Where Life and Lips Join

"Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The Body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole church of God gains when themembers that compose it begin to seek a better and higher life."

-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Do we understand what A.W. Tozer is saying? Christian ‘community,’ as described in Scripture, cannot exist outside the context of our own personal relationship with God. Christian gatherings cannot be a substitute for our own individual time spent with the Father. In fact, I would go so far as to say that unless we are willing to commit earnestly to spending significant time (in quality, not necessarily quantity) in Bible study, reflection and prayer every day, then we are not going to be much use to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and Christian community isn’t going to be much use to us. Our ability to love and walk with each other in true Christian fellowship hinges upon the degree to which we have learned to love and trust God. At the end of the same chapter of the book quoted above, Tozer sates, “When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed within us, we shall be ushered onto a new spiritual level of spiritual life more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament.”

Let’s explore a little more of what I call Tozer’s ‘corporate worship theology,’ “It is true that order in nature depends upon right relationships; to achieve harmony each thing must be in its proper position relative to each other thing. In human life it is not otherwise...the cause of all our human miseries is a radical moral dislocation, an upset in our relationship to God and to each other. For whatever else the Fall may have been, it was certainly a sharp change in man’s relation to his Creator. He adopted toward God an altered attitude, and by so doing destroyed the proper Creator-creature relation in which, unknown to him, his true happiness lay.” (A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God) In this statement, the reason we need to be completely fixed upon the Father is clear: only when we are in right relationship with Him can we be in right relationship with each other and ourselves. Let’s not be naïve. Our adversary, Satan, knows and understands this all too well. It is the reason why he puts all of his effort into making us self-focused, or self-centered. Frankly, he knows that he cannot win with a frontal attack in most cases, because to the child of God, these are far too obvious. So he studies us carefully to determine which “back-door” approach might work best. His resources are not unlimited, nor is his power. He is neither omnipresent nor omniscient (everywhere all the time, all-powerful). In fact, he was stripped of his authority on this planet in the wake of Christ’s resurrection. Because of this, he wages war carefully, and assigns his ‘troops’ (demonic entities, fallen angelic beings like himself) strategically.

A body of believers that is wrapped up in itself for the sake of simply ‘doing church’ is of little threat to Satan. A body of believers, however, that is striving to live, each person as a true disciple of Jesus Christ, is His biggest fear. It is upon these types of congregations upon which he deftly, strategically wages war. In all our 'doing,' let’s remember Satan’s primary strategy: to keep us focused on ourselves - our wants, our desires, our opinions, our preferences. When we allow ourselves to become distracted by these things, we lose ground quickly, and are in danger of discrediting the Name of the Lord and losing credibility in the sight of those around us!

“All the graces that are produced in a Christian grow out of the death of self. Unlimited patience is necessary to bear not only with yourself, but with others whose personalities and moods are not compatible with your own. Bear these offenses in silence and submit them to the spirit of grace. As you seek to honor the true cross (the affliction that God allows for us), remember that all the disagreeable situations that fall in your daily path are part of that true acceptance of the cross. Do not insult the work of the cross in your life by complaining about your problems. All things, including things that appear evil, are great blessings when they unite us to the One who is our All in All.” (Madam Jeanne Guyon , Intimacy With Christ) Psalm 16:8 states, “I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” The Church serves as the vehicle through which the Redeemed are brought into close proximity with one another. This ‘closeness’ is the stuff of the cross. Our human weakness and selfish nature drives the ‘nails’ of suffering into ourselves and others. Many times we bear the ‘cross’ of own selfishness as it’s mixed with relationship or Koinonia (fellowship in the Spirit). In this sense, “organizations” become irrelevant, “missions statements” and “purpose statements” become irrelevant, “success” and “failure” (measured by human standards) becomes irrelevant. Only our identification with the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is relevant. All else is superficial.

In the well-known devotional book My Utmost For His Highest Oswald Chambers states, “Always measure your life solely by the standards of Jesus. Submit yourself to His yoke alone; and always be careful to never place a yoke on others that is not of Jesus Christ. It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong. That is never God’s view. There is only one true liberty—the liberty of Jesus at work in our conscience to do what is right. Jesus said, ‘go...and make disciples…’ (Matthew 28:19), not ‘make converts to your own thoughts and opinions.’ ” Jesus commands us to love each other. (John 15:17) This means we ‘bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things’ (I Corinthians 13:7). If we, relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, are faithful to ‘bear, believe, hope and endure,’ then we cannot fail! However, we must remember that God will bring us into difficult circumstances that are designed to test the measure of our surrender and faith. Discipleship cannot be proven by words or even actions. Discipleship is the process through which our hearts are refined, many times through suffering, to display the character and attributes of Jesus Christ. The ‘nails’ hurt, but eventually become some of our most cherished possessions. Remember His nail-scarred hands!

“No man is fit to enjoy heaven unless he has resigned himself to suffer hardship for Christ. Nothing is more acceptable to God, nothing more helpful for you on this earth than to suffer willingly for Christ. If you had to make a choice, you ought to wish rather to suffer for Christ than to enjoy many consolations, for thus you would be more like Christ and more like all the saints. Our merit and progress consist not in many pleasures and comforts but rather in enduring great afflictions and sufferings.” “If, indeed, there were anything better or more useful for man's salvation than suffering, Christ would have shown it by word and example. But He clearly exhorts the disciples who follow Him and all who wish to follow Him to carry the cross, saying: "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Thomas á Kempis; The Imitation of Christ) “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Luke 14:27, John 13:35) Exactly what is the nature of our relationship with God? Do we treat Him like some kind of cosmic “blessing bank”, thinking that if we hit upon just the right combination of actions and attitudes, He will perform for us the way we want Him to? Do we fail to see the way we think about, and treat our Heavenly Father is usually the way we think about, and treat those around us? The answer to these questions lies, believe it or not, in the way we view suffering!

