This is not mine, but it is great!

December 14 2008
a letter from me, Rob Bell,
a stumbling, joyful, endlessly surprised, constantly humbled,
fan and follower of the resurrected Christ
cut my own hair this morning like I do every Sunday morning
because Sunday morning generally means sermon time
and I swear I preach much better with a freshly trimmed dome
to all the brothers and sisters in the Mars Hill community
whether here in the Shed, sitting in a gray chair,
just come in from the snow and cold,
about to take communion
to all those who are a part of our global online community listening
somewhere in the world
to those who listen while going to work in a massive city somewhere in Asia
to those in Europe who listen as you do the dishes
to those who listen in a place where you are the only followers of Christ
for miles in any direction
to the woman in England who told me she listens while out for her morning walking—hello
to those who listen in Indonesia who feel a strong sense of connection with
this church in Grand Rapids, even though we've never met and we're
thousands of miles apart
to those listening, while sitting around a computer with the volume down low
because this kind of talk is illegal where you live
to those who listen, because in your neck of the woods you just can't find a church
to those whose prayer is 'Jesus I believe you—it's your followers who scare me'
to those who feel so alone but you stumbled upon this podcast and it's
making you feel like you aren't crazy, like there are others out
there longing for the same kind of fresh moving of the spirit
to those who find themselves on top of the world
you're asked how you're doing and you say 'better than ever'
and it's true and you mean it
and to those who can barely drag themselves out of bed each morning
to those who've recently lost their job
to those whose children are making choices that are breaking your heart
to those whose marriage is in trouble
whose friends just don't get it
to the lonely, the depressed, the confused, the doubting
to those who find it very, very hard to swallow the idea of
a good, loving God
much less an open tomb
or a new creation
to all of you
grace and peace
grace and peace,
that's how Paul's letter to the Philippians—
that's how most of his letters begin—
with grace and peace
almost a year ago we began with Paul's opening: grace and peace
so it only seems right to end with grace and peace
because if you get a handle on them
2
—or perhaps we should more accurately say—
if grace and peace get a handle on you
you will never be the same
that was my hope and prayer from the beginning
that you would be seized by a whole new way of seeing things
not the old way
the way of condemnation
the one where we have this endless internal dialogue
a tape in our head that plays on endless repeat
telling us that we're not good enough
that we haven't proven ourselves
that we aren't pretty enough
that we aren't working hard enough
that our sins are simply too grave to be reconciled or redeemed
that we're too heavy, too old, too slow, too stupid, too damaged
too weak to be capable of change
those are the old voices
we've been down that road
we've played that game
we've swam in that stream
the old way—that's the way that we're leaving behind
what we saw Paul doing again and again is passionately urging a new phronesis—a new pattern of
thinking, acting and feeling
a Christ pattern
and it begins with grace and peace
grace is gift
it begins with our wide-eyed wonder and awe that all of this is a gift
the 'this' is of course many things
it's the love of the father
the gift of the son
it's the unexpected soothing reassurance of the Spirit who whispers sometimes in the most
hopeless of moments:
"you're going to be fine"
it's my friend writing me this week to announce that he and his wife are expecting a baby and they're
beside themselves with joy
if you knew their story, the tears and struggle and waiting and wondering
that they have been through to arrive at this moment where she's actually
growing a belly
oh grace
it's a woman all alone in front of the communion table,
tears in her eyes,
obviously struggling with some deeply personal pain
and then up behind her come two friends
who put their arms around her and begin to speak calm
and peaceful words of truth to her and she receives them
she soaks them in
she hears them and they give her life
because she's learning about grace and peace
it's the person who has always lived with this need to judge others
who has this compulsion to put everybody around them in
one of their categories
3
always looking for what's wrong with that person
what they don't get
what they don't do
how they don't measure up
whether they're on the right team or not
and then all of a sudden that doesn't work
they realize that all that energy spent condemning and measuring
and analyzing others was to avoid turning the spotlight inward
on themselves
because that would be terrifying
but recently they've encountered grace and peace
and they're becoming free to embrace the other
the stranger
the one they would have kept at a distance
they're learning to accept things
accept people
as they are
because they're learning that
God
accepts
them
exactly
as
they
are.
oh, grace and peace.
our world has a hard time with grace
we're invited to dinner and we immediately feel like we have
to have them over
and if we don't do it soon
we start to feel guilty
because we assume that their gift has to be reciprocated
and when we run into them several months later we say
"oh I feel so bad we've been meaning to have you over..."
