Who is Jesus? -IIIa

Generally, when I find myself thinking about how Jesus is my vital connection to God, to life, to purpose, to reality, and to love, I start wondering about the nature of this connection.

Obviously, when someone chooses to follow Jesus, he does not grow a magical power cord and inserts it into the cosmic power strip of the universe. There is no physical connection.

So, what is this connection like? It is real. It is vital to person's growth and well-being, and to God's purposes. (If people who follow Jesus are branches to his vine, then their purpose is to bear fruit which will glorify the Father and proves we are Jesus' disciples.)

The claim of Jesus is that a person can have a personal relationship with the Creator of all. Jesus declared those who follow him are his friends and his family.

There have been prescriptions for maintaining the health of this relationship since creation. Prayer opens a person's heart to God. And it allows God to speak back to that heart. God gave the scripture as a concrete way to help people understand God's heart, his purposes, his expectations, his design of creation and what pleases him. Worship, fellowship with God's family, obedience to God's commands are also ways of remaining connected to God. Each item mentioned above allows grace, and love to flow to people's hearts.

All these things certainly help. But there are people who have honestly followed all these things for 30-40 years, with no impact on lifestyle, attitude or effect on those around them. Is it because they are not coupled in the person's heart with faith, love, sincerity or seriousness? Or is there a mind-set of connecting on our terms? Or is there something we don't understand about connecting?

In human relationships, there is not one silver bullet to connect to another person. There are multiple things that bind one person's heart to another. People can share hobbies, talk on the phone, meet for coffee or job -- but perhaps all these things are just lenses as one heart focuses on another heart.

Paul encourages God's children to pray at all times. Is this just hyperbole? Or is it something we should really consider? If prayer is bound to a particular location and time, with particular words or methods, then this is impossible. We all have to eat, sleep and work at sometime.

If we focus our hearts through the things that we do to connect us to our friends, maybe it is the heart focus that matters. Then, maybe it is the heart focus through these spiritual disciplines that connect us to Jesus.

It does not seem humanly possible to focus our hearts on the Father 100% of the time. But consistent, regular heart focus can be done in most situations. And it can be coupled with a receptivity focus to what God may say.

Communication is always in multiple directions. A person can only truly communicate if he transmits and receives. Scripture testifies from cover to cover that God speaks and God listens. And a relationship must give from the heart and wait to receive. And attention or focus is required in both.

There are a number of people who have practiced to achieve almost continuous heart focus. Brother Lawrence is probably the most famous. People have told stories about Corrie Ten Boom concerning her intimacy with God and her ongoing connection.

We should not feel guilty because our connection is frail, tentative or weak. We should not worry if we seem unable to focus, minds are prone to wonder. Spiritual life and vitality lies in this connection. Jesus said it is necessary for bearing fruit. And the enemy know this too. It is worth the most to him to disrupt the connection. He will resort to all sorts of tricks and distractions. From weird thoughts, to painful memories, to temptations, to discouragement.

This connection, and the enemy's attempts to disrupt it, lies at the root of spiritual warfare. If the enemy considers it so important to break it, we should consider it equally important to maintain, pursue and perfect it. Take to heart to example of Brother Lawrence, who when he realized he had moved from God's presence, did not berate himself, or condemn himself, but thanked God that he was always there, and asked God for help to do better at turning his heart to him.

Who Is Jesus? - III

I am the vine.

Like all the plants, the roots of a grape vine absorb nutrients, passing them into the vine, and onto the branches. The vine is the vital connection for the branches. Any branch that is not connected to the vine will not survive. It will not receiving any life-giving input. It will not bear fruit. It will whither an die. 

The purpose of a branch on a grape vine is to bear grapes. Without the vine, a branch does not fulfill its purpose, its life dries and it is not worth anything.

Jesus is our connection to life and purpose.

Love and Agreements

Love is a fuel of the spirit. Our hearts are designed to thrive on love. We need it. We want it. But often we do not let ourselves be open to it.

We are not open to it, though it is such an integral part of our nature, because we get wounded in association with it. We open up to love, and we get slammed in the process. We get wounded in the core of our hearts.

