by RobertCummins | Dec 15, 2016 | 50. Give Your Life Away
The book of Isaiah was a major Jewish-Messianic news bulletin. When Isaiah penned these words Jehovah was the God of Israel – exclusively. Gentiles had no claims upon this God. Our passage from Isaiah, thanks to Jesus, links the Old Testament to the New and connects the Jewish children of promise to us gentiles. In our passage Isaiah has located Israel somewhere in the future on the apex of her roller coaster experience with God. Ironically and tragically, the chosen were not on board as Jesus read this passage to His local congregation…
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18-19 & Isaiah 61:1-2)
It appeared, as Jesus began reading in the Nazareth Synagogue, that He and Israel might be headed for the long awaited consummation of their relationship. Those who had known Him His entire life were looking very favorable upon Him, wondering just how this son of Joseph and Mary would factor into their nation’s destiny (a consideration always alive in their imaginations). After all, Jesus had just returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him had spread through all the surrounding districts. Favor was flowing liberally…
as He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him and He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Jesus’ positive message was resonating well with His people, creating bonds of good will between this rising prophetic star and His audience. Things were going marvelous until He intentionally touched their hot button. There, simmering in the uneasy conscience of Israel, was a matter of painful significance – this nation’s treatment of the previous messengers God had sent her – the prophets.
No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ And He said, ‘Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.’
Jesus had laid into the Jewish leaders on this matter on other occasions…
Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:34)
I know “all these things” are contested by bright and studious minds. Some of them see the gentiles as having replaced Israel as the children of promise. They see the persecution of Jews as the consequence of God’s judgement or abandonment. Even though it puts me in the catbird seat, I still can’t swallow the idea that the New Testament documents the replacement of the Jews with us Gentiles. While I can’t fully explain it, I simply do not believe God has written the Jews out of His will. I didn’t form this opinion through study alone; I just don’t think this sounds like the God I have come to know. While living in the middle of a mystery (such as we all do), the ways and the nature of God as He has revealed Himself to us is is valuable – not infallible or inerrant – but valuable.
I wonder, had the synagogue attenders not been filled with rage and cast Jesus out of their midst, would their messiah have returned the next week and read more from Isaiah’s prophecy.
To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting so they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations; and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:2-4)
If one were able to take a Google Earth tour of what was Palestine at the turn of the twentieth century and compare it with what you would see today, you would have to conclude that a significant miracle has taken place – something akin to Isaiah’s forecast – something very much like a resurrection. Not only have eroded hills and mosquito infested swamps become productive farmlands but a map would reveal that this place is now called Israel. If you decided to dig deeper you would discover that the nation’s economic and military history is equally miraculous. And, if the supernatural needed to be further justified, this has all happened while being surrounded by nations with sworn oaths to drive them from the face of the earth.
I do not believe we gentiles are the Jews replacements. I believe we have been grafted into this story of resurrection life, life that can be inherited by all who willingly call upon Jesus’ name (and all whom Jesus calls unto Himself). If this seems unlikely, something to keep in mind about resurrection life is that it is typically above and beyond our wildest speculations.
Father, may Your Life find His Way into the hearts of all those You have invited into Your family. May all the imitations of Life be exposed for the frauds they are. Let those who understand “all these things” find their voice and their platform. May the Good News be shouted from the housetops and spoken of in every household. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 12, 2016 | 50. Give Your Life Away
Shepherds are central in Ezekiel’s message. These people, whoever they were, had the responsibility and the means to lead, gather, strengthen, and heal vulnerable people. They were in deep trouble with God because their abandonment of duty left those entrusted to them vulnerable and exposed to predators. When I think of the pastors that I know, I do not think of people who have abandoned their flock. I don’t see them in deep trouble with God. However, I do believe I see the western church in trouble, vulnerable, and exposed to predators.
A friend recently threw me for a bit of a loop when he said, “Rob, I believe I see a pastor in you.” This was a person I respect who was trying to be an encouragement to me. I don’t know if I showed it or not, but my initial thought was “NO WAY!” But, as I have given his statement some thought, I believe that he is right—kind of.
One thing I have discovered is that the word “pastor” does not mean the same thing to everybody. And, I am not sure that word means the same thing today as it did at the time the New Testament was written. I’ll try to explain where I’m coming from. Before you proceed, be warned: the content is lengthy today and to some it will be controversial.
My formative years as a Christian took place in the context of a collegiate discipleship ministry that was spread out over the Midwest and Europe. After two decades those people returned to home base and dared to try and live out a New Testament model of Christianity. Note: I am not talking about a western best practice version of the New Testament church. I am talking about the New Testament’s version of the New Testament church.
In the community that our relationships formed one of our distinguishing features was how we viewed leadership. As we studied the New Testament scriptures, we concluded that leadership came primarily from “overseers” (episkopos) and “elders” (presbuteros). So, we did not form a committee and interview people to fill a position called “pastor” (poimen). The reason was that in the NT, the Greek word pastor was used very sparingly. (Note: As a convenient reference, I have copied a Greek word study of the three words used for New Testament leadership into today’s writing.)
It was in this context of our community of believers that I also learned the meaning of the word “cult.” (Institutional Christianity’s definition: cult—a group of people who are doing church different than us.) This definition was provided to us by those who were faithfully adhering to their particular traditions (what they perceived to be the more biblically-accurate). This can be especially painful when those faithful ones are your own flesh and blood.
Regardless of our community’s low approval rating, I have never regretted this experience, except that I have had to recently acknowledge that it has ruined me for the traditional 21st century western church experience. The past 20 years have confirmed that I cannot be true to my spiritual DNA and quietly subscribe to the stated and unstated conventions that drive the traditional ways of doing institutional church.
