Have you ever been in a situation where the only response you can give is some hearty laughter? But not because the situation is funny in a way we think of comedy. It’s not funny because of a joke or some simple slapstick humor. As a matter of fact, if you could objectively look at the situation outside of your own eyeballs, it wouldn’t even be funny at all.

Yet, in the moment, you can’t help but laugh. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the moment where words just aren’t enough. It’s the moment when you just can’t think clear thoughts. It’s the moment when it just seems too good to be true.

“Is this real?”

“Is this happening?”

“You can’t be serious.”

So, you laugh. You can’t help it. Something is happening inside your heart. Bubbling up to the surface and the only response is a chuckle. A laugh. A smile. A hope.

You see, comedy was once defined differently then it is today. In Elizabethan literature, comedy is a story with a happy ending.  The main character overcomes the oppressor and against all odds finds true love, acceptance, meaning and purpose. And so the story ends well.

This is the gospel, isn’t it?

Yes, the gospel is a story. And fortunately for us, it’s true and very real.

So, let me introduce the characters in our story. First, let’s look at the oppressor. The bad guy. The deceiver. The thief. And here is what we know about him.

“The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy…” (John 10.10) 

And he has done it. To you and me. We are broken. We have been destroyed. We have been found wanting. We are lost. Depraved. Empty. Hopeless. Useless. Evil. Unrighteous. Unholy. As a matter of fact, nothing good lives in the heart of man. We have succumbed to the cancer of the thief. And our life has literally been stolen from us. We have already been destroyed and we are headed for an eternity of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And let us be reminded.

 For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.

 The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;

You destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest. (Psalm 5.4-6 NIV) 

We are indeed enemies of God. It’s a harsh reality, but it is true.

Let us meet the second character of our story.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. (John 1.1-4 NIV) 

This Word, this person who was with God in the beginning, was God’s son, Jesus, and he was born a savior (Luke 2.11).

And so God, in his infinite love and wisdom set about the work of redeeming the world. He set about the work of undoing all the thief had done. He set about the work of reconciling us, the enemies of God. Because a savior had been born.

(Are you laughing yet?)

And so Jesus takes on the iniquity of us all. He takes my sin. He takes your evil. He takes the cancer in our heart. And he pays the price. He goes to the cross. Naked. Broken. Beaten. Bleeding. Our deserved punishment becomes his reality.

And here is the worst part of it all. Jesus lived a life worthy of heaven. In fact, he was perfect. He was God. He was man. You could take his life and put it on the scale and he would have been found in right standing with God. He had earned heaven.

And yet, because you and I never could, he took it upon himself to bridge the great divide between us and heaven. And so, he was nailed to the cross, and there died. For the payment of sin is death.

And because a man who did not deserve death took on death it’s power over us is broken. Death has been defeated. The grave could not hold Jesus. And neither can it hold you.

Grace has been given. It has been extended to you and I. The thief has been destroyed and his power taken from him.

What you were powerless to do, Jesus did for you. You are destined for destruction and there is nothing you can do about it. And yet, Jesus payed the penalty and has extended grace.

No amount of good works, no amount of self improvement, no amount of anything could ever be enough. There was only one way, a sacrifice for the people. For you and me. It has been paid in full.

(Are you laughing yet?)

Let’s revisit the Psalm one more time. But this time, we will go a bit farther.

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness;
with you, evil people are not welcome.

The arrogant cannot stand
in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;

you destroy those who tell lies.
The bloodthirsty and deceitful
you, Lord, detest.

But I, by your great love,
can come into your house; (Psalm 5.4-7 NIV). 

And there it is. God’s great love. His grace.

Is this real?

Is this happening?

You can’t be serious.

But I am. This is real. This is true. And it’s available to you.

And so we laugh, not because the gospel is funny, but because it is truly wonderful. And when you take the comedy of the gospel and set it next to the tragedy of the gospel, salvation is so much sweeter. You can’t have one without the other because before the gospel was good news, it was bad news.

But let’s be honest. It is really good news…

Are you laughing yet?

In the beginning, God created the world and it was good. Then it went bad. There was an uprising in heaven and evil was cast out, only to make its residence on the earth.

And evil set about the work of destroying all that was good. Eve ate the apple. Then so did Adam. Wickedness and disobedience spread in the hearts of man like a virus.

