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Archive for October, 2010

How will our bodies – disabled and non-disabled – become like Christ’s?

Posted in Sermons on October 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Through a planned death!

So Christ was and is equal with God. He is God. He became also a human being. He obediently suffered and died. Obediently. That means God the Father told him to do it. That means it was a planned death. And the point of the plan was that the Christ be a substitute for the damnation of all human sinners who would trust in Jesus. As it says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” He bore our damnation as a substitute. This was God’s loving plan for the salvation of sinners like us who deserve hell. That’s why it says in verse 8, “He was obedient to the point of death.” He wasn’t just dying. He was obeying. God had a plan. God gave a command. The Son was fulfilling it, willingly, obediently. The plan was, “Be a substitute for the damnation of all who will believe in you. Bear for them my holy and just curse, and I will make them my children—fellow heirs with you of everything I own.”

And then in verse 9, you see the greatest “therefore” in the Bible. “Therefore, God has highly exalted him.” In other words, because of his obedient and successful life and death, God raised him from the dead and gave him great glory as the Lord of the universe. That is the stupendous assumption behind Philippians 3:20-21.

So now let’s go there again. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, (and now we know how he got to heaven: he was raised from the dead) who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body (and now we know how he has a body in heaven: he was raised bodily from the dead), by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”  John Piper, sermon on March 27, 2005, “All Things Subject to the Risen Christ.” (all emphases in bold are mine)

 

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A book recommendation, and a statement about Jesus!

Posted in Book Commentary on October 20, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Krista Horning, on behalf of the Horning family, wrote me earlier this week with a strong recommendation for Joni Eareckson Tada’s newest book, A Place of Healing. She included this long quotation from the book:

Sometimes when the day (or night!) seems long, and life in the wheelchair seems like a heavy weight to bear, I remind myself that my Lord Jesus Himself was handicapped.

Does that concept startle you just a little?

You know me:  I’m always looking to see what God’s Word has to say about physical limitations.  And when you study the life of Jesus, you have to stop and consider that although our Savior did not have a physical disability per se, He did handicap Himself when He came to earth.

Boy, did He ever.

How can I say that for sure?  Well, the dictionary defines “handicap” as any difficulty that is imposed on a superior person so as to hamper or disadvantage him, making that person more equal with others.

Certainly, if we use that definition, then Jesus was handicapped.

Think of it!

On one hand, the fullness of God dwelt in Christ, yet on the other hand He “made Himself nothing”.  He emptied Himself, taking the very nature of a servant.  Talk about handicaps!  Can you imagine a greater one?  To be God on one hand, and yet to make Himself nothing!  That is one severe limitation which, you would think, would have hampered our Lord or put Him at a disadvantage.

Jesus, the Master Architect of the entire universe, designed suns and stars, galaxies and planets.  When he handicapped Himself, He made Himself a carpenter on earth, limiting Himself to designing common wooden chairs, stools, tables, and yokes for necks of oxen.

Jesus was also the one who spoke the Word, creating everything around us.  But this same Jesus who spoke time and space into being handicapped Himself on earth, choosing instead to speak to prostitutes, lepers, and sinners.

Jesus, the one who since Satan’s fall had despised pain and suffering as one of the awful results of man’s sin, handicapped Himself on earth when His back ached and His muscles cramped and when He sweat real sweat and cried real tears and bled real blood.

When I think of all this, it strikes me that these limitations didn’t just “happen” to Jesus in the same way that circumstances “happen”  to you and me.  The amazing thing is that Christ chose to be handicapped.  I can’t think of too many people who would chose to be disabled.  Believe me, I know I wouldn’t!  There is nothing easy, nothing fun, nothing casual about living with a disability.  From the very get-go, it’s hard.

But Jesus chose to handicap Himself so that you and I might share eternity with Him in bodies that will never stoop, limp, falter, or fail.  Jesus chose to experience pain and suffering beyond our imagination in order that you and I would one day walk the streets of Heaven whole, happy, and pain free.  Jesus chose to die-though that was a daunting task in itself.  As C.S. Lewis wrote, Jesus “was so full of life that when he wished to die He had to ‘borrow death from others.’”

