Amazing this time of year to consider the incarnation, that God became man, starting out as a vulnerable baby born into a poor family.  In doing so, he knows what it means, experientially to be us—to suffer like us, hurt like us, suffer disappointment like us. Dorothy Sayers writes:

For whatever reason, God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—yet he had the honesty and the courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace, and thought it was worthwhile.

As Hebrew 4 tells us, we have a High Priest who can sympathize with us as we face suffering, temptation, hurt, and disappointment.  One of the reasons he came was to know what it means to be us.

No other religion allows this for its deity, no other believes that God would become human or would endure suffering.  Islam and Judaism doesn’t believe God would do such a thing, would take on flesh.  Eastern religions either view God as impersonal or the flesh as evil.

Christmas reminds us that God became one of us.  He knows what it is like to be us.  So, for those who face this Christmas with the hurts and fears and disappointments common to humanity, please know that you have the hope of a God who loves you, who knows what it is like to go through what you are going through, and is working to redeem all these things that happen in our lives.

At Chase Oaks, we are currently engaged in a series focused on money and finances.  In my study for the series, I was struck once again by how radical God was in the way He set up the nation of Israel in terms of making sure that the poor were cared for.  Then it was mandated, as God gave very specific instructions on how to handle money and come around the poor.

The first directive for generosity for the nation was the tithe, which literally means 10%.  They were expected to take the first 10% of their income, and give it to the Levites, to the temple.  But that was just the beginning.  They were to regularly tithe off of all their income this 10%, but in addition, each year they were to tithe another 10% of their income and give it for this huge national party that happened every year.  It’s really amazing to think about how much of a celebration being God is, how much of a party God we serve, but He instructed that they give 10% of the nation’s income for this huge blow out, where the poor and rich both partied together.  But that’s not all.

Every three years, they were to tithe another 10% of their income, that’s 30% total, and this 10% was for the poor.

Deut. 26:12 says, “When you have finished setting aside a tenth of your produce in the third year…you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. This was a special offering to give enough grain and sustenance to care for the immigrant, the widow, and the orphan.”

In addition to that, God instructed them at every harvest:  “When you are harvesting in your fields and overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless, and the widow…when you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time…when you harvest the grapes in our vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the fatherless, and the widow.  He was saying to people in a farming culture to basically leave money behind, to not collect all of their harvest, so that the poor could come and get what they need.” (Deut. 24: 19-22)

But that’s still not all.  Every seven years was considered a Sabbath year, where you left your land fallow, but in addition the people were to free every slave and send them off with enough money to make a living.  They were also to cancel every debt.  Every seven years, all debts were cancelled.  Imagine that!

And then every 50 years was a crazy year financially.  It was called the year of Jubilee. Among other things, in the year of Jubilee, all land would revert back to the original family that owned that land, so that there wouldn’t be generations of poverty passed down from family to family. Every 50 years, the playing field was equaled out again, so you wouldn’t have some who were mega-wealthy and others who were stuck in the poverty cycle.

All of this was extremely radical.  No other culture in the Ancient Near East did anything even remotely resembling any of this.  Perhaps the most distinct thing about the nation was generosity.  God’s people were to be radically generous.

When Jesus comes on the scene, He ups that ante even more.  He calls us to leave everything behind, take up our cross, and follow Him.  We have freedom more than mandates in terms of how our generosity plays out, but a question all of us have to be asking is, “What does God want me to do with my wealth?”

This week at Chase Oaks in our Make a Difference Everyday series, we gave a brief biblical theology of work and a challenge to approach work differently in order to make a difference, to restore to the work environment what God originally intended.

This blog is a conversation extender, so if you haven’t yet viewed the talk from this past weekend, I encourage you to do so at www.chaseoaks.org.  To illustrate what it means to translate the teachings of Jesus into the work place and be a redemptive influence, we used the illustration of the Quakers in the late 1700’s going into the early 1900’s, and how they sought to do just that.