that's guilt, not grace
their invitation was grace
the meal they served was grace
it was all a gift
and our only job is to receive
and enjoy
it's easy to give
we like power
and strength
we like having our hand on the wheel
but receiving
just receiving
without doing anything
not because of anything we've done
but just because the other person decided to give
that's hard
it feels helpless
it makes us feel powerless
4
because what many of us picked up from a long time ago was that
you earn your keep
you achieve and you work and you study and you exert yourself
that's how the world works
and we naturally over time come to assume that the universe must be the same way
God must play by the same rules
and then we're confronted by the gospel
by a Jesus who walks up to people and says your sins are forgiven
a Jesus who lets a loose woman with a questionable reputation wash his feet with her tears and then
announces to the religious leaders 'she gets it in ways you don't'
right before he says to her 'your sins are forgiven'
and when everybody is lined up to throw stones at the woman who spent the
night in the wrong man's bed he confronts them with 'let the one who is without sin throw the first stone'
which all of a sudden causes them to have to be
somewhere else quite quickly
and then we read of the naked Christ
on the cross
thirsty
suffering
saying to his Father 'forgive them'
and then we find him with his first followers
resurrected
announcing that all authority has been given to him
something cosmic in scope has just happened
something as big as the universe
and history will never be the same
our history will never be the same
grace
grace sneaks into that old barn that's filled to the roof with guilt and shame and self-loathing and hate
and despair and it smiles and then lights a match
and sets the whole place on fire
and so we read this prison letter from Paul
Paul on death row, how low can you go?
facing his possible execution
an enemy of the state
a political prisoner
Paul who keeps using words like joy and peace and grace and rejoice
if you are listening this is disturbing
death row is not where you use those words
but Paul insists that suffering and joy are good friends
they hold hands
they kiss
this isn't conventional wisdom
you're either happy because everything is going according to your plan
or you are suffering because God did something horrible to you and messed
with your plan and now you have car accidents and cancer and the economy
and divorce and the Detroit Lions...
5
it's either one or the other
but not both
and certainly not both sharing the same bed
but what we saw again and again in Philippians is that God's new creation works differently
all sorts of flowers grow up in between the cracks in the ugly pavement
and it's their location
right smack dab in the middle of all that ugly concrete
that makes them so strikingly beautiful
because ordinarily you wouldn't notice them
that's why some of the best letters come from prison
that's why some of the best poems come from suffering
that's why some of the best songs come from longing
that's why some of the best stories come from the times
when we had given up on having a story to tell...
remember Lisa Simon? who stood up here several weeks ago and
told us about raising her ten year old daughter with autism—
she eloquently walked us through all of the good and true and beautiful
that she and her husband and family have experienced because of
their suffering and struggle and challenges
and we were moved because that's what Paul is talking about
joy is learning to discern that God is up to something even in this
joy is learning to perceive things that run counter to prevailing
wisdom about how the world works
joy is evidence of a particular kind of formation
I received a letter from a friend this week who last year moved to Morocco with his wife and their young
family to start a furniture business
to create jobs and bring hope in very tangible ways to that part of the world
where it is so desperately needed
many of you bought pieces and pitched in to help them on their way
he wrote this week to say that they just won an award from the Moroccan
Chamber of Commerce for their business and it's gotten them all of this
publicity and attention and it came out of nowhere and they're just blown away
and he wrote of how hard it has been and how often it's taken everything
they have to just keep going and yet in the midst of the hard, difficult slog
that it is they're seeing things that could make almost anyone believe in
grace
hear me
you really can become a certain kind of person
the kind of person who lives in the Christ pattern of thinking feeling and acting
the kind of person who is working out their salvation with fear and trembling
it is possible for you to see your life in a whole new way
the Psalms speak of a person who is like 'a tree planted by streams of water
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers'
do you know what trees that are deeply rooted and grounded do when
the wind and the rain and the storms come?
they bend
they sway
6
but they don't break
and they don't topple
they're so firmly planted in the soil of grace and peace
that it's going to take way more than a little wind and rain
to rob them of life
you can set yourself on becoming this kind of person
the kind of person who can write letters exploding with joy and wisdom
the kind of person who resolves to find the grace and peace in any
situation
the kind of person who will not be crushed by circumstances
the kind of person that always assumes that even in this situation
in this tragedy
in this desert experience
in this failure and mistake and regret and nightmare
there will be some sort of resurrection
even in this...
the kind of person who doesn't grumble or complain
are we clear here?