But borrow it He did, taking it unto Himself, yielding up His life, so that you and I might pass through death’s shadow and live forever.  Yes, while I’m alive here on earth, I am called to endure a handicap.  But how could I be other than grateful and content?  I’m in the best company of all.

Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing, 204-205.

I wrote to the Hornings and asked why this quote was so special to them.  Bob replied on behalf of the family:

The thing that was striking in these paragraphs was one of those little additions to our way of thinking that made a world of difference.

We’ve always known that Jesus had to give up much.  He had to empty himself to come here to live and die.  It’s one of those things that we “know,” but perhaps it’s so incomprehensible that we just gloss over it or take it for granted, even if that is unintentional.  We don’t know it as well as we think we do.

But when Joni says that Jesus emptying of himself was like becoming disabled, it made us sit up and take notice.  That’s something we can relate to.  We know the difficulty.  We know all the things we’ve had to give up or let go of.  We know the rejection and loneliness.  So now we can grasp just a tiny bit of what Jesus went through.  And it is just a tiny bit because we know his was an infinitely greater loss than anything we ever experienced.

And the good news is that he did it so that he could solve a problem for us (our sin) that we had absolutely no ability to solve on our own.  Despite his “disability” he was still far beyond anything we could imagine.  And he still is.  What a great God!

Amen, Bob!

Thank you, Horning family, for this book recommendation (which is in my stack) and for helping me see the greatness of Jesus in a fresh way.  Yes, what a great God!

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Thank you, Pastor Kenny, for reminding us about important things

Posted in Helpful things on October 19, 2010| 2 Comments »

Pastor Kenny Stokes has been serving as pastor for preaching during Pastor John’s leave.  I appreciate what God has done through Pastor Kenny during these months.

On Saturday, he did two very important things for those of us living with disability in our families:

1.  As he welcomed the parents and children being dedicated* to the front of the church, he directly stated that children, ALL children, are gifts, and then he specifically named several different kinds of disabilities.

2. One young couple was dedicating their second child.  As Pastor Kenny approached them he reminded the congregation, with great emotion, that their oldest child had died this past year.

Small reminders like this are cumulative.  People were reminded that we don’t hide suffering and loss at Bethlehem. Over time, the idea of all children being gifts, including the ones with disabilities and the ones who die so young, is part of the air we breathe in that church.  I was deeply moved and very grateful.

I greatly appreciated how naturally Pastor Kenny approached both of these issues.  On the one hand, disability is a ‘big deal’ and deserves specific and special attention.  On the other hand, disability surrounds us, and it is very helpful that he took advantage of these natural opportunities to state truth about all children being gifts and to remind us that families bear extraordinary burdens.

Thank you, Pastor Kenny, for helping people see a little glimpse of both disability and suffering this past Saturday.  Thank you for pointing us to God in all things.

*You can click here if you would like more information on what it means to have a child dedicated at Bethlehem.

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Does God care about bodies, the sick ones and the ones with disabilities?

Posted in Sermons on October 18, 2010| 1 Comment »

Yes, he does!  But he cares 10 million times more about your soul!

A helpful reminder from Pastor John:

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Is Greg right about angels?

Posted in Book Commentary, Scripture on October 17, 2010| 1 Comment »

I have known people who take great comfort in the idea that they or their children have angels who watch over them.  Some have crossed the line from worshipping God to worshipping angels.

Yesterday I shared a quote from Greg Lucas’ book, Wrestling with an Angel, that Dianne particularly liked because Greg asserts that God, and not angels, stand watch over boys like Jake and Paul.  Here’s a shorter excerpt:

I believe it is God who watches, not any created being. And it is God who supplies whatever help is needed.

Jake’s care is not delegated. (Lucas, p. 73)

Greg used this passage to frame that section of the book:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:10

I think Greg is absolutely right to conclude that it is God who leads and calls into action, rather than angels having some sort of independent oversight.

