We are all excited for Sunday. We’ve been hungering for something significant to celebrate. For some really Good News. Thoughts of the resurrection and Christ’s victory over death bring us renewed hope. Maybe we’ll eat special food with our family - or enjoy something we’ve been denying ourselves for Lent. Sunday is coming, and I’m so so glad.
But let’s not hasten there too quickly. Let’s do our best to sit for a time in the horror of Friday and the awful silence of Saturday. Before Sunday’s resounding Alleluia, we are called to contemplate Friday’s agony. And Friday’s gift. Today we remember the sufferings of Jesus. He was crucified for me. For you. Apparently a quick and relatively painless death would not have sufficed. He was tortured and humiliated. He suffered horribly. We know this. Why did it have to be so? In Jesus’ suffering on the cross, the terrible weight of our sin is revealed to us. The ugliness and the awfulness of it. This is what sin does. Not just the spectacular kind, but your kind and my kind. When was the last time you were aware of your sin? The weight and the darkness and the wickedness of it? The cross forces us - if we will pay attention - to face the fact that our sin is so deep and so dark that it required the blood of God Himself to get rid of it. The consequence of our sin is Jesus hanging on a tree, in blood and gore and unspeakable agony. Yes, this is on us. On me. My petty jealousies and unrelenting selfishness. My pitiful greed and lack of love and my laziness and my unbelievable inability to think of someone besides myself for more than 5 minutes at a time. My unholy thoughts and cutting words and mystifying lack of faith and my brazen arrogance. And yours, too. Look what we have done to this world that He entrusted to us. Why must we face this? Why ‘celebrate’ such a thing every Good Friday? Because without an honest appraisal of our own lostness and hopelessness, we can never taste the absolute wonder of His grace and His love. If all was fair and just in the world, the cross would have been for me. But in this case God’s mercy trumped fairness, and I go free. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21 The scandal of Christianity is not that God demands holiness and purity from us. It is not that He must be Lord of our money and our sexuality and our time. It’s not that He calls us to sacrifice and lay down our lives. It’s not even that He will one day judge the world, no matter how harsh that idea seems from our vantage point. The true scandal of Christ is the cross. The true scandal has always been grace. It is that God made Him to be sin for you and me. That wasn’t fair. The biggest injustice ever carried out. It is that we become, shockingly, the righteousness of God. The unfairness of Christianity is that I have been declared not guilty and have been welcomed into the very family of God, set free to enjoy all the benefits of such ridiculously unwarranted favor. The scandal is that it was Jesus hanging on that cross and not me and you. On Good Friday we remember the beautiful unfairness of God. We mourn deeply the fact that our sin did this to Jesus. We receive the offered exchange, because what else can we do? And so we repent. Genuinely, thoughtfully, and sacrificially. And we humbly take our place among the holy and the eternal. Clean. Free. Without guilt. No shame. And we celebrate - yes, on this day shrouded in darkness, we celebrate - that we are loved this much. Remember. Repent. Rejoice.  “Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”
— Colossians 2:8-10 From Hollywood to news outlets to podcasts and books and blogs and social media, the so-called wisdom of the world is available at every turn. We find helpful advice from the “experts” on every imaginable topic or issue. Finance, self-care, meaning, work, politics, health, time management, food, culture, and on and on. Relationships, marriage, parenting. Mental health and emotional strength and what to think about so-and-so’s speech and what to eat (or not eat) for breakfast and how to keep yourself regular. Has there ever been a time when pop psychology and pop philosophy so dominate our conversation and convictions? What’s even better (?) is that we can get all the above in whatever flavor we prefer — liberal or conservative; Christian or materialist; baby-boomer or gen-z. This ensures that we can easily find ammunition to prove that which we already know (want? feel?) to be true. As devoted followers of Jesus, I’d like to make a radical counter-proposal. Read the Bible. In the above passage, the Holy Spirit, through the apostle Paul, warns the church of Colossae to not be captured by what the world teaches. Oh how we need to take this to heart in our time! We are in grave danger of basing our lives on ‘empty philosophy’ and ‘high-sounding nonsense’ that originate in ‘human thinking’ and ‘the spiritual powers of the world.’ Friends, we have available to us the very wisdom of God. Why would we settle for human thinking? Perhaps because it is easier to access a blog than to dig into God’s Word. Maybe because we so much prefer to find ‘high sounding nonsense’ that strengthens our own opinions than to allow ourselves to be challenged by God Himself. Or maybe we are taken in because the blogger or author or expert we count on carries the label Christian and attaches Bible verses to their opinions. Perhaps we simply don’t believe that the wisdom we need is accessible in the Bible - at least not to ordinary folk like you and me. Or maybe we’re duped by the often self-proclaimed title of ‘expert.’ They’ve studied this stuff. They know things that I don’t. Perhaps you have fallen prey to the assault on the validity of the Bible for us today. After all, it is so... old. We’ve made lots of advances since that time. Things are just different now. The Bible is good for things like affirming that Jesus loves us and died for us and rose again, but in the nitty gritty of life we need experts. Brothers and sisters, do not be taken in by that lie. The Creator of heaven and earth and of you and me knows best, and He has revealed Himself. “In him [Jesus] lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” — Colossians 2:3 We need to learn to think biblically. We need to get beyond ‘that sounds good’ and ‘I’ve never seen this verse like that before’ and ‘I need to post that quote’, and instead move on to ‘is that what the Bible actually intends to teach?’ and ‘What does the Bible have to say about...?’ The Bible does reveal God’s wisdom regarding money and relationships and parenting and life-controlling habits. It may not answer every question we have in all the details and specifics, but it does provide a framework of how God intends us to think about and live in these various arenas. What does the Bible teach about raising kids and spending money and overcoming anxiety? Before turning to the experts of human thinking, shouldn’t we at least put some work into discovering what God has always said about these things? And then we can begin to filter all the other information and opinions and ‘wisdom’ through Him. There is good advice out there - and lots of the other kind. The problem is that we are so immersed in our culture that we don’t naturally have what it takes to determine the difference. But, as we intentionally immerse ourselves in the Word of God, we develop the ability to see what is gold and what is garbage. “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.” — Hebrews 5:12-14 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” — Acts 2:42-47 I don’t know what you expect when you come together with the people of God on a Sunday morning or Saturday night or whenever this happens for your spiritual family. Do you ever think about why you do this? Obviously (I think), we come together to worship God. That’s pretty straight forward. We do this in song and preaching and prayer and the Lord’s Supper and in fellowship. We come together because we believe Jesus is there. “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt 18:20). We speak words of adoration and praise to Him, proclaiming who He is and what He has done. We surrender our wills to Him. “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom 12:2). We often speak of encountering Him in this place - having an experience of His love and His presence that we actually feel. This is beautiful. I want to suggest that we also come together for the purpose of making disciples. For bringing the congregation of our friends and family into greater maturity of the Spirit - greater godliness and holiness and goodness. And we all have a part in this. “What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” (1 Cor 14:26). ‘That the church may be built up’ does not mean that people will simply feel better about themselves or be happy or whatever, but that as a people we will be stronger. That we will be more able to fulfill the mission of Jesus in our community and world. That we will better overcome the attacks of the enemy that seek to divide us and drag us down into sin and make us timid. We need to stop being consumers of religious experience - looking around for the best worship or best preaching or best young adult ministry or whatever. The best show or best community or even the best people. Instead, please consider this question: Who is God calling you to join with as family and co-laborers in His Kingdom? And when you do gather, please don’t focus primarily on what you are ‘getting out of it’ or how well you are ‘being fed.’ Maybe think about if you are being equipped to do the work of ministry God has for you. “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Eph 4:11-12). And beyond that even, maybe prayerfully consider how He is calling you to contribute to this effort when you gather. Maybe you are coming together in a big group, and it seems your role is to sit and respond to what happens on the stage. But what if you are there for more than that? What if you have something to give, even to one other person? Perhaps it’s a warm welcome, an encouraging word, a friendly conversation. Maybe it’s a prayer or a passage of scripture or a testimony to share. We gather to worship God and to experience Him. To revel in His presence together. We gather to build one another up to greater maturity. To make disciples. To learn to obey and help others do the same. You are called to be more than a spectator. Let’s stop just going to church. Let’s be the church.  The Tulsa Boiler Room gathers throughout the week in homes:
Monday Evenings at 5:30 Tuesday Evenings at 6:00 Saturday Afternoons at 4:00 We also come together on Sunday mornings at the Merchant (605 S Peoria) at 11:00. For more info: tulsaboiler@gmail.com OR (918) 704-5085 “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” — Acts 2:42-47 When I read the book of Acts I see a picture of the Church that produces a longing in my chest that is sometimes hard to bear. There is a generosity of spirit and an intimacy that tug at me. There is genuine power. Sacrificial love. Simple pleasures. Genuine friendship. There is a tangible wholeness. True equality of value. Full belonging and participation. I see every member playing a significant part. Family in the truest sense of the word. Everyone has purpose. There is agreement and unity; wildy different people coming together in a common mission. The very real presence of Jesus Himself. Church is not an event. It is not a location. It is not a dynamic leader with a great vision and lots of people doing all they can to make it come true. Church does not happen at 11:00 Sunday morning or 7:00 Saturday evening. Church is a people. It is community. Family. Church is a family centered on and lead by Jesus. God’s family. Not a Sunday morning performance. Not a program. Not an event. It has events and it gathers in places, but it is not in essence those things. I love gathering together with my church. Watching the toddlers play. Eating great food. Praying together and looking into God’s Word and worshiping and laughing. I love knowing them, and being known by them. Being myself. Not performing. I love people in my living room singing to Jesus and interceding for the lost and discussing the scriptures. Worshipping God and sitting in awe of Him. Freaking out a bit that He is actually present in the moment. Being equipped for His mission. Becoming stronger. I love the way the Father uses these flawed people to make me more like His Son. It’s amazing to me the way we sharpen one another. I love seeing someone used by the Spirit to bring encouragement or instruction or even rebuke to the rest of us. I love being part of different generations coming together for a common purpose - babies and teenagers and young adults and new parents and old parents and... I love the energy of youth and the wisdom of age and the carefree-ness of children all in the mix together. I love encountering and being transformed by Jesus together with my friends. I love scheming with these same friends about how we might invite and welcome others into this incredible Kingdom. I love Church.  “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” — Acts 2:42-47 When I read the book of Acts I see a picture of the Church that produces a longing in my chest that is sometimes hard to bear. There is a generosity of spirit and an intimacy that tug at me. There is genuine power. Sacrificial love. Simple pleasures. Genuine friendship. There is a tangible wholeness. True equality of value. Full belonging and participation. I see every member playing a significant part. Family in the truest sense of the word. Everyone has purpose. There is agreement and unity; wildy different people coming together in a common mission. The very real presence of Jesus Himself. Church is not an event. It is not a location. It is not a dynamic leader with a great vision and lots of people doing all they can to make it come true. Church is not an event. Church does not happen at 11:00 Sunday morning or 7:00 Saturday evening. Church is not an event. Church is a people. It is community. Family. Church is a family centered on and lead by Jesus. God’s family. Not a Sunday morning performance. Not a program. Not an event. It has events and it gathers in places, but it is not in essence those things. I love gathering together with my church. Watching the toddlers play. Eating great food. Praying together and looking into God’s Word and worshiping and laughing. I love knowing them, and being known by them. Being myself. Not performing. I love people in my living room singing to Jesus and interceding for the lost and discussing the scriptures. I love the way the Father uses these flawed people to make me more like His Son. It’s amazing to me the way we sharpen one another. I love seeing someone used by the Spirit to bring encouragement or instruction or even rebuke to the rest of us. I love being part of different generations coming together for a common purpose - babies and teenagers and young adults and new parents and old parents and... I love the energy of youth and the wisdom of age and the carefree-ness of children all in the mix together. I love encountering and being transformed by Jesus together with my friends. I love scheming with these same friends about how we might invite and welcome others into this incredible Kingdom. I love Church. tulsaboilerroom.com  “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves...
