Ryan Tate

A Slow Miracle

May 15, 2013 by Ryan Tate 4 Comments

There once was an king who didn’t believe in miracles. One day, while he was seated in a garden, one of his closest counselors began speaking of the wonderful works of God. He went on and on about how God was constantly at work—in the little things and the big.”

Initially, the king listened politely. Finally, however, he had had enough. “Show me a sign,” said the king, “and I will believe.”

The counselor thought for a moment. He then pulled something out of his pocket.

“Here are four acorns,” said the counselor. “Please, your Majesty, plant them in the ground. When you are finished, stoop down for a moment and look into this clear pool of water?”

The king did so.

“Now,” said the counselor, “look up.” The king looked up and saw four enormous oak trees where he had planted the acorns.

“Wonderful!” the king exclaimed, “this is indeed a miracle—the work of God.”

“How long were you looking into the water?” asked the counselor.

“Only a second,” said the king.”

“Yet, eighty years have passed as a second,” said the counselor.

Skeptically, the king looked at his garments; they were threadbare. He then looked at his reflection in the water; he had become an old man. His skin was wrinkled and his beard was white.

“There is no miracle here, then,” he said angrily.

“Perhaps,” said the counselor, “but it is God’s work nonetheless, whether he did it in one second or in eighty years.”

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I read this short parable some time ago and wanted to share it with you today because of some of the things mentioned in yesterday’s message at Mosaic. I was speaking to you about the kind of life we want at Mosaic and I used the illustration of a tree and how it takes time to mature and grow. It takes enormous amounts of longevity, yet, we aren’t attracted to longevity, are we? We like the immediate, the convenient. We like the thrill of spontaneity and elevate those kinds of experiences over others.

The problem with all of this is that we don’t actually live thrill by thrill. The majority our days are spent putting one foot in front of the other, a slow, plodding journey. We need to seek out, celebrate, and share our thrilling Spirit-led experiences with each other, yes, but not at the expense of being faithful and obedient to what God is doing in and through you over long periods of time.

Occasionally, God works in the immediate. But, more often than not, He works over long periods of time. This doesn’t make it any less miraculous.

Consider the couple, without child, who is prayerfully seeking adoption. It takes, sometimes, years to work through this process. Yet, God is working throughout it all up to the miraculous moment when the couple finally holds their child in their arms.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord ‘s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV)

Let’s invest in longevity and commit to being faithful plodders who put one foot in front of the other. The kind of life we want at Mosaic is like that of a mighty oak tree maturing in righteousness and faith, deeply rooted in bringing God glory, and bearing kingdom fruit that endures.

Has God failed to work in your life or are you simply witnessing and experiencing a slow miracle?

How can you spend time this week, this month, this year, investing in something that will last?

Filed Under: Faith Tagged With: Growth, Hope, Waiting

The Pathway of Jesus

November 16, 2012 by Ryan Tate Leave a Comment

Philippians 2:5-11 shows us the pathway of Jesus from fully God, to fully man, to death, and God’s response to it by exalting him above all. Here is an amazingly compelling graphic from Josh Byers and Tim Challies that shows that path.

Filed Under: Compelling, Scripture Tagged With: Jesus, Philippians 2

Debunking the Missional Mystique

November 12, 2012 by Ryan Tate 1 Comment

Being “missional” has a mystique about it. It conjures up notions of creative radicalism in the name of Jesus, or exuberant social justice work, or a new uber-hip way to do Christianity. Yet, that couldn’t be more wrong. ”Missional” means no more than being intentionally ordinary.

Be ordinary, be normal, but do it with intentionality.

It’s not about Christian heroics or headlines, it’s about getting on the right road and staying there. It’s like the ordinariness of a “long obedience in the same direction,” as Eugene Peterson says about discipleship. It’s also about being a “plodding visionary,” as Kevin DeYoung once wrote. It’s about keeping your gaze intently upon the King of the universe while taking small, plodding steps forward – one in front of the other.

