The Name Which Is Above Every Name

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

who, although He existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied Himself, talking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

Being found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

For this reason also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and EVERY TONGUE WILL CONFESS that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2: 5-11  NAS

There are two sure thoughts that we can get from the above passage. The first is that there will come a time when every single person who ever lived, good or bad, believer or non-believer, Jew or Gentile, will bow their knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This will not be for His benefit or glory but ultimately for the glory of God the Father who is and will be all in all.

The second is that this Jesus Christ, the one to be proclaimed by all creation as LORD, who was God before He became man and who will reign in heaven and on earth as LORD, did not desire to be considered equal to the Father. Rather, for us, for all mankind, for the sake of our salvation and as an example for us of being obedient to the Father, He humbled Himself, becoming flesh like us and died on a cross of shame so that we could gain eternal life with Him and the Father.

Our goal friends is not to get freedom from the problems and conflicts of this life by someday going to heaven and living in a mansion. Instead it should be to give glory to the Father by humbling ourselves, truly making Jesus Lord of our lives now and truly showing through our lives the love of both the Father and Jesus to those around us. Do this, let the chips fall where they may, and you will be blessed.

Snake Oil Salesman

Snake oil salesman
give me that bottle
cures all what's wrong
puts your foot on the throttle

mother's arthritis
father's thrombosis
sell me another
it handles the mosses

you've got the wagon
love all your patter
need to get better now
sooner than later

heard the loud trumpet
danced to the jingle
bright flashing lights
made my little heart tingle

one for a quarter
two for a dollar
needed even more when
I heard that dude holler

look at this stranger
says he's all better'
swears to the cure
in a registered letter

warts from the border
crud from the sea
can get it all off you
and do it for free

bad junk from china
so stupid you know
it'll stop montezumas
from old mexico

this stuff is fantastic
some say it's the greatest
just one little dab
and your gout's on hiatus

see all these people
neighbors and friends
all so excited for
means to the end

soon he is leaving
stock is all gone
got the last bottle
am singing my song

took out a teaspoon
poured on like glue
then held tight my nose
to the ungodly brew

now stuck in bed
too hot then I freeze
it seems stinky cure
is much worse than disease

I thought I could trust him
he sure brought the fire
to all who had doubted
he called liar liar

but now I am short
both pride and my dollar
less free than before
with my neck in a collar

they sent out the sheriff
though the wagons left here
to another nice burg
where they'll stand there and cheer

and so friends I offer
a small piece of advice
don't trust your sweet hopes
to the captain of vice

Hot Wheels

Five years ago today both of our cars were burned to a crisp, caused by a downed high power electrical line which fell during an ice storm. Here is my post on our family blog which describes the event.

http://labargefamily.blogspot.com/2011/02/hot-wheels.html


Praise the Lord events like this are not the end of the world. No one was hurt and cars are only things and fortunately Jackie and I never had to walk to work all the way from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids.

This morning in church I was thinking that a lot of the people I test are men and women in transition. They are recently removed from incarceration, entering or reentering the work force or making an effort to get their stuff together after problems with drinking or drugs. So often I hear the same story. They finally realize that it is time to take responsibility for their lives and to do that requires moving on one step at a time.

I am always impressed when someone wants to get away from the people and behaviors that they know are dead ends and have sucked the life out of them and then actually take the steps required to do so. Many then express a strong desire to help others who are where they used to be. But as good as this is, and it is good, the power to bring about any real change in one's life or in society is limited without being connected to the source that can bring light into the darkness.

Pastor Britten mentioned in his sermon that the light shines brightest in the darkness and I agree. If you've ever seen a downed high power electrical wire making contact with an object in the middle of the night the flash is almost blinding. As Christians we are connected to a power that far exceeds what Consumers Energy can provide. It changes lives, brings peace where there is strife and gives us hope when our eyes say all is lost.

Today as I worshiped, arm, hand and being extended to give glory to the Father, I also felt some sadness for those who have no idea what it is like to pour out one's soul to the indescribable Lord. When the music stopped I still prayed silently for those that have only heard of the light and have never felt the power. The loss of one or two automobiles I can deal with. Not so much the eternal loss of a friend.  

When The Whirlwind Comes

When The Whirlwind Comes

Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons;

And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration;

But my people do not know the ordinance of the Lord.

