Recommended: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
No doubt you’ve heard of Randy Pausch and seen at least part of his “last lecture“. Pausch is a 47 year old computer science professor, husband, and father of three small children. In August, 2007, Pausch found out he was dying of pancreatic cancer. In September, he delivered a lecture called Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, a moving and winsome chronicle of his life and career, along with lessons he wants his children to learn one day.
Pausch has been on Oprah and the nightly news, and you can see his talk online for free (at the link above), but I just bought and downloaded his new book in audio format. It’s the contents of the lecture plus some background on his life and other general purpose life wisdom. I’m finding it extremely valuable and enjoyable to listen to.
A difficult grace
One of the hardest-to-take passages in all the Bible is the one that describes Moses’ momentary outburst of anger - and the consequences - in Numbers 20:10-12. After listening to the Israelites gripe for the hundredth time, Moses lost it (but only a little). “Listen, you rebels”, he said to them, “must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
Then comes this in v. 12 - But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
It seems so unfair - the death penalty for getting jelly on the tablecloth, as Fred Craddock once put it. But L. L. Barkat, in her new book Stone Crossings, suggests that God’s discipline hides a severe mercy, a difficult grace. She says that the way Moses speaks to the people here shows that maybe he’s handled the things of God for so long that he is beginning to confuse himself with God (a common temptation in ministry). So God shuts him out of Canaan.
But this isn’t the end for Moses. At the end of Deuteronomy, God takes him to a high mountain and shows him the Promised Land. GOD does this, as a man might do for his best friend. And then Moses dies there on that mountain, and God buries him..as a man might do for his BEST friend. Getting shut out of the Promised Land wasn’t the same as getting shut out of God’s presence. Quite the opposite.
I read this in Stone Crossings today just after I read about the pitiful prophets of Matthew 7 to whom Jesus says “I never knew you”. “But Lord, Lord,” they say, “didn’t we do mighty miracles in your name?”
Maybe that’s where Moses was heading when God saved him from himself.
P. S. Did Moses ever enter the Promised Land? Sure he did. See Matthew 17:3 
Sermon: Judging
SERIES: All I Really Need to Know…is in the Sermon on the Mount
9. Judging - Matthew 7:1-6, 15-23
Listen (stream)
MP3 (right-click to download)
No privacy anymore
Microsoft recently updated their online map product and the results are amazing - and possibly a little frightening. Check out your address, and be sure to bypass the aerial view and go straight to the birds-eye. Then use the curvey arrows to do a fly-around. You may be surprised what you - and the rest of us - can see.
Sermon: Simplicity
SERIES: All I Really Need to Know…is in the Sermon on the Mount
8. Simplicity - Matthew 6:19-34
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MP3 (right-click to download)
Competing for space in the public square
Debating on whether the Ten Commandments should be posted is SO nineties. Today the issue is: Who ELSE gets to post their religious stuff in public spaces?
One example: The Supreme Court will soon hear a case brought by a religion called Summum that wants to post its Seven Aphorisms near a display of the Ten Commandments in a Utah park. Founded in the mid-seventies, Summum believes that Moses received the Seven Aphorisms at the same time that he received the Ten Commandments, but revealed them to only a few of his students because Israel wasn’t ready for them.
Another example: Just up the road in Crossville, TN, a tongue-in-cheek religion called The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has already installed a statue of its “god” on the courthouse lawn. This religion apparently exists to provide satire of religion and to challenge thinking on issues such as public religious displays.
Will such developments cause us evangelicals to switch course and argue for a religion-free public square?
Sermon: Integrity
SERIES: All I Really Need to Know…is in the Sermon on the Mount
7. Integrity - Matthew 6:1-18
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MP3 (right-click to download)
Hidden Costs
People are good at hiding from themselves the true cost of anything they really want to do.
If I want a new car, my actual reason might be as basic as the fact that Spring has infected me with new car fever. How can I justify such a purchase? Hiding certain costs from myself will help. I can ignore the increased cost of insurance, the impact of a car payment on my budget, the cost of having to worry about scratches and dents, and the cost of lost freedom that debt always brings.