In "The Problem of Pain," C.S. Lewis writes, “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.” Let’s ‘unpack’ this statement. Free-will (the right to be a free moral agent and choose between right and wrong) is what separates us from all other created things. The very nature and essence of God’s unconditional love demands that the object of His love—you and I— be free to choose whether or not to love Him in return. This freedom was exploited by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they chose to disobey the one directive from the Father that was to prove their faithfulness (they ate fruit from the tree of knowledge). This disobedience created a dilemma: God’s unconditional love collided with His uncompromising justice. Man’s disobedience required justice to be satisfied. Yet man, as the object of God’s unconditional love, wanted redemption and forgiveness. This ‘collision’ between love and justice could only end in one way: suffering.

Man’s selfishness reduced God’s original perfect plan for His creation to a nightmare existence filled with violence, disgrace, and corruption. Something had to be done, so God’s solution was to send the Son (the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the very Word of Life made flesh) to walk on the soil He himself created, among those He so infinitely loved. From the beginning God knew that this journey was going to be full of suffering and pain. Ultimately, the price Justice would exact required God to reject the Son (Matthew 27:46). The Son, being sinless and perfect, could rightfully take upon himself the punishment for Adam’s disobedience (remember Jesus, born of a virgin, was outside of Adam’s lineage) for all who choose to believe and accept His sacrifice. For this reason the Apostle Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:21, “He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

For the disciple of Jesus Christ, there is no loftier goal—and no greater source of suffering—than dying to selfish desires. And our discipleship is proven in how we treat others. This is where community begins, in understanding that when we truly set ourselves to be Christ’s disciples, we will join with others in community, in relationship—living the way Jesus lived, by His commands and precepts, the foremost of which is “love each other [unconditionally].” We MUST accept that no conditions may be attached to our love for others. This is how our unconditional love for God is demonstrated! And it’s here that the Church gets sidetracked into becoming nothing more than a ‘religious organization’ (by the way, these angered Jesus). In his book The Spirit of the Disciplines, Dallas Willard states, “For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of becoming a Christian. [In Western churches] one is not required to be, or to intend to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress towards discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in His example, spirit and teachings as a condition of membership...most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Jesus.”

This indictment is not new. We have seen the same unfaithfulness characterize God’s people since the children of Israel were delivered from the hands of the Egyptians. Yet God, in His passionate, endless, unconditional love for us continues to pursue us relentlessly. He desires for us to be healed from our spiritual blindness. His wish is for us to step out of darkness into His light. As you give serious consideration to your relationship with the Father, be reminded that we cannot enter into any kind of relationship with Him on our own terms. We cannot claim to love God and be Jesus’ disciples while holding grudges against each other (conditional love). We cannot claim to follow Christ and be driven by our own selfish desires and ambitions. Dallas Willard states, “...one cannot be a disciple of Christ without forfeiting things normally sought in human life. And if we intend to become like Christ, that will be obvious to every thoughtful person around us, as well as to ourselves...discipleship can be made concrete by loving our enemies, blessing those who curse us, walking the second mile with an oppressor—in general, living out the gracious inward transformation of faith, hope, and love. Such acts—carried out by the disciplined person with manifest grace, peace and joy—make discipleship no less tangible and shocking today than...long ago. Anyone who will enter The Way can verify this, and he or she will prove that discipleship is far from dreadful.” (The Spirit of the Disciplines).

Let’s take a look at one more of A.W. Tozer’s thoughts. “Much of our difficulty as seeking Christians stems from our unwillingness to take God as He is and adjust our lives accordingly. We insist upon trying to modify Him and to bring Him nearer to our own image. The flesh [our human nature] whimpers against the rigor of God’s inexorable sentence and begs like Agag [see 1 Samuel 15] for a little mercy, a little indulgence of its carnal ways It is no use. We can get a right start only by accepting God as He is and learning to love Him for what He is.” (The Pursuit of God) This is huge! Remember what I restated earlier: our ability to love and walk with each other in true Christian fellowship hinges upon the degree to which we have learned to love and trust God! When we begin to truly take God as He is, and submit ourselves to Him, only then will we be able to love each other for who we are and submit to one another, as the Apostle Paul commands us to in Ephesians 5. When we get to the point where we are so focused on Him that we trust Him completely no matter what life’s circumstances might bring our way, only then will we begin to live in a manner that draws us nearer to Him and to each other.

It is important for us to get a hold of this truth. It is my hope that the Church will engage in a new way in corporate worship and Community Groups. But we must guard ourselves against coming to our times together with the typical worldly attitude of “what am I going to get out of this.” Instead we must challenge ourselves to ask our Lord the question, “What can I bring to the gathering of believers, no matter what it might cost me?” You see, dear friend, this is the essence of Christian fellowship. Decades ago, one of our presidents spoke of this principle of truth accurately when he said, “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”* If the world recognizes this principle of selflessness, then how much more should we, the Church?

I encourage you if you have not already done so, to not let one day go by that you do not spend personal, alone, intentional time with the Father. Understand right away that this will be the hardest thing that you will ever strive to undertake, because we have an adversary who, as we have said, is cunning, brilliant, and understands our weaknesses all too well. The last thing he wants us to do is be in a position where we are exposed to the truth of God’s Word and the influence of the Holy Spirit in our lives!

