Word of Life Church Podcast

<p>When the Jewish exiles arrived in Babylon their hope was for an immediate return to Jerusalem. But the prophet Jeremiah told them the exile would last for 70 years. So the Jews went about the business of learning how to live as exiles in Babylon. After 65 years of exile, Daniel began to pray and remind God that the 70 year sentence of exile was nearly served. That's when the angel Gabriel came and explained to Daniel that the exile was going to be more like seventy times seven years! This calls for patience with God.</p>

<p>All Hallows Eve (Halloween) and All Saints Day are further examples of Christians re-appropriating pagan holidays for Christian purposes. Like was done with Christmas and Easter -- though Halloween has proved more difficult to unmoor for its pagan past. In its Christian origin All Hallows Eve was a time to remember the departed saints. (You can see how this could lend itself to less sacred and more ghoulish themes.) The idea was to remember the departed saints because they still belong to the communion of saints. Because we believe in resurrection (and being with the Lord in the interim), we understand the body of Christ, the communion of saints, to be comprised of both the quick and dead, the living and those who sleep in Christ.</p>

<p>As followers of Jesus who are also citizens of the nation with the world’s largest economy and most powerful military, we face the same kinds of challenges as the Jewish exiles and early Christians to whom the books of Daniel and Revelation were written. Their situation speaks to us. American Christians have to learn how to live like the Jewish exiles and early Christians who lived in the midst of empire. Like them we live in the tension of engaged citizenship and covenant faithfulness. We are exiles on main street.</p>

<p>Daniel held onto his Jewish identity in the midst of pagan empire through the practice of daily formative prayer. But prayer is no guarantee of success or safety. In fact, formative prayer, the kind of prayer that resists being conformed into the image of the empire, may lead us into the lion's den.</p>

<p>Perhaps the greatest need for the modern Western church is to turn away from the reactive and turn toward the contemplative. We are reactive when we respond out of fear to a perceived threat to our assumptions and self-interest. We are contemplative when we perceive the other through God's eyes of love and respond with compassion. But the only way to enter the contemplative is through the practice of formative prayer.</p>

<p>What if God does not use us despite our weaknesses and failures, but because of weaknesses and failures?</p>

<p>At the end of the Babylonian Empire, King Belshazzar had succeeded Nebuchadnezzar and he followed in the same arrogant ways of his predecessor. During a party where Belshazzar and his guest were toasting the gods of gold and silver, a mysterious hand appears and writes on the wall. The message has Belshazzar leaves stunned. Daniel is brought in to interpret this message and it is bad news: Babylon is coming to an end. The pending fall of Babylon is the way empires go. They grow in power and arrogance and then they fall. As modern-day exiles living in a modern-day Babylon we have hope that the kingdom we belong to is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus has defeated Babylon and we learn to live not isolated from this fallen world and not immersed in it. We live imitating Jesus, knowing he has defeated Babylon.</p>

<p>When things are hazy, one thing is clear: Jesus is the way. When things get crazy, one thing is certain: Jesus is the truth. When things begin to wither and die, one thing is consistent: Jesus is the life. As we reflect upon Jesus' declaration that he is the way and the truth and the life we find the life we were always looking for. To experience that life, the Jesus life, we have to be willing walk the Jesus way and consistently proclaim the Jesus truth.</p>

<p>In chapter 4 of Daniel we find the story of the king who went crazy -- the emperor who went insane. King Nebuchadnezzar is the personification of empire and this subversive story is a prophetic critique of the insanity of empire. But it's only the exiles who possess a counter-script and thereby can live outside the dominant script who perceive the insanity of empire.</p>

<p>"If I have not love, I am nothing." -The Apostle Paul<br><br>"Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed." -Hans Urs von Balthasar<br><br>Everything minus Love = Zero.<br><br>With this in mind, Pastor Brian shares his four noble truths...<br><br>Life is Hard.<br>God is Love.<br>Jesus is Lord.<br>Love Never Fails.</p>