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control... “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” (Galatians 5:16, 22-23, 25) We have been filled with the Spirit of God - the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. He is alive in you! His intent is to make us witnesses for Jesus, that the world might know who He is and what He has done for them. He also labors to make us more like Jesus, so we can demonstrate to the world what He is like. Though we have been filled with the Spirit, we can be filled again. If we are struggling in our witness; if we are noticing a lack of true Holy Spirit fruit, we can seek to be filled anew, just as the disciples did in Acts 4. And He is faithful. You can walk in joy and in love and in peace and all of those things. The key is the Spirit. Paul admonishes us, “let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.” We all need to step back at times and seek Him. We need to renew our vows to Him, and to once again give Him everything - every part of our lives. Give Him our futures and our ambitions and our money and our relationships and our sins and habits and addictions and hopes and all of it. Lay it before Him. Oh, the crazy fulfillment that comes with this! The cross demonstrates that He has already given us His all. He is faithful! This Sunday I am praying for a time of refreshing and filling for each of us as we celebrate Pentecost. We will devote our gathering together to worship and prayer. I hope you can make it.  “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
“They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.” — Acts 1:14 We’ll be observing the Day of Pentecost in a few weeks, remembering the day that the Holy Spirit filled the first disciples and thrust them into the world as witnesses for Jesus. Man, can you imagine that scene? A crazy noise. Something that looked like fire resting on each of them. And they felt something. They felt Him. And then all of them speaking in other languages they didn’t even know. Peter boldly preaching to the crowds, and three thousand becoming believers and getting baptized. We’re promised that this same Spirit of God lives in us too. And His desire is the same as it was back then - to make us witnesses for Jesus. His purpose is to fill us with life and power and the very presence of God so that we can reveal the wonder and glory of Jesus to a world desperately in need of knowing Him. This is what I want from my life. I don’t care about success or a good retirement or cool stuff. I want to be filled with the Spirit like those first Christians so that Jesus makes Himself known through me. So that He draws people to Himself, sets them free from the lies and bondages of the enemy, welcomes them into the Father’s family, and gives them the ridiculous gift of eternal life. What could compare? Even before the Spirit filled them, “They all met together and were constantly united in prayer.” We have been filled with the Spirit when we first believed in Jesus, but we still must seek Him. Maybe we just leak. In Acts 4, we see those same disciples again, huddled together after being threatened by the authorities, and again seeking the face of the Lord. And again He responded: “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31) Let’s seek Him and believe He will do something in this city for the glory of Jesus. Let’s believe He’s even willing to use a bunch of ragamuffins like us. BR Leadership
Someone suggested it might be good to explain BR leadership structure again. Some of you are newer and haven’t heard this before. Of course, if you ever have any questions you can always ask me or a spud leader. This info is also on our website in a different format - which you can see here: BR Leader Page. The boiler room has three elder couples, who also serve as our board. These are James and Katie Bleeker, Oliver and Heidi Larrabee, and Tim and Jill Way. The Bleekers and Larrabees have served as spud leaders for more than four years (probably 5 or 6 for the Bleekers) and have consistently given of themselves for this community in countless ways. They have been the epitome of faithful service for years, and have given more time, resources, heartache, and life to the br than we can begin to comprehend. They have received no payment and ridiculously little thanks. They live full and busy lives with work, family, and other pursuits, and yet still give hours every week to serve us all. I am so grateful for them. In addition to these three couples, two other couples participate in our monthly leader meetings. John and Nicole McVay have been leading a spud for the past two and a half years. Jill and I are part of this spud, not because we are obligated to be, but because we personally need it. Having a more experienced and wiser couple like John and Nicole in our lives is an amazing blessing to us, and the family environment that they have created in this spud consistently nourishes and encourages us. We are so thankful. Micah and Sarah Tilford are our ministry leaders over Thursday Night Light. Before the Tilfords rolled into town, TNL was starting to be a heavy and wearisome burden. Many of us were tiring. Micah and Sarah imparted fresh vision and energy, and this ministry has once again become a great joy and an energizing and significant part of our lives. In addition to TNL, of course, the Tilfords contribute and serve in many ways, and I’m so grateful for them. Since we have gone down to three spuds, it can seem that our leader team meetings are rather large for the size of our community. However, each participant represents a group that we as a whole are called to serve, and it is significant to have the chance to check in and offer advice and encouragement on a