POSEUR!

Yesterday, I expended some heartbeats. Playing soccer with some of the more athletically minded (and “bodied”?) among the family members who had gathered in town to celebrate my father’s attaining octogenarian status. That included assorted nephews, brother, and a cousin’s wife, congregating in Exall Park across from my home to kick—mindlessly, in my opinion—a round, inflated object for no apparent purpose.

Yes, I played soccer. For those of you who are reaching for your nitroglycerin tablets, or—if you were consuming something while reading this—performing Heimlich maneuvers on yourselves, let me hasten to add an emendation: I kicked the ball two (TWO) times.

It was, I must confess, two times too many. After those mighty and complex feats of physical exertion that included, among other delicate gymnastic stratagems, tripping over the ball and falling flat on my face (that was when I touched the ball the second time—I rue the day!), I nearly died! Huffing and puffing, heaving, panting, wheezing, gasping, I lay where I’d firmly and with a resounding thud contacted terra firma (Lo! How the mighty are fallen!). That was the end of my contribution to the impromptu soccer game.

But I was quick to rise up and look briskly soccer-minded when the photographer (a cousin) arrived on the scene to document for posterity the day’s vigors. When, in the annals of the weekend’s activities, a soccer game is referred to, I wanted honorable mention. I posed for the picture, looking sharp and spiffy, with no hint of the torture I had just been subjected to (namely, the inordinate expenditure of energy attempting to navigate said round, inflated object, across a field against vile and virile opposition).

In one word, I was what they call a poseur (one who adopts a particular character, attitude, or manner, to impress others). Yup, that was me alright. Kicked the ball but twice—cluelessly both times—but displayed myself in the photograph as one deeply involved in the current manifestation of the harrowing torment that constitutes a soccer game. Poseur.

One of my students preached that Markan “sandwich story” (11:12–21) focusing on that same species of charlatans and humbugs—poseurs, whose shining externals, not matching their internal reality, produce no fruit.

A fruitless fig tree is cursed and a fruitless ritual is challenged.

And He [Jesus] entered the temple
and began to drive out
those who were buying
and selling in the temple,
and overturned
the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those
who were selling doves ….
And He began to teach
and say to them,
“Is it not written,
‘My house shall be called
a house of prayer
for all the nations’?
But you have made it
a robbers’ den.”

Mark 11:15–17

Poseurs pretending. Mountebanks masquerading. The consequences are not light; Jesus said …

“Every branch in Me
that does not bear fruit,
He [the Father] takes away….”

John 15:2

He came down hard on poseurs, hypocrites.

“You hypocrites, rightly did
Isaiah prophesy of you:
‘This people honors me
with their lips, but
their heart is far away from me’.”

Matthew 15:7–8

God desires of His children that they bear fruit. The disciple bears fruit.

“My Father is glorified by this,
that you bear much fruit,
and so prove to be My disciples.”

John 15:8

Therefore, Paul intercedes …

We have not ceased to pray
for you and to ask …
that you will walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord,
to please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit
in every good work
and increasing in
the knowledge of God.

Colossians 1:9–10

May we!

SERVANT!

You can’t see his face. He’s kneeling and he’s looking down. Locks of hair fall over his countenance as he stoops. You can see Peter’s face, though. Stunned? “What! You wash my feet?” Incomprehension? Resignation?

One of the bronze copies of Max Greiner’s sculpture, The Divine Servant, adorns the campus of Dallas Theological Seminary—a most appropriate image for an institution whose mission statement runs as follows: The mission of Dallas Theological Seminary as a professional, graduate-level school is to glorify God by equipping godly servant-leaders for the proclamation of His Word and the building up of the body of Christ worldwide. Training godly servant-leaders after the likeness of the Divine Servant, who …

… did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life
a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:28

That is the One of whom Isaiah wrote, quoting God, several centuries before Jesus Christ, …

… the Righteous One,
My Servant,
will justify the many,
as He will bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:11

The Divine Servant. What a paradox!

Meekness and majesty, manhood and Deity,
In perfect harmony, the Man who is God.
Lord of eternity dwells in humanity;
Kneels in humility and washes our feet.

Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible;
Love indestructible in frailty appears.
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly;
Lifts our humanity to the heights of His throne.

O what a mystery, meekness and majesty;
Bow down and worship, for this is your God.

Graham Kendrick, 1986

The Divine Servant. Not only our Savior, but also our example. Therefore, Paul exhorts:

Have this attitude
in yourselves which was
also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed
in the form of God,
did not regard
equality with God
a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself,
taking the form
of a bond-servant, being made
in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance
as a man, He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient
to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:5–8

Indeed, in the economy of God, in His Kingdom, this paradox is manifest through and through. God’s leaders are to be servants, servants to God’s people. Like the Divine Servant.

Jesus called [the disciples]
to Himself and said,
“You know that the rulers
of the Gentiles lord it over them,
and their great men
exercise authority over them.
It is not this way among you,
but whoever wishes
to become great among you
shall be your servant,
and whoever wishes to be first
among you shall be your slave;
just as the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve,
and to give His life
a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:25–28

Called to Christlikeness. Being fashioned daily after His image. We, followers of this Divine Servant, are to be divinely appointed servants, serving in love.

… through love serve one another.
Galatians 5:13

We know love by this,
that He laid down
His life for us;
and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren.
1 John 3:16

A life of servanthood after the manner of the Divine Servant which, the Bible promises, will yield its reward on the last day.

For God is not unjust
so as to forget your work
and the love which you have
shown toward His name,
in having ministered
and in still ministering
to the saints.
Hebrews 6:10

So let’s keep at it. Serving. In love. For His glory. Following the Divine Servant.

The Divine Servant. No, you can’t see His face … unless you kneel down.

IDENTITY!