Often, we enter into an "agreement" with ourselves. It may not be obvious as "love does not work" because our hearts still yearn for love. It may be "I must protect myself from wounding." So, we hold ourselves aloof. Or we always seek to have the advantageous position. It might be "I am not worthy to be loved." So, we seek alternatives like alcohol, drugs or superficial relationships.

We adjust our view of the world to accommodate this pain. We do not believe God, in his word, in his design of people or in his character.

In a world polluted with sin, people will always act and wounds will always result. Often, the intention is not pain. Our filters perceive certain actions as the intent to wound. We receive something meant as a joke as something harsh. People cannot truly, faithfully complete our yearning for love.

We need to look for God to complete our love. We need to open our hearts to his healing. We should invite his Spirit to draw close, to love us, to heal our hearts with his love. If we can receive healing, then we can open our hearts to others. This healing will allow our hearts to love like God -- truly, faithfully.

Grace

The most common definition given for grace is "unmerited favor." Unmerited means "Unearned and undeserved." Favor speaks about a positive approval, granting good, supporting, promoting, befriending.

One detrimental result of this definition, as it is popularly portrayed, is an inward focus. American Christians seem to have fixated on the truth of personal acceptance by God. A circle have been drawn very close around them. The circle is drawn around their lives, the lives of their family and perhaps their church. It is shown in their prayers and how they spend their resources.

Some churches draw their circles larger than others. How large is Jesus' circle? Our hearts shuld be as large as Jesus'. Our heart should encompass what his heart draws to him.

Prayer and Faith

Prayer is a matter of faith. But faith is not something that a person has, like stamina or strength. We hear people talking about building up their faith, so they can pay and ask something of God, and he will give it to them. But no matter how much fith we have, we will not move God to go beyond his nature, his character and his word.

Faith is trusting God to act in faithfulness to his nature. So, faith "grows" as we increase in our understanding of God, and of our relationship with him.

Kingdom of Priests

God mentions several times that he will make his people a kingdom of priests. This means that all of  his people are priests. All of them are representatives of God to the rest of mankind. All of them are interpreters of God's will to the rest of mankind.

He first spoke to Israel about this. And the history of Israel follows a pattern.

• God give favor and blesses.
• Israel becomes complacent and does not follow the ways of the Lord.
• God send prophets to warn the people that punishment is coming.
• God finally sends the punishment.
• Usually a foreign power invades or oppresses them.
• Israel repents of not following God.
• God delivers them. Usually using a human agent.
• repeat the cycle many times.

Eventually, Israel leftthe stage of history. And God chose a new group to represent him. (And I am fully aware of the re-founding of the nation of Israel. And I am fully aware of the theory that God will once again use Israel as his representatives on earth. I call it a theory because it has yet to be proven. If true, it has yet to happen. If false, ... well there are other theories.)

We tend to refer to this group as the church. The Greek word that is translated as church is "ekklesia." An "ekklesia" is a group of people assembled for a particular purpose. Usually used to referred to a city council. A group assembled to wisely chart the course of the city to the mutual benefit of its inhabitants and the city as a whole. In our case, an "ekklesia" is the group assembled to represent God and Christ in the world, and to live so he will be glorified.

As a part of that assembly, each one is declared God's ambassador, God's priest. From one perspective, our functions are different. For another perspective, our functions are the same.

A priest's functions are: offering gifts, offering sacrifices, prayer, instructing in the ways of God and completing the ordinances of God. (In most forms of Christianity, there are two ordinances, baptism and communion. In others, there are more.) If we are all priests, then:

• We are all supposed to encourage.
• We are all supposed to pray.
• We are all supposed to proclaim God's word.
• We are all supposed to explain God's word.
• We are all supposed to officiate a baptisms and communion.

We are a nation of priest. We are all priests. If it is a function of a priest, we are expected -- each one of us -- to perform and complete that function.

I did find it interesting and somewhat amusing to realize last night that Elijah prayed that it would not rain. He also prayed that it would rain.

Power of Speech .. Sort of

I recently wrote about receiving and agreeing with spoken words. Recently I was sitting with a small group of people and we were discussing prayer. And we cam around to praying for the weather. You know ... there's a wedding and they want good weather. (Read: no rain.) But you also know there is a farmer somewhere praying desperately for rain.

