“No matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.”
1 Corinthians 13:3b (The Message)
Rick Warren lays it on the line in Day 16 of The Purpose Driven Life: Life is all about relationships. Everything else is secondary. The two big mandates given by God - love God and love others as we love ourselves. And the challenge for followers of Jesus? Loving his people.
Life without love is really worthless.
This is where the quote above comes in. You can be great at anything, but without love you are nothing. Larry Norman picked that up in his song, Righteous Rocker, way back in the 1970s. Lauryn Hill did in the 1990s.
Love will last forever.
Love leaves a legacy. Rick talks about being at the bedside of people as they die. They don’t call for their diplomas, they call for the ones they love. I’ve seen that too. But I’ve seen people dying who have during their lives have lost the capacity to love and be loved. It is tragic. There is so much truth in the catch cry of Moulin Rouge: The greatest thing is to love and to be loved in return.
We will be evaluated on our love.
This is a challenge. We don’t take our bodies, achievements, doctrine or education beyond death. It all gets left behind. It is our character that marks us as who we are. And that character is almost entirely to do with how we relate to other people. True, true.
The best expression of love is time - focused attention, Rick says. I wonder how that relates to the five languages of love: quality time, gifts, loving touch, affirmation, practical service. Rick tells us that what really counts is what we give of ourselves.
“God is the One who made all things, and all things are for his glory. He wanted to have many children share his glory.”
Hebrews 2:10a (New Century Version)
“See how very much our heavenly Father loves us, for he allows us to be called his children, and we really are!”
1 John 3:1 (New Living Translation)
“God’s unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
Ephesians 1:5 (New Living Translation)
A good start for Day 15 of The Purpose Driven Life - using translations that emphasise the relationship we have as children of God - not just ’sons of God’.
We enter the privilege of being in God’s family through faith in Jesus. That invitation is open to everyone. Its a universal invitation that needs a response.
Rick Warren draws our attention to the benefits of being in God’s family:
The family inheritance: being with God forever, being completely changed to be like Christ, being freed from all pain, death and suffering, being rewarded and reassigned positions of service, and sharing in Christ’s glory.
Rick then goes on to remind us that baptism publicly announces our membership of God’s family. He describes the instant baptisms of the Ethiopian eunuch, the 3000 on the day of Pentecost, and the Philippian jailer and his family. In other words, “don’t put it off”. A bit simplistic I think to say baptism must happen immediately. More of this ‘instant obedience’ thing. Though I think people can procrastinate on the baptism issue. But for generations of people rightly sceptical about the number of once-converted now back slidden or ineffective born-agains, baptism is like marriage - not to be entered into lightly.
“Any relationship involves times of closeness and times of distance, and in a relationship with God, no matter how intimate, the pendulum will swing from one side to the other.”
I remember back in the late 1970s when I first got involved in the charismatic movement - there was a strong emphasis on being able to feel the experience of the Holy Spirit. Intimacy was cast in terms of joy and peace and feelings of praise and love. Looking back I think that as wonderful as such experiences are, it is dangerous to base a framework of faith on those. Such experiences, and I’ve had a few of them over time, are great bonuses. But I wouldn’t describe them as the measures of my spirituality. I appreciate the reassurances from St John of the Cross and Henri Nouwen and other contemplatives - feeling distant from God is par for the course at times.
I don’t think the feeling of being distant from God is God testing us. It’s more about the way we’re wired psychologically.
Rick’s advice for people feeling distant from God is grounded in the experience of Job’s suffering: Tell God exactly how you feel. Focus on who God is - his unchanging nature. Trust God to keep his promises. Remember what God has already done for you.
I think also that yesterday’s advice applies here. Sometimes we are left numb by a spirituality culture that just doesn’t cut it. If you’re inspired by works of art and nature and need to respond visually, more sermons about being saved from going to hell may lead to a sense of inner dryness. If you’re an introvert, attending large scale worship services are likely to leave you emotionally stranded.
