Free Indeed

I've read and heard a handful of thoughts and stories about Chuck Colson since his death on Saturday.  But none of them has stuck with me like the story I first read more than 10 years ago.  I suppose part of the reason is because I love music, and I love hearing good stories behind the writing of good songs.  Here is the story that I read, written by Steven Curtis Chapman in Speechless: Living in Awe of God's Disruptive Grace. (pp. 111-115).  At the end of the story are the lyrics to and audio of Chapman's song Free.

I have had the privilege of meeting some extraordinary Christian leaders, but none has made a greater impression than Chuck Colson.  God brought us together, and it has been my honor to invest time and heart in the work of Prison Fellowship.  Chuck has enabled me to take my music into may prison facilities during the course of my concert tours--but that's the easiest thing he has done for me.

.....

It was a bright sunny day as I emptied my pockets before passing through the metal detectors.  No, I was not boarding a plane for yet another concert date.  I stood at the entrance to the Michigan City Correctional Institute, a maximum security prison in Northern Indiana.  I felt both excited and nervous as I anticipated visiting death row for the first time.  Every preconceived image of life within prison I had obtained from film, news clips, and a child's imagination ran through my mind.

"Steven!" I heard the ring of that familiar voice from across the room.

"Hi, Chuck, how are you?"  It still felt kind of strange calling this hero of the faith of mine by his first name, but it also felt reassuring to know I was with a friend.  He explained that prior to our worship service on the prison yard, we would be visiting inmates on death row, including one man who had become a Christian forty years earlier.  The ministry of Prison Fellowship had become a primary means of discipleship and nurture for him, even as Chuck had become one of his best friends.

I stayed close to my new buddy and mentor as he navigated our way through the series of iron-gated entries.  Each set of doors would electronically open and then close behind us before the next set would do the same.  What an eerie feeling.  Eventually we began our journey down the long hallway lined with cells inhabited by sons, fathers, and grandfathers who were paying the price for some terrible crime committed.

I watched my teacher intently as he offered grace to those we encountered.  Whether it was simply a smile, a word, a handshake through the bars and many times a prayer, Chuck was showing me what it means to treat all men with dignity and respect.  I'm not sure I have ever met anyone who can so freely love in the most difficult of situations a segment of society that appears to be so unlovable.

I tried to emulate him as I grew a little more confident.  I listened to the sad lament of a grandfather who showed me the pictures of his grandchildren whom he had wounded deeply with his tragic choices.  Together, Chuck and I prayed with one African-American brother who greeted us with a smile and a joy that could only be traced to the life-giving grace of God.  He, like many others, spoke with great remorse and sorrow for the lives of those affected most by the evil they had done, namely, the victims and their loved ones.  This brother went on to tell us how God had given him life and freedom even though he was deserving of death.  He told us how he had been and would continue to be praying for us as we carried the gospel to others inside the prison, as well as those outside the stone walls.  In some ways he seemed to be a whole lot more free in his prison cell than many of us who will never see the inside of such a person.

Our cell block walk culminated with a visit to Chuck's friend Bob (not his real name) inside a heavily secured room.  I would describe it as the equivalent of a large iron-caged room inside two other iron cages.  Bob was a large man, and when he shuffled into the room in shackles and handcuffs, I felt a surge of fear come over me.  However, as we all talked, I only saw the evidence of a man who had been changed from death to life.  I watched as Chuck and Bob embraced for the first time without handcuffs impeding their hug.  The three of us then wrapped arms around each other in a circle and thanked God for his love.  What else could level the ground in such a profound way that one of the great Christian leaders of our time, a death-row inmate, and a Christian songwriter could come together before the throne of the living God as brothers, one in Christ?

This first trip proved to be one of the most profound experiences of the awesome reality of God's grace I have ever encountered.  It also helped me further define the kind of men and women who I want to follow as they follow Christ.  The events of that day inspired me to write a song called "Free," which was included on my Signs of Life album.  Knowing Chuck and getting to visit many correctional institutions since that first visit only deepens my desire for God to free my heart to love all men as he loves me in his Son.

Free

The sun was beating down inside the walls of stone and razor wire
As we made our way across the prison yard
I felt my heart begin to race as we drew nearer to the place
Where they say that death is waiting in the dark
The slamming doors of iron echoed through the halls
Where despair holds life within its cruel claws
But then I met a man who's face seemed so strangely out of place
A blinding light of hope was shining in his eyes
And with repentance in his voice he told me of his tragic choice
That led him to this place where he must pay the price
But then his voice grew strong as he began to tell
About the One he said had rescued him from hell, he said...

I'm free, yeah, oh, I have been forgiven
God's love has taken off my chains and given me these wings
And I'm free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom I've been given
Is something that not even death can take away from me
Because I'm free
Jesus set me free

We said a prayed and said goodbye and tears began to fill my eyes
As I stepped back out into the blinding sun
And even as I drove away I found that I could not escape
The way he spoke of what the grace of God had done
I thought about how sin had sentenced us to die
And how God gave His only Son so you and I could say...

And if the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free indeed,
Oh, You are really free
If the Son has set you free,
Oh, if the Son has set you free
Then you are free, really, really free

Oh, we're free, yearh, oh, we have been forgiven
God's grace has broken every chain and given us these wings
And we're free, yeah, yeah, and the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Because we're free, yeah, the freedom we've been given
Is something that not even death can take from you and me
Becayse we're free, oh, we're free
We are free, we are free
The Son has set us free

If the Son has set you free
You are free indeed

Jonah and Jesus

Tim Keller on Jonah and Jesus (comparing & contrasting Jonah 1 with Mark 4:35-41), from his book King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus:

We have a resource that can enable us to stay calm inside no matter how the storms rage outside.


