Jesus was smart.

Maybe that’s an understatement. Jesus was absolutely brilliant. The stories he told, the humor he used, the questions he asked, the answers he gave, the plans he made all speak to a man who had a deep understanding of the human psyche. He knew how to do things other people couldn’t do. He said things so deep and yet so pithy and quotable that he was clearly thinking on a different plane from most people.

Jesus was smart.

But beyond that, Jesus never used his intelligence to make people feel inferior. Well…there was the one time he confounded the Pharisees and teachers of the law by asking them about John the Baptist. But other than that, he used his smartness to help people and not to make people think about what a smart guy he was.

I like to think that I’m a smart guy. But I often find myself using my intellect as a weapon. I use it sometimes to control people and keep them at bay. The smartest guy in the class isn’t always the most popular guy in the class. But Jesus was both.

Of all the things Jesus said, what do you think was the smartest, most brilliant thing?

The second thing I dig about Jesus is that he is one of the all-time greatest story tellers (maybe THE all-time greatest). I can sit and read Jesus’ stories for hours on end, picking them apart, noticing new details each time. He gave just enough information without spoiling things. He knew how to wait for the big reveal at the end. Sometimes his stories didn’t really have an ending. He was just brilliant.

I love storytellers. Mark Twain. Garrison Keillor. Clyde Edgerton. Ferrol Sams. Edwin Friedman. These are some of the great storytellers of recent times.

None of them can tell a story like Jesus did. His stories get under our skin. They have a way of drawing us in. We find ourselves relating to one of the characters in the story, wondering what’s going to happen next, how it’s all going to turn out.

I understand that there’s an appropriate time for didactic, right-brain, bullet-list, fill-in-the-blank kind of teaching. But I lament the fact that more preachers and teachers in our churches aren’t good storytellers. As Eugene Peterson says in Eat This Book: “We don’t have to be smart or well-educated to understand stories” (p. 163).

Sometimes Jesus used his stories to help people who wanted to understand. Sometimes he used his stories to hide his real meaning from people who were just looking for a fight. Sometimes his stories act like time bombs or time-release medicine. It’s not until people were on their way home that light bulbs come on and they realized, “Hey! That story was about me!”

Okay, of all the stories Jesus told, which is your favorite?

Yesterday I told you that Will Briggs tagged me, asking me to list five things I dig about Jesus.

I also told you that Tony Myles tagged me, asking me to list eight random facts about myself and — adding insult to injury — telling me that I should tag eight others. Some played along (albeit in a grumbly sort of way); some haven’t even responded.

Perhaps I lost cool points by joining the ranks of the meme-ites.

Still, I’m thinking and thinking about Will’s question: What are five things I dig about Jesus?

Of course, I could list hundreds of things, but he only asked for five. He did not say they had to be the five main things I dig about Jesus or the five most important things or the five most personally relevant things. He just asked for five things.

Should be simple enough, right? I mean I’m a writer, and I write and talk about Jesus all the time.

And here I am with writer’s block….

Okay, maybe I’ll do these one at a time. Five things I dig about Jesus — Thing One: Jesus had a sense of humor.

Jesus told jokes and funny stories and gave his friends nicknames. He got invited to parties (and I’m not talking about potlucks in the fellowship hall). Sailors and hookers liked to hang out with him. Sailors and hookers don’t tend to hang out with people who are prudish and serious all the time. There must have been something about him that put them at ease, made them feel comfortable. I bet it was his sense of humor.

Let’s make this a little interactive: In your opinion, what’s the funniest thing Jesus ever did or said?

A couple of weeks ago I was tagged by Will Briggs from Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Today I was tagged by Tony Myles from Connection Church in Medina, Ohio.

Tony wants to know eight random things about me. Will’s request is more spiritual but just as fun; he wants to know five things I dig about Jesus. I’m supposed to start Tony’s list like this:

The Rules:

1. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

Okay — in no particular order — here are eight random facts about me:

• I do not know how to drive a stick-shift.
• I have visited 45 states (I’m still missing Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Vermont and Rhode Island)
• I am very self-conscious about my appearance when I’m speaking in front of a group of people — I worry particularly about my hair and whether or not I am sweating too much for my shirt (which was the case this past Sunday).
• In 1992 I worked at The Tonight Show — working the transition from Johnny Carson to Jay Leno — yes, I was there for Johnny’s final show.
• I have never broken a bone in my body — in fact, I never had stitches until last year.
• In 1988 I voted for…Michael Dukakis.
• I performed as a stand-up comedian for several years.
• I find it difficult to resist donuts; if there are donuts (or even danish) anywhere around, I want to eat them all — this is particularly strange when you take into account the fact that I do not like nuts — I think they have the same basic taste and consistency as wood — there must be something about the “do-” that makes them so irresistible.