From a talk I heard a few years ago, and much more so from a book that was my surprise book of the summer, Chocolate Wars: From Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of Sweet Success and Bitter Rivalry, by Deborah Cadbury, here is my summary of some of the principles that they came up with to implement to form a whole new kind of business.

• The common good as the real bottom-line
• The dignity of each person made in God’s image as the guiding principle of people decisions in the company
• The value of hard work mixed with regular Sabbath and restoration.
• Integrity and honesty as the basis of all business-dealings
• The value of entrepreneurship as an expression of God’s creativity and our being made in his image.
• Stewardship of the earth and its resources as the basis for environmental care.

God used these pioneers to transform work and working conditions in the whole culture.  Why couldn’t He do the same today?

Let’s view the above as a starting list.  What would you contribute to such a list of principles and ideas in doing business differently, with Jesus’ kingdom principles in mind?

Also, what other resources would you recommend for Christ-following business leaders?  One more I will throw in as another great example of someone thinking biblically about business and translating that into action is Joy at Work, by Dennis Bakke, founder of The AES Corporation and current CEO of Imagine Schools.  This book comes with a very helpful workbook / Bible study written by Brad Smith and Dennis.

Let’s extend the conversation!

What we crave says a lot about us, and this past week I had the opportunity to be around an outstanding leader who is outstanding in large part because he craves feedback.  Solomon said that only fools spurn corrective feedback, and that wise people long for it.

Last week I escaped the Dallas heat for Chicago, to be part of a feedback session about the 2011 Leadership Summit hosted by Willow Creek Community Church.  Bill Hybels, the pastor of this pioneering church and the visionary director of the Willow Creek Association that puts on the Summit led the session.  The session itself was difficult, simply because those present were roughly 50 senior pastors from around the county in one room, and we all seem to like to hear ourselves talk.

That said, I have learned a lot in these sessions over the years by watching Bill lead them.  He absolutely craves candid feedback, begs for it.  And when he gets it, he considers it and alters direction where it makes sense.

I remember being in my first of these sessions a few years ago, and I commented briefly about an area where I felt like they violated their brand promise.  100% of a very intense person was on me in a flash, and his intensity took me back.  I elaborated a little, and then he said, “Jeff, I need more. I sense that you are holding back that final 10% that is hard to say, and I really need to hear it all.” I did share that final 10%, and he absorbed the input with enthusiastic humility.

Coming back from this year’s session and reflecting on the first, I hope to be so wise.  Always consider the source, but when you know you can trust the source, you are wise to seek out and listen to any feedback they are willing to give.

In fact, this week after speaking about our global responsibilities and opportunities at Chase Oaks, I was contrasting charity versus empowerment among the world’s poor, and in that I compared and contrasted the effectiveness of child sponsorship versus microloans.  In that process, I made the impression that child sponsorship organizations aren’t aware of this charity versus empowerment conversation—and of course they are.  Organizations like World Vision (which Christy and I support) and Compassion International (another one we have supported over the years) are very sophisticated in their approach to global poverty and certainly do so in a way that leads to empowerment.

A trusted friend and leader at Chase Oaks was bold enough and kind enough to call me on this sloppy communication, and I so appreciate it.  Without the feedback, I never would have known about my unintended miscommunication.

Wise people crave feedback, and they listen.  When is the last time you’ve sought out honest feedback from friends and leaders you know and trust?

It was so great to be away, to meet some incredible new friends and potential partners doing such great work in East Africa, as well as spending time with the Hayes, our long-time missionaries in Amsterdam.  Seeing how God is working all over the world, in the midst of incredible need and darkness was extremely encouraging.  I loved being away.

But I also love coming back, just in time for the celebration of the birth of this country.  This isn’t God’s country, but it is a country that has received loads of common grace and has benefited from the saltiness of Christians in generations present and previous.  I’m certainly thankful for that this July 4th.

Traveling also makes us wiser, as we see our country from the perspective of other countries and even beyond that–the broader kingdom of God.  We are citizens of heaven, sent as ambassadors here; and we have a unique assignment in this particular culture.