<p>The dreams of the prophets and the nightmares of empires are one in the same. What the people of God hope for the most, is what the empires of man fear the most—that the reign of God will at last be seen on the earth, bringing justice to all people.</p>

<p>Jesus speaks the words “O you of little faith” several times to the disciples, pointing them to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. As we take a fresh look at the Genesis 1 creation account, freeing ourselves from the culture war surrounding this topic, we also are reminded in times of worry and anxiety to take rest in the reality that God is at work.</p>

<p>The Book of Daniel addresses this problem: How do you live as a Jew in a culture that doesn't want you to be Jewish? To understand the stories of Daniel is easy and safe. What is difficult and dangerous is to take the imaginative leap and apply these stories to our own context. American Christians need to ask this question: How do you live a a Christian in a culture that either doesn't want you to be a Christian or wants to conscript Christianity for its own purposes?</p>

<p>Peter’s “walking on the water” experience wasn’t about Peter learning a cool trick. It was to teach him that living life linked up with Jesus was a completely different way of living. Peri Zahnd shares stories from years of pastoring and watching ordinary people sometimes do extraordinary things, empowered by the Spirit of God.</p>

<p>The book of Daniel was designed to teach ancient Jews how to live as faithful exiles in the midst of a pagan empire. The book of Revelation did much the same for the early Christians living in the Roman Empire. These books are extremely relevant for American Christians, who face the challenge of engaging in a responsible way with American society, while living faithfully under the reign of Christ.</p>

<p>Jesus prayed for the unity of the church. Paul wrote in each of his letters a passionate plea for the church to remain unified, because if the church, the body of Christ, is divided then Christ himself is divided. Today as we survey the landscape of the church it is easy to see how we have become divided into our tribes, but there is hope. Jesus looks at his divided, tribal church and says, "Love one another." As we choose to walk a path of humility, keeping Jesus first and primary, we can find a way to come together in real, authentic relational unity.</p>

<p>Taking its cues from the scientism of a bygone era, Western Christianity has tried for too long to make the gospel a kind of scientific formula—a pseudo-science of Biblical facts, atonement theories, and sinner’s prayers—when it’s more like a song, a symphony, a poem, a painting, a drama, a dance, and, yes, a mystery. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century saw the artisan replaced with conveyer-belted, smoke-belching factories. Things would no longer be handcrafted, they would now be mass-produced. Christianity followed suit. The revivalism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries sought to “industrialize” evangelism. While Henry Ford was mass-producing cars, Billy Sunday was mass-producing converts. Except it doesn’t work that way.</p>

<p>We never went to church<br>Just get on with work<br>And sometimes things’ll hurt<br>But it’s hit me since you left us<br>And it’s so hard not to search<br>–The Streets<br><br>Churchless Christianity is an illusion. You might be some kind of Christian without the church, but your children probably won’t be Christians, and your grandchildren definitely won’t be Christians. Christianity doesn’t long survive outside the matrix of the church.</p>

<p>Finding God On Your iPodJesus, the one who is the Word of God, sums up the Law and Prophets in two commands: Love God with all your heart and soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Everything depends on love. So when calculating the meaning of life, if it doesn’t add up to love, go back and recalculate. God is love, and to live life right, you have to go with the flow of love; any other conclusion about life a sad mistake.<br><br>But...<br><br>What happens if we start pulling on the strings of our affluence?<br><br>What happens if we look just beneath the surface of things?<br><br>What happens if we open our eyes to what we mostly overlook?<br><br>What happens if the other side of the world comes to our own town?<br><br>What happens if we discover the real price we pay for what we call security?</p>

<p>"So when I'm walking this prison camp world<br>I long for a glimpse of the new world unfurled<br>The chrysalis cracking and moistened wings uncurl<br>Like in the vision John saw"<br>-Bruce Cockburn<br><br>Those who confess Jesus is Lord are looking for glimpses of the new world. But we don't just sit back and wait for it -- we work with Jesus to move in the direction of New Jerusalem right now. Christians should have a compassionate eschatology, not a catastrophic eschatology. We should have an eschatology that leads us to be healers, not warmongers.</p>