Okay, now I’m supposed to tag eight people, right? I’m not sure I know eight people who will do this. Let’s try Andy Sikora, Christopher Green, Kevin West, Dave D’Angelo, Big White Hat, Believing Thomas, Dee Andrews and John Dobbs.

Will’s request is causing me some consternation. I’m having difficulty coming up with the list. Maybe I feel like the stakes are too high. I’m probably overthinking the matter (it wouldn’t be the first time). I’ll try to post five things I dig about Jesus tomorrow.

Jesus says, “Wait! Don’t do anything now. Just go to Jerusalem and wait for the gift my Father promised. In a few days you’ll be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

And then he leaves.

They must have wondered, “How will we know when the gift arrives? Will it be delivered UPS? Will we feel anything? Will we get wet? What in the world does this mean?”

Jesus didn’t give them many details. Maybe he did — he did spend 40 days after his resurrection talking to them about the kingdom of God and probably some about the Holy Spirit, too. Still, the details are probably a little fuzzy for them.

Turns out they didn’t have to wait very long — just about 10 days.

Problem is: when this gift showed up, he did all sorts of confusing things. A sound like rushing wind. Tongues of fire settled on top of people. Folks speaking other languages. The whole Day of Pentecost was a swirling mass of confusing signs that probably have deep, hidden meaning.

If only Rob Bell had been there; he could have explained it all to them!

What are we to make of these things? I’m not content to say that the Book of Acts is only history (only a description of the events that took place) and no theology (no prescription for us). How can we explain the meaning of the wind, the fire and the languages?

So, Luke writes this book. Actually, he writes these two books; the first one is called The Gospel According to Luke and the second one is called The Acts of the Apostles. Or sometimes it’s called just Acts. Or the Book of Acts. Some people think it should be called The Acts of the Holy Spirit.

People can’t really agree what to call it.

Luke probably just called it: “The next installment of the story I’m trying to tell”. My Greek is too rusty to try and figure out what that would look like in the original text.

He starts this second part, this sequel to his Gospel, by saying, “In my first book I wrote about all the things Jesus began to do and teach while he was physically here on earth.” The most interesting word in that sentence is “began“. His implication seems to be that Jesus isn’t finished.

Now, in some ways Jesus accomplished and completed his mission. But in other ways he was just getting warmed up. And this sequel is the next part of the story of what Jesus continues to do and teach from heaven through his people by the power of his Spirit.

And that last phrase there is important. Jesus wasn’t going to do anything through his people by their own power and strength. That would just be a disaster! He knows that. They know that. We know that. They couldn’t even get along among themselves — always arguing over who was the greatest in the kingdom, always zigging where Jesus would have them zag. They were a group of clueless, inept, dysfunctional misfits who needed remedial help.

So, Jesus gives them a command: “Before you do anything, go to Jerusalem and just wait. Don’t do anything now (you’ll just screw it up). Just go and wait. Hopefully, the Spirit will be able to teach you what I haven’t been able to — namely, that my kingdom is not of this world, it’s bigger than Israel, and it’s going to advance incrementally, rather than in one fell swoop. Still, since you can’t seem to get it while I’m here with you, just go to Jerusalem and wait until the Spirit comes.”

Can you imagine their response?

“Hooray! We get to wait! That was just what we were hoping he’d say! We’re going to wait! This is going to be fantastic! I’ve always wanted to be a waiter for the Lord!”

I don’t imagine they liked waiting any more than we do. But that’s what Jesus wanted them to do, so that’s what they did.

Now, think about this: Jesus could have just given them the Spirit right then and there. But he didn’t. He said, “Go to Jerusalem and wait. I’ll send the Spirit in a few days.”

Why? Why does he want them to wait?

Some of you asked about this, so I wanted to let you know the books I’ve been reading to get a handle on the Book of Acts for this upcoming series. Feel free to chime in and let me know of books I missed.

The Message of Acts: The Spirit, The Church, and the World (Bible Speaks Today) by John R.W. Stott

Acts (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries) by I. Howard Marshall

Falling in Love with Jesus’ People: Studies in the Book of Acts by Rubel Shelly

Paul on Trial: The Book of Acts as a Defense of Christianity by John W. Mauck

“Acts” by Conrad Gempf in The New Bible Commentary (IVP — 21st Century Edition) eds. G.J. Wenham, J.A. Motyer, D.A. Carson, R.T. France

Acts (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) by Jaroslav Pelikan

Acts (The NIV Application Commentary) by Ajith Fernando

Okay, I got a little “link-happy” today. It started innocently enough: I was going to link you to Conrad’s blog because he’s kind of a friend and fellow-blogger. Then I remembered that Rubel Shelly is kind of a friend (although he never remembers me). So, I figured I’d link to his website, which has all sorts of helpful items. Then I found John Stott’s website, and it all went downhill from there.

