Mar 31

Passion Week (Wednesday): The Scandal of the Cross

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »


“Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:8

“…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

A wall in my office is adorned with crosses.  This seems strange in that the cross is the most horrifying instrument of death ever known to humanity. The Jewish historian Josephus called crucifixion “the most wretched of deaths.” The Roman philosopher Cicero said, “it is altogether so disgusting and shameful that Romans and Greeks should not even speak of it because it is not fit for good, decent people to even mention it.  It is unsuitable for polite conversation.”  According to the Jewish law, anyone who was crucified died under the curse of God.  And yet Jesus submitted Himself to this execution.  The cross is the way that Jesus Christ chose to die the death we should have died, paying the price we should have paid.  Truly Jesus paid it all.

I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him
My robe His righteousness,
Close sheltered ’neath His side,
I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
I’ll lay my trophies down
All down at Jesus’ feet.

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Mar 31

Passion Week (Tuesday): The Completion of Crucifixion

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »


The story goes on in John 19:16-30…

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; this was to fulfill the Scripture: “THEY DIVIDED MY OUTER GARMENTS AMONG THEM, AND FOR MY CLOTHING THEY CAST LOTS.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

The trauma and tension of Jesus being tortured is still very present and real.  The moment of crucifixion has come.  The King who upholds the heavens and earth on His shoulders is forced to carry His own instrument of death upon His shoulders as He is paraded through cobbled Jerusalem streets.  After what must have seemed an eternity in His humanity, Jesus arrives at Golgatha, the Place of the Skull.  And another irony carven into a wooden board atop His cross reads “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”  If only we had really known.  Moments turn into minutes… minutes in to hours, and finally the final breath is exhaled with the world-changing words “It is finished.”  We thought it his death, but in reality, those words ushered into a new beginning.  “O praise the One who paid my debt and raised this life up from the dead.”

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Mar 31

Passion Week (Monday): The Crown of Thorns on the King of All

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Passion Week & Good Friday, Passion Week 2010 No Comments »

John 19:1-15 tells the story of the crown of thorns on the King of All…

Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him; and they began to come up to Him and say, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and to give Him slaps in the face. Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.” Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!” So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.” The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”

Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” As a result of this Pilate made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Our first passage draws us into the tension of the Passion Week.  There Jesus, the King of All, stands before Pilate and his soldiers wearing the crown of thorns.  The King has come down to seek and save us, but those He came to rescue mock and scourge Him.  It might be easy to remove ourselves from the scene, blaming Pilate and the Roman Empire for what happened to Jesus.  But in reality, we were there.  Our sin led Him to this place.  Our treason against the King crowned Him with blood.  Yet the mysterious grace of God is present in that moment… “and by His scourging we are healed.”

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Mar 29

Thoughts on Fasting this Passion Week

Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Northshore Baptist Church, Theological Musings 3 Comments »

This past Sunday I invited Northshore to fast this Passion Week in preparation for Good Friday and Easter Sunday.  In my message I said, “simply skip meals for a day.”  Some of you had questions like “is it really that simple?”  Fasting means forgoing something for a moment to reorient and focus our hearts on Jesus.  Most often, we fast from food.  If you’ve never fasted before, you can begin by skipping a meal or two or going without food for the whole day.  If you’ve fasted before, you can fast for a day or more.  If you are skipping a couple of meals, take the time that you would spend in meal preparation and eating to pray and focus on Christ.  My invitation to Northshore was to specifically fast and pray for our Good Friday and Easter services this coming Sunday, and especially for those that come that do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The key to fasting is your heart.  You fast not because you’re trying to impress God or anyone else.  You fast to deny yourself the pleasure of food (and even the need for food for a time).  And when you feel the hunger coming on, you are reminded that Jesus is the Bread of Life.  He is our ultimate sustenance.  He is the Provider of all our needs.

For more information on fasting, see http://www.gotquestions.org/fasting-christian.html

See you Friday evening (6:30 or 8 pm) and Sunday (8, 9:30. 11 am or 5:45 pm)!

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Mar 25

3 God Stories of Northshore’s Local Mission

Northshore Baptist Church No Comments »

God is doing some cool things in and through the people of Northshore as we love our local community.  Many of these are quietly going on “behind the scenes” as people simply love their world with Jesus’ great love.  I asked Pastor Dean Osuch, Northshore’s Pastor of Outreach & Local Mission to be a guest blogger and share some stories of Northshore’s impact in our local community.  So here are three God stories of Northshore’s local mission that Pastor Dean shared:

Story #1: God is moving in the Northshore School District

Last August, Northshore along with five other churches ministered to several local schools during CommunitySERVE Day 2009.  The one thousand volunteers that day not only made a huge impact on the local schools that they served, but they also made a huge impact on the principals of the Northshore School District.  In November, Kate Jones and I met with the Assistant Superintendent to Elementary Schools and the Partnership Coordinator at Northshore School District.  In that meeting we looked at CommunitySERVE Day 2010 and the idea of working more in the classroom.  The District was excited about the ideas that we had and we were blessed to find out that the Assistant Superintendent to Elementary Schools had participated as a Principal in Bellevue’s Jubilee Day, which was the structure we are modeling.

