The Politics of Jesus

Was Jesus involved in politics?
In the broad definition, politics is the life of the city (Greek: polis) plus the responsibilities of the citizen, or the art of living together in a community. Hey, I bet you can guess where this is going to go! The narrow definition is the science of government, and is concerned with development and adoption of legislation. So, in the narrow sense, Jesus was not directly involved in politics. In the broader sense of the work, his entire life and work was political. Jesus came to share the life of the human community, and he sent his followers into the world to do the same.

The values of the Kingdom he proclaimed were and are radically different from the values of the world. The politics of Jesus always challenge oppression and are characterized by justice.

If Jesus was involved in politics, why weren't his followers politically active in government?
Some were. Consider Zaccheus, whose story is told in Luke 19. He was a corrupt tax collector who, after encountering Jesus, gave half his possessions to poor, and repaid four times the amounts he had cheated people.

It's also important to remember that Jesus's earliest followers operated during a totalitarian regime. Would the disciples have been politically active in the government if they had lived in different circumstances? Yes! The first followers didn't abolish slavery, but subsequent generations are very proud to have done so.

Why do some people oppose the connection of church and politics?
There always will be people who, for very good reasons, are hostile to the church being politically involved, both from within the church, and without. When a government or system seeks to subvert the church to a cause that is not consistent with the politics of Jesus, the results can be horrifying. Consider the efforts of Hitler to force the church to support the Nazi regime. The church cannot afford to give loyalty to a system that is not in conformity to the gospel.

Is global change really possible?
Absolutely. Listen to the song of Mary. This is the song of a young, unmarried, pregnant woman who claims that God can do powerful things, through people just like her. Mary was a part of a change that began in one woman, and moved through Nazareth, Galilee, Judea, Samaria, and beyond.

Yes, human beings are fallen creatures, and there is great danger in the connection of church and politics. And yes, we should continue to be the salt of Cary, of Raleigh, of Holly Springs, and the earth.

Global change is possible, and in fact, it has happened already. Consider the rising standards of hygiene and health care, the increasing respect for women and children, and the availability of education. There is a clearer recognition of human rights and a growing concern for the environment. Global change has already begun.

So what should we do?
In 1 Thessalonians 1 Paul is sending encouragement and appreciation to the church there, who have been getting God's work right. "You [have] became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. …your faith in God has become known everywhere…They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven..."

Serve and wait. An interesting combination of being busy, and being still, isn't it? It's like raising children – you work so hard, but you can't make them grow up any faster, you just have to wait for that part.

What has God given us to work with?
Four gifts:

1. Our minds. We are rational, intelligent creatures, not mules. Jesus followers are to be mature in our thinking, not babies.

2. The Bible. Not so we can whack people over the head with it by proof-texting or endless arguing. It is our job to grasp the great themes, to hear the hope, and name it to all around us.

3. The Holy Spirit. Who will open scripture to us, and empower us to apply it in our lives.

4. The community of God's people. Here's where we can do our best thinking, where we can encourage one another in service, and help each other to wait. The fact that we are so different from one another is a great safeguard against tunnel vision. We are diverse, and diversely gifted. This is the way God intended for us to live. This is our politics.

What are Angels?

Origins and Purpose of Angels
The Bible doesn’t give us much information about the origins of angels. They show up throughout scripture, but are not the focus of the story. Their primary purpose seems to be as attendants to God's throne (Daniel 7:9-10, Isaiah 6, Revelation 8:2-5, Luke 1:19, and more) and as messengers of God (Luke 1:28, Exodus 3, and more). They are a medium of God's power, and carry out God's missions.

What about evil Angels?
The Bible is clear that evil does not exist in a relationship of equality with good (dualism). Evil angels are depicted, but they in no way an equivalent power to God. Evil is a result of the trait of free will that both the angels and humans have.

Where do we get Guardian Angels?
We see guardian angels a lot in scripture. In the Old Testament, God sends angels to protect the Hebrew people during their exodus from Egypt, to lead the people to the promised land, and to destroy hostile tribes in their way (Exodus 23:20-23). Probably the most well-known reference is Psalm 91:11 where it is says, "[God] will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone…"

Hallmark Angels are Lame
People have made angels creatures of sentimentalism and pathos, but this is about as helpful as the popular image of "gentle Jesus, meek and mild" in his perfectly clean and pressed white robes. The scripture doesn't show us images like this, but rather depicts angels as creatures who are powerful and often terrifying or overwhelming, holy but not without sin.

So what is all this to me?
There's so much mystery when it comes to the ways of God and angels. Perhaps our best response to the presence of angels has to do with listening (for messages God sends through angels), being thankful to God (for protection and communication), and even enjoying and joining in the praise of the heavenly hosts.

The image is an oil painting by Ralph Siriani titled "Angel" (1990).

What is Heaven Like?

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world." -- C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

1. Where is heaven?
The English rock group Led Zepplin did a song called "Stairway to Heaven", which is the single most requested and most played song on FM radio stations in the United States. The idea of a "stairway" to heaven wasn't new… In biblical times heaven was believed to be located in the sky where God and angels dwell. In Genesis 28, Jacob has a dream in which he sees a stairway to heaven, and angels climbing up and down on it, bringing messages down to earth from God, and up to God from earth.

But even scripture acknowledged that even heaven was too small to contain all the glory and presence of God. When the wealthy and wise king Solomon built the first temple of God, he prayed (1 Kings 8:27): "The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!"

Jesus said, when he sent out his 12 disciples: "As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near,'" (Matthew 10:7). Jesus also added another word to the sermon that clarifies heaven, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," (Matthew 3:2, 4:17).

He said this because heaven is experienced as salvation is received. In the Revelation 21 text we see the author's vision of heaven: "I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them." As God is welcomed fully by creation, that's where and what heaven is.