Anyway, you can see from the reading list that I’ve got a little diversity but not too much. I wanted a good commentary written by a woman, so I ordered Beverly Gaventa’s. I also had to order Jervell — the others I had in my library already — except for Pelikan, which I found at a local bookstore. I’m hoping they arrive before I head to California Monday; they’ll give me something good for the airplane.

I’ve got some non-American scholars (Stott, Marshall, Fernando and…what do you consider yourself, Conrad?), a non-evangelical (Pelikan and his wife had been received into the Orthodox Church of America before he wrote his commentary), a preacher (Shelly) and an attorney (Mauck).

I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to add anything at this point, but — if I could add something to the list, what should it be?

Follow up question (written after going back and reading this post): On a scale of 1-10, how much of a preacher nerd am I?

Yesterday I went to the CBA…er…I mean the ICRS. That’s the International Christian Retail Show. It’s the one time each year when all the publishers of Christian books and music and the manufacturers of Christian trinkets and “art” and gifty-type-things meet up with all the owners of Christian bookstores to let them know what they’ll be selling soon. It’s also a time for authors to meet with publishers and network, schmooze and suchlike.

There’s a lot of good that happens here. I mean it. There are really good books being written, and some of them even get published!

I attended an author appreciation breakfast that Broadman & Holman offered (they published The Gospel According to the Da Vinci Code). I got to take my dad with me there, and, honestly, if it hadn’t been for him, I don’t think anyone would have talked to me. I don’t really fit the profile of a B&H author, I guess. He looks more the part than I do.

I got to meet up with a friend I haven’t seen in years. Mike Murray works for Integrity Music, and he was on the floor all day yesterday. We’re going to have dinner tonight, and I can’t wait to catch up with him more!

I spent an hour with Andrew and Eric Wolgemuth (and their new associate whose name I cannot remember — I apologize for being terrible with names — she was very nice and is, I’m certain, very competent). We discussed possible books for the future — some of which I’m sure I’ll discuss here on the blog in the coming months. I had a really good time with them, and — again — it demonstrated the fact that there are actually people in the world who care about good ideas and good books and are doing everything they can to see those ideas and books make their way to a wide audience.

I got to see Denny Boultinghouse and the folks at Howard Publishing. Denny has been a friend of the family for decades, and it’s always good to hear how things continue to develop for them. Who knows? Maybe one of those book ideas I talked to the Wolgemuth clan about will make its way to Howard Publishing?

I met up with my good friend “God, I Don’t Understand” Kenneth Boa. He introduced me to some nice people, including Rob Bowman. Rob’s co-authored a few books with Ken as well as several books of his own. He’s a smarty. And he’s got a great sense of humor. The three of us ran the gauntlet of aesthetic assault (there’s a giant room with booths displaying all the items one might find in a Christian bookstore — some good, some bad, some ugly…very, very ugly) together until Rob had to go meet with someone at NavPress about a possible book idea.

Ken and I continued and discovered this:

It’s an action figure. Of Jesus. Riding a motorcycle. You can’t see it, but Jesus is wearing a t-shirt with his own face on it — the same logo is on the gas tank of his bike. The crown of thorns is detachable, by the way — just in case you would rather see Jesus with his hair blowing freely in the wind (like his cape-like robe!) and not be reminded of any of the blood and pain and hurting stuff.

(sigh)

Okay, what do you do with this? First of all, Jesus must live in Florida or some other such state where they don’t have helmet laws. They also have action figures of Jesus riding a bull — like at a rodeo — I’m not making that up. And there’s one of Jesus riding a skateboard and one of Jesus surfing and one of Jesus holding up a sign that reads: “Will Work for Food”.

They’re all named variations on the same theme. The motorcycle-riding Jesus is called “I Am Freedom”. Surfing Jesus is called “I Am Spirit”. Skateboarding Jesus is “I Am Youth”. I asked the people if “Will Work for Food” Jesus was called “I Am Hungry”. They didn’t laugh.

They’re serious about this, folks, and — frankly — I don’t know what to make of it.

So, I’m asking you. What do you think about this? Good? Bad? Tacky? Reasonable?