*President John F. Kennedy’s entire speech can be found at: http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/speeches/John_F_Kennedy/5.htm

Intimacy With God

"Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him.”

-The Apostle Paul (Formerly Saul of Tarsus)

When was the last time you were desperate for something? How far have you gone to get something you really wanted? Last Sunday we sang a song which contained the words “And I, I’m desperate for You; and I, I’m lost without You” (Marie Barnett; Breathe; 1995 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing). One day a young man came to Jesus. He was quite wealthy by worldly standards. Yet in spite of his wealth, he was dissatisfied. He wanted more. He found Jesus and asked Him what he could do to obtain eternal life. Scripture records Jesus loved him, so much so that He invited the young man to follow Him in His journey. The only prerequisite was to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. The young man went away sad for he had many possessions. Could it be that he missed the point completely? Is it possible he saw ‘eternal life’ as one more accomplishment, one more trophy to add to his apparently substantial collection? Did he not realize Who Jesus was, and what He was saying to him?

Our relationship with God isn’t a ‘free pass’ into heaven or a ‘Get Out Of Jail Free’ card. It is a holy, sacred commitment to follow with all our hearts the One who has pursued us with all of His. Christian singer/songwriter Jon Foreman asks “We were meant to live for something more…have we lost ourselves?” (Jonathan Foreman, Tim Foreman; Meant To Live; 2002 Meadowgreen Music Company; Sugar Pete Songs) The ‘something more’ Jon speaks of is exactly what this week’s Living Worship is about. It is the neglected, risky, difficult information about what our relationship with God looks like.

I consider myself an evangelical. This means I take seriously Christ’s directive found in Matthew 28 to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything He has commanded.” I grew up in evangelical churches. The message I continually heard growing up was ‘believe in Jesus – be saved – avoid hell – go to heaven.’ Period. There was lots of talk about having a relationship with Christ, but little, if any, discussion about what that relationship should look like. It was easy! Talk to the pastor, get baptized, and attend church and Sunday school. It wasn’t until much later I understood what Jesus actually said: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” Umm…this sounds to me like Jesus meant our relationship with the Father to go beyond the ‘get-saved-and-go-to-church’ routine. Let’s look at it another way. What kind of marriage would a couple have, if the only reason they wed was for the self-gratification of sexual intimacy? (All one has to do is take a close look at our society to answer that one.) The marriage would most likely fail over time. All successful marriages have one thing in common: the great personal sacrifice that accompanies unconditional love. In fact, those who have long-lasting, healthy, vibrant, marriages understand how to experience the joy of the sacrifice. This, my friend, is the “something more” we were “meant to live for”.

Decades ago I heard a message on being “God-Inside-Minded”. This was a novel concept to me at the time. It seemed the speaker was stating it was possible to walk through my day in constant fellowship with the Father. This completely redefined my understanding – and expectations – of my relationship with God. I began, for the first time in my life, to really study men and women in the Bible who seemed to walk closely with the Father; not their actions and accomplishments, mind you, but how they thought and lived. I discovered something. They seemed to know God...enough to talk back to Him and even argue with Him, to wrestle with Him and even prepare a meal for Him. At least a couple of individuals, it seems, were so close to God that God simply ‘took them’. They went from this world to the next without even tasting death! This almost makes me ashamed to sing, “I am a friend of God, He calls me friend.” (Israel Houghton, Michael Gungor; Friend of God; (Integrity's Praise! Music; Vertical Worship Songs) Since then I have been on a quest to know God. Honestly, there have been some distractions. I’ve had to come to grips with many aspects of my character that are less than admirable. I have failed, sinned, fallen short and fallen down. But I have never given up. I, like the Apostle Paul,“…want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death…” Paul goes on to write, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” You see, the ‘prize’ Paul speaks of is knowing God; not knowing about Him, but knowing Him, and, believe me, there’s a huge difference! Knowing about Him involves little risk. The same is true of earthly relationships. It’s easy to get to know a lot about somebody. It’s a different thing completely to get to know them. And yet that is our message to the world! The whole point of discipleship is to know God!

Do you remember when you were in your early teens and suddenly one day you saw her (or him!)? Your heart started to beat a little faster, and you soon found you couldn’t think about anything or anyone else? The great romance had begun! You wanted to know everything about them…where they lived, what they liked to do, who their family was. You were consumed! Finally the day came when, joy of joys, you actually began to talk to, and get to know the person. In reality, the relationship couldn’t begin until that moment. And of course, there couldn’t be any real romance until the relationship began and you know what the other person’s feelings were! I think the progression holds true for any relationship. We gain knowledge of the person’s existence, learn something about them, then get to know them. Just knowing about them isn’t enough to create and maintain relationship! True relationship takes time and effort – sometimes a lot of effort.

Earthly romance is merely a dim reflection of the Great Romance (to coin Ted Dekker’s term). I love the story of how Jesus called Nathanael. Philip told Nathanael about Jesus, who was from Nazareth. Nathanael wasn’t impressed. That is, until he met Jesus, and it became evident to him that Jesus knew him (what was Nathanael doing under that fig tree, anyway, I wonder?). Then he believed. You can read the account for yourself in John 1. If you read the Gospels like a storybook you will soon see that, with Jesus, it was all about relationship! Jesus loved being with these men. There was something about them that drew Jesus to them. The relationships weren’t perfect. Peter denied Him. James and John competed for first and second place. Judas betrayed Him. When He was finally arrested they all scattered. But Jesus loved them unconditionally. He suffered through their inconsistencies and drew their attention to the Father. He loved them unconditionally. Jesus experienced the joy of sacrifice with His disciples. Funny isn’t it? That sounds like what we’re supposed to do with each other…without resentment and without complaining.

