Redemption

"Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.  Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.

'Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?'

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.
   Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
   "Is not this the fast that I choose:
      to loose the bonds of wickedness,
      to undo the straps of the yoke,
      to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
   Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily;
   your righteousness shall go before you;
   the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say,

'Here I am.'

If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,  if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.
   "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Isaiah 58 (ESV)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   God knows your heart: don't try to fake it. Accept your weakness and accept His strength. Forsake the right look for the right heart. Forsake the struggling and squirming for the sake of being held in the Father's Hands; Forsake the bootstraps and let them dangle; Give up the Show of Effort, the Big Display. Admit that you Just Plain Can't. Do good because He is good, and not because you have to; because you love to; because He Loves. Make much of Him and He will make much of you; Forsake what you think for what He thinks.  He thinks much of you. In His Hands is the Highest Point.  There is no Higher Point.  Forsake the place to which you've climbed. Receive the Promise, the Gift: Redemption.

The words and Word of God

   The Bible is probably the most widely idolized thing in the Christian world.  It has been set up as a thing to be worshipped by far too many Believers.  There are some who treat the Bible, the word of God, as they would treat God himself.  I would argue that many Christians don't have a relationship with God, they have a relationship with the Bible.
   Knowledge of the word of God and knowing God are not the same thing.  The Bible, the word of God, is also not the same thing as the Word of God.  I would describe the Bible as the words of God.  There is only one Word of God, as John tells us in John 1:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1, 14 ESV)

   Here is the thing about the Word of God and the words of God: Jesus (the Word) is the embodiment and realization and manifestation of the intentions, thoughts, and admonitions (the words) of God.  Jesus is the mind of God made physical.  Jesus is the Bible in sandals.
   Obviously the Bible is the words of God.  If you don't believe this, the argument I'm making here won't much matter to you anyway, so I'm operating on the assumption that you agree with me on this point.  So the Bible is a great place to find out what God says about everything.  But there are two points I'd like to make.  The first is that, if the Bible is your only source for the words of God, you're going to have a tough time getting to know Him.  In fact, you will only get so far in knowing Him, which is a sad thing.  The second point is that the Word of God - Jesus - resides inside of us Believers.  This is an important accompaniment to my first point.
   You see, not only is the word of God written for us to read, but it is also, in the personhood and Spirit of Jesus, within each Believer.  The very God who wrote (or rather, inspired the writing of) all of that mysterious, dense, poetic, exciting, dull, confusing, difficult, and shocking stuff in the Bible is the same God who resides inside of us ready to make sense of it all.  The words of God only make sense by way of the Word of God.  The words of God are just words unless we walk in the truth that they are more than words.  They are the very essence of God, and they are within each of us who believes.
   Once you understand that the Word of God resides in your heart, you realize that you have access to the words of God that you didn't think you had.  And also this: you are never without the Word of God.  You can leave the Bible behind, or lose it, or it can be destroyed, but you can't lose the Word of God.  You can preach the words of God to the Lost, but they are powerless to save without the Word of God.  You can read about who God is and what He has done (and still does) in the words of God, or you can receive it and live it out by walking in the Word of God.
   I am not discounting or dismissing the Bible, but neither will I make much of the written words of God at the expense of the living Word of God.  You see, the words of God are alive, but only because the Word of God is alive.  That is what we mean when we talk about how the words of God are living.  If we don't tap into the Holy Spirit for instruction and inspiration and interpretation, we only read words on a page.  We only receive knowledge, not wisdom; information and not inspiration.  A Bible on a table is just another Book.  But in the hands of a Believer and in the tutelage of the Spirit, it is a conversation with the Father.
   For many Christians the Bible has become the reason they know nothing much of the Father.  They have read all about him, but have avoided talking to Him (or listening to Him) about what's written.  Reading the Bible without walking intimately with God is not entirely fruitless, and not entirely dangerous.  It's a little of both.
  

The Peace of God

   The first thing you need to know about the peace of God is that you do not earn or struggle for it.  It's not hard won.  The peace of God is given, and even then, when you've received it, you won't understand why it does what it does.  Here's what Paul says:

[D]o not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.    (Philippians 4:6-7, ESV)

   Part of the reason you won't understand it is because it is spiritual: it comes from the Spirit of God.  Just like we don't understand with our minds just what is being said when we pray in the Spirit, we don't understand with our minds what is happening to our Souls when the peace of God is at work.  And because the peace of God is spiritual, you can't do something physical to obtain it.  That's why you pray for it; again, a spiritual thing.
   Now as to why the peace of God is important, Paul tells us that as well, and it's because His peace guards our hearts and minds.  And from what are our hearts and minds guarded?  From anxiety for starters.  That's what Paul is directly answering here in his letter, what to do if we feel anxious.  Wrapped up in anxiety is also everything else that keeps unpeaceful: worry, fear, and the attempts to sculpt our future.  Anxiety I think encompasses all of this.  The word "anxious" is defined three ways by Merriam-Webster:

1) characterized by extreme uneasiness of mind or brooding fear about some contingency (worried);
2) characterized by, resulting from, or causing anxiety; and
3) ardently or earnestly wishing.

   What is interesting is that the word anxious is not defined in entirely negative terms.  The third definition isn't inherently negative, but from the perspective of wanting peace it is.  The effort we put into wishing for something to happen detracts from the attention we give to life as it is.  The less we appreciate life as it is, the less peace we usually have, because we're anxious to have an "improved" or simply "different" life.  The peace of God can guard us from this state of mind, this state of heart.  The peace of God is here in the words of Jesus: "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6:34, ESV)

Crucifying the Flesh

   Now there's a happy title for you!

   This is a topic I think is probably about as misunderstood as any in this Christian life.  I'll use the following verses to illustrate what Jesus tells us to do in this regard.

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (Matthew 16:24-25, ESV)

   There are other verses similar to this about laying down your life for Jesus.  The most compelling and dramatic imagery Jesus evokes in them is this act of taking up your cross.  Just as Jesus did before he died, we are called to take up our cross - to head toward our crucifixion.  Athough we do not have to endure the painful, physical suffering that Jesus endured, the death of the flesh is intended to be every bit as significant.  And the death of the flesh, of the physical body, is significant because in this death we find the life of the Spirit.  By choosing to be crucified alongside Jesus, we will find life in and with him.
   Here is a dangerous interpretation of taking up our cross: that this means a kind of "self-immoliation", or self-flagellation; that it means we are to control ourselves by our own effort.  It may seem that way.  After all, the decision to take up one's cross is an act of the will.  Surely this admonition of Christ is one of self-denial, one of individual effort.  But the problem with this interpretation is that it comes back to us: we are the ones who keep ourselves pure, who practice self-denial in an effort at purity.  While we have a hand in it, we have no power outside of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot deny ourselves by ourselves.
   This is not a small nit to pick.  Part of what we take up when we take up our cross is the realization that we need Jesus if we're going to deny the flesh.  What Jesus wants us to have crucified is not just the sinful nature of the flesh, but the controlling nature of the flesh.  He wants us to allow our will to be crucified.  He wants us to let our effort die.
   Here then is the most important thing that can be crucified in us: our best efforts.  While we thought Jesus was asking us to try really hard, we overlooked the fact that he wants us to crucify the effort of trying really hard, too.  You see, the Lord wants our hearts.  It's not enough for us to deny the urges of the flesh if we won't give over our hearts, because that belief we have about ourselves that we can overcome the flesh is also a part of our flesh.  When we deny God full access to our hearts, we superimpose our will over His.  When we believe that we can perfect ourselves by denying the flesh, we deny God the power to renew us.
   One objection I can foresee to this interpretation is the objection of the hard-triers, and it is not an unreasonable objection.  The hard-triers will note that acts of the will are important.  After all, it is an act of the will to believe in Jesus and be saved.  Faith is an act of the will.  And the process of sanctification, the growth that comes through walking with God, will surely both produce and require self-denial.  Paul essentially points out that, just because we are forgiven of sin, this doesn't mean we should continue to sin.  On the contrary, we should strive to be righteous because of our forgiveness.
   My answer to this objection is a squishy one, but it is my sincere opinion that most of what God says is squishy to us because we are not like Him.  If you have given God your whole heart, and you have the same unction to perfect your flesh, by all means continue.  Because you've already given God what He wants anyway: your heart.  And the thing is, once you've given your whole heart to God, you want His righteousness, too.  You want to please Him, to be like His son Jesus.  Does that mean that you won't screw up?  No.  You will screw up.  Let me repeat: you will continue to fall short.  And that is why the blood of the Lamb of God covers all sin.  And that is also why God wants your heart and not just your effort.
   This is the squishy answer to so much that we ask: love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.  Here is a second squishy answer: love your neighbor as yourself.  And this is how we crucify the flesh: we get into the heart of God and go after Him like nothing else; we deny our ability to try really hard and accomplish anything; and we love as deeply and thoroughly as we possibly can with the Father as our only source of power.