This is the new series we’re starting Sunday at The Bridge, and I’m really excited about it!

We’re in a time of tremendous transition — adding new staff, moving into a new building, gearing up for a new ministry year. I can’t think of a more important time to look at the Book of Acts than now.

I’ve done a preliminary outline for the five parts of the series (many thanks to those of you who sent suggestions!). I’ve got a box of books sitting here next to me — perhaps I’ll publish my reading list later this week.

For now, I wanted to give you the basic outline of the series. Remember, we’re attempting to cover 28 chapters in five weeks, so we’ve got to take a real 30,000-foot view of the themes.

Part One: Acts is really a sequel to Luke’s Gospel — a continuation of the story Luke began to tell in his previous volume. In his first work, we read about Jesus and what he did. He walked and talked with people. He did miracles. He taught. Then he died, and his followers must have thought, “Well, I guess that’s the end.” Some of them even went back to what they had been doing before Jesus arrived. But an amazing thing happened: three days after he died, Jesus came back to life. They probably wondered what he was going to do next. How do you follow that? Imagine their surprise when he said to them, “You’re my sequel; you’re going to do the very same things I’ve been doing.” This would mean taking risks, venturing into the great unknown. It might mean rejection, alienation, persecution or even death. They decided to take the risk. The Book of Acts is their story.

Part Two: Jesus knew that the disciples wouldn’t be able to do the very same things he had been doing on their own. So, his first command to them was, basically, “Wait. Don’t do anything yet. You’re likely to just screw it up. So, go to Jerusalem and wait. When the Holy Spirit comes, he’ll empower you to do these things. He’s been my power source; now he’ll be yours.” The Holy Spirit moves at his own pace, and waiting has never been easy for people. But as they learned to wait on him and cooperate with his leadership, he faithfully guided them into being the continuation of Jesus’ life and ministry.

Part Three: The first thing the Holy Spirit set about doing was to build a community marked by a tremendous sense of unity and oneness — a community that shared one heartbeat. Physical miracles took place — like the time the place where they prayed shook or the healing of the lame man at the Temple — but the bigger miracles were how lives changed and possessions were shared and the poor were cared for. That’s what really made the church an unstoppable force. Such unity, however, doesn’t come easily. Ego, prejudice, deceit and dissension must be dealt with in order to be the church God intends.

Part Four: The early church found out that when you do the kinds of things Jesus did, you’re likely to get the same kind of responses he got. Some people were deeply attracted to this new community. Others were scared of it. Still others felt threatened by it. And those who felt threatened used whatever power they had to persecute and threaten this fledgling group of people known as Christians. How would they respond in the face of opposition? They took their cue from Jesus, who faced down his critics fearlessly. Even when they were arrested and beaten, they stubbornly refused to stop doing what Jesus did.

Part Five: Jesus told his earliest followers that their primary charge was to be witnesses of all he said and did. He told them that they were to take the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. That commission serves as a kind of outline for the Book of Acts, and we get to read about how they accomplish their mission. Now, Jesus turns to us and says, “Tag! You’re it! It’s your turn now.” We get to write the next chapter of the story — the ongoing story of Jesus’ life and mission, lived out by those who will agree to be used by God and empowered by the Spirit.

That’s me. I’m a bachelor these days. I put Jill and the girls on a plane for California Tuesday afternoon, and I’ve spent the remainder of my week eating pizza and red meat, watching sports at full volume (Wimbledon is on right now) and sleeping in. The other night I watched Casino Royale — the latest James Bond movie — and I didn’t even start it until after midnight! Oh, I also went to see the new Fantastic Four movie yesterday. I’m planning on going to see several movies where lots of things get blown up.

My friend Ken Boa said to me yesterday (in the tone of voice that only Ken can produce and maintain), “I see you descend into degeneracy when your family is gone!”

It’s true. I live like a caveman when my family’s not around. I don’t shave. I don’t have many conversations. I don’t tend to seek out the company of other people. I have to force myself to go out of the house.

I’m grateful for the friends I have — new friends like the Locke family who invited me to their cookout on the 4th — old friends like the Blackwells who had me over to watch fireworks or Steven who went with me to the movie yesterday afternoon or Dane who came over and ate ‘brats with me right after the girls left. I’m thankful that God has blessed me with really great friendships.

But no one takes the edge off me like my wife and kids.

My challenge this weekend is to maintain whatever civility I gained from them, to live less like the Neanderthal I tend towards and more like the refined and domesticated variety I am when they’re around.

Pray for me. Pray for the house. Pray for the dog. Pray for Jill and the girls and whatever they might find when they next see me.