You might be thinking, “What does intimacy with God have to do with loving each other?”Everything! John writes, “We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hateshis brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” The Greek word for love in this passage in 1 John 4 is, of course, agape; love with no conditions attached. And this is where the ‘neglected, difficult, risky information’ I spoke of earlier comes into play. If we are going to experience intimacy with God, then we are going to have to learn how to love each other. No ‘ifs, ands, or buts’. “Pastor Mark”, you might say, “Surely you can’t mean I am supposed to love everyone.” Yep. That’s exactly what I mean. If you’re wondering just how on earth you’re supposed to do that, let me assure you that you can’t; at least not through your own human strength of will. It’s just not natural for us to love without getting something back in return. Such is the condition of our fallen human nature. But that’s the beauty of what Jesus did by suffering and dying for us on the cross, atoning for our sin once and for all. That’s why Paul wanted to “know Christ in the power of His resurrection.” I can’t say enough about this, really. We are broken in our thinking, contaminated by our fallen condition. We are so accustomed to ‘reciprocal love’ (we love someone because of what we get from them or how they make us feel), we can hardly grasp what ‘unconditional love’ looks like – much less how to give it! But the fact remains: we will not be able to engage in intimate relationship with the Father until we learn how to love each other unconditionally. This is particularly challenging
when it comes to Christian fellowship. So much evil has gone on in the ‘name of Jesus’ and His
‘cause’. Wars have been fought, lives have been devastated, and it still goes on today in churches all over America…even in Bismarck/Mandan, ND. All because, somewhere along the way, we never got beyond the ‘believe in Jesus – be saved – avoid hell – go to heaven’ message. It’s time we realize, dear brothers and sisters, there is a lost and dying world all around us who Jesus said would “know we are His disciples by the (unconditional) love we have for one another.”

“Love is a verb!” my oldest daughter, Rebekah, informed me one day when she was a Senior in High School. She’s right. Our actions define who we are – not the other way around. How, then, do we love God? We pursue Him. We spend time with Him, in His word, in prayer. It’s not an intellectual exercise. It involves all our heart, soul, mind and strength. At some point in the process we encounter Him, His person, His power, His infiniteness, and we are changed forever. We learn to love Him, and He teaches and empowers us to love one another. But make no mistake: we must take that first step beyond the ‘altar call’, beyond ‘baptism’, beyond ‘Sunday school’ and most certainly beyond the ‘worship service’. We must be willing to go to that solitary, quite place, where it’s just ‘me and the Lord,’ where we come to grips with Who He is, which forces us to grapple with who we are. All those who have truly come to know Him share this experience. When we begin to experience intimacy with the Father, we soon realize how much ofourselves we must surrender. This is a good thing, though many times painful: the things we must surrender are the things that ultimately hinder our relationship with Him. This is true, as well, of relationship with one another. As we learn how to surrender to the Father, we learn how to give ourselves to each other. We finally begin to love unconditionally and experience the joy of suffering. It’s really only then that the journey, the Great Romance, has truly begun!

The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 2

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” “If anyone claims, ‘I am living in the light,’ but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. But anyone who hates another brother or sister is still living and walking in darkness. Such a person does not know the way to go, having been blinded by the darkness.” (1 John 1:5-7, 9-11) “How can a supposedly loving, just, sovereign God allow the pain, darkness, and suffering that take place in this world?” This question is one which has been grappled with by people for millennia. Pagans usually ask the question with derision; Christians many times pose the question during times of hurt and confusion. The answer is simple: because He loves us. If He didn’t, He would have ended our existence long ago. Instead, He has chosen to walk the road of sorrow with us, tolerating our rebellion and selfishness, hurting right along with us. His great love allows for no other course of action.

Let’s recap for just a minute. Our human nature is born under Adam’s curse. We are the ones who first think about ourselves and our own needs before considering the needs of others. Our sense of entitlement causes us to justify so many evil plans and actions. We scheme, manipulate and coerce. And most of us begin to do these things at an early age! We are desperately sick. We need healing. “Hold on there, Pastor Mark,” you might say, “this doesn’t sound like ‘good news’ to me…in fact, it sounds a little harsh and judgmental!” On the contrary! The good news is in spite of the wretched condition of our hearts, God’s love offers a solution. Not an easy one, mind you, but one that is sure. This week we explore several aspects of relationship with God; how we know when we’re in fellowship with God and when we’re not.

God’s love is reflected in His justice; His mercy in His Truth. He is holy, pure, and good. There is no other standard except the one by which He measures all of creation. We are the ones who choose to step away from our Creator so we can say “I did it my way.” However, our rebellious hearts indict us to a harsh sentence: death, misery, and destruction. Yet because of His desire for us, God’s love is unconditional. Romans 5:6-11 states, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Did you get that? Friends of God! There’s a HUGE implication in this statement: we are a friend of God because we know Him (after all, can you call someone a ‘friend’ who you don’t really know?). That’s why the earlier passage of Scripture from I John 1 is so important. We cannot claim to truly have friendship (fellowship) with God and continue to walk in spiritual darkness.

What are the implications we face by being God’s friend? The same for any relationship. You see, true friendship – true love – doesn’t come with conditions attached. That’s just the way it works! But it gets even better. When we become true friends with the Father, He imparts His nature to us. But then we have a choice. Do we live according to His nature, or our own? Read what the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia: “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the Law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.” (Galatians 5:13-25) I told you earlier that God’s solution to our ‘sickness’ wasn’t an easy one. But He doesn’t leave us to figure it out on our own, thank goodness!

