taken him up on his offer. These are the ones David writes about in the lyrics of today’s psalm.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, today’s psalm is connected to yesterday’s. Like We Will Rock You and We are the Champions by Queen, or Journey’s Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezing and City of the Angels the two songs are were meant to go together. One of the common conventions of Hebrew songs and poems that is lost in translation to English is the fact that each line begins with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order just as if you wrote a poem and each line began with A, B, C, D, and etc., Psalm 10 picks up with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet where Psalm 9 left off. In addition, there is no header or title to Psalm 10 like there has been for every other psalm we’ve read since Psalm 1. Psalms 9 and 10 go together.

With that in mind, King David is writing both psalms from his position as King of Israel. The thing I find most fascinating is that he is writing from a position of power. He’s at the top of the food chain. He holds more power in the kingdom than anyone else, and he is lamenting the wicked highway robbers who oppress the poor in the rural villages of his own country. He’s complaining about the wealthy brokers of power in his own kingdom who “prosper all the time” and establish their legacy for their descendants.

Why doesn’t he do something about it?

Along my journey I’ve observed that there is only so much that one can do in a world where evil has dominion. Not that I shouldn’t do everything that I can to act in the circles of influence in which I operate. I should. Nevertheless, I have witnessed good people, followers of Jesus, who have ascended the ladder of earthly power and influence only to find that there is only so much that they can do.

That’s the point I believe King David is getting to in his songs that read like a leader’s lament. His position of ultimate power in his kingdom cannot stop the wickedness of every rural bully bent on taking advantage of poor villagers. Even as King he is surrounded by the wealthy and powerful who have their own personal kingdoms built to oppose him.

It’s interesting that towards the end of today’s psalm David appeals to God as “King forever and ever.” At the end of his personal, earthly power that has fallen short of bringing justice to everyone, David appeals to God as the only higher authority who can step in and do something about it.

Welcome to one of the most perplexing spiritual mysteries of the Great Story. Jesus comes to earth and refuses to operate in worldly systems of the evil one’s dominion where injustice and wickedness reign and oppress the poor and the weak.

Why didn’t he do something about it?

Instead of confronting evil on earthly terms, Jesus goes instead to the rural, the poor, and the simple. He reaches out to individuals, encourages the personal transformation of individuals from self-centered evil to a life of self-sacrificing service to others. He triumphs not over earthly kingdoms but over Death. He wages war not against flesh-and-blood but against principalities, powers, and forces of spiritual darkness behind flesh-and-blood power. It leads me to consider that ultimately, the Great Story is not about this Earth. It’s not about this world. It’s not just about this 20,000 to 40,000 days I will spend journeying through this lifetime. It’s about something greater, something deeper, something more eternal.

In the quiet this morning I find myself identifying with David’s lament. At the end of the song, David expresses his trust that God sees the acts of evil and hears the cries of the oppressed. He entrusts the King of all with ultimately making things right. I have to do the best I can as an ambassador of God’s Kingdom on this earth in the circles of influence I’ve been given. Beyond that, I can only make an appeal to the King forever, and trust He will see this Great Story to its conclusion, joyfully ever-after.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Cooperation, not Competition

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What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.
1 Corinthians 3:5 (NIV)

Our local gathering of Jesus followers has two venues for worship, and each Sunday there are worship services that run in both rooms at the same time. For the past few years I have had the honor of working with a team of individuals who are developing their gifts and skills in teaching. Every season there is a rotating team of people who take turns teaching on Sundays and then meeting mid-week to discuss their experience and improve their skills. It’s a diverse group of both men and women of different ages, educational backgrounds, and vocational experiences. It’s been a fascinating experience for me to lead and participate. I’ve learned a lot.