2. What will we do in heaven?
Here's what Revelation 22:3-4 says about what we will do in heaven: "The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face…" Seeing God's face and serving God are two sides of the same coin. They complete one another. So in heaven we will not only see God, we will serve God.

One of the ways we serve God is through worship (and that could be good or bad, depending on what church you've been to!). The author of Revelation 7 says this about worship in heaven: "They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: 'Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!'"

Have you ever had one of those moments when you were you, and God was God and you were ridiculously grateful that that's how it was? When worship of the almighty God just exploded spontaneously from you and all creation around you? It's indescribable joy. The Psalmist talked of the joy and pleasures in heaven when he wrote: “You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11). Heaven will be a place of service and ecstatic worship, a place of joy in the presence of the Lord.

3. Who will be in heaven?
Heaven is described in Revelation 21 as a holy city, the "new Jerusalem". A city with no people in it is a ghost town. A city is only a city because it is filled with people. The people in heaven are those who have accepted God's gift of salvation. They are people who are changed, no longer saddled with the brokenness of their earthly bodies and spirits, no longer bound by aging and illness and death, nor by egos and past mistakes and fears (Corinthians 15:50-52). These transformed people are wonderfully diverse. The Bible says that Jesus has, “purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

4. Heaven understands your thirst
God said, “To all who are thirsty I will give to drink freely from the spring of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God and they will be my children,” (Revelation 21:6-7).

God knows you are thirsty for something this world just can't give. God understands that there are things you will have to face and overcome. The hope of heaven isn't a means to escape the difficulties of life. It's the hope of heaven that gives you the strength to keep facing the struggle. Maybe today Jesus is calling you. Turn to him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

May heaven break upon you like rain on the desert sands.
May you look up and rejoice in the gift being offered to you.
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Does God send people to Hell?

by Matt Brown
Revelation 20:11-15, John 3:14-18

On being lost and dead.
One thing that we know as Christians is that without reconciliation with God we are spiritually dead. The point of much of the Old Testament is God showing us that he will send us a messiah that will save and redeem us. Even when Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden of Eden, God promises them a way back in. When God chooses Abraham he foretells of a blessing for all the nations. Our faith is built on the premise that we are fallen – a fact we see everyday – and that God has reached out a hand to save us.

God is looking for that which is lost.
Jesus reflects God’s intent when he tells us that he wants to find the lost. In the parable of the women looking for her coin he conveys the desperate sense that God is looking hard for us. The great commission is all about getting the word out. The nature of the incarnation itself illustrates the extent of God’s commitment to seek the lost. Why does God seek to save us? Because we are worth saving.

God honors free will (and we can choose hell).
Being "cast into hell" is a joint decision. While God has a salvation plan for us it is not one that allows us to remain passive. God created us with free will and he continues to honor that free will. If we deny that hell exists, we deny free will. God is putting out his hand to pull us off this path of destruction. Hell is a place that exists – that God made – for people who choose to live apart from him. God will allow us to choose that which is bent away from love and salvation.

It's never too late to start making better decisions.
You are a product of the decisions that you make every day. Everywhere you go you make decisions – taking your mind captive and conforming it to God’s will is a decision that you can make, but standing in the way of that decision may be feelings of pride. Pride makes you want to not look stupid if things don’t work out. Pride is the by-product of living in a world that has turned away from God, and is always trying to get you to turn away and buy into its products, activities, values, and distractions. When we live by the world's standards, we are conditioning ourselves to live outside of the presence of God.

How will you think about the knowledge of hell?
Hell is real and as a follower of Jesus it does not scare me for myself, but makes me want to get the word out. Last month we discussed evangelism and at the heart of the evangelistic message is the truth and call for help – salvation, from being separated forever from fulfillment from God. So what can we do and how can we spread the message of Jesus into our little corners of the world.

One mode of evangelism is to remember that you are always on duty – not perfect – but striving to be grace-full. Maybe extending grace is the most powerful way to spread the good news.

What was Jesus Doing in Hell?

Short answer: Reaching out to the people who needed him most.

Some of the standard texts connected to this doctrine are:

Job 38:17 (NIV)
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Psalm 16:9-10 (NIV)
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave…

Psalm 68:20 (NIV)
20 Our God is a God who saves;
from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death.

Ephesians 4:9-10 (NIV)
9What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.

1 Peter 3:18-22 (NIV)
[Jesus] was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, 19through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.

1 Peter 4:5-6 (NIV)
5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

The Apostles' Creed
This is a creed (an encapsulation of beliefs), which developed between the second and the ninth centuries after Christ, which many people in traditional liturgical churches are familiar with. Nineteenth century Methodists removed the phrase which mentions the descent into hell from their recitation of this creed, claiming it was unbiblical.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Harrowing of Hell
Sometimes Jesus' descent to hell is called the "harrowing of hell." In agriculture, a harrow is a tool for breaking up dirt. Harrowing is done in order to kill weeds and prepare a site to be seeded.

It seems inconceivable to me, having seen the relentless incursions of Jesus into the lives of the broken, that there might be some excluded from Jesus' fearless, fearsome love. I believe nothing – no darkness, no pain, no bereftness – is immune from his gracious presence. There is no place you can go, no darkness so deep that you are beyond the reach of God. He is willing to go to hell in order to bring home his harvest.

Where and what is Purgatory?

Purgatory is an idea rather than a place. In the Catholic tradition, purgatory is the state a person exists in while they are being prepared (purified or cleansed) for heaven. Protestants don't typically believe in this idea, but I find it deeply compelling.

Sin is that which bends away from God. We can get pretty bent out of shape over a lifetime. Sometimes we do the bending, sometimes we are bent by the forces around us. God-followers work to turn back to God, to unbend, but how often is it that a person dies with their lives "all straightened out"? Just because we die, does that mean God is finished with us?