you can become the kind of person who doesn't grumble or complain
because you have a larger perspective
you shine like a star
because you have decided to ground and center yourself in grace and peace
you are unshakable
you are kind
you don't rush to judge situations because you know that surprises
are often just around the corner
you don't blow your fuse
you don't fly off the handle
you don't react at the slightest provocation or inconvenience
you breathe deeply—about six to eight times a minute
because it keeps you in the right place
you aren't weighed down by guilt from the past
because you see your past through Christ
everything you've been through is being retold through Christ
and so the hard part
the tough parts
the shameful parts
they are now living breathing examples of grace
you don't say "I could never talk about that"
you say "let me tell you what I've made it through"
like a boxer who makes it all the way through ten rounds and you're still standing
like a shopper who got everything on your list and you haven't pulled out any hair
like someone stuck in traffic who hasn't lost their cool
you have survived
you're here
and you're listening
and all those things that should have killed you have actually made you stronger
all the things that would be painful regrets and unspeakable wounds
are now evidence that grace and peace are real
you took those blocks and boards
7
and you let Christ make a table out of them
so that others could share in your story
you can say rejoice
and again you can say rejoice
because you know grace
and grace is gift
you aren't anxious about anything
let's not skip over this
you can become the kind of person who doesn't have anxiety
you don't have to live with that
you don't have to live on the edge of your seat
with your hands clenched
and your mind spinning and racing and making up new things
to worry about
you can actually take on the Christ pattern of thinking and feeling and acting
because the same creative energy that unleashed the universe
has been unleashed in you
you are going to be fine
think about how Paul ends his letter to the Philippians—by writing
"all the Lord's people here send you greetings, especially those
who belong to Caesar's household."
wait.
do you realize what he's doing here?
Paul is in Caesar's prison because he doesn't buy
the 'Caesar is Lord' propaganda
but while he's been in prison he's been telling Caesar's
employees about the resurrected Christ
and some of them believe
they've become followers
now if you work for Caesar and receive your paycheck from
Caesar and belong to Caesar's household—
how do you explain to Caesar that you've now become
a follower of Jesus who is Lord
because of the witness of this man Paul
who is about to be executed by Caesar because he keeps insisting
that Jesus is Lord?
has your job ever put you in morally ambiguous situations
where you're not quite sure what the right thing to do is?
you aren't the first
I think Paul adds this little 'especially those who belong to
Caesar's household' detail at the end just to let us know that
the Jesus movement is taking off inside the halls of power
he wants us to know that even if he dies
the message will live on
he wants his Philippian friends to know that there are others
in very tenuous, risky, dangerous situations who are also trying
to figure out what it means to follow Jesus—
remember his prayer for them early in the letter?
'that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and
depth of insight so that you may be able to discern what is best...'
you can become the kind of person who is abounding more
8
and more in knowledge and depth of insight
we explored this idea of knowing something
but then really knowing it
not just in the head with facts and figures and words and information
but in the phronesis sense of knowing
learning to think and act and feel the Christ pattern
especially as we live and move and have our being in a world
that often seems to be going the other way
you can do it
you can learn
and grow
and discern
you can ask for wisdom and insight and knowledge of just
how to navigate the fuzzy and awkward and difficult situations
we find ourselves in every day
you can ask God for these things
and you will receive
which will be
of course
nothing but grace
pure grace
Paul at one point in his letter quotes an early Christ hymn about Jesus
who is executed on the cross
but then exalted by God
remember what we learned?
we learned that the last word has not yet been spoken
the worst word that could be spoken of a person—cross—
was followed by the best word that could be spoken over
a person—exalted
we learned that
pain is not the last word and humiliation is not the last word
and suffering is not the last word
aids and hunger and homelessness and suicide and child soldiers
and greedy executives are not the last word
hate isn't the last word
or abuse or rape or loneliness.
the last word has not yet been spoken
the resurrection turns everything upside down
it opens up all sorts of possibilities
it puts all sorts of balls in play
it invites all kinds of people to the celebration
as it announces that the last word has not been spoken
so until then
in our fear and trembling
our doubting and our rejoicing
our forgiving and our being forgiven
our giving and our receiving
we have an open tomb
a new creation,
and the heightened anticipation that there is more to be said...
and so we come to the end of our study of Philippians
9
what a letter
what a notebook
what a year
what a journey
what an ending
which is of course
like all good endings
really
just
a
beginning...
how I long for all of you
to know
to understand
to live
to experience
to enjoy
grace and peace
with all the love I can muster,
your brother Rob