Which is more important? Sunshine for the happy occasion? Or saving a family's livelihood?

I am beginning to thin that circumstances are like words. It depends on how we receive and agree with them.

There is a part of the Bible that states we should rejoice when there are trials. Jesus followers are not masochistic. We do not rejoice in the bad circumstances. We rejoice because in the middle of the trial, God is working his life deep into our spirits.

If we should rejoice because God works in the bad things, should we also rejoice because God works in the good things?

Power of Speech

There is a part in Scripture that talks about the power of the tongue. It is like a rudder on a huge ship. It is like a bit in the mouth of a horse. Some people trat any kind of speech like it is magic. If I say it, it will happen.

There was an episode in the US, maybe the world, where a number of people became convinced that Jesus was returning. The world was coming to an end, not sometime in the future, but on a particular Saturday. And they talked about it a lot.

And we are still here!

Words do have power. But it is not the simple vocalizing of words that gives them power. It is receiving the words and agreeing with them that gives them power.

Everyone in the world has a sick heart. The heart is sick, because everyone has agreed to a lie.The sin nature plays a part too. It has a tendency to back away from the ways and words of God. It has a tendency to believe lies.

That is one reason why God gave his word. So, we can read and agree to the truth; and we can disagree with the lies people voice every day. That is what we are called to in everyday living. To agree with the truth and live it out in word and deed. To call a lie a lie, and demonstrate its fallacy.

Following Jesus

I was reading a magazine article this morning. In it, the writer observed that God gave the Holy spirit to Cornelius and those in his household -- family, slaves and soldiers -- before the were circumcised and before they were baptized. This ought to remind us of whose church it is. It is not our church. It is Jesus'.

On the other had, we are all priests to God. We all have unlimited, unrestricted, instant access to the Father, in Christ.

Hundreds of years ago, men wrestled with a growing church, a constant influx of new ideas (not all of them good, true or helpful) and a conviction that God gave his church them to take care of. So, they chose the most efficient and effective model of governance they new of. The Roman Empire.

As a result, we have not followed either of these fundamental "laws" of the church very well. I am not sure anyone knows how a church should look. Some of us are not involved enough, or in the right way. Some are involved too much, or in the right way. And the effect on people falls way short.

Paul began to travel, taking the message of Jesus with him. He arrived in one city, having been beaten and imprisoned in the city he had just been in, for speaking about Jesus. In this new city, he continued to speak about Jesus. And the tribulation continued. And it did not just affect him, but also those who were influenced by him. They also bore the rejection, ridicule and violence Paul bore.

The citizens listened to Paul's message and observed his way of life. The combination had an impact on them. They were  convinced by the message, which had a revolutionary effect in their lives.  There were the obvious signs of faith and hope. They became positive examples of love others, more experienced Christians. And they followed Paul's lifestyle and example in more radical areas as well. They reached out to proclaim and incarnate the gospel to other cities. And in many cities, they got there before Paul did, whose calling was to pioneer the work of Jesus in the world.

Today, do we influence people to follow Jesus? Do we influence them so they go beyond us and do more than we do?

Spiritual Warfare - III

There is pain and sorrow in life. The world is fallen. These will not disappear until God's Kingdom is established. But Satan still plans to add to our misery.

Too often our experience of pain and sorrow become more real and more consuming than our experience of God's presence. So, Satan does not just seek to inflict pain. He seeks to divert our attention to it. His purpose is fulfilled if God's children are more taken up with how bad something is, than how good God is, and how great his resources are. He gets his way if God's children spend more time complaining about something bad happening, than seeking him and listening for how he speaks into it and how we should respond.

Ultimately, spiritual warfare is encountering "something", and then seeking God for his response to this "something" and obeying God in that response. We keep our hearts engaged with God's heart. Satan's purpose is to separate us from God's presence.

Spiritual Warfare - II

Our response to sin can drag us from close connection with God. This may one reason why guilt may be a Christian's greatest sin. The person's focus moves away from God, God's attributes, their relationship and onto themselves. If a person rehearses in his mind the goodness of God, God receives glory. Such an activity is called "praise." What is it called when a person rehearses his failures in his mind? I think it could be called "anxiety."