The world grew in unrighteosness; scorning the things of God and making for themselves idols in which to worship anything other than the one who created it all. God looked down from heaven and saw the world had grown sadistic so he sent a flood in an effort to choke out evil. He spared an honest man and gave him the task of starting the world over. And yet, evil persisted. It grew in the hearts of man. Conquering. Spreading. Consuming.

Even unto today, evil is alive. This world is broken. Sin is in the heart of man. You. Me. We have all fallen short of the glory of heaven. We can never hope to obtain the righteousness that is Christ’s. And yet, this is the requirement of heaven. We are to be like Christ himself. Spotless. Sinless. White as snow.

We know we aren’t. We know in the deepest, darkest corners of our heart is an evil. Lurking. Waiting. Corrupting. We know we can’t help to obtain the perfection of Christ. The perfection heaven requires. Even if we decided right now to walk in righteousness. Even if we decided right now to muscle our way past every wrong decision. Even if we decided with just sheer might to obstain from that which is evil, we would still have a past.

No, there is not one who is righteous. There is not one who can stand beside the Christ and be counted worthy.

Please give ear to me and hear, there is nothing you can do. There is no amount of work you can do to earn your way into enternity with the God of heaven. You can’t go far enough. You can’t love enough. You can’t work hard enough. It is not a simple matter of good works outweighing bad ones. No, just one bad one is enough to tip the scale in the favor of hell. You are helpless. Broken. Lost. Destined for an eternity separated from Christ. Doomed for destruction.

And there is nothing you can do about it. Indeed, it is as if chasing after the wind.

For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord, detest. 

-Psalm 5.4-6

In John 7 we find Jesus and his band of merry men at the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles). In Zecheriah it says this about the Feast…

Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. And if any families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there will be no rain on them. 

You see, the Feast of Booths was a celebration of the harvest. This feast happened at the end of the year, after all the crops were harvested. And we all know how important rain is to those who make their living on crops. Zecheriah clearly says the people of Israel were to head to Jerusalem for the feast or they wouldn’t get any rain. So, not only was the feast a celebration of the past year it was a also an acknowledgment of the need for water for the coming year. Water was a key component of the feast.

Keep that in mind while I change gears for a second…

Not only was water significant for Israel and their crops, but it also played an important role in purification rights. All throughout the Bible we see examples of the nation of Israel washing their hands or cleansing themselves with water (see Leviticus 11-15.) As a matter of fact, Jewish biblical and oral law suggests some things make a person so unclean they must put their entire self underwater. And here is the most interesting part, you couldn’t just get in any pool or body of water, it had to be living water. This meant a stream, river, or natural spring. It had to be flowing, living, and active.

As far as I can tell, there a lot of things that require submersion in living water, however, there are two which are incredibly fascinating. The first is conversion to Judaism requires a person to clean themselves in living water. The second is when a person comes into contact with a dead animal or person, they must wash themselves living water. The second one is pretty obvious…

But let the implications of that sink in for just a second…

It’s almost as if a conversion to Judaism requires a person to wash off their old self. To wash away their past before they can truly enter into right standing in the Jewish faith.

Similarly, a person who comes into contact with death must wash it away. Clean themselves from decay and come into full life.

Some of you know where I am going with this…

With all that in mind, listen to the words of Jesus as he talks to the Samaritan woman at the well.

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 

Jesus is offering this woman living water. The water that cleans. The water that heals. The water that brings life. Could you IMAGINE the implications of this??

Let’s keep tracking. Obviously the woman doesn’t understand…

“Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” 

For those of you that know anything about wells you know they are dug deep into underground aquifers which are, incidentally enough, underground rivers. And not only is this water a type of living water, it was dug by Jacob himself. Jacob was a father of the nation of Israel, he was a patriarch. He was at the beginning. In short, he was a legend.

And here is this lady looking at Jesus and she asks him, “You are better then this? You are more than this?” Can you feel the intensity rising? There air is about to explode…

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

Jesus looks straight at her and says whoever drinks of this well will be thirsty again. You will need this well again. You will be unclean again. You will have to keep coming back here. Over and over and over. But what Jesus is offering is a living water so great and so vast and so amazing, we will never need another. We will be clean. We will be alive. We will be pure.

Jesus is claiming to be the source and if we would just accept it and drink deep, we would walk with him into eternity.

You see, the whole book of John is characterized by symbols. The Jews believed everything meant something. It all stood for something. Living water. Bread of life. The true vine. It was all significant. It was a symbol for God and what he is and how he had provided for them as a nation. And Jesus comes on the scene and says HE IS those things. He is the living water. He is the true vine. He is the bread of life. He is the FULFILLMENT of the law. The FULFILLMENT of everything the Jews had ever believed. He says everything in their culture pointed to and led up to him and his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. He was the beginning and the end. He was and is EVERYTHING.

