Everyone has a passion. Passion is what makes you stand out and be interesting. Your passion is what you would be doing if you weren't having to work so much, chase the kids all day, or do schoolwork! Your passion is what makes your soul sing. Everyone's passionate about something. Even God.
How many of you have been on that website, Pinterest? I hope I can say this without giving up my man-card, but I love Pinterest! Pinterest is one of those places where people showcase their passions. It doesn't matter what your passion is, someone out there has your same (p)interests: Fruit carving. Harley Davidsons. Street Art...
Now one of my passions is woodworking. For me, going to a wood-show is like going to Disneyland. I've been around sawdust and power-tools my whole life. When I went to College, and lived in the dorm, I'd run power tools, carving stuff. People would get mad at the noise, but hey, they had their loud music so I had my tools! When I graduated, the school tried to revoke my room deposit because I left too much sawdust. But I told them if they took that deposit I wouldn't be able to afford a graduate degree! You can't just turn your passion off. You find ways to pursue it.
When I first started preaching, I needed extra income, so a guy asked me to help him clean junk out of the basement of his business. That's when I noticed a broken stool, caked with decades of grease and grime. Almost with embarrassment I asked, "Can I have that?" When he said "yes," I couldn't believe my good fortune! It's like they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure!" It was so disgusting, I was concerned about putting it in my trunk. When Lara saw it she was like, "What are you going to do with that? You're not bringing that filthy thing into the house!"
But when you have passion for something what are you to do? I took that broken oak stool into my woodshop, I stripped away all the grease and grime. I sanded. I glued and repaired what I could. I sized-up new lumber. I carefully matched the wood grain and coloring to replace the parts that were irreparably splintered or missing. I investigated different stains at the hardware store, to ensure a uniform look and finish. I located the needed hardware.
I kept the whole thing under wraps. Then one day I presented it to Lara after she got home from work. She was quite excited, and went out and bought a cushion, giving it the woman's touch! Not only that, but she was like, "It's so nice, let's put it in the dining room!" A few weeks later I invited the business owner to my house, and pointed to the stool. At first he didn't say anything. But then I asked, "Mike, don't you recognize that stool? The one we almost threw out? He couldn't believe his eyes.
Now just because I'm telling you this story, doesn't mean I want to help you clean out your basement, nor does it mean I want your junk! Please! Come on people!
Listen, I'll tell you a little secret. Just because something is damaged, stained, corroded, mildewed, greasy and grimy, caked in dirt. Just because it's been thrown out ... doesn't mean it lacks any value! When I think of forgiveness, I think of redeeming the value of something. Whatever it's sad, imperfect condition, we recognize its value.
I don't know what the history of that old broken chair was. It spent its life in a bar. It spent a lot of time, being sat on, by a lot of different people, and probably people of unsavory character! It spent most nights having liquor spilled on it and cigarette smoke swirling about its arms, legs, back. It spent a decade sitting in darkness, totally forgotten, buried in a heap trash, lost, destined for destruction in a dumpster.
I don't know the chair's story, but judging by appearances, it probably wasn't a very good story! But really, the chair's story doesn't matter. Because with forgiveness, it's past no longer defines its value nor its future. It once was lost, but now its been found. And if a disgusting chair like that can be found having value, what other kinds of things in life might be found having value, so as to be redeemed?
Funny thing about wood. There are so many varieties. So many grains, so many textures, so many colors. Certain types are quite abundant, other types are quite rare. I suppose you might say there is no "perfect piece" of wood--whatever "perfect" means. But the woodcrafter knows how to make imperfect things beautiful.
In my front yard I have what some might consider a "dirty old stump of wood." If you saw it in a creek bed, or along the shore line of a lake, you'd walk past it a thousand times and it wouldn't catch your eye. But one day I had some men cutting down trees in my yard, and one of the men stood staring at that old stump in my yard. He began explaining how beautiful it was, and how the way the water eroded its roots, gave it character and beauty. He explained how rare and hard it would be to find such a stunning work of nature, and then asked if he could take it off my hands! "Not now!" I thought, "Not after you've given your talk about its value!"
That's what's so funny about wood. Its value is in the eye of the beholder. Who would have thought that stump would have complimented a landscape? Or an old stool could be restored? But passion compels the woodcrafter to see value, and seize it. But something else I've noticed is that it doesn't matter how big or small, new or old, colorful or dull a piece of wood is. In the right hands, amazing things can be done.
Several times I've been invited to the governor's mansion downtown. On the second level there is this little round table some master woodcrafter made for Abraham Lincoln. Every time I've been there, I've stood, utterly speechless, admiring the handiwork that made that table possible. It's made from dozens of varieties of wood (how many I don't know). It consists of thousands of precisely cut pieces of wood, some just centimeters in height, width and breadth, all inlaid, in stunning fashion, to honor the President, and tell his story. It took years to make! I asked to take a picture of the table, but photography is prohibited. They were concerned even the flash of a camera might somehow deteriorate the table!
It's an amazing thing to watch a woodcrafter at work, a true artisan. They can take most any kind of wood and work wonders. Sometimes they cut away a damaged part of the wood, and throw it out. Sometimes a part of the wood, that seem useless to the ordinary eye, gets preserved. For example, a knot in the wood can look quite ugly, but then in the end, perfectly add character and beauty. The lowest grade wood there is, is probably palette wood. But Pinterest is flooded with examples of people who have taken (even) Palette wood and transformed into stunning projects.