One of the things I’ve tried to impress on our team of teachers is the reality that each week I get up to teach there will be those who are excited to see me up there, and those who who are not. As we represent a diverse cross-section of humanity, we each will appeal to different individuals within our gathering. Those who are gifted teachers and develop those gifts will naturally develop broader appeal, but no teacher enjoys universal appeal (not even Jesus). It just is what it is. I think that’s why Jesus’ followers are called a “body” and the spiritual gift of teaching is given to a diverse number of individuals across all parts of the body.

As I’ve been studying the early history of the Jesus Movement, I am repeatedly struck at how quickly the story shifts from the original twelve apostles to a host of other characters. In many cases, these almost anonymous individuals, such as Ananias (Acts 9:10-19), pop onto the scene like a bit player with a walk-on role, then make their exit never to be heard from again. Others characters are only referenced or mentioned, but nonetheless they played a large off-stage role. Apollos was one of these.

Apollos was from the city of Alexandria in Egypt, a city of great influence in the ancient world. Apollos was from the upper crust of society in those days. He was highly educated and trained in oratory, the art of speech and debate, which was arguably the most esteemed skill at that time of history. We don’t know how Apollos became a believer, but he arrives on the scene using his speaking and debate skills arguing that Jesus was the Messiah. He was such a powerful teacher and speaker, in fact, that he naturally developed broad appeal within the Jesus Movement, especially with many of the believers of Corinth. Division sprouted among the Corinthians believers as some in the local gathering there began to treat it as if it was a “The Voice” type of competition. Some were on “Team Paul” and other were on “Team Apollos.”

Paul immediately shuts down these notions of competition between the two. It’s not a competition, Paul argues, but a cooperation. Both Paul and Apollos had a role to play in the Corinthian believers faith and spiritual growth. Each brought his own unique personality, style, background, experience, and appeal. Every believer in Corinth had something to learn from both Paul and Apollos. This wasn’t “either, or” it was “both, and.”

In the quiet this morning I’m thinking of the diverse team of individuals with whom I partner to teach among my local gathering of believers. It’s been a blast for me to watch each of them develop their own voice, speak from their own unique experiences, and watch our gathering grow and learn from such a broad range of voices. It’s a weekly and constant reminder that “the church” was never to be a monument to a particular, persuasive teacher or leader. Every local gathering has both a Paul and an Apollos (and an Ananias, and a Priscilla, and an Aquila, and a Chloe and….).

It’s not competition. It’s cooperation. Or else, we’re doing it wrong.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 26

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photo by usfwsnortheast via Flickr

Put me on trial, Lord, and cross-examine me.
    Test my motives and my heart.
Psalm 26:2 (NLT)

The other morning in the Wall Street Journal there was a fascinating article about the difficulty in erasing human bias from judging Olympic events. As flawed human beings we tend to pre-judge and judge others without much thought or effort. In our every day lives we are very good at Olympic-style judging of others while being very poor at judging with fairness, justice and objectivity.

Maybe that’s why Jesus was so adamant in demanding that we don’t judge others:

  • “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV)
  • “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” Luke 6:36 (NIV)

Years ago I went through a divorce after seventeen years of marriage. One of the most difficult aspects of that agonizing stretch of my journey was how quickly I heard and experienced the judgement of friends, family, neighbors and strangers who convicted me in their minds without knowledge, examination, conversation, evidence, or trial. To this day I can experience the rippling effects of those human judgements in silly ways.

Because we all tend to judge and pre-judge others imperfectly, we also tend to experience the judgement and prejudice of others in one way or another. It’s part of the human experience. Through the period of my divorce I learned to make my appeals to God, just like the writer of the lyrics in today’s Psalm. I can’t control the judgement of others, but I can make my appeal to God who is the only Judge who counts for eternity.  I can’t stop others from making skewed and false judgements of me, but God has required that I forgive those who do.

Today, I’m echoing David’s appeal and asking God to examine and test my heart and motives. I’m reminding myself to give up any senseless effort to control what others think, do and say about me. I’m choosing to forgive those who have chosen to sit in judgement of my life like a biased Olympic judge holding up their score on a placard.