Live Excellently!

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Who Killed Jesus of Nazareth?

The Roman soldiers, most immediately. They were carrying out their orders.

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. (Luke 23:32-33)

Pilate: Although he symbolically washed his hands of the matter, he admitted three times that he knew Jesus was an innocent man in whom he found nothing punishable by death. But because of cowardice and political expediency, he conceded and turned Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.

Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will. (Luke 23:20-15)

The Jewish leaders and the people: The religious leaders were jealous and envious of Jesus. Out of their self-righteous indignation, they first turned Jesus over to the Roman authorities after a mock trial and then they stirred up the people to demand his death.

When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” (Luke 22:66-71)

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:1-2)

Judas Iscariot: While we can’t be totally certain as to Judas’s motivation for betraying Jesus to the Jewish authorities, more than likely it was out of greed. Many of us “have a price”, for which we will do almost anything. Judas apparently chose money as his god rather than Jehovah and turned over his friend for the price of a slave.

Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:14-16)

Their Sin and Ours: The aforementioned personalities all played a role in the crucifixion of an innocent man, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Lord of glory. Yet, had we been present, we would have acted in the same manner. After the resurrection and subsequent filling with the Holy Spirit, when the apostles began to preach, they placed the blame squarely on the people of Israel. They were complicit in his death. Hadn’t the crowd even taken responsibility? Didn’t they cry out before Pilate, “His blood be on us and on our children”? The apostle Paul also clearly claims that it was for our sins that he was crucified. He died because of me. Because of you.

God the Father: This is the toughest one of all to accept, but it is the clear testimony of scripture.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; (Isaiah 53:10)

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—  this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:22-23)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

But why? Stay tuned.

I’m looking for people to do this with me this year.

Start by listening to these sermons

or reading this book

The five components of the Radical Experiment are:

1. pray for the entire world;
2. read through the entire Word;
3. sacrifice your money for a specific purpose;
4. spend your time in another context;
5. commit your life to a multiplying community.

Who’s up for the challenge?

My 2010 was filled with highs and lows and lots of learning.

The highest high was without a doubt the birth of Jack Alexander Brown, my second nephew. It’s been a long time since we had a baby in the family. The last one just turned 14 yesterday.

I’ve met some wonderful new friends and reunited with old ones – before my gray hair days, that old. Facebook is an awesome invention, huh? Relationship is what we were created for. First and foremost to fellowship with God, and that then flowing out to all the others God puts in our lives. Everything else is icing.

My spiritual journey has continued with my precious friend Monique. We tackled most of John Owen’s trilogy Overcoming Sin and Temptation but stopped before getting depressed over the ugliness of the remaining sin in our lives. Now we’re nearing the end of Francis Schaeffer’s True Spirituality. The central message so far: love God enough to be content and love man enough not to envy. I’m so thankful for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to do these things. Without him I can do nothing.

Along with some others who joined me on Facebook, I read the Bible through once again this year. I think next year I’ll go with a chronological schedule. Reading the whole thing through helps you see the big plan unfold from start to finish.

For the first time since being available to attend the ladies’ Bible study at church, I led a couple of the lectures. Teaching is my spiritual gift, so this opportunity was like fresh powder for a skier. Ahhhhh…. They’ve asked me to do four this next semester. Lots of studying and learning to do. Darn.

My body has been giving me fits this year. Thankfully, I’m learning that most of my issues can be fixed with some supplements and good quality food enhanced with spices and herbs. One of my greatest discoveries this year was a book called The Younger (Thinner) You Diet by Dr. Eric Braverman. My online friend Sheree recommended it to me. What a Godsend!! This book and another one I learned about in it called The Diet Cure by Julia Ross revealed to me that experiencing a burnout is a serious matter that alters body chemistry – as does malnourishment.

I speculate that some significant damage started when I was a poor grad student and barely eating enough to survive. In all likelihood that’s when the thyroid crashed and the celiac disease set on. Then, after working my butt off helping some Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian refugees adapt to life in America, the burnout was complete. I became a basket case. My temperament changed. I lost a baby, was diagnosed with celiac disease, and my marriage ended. Only the Lord knows how much stress I had accumulated from the mid-80s to the mid-90s.

