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If you live in the Tampa Florida area, I will be speaking at the Church on the Move this Sunday (Nov 5) at 10:30 A.M. on becoming a missional movement. The Church on the Move is a bi-lingual Vietnamese-American missional church. Its pastor, Sabrina Tu, is committed to reaching second generation Vietnamese (as well as other Asian groups) in the US and Europe. Worship is in Vietnamese and English.

I am excited about this opportunity and hope that some of the Real Meal community can join us.

Here is the address:

2707 W. Waters Avenue, Tampa, Florida 33614

I have grown to love Ps 73. It stands at the head of Book III (Pss 73-89) at the center of the Psalter. It is poignant. It is powerful. It is hopeful. It is missional.

Here is the text from the NIV:

Psalm 73:1 A psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. 7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits. 8 They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. 9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. 10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. 11 They say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” 12 This is what the wicked are like– always carefree, they increase in wealth. 13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children. 16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. 18 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. 19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! 20 As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies. 21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. 23 Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. 28 But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.

This Psalm is a journey of faith. If the Psalter as a whole moves from Psalms of lament and anguish to Psalms of Praise, this Psalm stands as a testimony to the sort of life-affirming faith that can a sustain us for the long road.

This Psalm knows no cheap answers. It pulls no punches. Its honesty is blunt and refreshing.

The Psalm opens up with a proverb or life verse: Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

Yet there is a problem. In verse 2, we discover that despite (or perhaps because of) the Psalmist inherited or professed theology (v. 1), the psalmist almost lost his footing. He says almost, because he doesn’t. This psalm is his story of going to the brink but turning back to find wholeness and truth in a vital relationship with the living God.

The Psalmist’s problem is described in detail in vv. 3-12. It is in a nutshell a problem of dashed expectations and envy. Ostensibly, the psalmist’s life is not going the way that he expects for a person of faith. In the midst of his own struggles, the psalmist looks around and notices that persons who live with no concern about the things of God seem to have no troubles or worries. They live a carefree life of pleasure; the psalmist lives a life of struggle.

How can this be in light of v. 1? The psalmist is convinced of his own “uprightness” as is clear from verse 13. If this is so, why is he not enjoying the good life? This is a question that many of us ask as well.

Many of my church-planting friends are growing weary around the world in the face of setbacks and disappointments in their Kingdom advancing work. Many faithful followers of Christ who have taken risks and stepped out in faith have encountered challenges in their lives when they expected God to open up doors. Many of my students are struggling with illness, financial problems, and family stress as they seek to follow God’s calling on their lives. If we are honest, we all go through times when we may feel like this psalmist–times in which our own feet have almost slipped.

In verses 13-17, the psalmist recounts his moment of transformation. He is sustained in his faith by the witness of the community of faith (v. 15). He cannot walk away from God. But he is tortured and perplexed inwardly. Verse 17 marks the tipping point. He encounters the living God. Scholars debate whether v. 17 reports an actual trip to the sanctuary or simply a sanctuary experience. Regardless, the psalmist is profoundly changed through an encounter with the only source of clarity and truth in the world: GOD.

This remains true for us today as well. We need God. We need to walk in a moment by moment relationship with God. The transforming moment may come to us in a variety of ways: it may happen in worship, it may happen in a small group reflection, it may happen in response to a message, it may happen while celebrating Jesus’s death/resurrection at the Lord’s Table, it may happen in a moment of individual or corporate prayer, it may happen in a time of Scripture reading. But it will come. God has a way of making his presence felt by those who are desperate for him.

Let’s look at what the presence of God means for the psalmist. It is crucial to note that his external circumstances remain unchanged. But at the same time, everything has changed for the way that the psalmist looks at life and lives it. He has been transformed.