Here’s a clue: Mark has deliberately laid out this account using language that is parallel, almost identical, to the language of the famous Old Testament account of Jonah.

Both Jesus and Jonah were in a boat, and both boats were overtaken by a storm—the descriptions of the storm are almost identical.

Both Jesus and Jonah were asleep.


In both stories the sailors woke up the sleeper and said, “We’re going to die.”


And in both cases there was a miraculous divine intervention and the sea was calmed.


Further, in both stories the sailors then become even more terrified than they were before the storm was calmed.

Two almost identical stories—with just one difference.


In the midst of the storm, Jonah said to the sailors, in effect: “There’s only only thing to do. If I perish, you survive. If I die, you will live” (Jonah 1:12). And they threw him into the sea.
Which doesn’t happen in Mark’s story.


Or does it?


I think Mark is showing that the stories aren’t actually different when you stand back a bit and look at it with the rest of the story of Jesus in view.


In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “One greater than Jonah is here,” and he’s referring to himself: I’m the true Jonah. He meant this:

Someday I’m going to calm all storms, still all waves.


I’m going to destroy destruction, break brokenness, kill death.

How can he do that?


He can only do it because when he was on the cross he was thrown—willingly, like Jonah—into the ultimate storm, under the ultimate waves, the waves of sin and death.


Jesus was thrown into the only storm that can actually sink us—the storm of eternal justice, of what we owe for our wrongdoing. That storm wasn’t calmed—not until it swept him away.


If the sight of Jesus bowing his head into that ultimate storm is burned into the core of your being, you will never say, “God, don’t you care?”


And if you know that he did not abandon you in that ultimate storm, what make you think he would abandon you in much smaller storms you’re experiencing right now?


And, someday, of course, he will return and still all storms for eternity.


If you let that penetrate to the very center of your being, you will know he loves you. You will know he cares. And then you will have the power to handle anything in life with poise:

When through the deep waters I call you to go,
The rivers of woe shall not overflow;
For I will be with you, your troubles to bless,
And sanctify to you your deepest distress.


The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

A Look Back & A Look Ahead

We talked about this a few times during our study of James: Justin Taylor shares some "Echoes of the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of James."  You may have noticed some of these between our lessons in James and Quintin's series through the Sermon on the Mount.  Here are a few examples (out of 18) that Taylor lists:

Rejoice and be glad in your trials. 

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:10-12) 

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:2) 

Be perfect and complete. 

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) 

“And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:4) 

Ask your good and wise God who loves to give good things. 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11) 

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. . . . Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1:5, 17)

Read the rest of the parallels here.

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Looking ahead to our next study, this is something that I've been meaning to share since I found out that we would be studying Jonah.  A little over a year ago, Tullian Tchividjian was interviewed by Collin Hansen of the Gospel Coalition about his book, Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels.  Hansen asked Tchividjian the following questions:

• Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel?
• How does the book of Jonah reveal the contrast between God's heart and ours?
• How does Jesus' treatment of Jonah help us teach it today?
• How did you see your congregation respond when you preached the gospel from Jonah?
• What do you mean by saying Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel?
• What books, articles, sermons, etc., helped you preach Christ and the gospel from Jonah?

Here are a couple of Tchividjian's answers:

Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel? 

Surprised by Grace started out as a series of sermons on Jonah that I preached during the hardest year of my life. Preparing those sermons and preaching them proved to be a functional lifeline for me, not because of things I learned about Jonah (everything we learn about Jonah we learn by way of negative example), but because of things I learned about God’s amazing, sustaining, pursuing grace. 

I learned that God’s capacity to clean things up is infinitely greater than our human capacity to mess things up. I learned about the “stubbornness” of God to accomplish his will, regardless of how hard we may try and thwart it. In fact, as I reflect on that painful season of my life now, I can honestly say that I am genuinely thankful for all the ache I experienced. For it was during this trying time that God helped me recognize, through the story of Jonah, the practical relevance of the gospel—that everything I need and long for, in Christ, I already possesses. 

What do you mean by saying Jonah is a storied presentation of the gospel? 

It is a story of sin and grace, of desperation and deliverance. It reveals the fact that while you and I are great sinners, God is a great Savior, and that while our sin reaches far, his grace reaches farther. This story shows that God is in the business of relentlessly pursuing rebels—a label that ultimately applies to us all—and that he comes after us not to angrily strip away our freedom but to affectionately strip away our slavery so we might become truly free.

Read the full thing here.  More importantly, read through all four chapters of Jonah sometime this week and come prepared to dive in this Sunday.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

I wanted to share one of my all-time favorite songs.  Below the video are the lyrics along with some Scripture references that may be of help to you as you worship the Savior this week.  He is Risen!

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

Written by Stuart Townend

Performed by Joy Williams

How deep the Father's love for us,.................................................... 1 John 3:1
How vast beyond all measure..................................................... Ephesians 3:18-19
That He should give His only Son......................................................... John 3:16
To make a wretch His treasure.................................................. Romans 7:24-25

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away....... Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34; Psalm 22:1
As wounds which mar the chosen One,.......................................... Isaiah 53:5
Bring many sons to glory ..................................................................... Hebrews 2:10

Behold the Man upon the cross,.......................................... John 19:17-19, 31-37
My sin upon His shoulders..................................................................... 1 Peter 2:24
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.................................................... Matthew 27:22-25

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life................ Mark 15:37-39; Luke 23:46
I know that it is finished......................................................................... John 19:30

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom......................... Jeremiah 9:23; 1 Corinthians 4:7
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,............................................... 1 Corinthians 1:31
His death and resurrection............................................................... Galatians 6:14

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom........................... Mark 10:45; Colossians 2:14