But here is the best part. Here is the good news for you and me. Here is the application.

Whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

That Jesus who is the source has filled our hearts to overflowing with living water. His Spirit lives and breathes inside of us. It brings life not only to us, but to those around us. We are to set the captives free and bind the brokenhearted because the living water has been given to us that we should let it flow freely to all.

So, go and overflow.

-jw

This verse was spoken by Jesus in the context of him being ridiculed for “welcoming sinners and eating with them.” Then he tells a story about a shepherd who loses just one sheep out of his flock. Even though he has plenty more, he leaves them to go find the one.

Just one.

I read this story and can’t help but think about how we do ministry. In a world full of programs and discipleship classes and building campaigns and worship services, do we have the one sheep in mind or the ninety-nine?

Are we doing everything in our power to seek the one? That one person who is broken from a destroyed marriage and has never heard the hope of the gospel? That one person struggling with addiction and doesn’t know there is freedom in salvation?  That one student who is thinking about having sex with her boyfriend and doesn’t know a savior who can satisfy? Are we thinking about that person?

This idea is a game changer, isn’t it?

Just think about it, what if we viewed Sunday morning through the context of the one sheep? Through the context of the outsider? What if we put on their glasses and planned a service on a Sunday morning? What would it look like?

I’m talking about every aspect of a Sunday morning from the parking lot, to the chair they sit in, to the bathroom they walk in, and to the room they drop their kids off at. I’m talking about everything from the person who holds the door to the person who speaks from stage.

If we truly believed and lived this idea, everything we did would be about making them feel comfortable, making sure they could find their way and making sure they hear the hope they need to hear. We would make church something familiar to them, not to us.

I work in a ministry model that gets criticized all the time for not being deep enough, being too much of a show, being too loud, or not having enough discipleship classes. We are all of those things. You know why? Because my neighbor whose life is wrecked, who is in desperate need of the hope of the gospel, feels more comfortable at a Coldplay concert on a Friday night then he does at a church on a Sunday morning.

You want to know why I speak simple truth on a Sunday morning? I do it because Sam is a freshman in high school struggling with acceptance and when he’s being asked to smoke weed, he isn’t going to be thinking about symbolism in the Gospel of John. No, he’s going to need to know the God of universe accepts him for who he is and the friends he makes when he is a freshmen will determine the direction and quality of his life.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in solid theology and excellent teaching. I believe in discipleship and investing in the next generation. I believe in raising up men and women who live and breathe the gospel of Jesus. I’m just suggesting their may be a better venue for this than a Sunday morning. Because none of that matters if we can’t get them in the door.

Here’s the deal, God throws a party for the one. And maybe we should too.

-jw

If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even life itself—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple…

Let me clear, I don’t hate my family. They are an anchor of hope for me! But, I don’t think this is what Jesus means. I don’t think he is literally saying to hate them. The reality is, family and friends provide a certain sense of security. They are a safety net. They are comfortable. They are home. But if Jesus had no place to lay his head, why should I?

Let me tell you, I was comfortable. Four months ago I was living at home. My best friends from college were an hour away. My girlfriend was 40 minutes away. I was saving a lot of money and didn’t have to buy groceries. I was working at a pretty sweet job at a rapidly growing church. I was part of a student ministry team comprised of brilliant people.

Comfortable.

And then everything changed. Pretty unexpectedly I was let go of my job and had no idea what I was going to do next. I started the search process and after a few weeks got a call from Red Rock Church here in Colorado Springs. I was intrigued to say the least, but move to Colorado? So far from everything I knew? I wasn’t so sure…

They flew me out for a visit and some interviews. I hadn’t even been here 24 hours and I knew Colorado Springs was where I was supposed to be. The staff was incredible. And I’m convinced God created the mountains just for my enjoyment.

But Colorado? There are mountains in North Georgia. Why not there? Or Tennessee? But God was calling.

So, I said bye to everything I had ever known. Sold my car. Packed three suitcases and my bike (thank the Lord for that bike), and headed west. A real life Oregon Trail. Just without a covered wagon and I didn’t quite make it to Oregon.

I’ve been here almost four months and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Don’t get me wrong, there have been days and nights, hours and minutes, where I thought I couldn’t do it. Where I thought I would never make it and I was in over my head.

