Philip Yancey: Ordinary and Unpromising

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. Matthew 11:25-26

“Oddly, as I look back on Jesus’ time from the present perspective, it is the very ordinariness of the disciples that gives me hope. Jesus does not seem to choose His followers on the basis of native talent or perfectibility or potential for greatness. When He lived on earth he surrounded Himself with ordinary people who misunderstood Him, failed to exercise much spiritual power, and sometimes behaved like churlish schoolchildren. Three followers in particular (the brothers James and John, and Peter) Jesus singled out for his strongest reprimands — yet two of these would become the most prominent leaders of the early Christians.

I cannot avoid the impression that Jesus prefers working with unpromising recruits. Once, after He had sent out seventy disciples on a training mission, Jesus rejoiced at the successes they reported back. No passage in the Gospels shows Him more exuberant. “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes,Father, for this was your good pleasure.’” From such a ragtag band Jesus founded a church that has not stopped growing in nineteen centuries.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 99-100.

At GTP we say we look for FAT people to serve with us: faithful, available, and teachable. Often these people appear as ordinary people – young, inexperienced, yet committed – and yet we find that God does extraordinary things through them.

Many are unpromising and maybe the last people you might expect to serve in world-changing roles. They have limited education. Like the companions of Paul, not many come from noble birth. And we don’t find them through search organizations.

We find them along the way as we serve like Paul and Silas found Timothy. Jesus met the 12 along the way. He prayed and God confirmed their choosing. One did not work out, of course. We find similiar percentages hold true.

This relates to generosity, because, in the words of Yancey, it gives us all hope that God can use us if he can use a ragtag group of ordinary and unpromising people. Know any such people you can encourage today? Do it (only after looking in the mirror).

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. Mark 1:35

“Living on a planet of free will and rebellion, Jesus often must have felt “not at home.” At such times He went aside and prayed, as if to breathe pure air from a life-support system that would give him the strength to continue living on a polluted planet. Yet He did not always get formulaic answers to His prayers. Luke reports that He prayed all night before choosing the twelve disciples—even so, the group included a traitor. In Gethsemane He prayed at first that the cup of suffering be taken from Him, but of course it was not. That scene in the garden shows a man desperately “not at home,” yet resisting all temptations toward supernatural rescue.

For me, one scene in the Gospels brings together the “at home” and “not at home” nature of Jesus. A storm blew up on the Sea of Galilee, nearly capsizing the boat in which Jesus lay sleeping. He stood up and yelled into the wind and spray, “Quiet! Be still!” The disciples shrank back in terror. What kind of person could shout to the weather as if correcting an unruly child? The display of power in the midst of a storm helped convince the disciples that Jesus was unlike any other man.

Yet it also hints at the depths of incarnation. “God is vulnerable,” said the philosopher Jacques Maritain. Jesus had, after all, fallen asleep from sheer fatigue. Moreover, the Son of God was, but for this one instance of miracle, one of its victims: the Creator of rain clouds was rained on, the Maker of stars got hot and sweaty under the Palestine sun. Jesus subjected himself to natural laws even when, at some level, they went against His desires (“If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me”). He would live, and die, by the rules of earth.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 90-91. I am enjoying this modern classic book. I hope you are too.

Generous living, giving, serving, and loving is hard. We live on a planet like Jesus where a lot of the time, things do not go as we expect. Fear of the what ifs can limit or even hinder our generosity.

What if I lose my job? What if that deal falls through? What if I get sick and cannot work? What if? What if? What if? I cannot rebuke the wind and waves when they toss me about. I have to hold on for dear life.

Having spent the last five days by Bear Creek, praying earnestly and vulnerably on three walks a day, I am thankful for prayer as the life-support system modeled by Jesus and available to each of us.

Jesus could not have done God’s will without prayer. We cannot make the contributions in life that God wants us to make without prayer. Let us “at home” and “not at home” with Jesus, fearlessly relying on our good Father.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Luke 23:34

“Jesus did not say, “All men will know you are my disciples . . . if you just pass laws, suppress immorality, and restore decency to family and government,” but rather “ . . . if you love one another.” He made that statement the night before His death, a night when human power, represented by the might of Rome and the full force of Jewish religious authorities, collided head-on with God’s power. All His life, Jesus had been involved in a form of “culture wars” against a rigid religious establishment and a pagan empire, yet He responded by giving His life for those who opposed Him. On the cross, He forgave them. He had come, above all, to demonstrate love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son . . .”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 247.

Let’s lean into the generous forgiveness and love of Jesus in the culture wars He navigated.

The rigid religious establishment used oral and written laws to legislated morality. They missed the Messiah when He was right in front of them. They focused on preserving their power over the people instead serving them.

To these people, always trying to trick and attack Him, Jesus carefully pointed the way to life.

The pagan empire did the same thing, only they used immorality, brutal force, and fear as their weapons. Worship the gods and the emperor, or else. They demonstrated blatant exploitation and domination over all others.

And to these people, Jesus did not condemn them for their sinfulness but died to set them free from it.

So what does all this mean for you and me? We see Jesus give His life in love and forgiveness for those who opposed Him. He wants us to give our lives in love and forgiveness for those who oppose us.