Another angle is spiritual burnout. Pleasure loses its power when it becomes a matter of routine or obligation. “You must” is one of the biggest turn offs I’ve ever seen in the church.
I appreciate C.S. Lewis writing about God being hidden in “A Grief Observed“.
Why, in terms of grief and distress,
when there is no light in the window,
do we find a door slammed in our face,
and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside?”
Terry Falla goes on to write:
“Know this, God, know this: if faith were dependent on feelings, if our trust in you were no more than a matter of the mind, we would be done with you, done with you forever.
And hear this God, hear this: if it were not for that man who was friend of the poor and the damned, for that man who healed the sick and gave sight to the blind…
If it were not for that man whom we cursed and crucified, and who is crucified still, for that man bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and who carries them still…
God, God eternal, God of Jesus, God who said yes to life, his love, his suffering, his death, God of the cross, crucified God, sharing our pain, bearing our sin…
If it were not, O God, for you, for you our lover, you our judge, you our hope, you our friend…
We would be lost.”
Be Our Freedom, Lord, Open Book Publishers, Adelaide, 1994 (Published in USA by Concordia Publishing House)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30 (New International Version)
Rick’s unpacking good worship in Day 13, Worship That Pleases God, building, I hope, on the earlier chapter in which he wrote about God taking pleasure in us.
God is pleased when our worship is accurate. We’re pointed to Jesus talking about worshiping in truth. Is this about correct doctrine for our prayers and hymns and sermons? Or is more about God being pleased when our worship is authentic?
Rick refers to Gary Thomas‘ book, “Sacred Pathways” in which he identifies nine ways people draw near to God:
1. Naturalists inspired outdoors
2. Sensates inspired by multisensory environment
3. Traditionalists inspired by rituals, liturgies, symbols
4. Ascetics inspired by solitude and simplicity
5. Activists inspired in context of making the world a better place
6. Caregivers love God by loving others
7. Enthusiasts love God through celebration
8. Contemplatives love God through adoration
9. Intellectuals love God by studying with their minds
Rick continues by saying that God is pleased when our worship is thoughtful - something we can understand and others can understand as well.
Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you.
James 4:8 (New Living Translation)
Rick Warren in Day 12, in the Purpose Driven Life, gives us a few more pointers for growing our friendship with God.
If I want a deeper, more intimate connection with God:
I must choose to be honest with God.
I like the line: “What appears as aduacity, God views as authenticity. God listens to the passionate words of his friends; he is bored with predictable, pious cliches.”
The psalms are full of honest outpourings of faith and doubt, praise and complaint. Its a model I appreciate. Though of course its hard to do it in public without affecting other people.
I must choose to obey God in faith.
Rick points out that progress in friendship with God is linked closely to doing something about what God says. Ties right in with what Jesus says about hearing his words and acting on them.
I must choose to value what God values.
Rick links this with a passion for people - evangelism etc. That’s certainly a part of God’s values. And there’s much more…
I must desire friendship with God more than anything else.
Rick points to the passion of David, Jacob, Paul. Its no coincidence that these three guys had their share of pain in their lives. Rick says not to be surprised when God allows pain in our lives, quoting C.S. Lewis, “Pain is God’s megaphone.” I believe that pain is not a personal jab from God. It’s part of being human. But I believe that God can bring us closer - or that we’re sometimes more motivated to seek God when we’re in pain. Unless of course that pain is so overpowering we lose the capacity to be aware of anything beyond the pain itself.
In summary, Rick is reminding me that friendship with God is stimulated by my choices. I am choosing to share faith and pray with people regularly as a way of growing friendship with God.
Since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.
Romans 5:10 (New Living Translation)
Rick Warren in chapter 11 of The Purpose Driven Life, Becoming Friends With God, reminds us that Jesus invites us into an intimate relationship of friendship with God.
I was a young teenager when the wonder of this invitation almost knocked me over. I was cycling to catch the bus to high school. Where I lived we were a mile away from the bus stop. As I came down the final straight I was looking directly at the snow-covered mountain range, the Takitimus, in Southland. I was amazed at the spectacular vista - and I almost fell off my bike as I realised that the creator of this mountain range and the whole universe, was accessible to me in an intimate friendship!