Jeremiah 8:7

A flock of robins visited today
never so early or this many
puffed out red/orange chests
protecting from bitter cold
which brought deep lake effect snow

They hide you know, invisible
deep in the forest if winter is easy
thousands huddled in the conifers
our mulberry trees bear delicious black fruit
hanging on throughout the winter

After a couple of hours they were gone
those trees having served a noble purpose
then on to another place to forage
moving to escape a sudden drop in temperature
back to the darkness of the woods

Some years ago, outside another home
tall on the branch of a nearby fir
was a rather large and stately owl
for an hour I watched and waited
and wondered not just who but why

The word said they inhabit desert places
perhaps I was either too proud to understand
or unwilling to listen and learn
soon after began a journey we did not map
though God was faithful even in the wilderness

So now I ponder our little puffed out friends
and wonder what may lie in the days ahead
will the battle be fierce and short
ground gained for a divine purpose
or will the blind jump witless into the churning cloud

light pillars, dark clouds, sun wind and storm
many strong images fighting for time
Red speaks of an ancient promise
white the covering of repentance
blue an open heaven

I fear for those who wear crosses
yet dance to the ever changing songs
and swim in the muddy rivers of complacency
nothing left to stand on
when the whirlwind comes

Should Women Minister In The Church?

Ha ha ha. Now that I have your attention . . .

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:26)

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created him. (Genesis 1:27)

There has been something that I've wanted to blog about for the past week but couldn't quite figure out how to go about it or even exactly what point I wanted to make. Then the other night I had a burden just to take some quite time before the Lord to see if I could sense any leading. Nothing came then but sometimes I'm a little like the Englishman who gets told a joke on Saturday night and cracks up in church on Sunday morning. I eventually get the leading but not necessarily when I ask for it.

It came to me in two ways. The first was a really interesting blog post by a women who was writing about the how and the why girls are brought up differently than boys. And the second was a revelation about the nature of God that just flashed into my mind one afternoon while doing driver testing.

But first, a story from a driving test this week.

Carlous was a large African-American man covered with tattoos, including the distinctive eye drop tattoo. I asked him if he had a particular team he would be routing for this Sunday for the Super Bowl. Conversation somehow switched from Cam Newton to food. I tell Carlous about the pork roast dinner that Jackie made the other night and he interrupts" "With potatoes?" "Yes" I reply. "Mashed potatoes covered in pork roast gravy". Tears start to come out of his eyes. "That's what we call 'all its'. You get that gravy and you put it on everything - all its". After a little more conversation on my meal Carlous tells me he recently dined at the buffet at Golden Corral. "Man, I sleep on my stomach and that was bad news." We talked and joked about how he had eaten too much and then Carlous told me that he really loves going to a nearby hibachi restaurant called Kobe's where they cook in front of you and the Japanese chef tosses eggs into the air.

"You should take your wife there for Valentines Day" he advised. That made me think about how when I was engaged to Jackie we took a ski trip to Traverse City accompanied by her sister Jill with husband Rick. After an unexciting night at the Holiday Inn we arrived at the car that morning of February 14th so we could head to the slopes and Rick pulls out of the trunk a large red heart shaped box of chocolates for Jill. Jackie looks at me with big expectant eyes and I tell her that I always thought Valentines Day was invented by florists, candy and greeting card companies and if I started honoring it now then I'd get stuck with Sweetest Day and who knows what else for the rest of our lives. Seemed like a logical argument.

Anyway - I ask Carlous if he had a special someone whom he might invite to dine there on Valentines Day. Carlous laughs and says; "Well now, I have what you might call a situation". I respond that I've been married for almost 44 years and don't have what you might call a situation but that I live in Holland and if I honor Valentines Day this year we will most likely dine in Holland.

I relate this story for my female readers because this is basically what men talk about with other men - Sports, Food, Women, maybe fishing/hunting/camping, cars, hobbies and politics but rarely anything too deep. Jackie used to ask me early on in our marriage what I was thinking about right then. She wanted to know my deep thoughts. I usually had to confess that right then I didn't have any deep thoughts.

Or she might want to know how the beautiful pork roast dinner that she planned and worked on all day made me feel and never having been happier than at that moment in time I'd say something like I could keep eating till my eyes bulged out. Then, having done nothing (which I would learn later was the problem), out of the blue Jackie would get mad and I would be frustrated not knowing how things could go from bliss one moment to silence the next.

So you can see from this that I am well qualified to write about the ministry of women in the Church.

Actually I do have four daughters who are not only good looking but well educated, intelligent, creative and most importantly, deeply committed followers of Jesus. Great wives, awesome mothers, strong women all.

Last Sunday I had the privilege of hearing my oldest daughter Ceci preach for the first time. Her husband Dave is one of the pastors of the church we go to and they have been going through a series covering the First letter of Peter. Sunday was Dave's turn to preach and one of the covered verses for that Sunday was going to be - "wives be submissive to your husbands".