I am learning that sometimes the attacks come from the people with the same uniforms (religious establishment).

And sometimes the attacks come from those who serve as minions to the spiritual forces of evil at work in the world (wearing the opposite proverbial uniforms).

As I follow Jesus I see Him not fear getting “taken out” by one side or the other in the culture wars.

I see Him giving Himself in love and forgiveness and allowing Himself to be “taken out.” I see saints and martyrs through church history do the same thing. His life and their lives have not been wasted but

I ask myself today. Am I willing to give my life and forgive like Jesus did? What hold me back?

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27

“As Elton Trueblood has observed, all the major symbols that Jesus used had a severe, even offensive quality: the yoke of burden, the cup of suffering, the towel of servanthood, and finally the cross of execution. “Count the cost,” Jesus said, giving fair warning to any who dared follow Him.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 96.

Today the giving from Jesus takes shape as a fair warning. Following Him will be hard. It will cost us everything and the gain will far outweigh the sacrifice, but that won’t make it any easier.

Today I needed this post to restore my passion to persevere.

While walking my son’s dogs by Bear Creek my prayer has been for renewed strength. I’ve prayed for healing from a cough I brought home from the last trip and deliverance from evil.

I feel the spiritual forces of evil trying to attack me and GTP.

But then whilst walking yesterday while crossing a bridge over the water, I had two bucks dart across my path. They posed for the header photo. In the Bible they represent piety, vulnerability, and safety in God’s care.

That filled me with peace as though God was giving me a blessing in those aras.

Today’s post aims to encourage everyone to press on. Jesus gave us fair warning of the yoke, the cup, the towel, and the cross we would bear. He will also help us do it. Press on people.

Not giving up may be the most generous thing we can model for those around us.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die. John 12:32-33

“The more I get to know Jesus, the more impressed I am by what Ivan Karamazov called “the miracle of restraint.” The miracles Satan suggested, the signs and wonders the Pharisees demanded, the final proofs I yearn for — these would offer no serious obstacle to an omnipotent God.

More amazing is His refusal to perform and to overwhelm. God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him. All this Jesus must have known as he faced down the tempter in the desert, focusing His mighty power on the energy of restraint.

I believe God insists on such restraint because no pyrotechnic displays of omnipotence will achieve the response He desires. Although power can force obedience, only love can summon a response of love, which is the one thing God wants from us and the reason he created us.

“I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself,” Jesus said. In case we miss the point John adds,“He said this to show the kind of death He was going to die.” God’s nature is self-giving; He bases His appeal on sacrificial love.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 78.

The name of this post seemed fitting the day after America enjoyed holiday pyrotechnic displays. Ironically, that’s not how God shows His great love to us. He does it through the power of restraint.

Notice this statement. “God’s terrible insistence on human freedom is so absolute that He granted us the power to live as though He did not exist, to spit in His face, to crucify Him.”

Too many of my people celebrate independence with pride and pyrotechnics and live as though God does not exist. Yet, notice the love and the lesson for us as we aim to live generously and make God known.

We too get to exhibit restraint. We can’t force anyone to obey God. We get to show the world that the God we cannot see is real by how we live and love fueled by His sacrificial love for us.

We might know what people need but the power of restraint teaches us to love everyone, serve the receptive, trust God to bring forth fruits, and give thanks we get to be conduits of mercy and grace.

Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” He asked Peter. Matthew 26:40

“Jesus never tried to hide His loneliness and His dependence on other people. He chose His disciples not as servants but as friends. He shared moments of joy and grief with them, and asked for them in times of need. They became His family, His substitute mother and brothers and sisters. They gave up everything for Him, as He had given up everything for them. He loved them, plain and simple.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 99.

Today is a big day in USA. It’s called Independence Day. It marks the day America became free of the tyranny of the British about 250 years ago.

To be American, however, has become equated with independence, having everything life can offer, and pursuing a dream that may well be exactly the opposite of God’s design for us.

What if today we give thanks for those who sacrificed everything for our freedom and, in turn, exhibit sacrificial generosity toward others to spark revival in this nation?

Depending on God and others may be un-American, but it sure reflects the example of Jesus. Imagine Him asking each of us to watch and pray for an hour today with Him!

Try it. Thanks my focus on my dog walks today.

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:52

“Unlike most men I know, Jesus also loved to praise other people. When he worked a miracle, he often deflected credit back on the recipient: “Your faith has healed you.” He called Nathanael “a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” Of John the Baptist, he said there was none greater born of women. Volatile Peter he renamed “the Rock.” When a cringing woman offered him an extravagant act of devotion, Jesus defended her against critics and said the story of her generosity would be told forever.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 88-89.

“Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.” Matthew 26:13

It’s super cool to ponder that Jesus loves stories of our humble faith and our generous sacrifices so much that He makes sure they get told and retold.

Our role on this round ball is to stir deep faith in people like Jesus did. We get to model the way like John the Baptist who also acted like Jesus. He too deflected credit.

Ponder that today. I will ponder with you on this path by the river. Also, what comes to my mind is that coupled with encouragement and deflecting credit, Jesus said, “Go!” to the blind man he healed.