  • Zechariah receives Gabriel’s good news that Zechariah will be the father of John the Baptist, but asks how it can be possible.  Here is the response: “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.” (Luke 1:19) God will overcome the physical limitations to Zechariah and Elizabeth conceiving this child; Gabriel is the messenger.
  • Mary receives the happy news that she will be the mother of Jesus, and Gabriel again gives credit to God:  In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth (Luke 1:26). . . And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:35-37)
  • Daniel is given incredible visions of the future, and help to understand them by a messenger from God: And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” (Daniel 10:11)
  • Then Daniel is given this extraordinary view into the unseen spiritual realm, showing that there is real spiritual evil to contend with: Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.” (Daniel 10:12-14)
  • The book of Job is an example of Satan’s destructive, and completely limited, power on this earth.  The fallen angel, Satan, is afflicting Job only as much as God allows.
    • Job recognizes God as the effective actor in Job’s suffering. God does not correct him when Job gives God the credit for the suffering he is experiencing.
    • Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 2:9-10)
  • Jesus himself talks of the angels standing ready to do the Father’s bidding: Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:52-53)

This isn’t to suggest that angels only serve as messengers.  Clearly, God gives them things to do, and not always things what we would call ‘comforting’ or ‘peaceful’:

“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”  And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. (2 Kings 19:32-35)

And at a key moment in all eternity, an angel ministers to Jesus:

And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:41-44)

Angels are real and from the typical first words they utter – ‘fear not!’ – I gather their appearance and their abilities are incredible.

But they are created, just like we are.  It is far better to trust, cling to, ask forgiveness from, cry out to, and hope in the creator and sustainer of all things.  And if God uses angels to help us, as I expect he does, to thank the sender of help rather than the obedient angelic servants.

After all, they rejoice when sinners come to God!  “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:10

And it has the advantage of being consistent with the Bible’s message that God is sovereign over all things – like disability, disease and suffering – rather than Satan.  Satan may hate us and seek to destroy us, but God alone has the final say, even in our times of deepest sorrow and pain.

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Women like Wrestling with an Angel, too!

Posted in Book Commentary on October 16, 2010| 1 Comment »

I know I have emphasized how Greg’s book, Wrestling with an Angel, is a really good book for men – and not just dads of children with disabilities.

Turns out, women are encouraged by it, too!

Dianne pointed to this as a deep encouragement to her:

I do not believe Jake has a guardian angel assigned to protect him from harm.  I believe he has a Father who sits on His throne in heaven surrounded by an army of angels who intently watch the face of the Commander.  With one nod of the Almighty’s head, a legion of angels can be dispatched with unimaginable speed to preserve and protect.  Night and day they wait, watching the Father’s face as his eyes watch over my son.  I believe it is God who watches, not any created being. And it is God who supplies whatever help is needed.

Jake’s care is not delegated. (Lucas, p. 73)

Amen, my friend.

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Adoption and disability go together

Posted in Book Commentary, commentary, Helpful things on October 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

God has placed some great men in my life, brothers who encourage me deeply as they trust Jesus, love their wives, and lead their families.

Several of them have adopted children, sometimes with disabilities, into their families.

None of them puts on a happy face or pretends it is easy.  These are real men, understanding how weak they are and how big God is.  I am deeply grateful for their examples.

Mark and his wife have a bunch of children!  Julie writes beautifully about their experiences.

Martin commented earlier this week on my post regarding the birth of new baby how he has to fight for joy when hearing stories about adoptions with easy transitions.

Chris has written for this blog before, and his oldest boy is in the Sunday School my wife works in. I love seeing him at church as he wrangles his son, adopted without their knowing about his disabilities, to class.

And Greg, the author of Wrestling with an Angel, was recently asked five questions about the book and about adoption.

There are others I will remember after I post this.

God is kind to give us friends who point us to Jesus!  We do not need to walk this path alone!

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Does the Bible really teach that Jesus rules over all things?

Posted in Scripture on October 14, 2010| 1 Comment »

In a word, yes.  And that means he is Lord over all creation, including those created with disabilities:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:15-20

One of my favorites, Matthew Henry, describes that Lordship this way:

Being created by him, (all things) were created for him; being made by his power, they were made according to his pleasure and for his praise. He is the end, as well as the cause of all things.