The context for being missional is your everyday life: your ordinary job, family, hobbies, social life, obscure activities and simple things. When life is viewed with intentionality, ordinary tasks are no longer ordinary but rather eternally significant rhythms teeming with opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ in context of your life. These natural, unforced rhythms of life is where God is most at work. Seeking him out in the ordinary things, finding out what he’s up to, and joining him in it is the intentionality we need to infuse into our lives.

You enter into the extraordinary by way of the ordinary. Something you have seen a thousand times you suddenly see as if for the first time.

- Frederick Buechner

God’s will for our lives isn’t written out in the stars, it’s to be found in the hum-drum helter-skelter events of our lives. We know this because Holiness itself came wrapped up in ordinariness. Jesus himself stooped to an ordinarily human existence (Philippians 2:5-11). He slept, worked, played, had friends, sang, laughed, and experienced every other ordinary thing we all experience.

“How radical is radical enough?” — That’s the wrong question to ask.

The right question is — “What does God care about?”

What doesn’t he care about? He cares about it all, every aspect of your life. Your coming and going, your thinking and your dreaming, everything. He cares about it all, and his holiness demands we pay attention to our ordinariness. In this way the stay-at-home mom and the barista at the local coffee shop are just as radically missional and important as the orphanage worker in Bolivia and the missionary in Africa. Consider the nature of the Great Commission, the priesthood of believers, the power of the Spirit being poured out, the book of Acts, the truth of the Church, and God’s plan for the world. When you look at all of that you’ll find that God gives his authority, through his son Jesus Christ, to ordinary and failing people to be, go, and act in faith, love, and hope.

What is common about all of us, is what makes this so amazing. Being missional is about specializing in the ordinary. You don’t need a theology degree, you don’t need a title, you don’t even need an agenda. Those are good things and might benefit some, but all you need is the power of God flowing through you and overflowing out of you in both proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel while you spend your days being all-together ordinary.

What God reveals about himself is livable, not just something we observe or study. God reveals himself to us, invites us to live life with him, and sends us out (just like his Son) to participate as the instrument for his mission. There is no mystique about it, being missional is nothing other than being intentionally ordinary. I find comfort in that, and I bet you do too.

FUEL FOR THOUGHT…

How can being intentionally ordinary in the context of your life turn everyday into a holy possibility?

Filed Under: Compelling Tagged With: Great Commission, Intentional, Mission, Missional, Ordinary, Radical

Standing Defiant

November 7, 2012 by Ryan Tate 2 Comments

I’ve been MIA from blogging and most social media the last two weeks because of some intense things going on in my life and the lives of those in my church community. All I can say is that it is a costly and expensive opportunity for myself and others to respond in obedience, faith, love, and hope.

Satan is attacking with his evil schemes to cause division and doubt and fear, but I am standing defiant. I stand in defiance against the devil’s schemes. I stand defiant against the sin in my life. I stand in defiance against the pride and the selfishness and the lies that the enemy is throwing my way. I stand defiant against the doubt and the shame that creeps into the cracks and crevices of our broken hearts. I stand defiant against that which causes division within the Church. I stand defiant against untruth because I believe firmly on the Gospel of Jesus Christ that proclaims light victorious over darkness, wholeness victorious over brokenness, life victorious over death, and hope victorious over despair.

I stand defiant.

I’ve never been more dependent upon God than I am right now and I’ve never been convinced more of my own inadequacies and His all-sufficiency. That which evil intends for harm, God uses for good. I know this because the most ruthless and intense suffering ever to happen in the history of the world (Jesus on the cross) was used for the most glorious and amazing good ever.

And therefore, I stand defiant.

There are some major train-wrecked lives out there, but standing firm on the Gospel means that wholeness and resurrection have the last word, not brokenness and death. God knows what you are going through, he knows you by name, he knows every hair on your head, he knitted you in your mother’s womb, he knows you. He is the God who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to go out and find the one lost sheep and carry them home. He is the God who runs out to his prodigal sons and greets them with a kiss, a ring, a robe, sandals, and a party. He is a God of restoration and healing. He is the God who breathes life into the dead and dry bones. He is the God who is the only one qualified to cast the first stone, and yet he chooses not to. He is the God who is perfectly holy and perfectly loving. And he knows you.

