Kingdom Values

(Aug. 31)

Wow. I’m so…happy. What can I say. I have so much I could never deserve and wouldn’t have even quite asked for! God is always picking the oddest times to surprise me with pleasure…just plain old earthly pleasure. It freaks me out actually, and seems to inconveniently interrupt my otherwise religious life J

The past few days I’ve been keenly stricken with the beauty and actual sensual delight of life...The taste of apple pie melting in my mouth…the breathtaking beauty of the Ukrainian sky, a patriotic array of pale gold clouds mingled with ragged grey on a blue horizon and the wind whipping up the river across the valley…the refreshment of a hot shower after four weeks of cold-luke warm bucket baths…the comfort of a cuddly blanket on a cold night (yes, it was 53 F last night, and felt colder to my shocked body!)…The verbal artwork of the word “shashlik” rolling off my happy tongue…the familiar sounds of David Crowder Band gracing my ears…

These are just the physical blessings, and then there are the emotional and spiritual blessings of having friends to talk to who truly listen and understand and give back. People to connect with, sermons to hear that drive me deeper, God’s word rousing me, increasing freedom to live out of God’s approval rather than man’s…

Last night, Cheryl invited me over to her house to watch a movie and spend the night, and I was thrilled. We curled up in blankets and had pizza and watched Paycheck, and then I got a wonderful night of sleep. This morning we had some really encouraging conversation over our breakfast and coffee. I have so many new things to think about here that I’ve found myself really needing to talk it out with people. I was grateful for Cheryl’s ear and her wisdom. We listened to a sermon on her laptop and got hot showers. Her water is low right now, but it’s hot! Wow. I have never been so grateful for hot water before. That was a most blessed shower! The whole time was such an overwhelming refreshment to me!

You know, I really didn’t come to Ukraine to be comfortable. True, I really thought I would like it here, and I hoped I’d enjoy it, but typically you don’t equate anything “missions-ish” with comfort. Sometimes it’s really difficult for me to enjoy the good things in my path because I feel guilty that I have them while others don’t, or I feel that I really must not be following God if I have these material possessions, or all the money I need, or just an easy time of it. That’s not the way Jesus or Paul or the fathers of the early church lived, right? I get anxious about that. And I get anxious about how easy it is to slip into selfishness and apathy when I’m comfortable.

These challenges have been rising in my mind since I’ve been here as I’ve wondered about spending/giving, serving/reaching out, and a host of other things. Before I came I thought I was “doing pretty good” and now, I realize that Jesus still has a lot of unfinished work in my life! But whoa, He’s such Man of Fire and Power that I know He’s going to do it!

A few days ago Deb and I went to a ladies Bible study (again at Cheryl’s) where we listened to a message called “The Treasure Principle” by Randy Alcorn. It was about money and giving and it hit me right in some spots that were already sore. I had had that on my mind all week, each time I went to market, and other times. I’m still pondering that one.

Then, this morning, the message we listened to was one by Tim Keller called “The Community of Jesus” I think (Listen to it if you possibly can!) both Cheryl and I kept taking notes and she even stopped it once so we could take in the point he was making. It was a straightforward sermon focused on what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount from the passage in Luke 6, about the values of Jesus’ kingdom vs. the values of the world, and how they enable God’s children to live in community.

He said that the values of the world are power, comfort, laughter (literally, gloating over success), and recognition, while the values of God’s kingdom are the opposite: weakness, sacrifice, grief, and exclusion. Jesus says we are blessed not just for experiencing those things, but actually in the midst of those things. Tim Keller made the point that we don’t go seeking these things in a masochistic way, but, as one man said (I think named David Wilcox)

“In Jesus kingdom we prize the things the world avoids at all costs.”

He said that we don’t refuse power, comfort, success, or recognition, but we look on them with suspicion, knowing they are easily corrupted. He explained that when we enter a relationship with Jesus, we are given a radical freedom from the world’s values in order to live in Jesus’ values. Woohoo! Like Jesus when he walked this earth, the world has no hold on us.

So I thought about all the unexpected comforts I’m experiencing. When I first came here everything was strange, new, and hard, but now, I am really liking it and feeling comfortable here, even down to hanging out with people from church at the Gollan’s this past Friday night. I actually feel like I’m becoming part of things. But I’ve feared this comfort because for one thing, I didn’t come here to be safe and comfy and hide out. Jesus said to go into all the world and preach the gospel, and I guess my thought was that going was the hard part, and once I “went” I would automatically start preaching the gospel. But guess what! I’m the same small shy Piglet person I was a month ago in East Texas! Yeah, jetlag changes you, but not that much! I keep feeling guilty for enjoying myself so much.

But as I think about Jesus and dig into His word, I see this man as a Man on Fire. People surged around Him just to touch Him so they could be healed. He caused controversy and upsets and filled the crowds with awe because of God’s power in His life. I’ve so often read the gospels as if they were a message to me about how to be like Jesus; in other words, an exposition on my failures as a Christian. But now I’m seeing it as “Look at this Man! Look who Jesus is and what He did! Come stick your finger in this outlet and prepare to get zapped! Look at what He values and look at how powerful and sufficient He is. Look at the Bread from Heaven, the Spring of Living Water. Come drink from this Power Source!”

In light of who He is and what He cares about, I see these earthly comforts and blessings with different eyes. Obviously, everything has come from Him and no one else. 1 Tim. 6:17 says that “God provides us richly with everything for our enjoyment”, and Paul said that he had learned to be content with both little and much. So I do just thank God for these good things He’s given me.

I also recognize that I’m not to rely on those things. They are sweet gifts, but if they flowed into me and stopped there I would become like a pond with no outlet- stagnant. God likens His Spirit to a stream of flowing waters (John 7:38) so when good things flow into me, they should also flow through me and out of me. We comfort each other with the comfort we have received (2 Cor. 1:4) I believe that God is bringing some healing into my life after some fierce storms, and this is part of that comfort. However, I need that comfort and refreshment to overflow onto other so that God’s kingdom will be glorified.

I want to be willing to drop everything and run to Him at a moment’s notice, like an obedient child. I want to be willing to be sleepless or hungry or lonely without complaint. I’m so grateful for these blessings, but I long to be found faithful when put to the test. It’s hard to enter other people’s pain, and, as Pastor Bud talks about, “Be strong enough to care.” It’s hard when you’re comfortable to get up off the figurative or literal couch and stay alert, to be “prepared for action” and “sober in spirit,” and to deny yourself when the moment comes to give instead of receive.

It’s a challenge to live with little, and it’s also a challenge to live with much! But I’m rejoicing in my Lord who died to set men free. I want to be quick to obey, quick to risk, and quick to die, just like Him. I know in the limited experience I have in living these kingdom values that there is indeed a blessing in the painful seasons. There’s a blessing and a peculiar sweetness in the midst of weeping, in the bleak pain of loneliness, in the acceptance of our weakness and the increase of Christ’s strength. The world can’t understand it from the outside, because it’s a mystery, but we know it produces life in us.

Jesus, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done. Let me learn to live the mystery.