Jesus told His disciples that He would not leave them comfortless – as orphans. After all, they were His friends! He said He would come to them, and He did! And He is still with us today, just as He was with them 2000 years ago! Let’s connect the dots with some Scripture: 1. (John 13:34-35) “So now I am giving you a new command-ment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” 2. (Matt. 28:16-20) “Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” 3. (Acts 1:4-8) “Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, ‘Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, ‘Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?’ He replied, ‘The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’” 4. (John 15:15-17) “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.” 5. (1 John 4:7-14) “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” So we see that (1) Jesus gave His disciples a new command to love each other. He later tells them to (2) ‘teach and make disciples of all the nations’, but He cautioned them to (3) wait until they had received the Holy Spirit and power from on high! Power for what? Well, remember that earlier He had (4) called them ‘friends’, and reinforced the command to love each other. The ‘power’ Jesus spoke of enables us to – among other things – live our lives in relationship with Him and each other, as (5) the Apostle John admonishes!

There comes a point in a person’s life when they are confronted with their Creator. Even those who do not directly hear about the Gospel of Jesus Christ are without excuse, according to the Apostle Paul in Romans 1. When we hear we are faced with a choice: do we surrender to God or not? There’s no middle ground. Even by refusing to make the choice, a choice is made. This is the nature of God – remember, all creation is measured by His standard and no other. For those who surrender and choose Him, something awesome happens. Maybe not at first, but, sooner or later, for the person who truly seeks relationship with the Father, they find Him. The experience changes one forever. Here’s an account of how it happened to the prophet Isaiah: “In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.’” (Isaiah 6:1-6) From personal experience I can tell you one thing with absolute certainty: when you see the Lord and are confronted with His Majesty, everything comes into crystal clear focus, especially the depths of man’s depravity and the heights of God’s love. Your world is undone. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it’s here the journey begins.

Jesus never intended for us to view the ‘born-again’ (John 3) experience as ‘fire-insurance’ used solely to escape Hell. We don’t make some commitment to a church, try to do the right things, and hope that it somehow all works out in the end, while all the time we go through life pursuing our own agendas – or worse, coasting aimlessly. On the contrary, the Bible is clear that when we are born with new life, our very nature changes at its core. Do we cultivate this nature and draw close to the Father (something which requires continual surrender of our ‘rights’), or do we just go on living for ourselves? My dear friend, there is a much larger picture! The Apostle Paul writes, “I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, ‘THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.’ For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.”

There is so much the Father desires to show us, to give us. Not earthly, material things that do not satisfy, but things that draw us into deeper and deeper relationship with Him. I’m talking about living the type of life we were created to live, the type of life which will carry us into eternity, forever face to Face with the One who loves us most and knows us best! For those courageous enough to engage in the journey, the words in Romans 8 sound loud and clear: “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.” No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Heart of a True Worshiper - Part 1

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24) Jesus had been talking with a Samaritan woman when He spoke these words. In the culture of His day speaking with a Samaritan – especially a woman – was something that a respectable, well-mannered Jewish man would never do. Not only was she a Samaritan woman, but her lifestyle was questionable at best. She had been married several times and was living with a man who was not her husband. Yet Jesus spoke with her! In today’s world this would be akin to going into an adult bookstore and asking the owner for a drink of water, then hanging around and talking with the patrons…not a situation many of us are likely to find ourselves in! But then, Jesus chose the Father’s will over all things, even if it meant being controversial, or running the risk of being misunderstood.

So what did Jesus mean by the statement, “…true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks?” To answer this question we have to look at several principles in Scripture, all of which deal with the heart – not the physical organ, but that part of us which is the center of our being, the essence of who we are. As we look together this week at what God’s word has to say about the heart, I encourage you to be open and honest with yourself and the Father about the condition of your heart. This is what the Bible calls being ‘contrite’ or ‘repentant.’

“But the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.’” (I Samuel 16:7) When we consider our relationship with the Father the one thing we must keep at the forefront of our minds is the fact that He looks at our hearts. He knows our hidden thoughts. We cannot hide our true motives from Him, our ambitions, our desires, our pain, or our fears. He knows that our hearts are riddled with destructive forces (the biblical term is ‘sin’) that will ultimately keep us separated from Him for all eternity if He does not step in and help us. But here is where things get a bit complicated. Above all things, the Father wants us to desire Him! He wants a relationship with us. He wants us to get to know Him, to have fellowship with Him. He’s not nearly as interested in what we can do for Him as He is interested in us knowing Him…His love, His goodness, His provision, His perfection, His beauty. (Anyway, what can we do for Him? He is the Creator, the Almighty, the Majesty. He is perfectly sufficient unto Himself!) He desires to walk with us, talk with us. He wants to affirm the fact we are His! We are precious in His sight; He delights in us and dances over us with joy.

But our hearts are sick. The disease of Pride and Selfishness causes a blindness that distorts our senses and warps what we see, hear and say, breaking relationship with the Father. Our hearts need healing. There is only one way we can be healed, and that is to come to the place where we are willing and ready to recognize the fact that our hearts are sick and we need the touch of the Healer. More on this tomorrow!