We have no reason to doubt, no reason to run and hide, no reason to be afraid. We can stand defiant against the forces of evil because our God is victorious and reigning over our sin and train-wrecked lives. God is good and faithful and he never changes. The Kingdom of God that Jesus brings and embodies cannot be scuttled by human failure, no matter what it is. Man may be shaken and failing, but that which is unshakable and unfailing remains.

Stand defiant with me.

Stand up. Stand firm. Be defiant.

Filed Under: Church, Mosaic Tagged With: Fear, Grace, Restoration, Sin

The All-Approachable and Accessible God

October 15, 2012 by Ryan Tate 13 Comments

A.W. Tozer said, “what comes to our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us.” This isn’t applicable for Christians only, but for everyone. What we think about God will govern our actions, our reactions, our decision-making, everything about us. In times of love, pain, violence, joy, and everything in between how we view God will determine how we approach him, or in effect, avoid him. No matter what you encounter, your view of God—whether accurate or inaccurate—governs what you do, say, and think.

I was sitting with a small group of friends last Tuesday night talking about prayer. It was clear that the level of our prayer lives was determined by the level of which we viewed God as all-approachable and accessible. They way we view God has a huge impact on how we pray. I began to identify several different personas that people project upon God.

Here are few of them and the implications of viewing God this way:

God as a Boss

Some people view God as their boss and themselves as an employee. Approaching God as a boss quickly turns the relationship into performance-based communication only. We all know how we relate to our bosses. They are the ones we are trying to please. They tell us what to do and we do it, sometimes reluctantly, but we don’t want to make the boss mad. In this view, God is reduced to the role of task-giver and manager. If we do good, the boss is happy and if we do bad, the boss is mad.

God as Dictator

Many operate their lives under the assumption that God is a dictator, and they want nothing to do with him. In this view, God is oppressive and he wants nothing more than to push us around and arrange us like his personal puzzle pieces. Dictators are only concerned with themselves so when we paint God as an angry dictator it’s no wonder people want to overthrow his authority.

God as the Great Wizard of Oz

Follow the yellow-brick road, and if you’re lucky you’ll come to the Wizard of Oz who has the ultimate power to zap you but he’s also the only option you have for getting home. Viewing God like this turns him into the cosmic critic in the sky and fear, and fear alone, becomes the sole motivator. Unlike a dictator who is to be avoided, the Great Oz is your only hope to get home. God does not want us to approach him in a fearful posture, but many do.

God as the oil change guy

If you want your engine to run effectively and efficiently, make sure you get your oil changed every three months. It’s routine maintenance and your engine won’t run properly if you don’t. Relating to God this way makes him impersonal and loosely connected to your real life, which is out on the open road. God is the pseudo-mechanic who you stop in with every three months just to make sure you’re able to life your life on your own in between check-ups.

God as a Genie in a bottle

You have a limited number of wishes, so choose what you ask for wisely. Approaching the genie-in-a-bottle-God happens only when you need something, or when you’re in a jam. Genies grant wishes, and that what prayer is all about for people who view God in this way. Prayers are wishes cast up into the heavenly realms disconnected from the reality of a God who desires so much more for his people.

God as an all-approachable and accessible Father

Whether you had a good father, a bad father, or no father at all you know what a good father should be like. All humans have a positive ideal of fatherhood by which we judge our fathers and others’ fathers. Viewing God as an all-approachable and accessible Father will guide and direct our worship, prayer, and our entire outlook on life. Adoption into God’s family is what happens through the Gospel, and we get a glimpse of it as the prodigal son falls into the outstretched arms of the Father (Luke 15:11-32). Viewing God as a Father makes all the difference! The problems we encounter in our lives are tied directly to the problems in our image of God, who he is, and what he’s like.

The devil is hard at work skewing and distorting our view of God. Deception and lies are his age-old weapons. He used them in the garden of Eden and he uses them today. He doesn’t want us viewing God as a Father, he doesn’t want us to consider the accessiblity of God and his approachable outstretched arms. God is our Father who wants to be with us and is inviting us into his family, let his truth guide how you approach God. It will change the way you pray, it will change the way you view others, it will change you in every way.