I have hope that God's purpose in me will continue after my death. I am grateful to have a lifetime in which to grow straight and tall in God, but I have no illusions that I will be ready to face God in all his glory the instant I breathe my last. Like everyone else, I will rely on God to help me be ready for heaven in the next life, just as I have relied on God to help me be a part of heaven in this life.

The Hotter the Better

Here's a great online article on hell. It speaks to the deep desire we humans have for "fair play" and God's deep desire to offer grace. The author describes "hell on earth," and discusses churches who attempt to "reach out" using hell (remember the Halloween banners for Hell House you saw up in front of that big church on your row?), and also does a beautiful job of describing how he defines and why he believes in hell.

Here are some good quotes to get you going:

"Humanly, we don't like to think that someone will be able to do something 'bad' and not pay for it. We want to believe that no one will ever get away with anything."

"Chronic sinners who perpetuate unremitting evil are judged by God. No one 'gets away with' anything -- but that fact is not the cornerstone or foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

"Be careful that you don't get involved in some crusade that creates or assists hells on earth, even if what you are doing is called 'God's work.'"

"The path of God's kingdom of heaven does not require that Christians dangle the feet of the uncommitted over the flames of hell."

Who Invented Hell?

Note: The scripture links may use the word "hell" but my references are going by the original words discussed in this post and not later translations.

1. The creation story does not depict our modern idea of hell.
According to the early OT (Genesis 2:7), we are made of two things: dirt and the breath of life. Death was what happened when the mysterious forces that made you alive were gone. It was not about judgment, it was not about heaven/hell; it was simply a fact for all creatures. However, the scripture wasn't written all at once, so this understanding of life and death and life after death evolved.

2. Hades
Hades was the ancient Greek notion of the underworld, where people (good and bad) went when they died. . Later, the mythology of the Greek Underworld of Hades began to evolve different regions: Elysian fields was a "good" place (later Dante used it for the Catholic conception of limbo), and Tartarus was a "bad" place, among others.

3. Sheol
Sheol was the OT biblical parallel for Hades. Even though originally death was death and that was it, soon the notion of an actual place came into play. Dead people in Sheol were thought to be separated from God (Proverbs 9:18).

4. Gehenna
There was an actual place recorded in the OT called Gehenna. The name means "Valley of Hinnom" (sometimes Ben Hinnom) southwest of Jerusalem. Some of the kings of Judah engaged in some rather hideous practices in that valley. They built altars and practiced the sacrifice by fire of their children (2 Chronicles 28:3 and 33:6, Jeremiah 7:31)

This valley of Gehenna later became a landfill. Trash was heaped there, and periodically the trash would be burned down. In extracanonical Jewish literature (First Enoch, for example), Gehenna began to be used to describe a final place and state of firey torment of the wicked.

Then the NT starts to use Gehenna as the final place of firey torment, although sometimes in scripture it is a "final" place, and sometimes not, which shows that the idea is still being formed. Nothing is set in stone yet.

Mark 9 (NIV)
47And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, [Gehenna] 48where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

5. Scripture isn't the only influence of our modern understanding of hell.
1300's: Dante Alighieri – epic poetry, The Divine Comedy
1500's: Hieronymus Bosch – paintings, The Garden of Earthly Delights
1600's: John Milton – epic poetry, Paradise Lost

Our Old and New Testaments were written in several different languages. When the much-loved, much-debated KJV came out, it translated all the different words into one: hell.

Take aways:

1. It's messy: Live in the tension
Before you throw out the idea of hell as something that tradition just invented, remember that we have invented a lot of things. The church's job is to interpret things that are not expressly clear in scripture, and to reinterpret things that are. Consider slavery, which is clearly supported in scripture, and was supported and practiced in the church until recently, when we reinterpreted that.

2. It's true: Alienation from God is a terrible thing
Here's a good working definition of hell, and it's the same as the definition of sin:
That which is separated from God.

3. It's heartbreaking: Let the world's pain injure your heart the way it injures God's
It's just like Matt said last week: to take any sort of satisfaction or pleasure in the hellish alienation of any of God's creatures is a grave and horrible thing.


A benediction for you:

People of God,

You are traveling a complicated spiritual landscape every day.
Stay in good spiritual shape.
Keep your tools and maps handy, and share them with others who have need.
Listen to your guides, the ones who are strong in God and experienced on the journey.
Don't be discouraged by the complexity of the trail.
Return regularly to base camp (this is one of many), to rest, replenish, and reconnect.
Stay close with your traveling companions, and in touch with your God.
Look for and rescue those who have been separated from the rest.
May your hearts be soft, and broken on behalf of those who stray away.

Your God goes with you.

Jesus and Evangelism

In this teaching series we've ended up with at least three main styles of evangelism. We checked in with Jesus to see what his style was like.

Jesus the friend:
Luke 7:36-50 (Jesus anointed by a sinful woman)
Matthew 9:9-13 (the calling of Matthew -- who is the evangelist here? Matthew is holding the dinner.)

Jesus the door-knocker:
John 8:3-11 (woman caught in adultery)
Matthew 5:19-20 (the law)

Jesus the bullhorn guy:
Mark 9:43-48 (cut off your hand if it causes you to sin)
Luke 11:37-53 (woe to Pharisees)

Some observations that came out of our conversation:

1. There's a difference between judging whether someone is "worthy" of heaven or hell, and judging how we should live each day in the here and now. The first is God's job, and the second is more ours.

2. Jesus tended to show more grace toward outsiders, and was harsher toward errant church leaders. Interestingly, he tends to be the Bullhorn guy mostly to the church! Does this mean we should have more "bullhorn" in church?

3. With people outside the church, very often they come to us (as they did to Jesus). Within the church, it is more important that we go to one another.