Two weeks ago we met with nine principals to give them an overview of CommunitySERVE Day 2010.  At that meeting God gave us much favor in the eyes of the principals.  The principals were fully supportive of our efforts and are truly excited about our church’s willingness to minister to them this summer.  It was so encouraging to see Matthew 5:16 come to life, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”   Please continue to pray for us as we continue to build meaningful relationships with our community and as we continue to make plans for CommunitySERVE Day 2010.  Mark your calendar for August 21st and come out to serve your community and let your light shine before men.

Story #2: Ministering to our Neighbors

It may be hard to believe that our next door neighbor may be in the middle of a serious crisis.  But the truth is many in our neighborhoods are struggling.  I believe in days like this there is no better time for the church to be the church for our community.  We have partnered with the City of Bothell and the City of Kirkland to find ways to love our neighbors.

Several weeks ago the City of Kirkland approached us with an elderly woman in need.  She needed to clean up her yard that is in total disrepair or be forced to leave her home.  The Outreach Pastors of Northshore, Eastside Foursquare, and Overlake Christian Church approached this woman with an offer to help.  Not sure whether she would accept our offer of help we prayed that God will allow us to help her.  The Compliance Officer and Police Officer assigned to the case shared with us that our offer to help and pray was nice, but that it would take a miracle for this lady to accept our offer to help.  Well, we serve a God of miracles.  A few days later this elderly homeowner met with us and allowed us to minister to her.  She was amazed that a church would do something like this for her, even though she doesn’t attend church…yet.  It will take months to complete this home project, but the city has allowed her to stay in her home because of the church.  And even though this lady isn’t a church attender, it is nice to know that the church will come to her.   1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

Story #3: Small Groups do Big Things

Several months ago Dorene Minton’s small group wanted to bless those in need in the Northshore body.  They held a clothing drive/exchange for the families of Northshore.  People had been so generous in their donations that after the event Dorene was left with bags and bags and bags of children’s clothing.  Dorene decided that they wanted to be more intentional about reaching out to their community with Christ’s love.   So they decided to donate the left over donations to the Northshore Family Center.  They blessed many families in our community who had no other way to get clothes for their children. This act of kindness energized this small group so much that they decided to help with the Family Center’s tutor program.  It is amazing to see what happens in the life of a small group when they decide to become missional.  Not only do they become a blessing to others, but they get blessed in return.

The story continues.  There is a monthly meeting of community organizations that get together to try to find ways to partner with each other to better serve our community.  The big talk at the last monthly meeting was what this small group From Northshore Baptist Church did at the Family Center.  The community leaders in our area are starting to realize that Northshore is serious about making a difference in our community.  My prayer is that more small groups, like Dorene’s small group, will look at our community as their mission field.

For more information on ways that you, your family, or your small group can serve our local community, please contact Pastor Dean at deano@nsb.org or www.nsb.org/serve/local

Remember to mark your calendars for August 21, 2010 for our Community Serve Day!

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Mar 21

Top 5 Favorite Podcast Pastors

Bible 5 Comments »

During my message this past Sunday on “Staying Focused on Jesus” from Hebrews 2:1-4, I talked about creative ways to stay engaged in the Word.  One of the ways that I do this is to regularly listen to pastors via podcast who consistently preach from the Word.  Here are my Top 5 Favorite Podcast Pastors:

1) John Piper, Bethlehem Baptist Church & Desiring God Ministries (www.desiringgod.org)

2) Matt Chandler, The Village Church (www.thevillagechurch.net)

3) Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org)

4) Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian (www.redeemer.com)

5) Michael Easley, Fellowship Bible Church Nashville (www.fellowshipnashville.org)

Each of these pastors preach expositionally through the Word.  You can listen via their church (or ministry) websites or subscribe via iTunes podcast.

Who are some of your favorites?

Mar 21

The Painful Joy of Soul-Pruning

Bible, Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Sermons, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

My wife put me to work in our backyard yesterday.  It’s that time of the year… time to prune and shape our trees for the coming spring growth.  I got my college degree in horticulture, so I like nice shaped trees and a well manicured landscape.  So it means I have to cut things back for growth.  And when I make those cuts, the tree looks pretty bare.  It looks scraggly.  And at times, I wonder if it’ll even grow back.  I wonder if the tree finds it painful or does it know that it needs these intentional wounds to grow healthy and full again.

To be honest with you (and I wish this wasn’t so), this seems to be the way Jesus prepares us for growth.  He prunes us.  He removes the old wood in our lives that keep us from being shaped by and for Him.  It’s what He talks about in the famous vine and branches passage in John 15:1-5.  There’s another passage that talks about pruning, but here it’s called discipline in Hebrews 12:7-11

It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Notice that last phrase… “afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”  As we allow Jesus to prune those places in our lives that need to go, those places that cloud our vision of Him, those places that rob Him of glory and us of good, there is a fruit borne… a fruit filled with righteousness, wholeness, and delight in Him.  He is gracious to prune us because He loves us so.