A few days before His encounter with the Samaritan woman, Jesus was in Jerusalem celebrating Passover. One night a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, sought Jesus out. During the course of the conversation we learn several things from the Lord: we must be ‘born again’ if we are to see the Kingdom of God; God loves us enough to have provided a way back ‘home’ to Him (yesterday I mentioned that the Father has stepped in to help us); we find our way back to the Father by trusting and believing in His Son; Jesus did not come into the world to judge the world., but to save the world; those who believe in Jesus are not judged; those who do not believe in Him are judged, not because of their deeds, but because they have not believed in the name of Jesus, the only Son of God.

The statements Jesus makes to Nicodemus in this conversation are a death sentence to religion. Merriam-Webster defines religion as “a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” Practical religion tends to remove the most important element necessary to our relationship with God: faith. Simply put, we must believe. The Apostle Paul states it well in Hebrews 11, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” A few sentences earlier, Paul wrote, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” This, dear friend, is what sets religion apart from relationship.

The sickness that is in our hearts robs us of the ability to see reality as it truly is. This ‘spiritual blindness’ is something we are all born with, because a long time ago the very first man and woman chose to break trust and relationship with the Father by doing the one thing He had commanded them not to do. This single act of disobedience has been humanity’s demise. When we choose to trust in Jesus, believing in His words and learning Who He is, our spiritual blindness begins to lift. The more we get to know Him through His words, the clearer our sight becomes.

Have you ever experienced the wonder of flying a kite or sailing a boat? Wind is an amazing thing! There’s nothing more soothing than a cool breeze that comes just before a thunderstorm on a hot summer day. At the same time, we stand in awe of the destructive forces of a hurricane or tornado. Another thing that Jesus mentions in His conversation with Nicodemus is wind. I find this to be one of the most interesting passages of Scripture in the Bible. To quote Him directly, Jesus told Nicodemus, “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) This is the most important clue that Jesus gives us regarding what our relationship with the Father is supposed to look like. You cannot see wind. You do not know when it is going to arrive. You cannot control it. You cannot make it stronger or weaker through any act of your own. It is what it is.

Practical religion is man’s attempt to bend the Wind to our own will. We set up systems of dos and don’ts, make policies and guidelines based on what we think the Wind should look like and how it should behave. Then we become frustrated and confused when we still find ourselves empty and no better off than we were before we started down the ‘religious’ road. We convince ourselves this is just the way things are, this is as good as it gets, and settle for lives of selfish misery. How unfortunate! This is not the way the Father wants it to be!

Why all this talk of religion? Because religion – man’s systems of worship – is one of the greatest deterrents to trueYet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” This phrase doesn’t make sense unless you think about it in terms of relationship. We worship in spirit (from the heart) and truth (openly, honestly, admitting our faults and weaknesses to Him and to one another). This is the only way in which we can approach the Father. worship. Remember what Jesus told the Samaritan woman? “

There are as many different types of hearts and personalities as there are people. God delights in this…He made us each unique. He loves the variety! Unfortunately one of the biggest symptoms of the sickness in our hearts is the tendency to believe – deep down – that everyone else should look like, think like, and act like we do! This perspective gets us into a world of trouble. It makes us jealous, selfish, untrusting, and ultimately unloving. This by-product of Adam’s disobedience has been exploited by the evil one to create hatred among races and family members alike, not to mention the Church. Ultimately, Satan’s ultimate goal is to destroy all relationship, because he has relationship with no one!

How do we resist the evil one, or for that matter our own heart-sickness? We surrender to the Wind. We don’t try to control Him or manipulate Him or make Him serve our needs. We give up our rights and devote ourselves to serving each other. According to Jesus, the greatest command in the whole Bible is, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27) The second greatest command was just as important: we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Look at it this way. In America we pride ourselves on doing just about anything that we have to do in order to get our needs met. But are we willing to do just about anything we have to do (permissible within Scripture, of course) in order to help get our neighbor’s needs met? Putting the needs of others before our own is not something we find easy to do! But it’s one of the ways we prove ourselves to be God-lovers and God-pleasers, and one of the characteristics of a true worshipper.

Another aspect of true worship is obedience. When you love someone with all your heart you find yourself wanting to do things that please them. Meeting the needs of others at our own expense without expecting anything in return is one of the greatest demonstrations of love. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me you will do as I command.” Don’t misunderstand His statement. Jesus is not trying to manipulate the disciples by saying “if you really love me, then you’ll (jump through a bunch of hoops).” He is explaining that a natural by-product of their love for Him is obedience to His Word! Jesus has every right to expect this because He is God – the Creator, the great ‘I Am!’ He deserves our obedience because of Who He is. But beyond that fact, the only way we will know true contentment and peace is through obedience! Dear friend, all that is good, all that is beautiful, all that brings joy, all knowledge, all that is noble and pure has its source in Him. Our obedience to Him, our unswerving allegiance as His servants, enables us to enjoy His nature. Obedience is for our own benefit!

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:16-17) When we become the type of worshiper Jesus described to the Samaritan woman, we become the presence of Christ and representatives of the Father’s kingdom. We no longer live for ourselves. Instead, we cast our lives to the Wind, allowing it to take us where He will. This is the life of faith. We learn to not manipulate circumstances to our own benefit, but trust the Father in all things. We run free of the expectations that are placed upon us by others, or we sometimes place upon ourselves, trading these in for the privilege of carrying out the Father’s will. Our greatest delight lies in spending time with the Lord Jesus, learning to hear the Father’s voice.

This type of life is not comfortable to the flesh; in fact, it cuts against the grain of our fallen human nature. Jesus understands this, which is why He told His disciples in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” To choose Christ means to reject this present life and world-system. It is for this reason Jesus commands us to love each other. His followers, those who have trusted in Him and believed on His name, are citizens of a heavenly kingdom, strangers and aliens on this planet. Quite simply, we need each other! When our hearts connect in relationship and in worship, the world sits up and pays attention! Relationship, not programs, is the best form of evangelistic outreach!