4. Bringing people to Jesus is a process that can take several years. I know many people who have been damaged by the church and are slowly recovering from that. Unfortunately many of the Pharisaical types of Jesus’ day have come into the church and are very busy turning people off to the message of Christ. To say it is sad is an understatement.

5. One of the special challenges of our culture is that many sins have been “de-sinned.” So sometimes it is not just about accepting a person, but educating people about the nature of God. We need to be frank and open about the sin problem. However, we also need humility. We come to Jesus just as broken and screwed up as anyone else.

6. When we get pleasure from condemning "bad" people it's akin to saying to the parent of a child who committed suicide, "What a load off you -- that kid was bad news." When sin creates a breach in someone's life, God is the first whose heart breaks. We need to be people of soft, breakable hearts.

7. Regarding the work of salvation (earlier post): When we repent of sin, God gives pardons. But a pardon is only in effect if the person who has been pardoned accepts the gift. The work of repenting and the work of accepting are ours. The work of pardoning is God's.

Response to Bullhorn

1. Are all the different styles of evangelism equally helpful in all situations?
No. There have been at least three styles in our videos: a) Bullhorn/Damnation; b) Door Knocking; and c) Friendship. While all seem to have a place, and Jesus seemed to practice them all to some extent, it seems that the Door Knocking (or 5 minute street corner conversation, a la Todd Friel) style is self-centered, if you're talking about reaching people completely outside the church. The evangelist is looking for immediate gratification, another notch on the belt, or as Matt put it, Minute Rice. It's very rules-based, quick and easy. Interestingly, Jesus mostly used this approach on leaders in the church! It seems that what our culture needs more today is a serious departure from the "quick fix." Broken people need a radical investment of time from Jesus people; a lengthy, potentially messy and complex investment in becoming friends. Deep-rooted faith requires deep-rooted friendship.

2. How do we know which style to use when?
There may be some answers in knowledge that farmers have. They spend a lot of time preparing a field, and they pick the crop to sow based on the soil and climate conditions. Seeds thrown on the side of the highway may take root, or they may not. Perhaps some of the young men Todd spoke to on the street will take the conversation another step someday.

3. Should everybody be able to knock on doors?
Perhaps not. God gives us different spiritual gifts, but all Jesus-people are called to share what we know. So a teacher may share differently than a musician. Building the Kingdom is a family business, and we need all the members of the family. Do you suppose Rob Bell and Todd Friel feel like they are members of the same family?

4. Who names your sin?
Who do you know, love, and trust enough to hear them when they call you away from sin and toward God? For whom do you serve this role?

5. What's God's role in salvation, and how much are we responsible for?
Wow, big question. Check back later in the week!

Bullhorn

Below you will see some of the questions and comments that came out of this Sunday's discussion of Rob Bell's Bullhorn video. There are some interesting comments, and a few unanswered questions here that we will take up again next week.

1. What does it mean to love someone with an agenda?
Having an evangelical agenda is certainly not anti-gospel. The problem occurs when our agenda contradicts the love of Christ. It is incredibly easy to respond to “bullhorn preachers out of frustration and anger, even retaliation. Instantly these people become enemies to us. But Matthew 5:44-45 teaches Christians to embrace our enemies lovingly and prayerfully.

2. Is trying to convert someone to your religious beliefs an agenda?
Sometimes we get so preoccupied with “trying to convert people” that we lose sight of what matters most. So what exactly does matter most? Jesus said what matters most is loving God and neighbor. But doesn't that include sharing what we know about sin and repentance?

3. Do you think it's possible to scare people into loving God?
Lots of energy around this one; the consensus was that yes, it certainly is possible. However, it may be that (as my Dad says) you can draw more flies with sugar than you can with vinegar. The bible says love "drives out" fear. One person pointed out the fact that fear fades while love endures. Love seems to be a better motivator than fear.

Another comment came from a former State student, who said that she felt that every seeking person who encountered the bullhorn preacher in the brickyard was turned away from God for good. Scary thought, that.

4. Rob says, "Bullhorn guy, I don' t think it's working. I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind." Is the "bullhorn" style every appropriate or useful? Did Jesus use it? Did Jesus ever use carrots or sticks to "get people into heaven"? **Interesting note: Rob is talking about a guy with a bullhorn yelling at people; Todd Friel is not talking about OR doing this. Seems like Friel slightly missed Rob's point here.
Several people felt that the bullhorn style was in fact useful, and we can point to Jesus using a similar approach in scripture (to the church leaders in the infamous "you brood of vipers" speech, and to the general public in his "repent, for the Kingdom of God is near" sermons, perhaps). However, we don't see Jesus using Heaven or Hell as a carrot or a stick.

It was noted that parents do use a bullhorn approach in parenting: "Don't run out in the street; a car might hit you."

5. Why is the bullhorn approach attractive to anyone?
Perhaps because a list of black and white rules seems simpler and easier.

6. Is our loudest testimony our life?
Todd Friel will challenge us here. Do we avoid seeking and holding "street level" conversations about God, sin, and repentance because we are squeamish or scared to talk about serious God-stuff? Should "street level" conversations like this be a part of our life?

Has it ever happened to you that a seeker has asked you to reveal the "hope that you have" because of your lifestyle was so compelling to them? Has a seeker ever asked you, because of your lifestyle, to tell them about Jesus (or sin, redemption, grace, hell, or anything else)?

7. Should the church engage in judgment?
The bullhorn guy is judgmental. Christians quote the bible and say all the time "It's not my place to judge anyone." Does this mean that the church should not name anyone's sin? Is that what this oft-quoted text actually teaches? And what about John 12:47, in which Jesus says "I came not to judge the world, but to save it"?

Doubting Faith

1. Faith is lived in tension
If your hope was to use faith in order to rid yourself of tension and worry, you may be disappointed to hear that faith is lived in tension. The focus text is Matthew 28:16, right after the greatest crisis the world has ever known: the crucifixion of the Messiah.