<p>On a train ride from Rome to Assisi, researching the ancient Christian creeds and listening to Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by the Foo Fighters, Brian says he realized that's what he needed: Echoes. Silence. Patience. Grace. Echoes from the past, silence in the present, patience with the future, and grace to tie it all together.</p>

<p>Ten years ago Brian Zahnd and Word of Life Church embarked upon a daring transition; a radical departure from American pop Christianity into the substantive faith of authentic Christianity. With story, sermon, scripture, and some help from a Tom Petty song, Brian tells this fascinating story.</p>

<p>I believe that one find day all the children of Abraham<br>Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem<br>-Steve Earle<br><br>Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the prophets foretold and the reign of his peaceable kingdom has begun. This is what we mean we confess Jesus is Lord. This is what the Apostles believed and preached. But as long as we fall for the eschatological trick that peace isn't for now, but only for when Jesus comes again, we will remain part of the problem instead of belonging to the solution. Which is equivalent to saying, "I'm going to follow Jesus... when he comes back."</p>

<p>Exodus! Movement of Jah people!<br>We're leaving Babylon<br>We're going to our Father's land<br>-Bob Marley<br><br>The people of God are called to a perpetual Exodus. We are always on the move -- always moving away from idolatry and injustice. This calls for an ongoing Exodus. Jah people, Jesus people, Christian citizens, are called to subordinate the interests of the Empire (the Economy) to the demands of justice. At times this will make us unpopular, but this unpopularity belongs to our baptismal identity.</p>

<p>The poetic and the prophetic are related. The poets and prophets are first cousins. Poets use artistic speech to say what cannot be said in conventional speech. The poet-prophets give us an alternative imagination -- a way of rethinking the world. Walter Brueggeman says, "Sunday morning is the practice of a counter life through counter speech." Finding God on Your iPod uses songs from contemporary recording artists to talk about Jesus and the gospel in a fresh, artistic way. This sermon is based on "Invisible" by U2.</p>

<p>A sermon delivered by Word of Life Church Youth Director Jacob Taylor.</p>

<p>The book of Philemon is a little window into the mind of an Apostle who saw the goodness of the Gospel for the whole world. In the Gospel we see God's desire for reconciliation. Human pride, greed, lust, and violence has had a way of tearing things apart. Jesus, in his reign, is bringing things back together. The reconciliation of Philemon the master and Onesimus the slave demonstrates not only God's work of reconciling the world to himself in Christ, it also demonstrates our call to the ministry of reconciliation.</p>

<p>The Gospel is not only for leading us to the doorway into the Kingdom of God. The Gospel is a foundation upon which we stand and it saves and shapes us as we continue to keep it central in our lives. The question is do we understand the gospel? If we misunderstand the Gospel we hear, we will misunderstand the faith we live. The Gospel found in the New Testament confronts the politics of power, the religion of relativism, and the sexuality of self and shapes us into a people of love.</p>

<p>The true and strange story of a Scottish oil worker, a Nigerian prostitute, and the Savior who loves and does not condemn.</p>

<p>There are two primary conversion stories in the Book of Acts. Both are related numerous times. The first is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus from a violent persecutor of Christians to an advocate for Christ. The other is the conversion of the Apostle Peter from prejudice toward Gentiles to advocating for their full inclusion in the church. Both stories are conversions from persecution or prejudice to advocacy. Advocacy is the nature of the Holy Spirit and the way of peace, but this kind of advocacy requires a breakthrough in contemplation.</p>

<p>In Jerusalem Paul got roped into offering sacrifice in the Temple and almost ended up being sacrificed himself! If we think that God wants sacrifice we are never far from violence. If we think God ever needed to be appeased by killing, even by killing an animal, it's not a big leap to start thinking that killing in the name of God is justified.</p>

<p>At the center of Christian theology and practice we find a table. The holy of holies is no longer a veiled chamber reserved for a solitary high priest, now it's a shared table to which all are invited.</p>