Rick draws on Brother Lawrence today for insights into the contemplative life of prayer for the busy follower of Christ.
There’s a web site dedicated to Brother Lawrence’s material, with a downloadable copy of “Practicing the Presence of God” - www.practicegodspresence.com
Rick draws on Brother Lawrence’s practice as a busy monk, learning to pray throughout the day while continuing his work. The first step, Rick writes, is to change our attitude so that we don’t separate spiritual and practical. Everything we do we can include God. That, of course, assumes that you can pray without speaking aloud!
Another learning from Brother Lawrence is to make our prayer nice and short - more like the conversations we usually hold. That assumes we don’t have monologues with our friends where we do all the talking and they put up with us! :>)
The second technique for building friendship with God today is Continual Meditation - focused thinking about God’s word. I know and Rick knows that many Christians have an inbuilt suspicion of the word ‘meditation’. It reminds people of new age and Eastern mystic movements in which people empty their minds and chant mantras. But Christianity has a long deep tradition of people growing closer in their friendship with God through constant reflection on God’s word and its application to our lives. Once again the key is keeping it short. That’s why Scripture in Song was so popular in the 1980s - it gave people a good excuse for repeating Scriptures over and over again.
What can I do to remind myself to think about God and talk to him more often throughout the day?
I like to use symbols to remind me of God’s presence in my life. Like a cross cut of wood reminding me to center myself in Jesus. Unfortunately unless it travels with me all day I forget it. Maybe something attached to my keyring - reminding me of Christ’s constant presence. Yep - I’ll find something like that.
“Give yourselves to God… Surrender your whole being to him to be used for righteous purposes.”
Romans 6:13
Rick Warren writes in Day 10 of the Purpose Driven Life, that the heart of worship is surrender.
Paul urges us to fully surrender our lives to God in worship:
“So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us… offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.”
Note: It’s good to see the writer of this verse acknowledged. For a lot of the book so far, we’ve been told that “The Bible tells us…”
Rick names two things that prevent us from surrendering our lives to God:
Fear: Can I trust God?
Pride: Can I admit my limitations?
Can I trust God?
I’m occasionally surprised when people turn down an opportunity to meet with me in my consultancy work. Usually there’s an agenda of hurt from the past. They believe I’ll berate them or make them feel stupid. I guess I could if I wanted to. But my purpose in consultancy is to listen very carefully and fairly so that the organisation can build a good atmosphere for moving ahead together.
I think sometimes we find it hard to trust God because we’ve been hurt, let down, disappointed, or frustrated. If God cares about every detail of my life, why does he let me suffer? Why do unfair things happen? Those were the questions Job would have asked in his time of suffering. These questions have certainly crossed my mind a few times.
It boils down to what we’re trusting God for. A bedridden woman asked me if she could trust God to protect her from intruders. I was stuck with that one. In all honesty, I knew she was vulnerable to harm like anyone. God doesn’t give us immunity to harm just because we’re children of the King. So what do we trust God for? Is just for an assurance of love, acceptance and concern? Or is there something deeper - a purpose drawn out of our experience.
Rick reminds us that surrender is not passive resignation, fatalism, or an excuse for laziness. He actually uses the phrase “God does not want robots to serve him” - a phrase that came to mind when dealing with his concept of instant obedience in Day 9.
I like the way surrender to God is linked with relationships and money. We don’t always have to be in charge. We don’t edge others out, demand our rights and self-serve when we’re surrendered. Retirement in comfort is not the goal of a surrendered life. These are healthy challenges to the me-centred values of our time.
So how does this relate to the surrender of Jesus to the cross? Rick refers to Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.
“Father, everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”
Mark 14:36 (New Living Translation)
Rick takes this a step further by telling us that genuine surrender says:
“Father, if this problem, pain, sickness, or circumstance is needed to fulfill your purpose and glory in my life or in another’s, please don’t take it away.”