I had to make new friends. Start a new job with new people. Learn a new city. Learn how to mountain bike. I wasn’t on a team with with brilliant people anymore. I had to buy my own groceries (still figuring that part out…), budget my own money, and make my own decisions. Not only that, but every decision I made and am still making has eternal significance for students all across the springs. Talk about pressure.

And then God came knocking again. This time he went straight for the heart, asking for something I had spent a lot of time fighting for. A lot of time investing in. A lot of time loving. I fought with God. Wrestled. Pleaded. I was mad. Angry. Sad. Confused. But God is God and he is sovereign. I mean, Jonah tried to resist God’s will and got eaten by a whale. Now, I don’t think there are whales in Colorado, but maybe…

Regardless, God had spoken and I had to obey. So, I shouldered my cross and proceeded to follow the Lord. Wherever he may lead. Because when God calls his disciples, he asks everything of them.

So, here I am living in this beautiful mess, wondering why in the world God does some of the things he does. I’m asking God why he asks so much of us and why it has to be so hard.

There is a story in the book of John I have heard several times over the last few weeks. In the story one of Jesus’ best friends is sick. As a matter of fact the Bible refers to him  the “one Jesus loves.” This man is Lazarus and he is on the verge of death. Jesus could have done something about it. I mean, he could have healed him from the chair he was sitting in at the time he heard the news, but instead he simply does nothing. He waits. And waits. And Lazarus dies.

Now that the situation is all but hopeless, Jesus decides to act. He said this…

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” 

I love that. He is going to wake him up.

Well, when Jesus shows up, a funeral was happening and everyone was mad at Jesus because he was a little late. I mean, if he had just come sooner. Faster. But he didn’t.

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

My thoughts exactly…

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 

Of course she does…

And so Jesus does what only he can do.

“Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”  Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

Yes, you read it right. Jesus told Lazarus to come out of the grave. He had been dead for a while and he smelled bad. And I’m sure you can guess what happened.

The dead man came out…

Yes he did. He walked out of the grave. You, see Jesus wasn’t late, he was patient. He knew God’s glory would be praised far and beyond just healing a sick man. This guy was dead. And now he was alive.

I don’t know why Jesus does what he does sometimes. I don’t know why he asks so much of us and why it has to be so hard.

But this is what I know, if we believe, we will see the glory of God and every morning I walk out my front door and see the glory of God displayed by a snow capped mountain rising to 14,000 feet. This doesn’t make the heartache or the pressure or the overwhelming feeling goes away, but I smile. Because I believe.

And I’m awake.

-jw

This past weekend I had the opportunity to climb a 14er, which is a mountain that summits at over 14,000 feet. The air is very thin at that altitude and makes breathing and hiking very difficult. On top of that there was no real trail, so we just kind of forged our own way to the top. Oh yeah… through the snow. It was hard going in some places to say the least. I’ll be honest, there were times when I wanted to go home.

And then I would stop, take a break, and turn around. The view was simply breathtaking. And for some reason, in view of the mountains sitting majestically in the distance, the hardness of the hike was all but forgotten.

If the view was this good now, how much better would it be at the summit? I wasn’t disappointed. It was pretty amazing. Humbling, really.

I never really got the answer I was looking for because he told me, “Well, it depends on the captain in charge.” I thought that was strange because a fire is big or not no matter who is in charge. Well, he proceeded to tell me there are two philosophies when it comes to fighting fires. The first is the captain gets on the nozzle of the hose and is the first one into the fire. Respectable. However, the captain can get so focused on putting out the fire, the rest of his team could be falling apart and he would never know it.

The next thought is the captain stands second in line on the hose. Still near the front, but also able to look around and direct his team more efficiently and affectively. In this scenario, the captain puts down the courage, bravado and potential glory of being in the front and elects to sit second in an effort to better coordinate his team. You see, a team operating at full capacity means everyone lives whereas an individual working at full capacity could mean your team is in trouble.

As leaders, there is this desire to stand on the front. We want to be the point guy and lead the charge. We think we can do it better then everyone else, and maybe we can. However, if we aren’t careful, we can get so focused on being the “leader” and doing everything our team could be falling to pieces behind us and we would never know.

I love the ministry model I am in right now because we make it a priority to train and equip other volunteers to do what we do. We talk all the time about empowering other people to lead. I have a whole team of volunteers who are excellent at what they do and they continue to blow my mind each and every Sunday. If I can train one of them to take my place or do something I’m doing, then the whole team wins.