A friend just sent me a blog written about America that represents the wisdom that comes from looking at us from the outside-looking-in, that I recommend to you as well. Here’s the link:

http://www.qideas.org/blog/enjoying-america-for-what-it-is.aspx.

We had a great time, and now it is great to be back!  Happy Birthday, America.

We’re currently in Jenja, Uganda after a couple of days in Western Kenya and Eastern Uganda.  We’ve met a few potential partners who are doing such great work in the name of Christ.  Yesterday and today were spent with some pastors who are administering a micro-finance strategy, giving small, very low-interest loans to the poor, so that they have some start-up capital to begin to make a living.  We heard story after story of widows raising 6 of their own children and maybe 5 or 6 orphans whose lives have been completely changed by this type of empowerment.  Rather than becoming dependent on some kind of sponsorship program, these families are now able to earn their own living.  They meet with the beneficiaries every week for training and mutual encouragement, and many of these folks who were not yet Christ-followers now are.

Today we meet a new couple doing all kinds of things, including micro-finance. Only two more days in Africa, and I’ve loved it, but don’t know that I could see any more opportunity.  It’s overwhelming and good.

The team is all doing really well.  Christy is ready to bring home every child she sees.

Thanks for praying along with us.

Still in Nairobi, having just returned from a church service at Nairobi Chapel–a very progressive, missional church. We really enjoyed the experience, and it reminded me why it is so important to keep “prioritizing the assembling of yourselves together” in this way.  For one, the pastor looks like Eddie Murphy, which was a little humorous.  Beyond that though, here are a few reasons I believe God placed the discipline of “going to church” as part of the deal, illustrated by today’s experience:

1) To Honor God

God has asked us to assemble regularly for worship, and that should be enough.  Yet, something very significant happens when we do.  Corporate worship “lifts our heads” as Psalms says to focus on the God above the difficulties and confusions of this world.  Here I am in Kenya, among the poorest of the poor, worshipping for joy to the Lord who is over everything in this world.  And the Kenyan believers I was with today certainly know how to celebrate the Lord, even in the midst of difficulty.  I even sort of danced along (a little).

2)  To Hear from God

We can all study the Bible on our own and receive God’s guidance and perspective.  There is something unique though about the preaching moment in a worship service, a unique sense of God’s presence and voice as the Bible is taught.  I needed to hear what I heard today, and I would hate to think that if I hadn’t gone, I would have completely missed it.

3) To Invite Friends

One of the pastors asked the congregation of new and growing believers, “How many of you came here because someone here invited you?”  Most stood up.  Because of a simple invitation, many hundreds of lives had been changed forever.  Same at Chase Oaks.  It was a powerful reminder how God can use a “come as you are” church to reach people.

4) To Strengthen Each Other

They actually had tea after the church service, where people were encouraged to hang out and enjoy some fellowship with each other before they entered into normal life again.

5) To Celebrate God’s Work and Motivate Us to Missional Living

Multiple times they celebrated what God was doing in their community through the church, as they sent out a mission team, celebrated those who had recently adopted orphans into their homes, and prayed for those who were in desperate need.  You couldn’t be there and not sense God’s nudging to engage the mission more deeply.

So, if we ever find ourselves wondering, “Should I really go to church today?” even if the pastor doesn’t look like Eddie Murphy, for all those reasons and more it would be really sad to miss out.

Yesterday was spent with some of the most wonderfully godly people I’ve ever been around, a Kenyan couple who are doing such a great job making a difference every day.  They were also so incredibly welcoming.

Robert and Rose are a pretty good approximation of how Jesus would live in Kenya.  From two tribes that don’t get along, they’ve built a strong marriage.  Though they couldn’t have kids biologically, they have literally hundreds of kids that they refer to as their sons and daughters, orphans (mostly due to AIDS) that they have brought into their home.  Right now I think they have 12 or so in their home, plus 10 more who are in the secondary school.  Additionally, they’ve started three schools (one residential, housing many other orphans), four churches, a medical clinic, plus a number of other initiatives to love people in the name of Christ.