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Mar 19

4 Things About Next Generation Pastors

Leadership Development 1 Comment »

This past week I was in Dallas, Texas participating in Leadership Network’s Next Generation learning community.  It was a great time with 16 younger senior pastors (under 40) in churches of 1000+ from around the country.  This was the first of four meetings over the next two years.  The meetings were facilitated by the LN folks, and the mentors (Larry Osborne of Northcoast Church, John Jenkins of First Baptist Church Glenarden, MD, and Bill Hoyt of NexStep Coaching) helped us process through the myriad issues we face as young leaders in growing churches.  After a day of rest and reflection, here are four things that I learned about next generation pastors:

1) This next generation of pastors exalt Jesus.  Even though much of the discussion centered around church leadership issues, you could truly feel the underlying sense that Jesus Christ is Lord of the Church and reigns supreme.  Jesus was present in every aspect of our conversation, even as we talked about church leadership, vision, and management. I got the sense that we truly want to make Jesus look great among our congregations and communities.

2) This next generation of pastors thinks externally.  You could hear every one of these pastors’ heart beat for the world around them… local and global.  Some are adopting orphans from Ukraine and Ethiopia.  Some have moved into poor neighbors to share the love of Jesus.  Some are reaching the marginalized and disenfranchised in their own cities.  So much of our conversation centered around what we can do to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to our world.

3) This next generation of pastors can “mentor” Boomer & Builder pastors. “Reverse mentoring” is a term that has been coined to capture this two-way, reciprocal relationship.  That’s the uniqueness of the learning community model… more mature mentors led us through great discussions, but I do believe that the learning was two-way.  Reggie McNeal (Present Future) writes about Earl Creps’ book Reverse Mentoring, “The world has ended about four times. It happens every time there is an information revolution. New technologies and processes for handling information make the old world obsolete, quickly. When this happens an unusual dynamic asserts itself. Younglings mentor the elders into the way of the new world.”

4) This next generation of pastors is diverse. When you show up in a group of young pastors, you’d expect them all to have faux hawks and cool embroidered shirts. But this wasn’t necessarily the case. There were young pastors from the uber-hip A29 network (I love those dudes), traditional suit-and-tie Baptist Churches, middle of the road non-denom churches, and everything in between.  It was really cool to see the diversity of “style” and heart of my new friends.

It’s encouraging to see Jesus using all of the generations to join Him in His great kingdom work of seeking and saving the lost so that He might be made much of (to use the phrase of a favorite 60something pastor).

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Mar 14

The Legalist & The Loser

Hebrews: Supremacy of Christ, Sermons, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

Today’s message from Hebrews 1:4-14 resonated especially with our “religious tendencies” to gravitate and vacillate between The Legalist and The Loser.  Here’s what the Legalist believes: “Because I’ve got my stuff together, I can come to God.”  And here’s what the Loser believes: “I’ve got to get my stuff together before I can come to God.” Both don’t understand the gospel or fully grasp the person and work of Jesus Christ.  Both religious extremes tend to make much of ourselves and little of Christ.  Both the Legalist and the Loser are living in a works-based salvation that doesn’t comprehend the depth of our depravity or the extent of God’s great grace through Jesus Christ.  So the gospel confronts both.

The antidote to gravitating to and vacillating between these two religious extremes is listening to the gospel daily.  Great gospel passages like 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 3:23-26, and Romans 8:31-34 confront our religion and call us back to the cross.  So this week, take one of these great gospel passages, memorize it, meditate upon it, pray through it, listen to it, and rehearse God’s great grace for you.

Finally, here’s a humorous yet sobering picture of our “goodness” apart from Christ:

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get going without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you, when, through no fault of yours, something goes wrong,
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can say honestly that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, color or politics,
Then, my friend, you are almost as good as your dog.

Thank goodness that our goodness is found in the great grace of Jesus Christ.

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Mar 08

Our Striving Will Not Be In Vain

Bible, Theological Musings 1 Comment »

From Pastor John Piper’s What Jesus Demands from the World, “Demand #24: Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door, For You are Already in the Kingdom’s Power”

Vigilance is the mark of the followers of Jesus. They know that “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction” (Matt. 7:13). They are serious about life. Heaven and hell are at stake. Therefore, they are seriously joyful. The Son of God has rescued them from the guilt and power of sin. They are children of God. Their names are written in heaven. They have received the Helper, the Spirit of truth. They have the promise of Jesus to be with them to the end of the age. They know that he is praying for them. They rejoice that they stand righteous before God because of Jesus. They have received the kingdom. They have eternal life as a present possession. And they marvel that no one can snatch them out of God’s hand. In this joy they are energized to strive to enter by the narrow door. And they are confident their striving will not be in vain.

Truly, our striving to enter the narrow door will not be in vain as we are strengthened and sustained by Jesus’ great joy made full in us!

Get your free e-book of What Jesus Demands from the World

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