I flew through John Wayne Airport, Orange County, last week on my way to a preaching conference at Talbot Seminary, near Los Angeles. A huge statue of its namesake greeted me in front of an American flag in the arrival lounge.

John Wayne. Quintessential American hero. Rugged. Individualistic. Drenched in testosterone. One of the “Greatest Male Stars” of all time (American Film Institute, 1999). An icon.

But all may not have been as they appeared. Apparently this guy who denounced those who refused to serve in Vietnam got out of serving in WWII. Apparently this star of innumerable Westerns hated horses. Garry Wills’ John Wayne’s America describes the making of the myth. In fact, this knight in chaps wearing a six-gun, was born in Iowa with the very unmacho name of Marion Morrison. One of his early directors, who had discovered John Wayne, thought up the stage name “Anthony Wayne.” The head of Fox Studios changed it to “John Wayne.” Indeed, Wayne himself was apparently not present at this conference that consigned that caption to his concocted character. So John Wayne he became! A fictional persona, an invented façade, created to project authority, autonomy, and almightiness. Designed to make John Wayne what he was not.

Identity crises of this sort are not uncommon. Making ourselves out to be what we are not. And, unfortunately, this true amongst us Christians, too. The egocentric power plays. The vying for position. Striving to be noticed. Struggling to get ahead. The buffing of image, often hollow. The polishing of achievements, often imagined.

In the body of Christ, among believers, this ought not to be the case.

Do nothing from selfishness
or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind
regard one another
as more important
than yourselves.
Philippians 2:3

There is a reason for such humility.

For who regards you as superior?
What do you have
that you did not receive?
And if you did receive it,
why do you boast
as if you had not received it?
1 Corinthians 4:7

What we have, what we are, what we have become, our talents, our gifts, our capacities, are all God-given, for specific purposes, to fulfill God’s plans for our lives and for the church, for the glory of God.

Now God has
placed the members,
each one of them,
in the body,
just as He desired.
To each one is given
the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:18, 7

Where then is boasting and the fabrication of false fronts?

For through the grace
given to me I say
to everyone among you
not to think more highly
of himself than he
ought to think;
but to think so as to have
sound judgment ….
For just as we have
many members in one body
and all the members
do not have the same function,
so we, who are many,
are one body in Christ,
and individually
members one of another.
Romans 12:3–5

In God’s wisdom and in the exercise of His sovereignty, He makes us who we are and enables our participation in the work of God, with God. But make no mistake, it is all His work. Of the different roles of those in God’s service, Paul says:

I planted, Apollos watered,
but God was causing the growth.
So then
neither the one who plants
nor the one who waters
is anything,
but God who causes the growth.
1 Corinthians 3:6–7

Let there be no more those sad superficialities. No more those dissimulating duplicities. Instead …

He who boasts
is to boast in the Lord.
2 Corinthians 10:17

May God get the glory, not we.

LEARNING!

In theory, I’m the teacher. By all accounts, I’m the one who’s just finished studying. In effect, I’m the dude with the “terminal” degree, teaching, in a graduate school, those who will become Masters of their subject. Prima facie, I’m the prof, professing expertise in my art. Ostensibly, I’m being paid for being such a proficient member of the guild. To all appearances, I’m controlling the learning of my students, ceremoniously unloading my “expertise”, and decreeing their grades as they struggle to grasp the field. On the face of it, I’m done learning; now I’m teaching.

Wrong!

While a Philosophiae Doctor I might have achieved, I ain’t done yet; I’m still learning. While a full-time job in a seminary I might have landed, I’m not just teaching; I’m also learning. And in the six plus weeks since the commencement of my first semester teaching full-time at Dallas Seminary, I’ve learnt much. The interaction with sharp minds in the classroom, the collegial intercourse with fellows on the faculty, the challenge of teaching—codifying, clarifying, communicating, coaching—all of these have been heady stimulants to my own learning. And I am learning, sharpening my thoughts, refining my positions, polishing my ideas. And all this after I—imagine that!—thought I was done with education.

One never is, is one? Especially when one is involved in the study of the deepest Subject of all—our God Himself.

Great are the works
of the LORD.
They are studied
by all who delight in them.
Psalm 111:2

And we believers are to be engaged in that enterprise always; indeed, this is an undertaking that will probably continue throughout eternity.

Let the heart of those
who seek the LORD be glad.
Seek the LORD
and His strength.
Seek His face continually.
Remember His wonderful deeds
which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments
from His mouth.
1 Chronicles 16:10–12

And God Himself seeks those who seek Him.

The LORD has looked down
from heaven upon the sons of men
to see if there are any
who understand,
who seek after God.
Psalm 14:2

People of the ilk of Ezra who …

… set his heart
to study the law of the LORD
and to practice it,
and to teach His statutes
and ordinances ….
Ezra 7:10

This is nothing but an ordering of priorities, an adjustment of values, an estimation of what is really important—the things of God, not the things of man. This is an unvarying focus on those critical issues.

Set your mind
on the things above,
not on the things
that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2

And those embracing this commission to study and seek the Lord—that culminates, of course, in a life of obedience—are to …

… walk as children of Light,
… trying to learn
what is pleasing to the Lord.
Ephesians 5:8, 10

Those who do so are, according to the Psalmist, blessed.

How blessed are those
who observe His testimonies,
who seek Him
with all their heart.
Psalm 119:2

The Scriptures go so far as to claim that seeking God is the highest good, with the greatest reward.

The young lions do lack
and suffer hunger.
But they who seek the LORD
shall not be in want
of any good thing.
Psalm 34:10

Rest for our souls, as we learn from Christ, of Christ. He reminded us:

“Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle
and humble in heart,
and you will find rest
for your souls.”
Matthew 11:29

Let’s find rest by never ceasing to learn!