He celebrates our faith and generosity. He wants us to deflect credit while living out our faith in a way that inspires others and brings God glory. What does that look like for you today?

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.

‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:1-16

“In a rabbinic story of the time, the owner of a farm went into town to hire temporary workers for the harvest. The day wore on, and as late as the eleventh hour he recruited one last batch of workers, who had a mere hour remaining to prove their worth. In the familiar version of the story, the latecomers made up for lost time by working so hard that the foreman decided to reward them with a whole day’s pay. Jesus’ version, though, says nothing about the diligence of the workers. He accents instead the generosity of the employer — God — who lavishes His grace on veterans and newcomers alike. No one gets cheated and everyone gets rewarded, far beyond what they deserve.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 95.

I got my NICNT Commentary on Matthew out and, sure enough, R.T France notes the following (748).

“An early fourth century B.C. rabbinic parable (y. Ber. 2:8 = Eccl. Rab. 5.11.5; Cant. Rab. 6/2/6) at first sight seems closer to that of Jesus, in that one man who only worked two hours is given the same pay as those who worked all day, but this is justified by the judgment that he had accomplished more in two hours than they had in the whole day.”

So when we sit with Phil and read this text with this fresh insight, we see Jesus is trying to get them to understand grace. The denarius comes not because they deserve it but because God is generous.

So notice the source of the grumbling. It’s the mindset of the world but of God’s people in that day.

It flows out of the entitlement mentality related to work. When Jesus started the parable, they were probably thinking it would end with with the “equal work with equal pay” conclusion based on merit.

This would have been a prevailing cultural mindset then, and we see it today.

People who think they should get what they deserve need to look in the mirror and say out loud, “Because of my sin, I deserve death and no amount of hard work can make things right.”

That’s why Jesus would accomplish the work for us, dying for our sins on the cross.

Back to the parable. Only when we understand that a denarius was one day’s wages and be sufficient supply for a person to live do we stop grumbling and see the generosity of God.

God is the landowner. He wants everyone to work in His vineyard. Whether you come at the start of the day or the end of the day, He will supply what you need. That’s generosity. That’s grace.

So for us, we need to stop grumbling about what we do not have. Give thanks for what we have. And invite everyone we know to labor in His kingdom and trust Him for daily bread.

And notice I changed the header photo to Bear Creek. This will be my world over the next week. Sammy (our son), Emily, Eve, and Ellie will travel to California with Sophie (our daughter) and Peter to see their grandparents in honor of their 65th wedding anniversary.

I get to stay at Sammy and Emily’s place and house sit and watch their two dogs. I will be walking this trail many times a day. What a privilege to help them go have a great trip starting tomorrow!

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3

“The poor, the hungry, the mourners, and the oppressed truly are blessed. Not because of their miserable states, of course—Jesus spent much of his life trying to remedy those miseries. Rather, they are blessed because of an innate advantage they hold over those more comfortable and self-sufficient. People who are rich, successful, and beautiful may well go through life relying on their natural gifts. People who lack such natural advantages, hence underqualified for success in the kingdom of this world, just might turn to God in their time of need. Human beings do not readily admit desperation. When they do, the kingdom of heaven draws near.”

Philip Yancey (b. 1949) in The Jesus I Never Knew: Revealing What 2,000 Years of History Have Covered Up (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) 116-117.

Today we turn our attention to a friend and amazing author in Colorado, Phil Yancey. Phil taught me some of his writing disciplines which have shaped my writing.

Today’s post shows the beauty of the kingdom. When we have limited wealth because we have stored it up in heaven, we gain an innate advantage. We don’t try to do things ourselves.

We take the posture that says, “Jesus I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.” Those who are rich tend to rely on their privileged position to excel.

The paradox of generosity that is sacrificial and puts us in a place of dependence on God is that it puts us in a better position to rely on and experience His hand and help in our lives.

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

Richard Foster (b. 1942) in Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1998) 1.

I try not to travel internationally in July. It’s our anniversary and my wife’s birthday month.

This year I also need to get a new passport as mine is full. While spending July in Colorado I plan to explore Colorado voices that shape the modern generosity conversation.

Few speak more strongly into the vision to live simply and give generously better than Richard Foster.

He acknowledges first and foremost that we live in an era where people exhibit superficiality and expect instant gratification and describe this situation as a spiritual problem. He’s right.

Superficiality often links to the purchase of possessions, memberships, and experiences to exhibit a certain status or maintain some level of appearance or reputation in society.

Instant gratification says I want it all for myself, for my family, for my grandchildren, and I want it now. Money becomes the power to get what you want. That’s the spiritual side of this.

When we use money the way God designs we don’t have resources to buy everything we want, when we want it. When we live sacrificially, we make it so our lusts, our wants, our desires don’t control us.

We also position ourselves to depend on God not for everything we want but what He knows we need. These are the lessons that deep people learn. We need more deep people today.

Praying for Daily Meditations reader, Steven Jankord, to have a good surgery today. He’s a deep guy. He’s needed for many more years of kingdom work. Pray with me for a good surgery and full recovery in Jesus name.