What The Church is

The Church is two guys having coffee, talking about Jesus.

The Church is a Thanksgiving feast, free, open to anyone, with the kids running around while their parents talk to friends, eating banana pudding or pumpkin pie.

The Church is the elderly, the married couples, the single folks, the college kids, the families with kids, the children themselves.  The Church is all of them together.

The Church is a half dozen people in someone's living room gathered around a young woman who sits in a chair weeping as they pray for her healing.

The Church is a couple of hundred people in a room singing with their hands in the air.  The Church is two young girls waving flags at the front of the room, their eyes watching the words Glory and Holy ripple with each pass.  The Church is the middle-aged man in the back and the young man on whom his hand rests as he prays in tongues.

The Church is men and women serving food to whoever wants it while the bustle of another night of activities begins around them.  The Church is the one serving the food and the one taking it.  The Church is the giving and the taking.

The Church is two grown men, fathers, husbands, embracing one another, glad just to have a friend.

The Church is twenty women in someone's house sharing food and conversation.  The Church is the mothers, the grandmothers, and the childless; the single and the married; the wealthy and the poor; the beautiful and the homely; the homeowner and the visitors.  All of them.

The Church is a husband and wife, alone in their car, driving home.

The Church is at the store.  The Church is at work.  The Church is driving to the bank, and going on vacation, and sleeping in on Sunday, and taking meals to a friend who had surgery, and sharing a pint of beer with his friends, and moving furniture for a single mother, and helping a stranger tear down a fence, and giving five bucks to a panhandler, and having dinner with another family on Saturday night.  The Church is doing all of this.  The Church is you and me and all of the believers, all the time and everywhere.

The Righteousness of Christ (or Whether the Blood is Enough Part II)

   In my previous post, I made this statement:

If the blood of Jesus is not enough for all of your sins, then it's just not enough. If the blood of Jesus can't make you righteous once you've accepted it, then it can't really do anything.

   I have to confess that when I made this statement last week, I didn't know whether it was true.  Not that I didn't believe it, I just wasn't sure if it was scriptural.  But it is, and let me show you how.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, ESV)

   This is the astounding thing: Jesus became sin so that we could become righteousness.  Paul says this rather simply here, but it's a baffling thought.  Jesus, who was without sin--the only human being to ever live a perfect and sinless life--became sin itself upon the cross.  He was the last sacrifice.  Jesus became what God abhors in order to defeat sin forever.  From the point of Jesus's death, there is no need for sacrifice as required under the Mosaic law.  Rather, the only requirement is to believe and give your heart to Jesus, whose sacrifice and blood defeated death forever.  He is our neverending sacrifice.
   This is the paramount achievement of Jesus Christ, that he defeated the power of sin.  You see, sin had power because it is contrary to God's nature.  God is righteous and without blemish.  He cannot abide sin because His nature will not allow Him to abide it.  God can't do anything contrary to His nature; He can't lie, He can't hate (except sin, He hates that), He can't renege on His promises.  And He can't tolerate sin.  So this is why Jesus became sin--Galatians says he became "a curse for us"--and suffered the rejection of God, so that sin could forever be defeated in him.
   Since sin was defeated in Jesus's death, sin is no longer an issue.  Paul says in this verse in 2 Corinthians that "anyone [who] is in Christ...is a new creation."  Those of us who are believers have received new identities.  We are not sinners saved by grace; we are simply saved by grace.  The old identity we had as members of a cursed race, that identity of hostility to God by virtue of inheriting Adam and Eve's curse, that identity is gone once we accept Jesus.  Remember this: when God looks at us, He sees Jesus every time.  God never tilts His head to look around Jesus and to see us for what we were; we are new creations, and He sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ each and every time He looks at us.
   This is the most important thing you will learn as a believer, and so I want to reiterate it.  Since we are new creations, "the old has passed away."  God sees us as Jesus, He sees us as righteous, because that is just what we are.  Our identity is completely new, and our old identity is completely gone.  We can never have that identity back; the blood of Jesus makes sure of that.  So even when we mess up, even when we sin, God still sees the righteousness of Christ.
   This was God's plan from the beginning, and the only way it could be achieved was for Jesus, perfect Jesus, to become sin and bear the wrath of God.  Once God poured out His wrath on Jesus, who had become sin, He had no more wrath to expend.  Don't hear what I'm not saying: there will be judgement, just as the scripture describes.  But for those who have received Jesus and are covered in his blood, God's wrath is abated because Jesus took it all.
   There are people out there, many of them believers, who can not accept this.  There are Christians who believe that, if you don't live the life described in the scriptures, you'll pay for it on Judgment Day.  These Christians are well intentioned and love the Lord.  I think they are motivated by both a desire to please God and a crippling insecurity.  The first motivation is sensible, but misplaced.  The second motivation is senseless, but ubiquitous.  Every Christian I know either has been or is seriously insecure.  It's not because they're Christians; it's because they're humans.  But this insecurity in our flesh is contrary to the security in our spirits.  That is what Jesus makes perfect in us: our spirits.  This flesh will always be corrupt, no matter how much I try.  That doesn't mean that our lives as believers shouldn't be lived for the Lord, or that we shouldn't make efforts to live out the spiritual reality that we have been made perfect.  What it does mean though is that failures in the flesh do not equal failure in the spirit.  As a believer, my flesh cannot damn my spirit, just like my flesh cannot save it.
    I truly believe that many well meaning Christians just plain miss what Paul is spelling out in this passage from 2 Corinthians.  They don't think that they are new creations because they don't feel like new creations.  They continue to live with shortcomings; their flesh continually fails them.  When Jesus defeated sin, he did not eradicate it from Earth.  What Jesus did was he defeated the power of sin.  "Death, where is your sting?"  Jesus defeated the death of the spirit: separation from God.  He defeated the power of sin to curse us and separate us from the Father.  Jesus's sacrifice, and our acceptance of it, does not make life perfect, it makes us perfect in our spirits.
   So this is why I can say with confidence that, if the blood of Jesus is not enough for all of our sins, it's not enough for any of our sins.  If his blood can't cover sins past, present, and future, than it isn't any use.  Jesus did not become some sin; he became sin, period, and to imply that his single sacrifice was not enough for all of my sins is to mock his sacrifice.  Paul says that Jesus became sin "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  In Jesus we become the very righteousness of God!  We become his most distinctive identifying characteristic!  And this is not our doing--it's in Jesus.  We become, in God's eyes, His only son, His righteous and perfect one.  And this is what we are, always.