I think we have permission to ask if God has any other way of achieving his purposes. After all Jesus asked. And I think generally, God does have a huge range of options. It’s just that Jesus was the one who had to carry the load of the cross. No one else. I’m glad I don’t have to step into Jesus’ role. I am not the Messiah. (Something I remind myself when tempted to unthinkingly take on the expectations of others.)
Surrender for me is more often than not about letting go of responsibility rather than accumulating it. I’m happy to have a go at the inconvenient, unpopular, costly or seemingly impossible tasks. And I’m happy to do these in the spirit of worship to God.
“May the Lord smile on you”
Numbers 6:25 (New Living Translation)
“Noah was a pleasure to the Lord”
Genesis 6:2
Day 9 in The Purpose Driven Life has Rick Warren using the story of Noah and the Ark to explore the question, “What Makes God Smile?”
Noah loved God supremely.
The NRSV translation says, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.” . The New Living Translation has put the Hebrew concepts of into classic Evangelical language: “Noah consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.” Genesis 6:9b (New Living Translation)
Walking with God - that’s the image I find helpful here. It implies that Noah’s life with God was not linked with a daily quiet time - reading the Bible and praying about the day. He didn’t have a Bible for starters. He had to find a way of living his life without blame - with integrity. Although I believe that our relationship with God is supreme, I don’t think we can understand that relationship on the same level as the relationship between two people.
Noah trusted God completely.
This an interesting one. It’s obvious that the in the story of Noah that he does get the ark built. But we don’t know about the process. We don’t know if Noah doubted, or if he complained, or if he made excuses. What counts is that eventually that ark was ready when the rains came.
I like Bill Cosby’s take on the events
Noah: Right … Who is this really? What’s going on? How come you want me to do all these weird things?
God: I’m going to destroy the world.
Noah: Right … Am I on Candid Camera? How are you gonna do it?
God: I’m going to make it rain for a thousand days and drown them right out.
Noah: Right … Listen, do this and you’ll save water. Let it rain for forty days and forty nights and wait for the sewers to back up.
God: Right…
See the skit as performed on the Jack Parr Show in 1963.
Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)
That complete trust in God involved some conversation between Noah and God. It was not a case of blind trust.
Noah obeyed God wholeheartedly.
It’s a big assumption to say, as Rick Warren does, that Noah didn’t have any questions, objections or reservations. Where in the Bible does that come from?
I firmly believe that calling people to ‘instant obedience’ without understanding is dangerous and manipulative. This is the language of cults. Certainly there are some things we need to do without understanding all the subtleties. Forgiving someone can be an obedient action before the desire or attitude kicks in. But I don’t think God treats us as robots who obey. Try ordering anyone around like that and see what happens.
God smiles when we praise and thank him continually.
Noah offers his sacrificed animal to God after he gets to dry land. Rick uses this act as a reminder that we are called to offer our thanks and praise to God, obviously avoiding the slaughter of animals as we do so.
A thankful attitude does make us more pleasant to be with. I’m sure God enjoys our thankfulness and appreciation
Noah used his abilities.
Rick points out that those abilities included making love to his spouse, bringing up kids, planting crops and eating meals. He reminds us that God gains pleasure in watching us enjoy his creation, using all our senses. Amen to that.
I like the way Rick reminds us that God enjoys us at every point of our development. God is not an unpleasable teacher or parent.
Today’s a helpful reminder to me that pleasing God is the highest priority of my life. I’m not here to curry favour with anyone. I’m here to live the life God calls me to. There is no shortage of people with a plan for my life. “Work this way. Speak this way. Apply for this position. Aspire to this ambition.” I’m strengthened by the reminder that I’m living for God’s pleasure.
“You created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”
Revelation 4:11 (New Living Translation)
“The Lord takes pleasure in his people”
Psalm 149:4a
Every now and then I am stunningly reminded that God actually enjoys my life. What a difference this makes! Instead of an image of God the disapproving teacher saying “You could do much better than this Macleod”, there’s this image of God the parent who takes pleasure in every point of progress in my life. A God who marvels in the emerging creation. God who loves the intricacies of my innermost being.