Here are some concluding reflections from the transformation that occurs here:

1) God is good as aphorism vs. God’s goodness experienced personally. Look specifically at the language of verses 1 and 28. At the beginning of the psalm, the psalmist is able to articulate a proposition about God. Yet, his theology about God does not match his life with God. This is no longer true after his encounter. Now it is more than theology that matters to the psalmist; it is reality. When theology becomes reality, a person has crossed the Rubicon and is ready to follow Jesus Christ anywhere.

2) Apparent prosperity of the wicked vs. True State of the wicked.
Ultimately, this psalm is less about the wicked than it is about the person of faith. The wicked are merely a prop. It is not the fault of those who are far from the purposes of God than people of faith find them offensive. It would probably be humorous for a person judged to be wicked or lost by the community of faith to discover that their lifestyle creates envy in the life of the faithful. Nonetheless, this psalm offers a poignant reminder that the end of the wicked is certain. This is not a truth to be taken lightly nor is it something to jump up and down about in joy. Ps 73 reminds the community of faith of the profound lostness of those who are far from God. They are not a lot to be envied.

3) Envious and self-absorbed psalmist vs. Repentant, God-centered psalmist.
In the first half of the psalm, the psalmist is self-centered and self-focused. Life is all about him. Ironically, this is precisely the psalmist’s gripe about the wicked. After encountering God, this changes. The psalmist (re)centers his life in God. Knowing and living in the presence of God because the ultimate value. This is reminiscent of Paul’s words in Philippians 3, “I have counted all things loss except for the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ.”

4) Apparent absence of God vs. Experienced presence of God.
The psalmist moves from feeling apart from God to a renewed sense of the presence of God in his life. The truth of the matter is this: the Scriptures promise over and over that God will neither leave us nor forsake us. Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection guarantees this. This does not mean that we will not sometimes feel alone, but in light of this reality, we must not live as though we are alone. God is with us. God has guaranteed the future. The Risen Christ goes forth as the vanguard before God’s people as we seek to serve as God’s body broken for the world.

5) Complaining vs. Telling.
In the final shift, the Psalmist moves from complaining about the apparent injustices of life to (re)committing to serving as God’s witness in the world. This is the missional shift. The psalmist have completed this profound (re)conversion by expressing his intention to be deployed in the world for the furthering of God’s mission.

Friends, this is good news. May God profoundly touch you at the deepest core of your being to renew your sense of calling and purpose as God seeks to shape the future through your life.

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus models ministry for his disciples (5:1-9:35) and then sends them out to do likewise (10:1-42 cf. 28:16-20). All of this can seem mechanical and perhaps even forced. This can seem daunting to many Christ-followers. There is so much to be done. How can God expect us to engage in ministry when we don’t possess a certain skill set, a specific callling, or are simply afraid?

Matthew 9:36-38 can help us to find our service and ministry as natural response to God’s work in our own lives by changing what we care about and shaping us into persons for whom God-honoring, compassion driven, needs meeting ministry becomes the defining part of our lives as followers of Jesus. Each of us has gifts, talents, and passions that can be channeled for missional purposes. Let us hear how this text from Matthew’s Gospel can help us.

NRS Matthew 9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Here are four brief observations:

1) Ministry is centered on compassion and flows from compassion. Jesus sees the needs of the scores of persons who are coming out to see him. Their deep needs (they are as sheep without shepherds) move him to compassion. Compassion is the fuel of ministry. The word translated as compassion occurs elsewhere in Matthew’s Gospel in 14:14, 15:32, 18:27 and 20:34. In each of these contexts, compassion leads to action. It is worth noting that in all of these contexts, the object of Jesus’ compassion is people.

2) Jesus is moved to compassion because he has eyes to see and ears to hear the true needs of the people with whom he comes into contact. What would it look like if we could see others as Jesus see them? How would our daily interactions with others be different?

My colleague and friend at Asbury Seminary, Dr. Robert Tuttle exhorts us to pray this prayer: “Lord, give me eyes to see and love others as though they were my own children.”

Jesus sees the needs of others and compassion moves him to action.