I can stand on the front all day long and take on the fire. Or I can take a step back, put somebody else on the front, and lead a whole team to fight that fire.

Are you replacing yourself on the front, or are you so busy fighting fires your team is a wreck behind you?

-jw

But it was awesome. Every part of it was worth it.

I had to check my bike in the night before because there was so many people in the race. So, we got to the race site and just walked around for a bit. 3,500 bikes in the transition. The rack I put my bike on was right next to the one which read, “pro men.” Really? I’m going to be out there with the best of the best? Yep.

I walked down to the swim exit and saw a line of yellow buoys literally as far as I could see. Seriously, standing at the exit, I couldn’t even see the start line. It was awesome.

Had christmas come early? Or was this better then christmas? It was close…

Cars all over town had 70.3, 13.1, 26.2, and 140.6 stickers (I hope to add the last two in the near future). The Ironman logo tattoo was everywhere. It was like the whole city was waiting in anticipation for racers all over the country to burn holes in the pavement. You could smell the excitement.

Race morning came. I went to transition and spent some time with bike just to make sure it was ready to go. I grabbed my swim gear and hopped the bus to the start. I put my cap on and walked out on the dock. The cannon went off and I jumped in. The water felt good. I got kicked in the face. I pushed someone out of my way and started swimming to the end I couldn’t see. And I smiled the whole way.

I realized something as I was racing, my mind was right. I was enjoying every mile. Never once had I been nervous. All because I was prepared. I knew in my heart I had done everything I could do. I knew in my heart that after training in the Rockies (above 6,500ft in elevation) for three months had made me strong. I knew I was in the best shape of my life.

And so I raced with joy in my heart and a smile on face. Now, imagine if I knew I wasn’t prepared. 70.3 miles would have seen an impossible mountain to climb. I probably would have been so nervous I’d have lost my breakfast and race would have been a very different experience.

Here’s the reality, triathlon is absolutely a race against yourself. I’ll never be a pro, so I’m not really racing anyone but me. Being unprepared would really only affect one person: me.

But in my world of student ministry, being unprepared can be a disaster. Every Sunday is an opportunity to lead a student into a growing relationship with Jesus. What if it’s their first time? What if they decided they were going to try church one last time? Where would my lack of preparation leave them? What about my small group leaders who are giving so much to pour into the lives of students? What’s at stake if my preparation is poor on a Sunday morning? A lot.

Every Sunday is the Super Bowl. I need to act like it.

Are you preparing well? Do you have good systems in place? Do you have people in your life challenging you to get better?

Here is what I’m learning: When incredible opportunity is met with passionate preparation the results can be astounding.

-j[4000]

First, grace is salvation.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… 

To the unsaved, this is the best news in the whole entire universe. And if we could go beyond the whole entire universe, this would still be the best news. You see, salvation is not and cannot be earned. It is a gift through faith. Good works don’t save us. Loving enough people won’t save us. Attending enough church services won’t save us.

Only grace. And grace is enough.

I think most Christians get that. We understand grace saved us. But somehow, after salvation we lose grace. We try to live like this Jesus guy in our power and in our own way. We seek to do as he does the best way we know how. We try to muscle our way through sin and sit on our hands in an effort to not do what we know we shouldn’t.

But I’m here to tell you, Grace is more than that. It goes beyond the salvation of those who are lost. Grace’s work isn’t done at “admit, believe, commit.” No. Grace flows from the creator in abundance. It never stops. It’s reach is never limited. No sin is too big to hinder it’s power.

My grace is sufficient for you… 

I read this verse and picked up a dictionary and looked up the word sufficient. Sufficient means “enough.”

Grace is enough. It is never too much or too little.

It is enough.

It is enough for your breakup. It is enough for your marriage. It is enough for you high school math class. It is enough if your parents are getting a divorce. It is enough for you sadness, your joy.

Grace is enough for salvation. It is enough for the life of the most devout christian.

We miss this sometimes. We look past this more often then we should. Grace sustains us. It gets us through the day. Through any circumstance.

It is our sustenance. It is enough.

I do not set aside the grace of God… 

Let’s not set it aside either and instead live in the clutches of a grace we could never understand.

-j[3000]

Anyway, I’m back to blogging. I was reading my previous posts last night and the journey I have been on over the last few years is simply astounding. And now I live in one of the most beautiful places in the country… Blessed much?

I think so.

New ideas. New adventures. New stories. Same God.

I’ll see you guys on the blogosphere.

St. Peter's Dome, Colorado Springs, CO.

j[3000]