This is a great way to start exploring worship. Worship as a delightful response to a delighting God. It’s a reminder that we are not the only participants in worship. God is active far more than we are - its a 2-way experience. Worship is not just something we ‘do’. It’s something we take part in.
I appreciate Rick Warren’s reminder, in Day 8 of the Purpose Driven Life, that worship is far deeper, greater, and wider than the forms we associate it with. Like music. We can worship without ever singing a note. In my house church we don’t have ‘congregational singing’. But we certainly worship God in lots of other ways. I also appreciate Rick’s reminder that worship is not for our benefit. I would say that there are many benefits to being in a worship experience. But we’re there to be lovers of God rather than consumers of worship culture.
Rick tells us worship is not a part of our lives, it is our life. Excellent point. I like to talk about worship experiences when describing services of worship. Worship continues as we live our lives to the glory of God. It can be unconscious or conscious. We don’t always have to be telling God, “Here I am to worship”, to be true worshippers.
I found Rick’s final illustration somewhat incomplete. He talks about when he first fell in love with his wife. He thought of her constantly through the day, during every activity. By constantly thinking of her, he was abiding in her love. He finishes the chapter by saying real worship is all about falling in love with Jesus. Well - I wonder if he thinks about his wife all day now. The emotional rush of discovering someone for the first time certainly encourages the preoccupation associated with falling in love. But what happens when the rush wears off?
I know there have been times in my life when I’ve been entranced by God. But at other times I’ve been anything but. But all the way through, I’ve loved God. Love is so much more than emotional rush. Love calls me to offer myself, completely, in my lifestyle, my attitudes, my response to my environment, my transparency before God, my delight of God. All in response to the God who loves me more than I could ever ever comprehend!
“Everything comes from God alone. Everything lives by his power, and everything is for his glory”
Romans 11:36 (Living Bible)
As a young Presbyterian I grew up with the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession. It was a question and answer way of helping people learn doctrine, or be indoctrinated. I learned the first one indelibly: “What is the chief end of Man? The chief end of Man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever”. Every now and then there’d be a slip of the tongue and we’d say “glorify God and endure him forever”.
In this chapter Rick Warren introduces us to the concept of glorifying God and not glorifying God (sin). He introduces us to the five purposes he’s found in the Scriptures that apply to everybody:
1. We bring God glory by worshipping him.
2. We bring God glory by loving other believers.
3. We bring God glory by becoming like Christ.
4. We bring God glory by serving others with our gifts.
5. We bring God glory by telling others about him.
We’re invited to believe God loves us and made us for his purposes, believe we’re not accidents, believe we were made to last forever, believe God has chosen us to have a relationship with Jesus, who died on the cross for us.
We’re invited to receive Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Saviour, receive his forgiveness, receive his Spirit, who will give us the power to fulful our life purpose.
The question to consider today: “Where in my daily routine can I become more aware of God’s glory?”
I see God’s glory reflected in God’s creation everyday - I need to remember to stop and ’smell the daisies’.
I experience God’s glory as I rub shoulders with my fellow travellers each day. Makes a difference to the way I see the other people on the motorway.
I experience God’s glory as I offer every part of my routine to serve God.
I think the glory of God is something that bursts outside the bounds of the church. It breaks into my home life - even in the middle of domestic squabbles over who washes up. The glory of God surprises me in the people who reflect the character of Jesus even though they’re not keen on professing Christian faith. The glory of God turns up on TV every now and then - when people profess their beliefs and values in public.
Postkiwi Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
I was a young teenager when the wonder of this invitation almost knocked me over. I was cycling to catch the bus to high school. Where I lived we were a mile away from the bus stop. As I came down the final straight I was looking directly at the snow-covered mountain range, the Takitimus, in Southland. I was amazed at the spectacular vista - and I almost fell off my bike as I realised that the creator of this mountain range and the whole universe, was accessible to me in an intimate friendship!
Postkiwi Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