Or take low prices for example. We all love them, which is why we shop at the big box stores that deliver cheap shirts and cheaper TVs. But is there a hidden cost behind low prices? If low prices require a child labor force in Malaysia or environmental catastrophe in China, or if they produce a growing underclass of low-wage workers here in America that need government help to survive, we had better count the cost up front and be ready to pay the whole thing.
What about war? It’s too easy to hide the costs of war. That’s why I appreciate an online display I found recently called Faces of the Dead. It’s simply a creative display of the photos of every U. S. service member killed in Iraq, from Jay T. Aubin on March 21, 2003 to David Stelmat on March 22, 2008. These 4,000 men and women are only part of the cost – which includes civilians, families, businesses, hopes, dreams and billions of dollars – but let’s never allow these people to be hidden.
Perhaps the essence of sin is to hide the real costs of our actions and focus on short-term pleasure or profit. If David could have seen from his rooftop the awful cost of his sin, would he have sent for Bathsheba? If Judas had known the personal price he would pay, would thirty pieces of silver have seemed like such a good bargain?
If you and I would simply take a little time and sift out the hidden costs behind our cherished sins, would we choose to live differently?
Jesus doesn’t want anyone to follow him on false pretenses. He doesn’t hide costs. He puts them out front: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple”, he says in Luke 14:33. Jesus never says that discipleship will be cheap. He says that it will be worth it.
For the April 2008 MHCC newsletter – 3.25.8
Sunday Seven
- Michael Wardian is the man! I saw him win the Outer Banks marathon in November, one of his four victories in 13 marathons - in 2007! This weekend, he’ll try to win TWO, one of them being in Knoxville this coming Sunday. Via Runner’s World Racing News for 3/24.
- Why internet commerce will never take off. A Newsweek article from 1995 disparages the internet. I love this kind of ancient internet history. Via Signal vs. Noise.
- Black power from the pulpit. Jeremiah Wright (Obama’s pastor) in context. From Christianity Today.
- eBible.com. An online Bible with a more up-to-date appearance and feature set than my current favorite, BibleGateway.com. Via TechCrunch.
- What killed Ryan Shay? Natural causes, to put it simply. The autopsy results for this elite marathoner are finally out. From Runner’s World.
- Book autopsies. Brian Dettmer creates art by carving up books. Incredible! From Centripetal Notion via Signal vs. Noise.
- Illinois-shaped cornflake sold for $1,350. The end is near. From CNN.
What Jeremiah Wright taught me about preaching
Barack Obama’s longtime pastor, Jeremiah Wright, has created a lot of trouble for himself (and Obama) with his preaching. I can only hope to do the same for my church members someday. For now, here are some lessons on preaching I have learned from watching Wright self-destruct.
- All of you MHCCers, should you ever run for national office, will be held responsible for every thing I say in my sermons and, much more importantly, all of my blathering in this blog. Therefore READ EVERY post, and be sure to distance yourself from my foolishness in the comments.
- It is possible to SHOUT while using a MANUSCRIPT. I usually think of the flamboyant, dynamic preacher as one who paces the stage and preaches without notes. But look at the video. Wright is even more tied to his manuscript than I am. So bring the ear plugs next Sunday.
- It’s probably not such a hot idea to use lots of profanity in the pulpit. So I’d better get busy rewriting next Sunday’s sermon.
My Twitter- My del.icio.us links
- Willow Creek's 'Huge Shift' | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction
- Woman opens heart to man who slaughtered her family - CNN.com
- Indians Find U.S. at Fault in Food Cost - New York Times
- Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Things You Forgot Your Mac Can Do
- Riversports Adventure Racing
- Sycamore Canyon
- Feature: Turn Your $60 Router into a User-Friendly Super-Router with Tomato
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- Racism problem charged at Rockwood schools : Local News : Knoxville News Sentinel