(Update: make the time to listen to this message (first one on the page title "He Loves Me") for a fine word)

Whether the Blood is Enough

   I think we have to ask ourselves this question: is the blood of Jesus enough?  If we believe in Jesus and what he's done, and are washed in the blood, is the blood enough to wipe away our sins?
   There is a supposition among some Christians that the blood is enough, but only if you come back to it time and again after you've sinned, and only if you try really hard between visits.  If you believe this then the truth is that this isn't very powerful blood.  If the blood of Jesus is not enough for all of your sins, then it's just not enough.  If the blood of Jesus can't make you righteous once you've accepted it, then it can't really do anything.
   Let me tell you something about salvation: salvation is a relationship, not a lifestyle.  Salvation does not come with a manual, just like marriage doesn't come with a manual.  People may talk about the Bible like it's an instruction manual for life, but if that is the case, it's a strangely difficult instruction manual.  Looking strictly to the Bible as a manual for how to live your life is like trying to put together your new lawnmower by reading the Chinese portion of the instructions.  You could do it if you had a Chinese interpreter.  Same goes for the Bible, but you need an interpreter: the Holy Spirit.
   To look at the Christian life as something to be lived by the formula God has given us in the Bible is to totally demean the Christian life.  The Israelites had an instruction manual; they had a formula for righteous living.  The Israelites had instructions for what to do when they fell short, for what to do to get right with God again.  But Jesus said, in an instructively difficult way, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."  Jesus fulfills this desire of God: mercy over sacrifice.  There is no formula for a life lived under mercy.  Nothing is required by the blood but acceptance of the blood.  Mercy is by definition free and undeserved, and so it can never be earned or due.
   That is an important point: mercy is not your due.  Salvation, forgiveness, grace...these are not your due.  Paul, in talking about Abraham and how Abraham did not earn his righteousness, says, "Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due."  If we have to do something to earn forgiveness, it's no longer a gift.  If mercy isn't a gift, it isn't mercy, it's leniency.  If grace isn't free, it isn't grace, it's leeway.  If the blood of Jesus can't deliver us from all of our sins--past and future--then how can it deliver us from any of our sins?  If we can't earn it for our past sins, why would we need to earn it for our future sins?
   This is the very heart of the Gospel, this truth that forgiveness is free if we will receive it, and that we only have to receive it once and for all.  To believe that we will not continue to walk in the righteousness (and therefore forgiveness) of Jesus Christ if we don't somehow live the right kind of life is to believe that we are half-children of God.  It is to believe that we have our own distinct kind of sonship or daughtership.  Listen to me: we do not have our own relationships with God, we each have Jesus's relationship with God.  God does not see me as Colin, a son; He sees me as Jesus, the son.
   This is the Good News of the Gospel.  This is the power of the blood.  This is salvation: knowing God.  Salvation is relationship and nothing else.  God did not fathom and execute the complicated and inexplicably difficult plan of salvation in Jesus so that we could prove to him that we're worthy.  We are not worthy.  He doesn't want, or need, or care about the work of our hands, because He cares about our hearts.  He wants to know us first and foremost, and for us to know Him.  He wants relationship, and until we have it we will walk around completely clueless about what God is about.  Without a relationship with God we are resounding gongs: loud but lifeless.

To Live is Christ

   As a kid, a youth, a teenager, a young adult, I was nervous about the idea of heaven.  Not because heaven is a bad place, but because I wasn't keen for the life I knew to end.  You get used to this thing called living, even if you haven't done it that long, and the idea of just one day not doing it anymore made me nervous.  I liked life.  I enjoyed playing, learning, reading, liesure; the sunshine, sports, driving cars, going out with girls.  One of my favorite things to do is sit outside on a beautiful day and smoke a cigar and read.  They don't do that in heaven.
   It's understandable that we might be nervous about life after this life, but it needn't be.  As Paul said of himself, "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21).  This is a fine Sunday School statement, but don't you kind of hate Paul for saying it?  I mean, come on, weren't there things he wanted to keep doing on earth?  As a matter of fact there were.  He goes on to say, "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell."  This is the conundrum - or rather the blessing - of Paul's life.  If he lives, good.  If he dies, good.  Either way it's all about Jesus.
   Here of course is the key: you have to know what it means, "to live is Christ."  I believe that means you have to be absolutely in love with him.  You have to come to that place where you meet Jesus and decide that this is everything.  This life in God is everything.

Making Much of the Blood and the Body

   There is a curious dynamic in our lives when we worry, worry as Jesus told us not to.  When we worry, we elevate what we're worried about, and in turn demote everything else, especially the power of God.  When we worry we essentially admit that God is not up to the challenge of our problems.  We make much of our problems or concerns when we worry, and that means that we make little of God and his power to make right the things that are wrong.
   Now, since this is true, the opposite is also true.  When we make much of God and His power in light of our problems, we make little of the problems themselves.  We reduce in importance everything but God, who is of paramount importance.  It is never wrong to make much of God and little of everything else.
   Sometimes we have to make little of something good in order to make much of God.  At times we have to make little of our ministries; or make little of our families.  Once, when Jesus was teaching, someone told him his mother and brothers were waiting outside for him.

But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother. (Matthew 12:48-50, ESV)

   Jesus made little of his family and made much of God.  This doesn't by any means imply that he abandoned them, or disrespected them.  As long as they did the will of the Father, they were his family.  Jesus, by making much of God, also makes much of God's family.   This is God's family: those who have been washed in the Blood of Jesus.  "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13, ESV)  Those of us who are believers are family, brothers and sisters in Christ.  A part of becoming a new creation is becoming a part of a new family.  A spiritual family, not a biological one, not born "of the flesh nor of the will of man," as John says.  Born of and into something much more significant and permanent than the families we knew before.
   Think about the dangerous thing Jesus is doing here.  In a culture dominated by the family, where family is the most significant thing in your life, Jesus says, "what family?"  Remember that family is so important to the Jews because their very identity as a "chosen nation" is tied to their ancestry.  And yet this is one of the first things Jesus breaks down in his ministry, this idea that one people is chosen at the exclusion of another because of who their parents are.  In making much of God over his family, Jesus sets the precedent for his Body, the Bride of Christ, which will rise up after his resurrection.  Jesus makes much of God because he can do nothing else, and because there is nothing else that he should do.
   I imagine that, assuming his mother and brothers heard what he said, they were offended at Jesus.  Maybe they weren't, but I think that they probably were.  This is quintessential Jesus: he offends everyone.  And what else could he do?  Think about it: Jesus was perfect, and always did the will of his Father.  And in bringing the message of the Kingdom to humanity, in preaching the ultimate message of truth, he offended every widely held belief, opinion, principle, and dogma of the day (and of our day, too).  He even offended John the Baptist, who knew perhaps more than anyone just who Jesus was.  Remember this scene?

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples  and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?"

And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see:  the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."  (Matthew 11:2-6, ESV)

   Why would Jesus have added that last line, which is out of place in his reply, if it wasn't strictly necessary?  He was responding in that last line to John's unasked question(s), which may have been, "Why am I in jail?  Can't you get me out?"  This to me is one of the more offensive things Jesus says in the course of his ministry.  He is essentially taking John to task; the man who has paved the way, as prophesied, for the Messiah, and who at this moment sits in prison awaiting his unexpected death.  But you know what?  Jesus isn't wrong.  John knew Jesus was the "one to come," he was just discouraged, and apparenlty offended.
   There are many more examples in the New Testament of Jesus' offending people, people of all stripes, but particularly the religious.  Jesus always offends the religious.  As a perfect testifier of the truth of God, Jesus never cared to parse his words.  He wasn't interested in tact, he was interested in truth.  And because he refused to hold his tongue, he offended a lot of people, so much that they killed him for it.  Consider that for a moment: they killed him because they were offended.
   So what's my point, and how is this tied to the Blood and the Body?  Here's my point: blessed is the one who is not offended by Jesus.  Blessed is the one who gets in line with what God is doing, even if it mocks what they have come to value.  Blessed is the one who makes much of their brothers and sisters at the expense of their own interests.  Blessed is the one who makes much of the Blood of Jesus, the Body of Christ, and the Truth of God, even when it sucks to do so.
   Don't be offended by Jesus, because when you are offended by him, you are implying that he is wrong.  And guess what: he isn't.  Don't be offended by the Blood, even though the thief on the cross will receive the same glory in heaven as you.  And don't be offended by the Body, because you are a part of it and it is a part of you, and we can't be a Body without you.
   Make much of the Blood, make much of the Body, and make much of Jesus.  Make much of the Father in your life and see how small everything else becomes.  And you'll also see just how wonderful is the Blood, how necessary is the Body, how big is this God we call Daddy.