Matthew 28:16-20 (New Living Translation)
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!

Another story from Mark 9 illuminates this struggle to live your faith in the middle of tension. A dad wants Jesus to heal his son, and Jesus asks him if he really believes he (Jesus) can do it. The dad's response? "I believe! Help my unbelief."

2. Your Teeny Bit of Faith: Mustard Seeds and Children
In Matthew 17 Jesus explains to the disciples that they just need a teeny bit of faith, mustard seed-sized. So many times Christians say, "Here's a list of all of these things you must believe in (OR) can't believe in if you want to be a Christian." But the One Thing that puts the power to your mustard seed is Jesus Christ. Then faith takes root in you, and grows to become much larger and complex and beautiful. So if you're sitting there thinking that you don't have much faith, it doesn't take much.

Jesus also talked about childlike faith (Luke 18:17). Kids have this faith that they can do anything, change the world. When you ask them what they're gonna be, kids never tell you, "Ah, I'll probably just, I don't know, enter data." They have passion!

Moses' had a pretty cool epitaph in Deuteronomy 34:7: "Moses was 120 years old when he died, and his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone." Moses was a guy who lived a tense life. He was nearly murdered at birth by the very family who later (unknowingly) adopted him; he was a convicted murderer, on the run for many years; AND, not co-incidentally, the first leader of God's people (over 2 million of them before the church got big). At 120 years old, he still had a passionate faith in God.

3. Exercise for Teeny Faith
Here's a very counter-intuitive fact about living well in the tension with your mustard seed-sized faith. In order to physically exercise, I use resistance to my advantage. In the world of spirituality resistance is called doubt.

Most people are missing an experience of God because their spiritual life is so atrophied. I'm spiritually stronger at 41 than I was at 21 because I've worked through a LOT of doubts. How do you exercise your faith? You can question (hang out on The Voice of Friends!), you can serve, you can do lots of things. And more than anything else, it helps to hang out with a community of faith. It's just like with motorcyclists: one may not get noticed, but not only will every driver will see a group of forty bikes on the highway, but they'll hear them coming a long way off!

God in the Workplace

I didn't preach 1 Timothy 6:1-2 as planned this week because I couldn't reconcile talking about God in the Workplace with a text that was quite clearly talking about slavery. So I did what I always do when in a situation like this: fall back to the Master. What practices in work did Jesus have?

Matthew 14:15-21 (New International Version)
15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." 16Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." 17"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. 18"Bring them here to me," he said. 19And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. 21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

1. "Bring them here to me" / Take Responsibility For The Opportunity
It's so much easier to stand around and look for the person who is going to take charge of a difficult situation than it is to step up to the plate to swing. And how easily we get frustrated with the lack of resources. Jesus took in his own hands the resources that God made available, stepped up, and led the way.

Proverbs 22:29 says, "Do you see those who are skilled in their work, they will serve before kings, they will not serve before officials of low rank." People who take responsibility for the opportunity to serve will be given more responsibility and a greater scope of influence by God.

2. "Looking up to Heaven" / View Your Job From God's Perspective
God usually has a bigger purpose for our work than we do. Don't fall into the trap of "If just one person's life is touched, everything is worth it." I can't imagine God having this perspective about creation or Christ any more than I can for our own work and lives. God wants much more than that for the world.

What practices will help you "look up to heaven" and evaluate your work from God's perspective?

3. "He gave thanks" / Cultivate an Attitude Of Gratitude
We need people who focus on possibilities rather than problems, who are interesting in hunting down solutions. It's like the child who finds herself looking up at a big pile of manure and says, "I know there's a pony in here someplace!" If you have a clean barn, you probably don't have any horses. And if you have horses that are producing and doing work, you're going to have manure. You need manure to make things grow.

My friend Laura, single mother of three, has a great handwritten sign on her kitchen cabinet that says: "Someday my house will be clean." She has inspired me to put one of my own up: "Thank you, God, for this sinkful of dishes and my filthy floor, which is such a small price to pay for the three young ponies that I'm raising."

In all things, give thanks to God.

4. "He broke the bread" / Multiply The Good Stuff
How much of your time at your work, from parenting, to administrating, to selling pianos, do you spend working out of your strengths? How can you multiply the very best parts of the gifts, skills, natural inclinations, passions, abilities God gave you? If you are a leader, don't just lead people. Make more leaders. You have to think like a banker: How can you get maximum return on God's investment in you?

If there is something you are really good at, do it a LOT, not a little. Take what God's given you and multiply it.

5. "Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people." / Serve
Here's what it says about receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, "Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." What if it's true that if you're not willing to serve, God will not use you?

What does God want in a leader?

By Matt Brown

Many come to leadership passages (especially 1 Tim chapter 3) and really drill down on the offices of the church, the context of the scripture (especially concerning the role of women), and the role of marriage in church leadership. Those ideas are important, but I want to broaden the scope a little and answer the question: What does God want in a leader? Building the Kingdom of God in this world means growing the love of Jesus in ourselves and sharing it with others. Sharing Jesus' love with others means leading. How should we lead?

Read 1 Tim 3:1-13
God wants our leaders to be loving, stable, and consistent.
We can look around us and see the presidential campaigns starting and see contradictions and obvious flaws in all of the candidates. Perhaps the most glaring flaw in any and all of our candidates is that they themselves seek and seemly covet the office that they aspire to. Godly leaders do not seek office, but instead serve and are raised to leadership by those around them. I have led from both vantage points. I have lead from a position that I coveted, fought for, and eventually acquired. Conversely, I have led from positions that I did not seek, but instead were granted because of service. It is in the latter position that I feel more effective and where I feel like I am serving the people I lead better. When I read about the qualities of leadership in 1 Timothy 3:1-13, it comes as no surprise that my best days (the days that I forget myself and my needs) result in the better leadership.