<p>Jesus had a knack for taking Old Testament subtexts and turning them into prime texts. These subtexts were always tucked away in the Hebrew scriptures in an attempt to subvert triumphalism and scapegoating. One of these subtexts is the story of Naaman. Naaman was a gentile, a Syrian, the military commander of Israel's enemy. He was also a leper who found hope and healing in the God of Israel.</p>

<p>Hagar was an Egyptian slave treated harshly by her Hebrew mistress. But God saw her. The Hebrews were slaves treated harshly by their Egyptians masters. But God saw them. God doesn't see ethnicity or nationality. God sees suffering. God doesn't care about ethnicity or nationality. God cares about suffering.</p>

<p>What is the book of Revelation? It is the prophetic critique of the Roman Empire, and as such it is the divine critique of all empires. Empires are rich and powerful nations that believe they have a divine right to rule the nations and a manifest destiny to shape world according to their will and are willing to use the means of death to do so. God is opposed to these empires. What they claim for themselves, God claims for his Son Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is a counter-text to the dominant text of empire. The worship depicted in Revelation is subversion of civil religion -- it seeks to create a people faithful to God as they are drawn into the anthem of the Lamb.</p>

<p>Isaac. The middle child of the Patriarchs. The quiet one stuck between Abraham and Jacob. Abraham is the father of faith -- the man with whom God made his covenant. Jacob is the man who became Israel -- his twelve sons became the twelve tribes of Israel. But what about Isaac? The boy named Laughter. The promised son of Abraham and Sarah's old age? There's not much said about Isaac. He rarely speaks. But there was that one incident. The day his father almost sacrificed him as a burnt offering to Yahweh. Imagine Isaac as an old man recalling the day he and his father went to the top of Moriah to worship Yahweh, and how he ended up bound upon an altar while his father held the knife.</p>

<p>The violent lust for thrones of power is a familiar theme in the human story. And it's a story that is told over and over in the course of the Old Testament—this game of thrones. The story of Israel's first three kings alone is filled with tales of murder, lust, and deceit. The game of thrones is the way of the world. But is there a better way?</p>

<p>The church in Western Europe and North America is struggling with deep disappointment. We are disappointed with the failure of the Christendom project. The grand attempt to produce a continent of Christian civilization through the apparatus of the state is either dead or dying. It appears that secularism has already won in Europe and will win in North America. So we either deny it (more easily done in America), or we angrily blame scapegoats (those we claim have “compromised the gospel”), or we simply trudge along, a bit sad about it all, nostalgic for a mythical past. The church in the post-Christendom world is walking the Emmaus Road. Confused and disappointed. But our confusion and disappointment, like that of the original Emmaus Road disciples, comes from misunderstanding the nature of Christ's kingdom.</p>

<p>"Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams."<br>-The Prophet Joel<br><br>"You may say that I'm a dreamer."<br>-John Lennon<br><br>Brian Zahnd tells the story of three dreams:<br>1. In New York looking for the faith of Abraham.<br>2. In Zurich shopping for shoes with Karl Barth.<br>3. In Calcutta riding in a taxi with Mother Teresa.</p>

<p>Following Jesus is not a matter of religious preference or memorizing a set of God-facts or preparing for the afterlife. Following Jesus is a journey with surprises, challenges, and changing terrain. Our journey with Jesus is much like long distance hiking, requiring waypoints to guide the way, waypoints such as: training, rhythm, obstacles, companionship, flexibility, and being present.</p>

<p>David and Goliath. The underdog prevailing against impossible odds. The boy who slays the giant. This archetypal story captures our imagination like few other stories in Scripture. But how do we reconcile this admittedly violent story with the Son of David who bears the moniker of Prince of Peace?</p>

<p>Derek Vreeland interviews Brian Zahnd on his new book, A Farewell To Mars.</p>