Politics and the Believer (Part II)

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 22:35-40 (English Standard Version)

   A friend and I were discussing the culture of American Christian politics, and he provided a thoughtful observation:

"Been thinking about [the notion] "don't we have a Christian responsibility and duty to vote for our values?" From what Jesus said, it seems to me our "duty" is simple: Love God and Love people. And the only way to do that is to understand His love for us through Jesus and that his blood is enough for us when we fall short on that stuff.

So I think maybe my only real duty is to abide in His love. If I do that, that love flows out of me to Him and others. And at that point, when it comes to politics, results of elections won't matter - I will be too consumed with loving and praying for my enemies to really care where they stand on taxes.

All that's easier said than done, but imagine a world where that's how we lived..."

   My friend paraphrases Jesus in saying, "Love God and Love people."  I don't know why he capitalized Love. Maybe he didn't realize what he was doing.  But I think, whether intentionally or not, he nailed it.  In my mind, Loving is distinct from loving, just like God is distinct from god.  We are told that the greatest commandment is to Love God, I think, not to love God.  And the distinction is one of both passion and sincerity.  Much like the notion that "it takes God to love God"--meaning we have to have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God to even come to know and love God--we have to Love God with a passion and sincerity only He can provide, and this comes from walking with Him and really knowing Him.  The more we know God as a friend and lover, the more we love Him, and then we Love Him.

   This idea is expressed when Jesus tells the Jews in the temple in John 8 that their father is not God, but the devil.  They are shocked; surely if anyone loves God, it is them, because they work so hard to keep His law.  And I'm sure that they sincerely believe they love God.  But Jesus tells them why they don't love God: because they don't know God.  "You know neither me nor my Father," Jesus says in John 8:19.  "If you knew me, you would know my Father."  The problem for them is not that they don't love God, but that they don't know Him.  If they knew Him they would love Him, because this is how we Love God.

   Let me state that again so that we can understand our duty as Christians.  We Love God by knowing Him.  In order to really know Him, we have to have a relationship with Him.  We have to put our faith in Him.  We have to walk some of the uncomfortable roads down which a life with Him takes us.  We have to lean on Him when things are good and when things are bad.  We have to hear His voice and do what He says.  We have to be His friend.  We have to know Him like a wife knows a husband: intimately, deeply, without the prospect of separation.  When we know God like this, we Love him, and we can fulfill the greatest commandment: to Love God with all of our heart, mind, and soul.

   When Jesus is asked in Matthew what the greatest commandment is, he answers, but the funny thing is that he slips a second commandment in there.  This addition is uninvited--after all, the lawyer asks only about the greatest commandment, not the top two--and also, I think, unexpected.  The first commandment Jesus describes is sensible, and I'm sure the lawyer and the other religious leaders were appreciative of his response.  After all, this commandment is in Deuteronomy, so they would have been familiar with it and approving of it.  But Jesus quickly adds a second commandment, one that is, in his words, "like it."  The second is of course, "love your neighbor as yourself."

   How exactly is this second commandment "like" the first?  Well, in the most obvious way it is similar to the first because it is a commandment to love.  I would also submit that it is a commandment to know.  It's hard to love someone you don't know, and that includes, apparently, ourselves.  It's hard to love myself if I don't know myself.  It's also impossible to love my neighbor if I don't love myself.

   This is where politics and life as a believer separate, in this commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Politics demands a certain tunnel vision.  It requires a certain selfishness, too, because my political interests are about my own interests: economic, social, cultural.  Political life is self-centered and exclusive.  It is tribal.  Politics demands that we band together with those who are like us in order to pursue the civil accomplishments we deem most desirable.  Politics is not about compassion or love; it is above all about expediency.

   The other thing about politics is that it bills itself as the answer to our needs.  This is exactly why we get involved in politics, and is exactly what is attractive about the political life.  I think the reason we get so excited about politics is because it is something we can put our hands on.  Our flesh loves politics because we find ourselves in control.  We're calling the shots; we're determining the outcomes.  This is why man can be described as a "political animal," because it's in our nature to band together to create the outcomes we think best.  Politics is inherently attractive to our flesh, and this fact alone should give believers pause in their political pursuits.

   Faith is the opposite of politics, because faith is not a means to produce a world we desire.  Faith is about handing over our power, not consolidating it.  Faith is about submitting our control, not exerting it.  Faith and politics have inherent contradictions, and are in conflict.  The irony is that both pursuits are choices that we make of our own free will.  I think that the distinction is what is desired as an outcome.  In politics, we want power in our flesh.  With faith, we want power in the Spirit.

   This contradiction between politics and faith puts the believer in an awkward position when it comes to his political life.  I don't believe that the Bible prohibits political involvement.  I think any suggestion that God prohibits our involvement in politics is ludicrous and dangerous.  In all honesty I don't think God really cares.  What I know that God does care about is us, and knowing us.  He wants to be our closest friend.  He wants to walk with us everywhere we go, and He wants us to know him as deeply as we can.  That knowledge changes over time, and things in our lives will fall away as we pursue the Lord.  A lot of us may jettison politics as we grow closer to Him; some of us won't.  This will be between you and the Lord, but your politics aren't going to keep Him from loving you, know matter your ideological proclivity.  Whether or not your politics keep you from knowing Him more is, as I said, between you and the Lord.

   My opinion is that, at some point in your walk with the Lord, you're going to have to decide between going deeper with Him and hanging on to your political expectations.  And I think that this is the case because the choice is about control.  And also the choice is about faith; about what you are going to put your faith in.  It's hard to give a damn about politics when you don't have your faith in it, and it's impossible to go deeper with the Lord if you won't put all of your faith in Him.  It's also impossible to love the Lord with all of your heart, mind, and soul if you love your political expectations with some of your heart, mind, and/or soul.  God doesn't want some of our devotion, He wants all of it, but He isn't going to make us give it to Him.

   I expect some objection because what I appear to be saying is that it's an either/or situation with your devotion.  And, well, it is an either/or situation with your devotion.  With your time, or with your interest, or with your effort it is not necessarily an either/or situation.  You can be politically active and walk closely with the Lord.  You can do that, but you are an exceptional person if you can do that.  Being politically active, giving of yourself to your political life, will probably always require some piece of you that should in fact be given to God.  I just think that this is simply the fact of the matter, whether or not we want it to be.  I don't believe that there is, as one friend put it, a "holy balance" we can achieve between politics and God, except for this "holy balance": love the Lord with all of your heart, mind and soul.  To some it might seem lopsided, but let me tell you, that is a good balance.

   When it comes down to it, the only thing God requires of us is this: Love.  Love Him and Love others.  He doesn't have any other requirements.  God is not demanding that we change the world, or change this country.  He is not after the things that we're after.  He doesn't care if there is prayer in schools, or if the federal government funds abortions.  Those things are resounding gongs: hollow and loud.  What He is interested in is Love, because He is Love.  This is why the greatest commandment is not one of the rules of the law, as the lawyer probably expected.  What God really wants is our Love, not our duty.  Now that is an ideology I can rally around.

Politics and the Believer (Part I)

Read this:

"If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.  Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.  If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."  -John 15:18-20 (ESV)

Now hear this: the world is not your friend.  The people of the world, who go after the things of the world, will always be in contention with the things of God.  If you ever find that the things you pursue find an easy reception in the world at large, rest assured that those things are not of God.

I titled this post "Politics and the Believer," not because I have a sweeping answer to a slew of concerns, convictions, and questions that many of us hold when it comes to politics, but because I have one simple answer: the world is not your friend.

I can imagine the thoughts of Republicans reading this post.  They are thinking, We Republicans are obviously on the right path, because look at how much resistance we're meeting in the world.  God must be on our side.  Surely this is politics that God can get behind.

And I can imagine the thoughts of Democrats reading this post.  They are thinking, Come on, God can't be on the side of the Republicans!  This only proves that Republicans aren't true believers.  God wants the things we're after: peace, help for the poor and downtrodden.  I don't think God isn't for us!  Of course He's for us!

I can imagine the libertarians thinking, I'm not either one of those fools; I know God is a libertarian.  Next.

Hear this: God is not a Republican.  He is not a Democrat.  He is not libertarian, or a hippie, or an originalist.  He's not even American.  He has no nationality, no political bent, and no motivation outside of love.  He is perfect, and because He is perfect He is not political.