3) Ministry involves multiplication. The needs of the world are immense. The fields are ripe for harvest. There are so many opportunities available for loving service and witness that Jesus lifts up the need to his disciples to pray for more workers. The lesson is clear: Ministry is not a solo act. There is no room for competition. The needs are so great that we need to ask God to raise up reinforcements and co-workers. We need to multiply our own work by empowering and encouraging others to join in God’s mission. Let us pray that God raises up a generation of Christ followers who will engage the world in a compassion-driven ministry.

4) Ministry involves urgency. The use of the harvest imagery is important. It is easy for most of us who live in urban or suburban contexts to misread this. Harvest imagery typically involves scenes of final judgment (for examples in Matthew see 3:12, 13:30, and 13:39). Yet, here it is not judgment but salvation. The times are urgent. Jesus proclaimed in 4:17 “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Yet, God (the Lord of the Harvest) does not send in workers for judgment but to warn others and offer them the salvation that Jesus is bringing to reality through his life, death, and resurrection.

Being a disciple of Jesus implies that one lives a life on mission. Christ-followers are to live for something greater than themselves–the values and ethos of the reign of God. This is not to be a burden but a way of life. It is fueled by the same compassion that Jesus felt in the face of human need. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear in our day.

© 2006 Brian D. Russell

I have always been puzzled by Esau’s willingness to sell his birthright so readily to Jacob. As I have been reading the wider context of these stories, I am beginning to see how this text fits into the wider story of God’s people.

NIV Genesis 25:27 The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the open country, while Jacob was a quiet man, staying among the tents. 28 Isaac, who had a taste for wild game, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. 30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I’m famished!” (That is why he was also called Edom.) 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” 32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” 33 But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.

Our text skips the growing up years of Esau and Jacob. We only get to encounter them as adults. They are a study in contrast. In verse 27, we learn that Esau is a rugged “man’s man.” He is a skilled hunter who is able to manuveur through life on his own strength. In contrast, Jacob tends to stay around the family’s encampment and the security that accompanied it. The contrast extends to the men’s parents. Esau is loved by Isaac, who enjoyed the wild game that Esau hunted. Jacob is loved by Rebekah. Obsensibly, Rebekah is motivated by the LORD’s earlier word to her (verse 23). These verses are another reminder of God’s decision to subvert human custom and human claims to strength in order to accomplish God’s plans.

In verses 29-34, we begin to see God’s plans unfold, but the process is unexpected. God declared to Rebekah that the elder (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob), but God did not foretell the means. It is striking that in this section, there is no mention of God at all. Rather, we encounter Jacob preparing some stew (verse 29). Esau has just returned home from the open country, and he is famished. Apparently, his most recent hunting expedition was a failure. Esau is driven by his empty stomach. He asks Jacob for some of his stew or “red stuff” (verse 30). This request is justified. Nothing seems unreasonable about it. It stands to reason that Esau had brought meat home for the family on many occasions.

Yet Jacob has not intention of simply sharing his food with his brother (verse 31). Jacob prefers to establish a quid pro quo agreement. The food comes with a price. Esau must sell Jacob his rights as firstborn in exchange for a bowl of stew. This is an audacious move by Jacob. It is crucial to note that there is no divine sanction of Jacob’s actions. God did not tell Jacob to take this course of action. Yes, Jacob was to supplant his older brother, but this did not imply that it would occur by an act of sibling cruelty. Esau was hungry; Jacob took advantage of this.

Perhaps more surprising than Jacob’s request for Esau’s birthright is Esau’s capitulation without protest. Esau is driven by hunger to make a decision that will have longterm implications. He concludes that the birthright is less important than satisfying immediately his hunger for food. The writer to the Hebrews will later memorialize Esau’s shortsightedness:
See to it that no one becomes like Esau, an immoral and godless person, who sold his birthright for a single meal. You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing with tears. (Hebrews 12:16-17)

In verse 33, Jacob solidifies the deal by forcing Esau to swear an oath about the birthright. Esau takes the oath without protest. It is this easy. Esau sells his rights as the firstborn to Jacob for a bowl of stew and seals the transaction with an oath. Our text does not even explore the legality of the matter. There is also no indication that Jacob or Esau shared the news with their parents. None of this really matters. The elder will serve the younger. Jacob and Esau are already fulfilling the word spoken to Rebekah while her boys were still in the womb.