This was an African-style day.  What could have been seen in two hours took all day, because we were beginning a friendship–so lots of time with tea, conversations, prayer and an incredible Kenyan meal.  We did leave friends, and they wanted to pass on greetings to a few Chase Oakers that traveled there last year (Susy Warren, Linda Maikowski and Lane Davis).

Today we go to church, and I am very much looking forward to seeing what God has in store there too.  Tomorrow we leave for an area where we will likely not have internet access.  We are traveling to an area around Kusumu (where Obama’s dad was from), to see the potential program of getting kids out of Mathare Valley for education and discipleship.  Then on to Uganda.

Thanks for praying along with us. I’ve already heard lots of good buzz about Rick Rigsby at Chase Oaks, which I fully expected!  Sorry I missed him!

In Nairobi now, a city on a whole other level than anything in Ethiopia. More modern and bustling.  And filthy.

Spent the afternoon in Mathare Valley, the world’s oldest and largest slum. 600,000 desperate people crowd into horrid conditions.  Walking through the slum was heart-wrenching to say the least.  Yet, the project we are looking at does make hope incredibly bright.

This potential partner has started four churches in the slum that serve the poor.  He has also started four or five schools with hundreds of kids that would otherwise be on the streets.  A number of these are AIDS orphans that live on one of the campuses.  Most of these kids have not only been introduced to education but also to a relationship with Christ.  At a chapel service for the orphan students tonight, they passionately sang worship songs and quoted Bible verses.  One of the more profound worship services I’ve ever been to (no disrespect to Ty, Sean, and Tyler…orphans are hard to compete with!). 

We will go with this partner to another part of Kenya where they hope to develop a high school and discipleship program that gets the kids out of the slums so that they have a greater chance of really moving on from there. That is not until Monday, so much to see between then and now.

I don’t know that I remember such an emotional journey of grief to hope as I did today in one day in a slum, but it is one experience I will always remember.

The team is doing well.  No one too sick yet, and having luggage has made us happy.  Thanks for praying for us!

So good to be back in Gondar!  Today we visited a new widow care center, where a group of Christ-followers here do such a great job of caring for the elderly, many of whom are out on the street.  There were also a number of children who come to the center to get food for them and their families.  It is quite a realization to look around the room and know that most of these people would no longer be alive were it not for this project, and most would have no idea that there really is a God who loves them and wants to connect to them.

We then visited another new program, a school for the blind that we are funding.  In this one region of Ethiopia alone are 45,000 blind people, most of whom become blind as young children due to malnutrition (vitamin A deficiency).  This could so easily be avoided, but that’s the way life is here.

Blind children are put on the streets by their parents who are in poverty themselves, because they can’t support them.  So, they go out on the streets as 5-7 year olds to beg and fend for themselves.  Blind children don’t go to school, so begging is their only option.  This school, however, provides a whole new hope.

As a pilot program, it is small, 10 blind kids from the ages of 12-16, but wow was it cool to see what is happening!  The school is a residential program that gets these kids off the streets, where their basic needs can be provided for and where they can focus on learning.  They are taught to read and write with braille, and each given the tools to do so.  They are also taught math, history, English, Amharic, science and special skills for life as a blind person.

It was so humbling to hear their stories and to see how much each student has accomplished.  They are blossoming, and so full of hope for the future.  As I listened, I so wished that every Chase Oaker who contributes to this project could be there to see how a little bit of money (in this case, about $4,000 per year) can make a tremendous diffierence.  As a pilot program, this is working really well so that it can be expanded.

As you may have heard, we did not get any of our luggage, so that does make everything harder.  We are praying to be reconnected to luggage before we go on to Nairobi on Thursday, because if not it is pretty much game-over for the rest of the trip.

Thanks for praying along with us.  The team is all doing really well, and we are very encouraged by what God is up to in this project.  Looking forward to hearing from the church planters here in just a few minutes.