I have heard it said that man is a political animal, and I agree with that.  God is not a political animal; man is.  We are.  Jesus wasn't a political animal, which is what cost him a lot of love at the end of his ministry.  When he failed to rise up and save the Jewish state, many turned their back on him.  What a loony, they said.  King of the Jews - yeah right.  Son of God?  He can't even save himself from the cross!

Remember that at your next political rally: Jesus was murdered enthusiastically because he couldn't produce politically.

Of course, he died because that was the Father's plan, but still, people turned on him.  People are fickle, and fickle political animals do not bear disappointment well.  Some of us go to church together, and might at times be tempted to go for each others' throats when our politics don't jive.  That is sad, and it's true.  It's sad because we should be in harmony since we're all believers.  And it's sad because, truth be told, politics isn't worth a warm cup of spit.

In these verses from John, Jesus is telling us this: you're not going to fit in.  I didn't fit in; you think you're better than me?  And he's telling us this not to let us down, but to encourage us.  I chose you, he says.  I chose you because I want you to be like me, and that's why you won't fit in.  So don't go trying to fit in, because you're not like them.  Don't pretend to be like them, it won't work.  Be like me and learn to deal with being unpopular.

I do like what Jesus says there at the end of verse 20: "If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."   I did not know what to make of this.  It's a strange turn of phrase, and it didn't make much sense at first.  My Bible tells me there is a connection or reference back to John 8:51, and so I read that.  In John 8:51, Jesus is telling the religious Jews that their father is not Abraham, but Satan.  I'll bet that went over well.  And in the course of this argument Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."  Okay, I can see where he's going with this, but I'm still confused about why, if anyone keeps his word (which keeps them from death), they will also keep mine.  So I followed another reference back to Ezekiel 3:7.

"But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart."

So this is what Jesus is saying at the end of verse 20.  He is saying that, if they will listen to me, they will listen to you.  But if they won't listen to me, they're certainly not going to listen to you.  Think about it: God, Yahweh, the God who moved as a pillar of cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire at night guiding the Israelites to the promised land, who delivered them from their enemies with incredible plagues, who worked among them in incredibly personal ways, who called them His own people; if they wouldn't listen to God, why would they listen to us?  If people will reject the words and teachings of Jesus, reject the urging of his Holy Spirit, we are not going to convince them by voting.  We will never legislate the Kingdom of God into existence.  If Israel could not be a Godly nation, America doesn't stand a chance.

Which brings me roundly back to the title concept, Politics and the Believer.  I don't have an answer for  you if what you're asking is whether you should care about politics.  I can almost sense the counter-arguments being birthed into words: But we have to do something; we have moral obligations; we're still in the world even if we're not of it, and we've got to be involved; if Christian's pull out of the system, it will all go to hell.  If any one of these arguments comes into your mind, let me just remind you of this: you are no better than Jesus, and they didn't listen to him.  By all means continue to care, but remember that the world is going to hate you, and this a good thing.  It means you're chosen, and it means you have more important things to do.

The Platform

   The only church I can remember attending that did not have a stage was held every Sunday morning in a coffee shop which was closed on Sundays.  I worked at this coffee shop Monday through Saturday, and worshipped there on Sunday mornings.  There were probably 20-25 of us; several played instruments, this being Denton, home to the University of North Texas, a public university famous for its jazz program.  Also there were always several words given.  We could usually count on a word from one or more of the "leaders" of this group, two or three men of wisdom and Godliness, but in general anyone was welcome to give a word, which reinforced the sense that the church was us, and we (not the building) were the church.

  It may be coincidental since this church had no stage, but this church also had no platform, and by that I mean that there was no agenda to follow; we were following only God because we loved Him.  I think because we were desperate for Him, we didn't think to do anything but pursue Him.  However, many (if not most) churches have stages; not all of them have platforms, but again many (if not most) do.  Think of the platform, the agenda, as whatever the church is pursuing that is not strictly God.  It could be perfect music, or a robust ministry to the poor, or a slew of wonderful programs for every age group in the body.  It could be the gifts of the spirit, or the scripture, or friendships within the congregation.  The platform of any given church is whatever receives the focus that should be given to God, or whatever is pursued without the direction of the Lord.

  It may be coincidental that the stage tends to lend credence or support to the platform.  It may not really mean anything that the words "stage" and "platform" refer to the same thing.  But it is that very fact, that these two words are synonyms, that has planted the seed of this essay in my brain.  I believe that the stage contributes to the platform, or at least allows the platform to remain in the same building as the Holy Spirit.  I believe that one of the more difficult and important things we can do if our church has a platform is to go after God in spite of the platform.  We will never be able to fully pursue the Lord because of the platform, if we remember that the platform is that which receives more attention than God Himself.

   Before we examine the stage's role in our platforms more fully, let's talk about what the Platform is a little bit more.  While programs, and good music, and nice facilities, and the gifts of the Spirit, and good teaching are all worthy pursuits for a church, if any of these become things we pursue without God's accompaniment, the become an agenda.  They become something we do because we've always done it, or because we're comfortable with these things, or because we've invested in them.  If what we're doing on any given day as a church body is not done because we're pursuing God and listening to His direction, than we probably have an agenda and we're probably doing church from our platform.

   I tend to conflate the stage in a church with the platform in a church because we, as people of flesh, are swayed by things like stages.  The stage is elevated above the larger audience; in fact, the presence of the stage creates the dynamic of audience and presenter.  Whether the presenter is a band, a single musician, or a preacher or prophet, the dynamic is the same.  The stage dweller stands above the audience and presents his material.  The audience receives it.  The one on stage is active, those in the audience are passive.  This is not always the case, but this is the general dynamic a stage achieves.  The problem with this dynamic is that the tendency to give into it becomes habitual, and the next thing you know the only people bringing anything to church are the ones on the stage.  Everyone else is just taking.

   That's not how church is meant to be.  A good example of what church should be like is described by Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth.  In chapter 14, Paul describes how to do church in an orderly way, and he especially addresses the gifts of tongues and of prophecy.  While he is instructing the church members of how to go about their church in an orderly way, the expectation behind his instruction is that everyone will be involved.  In fact, because everyone is involved, Paul feels the need to help them maintain order among the many contributors.  He tells them that not everyone can speak in tongues; there should be interpreters.  But aside from tongues, he is encouraging everyone to be involved, and to bring something, "a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation."  Says Paul, "For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged..."  He expects that everyone will contribute something to the body when the body gets together.  He expects that we will all come to church to bring something, not just to receive.

  When our church has a platform, the number of those bringing something shrinks, and the number simply receiving grows.  When our church has a platform - regardless of whether there is a stage - we can't easily veer off of our schedule for the Holy Spirit.  When we have an agenda, there is little room for God to move freely.  We don't leave room in our programs for awkward moments.  Our agendas are not sympathetic to the unpredictability of the Holy Spirit.

  But we need the awkward moments to usher in the Holy Spirit, because what is an awkward moment but the moment when we've lost control.  I've said it before, but holy order is not the same thing as fleshly order.  Fleshly order creates holy chaos, in the sense that when we impose our agenda on the proceedings, we mess up our opportunity to walk in step with the Lord and be a part of what He wants to do.  Holy order does not require chaos here on earth, but it requires a disruption of our agendas.  It requires chaos in the sense that, once we cede control of the proceedings to the movement of the Holy Spirit, we will find spiritual or holy order, but we won't necessarily be able to stick to the schedule as outlined in the church program.

   This is important, and we're talking about more than just doing church the right way.  This is not about doing church.  I won't even get out of bed anymore just to play church.  If I'm going to make the effort to gather with other believers, I want to go after God.  I want to move with the Holy Spirit, to go where He says go, to say what He says say, to pray what He says pray.  If we can't allow the awkward moment to descend and wait it out as we stir up the Holy Spirit, we are going to miss out on all that makes coming together worthwhile.  We'll miss out on the gifts of the spirit, we'll miss out on the deep worship, we'll miss out on His voice.  We'll be just wasting time playing church.