Read John 13:12 - 17
God wants leaders to be humble servants.
The world puts a low value on service. The follower of Jesus sees service to others as a bedrock condition of discipleship. When we serve others, we assume our true place in the world and become our true selves: we become people of love and light. That sounds like a dumb cliché, but it means is that we begin to bring the world, those around us, and ourselves into the true nature of God and creation through the redemptive power of Jesus. Jesus washed the disciple's feet – a slave's job – to make the point that redemption starts at meeting people's most basic needs. This act also demonstrates that we as Christians should hold not act of service as too lowly for ourselves.

Read 1 Tim 5:17-25
God wants leaders to be fair and to be treated fairly.
In the world, leaders are washed away with easy accusations or leaders can be brought before the law and found guilty and still not be punished. Our worldly leaders rise and fall almost solely on public opinion alone. You know what? A lot of us like it that way. Almost all of us WANT to be popular enough to be above the law – we covet power – we covet celebrity. Many times we might even like the leader who is in the wrong.

God has a higher standard for us when it comes to Kingdom leaders:

1. 1. An elder must be accused by two or three witnesses.
2. 2. A guilty elder must be rebuked publicly.
3. 3. We are to show no bias.

We must treat our leaders fairly – even when they fall under judgment. There is no free ride.

Our worldly leaders today rely and enjoy special treatment, but Kingdom leaders should expect the opposite. Is that a drag? No; it keeps a leader in a better state of mind because it allows a leader to understand those that he or she leads. Once again we must look at empathy as the root of good leadership. When leaders understand the least of their brothers and sisters, they adopt a vantage point that allows them to lead effectively because they understand the costs of their leadership decisions.

What to do with a "yikes" scripture

1 Timothy 2:9-12
9I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, 10but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. 11A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. 12I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

Not every passage in the Bible is crystal clear. Many times we argue over the unclear and ignore the crystal clear. And sometimes we get so angry at people who are anti-God or anti-us that we would rather wipe them out than win them over. It's hard to follow God if you are at war with the universe.

Here's a great text to keep this danger in check: "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, (but rather that they turn from their ways and live.)" Ezekiel 33:11, NIV

Also, when considering the writings of Paul (and their high "yikes" factor), it's good to recall that even Paul's contemporaries knew that Paul was often hard to hear and understand: "[Paul's] letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16 NIV

Three things to keep in mind when dealing with a "Yikes" text:

1. Scripture is best understood as a whole piece of fabric; not every thread can equally represent the whole. People love, of course, to pull out specific verses that they can use to "prove" or "disprove" things, but the best way to use it is as a whole, with an emphasis on the life and ministry of Jesus.

2. Scripture is best interpreted within a community of faith. The community of God's people provides accountability and support when discerning the truth of a particular interpretation of the Bible.

3. The power inherent in Scripture can best be identified by it's fruits (Matthew 7:16). Are people's lives transformed more into the image of Christ's by a particular understanding of scripture? Is God honored by the way a particular scripture is understood? Are people inspired to come to Jesus?

What to do if there is disagreement over a "Yikes" text:

1. If it’s a TIGER issue, and it's black and white and crystal clear – divide over it.
Tiger questions are those which lead directly to or away from one's salvation. They are about foundational issues of faith. Some examples are: Is Jesus the son of God? Does God love all creation? Is the Holy Spirit a real and active power? Is there such a thing as sin?

2. If it’s not a Tiger, and it isn't clear, unity is more important than uniformity.
"Avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. 10Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned." 1Titus 3:9-10

Loving one another, and jealously guarding the unity of the church can be a much more difficult task than deciding whether women should speak in church. Consider the witness of 1 Corinthians 13: "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

It is a great and noble task to love one another, and that's something worth staking your faith, your salvation, and your life on.

Three great quotes from today's worship

"There is no point in getting into an argument about this notion of loving. It is what Christianity is all about -- take it or leave it. Christianity is not about ritual and moral living except insofar as these two express the love that causes both of them. We must at least pray for the grace to become love." - Brennan Manning, "A Glimpse of Jesus," quoted by Matt Brown in his teaching today.

"Love is so boring to people who crave controversy." - Matt Brown

"Easter was our Independence Day from sin and death." - Matt Brown (who added, over lunch, "We should have fireworks on Easter!")

The Ingredients for a Miracle

INGREDIENT ONE: A Big Mess
If you are going to have a really big miracle in your life, the first ingredient is usually a big mess (everybody wants a miracle, but nobody wants the mess!). Luke 23 shows us a man rejected by his people, betrayed, tortured, and executed. The lives of Jesus' followers have turned tragic. It doesn't get worse than a dead savior.

INGREDIENT TWO: A Tiny Bit of Faith
The second thing you need for a miracle is NOT a solid, powerful, expansive faith! A tiny thread of faith is all we see in Luke 24; that's what God works with. Here are some of the "threads":

1. When the women can't find Jesus' body at the tomb, "they were puzzled, wondering what to make of this," (the Message, vs 4).

2. When the two men remind them of Jesus' own words that he would be raised after three days, they remember and run to tell the others BUT, "the apostles didn't believe a word of it," (the Message, vs 11).

3. Peter (who gets it right about half the time) runs to the tomb, sees the grave clothes, and walks away, "puzzled, shaking his head." (the Message, vs 12).

Don't forget: the promise of the resurrection was so clear that even Jesus' enemies were aware of it. In one of the other gospels, Jesus' enemies make sure there are guards and seals on the tomb so that no one steals the body and makes the claim of resurrection.

4. The same day two followers encounter the risen Jesus on the road "but they were not able to recognize who he was." (the Message, vs 16).