<p>Jesus is ruling above all powers and authorities in this age and in the age to come. Jesus saw time in terms of two ages. This present evil age is a time where things do not always go right, but in the age to come, God will make all things right. The secret is that the age to come has broken into this present age through the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. We find ourselves living in between these two ages, and while there is tension in this gap, God has a plan for us. He is transforming us now, so we become people fit for the age to come.</p>

<p>Jesus promised to ask the Father to give to his followers the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. We believe the Spirit is the giver of life who proceeds from the Father and the Son, but where do we find him at work in the world? We need look no further than the church. The Spirit is working in harmony with Jesus to build the church, to fill the church with the holy attitude of God. Where the church is gathered in unity, there the Spirit is at work. Where the church is fighting and divided the Spirit dissipates.</p>

<p>Whether we find ourselves on the mountaintop or in the valley low when it comes to our faith in Christ, Jesus is always faithful. But what do we do when this statement seems suspect? What about doubt? Looking to Jesus' encounter with Thomas after the resurrection, may we learn a valuable truth about how to deal with our doubt.</p>

<p>Jesus said, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” In other words, those who are grounded in the truth, or love the truth, put themselves in a place where they can hear the life-giving words of Jesus. Truth, as reality from God's point of view, does not shift or change according to human preference; it exists on it own. The question followers of Jesus must answer is, "Do you love the truth?" More importantly, do you love the truth before you love God. If not then you have no way of knowing if the god you worship is the true and living God. Developing an appetite for the truth requires living uncomfortably in a world of lies and fantasy. Loving the truth allows you to encounter God as he is and thus be formed by him.</p>

<p>What if you could go back in time and talk to your younger self? What would you say? I've thought about this a lot. There's a lot I would want to say, but most of it couldn't be heard. But the one thing I would say for sure is this: Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid! It's what the present says to the past. It's what heaven says to earth. It's what Jesus says to us over and <a href="http://over...don" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">over...don</a>'t be afraid!</p>

<p>In Numbers chapter 15 a guy is caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath and is stoned to death. In John chapter 5 Jesus works on the Sabbath by healing and instructs the healed man to carry his bed. Those most committed to the Bible (Torah) want to kill Jesus. There is a way of reading the Bible that will instruct you to stone Jesus. Don't read the Bible that way! That wrong reading of the Bible is what happens if we confuse Biblicism with Christianity. The good news is this: Jesus is better than Biblicism!</p>

<p>With the coming of the Son of Man the world changed. There’s a new charter. A new divine edict. Ever since Jesus re-founded the world at the cross and called humanity to organize itself around an axis of love expressed in mercy and forgiveness, a new moral law has been established in the cosmos that will not allow nations to forever oppose God’s will. As the Hebrew prophets first revealed long ago, God possesses a deep bias for the underclass and will judge nations accordingly. The death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus has given the world a new ultimate reality—love for God expressed as love for neighbor and even enemy. Any other agenda is idolatry. Babylon is still with us, but Babylon is always falling. The new gravity of grace will not allow the modern Babylons to stand for long. The kind of entitlement the Pharaohs and Caesars were able to claim for their empires has now been shamed by Christ and cannot endure for long. Greatness, and even security, is not found in wealth and might, but in compassion and mercy. Jesus now calls the nations to be great in serving the least. Nations who resist this call are headed toward their own destruction.</p>

<p>Ancient wisdom speaks of three prime virtues: the true, the good, and the beautiful. These virtues are not a means to some other end (which would be a lesser end) -- rather these virtues are self justifying; they are an end in themselves; they are the telos of our lives.<br><br>Contemporary Christianity has placed an emphasis on two of these three virtues. From the truth of Christ we have developed Christian apologetics. From the goodness of Christ we have developed Christian ethics. What we are missing is a Christian aesthetics developed from the beauty of Christ. And what we are lacking is what we need the most right now. In a secular age that is dismissive of the Christian claim to absolute truth and a superior morality, beauty retains it's enduring appeal. For Christianity to win hearts in a secular world it has to be beautiful. We need to discover Christian aesthetics. We need to be beautiful. But how?</p>