   I don't want a platform and I don't need a platform, because God has a platform that can't be beat, and it is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  We do not need an agenda to go after God; rather, the opposite is necessary: we need to drop our agendas and pursue God when we come together.

The Blood, The Gospel

   In the days that Jesus walked the earth preaching, the folks listening did not have the New Testament.  They had the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the words of the prophets, David's and Samuel's writings (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.).  The Old Testament, essentially.  When Jesus was walking and preaching, they were witnessing the New Testament as we think of it, and so they were witnessing The Gospel, the good tidings of God.  I doubt that anyone sitting on a hillside listening to Jesus preach thought the event would wind up in a written book, much less The Bible.  The Jews and Gentiles listening to Jesus didn't have The Bible, or even A Bible.  They probably didn't have books at home.  The point is that there wasn't a consolidated religious book of the words of God like The Bible that we know and love.

   The Gospel, in the sense of the definitions of the Gospel, is the good tidings of God, especially of the coming and teaching of His Messiah.  For our part we know that Jesus was the culmination of these good tidings, and also that what he taught were the good tidings; or more appropriately, The Good Tidings.  The Gospel is what we talk about when we try to sum up the big important thing that was and is Jesus and his ministry.  The Gospel is the prophecy of his coming, the expectation of his coming, the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and both the salvation and grace and power of what he did.  Much like my friend Sam who loves to talk about the blood of Jesus, I've become a lover of The Blood because the blood of Jesus is the Gospel.

   Jesus says in Luke that "this cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood."  The new covenant - the promise of grace in salvation, of adoption as a child of God - is in his blood, in The Blood.  Paul says in Ephesians, "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace," and then this: "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ."  All these things The Blood does and can do.  It heals, it makes new, it seals us as heirs of the Living God in Christ Jesus.  This is the Gospel, the good tidings spoken of by the prophets, admitted to by Jesus, and sealed in his death and Resurrection.  The Blood is the Gospel.

  So let us talk about what is not the Gospel.  Religion is not the Gospel; church is not the Gospel.  Doing-it-right is not the Gospel.  A quiet time is not the Gospel; neither is a bible study, or an accountability partner, or church camp, or a thousand hours of sermons.  And check this out, prepare to be shocked: the Bible is not the Gospel, either.

   I say this without trepidation, but with the assumption that many will reel at this statement.  I don't think that I'm wrong to assume many will reel, because a few years ago I would have reeled, too.  I mean, come on, we refer to the first four books of the New Testament as "the Gospels."  Of course the Bible is the Gospel.  How could it not be the Gospel?  It's the Word of God!

   Well, I will contend that, if you don't agree with me that the Blood is The Gospel, than you will not be able to concede my point that the Bible is not The Gospel.  Because in my view The Blood is everything.  If salvation is in The Blood; if grace is in The Blood; if our covenant with God is in The Blood; if all of these things, which are the good tidings to which all of Creation has looked since The Fall, are not The Gospel, than we don't have a very powerful Gospel.  If the only Gospel we have is the Bible, than the Gospel cannot fulfil it's two requirements: that is is free, and it's for everyone.

   Let me just reiterate that last statement: The Gospel, The Blood, is free and it's for everyone.  These are the characteristics of The Gospel.  Look at what is repeated throughout the New Testament: Jesus died for everyone, and all you have to do to be saved is accept and believe.  The Blood is for everyone, and it is free.

   The Bible, on the other hand, is not available to everyone, and it isn't free.  There are barriers to accessing the Bible;  there are no barriers to accessing The Blood.  Some folks will live their entire lives without reading either the New or Old Testaments, but they will surely have the chance to accept or deny The Blood.  As Paul says in Romans 3:23-24:

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.  It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

     All have sinned, but all can receive the gift of The Blood.  This is The Gospel, and we see that it's free and it's for everyone.  The Blood of Jesus is the good tidings we should carry to everyone, and not just to the lost.  The Blood doesn't cease to be powerful after we believe and are saved.  Why else would Jesus have told his disciples to repeat the ceremony of the Last Supper?  He told them, "Do this in remembrance of me," because he knew they were bound to forget what The Blood cost him and cost the Father.  He must have known the temptation would spring up to replace The Blood with religion and knowledge.  We don't cease to need The Blood once we're saved by it because The Blood is everything.  It's The Blood that washes us white as snow.  It's The Blood that allows us to enter the Throne Room as children of the Father.  And it's The Blood that is always there to purify us if we will only go back to it.

   Do not make the mistake of elevating anything above The Blood of Jesus, even the Bible.  Know that the Bible is not the fullness of the words of God, because He has not quit speaking to us.  He speaks daily, and He longs to speak to everyone, if only we will listen.  I say this not to bring down the Bible, but to elevate The Blood, and to remind us of what saves.  And I say all of this in the hope that we will elevate The Blood above everything else, because The Blood is everything.  The Bible does not save, church does not save, good works don't save, love doesn't save.  We have been called to all of these things, but it doesn't change the fact that The Blood alone saves.

How Jesus Heals

   Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.  And there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.  When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your disability."  And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

   But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day."

   Then the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?  And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

   As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

(Luke 13:10-17, ESV)

Three things:

1. Jesus heals immediately, and almost always with his hands
2. Illness is Satan's work ("whom Satan bound for eighteen years...")
3. The healed know from where healing comes (the woman "glorified God.")

What We Thought

We thought that He just wanted us to be nice, and then Jesus said, "I have come not to bring peace, but a sword."

We thought He just wanted us to get along, then Jesus said, "I have come to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

We thought He just wanted us to be good, then Jesus told us the parable of the shrewd manager, who was commended.

We thought the dishonest manager was despicable, but Jesus tells us he is shrewd.  Jesus said, "the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their generation than the sons of light."  What in the world does he mean by this?  When I read it I hear Jesus saying that your not going to change the world if you try to just get by on good behavior.  The sons of this world, the ones who do not walk in the Truth of the Living God, know better how to deal with their own generation, and so the generation will be lost.  The sons of light aren't shrewd enough to make a difference.

What's wrong with the sons of light?  Why aren't they shrewd?  Jesus is not saying you have to sink to their level to be shrewd or to win your generation.  I know that the knee-jerk response of many would be to assume I am advocating that kind of approach.  For my part, I don't want to be a "Christian" version of whatever the world is doing.  What I've seen in my life is that this just doesn't work.  We now have entire industries built around "Christian" versions of whatever the world is peddling: Christian music, Christian self-help books, Christian radio or TV stations, Christian movies.  The implication with this alternative universe is that if you're a Christian you should pursue those things with the "Christian" label; or that they are inherintly valuable because they're "Christian".  I don't have the time I would need to ridicule this approach, so I'll move on to my point, which is this: the sons of light need to stop trying to get by just on good behavior, just on being "Christian".

Notice that the master in this parable, who in the beginning fires the manager, ultimately commends him for his efforts, even though those efforts are injurious to the master.  What?  Is the master an idiot?  We know that he is not ignorant of what the manager is doing, because Jesus tells us the master commends the manager for his shrewdness in these dishonest dealings.  And yet, fully aware of how his (former) manager is losing him money, he commends the man rather than having him thrown in jail.  Commends him for his shrewdness; not for his dishonesty, for his shrewdness.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines shrewd as a) marked by clever discerning awareness and hardheaded, and b) given to wily and artful ways or dealing.  There is no doubt that the manager in this parable is shrewd, and given these definitions of shrewdness, it's easy to see why Jesus would want us to be shrewd as well.  Wasn't Jesus himself quite clever in dealing with his generation?  Look at the ways he pokes and prods the religious leaders of the day.  Look at how he consistently undermines the Jewish rules and laws while somehow always talking his way out of popular backlash.  Even in this very parable he pokes his finger in the eyes of the Pharisees.  Luke 16:14 says, "The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him."  Jesus had pissed them off by saying they couldn't serve both money and God, which is exactly what they thought they could do.  Somehow - shrewdly, no doubt - Jesus uses this parable both to praise shrewd dealing and to criticize greediness.