5. When they finally did recognize Jesus, they ran back to tell the others. Suddenly Jesus appeared among them (same guy they had just been talking about!) and "they thought they were seeing a ghost and were scared half to death," (the Message, vs 40-41).

INGREDIENT THREE: A Big God
The third thing you need for a miracle is a really big God. The power of God is not based on our faith. The power of God is based on how big God is. (You could have HUGE faith in a bogus god. There's no power in faith itself; the power is in the God.)

FOUR THINGS WE CAN TAKE FROM AN EMPTY TOMB
a. Nothing is too messed up for God.
b. God is usually at work long before we notice.
c. God shows up even when we've given up.
d. God's solutions are often far different than we expect.

what to expect from a king

Have you ever had a time in your journey where you thought Jesus and God were just not what you expected?

It's Sunday morning, we want to have our parade and move on to Easter. But first consider Mark 11:1-11.

When the text occurs, the Jewish people are celebrating God's having delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Now they are under Roman control. They are hopeful about the freedom from oppression that God can bring.

Jesus should not move publicly among the Jews, because the chief priests and Pharisees are looking to arrest and kill him. They also want to kill Lazarus, whom Jesus has just raised from the dead. There is talk of a dead girl raised, of a man who can walk on water. There's a reward offered for information leading to Jesus' death, money to be made for a bounty hunter.

There are at least two main issues in the text.

I. Obedience Issues
Obedience precedes blessings in God’s kingdom. I know the donkey sounds silly. But the donkey is a means of transportation and a way for people to make a living. You might think of it today as taking a car. What amazing obedience to a clear and simple command from God these two disciples showed.

If things aren't going in your life like you thought they would, maybe God expects some obedience from you on some very clear, very simple things, and you are hesitating.

II. Expectation Issues
The King will hear our expectations, but not necessarily give in to them. The disciples have brought Jesus the colt, and his many followers surround him. Their chants indicate that they want a warrior to save them, to overthrow the Romans, and to reinstate the power and glory the Jewish nation knew in the days of King David.

Jesus had told them he was going to Jerusalem, where he would die. He's giving them symbols: I'm coming in on a donkey, not a war stallion. I'm coming in peace, not battle. I'm coming to give myself over, not fight. There's a bounty on him, and he's going in very publicly. Either he's clueless, or this is one of the most calculated acts in history. He is calling the shots.

If you are going to invite Jesus to be your King, you have to know that he is often not going to do things your way. God may have a different picture for your life than you have for your life. Usually, it's because God's desire for us is bigger, more powerful, and world-shaking.

Things to Consider:
1. Is there an area in your life where God may be asking you to “untie a colt” and obey Him?
2. Remember that God is in charge. He's calling the shots. For our good, and the good of the world.

May Jesus' confidence become a gift to you in the mist of trying times. And as you walk this Easter road, may you find blessing.

does the future belong to those who plan for it?

Short answer: no. We don't own the future, God does. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). God has plans for us, but our choices determine how well or poorly we participate in God's plans.

So why do we often settle for less than God's plan for our future?

1. We tend to think of our inadequacies and our past mistakes.
Maybe Moses was settling when he was tending a flock for his father-in-law (Exodus 3). He certainly had plenty of excuses for not choosing to move toward God's future. When we dwell on our inadequacies or our past failures, we are a house with the electricity gone, a car with the battery dead, or the cold ashes of a fire. As a people we need to look to the Holy Spirit to power us, to heal us, move us, and heat us. We need to decide to let God work in us and through us, rather than defining ourselves by what we lack.

2. We forget whose image we are made in.
We often don’t know our real, God-made selves very well. Our culture spends plenty of time trying to tell us who we are, or who we would be if we just had the right products. But how well do we know the shape God made us in? How well do we know our spiritual gifts? When we know how God intended us to operate we begin to understand where the Enemy will attack us, and we can build on our strengths and make wise (God-driven) decisions despite the many voices and forces attempting to mislead us.

What is the single thing to remember about God's plan for our future?
God does the planning; we do the preparation. We prepare to "live into" God's plan for our lives. Preparing requires God-inspired thought and Spirit-inspired movement.

And a final word from Matt:
We need to cast our crowns at the feet of God. We need to give God the honors we collect as we live into God's future for us. That keeps us humble. It reminds us that without God's help we would be off doing the wrong stuff! Giving our victories to God also helps us celebrate the building of God's Kingdom.

does a godly home guarantee godly children?

Short answer: No.

Why do parents feel overwhelmed today?
If you google "godly children" you get more than a million hits. On the top page a church from Illinois (their site meter lists over 3 million hits) will give you their seven keys for raising Godly children. The "Planning" key alone lists more than 50 scriptures and goes on for over four thousand words (14 pages in MS Word). ChristianParents.net gives 50 scripture references, then begins to tell parents in exhaustive detail all the goals we must set for our children, including salvation, confession, fellowship with God, daily growth, mental and psychological stability, respect for parental, political, and spiritual authority, mastery of the details of life (money, job, health, status, friends, social life, possessions, entertainments) INCLUDING "perfect inner happiness in the absence of one or more details of life." I feel tired just typing it in.

All these sites seem to teach that if we just master the seven keys, or fourteen principles, or forty scriptures, then yes, we will raise godly children.

Most Christian parenting resources name and claim Proverbs 22:6 as a central proof of this: "Train a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it."

Why is this a problem?

1. It gives the authority of a "promise from God" to a proverb; the proverbs were meant to show "how life usually goes."
2. It doesn't take into account that rebellion happens.
3. It makes parents feel like failures (or lets us take credit that isn't fully ours).
4. It creates a false sense of hope for all those kids who don't return to God after running away.

The truth is: We have great influence, but not complete control.

A better scripture for parents is: Proverbs 21:30-31.
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord."