Malnourishment is life threatening – needless to say. My thyroid was affected, then my adrenals, by malnourishment and gut damage. Thanks to these books and some blood work, I now know what to do jump start these glands again so that I can get my life back. This is the way the Lord answered all my desperate prayers for help to return me to my true self, to the person he created me to be.

Oh, and I’ve fallen in love with Russian kettlebells. J One of my goals is to get certified by the folks at Dragon Door. My next purchase with either be a 24-pounder or a 35-pounder.

Another reading path I took led me to a discovery of Biblical generosity. Here’s the list:

• Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
• Neither Poverty nor Riches by Craig Blomberg
• Ministries of Mercy by Timothy Keller
• “Christian Charity, or the Duty of Charity to the Poor, Explained and Enforced” by Jonathan Edwards
• “Why Work?” by Dorothy Sayers
• The Gospel-Driven Life by Michael Horton
• The Presence of the Kingdom by Jacques Ellul (for the third time)
• The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns
• Radical by David Platt

To get the full impact, you’ll have to read these yourself. What I discovered is that we Christians have messed up a couple of extremely important biblical mandates: 1) to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and 2) to meet the needs of the poor and correct injustices. These are “both/and” mandates, not “either/or”. We’ve got to fix this. The American church especially has to fix this. We are in the wealthiest nation in the world, and because of technology we are aware of events and circumstances beyond our borders. It is an abomination of outrageous proportions – if abominations can have proportions — that we keep all our money and resources for ourselves and don’t spread it out to the ends of the earth – along with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet that is exactly what we are doing. This must change.

According to the first three books in the aforementioned list, giving 10%, the biblical tithe, is the basement. That’s where we start our giving. Please don’t argue with me on this one. Read the books, and let the biblical scholars convince you. As the Lord gives us increase to our income, we need to give more rather than accumulate more. Consumerism needs to die. Not that I’m opposed to good ol’ free market capitalism, mind you. It’s the tyranny of things that’s the problem.

The way I’m going to start dramatically increasing my giving is by participating in XanGo’s Meal Pack project. It involves feeding the starving around the world, actually a very easy thing to do. That’s my spring board to support and launch more and more charitable projects, like putting in fresh water wells, and supporting ministries to street children, and fighting slavery and human trafficking, and helping the church in my beloved Ukraine, etc. My desire is to do this with a team so that we can hold each other accountable to give more as income increases, not accumulate more. If you’d like to know more, send me an email or give me a call.

I’ve read several books by Robert Kiyosaki this year in order to increase my financial IQ. If you haven’t read Rich Dad, Poor Dad yet, go to Half-Price Books and pick up a copy. You’ll thank me. Surviving this economic downturn will be an enormous challenge if you don’t get some financial education.

One final book recommendation I’ll make is Linchpin by Seth Godin. If you’re tired of what you’re doing with your life, if you’re job isn’t giving you fulfillment, if you want your life’s work to provide more value, then this little book is for you. It’s about how to become a remarkable, indispensible person. Do yourself a favor. Make the investment in this one.

So, there you have it. My summary of 2010. Soul, body, mind. Of course, I’ve left out gobs of stuff. These are just some of the foundational things.

On November 5, 2010, I started my fiftieth year on this planet. The number of my remaining days is written in God’s book. Whatever amount that is, I want them to count, to bring God glory and value to others. My desire is for 2011 to be pivotal.

Now, it’s time to get ready to go meet up with the HH so that we can go over to the Stackpoles for fun and fellowship to ring in the New Year.

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

I’ve been putting this off for waaaayyyy tooooo long! Since today is my 49th birthday, the first day of my 50th year, I decided that it’s time to get this blog started. Most likely I’ve been putting it off because I’m concerned that a blog titled “Live Excellently!”  isn’t going to be perfect. After all, shouldn’t it live up to its name? There are many other causative factors for the delay, too. Nevertheless, because I’m beginning to work on all those other factors, and because this is sort of a momentous year in a person’s life, here goes!

Please stay tuned for all my thoughts and rantings. Don’t expect me to be politically correct. I’m gonna say what I want, how I want to say it. Please comment as you feel led, but always keep it gracious.

Now, time for bed because I’ve been up since 4 AM and have to get up at 5:30 to kick a booty.