There is considerable space in Scripture covering God's treatment of our moral and spiritual failures. We are not condemned. Jesus stands as our defense lawyer before the throne of God.

The enemy wants to steal God's glory. If we fail to obey God's standard.and then become obsessed with how guilty and rotten we are, the enemy has succeeded. Our hearts are not focused on the goodness of God. Our hearts are not focused on the wonder of God's transforming work.

I do not recommend totally ignoring sin. We were designed for intimate fellowship with God. We were given the purpose of being God's partner in world transformation. Sin interferes with both. Sin short-circuits both. We will be more healthy, more whole, more joyful, more resilient and more complete if we reside in the grace and love of God, and in our God-given purposes for life.

Spiritual Warfare

Scripture tells us that one of the greatest - if not the greatest - angels rebelled against God, because he wanted to be like God. He and a third of all the angels declared war on God. But he and his angels were defeated. They abandoned or were ejected from God's Kingdom. Now, he and his minions live to steal glory from God. He achieves this in two basic ways.

(1) In a world of humans that also rebelled from God, God is working to reclaim them and the world for himself. So, if the enemy can undermine those efforts, he can keep humans from God, who reaches out to them. He throws every lie, threat, innuendo, and subterfuge possible at the humans God invites to be with him. And many do choose to go away from God.

(2) But many do choose to follow God. And God chooses those to live in relationship with him, to demonstrate and proclaim that life with God is great, blessed and the way man was designed to live. God intends them to live as a community if transformation and superior living, walking in intimacy with God. If the enemy can subvert the relationship or conduct of this redeemed people, he steals glory from the image God wants projected. He divides this holy community from the source of its strength and power. And he hides the light that enables all people to see God. People who might move toward simple do not. Attacking God's people is the enemy's most strategic action. He hinders the display of God's greatness. He hinders a move by other people toward God. He accomplishes both objectives with one move. 

There are a number of ways the enemy can attack God's people. Whole books have been written on this subject. I want to mention a few.

Because of man's rebellion at the beginning of time, man is born addicted to sin. It is fashionable today to identify specific areas man is addicted to. In reality there is only one  addiction: sin. The enemy ensnares the hearts and minds of man with sin. If he can trip them up a particular sin, he can trap them in a maze of glory stealing activity.  

The sin itself robs God of glory by placing a human activity above him. It calls him a liar, saying any activity - even a God-given activity - is above God. 

But not only the sin, people seeking righteousness many go through a cycle of regret, confession, repentance, strategic planning, pontification and struggle to resist being drawn into sin again. Such a cycle would seem to honor God, but it can steal people's attention from their relationship with God, and from God's purpose to draw people to him. Their attention is on themselves. 

The sin moves people to plans, strategies and 12-step programs rather than the Giver of life. I am not saying that these programs are not worthwhile. But a person's focus and trust can reside in them, instead of its proper -- the Lord of all.

These things, plus others, can move man's focus from God and man's relationship with God. It will cut him off from God's power and wisdom. It is best to see the enticement as an attack of the enemy to create distraction, and discouragement. Man should consider it as a spiritual attack.

Judging God's Favor by Circumstances

People have a basic tendency to look at the condition of life as an indication of their significance and place in the world. If life is good, circumstances favorable, then God approves of them, their conduct, decisions and approach to relationships, finances or work.

Once again, God’s perspective goes against what seem natural to people.

People see only evil in trials. God sees opportunity and transformation. If we respond according to God’s economy, grace will work endurance into our lives. And endurance will have its part in completing a person’s life. And if we do not have wisdom to see the correct response, God will give wisdom quite willingly. Do not doubt God’s desire to provide and to transform.

The poor do not look at their lives positively. The rich consider themselves more fortunate, more loved and more blessed. Neither of them look at the temporary nature of wealth. Most of what we spend for our pleasure does not last. Wealth tempts us to go further and engage in destructive practices. So, the wealthy live in a slippery place. They could quickly fall away from God.

Everything good comes from God. Every person was brought into the world to demonstrate God’s goodness and love, no matter what his circumstances are. So, our journey and how we live it do matter. We cannot achieve God’s purposes man’s way. Receive his word; obey his world. It is the working out of what he says that proves its worth. It is not what we say only. It is our moral and relational decisions that count.

