Jason's Blog

I was in Magnolia on Friday for the funeral of Cedric Smith.  He was an amazing encourager and the church their and his family deeply miss him.  My life was touched by his encouraging manner, and I am a better person for having known him.  At the service, we sang “It is Well My Soul.”  This deeply moving nineteenth century hymn has a beautiful history.  The words were born out of Horatio Spattler’s sorrow and loss.  Below is a famous telling of that story.  You can visit Cyberhymnal to see this story or many others that lie behind your favorite hymns.

“When Mr. Moody and I were holding meetings in Ed in burgh, in 1874, we heard the sad news of the loss of the French steamer, “Ville de Havre,” on her return from America to France, with a large number of members of the Ecumenical Council, whose meetings had been held in Philadelphia. On board the steamer was a Mrs. Spafford, with her four children. In mid-ocean a collision took place with a large sailing vessel, causing the steamer to sink in half an hour. Nearly all on board were lost. Mrs. Spafford got her children out of their berths and up on deck. On being told that the vessel would soon sink, she knelt down in prayer, asking God that they might be saved if possible; or be made willing to die, if that was his will. In a few minutes the vessel sank to the bottom of the sea, and the children were lost. One of the sail ors of the vessel, named Lock urn—whom I after ward met in Scot land—while rowing over the spot where the vessel disappeared, discovered Mrs. Spafford floating in the water. Ten days later she was landed at Cardiff, Wales. From there she ca bled her husband, a lawyer in Chicago, the mess age, “Saved alone;” Mr. Spafford, who was a Christian, had the message framed and hung up in his office. He started immediately for Eng land to bring his wife to Chicago. Mr. Moody left his meetings in Edinburgh and went to Liverpool to try to com fort the bereaved parents, and was greatly pleased to find that they were able to say: “It is well; the will of God be done.”

In 1876, when we re turned to Chicago to work, I was entertained at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Spafford for a number of weeks. During that time Mr. Spafford wrote the hymn, “It is well with my soul,” in commemoration of the death of his children. P. P. Bliss composed the music and sang it for the first time at a meeting in Farwell Hall. The comforting fact in connection with this incident was that in one of our small meetings in North Chicago, a short time prior to their sailing for Europe, the children had been converted” (Sankey, pp. 168-9).

Simple obedience is all about doing what Jesus says.  Everybody is for that idea in general—even the most conservative of Christians.  That is until the literal words of Jesus get under our skin. 

I have to give credit to Shane Claiborne and his Irresistable Revolution (2006).  He really hits the nail on the head by quoting Soren Kierkegaard from the nineteenth century:

“The matter is quite simple.  The Bible is very easy to understand.  But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers.  We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obligated to act accordingly.  Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly.  My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined.  How will I ever get on in the world?” 

How true!  What’s amazing about Bible interpretation is the lengths that we will go to so that we can be a literalists with one part of scripture (the part we like) and yet stay far away from what Jesus would actually say about how we should live.

To put it more strongly, why would we stand behind an inerrant view of a literal creation in 6 days or a patternist stance on worship assembly practices and neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faith? 

Why defend our faith with a zealous, angry, and bitter spirit?  Wouldn’t it better to be more literal with what Jesus says about how we are to treat one another?  Or the poor?

So may you be obedient today in the fullest sense that Word speaks to you.

Think about these words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Only the believers obey, and only the obedient believe.

It is really unfaithfulness to the Bible to have the first statement without the second.  Only the believer obeys- we think we can understand that.  Of course, obedience follows faith, the way good fruit comes from a good tree (Matt. 7:17), we say.  First there is faith, then obedience.  If this meant only that faith alone justifies us and not deeds of obedience, then it is a firm and necessary precondition for everything else.  But if it meant a chronological sequence, that faith would have to come first, to be later followed by obedience, then faith and obedience are torn apart, and the very practical question remains open: when does obedience start?  Obedience remains separated from faith. 

Because we are justified by faith, faith and obedience have to be distinguished.  But their division must never destroy their unity, which lies in the reality that faith exists only in obedience, is never without obedience.  Faith is only faith in obedience” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship DBW 4 (Fortress Press, 2003 ): 63-64.

I like the idea of simple obedience. 

It means doing exactly what Jesus would tell us to do.  For example, the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) has to be our rule of life.  These teachings are to define what we actually do on a day in — day out basis.

To do anything less might mean that we lack faith.  Do we really know Jesus if we don’t remain in his words?

I do believe in grace, as much as I ever have.  But I think the grace of God empowers us so that we can take on the high calling of following Jesus and seeing His kingdom come into this world.  As we are ready to take Jesus more seriously, the Holy Spirit makes our hearts more responsive and opens us to what our lives might become in God’s presence.

“Faith is only faith in obedience.”  May you be obedient today even as you enjoy the holdiays.  As best as you can, listen to the voice of Jesus and his voice alone.

I’m glad to be back to writing.  The Thanksgiving break was good.  I got to spend some time with family, but my kids have been a little under the weather over the last few days. . . On Sunday, I talked a little bit about simple obedience.  I’ve been thinking about it for a couple days so I hope you enjoy this.

I’m not entirely sure why, but people get mixed up about what church is all about.  Some outsiders think that only the perfect people have the right to go to chruch.  This is crazy thinking, but maybe we are a little to blame because we go to a lot a trouble to put on a happy face and keep our problems (whatever they are) as private as possible.  I guess that’s our pride.

Others seem to think that church is primarily about sipping coffee and exchanging pleasantries.  That must be what it means since that is what we do.

 Jesus has done a lot for us. He left heaven’s glory, came to earth, proclaimed his coming kingdom, died as a social outcast on the cross, and experienced the wonder of ressurrection and ascended back into heaven.  Why exactly did he do all of that?

I think you know why—Jesus loves us and wants us to follow him. 

Trusting in Jesus means following Jesus.  He just wants our simple obedience.  

How obedient have I been today?  Have I willing done what God desires today?