When I preached at Berlin, I lived near the woods. One day I noticed some guy walking through the timbers, searching for something. When I went to investigate, I noticed he was pulling up little trees by their root. When I asked why, he explained that the strongest part of the tree was at its root. Showing me a root, he explained, "This is the first part people cut off and throw away... but look again, this root has the perfect curvature... which means this is perfectly suited for a cane." We got to talking, and he invited me over to his shop. Sure enough, it was filled with wooden canes, all hand-carved. He gave me a cane and encouraged me to transform it into something beautiful--which after all these years I have yet to do!
If forgiveness is redeeming the value of something lost, sanctification is adding value to something. Forgiveness can happen in an instant. You see something, you lay hold of it, you snatch it from destruction, its thrilling. Sanctification however, is a process, it takes time, it can be slow and painstakingly tedious, like that Abraham Lincoln table. One of the reasons I love woodworkers is they are so patient. And whenever I do woodwork, I find that it teaches me to be patient as well, like God
A lot of people see the value of something but they don't have the patience to work with it. It's like forgiveness. We love the idea of redeeming value of something lost, but we don't have much patience for working with it, and staying the course. We like things to happen fast. We want that instant gratification. But not everything can/ should work that way.
Nowadays when I do wood projects, especially large projects, I have to evict Lara's car from the garage. Everyday she'll be like, "Can I put my car back in the garage?" But the answer is always the same. "Not yet... not yet..." It's like that with sanctification. "Not yet, God isn't finished with me yet." Patience is mandatory.
My Dad and I share the same passion for woodworking. A few times we drove up to Morris, IL, to a woodshop just outside of town (it has since closed). They had everything a woodworker needed! At the entrance, they had an 8 foot-long fireplace mantle. But it was unlike any mantle my Dad or I had ever seen, or probably will.
In the mantle someone had painstakingly carved a picturesque scene of an entire Indian village located alongside a wooded riverbank. They carved the shoreline, the trees and birds, wild animals, fish, Indians with their feathered hats, tomahawks, teepees, horses, fire circles... the men were hunting, the wives working, the kids playing, dogs running. You could even see the expressions on the faces of the Indians! Stunning.
Obviously, no detail was too small for the woodcrafter. What patience, and vision he must have had! He probably told his wife a million times, "not yet... not yet." Sanctification is something that takes a lifetime. It never happens in an instant. In the beginning, only the status of something has changed--it once was lost, but not its been found, possessed, its value has been redeemed...
But with sanctification, the condition of something changes, gradually at first, but then more noticeably. Over time, its infinite beauty and detail slowly emerging. And it's just the way it has to be. It's like that expression, "God makes all things beautiful in their time." Sanctification takes much time, but it's well worth the wait.
And what is the point of all this, if not be put on display? For the woodworker, there is no greater joy than presenting your work fully finished. That is one of the reasons I love Woodshows. Not only do you meet great people, but you see their handiwork, what love and passion they've poured into their craft. I've always felt that you can learn as much about a woodcrafter by seeing their work as you can talking to them. Their work reflects who they are, what they love, what they value. Woodcrafters make themselves known through their work!
If all of this can be true of woodcrafters and their work, how much more can it be true of God and his work? Take us for example. The world doesn't doesn't determine our value, God determines our worth. "For God so love the world, he sent his one and only Son, that who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." We once were lost, but God saved us, he redeemed us, he plucked us from imminent destruction. God says, "I want you! I know the plans I have for you, I have plans to prosper you, to give you hope and a future!" You want us God? Great. We're all yours!
But God doesn't leave our condition unaffected! The Bible repeatedly declares how God "predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ." God sees us not as we are, but as he created us to be! So what does God do? God takes us, and molds us, and shapes us, like a woodcrafter, conforming us to image of his Son.
The Bible says that "by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, [God] will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." (Philippians 3:22). Pretty impressive. Human flesh infinitely harder shape than wood!
The Bible says that "we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is in the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:18). Don't get frustrated, God keeps saying "I'm not finished yet!" A little here, a little there! Chip by chip, the woodcrafter fashions us into his image. Chip by chip, God sanctifies us, fashioning us into the image of his son! He's the potter, we are the clay.
In Philippians 1:6 expresses confidence that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
And what is the goal of all this saving and sanctifying? In Colossians 1:21-23 Bible says, "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel..."
Ephesians 5:25-27 says, ". . . Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, to present her to himself as a radiant church without stain or wrinkle or any blemish, but holy and blameless."
Did you catch that? God is doing all this saving/sanctifying to present us HOLY, COMPLETE, PERFECT, FINISHED in his sight! It's for God's glory and for his joy to point at us and say, "Check out my handiwork! I took that dirty chair and made it presentable. I took that seemingly worthless root, that old stump, that 10 foot log, that old stack of palettes... and behold the wonder of it all!"
If God had a pinterest board, it wouldn't contain fruit carvings, Harley Davidsons, and wood projects... It would contain pictures of you and me, the CHURCH! His Pinterest board would reflect his deepest passion... His passion is US! His work in us, is is for his own pleasure and glory! Ephesians 1 says we exist for the praise of his glory!
And what a joy it is for us to realize this day that God finishes: Justification, God saves us, he forgives us, he redeems us, not counting our sins against us. Sanctification, God slowly, daily, changes us by his power, with ever increasing glory, making us holy. Glorification, God presents us perfect, complete in Christ, for the praise of his glory!
You have your passion tuned everywhere else. God has it tuned on you! The marvel of it all! READ ISAIAH 64:1-9 for prayer....