Verse 34 reports the end of the matter. Esau receives his food. He consumes his prize and moves on. The narrator remarks, “Thus, Esau despised his birthright.” This matter of fact comment is profound. Our text thus clearly lays the blame with Esau for losing his birthright. It was not God’s intention for Jacob to cheat Esau out of something that was rightly his own. In fact, as we will see in the next lesson, Esau will be profoundly angry over “losing” his blessing.

Does this make any sense?

Humana 2.0 will be held February 7-8 2006 in Orlando Florida. This gathering will be a convergence of missional leaders. Speakers include Erwin McManus, David Arcos, and Alex McManus.

I will be leading a breakout conversation around issues of reading the Bible missionally.

There is a significant discount available for those who register before Nov 15.

Check out the main Humana site.

See you in Orlando.

Genesis 25:22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.” 24 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb. 25 The first to come out was red, and his whole body was like a hairy garment; so they named him Esau. 26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

Our text in verse 22 indicates a problem with Rebekah’s pregnancy. Her pregnancy may be the direct answer to prayer, but this is no typical pregnancy. Without warning the text reveals in verse 22 that there are babies within Rebekah and not merely a baby. Furthermore, there is a deep struggle within the womb of Rebekah. The two children are not simply developing as scheduled; they are jostling and struggling with one another as they mature. Rebekah is upset by this struggle within her and prays to the LORD. Note the contrast between Abraham/Sarah and Isaac/Rebekah in terms of prayer. Isaac and Rebekah in this section has consistently modelled a life of prayer to God. It is clear that they view God as the final arbiter of life and not their own strength.

God answers Rebekah’s prayer directly with a word of explanation in verse 23. God’s answer is surprising and shocking. God announces that the twins whom Rebekah carries are more than merely a couple of brothers. The two children represent two future nations. Furthermore, there will be a hierarchy between them. In the Ancient Near East as well as in many cultures to this day, the law of primogeniture is practiced. Societies ordered in this way give preference and prominence to the firstborn son within a family. The firstborn by the chance of birth is endowed with certain rights and privileges (such as a larger share of the inheritance). This was the bedrock of Near Eastern families. Yet, in the family of promise and blessing, God chooses to subvert the system. As we saw in the Abraham narratives, the family of promise exists and moves by God’s faithfulness and grace, not by human power. So for Isaac’s descendants, it will be the younger son who rises to prominence over the eldest son. This may seem profoundly unfair to us, but this was God’s way of ordering the life of God’s people. God’s people do not exist merely because of their own cleverness, skill, wealth, power, or birthright–God’s people exist because of the plans and actions of God (cf. John 1:12-13). There are thus limits to what either of these two children can accomplish. As we read the stories of Jacob and Esau, we need to remember this reality of God’s decision to privilege a younger son over his older brother. This decision, however, does not mean that Jacob has free reign to act cruelly or improperly toward others—Jacob will choose to live in conflict with others, but there would doubtlessly have been other ways to achieve God’s desired end.

In verses 24-26, God’s words to Rebekah bear immediate fruit. Rebekah does indeed give birth to twins. The first out is Esau, who elsewhere is called Edom, is hairy and reddish in color. These names are indicative of his description. Esau may mean “hairy” and Edom does mean “red.” Jacob arrives second and is already grasping at his brother’s heel. Jacob means “grasper/supplanter” or “deceiver.”

The last clause of this section is striking. It reports Isaac’s age at the birth of Esau and Jacob. He is sixty years old. It has been twenty years since his marriage to Rebekah. It is a testimony to the LORD that Isaac and Rebekah have been able to give birth to sons.

What questions or comments do you have?