Jesus had a way of getting under the skin of the religious folks.  He still has a way of doing this, in fact.  Somehow he managed to earn the hatred of the religious leaders while charming the general populace.  Somehow he managed to be clever and perfect, to upset the established order and yet not sin.  Jesus was as shrewd as they come, and yet never did anything wrong, and so I have to conclude that this shrewdness he describes in the parable of the dishonest manager is in harmony with the character of God.  Isn't that something, to think that cleverness is the very nature of God?  Why not?  Think about it.

This Romance

  The word woo has been going around in the circle of Believers I run with, and I find it to be a well used and useful word.  We talk a lot about the Lord wooing us into a relationship with him.  This is a fine word to use for how the lord pursues us, because the primary definition of woo is similar to court, as in pursuing for marriage.  If Jesus is the bridegroom and we (the Church) are his bride, than it is fitting that he woos us, because he is after our hearts and affection.  He is after our love.

   Two of the words used in the scriptures that are translated as "know" are yada, which is Hebrew, and ginosko, which is Greek.  Both words mean knowing by perceiving and express understanding, and both are also used as Jewish idioms for sexual knowledge.  I'm sure this is not accidental.  An example of this usage is when Jesus says, "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3, ESV).  Without knowing the meaing of the word being translated here as "know," this passage could simply be interpreted as a call to salvation.  Without a suspicion that what Jesus really wants is a personal romance with each one of us, we would look at this and conclude that Jesus is just reiterating how we can be saved.

  Jesus is wooing us here, did you see it?  He is promising us something great big right here in this simple passage, and he's not promising that we'll one day experience it after we're dead and gone from planet Earth, he is telling us we can have it now.  This is eternal life, he says, to know God in an intimate way, the way that a husband and wife know one another.

  I think we flinch a little at the thought of knowing God as is implied here.  We have such distorted concepts of sexual love that we would never go so far as to imply sexual love with God.  There are a slew of issues we would run into if we implied this kind of relationship with God, and yet here it is in the Bible.  John must have meant to use the Greek ginosko in this passage, he must have meant to imply what the Jewish Christians of the day would have understood.  I think it's important that we start to consider romance with God.  He is wooing us, courting us; he wants to know us deeply and intimately, not sexually as we might imagine, but as deep as that.  He wants to be  a lover to each one of us.

God is passionate about us.  Our Lord is so passionate about us that He created us, knowing full well what would happen to humanity, and knowing full well what it would cost Him to rescue us finally from our sins.  He is passionate about us.  You will never find a lover who loves with the fervor and depth of God.  The Father doesn't date.  He doesn't do crushes.  He doesn't do infatuation.  He is a passionate lover of each one of us and He wants to woo us into His heart, into that deep relationship with him where all the good things are waiting: power, peace, healing, love, rest.  Dont' believe for a second that the Lord isn't in love with you, or that He is angry like a spurned lover.  His love is beyond petty anger, and His wrath was already poured out in full on Jesus.  He is as patient as he is passionate, and that is why He goes through the trouble of wooing us.

This romance with God is everything you could ever want if you'll only go after it.  God is love.  Because He is love, He loves like no other.  He loves with perfect love, and just know that you will never be romanced like you will in the arms of the Father.  He is wooing us, but just as if He were an earthly lover, we will never know how He's wooing us if we ignore Him.  Or if we put up walls between Him and us.  Or if we're so busy we can't spare the attention to recognize his courting for what it is.  The beauty of His wooing is that He doesn't stop; even as we spurn His advances, He never stops, because He loves us and wants us.

Faith Contemplated

   If you've ever been obedient to some specific direction from God, you've probably reached a point after that obedient moment where you wondered when you'd get the payoff.  I think this is the obvious expectation when we do what God tells us.  In my own life, when God told me to move to my present home of Amarillo, Texas from Anchorage, Alaska, I expected there was a reason or reasons behind the directive.  Maybe a particular job, a certain house, a specific friend.  Some big Work I could do that would teach me something, or lead to more Works or a definitive future.  Purpose, essentially.  My expectations reflected my lack of direction, but really I'm just like all of you in that I figured I'd get some distinct payoff for being obedient.

   It took faith to move here, so I have that feather in my cap.  And I've garnered some proper perspective in the four years since that directive from God, and I'm a little more clearsighted about it all.  My expectations have been dashed a few times; in the end I had to scrap my expectations.  But I've still got the faith.

   It's difficult to extricate our faith from our expectations.  Even though we know God is good, when what we expect doesn't come about after we're obedient, our faith can wane.  Why is that?  You can know all about what God is - faithful, good, love, gracious, giving - and still it's hard to get past unrealized expectations.  It's discouraging to see people of faith foundering instead of succeeding, or getting rich, or healing the world.  Faith in God seems like it should be arithmetical: the sum of your faith adds up to big accomplishments.  Doesn't the scripture say that God gives abundantly?  The images of faith in the scripture are usually those of fecundity and wealth, rich pastures and full rivers, sheep on a thousand hillsides.  We expect payoff for our obedience because that's what the Bible tells us.

The questions we have to ask ourselves about faith in God are these: would it be worth it if He never gave us anything else?  Would faith in God be worthwhile if our dreams weren't realized?  If our expectations from here to death were consistently dashed?  If the only payoff you get for faith in the Lord is salvation, is that going to be enough for you?

Before you blanch at that last questions, aghast and offended that I could even ask, really think about it.  Nobody wants a life of suffering.  Worse possibly than that is a life of mediocrity; nobody wants that either.  So it's not a silly question to ask if salvation is enough, because, assuming you receive salvation early or in the middle of life, you've got a lot of suffering you can do before you pass on to paradise.  At some point in life I think we all ask ourselves if it's worth it to us.  Sometimes we contemplate the question directly.  Other times indirectly; we just stop living like it's worth it, answering the question with our complacence.  It's a good question to ask, though.  I think the Lord asks it of us, often more than once.  Who of us has answered that question in the positive the first time it's asked?

It's a tough question, and a friend of mine posed it to himself without realizing it.  He posed it to me without realizing it, too, but neither of us answered it in the course of that conversation.  For his part, he's waiting for the payoff.  For my part, I've answered the question before and even today would still answer yes.  My life is pretty good right now, so my answer may come easily, but I think I will always have a "yes" on my lips.  I've tasted and seen that the Lord is good, and that makes a difference.  And I've discovered something about what Jesus did, discovered that thing that each of us has to find out on our own: that he did it for me.  That he loves me uniquely.  That he died for my sake, at the same time he died for everyone everywhere.  And that it was enough.  The Blood of Jesus is enough.

I'm not done contemplating faith, either in this forum or in my own heart.  "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen" (Hebrews 11:1, NKJV).  If at some point I can't see the substance or evidence of faith in my own life, I'll have to ask myself that Big Question again about whether it's worth it.  The true answer is that of course it's worth it, but that's not always our honest answer, and God's not upset by our honest answers.  He prefers honest answers.  And in case the honest answer on your lips is "No," let me just encourage you by saying that it is worth it.  Hear me say that and sit with it and then get on with life, but let this Truth go with you: it is worth it.  Have faith in that.

Chasing Peace

The peace of God is like the Gospel of Jesus Christ: it's free, and it's for everyone.  Even though peace is free, we still have a hard time receiving it.  Most of the time we sidestep peace to go searching for peace, only to get frustrated in the process.  Imagine if you were hungry, and someone offered you a meal, but you told them, "I don't have time to eat that, I've got to go find some food."  That's how it is with peace most of the time.  The Lord shows up at our front door with a steaming, delicious plate of peace, and we leave out the back door to go hunting.

What makes peace difficult to receive is that we don't have a hand in bringing it about.  Ask anybody what the proudest moment of their life is, and I doubt that they will tell you it was a time when someone did something for them.  Our proudest moments are usually the times we did something brave, or accomplished something difficult.  This is entirely human, the satisfaction of our flesh.  And then God comes along and says, I have everything you need, and it's free.  We hear that and our flesh recoils.  We hear that and, no matter how true or wonderful it is, if we can't put our hands on it to make it happen, we hesitate.  So this is the quintessential problem we face as people when it comes to the spiritual life: we always want to put our hands on it.  We have the hardest time letting God just do things without our fingerprints on them.  We want to put our hands on it.