BF Skinner – type thinking makes us think we can completely control behavior. Scripture teaches us that victory belongs to God. No matter how well we prepare or plan, we can't completely control whether someone will choose to come to, or turn from, God.

ways to increase the odds of success in raising godly children

1. Work on having a great marriage. Not a kid-centered marriage, though: center your marriage on God.

2. Be present. (Churchy way to put it: incarnational parenting.) If you can pull it off, having one parent at home is an incredible investment in your children.

3. Build on your childrens' strengths (don't work so hard to shore up their weaknesses). Jesus came to fishermen and called them to fish for people. Jesus came to tax collectors, and called them to handle money in a spiritually responsible way. God gave each child particular gifts to be fanned into flame. No point in fanning the weaknesses.

4. Get help from the RIGHT people. I don't like the phrase "It takes a village to raise a child." I don't even like "It takes a church to raise a child." What you need is the RIGHT church to help raise your child. And never leave all responsibility for raising your children in the Way of Jesus with someone else (schools, churches, godparents, etc.).

what satan wants


"Satan is not concerned with how many people gather in a service if all they do is sit and listen and leave. Satan does not care how much seed is sown as long as he can steal it away." - W. Oscar Thompson Jr., Concentric Circles of Concern (Broadman, 1981)

does everything happen for a reason?

Yes, but not all reasons are good.

I think we sometimes ask this question because we are thinking, "Well, if God allowed it to happen, it must be good." And we convince ourselves to just wait long enough and it will be good.

The truth is that this (the post title) is not a good question!

A better question is: Why do bad things happen?
And: Is a bad thing ever a good thing?

So, see the next few posts!

why bad things happen

1. We live in a broken world.
The obvious choice of stories here is Genesis, but I also like 1 Peter 4:12: "Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you."

People: It's hard!
God: No kidding!

2. We mess up. Either accidentally, or by intentionally ignoring God's instruction (sin).
I always pray for my children to "make wise decisions," which has to do with them learning what God desires. But Paul says it of adults, too:

Romans 7:21-23 (The Message)
It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

3. We are caught in the wake of someone's else's mess-up or sin.
Jeremiah 31:29 says, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." There was an article in last week's paper about methamphetamine addicts, and how they become so focused on a single thing that they forget their children for weeks at a time. That's what this text is about.

See the next post for the most important reason why something that seems bad can actually be a good thing...

is there ever a time when a bad thing is actually a good thing?

4. When God shoves us out of the nest in order to make us fly.

These kinds of "bad things" are usually only visible with hindsight. I lost that job, but got a better one. God had to kick me out of that nest. The trick is that if God's in it, it works for the good (i.e., to make you "fly"). So if you lose that job and get a worse one, and your life begins to spiral out of control, it's probably not God but brokenness you're looking at.

The upshot is that it's easy to give God credit in hindsight for the good stuff, what's hard is discerning when God is creating (or allowing) the rough patches while it's happening. Certainly God can bring good out of horrible situations (consider Joseph, consider Daniel), but it's hard to understand why God might actually engineer a horrible situation. We're not always as far-sighted as God. We're myopic, God's hyperopic. New word for the day, kids!

Still: did God desire that a man be born blind, so that Jesus might happen along one day and heal him, bringing more people to follow in the Way? Did God desire that Lazarus die so that Jesus could raise him? Tough ones.

three good reasons to have hope

1. God is crazy in love with us
Romans 8:32-39 (The Message)
If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture… None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

2. There's heaven on earth (God is with us).
Heaven on earth happens when we actually accept and get in line with God's will for our lives. It's those places and events when God and God's people can hear each other! Of course, that's not all there is!

1 Corinthians 15:19 (The Message)
If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we're a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

3. And there's heaven!
Planet Earth isn't heaven. I used to have a friend who always asked me to read about heaven from the book of Revelation whenever I visited him. He wished that things could be perfect, already. We would read, then I would remind him that God had work for him to do here on Earth. But the truth of the matter is that we are hard-wired to look toward eternity. It just isn't in healthy people to say, "Well, I guess this is all there is."

what should I do when things are a mess?

1. Figure out why you're there:

a. Did you mess up?
Yep, it happens to all of us. The church word for doing the wrong thing when we knew what the right thing was = sin.
b. Did you get caught up in someone else's mess up?
This is more subtle. Sometimes the people around us drag us into the wake of their sin or brokenness. A parent's bad choices affect their children. It's rare that sin only touches the sinner.
c. Did God call you (or push you) into a spiritual valley/desert?
If you were doing the right thing when you found yourself in the middle of a mess, God may have sent you into the valley for a purpose. Jesus was prodded by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tested and strengthened. The Hebrew children were called by God out of slavery in Egypt, but they were pretty scared when they found their backs to the sea and the army of the Pharaoh pursuing them.

2. Five pieces of advice for the journey through a spiritual valley:

a. Don't take short cuts (do the wrong thing) in order to get out.
That may seem obvious, but sometimes we'll do anything to ease the pain. All suffering isn't wrong. Sometimes it's important for us to go through it in order to follow God.
b. If you sinned, accept the consequences and get to work cleaning up the mess.
Hebrews 12:11-13 (The Message) says, …discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God. So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!
c. If it it's God-given (see 1c above), hang in there, and don't change direction.
Larry Osborne says, "What God shows you in the light, don't doubt in the darkness."
d. Keep your commitments, have concern for others, and have concern for God's reputation.
I know the list of "good ways to behave" could get oppressively long. But these few things will stand you in good stead. Try not to have an "all or nothing" attitude; people use that to get out of doing anything all all.
e. Try to learn something from it, and maybe even pass your learnings on.
If you gotta be in the middle of a wretched mess (for any reason), it's nice to be able to say that you at least learned something from it. When my marriage was in a really tough place, the most helpful people were those couples who had been through the same rough valleys and come out better on the other side. I was deeply grateful they shared their stories.