Dave, being a wise man, thought it best if he could have Ceci help him present the message. Ceci is a radio personality heard on a number of Christian radio stations and is anything but a shrinking violet and when she told her co-workers as well as Jackie and me that she would be preaching on women being submissive to their husbands our reactions were the same - we burst out laughing.

Dave and Ceci worked on the talk together for a long time and the message and it's reception turned out to be fantastic. The context that the verse is in refers to how should a believing woman in that first century church win over her non believing husband to the faith. But the principles apply just as well to us today. And yet in this day and age words like "wives be submissive" are so difficult to hear. They are fighting words in this society.

Ceci began the presentation and talked for the first 20 minutes, laying out the context, presenting the balance needed, explaining how the truth of scripture applies in their relationship even when she works outside the home and wrapping up with an example showing that there will be times when couples feel strongly in opposite directions. In times like those, if it does not involve sin, women must trust in the order that God has designed into the marriage relationship. This is not being weak. It is not a matter of who is right or who is wrong. Trusting God on both sides allows His power to move, maybe ultimately in the direction that the woman has already known.

We have a large contingent of Hope College students who attend our church. I was impressed by how Ceci ended up her message, challenging the young women who know their current boy friend is really cute and so funny. She told them that when it is time to enter into a serious Christian relationship where the woman will need to trust in the leadership of her spouse - "Choose well".

The talk was warm, funny and challenging and as I looked around it was obviously very well received. Dave understood well, A man can talk about submission be we tend to focus on the logical aspects of the Word and how it applies to our lives. Even though Ceci presented much the same information, because she is a strong woman, talking from experience, she was able to connect on this subject (to both men and women) at a level much deeper than a man normally can.

Look, I believe there is an order in the Church designed by the Lord as well but I'm not going to give you my humble thoughts here. I believe it is possible for things to work well in a multiple of ways but that things will always work better if they are in line with the will of God and done in love.

I have another daughter who has a number of wonderful spiritual gifts and the Lord has recently been doing great things in the ministries she has been involved in. But even here she has been blessed to have not only others to walk beside her but to have a believing husband who supports her and will occasionally have a firm hand to calm her down. Dave provides that firm hand for Ceci as well.

Which leads me to the opening scripture from Genesis. Did you notice that we, both male and female, are made in the image of God. Now here let me tell you something about my view of who God is. Ever since becoming a believer I've felt that any being that can encompassed both the far reaches of the universe and the extreme complexity of the smallest bit of matter is too far beyond what I could ever understand.

Logically we must understand Him as He has intended to reveal Himself to us. That is one reason that the Word became flesh, so that we would have Jesus, totally God but made like us, to be able to be our Lord and Savior. Jesus leads us to The Father and indeed our prayers and all our praise ultimately go to One we call Father. This is how God wants us to understand Him.

Yet even though we think of The Father as male and Jesus as male it is revealed in Genesis that both male and female are made in "Our image." Both were created to serve God by ruling over the earth and all that the earth contains And so the thought came to me this week that many of the things that we think of as feminine - emotions, feelings, tenderness, softness, these are things that have come from who God is.

He is complete. We are aspects, parts, reflections of who He is. Man and woman, even though we are different in many ways, combine to provide a clearer image of The Creator.

That would seem to mean that His gifts for the Church, because they are meant to build up the Church and because the Church represents Him to the society at large, need a balance of character that is both male and female. But done in the proper order, in love.

What Were You Thinking?

Sometimes, if you address the elephant in the room, you can get some pretty interesting information.

I did a road test awhile back for a guy named Billy who had recently been released from incarceration after 12 years.  Billy told me he was sent to prison because he robbed a bank.  "That's interesting" I said (its not everyday you run into a bank robber), "Tell me about it."

Billy relates his story about borrowing money from his dad to buy a car and then falling behind on payments. Embarrassed, without any available funds and not knowing what else to do he walked into a bank and told the clerk he needed her to give him $5000.

Billy says that he was not armed but apparently bank clerks are instructed for their own safety to give robbers what they ask for and so she gave him everything in the cash drawer, which amounted to about $2200.  He took the money, walked out the bank, got caught right away, appeared before a judge and despite having no priors and not being armed was sentenced to prison.  Billy was released in November.

"What were you thinking?" I said to Billy.  "Didn't you occur to you that you might get caught?"

Billy replies; "Every morning for twelve years I got up, kicked myself in the rear and asked myself the same question. How could I have been so stupid?"