Who is Jesus? - II

Who is Jesus? He is our peace.

When God created the church, he brought all the groups who make up the peoples of the world into one group. Anyone who has experienced the grace of God has become part of this new people.

We are all reconciled to God. We are all given unrestricted access to the Lord of all. We are all members of God’s family. We are all part of a holy temple.

How do we look at other churches? How do we look at other ethnic groups?

The fact that we are in the same family, with the same Spirit of God in our hearts, following the same Jesus, should affect the way we view, interact and treat one another. We are each in Christ, and we should see Jesus in each other.

Who Is Jesus?

Who is Jesus? (Thanks to Neil Cole for asking the question at a time I was listening a little more attentively than usual.)

Is Jesus Savior, Redeemer, Lord of Lords and Creator?

The world was created perfect by the Creator. He put his mark on the world. He designed it to fulfill all the needs of its inhabitants. We don’t know how long they lived in the garden, in harmony, in beauty and in balance.

But someone made a decision, and evil entered the world. The world was corrupted. Harmony, beauty and balance were destroyed.

The creator had two responses. (1) To punish those who brought evil into the world. (2) To execute a plan to save them and to restore harmony, beauty and balance.

Jesus entered the world and executed God’s plan. Both of God’s responses were perfectly fulfilled.

Now Jesus does not exist in the world any longer physically. But he is immanent with those who choose to follow him. He is in the world, through those followers, continuing to execute God’s plan of rescue, healing and redemption.

If you follow Jesus, you believe that in some way, shape or form, he is the answer for the problems of the world. Some people chart the tendencies of the world and they do not like the slope of the graph. They are afraid of the world, its polluting powers, its ability to bring pain and death, and the realization time after time that people do not have the power to live in integrity. So, they hide inside the fortress of worship meetings, Sunday schools and committees. And the world lays siege to our fortresses, slowly strangling the life from them.

Does this sound like followers of the Lord of All? Does this sound like those of whom Jesus said had power to assail the kingdom of Satan, and bring his gates crashing down?

We are truly in a war. And we are not fighting well. We are not fighting well because we are not using a weapons skillfully. What are these weapons? They are: love, mercy, kindness, prayer, listening and asking questions, giving answers in creative ways and transformed community.

There are some people who believe that worship meetings, mid-week prayer times and small groups are community. I am sorry to say they are not. They are parts of community. Important parts. But the community is more.

There are some people who believe that if we practice our weapons within the community, we will learn them skillfully and we will win the war. We do need to practice our weapons within the community. And some of them are effective from long range. But we will not defeat the enemy unless we all see the whites of their eyes, and all engage them in battle. (And if our chief weapon is love, the battle will be very different from anything we currently imagine.)

If you believe Jesus is the solution to the world’s problems, if you believe he is Lord of All, then you are already in his army, you are already in a war, and you need to engage the enemy with the powerful weapons he has given you.

God's Intention for Man Not Much Different

God initiated the process to ransom us from sin, because he was generous and merciful. Jesus’ death provided everything we needed as we took hold of this provision by faith. We did not earn it by our acts of kindness, charity or religiosity. God created man as his master work. God intended man to live a life of kindness and generosity. He intended man to live this way naturally, as an expression of his created nature. And now he intends mankind to live this way as a result of his faith, his relationship to God and people, and his newly created nature.

Remembering

There is story about the Jews as they left Egypt and were traveling back to Canaan. They reached a place where they had no water. Water is very important thing in a desert; and water is very difficult to get in large quantities in a desert. (There are estimates that Israel numbered around two million people at this time.) And when they did find water, it was tainted. Somehow the fact that the water was bad was Moses’ fault. To say the people whined was a gross understatement.

To put this whining into perspective, Scripture specifically states that this story occurred three days after the Egyptian army had the Jews tapped with their backs to the Red Sea. God rescued them by parting the Red Sea, and Israel walked through the sea on dry ground.

Israel continually witnessed one tremendous act after another, which should have demonstrated God’s intention to claim Israel as his people, to rescue them out of their troubles and to proclaim himself through them. But in three days, they had forgotten what God just did for them.

Isn’t it amazing how short and selective people’s memories are? How short are ours for whom Jesus died?