This is why we spend so much time chasing peace.  I myself chased peace for several years.  Discontented with my job, or my home, or my location at any given time, I was always looking to the next job, or the next house, or the next town for satisfaction.  I was constantly wondering what God was doing.  I do this a lot, and most of us do.  We try to figure out why God has us here in this particular spot, and what it's leading to.  We want God to have reasons for what He's told us to do, and if we can't put a finger on why He told us to do something, we get frustrated.  God tells us to be obedient, but He doesn't tell us we're going to understand.  He says essentially this: Do what I tell you, trust me, and you'll be great.

That is hard, because it doesn't allow us to put our hands on things.  When the Lord told me to move to Amarillo, Texas after my time in the army was up, I did it.  And we spent our first two years here searching for reasons; chasing peace.  And the reality is, I may never have a solid, singular reason for why God told me to come here.  Then again, I may find a thousand reasons why I'm here.  In the end it doesn't matter; I was obedient, and in our relationships with God, obedience is everything.  Obedience is not easy, but being obedient puts us in a position to receive what God wants to give us.

Jesus says in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you."  Jesus gives us his peace, which is pretty special.  This is the peace that comes straight from the Father.  This is the peace that sustained Jesus as he walked the earth for 33 years knowing just what awaited him at the end of his life.  This is the peace that kept him in the Garden of Gethsemane praying while Judas led Roman soldiers up the path.  This is the peace that sustained him on the cross, knowing what was coming.  This is the promise of Jesus, that we can have his peace, and it is a gift.  We don't have to do a single thing for it, other than receive it.

I suspect that one of the most important things we have to do in our spiritual walks is learn to receive.  Certainly this is the case when it comes to peace.  We spend a lot of time chasing peace, as though it were something elusive, when the truth is Jesus gives it to us.  The Holy Spirit is his repository of peace, and the very Spirit of Jesus resides in our skin and bones, in our blood and in our lungs and nerves and sinew.  Jesus resides in those of us who have asked him to do so, and that means peace is always at hand.  All we have to do is receive it.

Where the Power Lies

   If you want to read one of the funnier exchanges between Jesus and his disciples, read John 14.  Here is a little taste.

   "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  And you know the way to where I am going."

   Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"

   Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on you do know him and have seen him."

   Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

   Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."

   The funniest part of this exchange is when Thomas say, "We don't know where you're going.  How can we know the way?"  And Jesus replies with what must have been a confusing answer.  Thomas, I think, was asking for directions, and Jesus answers, "I am the way."  Isn't that just like the Lord?  We ask for directions and He gives us Deep Truth.  We ask for a practical, workable solution we can put our hands on, and He answers with, "Get to know me."  Our God is impractical.  That is something I have learned to love about God, that He is never practical.  He hasn't called us to be practical; He has called us to be powerful.

   Jesus says something astounding in this passage, and it is this: "The words that I say I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works."  Jesus is telling Phillip where the Power lies.  The power lies in the Father, and even Jesus is not above this.  Jesus, who up to this point has done some amazing works - healing, teaching, multiplying food, turning water to wine - only did what he did because he submitted to the will of the Father.  Jesus did what God said and he walked in incredible power.

   I want to remind us of something Jesus says in this same passage.  He says, "Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father."  Jesus is not only reminding us that the Power lies with the Father, but that he is the way to the Father, and there is more Power to come once Jesus rejoins the Father in heaven.  If you're like me, this concept seems insensible.  It would seem more sensible that there would be greater works on earth while Jesus was here, not after he left.  That's certainly what the disciples thought.  Their biggest worry was this talk from Jesus about his leaving.  Peter does just about everything he can to keep Jesus on earth; even goes so far as to deny he knows his savior.  Remember this: you can't make Jesus do what you want him to do, or be what you want him to be.  He does what the Father says, period.

   This is where the Power lies: in the Father's words.  What God says has power behind it because God is truth and God is love.  He is not a man that He should lie.  Did you know that there is life in the words of God?  That the very words He speaks contain life for us?  There is gigantic power in God's words, and here's the big bonus: He speaks to his children.  Our God is not a silent god, He speaks and His words are powerful.  I cannot overstate this, so I'll say it again: the Power lies in the words of the Father.   Want to see some power in your life?  Ask the Lord what He says and speak it out over someone; or over yourself.  And see what happens.

   The answer to why we can do greater works than Jesus is, of course, the Holy Spirit.  The Father speaks to us through His Holy Spirit, which resides in those of us who believe.  Jesus tells us we will do greater works than him because he left to go to the Father.  Not in spite of the fact that he left, but because of it.  He knew when he was telling the disciples this that the Holy Spirit would come.  The Helper was on the way.  But you can't blame Thomas or Phillip, or even Peter.  They didn't know the Holy Spirit was coming, and that the Power would come with Him.  But boy oh boy did the Spirit come.  And boy oh boy does the Spirit show up powerfully when we listen to the voice of the Father.

   In my little body of believers in my little space on this planet we are trying to go after the heart of God and walk in the power of His Spirit.  It's an odd thing that catches us off guard a lot.  There are lots of awkward moments; sometimes we miss what He's saying, or we interpret it needlessly, or we chicken out on saying it.  Sometimes we hit the nail(s) on the head(s) and it's powerful and we walk away glowing.  But we're trying and I think He is pleased, because we're listening.  We want to hear His words and see His power, not for the sake of the Power, but yes for the sake of the Power.  Like Jesus said, "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves."  We want to do the works of God so that we're reminded not only that Jesus in in the Father and vice versa, but because this also means that we are in the Father and the Father is in us.  Because there is Power in knowing that.

This is Love

We need to be reminded how much the Father loves us.  He loves us so much he sent his son, The Son, to die for our salvation.  To die so that we can know the Father.  Know him as sons and daughters, know him intimately as friends, know him as a wife knows a husband.  Jesus is what the Father sees when he looks at those of us who are redeemed by the Blood, and so he sees a perfected creature.  Remember this: God looks at us through the lens of Jesus Christ; he never takes a peek around Jesus to see us, he always looks through His son.  And so we know that when God the Father looks at us he sees that we are pure and lovely, forgiven, white as snow.

He loves us this much: that while we were still sinners, while we were despicable to His nature and contrary to His righteousness, He sent Jesus to rescue us.  And Jesus took what we are owed on himself for everyone everywhere.  Jesus took the curse of absence from the True and Living God for us, so that we would never have to be absent from Him.  It's hard to understand, but this is what Jesus did: he experienced the worst there is to experience so that we can have the best that there is to have.

This is love: that a man would lay down his life for his friends.  The Bible tells us that there is no greater love than this.  Jesus laid down his life for his friends, those who do what he commands.  Being a friend of Jesus is no joke.  It's not a catchphrase, it's not a pleasant idea, it's not a cheesy slogan for Christian Culture.  Jesus laid down his life for his friends.  The meaning and purpose of life lies in being a friend of Jesus.

This is love: that our Maker formed our inward parts, knitted us together in our mothers' wombs.  God is not a tinkerer or merely a producer of things.  These words "form" and "knit" imply a good deal of skill and concentration.  They imply thoughtfulness and craftsmanship.  God did not take us lightly when he made us.  He loves us so much He made us as individual, unique, lovely people, each one created for a distinct life.  Lives of purpose.  God made us so that He could call us Friend and show us how to live.  No father ever loved his child like the Father loves His Children.

Love is the pure heart of God.  The scripture does not say that God is like; or that God is a crush; or that God is lust, or an obsession, or an affinity.  The scripture tells us that God is love.  That's deep.  If God is love, we'd better take a look at everything else in our lives we've called love and see if His fingerprints are on it.  Or better yet, ask Him.  Get up next to Him on the sofa and let Him put His arm around your shoulders and find out what love is like.  Once you've spent time in the Lord's heart, you come away with an understanding of love that you can't have without Him.

We need to be reminded of how much God love us, and sometimes the only one who's going to remind us is ourselves.  Put some scripture in your heart and remind yourself from time to time who you are and how much the Father loves you.  Oh, how He loves.