Not once in these pages has worship been associated with the ‘externals’ we experience in our corporate weekly services. Worship is not about the bulletin, how we dress, the type of music we sing, or the pastor’s preaching style. Worship is about our willingness to engage with God at a heart level, surrendered to the truth of His Word. Out of this worship flows true relationship with one another. We support each other, believe in each other, bear with each other, suffer with each other, and endure each other’s weaknesses with joy and forbearance. These are the types of worshipers the Father seeks.

Jesus did not come to this earth to start a new religion. He came to draw us into relationship with the Father. When we choose to follow Him, obey His teachings, and trust in His name, believing He is the Son of God, we are changed from the inside out. Have you ever noticed how when you get really close to someone you begin to adopt their mannerisms, even their ‘catch-phrases?’ This is one of the reasons why married couples sometimes are said to look alike – they have rubbed off on each other for so long it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. This is how the Father yearns for it to be with us! He wants to ‘rub-off’ on us so we can, in turn, ‘rub-off’ on each other! It is a divine love-relationship of the highest order…unconditional love!

When Jesus Shatters Your World

"Because of what Jesus said, many of his disciples turned their backs on him and stopped following him. Jesus then asked His twelve disciples if they were going to leave Him. Simon Peter answered, "Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God's Holy One."

John 6:66-69

This spring marks 40 years that I will have been a follower of Jesus Christ. Having grown up in the church and in ministry (both as a missionary's and a preacher's kid), I have been exposed to God's Word of truth from an early age. It's wonderful, when, after all these years, the Lord continues to reveal Himself to me in new ways.

Take John 6, for instance. This may be one of the most misunderstood - therefore glossed over - chapters in the Gospels. It was still early in Jesus' ministry; the journey had taken He and His disciples from Cana to Jerusalem, through Samaria and back to the Galilee. Andrew, Philip, and Simon Peter were probably still trying to process the first miracle they saw back at the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. From there He had gone on to raise up a lame man in Jerusalem, heal an official's son, save a whole town in Samaria, miraculously feed untold thousands, walk on a stormy sea, instantly transport the boat they were in across the Galilee, along with many other miracles Scripture does not record in detail, except to acknowledge that Jesus did them. Talk about fastening your seatbelt - the Twelve disciples must have been in a whirl!

And then, a breather. After feeding the multitude, Jesus spent time alone that evening before returning to Capernaum. The next day the crowds followed Jesus back across the lake. When they arrived, they found Jesus waiting for them in the synagogue. Synagogues were places of teaching, where Jewish men would go hear the Law of Moses taught by the priests and rabbis. The crowds had been following Jesus because of the signs and miracles He had been performing, not the least of which had been the 'miracle meal' 24 hours earlier! They were fired up! In fact, Jesus withdrew back to Capernaum because He perceived they were going to try to take Him by force and make Him king!

So He promptly shatters their world. He tells them that they should not be following Him because he filled their bellies, but because the Father has sent Him on a mission to save them and give them Life. He reminds them of the 'manna in the wilderness' experience during Moses' time (they are, after all, in the synagogue and this would be a common teaching, like a Bible story in Sunday School) But He adds a new twist. Jesus didn't tell them that He had miraculously fed them meat and bread (like Yahweh in the wilderness), and they could expect this provision to now continue since He, the Messiah, was here. Instead, Jesus told them He was the bread of life! In fact, He pressed the point home by stating His flesh was bread they must eat; His blood, the wine they must drink - this was true food. How's that for a political campaign?!

The crowd was rattled. They argued. This was outrageous! But Jesus didn't stop or backtrack. He pressed on to say, "I tell you for certain that you won't live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. My flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you. The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. The bread that comes down from heaven isn't like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:53-59). The grumbling began to ripple-out through through His disciples (not the Twelve, but many others who followed Him as a rabbi and teacher).

The tension reached a breaking point. Any thoughts the crowd might have had of making Jesus king were forgotten. Surely this man was mad! How could anyone in their right mind teach these things? Eat his flesh, drink His blood? Bread of Life - what on earth was He talking about? At that moment, Jesus spelled it out for them, but He was not heard or understood. Minds and hearts were closed. He asked them, "Does this bother you? What if you should see the Son of Man go up to heaven where he came from? The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. But some of you refuse to have faith in me." (John 6:61-64) Jesus explained there is no power in the flesh - human strength - in an attempt to correct their thoughts on the 'cannibalism' issue. Yet when He gave them the Father's true perspective, the crowd remained closed. They were finished, done. They left. Many of His so-called disciples left with them. The huge momentum built over weeks of teaching, signs, and miracles came to an abrupt halt. High hopes and expectations were dashed. There would be no king to deliver them from Roman rule. Jesus shattered their world.

Only He didn't, really. What He did was speak Truth. He didn't come to deliver them from Roman rule, but from Satan's rule! He tried to get them to understand His mission was to bring them back to the Father, as many as would believe and follow Him. To their credit, the Twelve (Jesus' chosen disciples) got it! (John 6:66-69) You see, the miraculous meal which took place the day before was as much a test for the Twelve as it was anything else. Look at a couple of interesting verses back at the beginning of the chapter, "When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, "Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?" He said this to test Philip, since he already knew what he was going to do." (John 6:5-6) Before you think that it might have been a little unfair of Jesus to test Philip this way, think back to the miracle at Cana. Philip, Andrew and Simon Peter were there when Jesus turned the water into wine. They heard Mary tell the servants of the bridegroom, "Whatever He tells you to do, do it." Simply put, the test was one of obedience. Would the disciples remember Mary's words and take them to heart?