regular basis regarding each of these spheres. That’s the basic structure — but leadership in the br has always transcended an org chart. The truth is, everyone who is a part of the boiler room influences the whole. This influence is informal and not diagrammed out. It is also stronger in some and less in others. There are probably many factors which impact a person’s influence or leadership in the community. Some of these are: (1) Maturity / quality of life in Jesus. Spiritual power and influence come through the example of our lives. (2) Investment. The ones who invest most heavily into a community — with their time, gifts, availability, etc - will be the ones who exercise the most influence. (3) Initiative. Those who jump in and suggest things and develop ideas and solve problems and do stuff tend to have more sway. (4) Time. Longevity increases influence. Undoubtedly there are more factors, but these are important ones. It goes without saying that this isn’t by design or intent, but is just simply the way human community tends to work. In the boiler room, we rely on this informal and relational form of leadership maybe more than most. Sometimes this lack of a strong structure can be a little disconcerting, but I think it’s what suits us, and it fits who we are called to be. Another thought or two - our monthly leader team meetings are not typically the context for most decision-making in our community. Significant decisions about spuds are made in the spuds (such as the recent flurry of changing meeting days and times). It’s the same for TNL. We do our best to incorporate anyone who will be impacted by a decision into the process. In our leader meetings we typically decide on routine things like what weekend to have the Fall Retreat and what time to gather for Lent Prayer. We spend most of our meeting times checking in with the various spuds and TNL, praying, and me leading in a teaching or discussion. If you’re curious about what that looks like, let me know. I’m sure we can arrange for you to come hang out at one if you like. The bottom line is that everyone in the br is invited to make suggestions, take initiative to begin things, ask questions, and lead. Everyone is connected with a spud leader who can listen to concerns, ideas, and insights. And of course I am open to getting coffee and hearing your ideas. I love and appreciate all of you. I’m so aware that there’s a lot we don’t get right. But I am so grateful for God’s grace and yours, and for the friendships we share. I’m praying for you. God bless, Tim “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed...” (Rom 4:18).
How is your prayer life? Seriously, how would you describe it? What is your relationship with the Father like these days? Are you spending time with Him? Are you trusting Him? How aware are you of Him? If you’ve not thought much about these kinds of questions lately, I’d like to challenge you to do so. Not to bring on guilt - or pride for that matter. Not to overthink or get down on yourself. But to grow. If it’s been a good season, I want to encourage and exhort you to continue. Don’t lose the momentum. Keep pressing in to His heart and keep ‘practicing His presence.’ If, on the other hand, those questions make you uncomfortable or wishful or unsatisfied or ashamed or guilty or just disappointed, take heart. Have hope. There is more for you. It can be different. Don’t let yourself be convinced that you just can’t have the kind of relationship with Jesus that you’d like - that you aren’t disciplined enough or are too busy or have too many responsibilities or are not very spiritual or really don’t like praying and probably never will or that toddler! No! There is more for you! There really is more for you. Yes, it is true that something will have to change. But don’t be intimidated by that. The Holy Spirit is eager to help you. I want to suggest two types of changes. First, there has to be a change of heart. This probably includes multiple facets. You have to believe that He loves you, wants to hear your prayer, and cares about your concerns. You need to know that you can trust Him. “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.” (1 John 4:16). You have to realize that He wants to hear from you — not to check off a religious duty to satisfy Him, but that He wants you to know Him. Before you will grow in prayer, you have to know that it’s real and He is there and is listening and responds. Think on these things. You also need desire. Prayer certainly is a discipline, but it’s better when there is genuine desire behind it. If your desire for God is weak, it may be simply because you have not given Him much attention. My experience is that my desire tends to increase when I pursue Him more. When I meditate on who He is and how much I need Him. On what He has already done for me. Cultivate faith and desire. Secondly, your habits need to change. Do the work of sitting with your planner or your wife or whatever forms your days and create space for God. Find 20 minutes in the morning. Maybe 15 minutes at lunch and before bed. Or get up early and enjoy an hour before getting busy. Whatever it is for you, make the time. It will be hard at first, and will be constantly challenged. You’ll miss it and forget it and even deliberately sabotage it. You’ll be interrupted. Probably a lot. But that’s ok. Just keep at it. Ask for His help every day. Don’t give into guilt or performance or pride. Also get into the habit of praying throughout the day. Turn your attention to Him in all those spare half-minutes that come — driving in the car, waiting for your spouse, sipping your coffee, etc. You can pray! YOUR prayers are powerful. Have faith. Make the time. |
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