Which means, also according to his pleasure and for his praise, he will help us no matter what we face, no matter how hard it is, no matter how tempted we are by other things.  Jesus himself will prove decisive.

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God’s mercies sometimes appear in very sweet moments

Posted in commentary on October 13, 2010| 6 Comments »

On Monday some dear friends had their first child.  She is beautiful, as all babies are to me.

She is entirely ‘normal’ in the sense that she didn’t come with any sort of complications related to disability.  I was completely happy for and with them, for lots of reasons.

That isn’t always the case.

I never wish for a disability on a child, of course.  But when a child is born into a family without any of the complications we experience, I sometimes hear a voice inside my own head whispering, “Happy for them, but I wish I didn’t have these extra things to deal with.”

But for this day, God silenced that voice.

There are moments we need to fight for joy in our family, especially when dealing with things that cause Paul pain like his seizure disorder we’re trying to figure out.

But I realized as I left the hospital Monday night that I had been completely free to enjoy this new dad and new mom and new baby – entirely happy for them.  My prayers with them had been unencumbered by any heaviness on my heart.  God gave that experience to me.

That’s a gift.

I expect I’ll need to fight that voice in my own head again.  But moments of pure enjoyment at another’s happy circumstance are very sweet.  And I thank God for those moments.

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Did David really hate ‘the lame and the blind’?

Posted in Scripture on October 12, 2010| 43 Comments »

I know I make bold statements on occasion, and I try to be intentional about them.  But I recently read a bold assertion that made me stop and think about how intentional the author really was in making the statement.

In her very interesting chapter on Leviticus 21, Dr.  Johanna Dorman drops in this assertion:

“Although David feels a deep hatred for blind and deaf persons . . .  (2 Sam 5:8)” (Dorman, p. 26).

I remembered the Biblical reference, but I did not recall concluding that David felt hatred towards people with these disabilities.  So I looked it up again:

And the king (David) and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” 2 Samuel 5:6-8

Frankly, I don’t see the hatred.  David is being taunted – “even our weakest members could keep you out!” David responds in kind to the taunt.

It looks remarkably like school-yard behavior from my childhood – “You throw like a girl!”  “Oh, yeah, well, you ARE a girl!”  Thankfully, nobody died on the schoolyard.  But passions would rise at such words.

Both my ESV Study Bible and the MacArthur Study Bible agree that this was probably a taunt:

“The Jebusites probably meant that the fortifications were so strong that the city needed no able-bodied defenders.  David quotes their words in ordering the attack, referring to the Jebusites as “the blind and the lame.” ESV Study Bible, p. 549.

“The Jebusites taunted the Israelites and mocked the power of David by boasting that the blind and the lame could defend Jerusalem against him.” MacArthur Study Bible, p. 426.

Probably the greatest argument that it was only a taunt and not really about people with disabilities at all comes from the second half of Dr. Dorman’s sentence:

Although David feels a deep hatred for blind and deaf persons (2 Sam 5:8), he returns to Mephibosheth all the land of Saul, and invites him to eat regularly at his table (2 Sam 9:10-13).

Mephibosheth was lame, and ate at the King’s table.  Of course, David is honoring the promise he made to his dearest friend, Jonathan, but that did not need to include the invitation to eat at David’s table.  If he really felt hatred or revulsion, he could have made sure Mephibosheth’s needs were taken care of, but out of his sight.  Eating at the king’s table is a very intimate, personal affirmation of Mephibosheth’s standing before King David.

So, I think Dr. Dorman simply wasn’t careful, both because the Biblical reference doesn’t include people who are deaf at all, and because the reference isn’t really about hatred towards people with disabilities.

But statements like that start to bleed into the general assumptions about what a passage means or about the character of the person making the statement (in this case, David).   I can almost guarantee I will see that assertion about David again somewhere else.  Only that person might not be as careful as Dr. Dorman in providing the Biblical reference, further disconnecting the assertion from the source.

Mostly I take this as a personal warning that I should be careful in how I read (and write about) any Biblical passage.  The Bible is worth being careful about!

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