When we come to Jesus, He speaks the Father's Truth into our lives. God's Truth shatters a world which revolves around misguided beliefs or faulty paradigms. When our world is shattered, we have a choice: do we follow by faith in obedience to His Word; or do we fall away because we don't understand, or our minds are made-up, or the way is too hard? It's been almost a month since my last blog. A month since Jesus shattered my world (something I've come to be most grateful for). I lost my job; my position on staff as worship pastor of a church I had grown to deeply love and enjoy serving. There were no reasons given by the church leadership other than 'differences in style and approach to ministry'. We agreed to end the ministry partnership amicably, in a way that honors the Lord, and the church leadership has been more than generous in providing for my family during this interim period in which I am discerning from the Lord 'what's next'.

Nevertheless, I am unemployed (at least temporarily), for reasons I don't really understand, as I step back and try to look at the whole picture. I am in a place much like the one in which the crowds in Capernaum found themselves on that day so long ago, in a synagogue by the Sea of Galilee; a place of disappointment, of confusion, of doubt. They thought they had discovered a king, a savior, but didn't understand Jesus was the King, the Savior. They allowed circumstances to close their hearts and minds to the Truth the Son was trying to show them: He came to save them - not on their terms, but on the Father's (far better terms, by the way!).

"'It's not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord God of hosts."

Zechariah 4:6

It's not about my job, or the ministry to which I am called. It's about passing the test of obedience. How else on earth can my faith be tested? The Lord has so incredibly blessed my life with an amazing wife and family, abundant seasons of prosperity, great times, wonderful accomplishments for His Kingdom, close friends and ministry partners, many of them lifelong. And yet the command to "sell all you have and come, follow me" still rings out. For me, this means accepting greatly perplexing things I don't understand, whether ministry-related or otherwise. As I look back over the last few years I think this is perhaps the greatest lesson the Lord has been teaching me. A life of faith is one which accepts those things that do not make sense to the human mind, letting go of anything that would challenge the Father's authority in our lives. Like the old hymn goes, "Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." (Public Domain, Rev. John Henry Sammis, Daniel Brink Tower)

Lord, there is no one else that I can go to! Your words give eternal life. I have faith in You, and I am sure that You are God's Holy One. I can't wait to see what's next!

True Religion

"...[Religion] is a real participation of His nature, it is a beam of the eternal life, a drop of that infinite ocean of goodness; and they who are endued with it, may be said to have 'God dwelling in their souls' and 'Christ formed within them.'"

-Henry Scougal

I paraphrase Henry Scougal's definition of religion to read, 'religion is that process by which we are conformed and transformed into the image of Christ by the inward dwelling of the nature of God.' This 'transformational process' occurs when we take the intentional steps to reach upward, inward, and outward. The Apostle Peter sums it up nicely in his second letter: "We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. But if you don't grow, you are like someone who is nearsighted or blind, and you have forgotten that your past sins are forgiven. My friends, you must do all you can to show that God has really chosen and selected you. If you keep on doing this, you won't stumble and fall. Then our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will give you a glorious welcome into his kingdom that will last forever." (2 Peter 2:3-10, CEV)

The upward reach is described in verse 3, "It was all given to us by God's own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness." The 'reaching up' we do is an act of faith, like a child reaching out to hold the hand of a parent when the light suddenly goes out. The child does not question the availability or the desire of the parent to guide and protect. He or she knows instinctively the parent is available, and desires to guide and protect as much as the child desires guidance and protection; it's a natural course of nature. From the time Adam chose to walk in the darkness of disobedience, God hand has been extended to guide and protect those who would seek Him. Not only that, but He entered into this dominion of darkness, the Light of the world, so that we might not walk in the darkness, but in the light!

This is where the 'reaching inward' comes into play, "God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us. Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world." Imagine an operating room complete with the finest surgical staff, the best facilities, the latest technology and equipment, but no light. Would you choose to have surgery in such an environment? His Light exposes darkness. Living in darkness, our souls become marred and blemished. His light exposes the injuries we have wrought on ourselves, the blemishes and imperfections that scar us and cause us to fall short of His perfect nature. As we allow His light to penetrate, we are able to 'see' our hidden faults, the first step toward being healed of them. His light is perfect, revealing the truth, leaving nothing to the imagination. It causes us to see oursleves as we really are, forcing us to face the ugliness and deformity of our souls. But He doesn't leave us in this state! He is the Healer, the Great Physician, the Restorer. As we choose to walk daily in His light, His nature gradually changes us and into the beautiful creation He meant us to be, "Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love." We walk in His light by allowing His Word of Truth to frame our thoughts and our actions. We take the time daily to read, meditate, and pray through Scripture, surrendering our lives to His gentle nudges as we come to recognize and know His voice.

At this point it we naturally begin 'reaching outward'! "If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful." The Holy Spirit is a gentleman - He never forces. He is not a demanding taskmaster who manipulates and controls until He gets His way. He invites and beacons us to "Taste and see that the Lord is good." (Psalm 34:8) As we walk in the Light, our healing and restoration draws other to the Father by His very nature residing in us! We become a 'pleasing aroma', that casts His glow on those around us, inviting them to join in His goodness; and so the process of reaching upward, inward, and outward multiplies itself over and over again. It is a cycle that manifests the glory of God on this earth. And we are the vehicles He chooses to use for this process, if we will just surrender to Him. How awesome is that?!