As I try to reconcile the New Testament Church with church as we have learned it, I cannot help but believe that the ancient use of the word pastor is much different than ours. I have further wondered if how we gather in Jesus’ name, with that built-in misunderstanding of this important word, has not unintentionally hamstrung our efforts at making disciples and consequently expanding the kingdom of God. Having lived in two radically different paradigms of church, my observation is that a single pastor (even with a good staff) cannot provide sufficient pastoral care to those entrusted to them. My theory is that many flocks remain vulnerable to predators, not because our pastors are not trying, but because the job they are doing was never intended to be the job of a single shepherd or professional team of shepherds.
I believe that one of the reasons the church grew so rapidly and had so much influence on their culture in first few centuries was due, in part, to the tremendous amount of “pastoring” that was actually taking place. But, as I read the NT, I don’t see a “pastor” or a staff of “pastors” as the delivery agents of that care. I believe it came from each of the members of the Body who had been equipped with the fullness of the Spirit, and two ultra radical ideas: 1) The notion that they belonged entirely to Jesus and existed exclusively for His purposes and pleasure—this was the basis of discipleship; and 2) the notion that they belonged entirely to each other as members of Christ’s body. As members of His Body, they had become each other’s keeper. Here are two great discussion questions. Is the DNA of these two notions (which I perceive as “kingdom of God values”) compatible with the DNA of the American dream? Which value system, those of the American dream or those of the “Kingdom of God,” is the basis of motivation within western Christianity?
The early church had some advantages—I have to admit. Their energies were not diverted to the church building or many of the other activities that consume our energies. As near as we can tell by reading the NT, they were spending most of their time just living life and spending their limited resources in caring for each other and those around them. Beyond that, they gathered in small safe clusters where they could be seen and heard and cared for. It is my belief that the body of Christ will not regain the influence she once had or attain the influence her destiny calls for without a healthy Body where all the members are engaged with each other and the world in ways yet to be discovered (or rediscovered).
My theory is, that without a staff or an organization, the members of the New Testament Church must have individually and collectively taken ownership of the relationships inside their organic (sovereignly ordained) relational networks. Doing this removed an unrealistic burden on any individual or a few individuals to provide pastoral care to them. It is my guess that the love of God and the “shepherding” life of Christ, who had become their life, was drawn out of them and birthed naturally as needs arose and they were able to respond because of: 1) the Good Shepherd within them and 2) their relational proximity to each other. Note: The idea of interviewing and hiring an individual or a team to deliver pastoral care to themselves would have probably seemed nonsensical.
There are a few pastors and leaders of the Body of Christ who read these daily digital pamphlets I post. This makes me glad because I love them and I want them to understand that if they see me doing something outside the grid of traditional church, it is not because I am trying to incite rebellion or fuel the ongoing exodus from institutional church that George Barna and others are documenting. It is simply that I am trying to be true to my DNA and stay in relationship with them even in the presence of traditions and beliefs that could divide us.
I am trying to be honest without being a thorn. I want to be an agent of peace and of healing, not a source of division. I believe I am a representative voice of many who are crying out for the life of Christ that is not being reproduced well in a context where the fundamental assumption is that church is something you can attend and discipleship is an optional track for those sovereignly equipped with spiritual afterburners.
I have been crying out now for 20 years in a traditional church context. As I have been fumbling for the right words (and attitude) to express my cries, I have offended and confused people. To keep from inflicting further pain and creating more confusion, I have withdrawn. The question is now, “What’s next?” Do we just walk away (as is the common practice), heap guilt on each other for our failure and perceived rebellion (as is the common practice), and then talk about each other in derogatory ways behind each other’s backs (as is the common practice)—or—shall we talk?
In recent days God has given me more ability and desire to express the longings within me (which this Blue Book dialogue has confirmed are in others as well). My prayer is that we find each other somehow in the Body of Christ and become to each other and to God what He intended, more of a united family—less of a religious organization.
My dear friends, who have the word “pastor” (or some other title) preceding your first name, please do not interpret this as a shot across the bow of your church organization. Rather, this is an invitation to enter into a dialogue with one, who represents many who have walked away from church (or are about to) because they hungered for family and got a program. They wanted to be invited into our homes and they were given a sign up sheet. They wanted a dialogue and got a monologue. Their God given DNA is crying out to be interconnected to a network of persons with caring shepherding hearts, not to attend a meeting presided over by an individual with a title.
I am at a crossroads personally (along with others) in my pilgrimage. I know that the traditional church is providing many with all they desire in their Christian experience. I do not stand in judgment against these contented ones. That is excellent! I just have to be honest with where I am. Traditional western Christianity is not working for me. As your friend, I am looking for your feedback. Should I quietly just walk away so that I do not stir things up and offend people any more than I already have? Or, do you want to sit down and open up a very real and open discussion with me (and others like me) before we give up, give out, or walk away? Please advise.
And to my friend with his somewhat backhanded prophetic word that I kind of agree with, I respond to you, “Yes, I do believe there is a pastor in me. I also believe their is a pastor in you.” He is the Good Pastor (or Shepherd). I believe with all my heart that He will be birthed in and expressed through us as we abandon our lives to Him and to each other.
Father, we see that our destiny as Your Bride is to be united, powerful, and radiant in Your love. May you reform our hearts that we may reform our wineskins (organizational structures and paradigms) so that they are large and flexible enough to hold Your Life and Your love. May we become a body who is equipped to lead, gather, strengthen, and heal the vulnerable and wounded ones nearest us. May we take ownership of and fill the relational voids around us, creating safe spaces where no one is left vulnerable to predators—where the kingdom of God within us, with its righteousness peace and joy, might flourish. Amen.
WORD STUDIES
Poimen—This word appears 18 times in the NT, but is used only one time with regard to spiritual leaders in the church (Ephesians 4:11). The meaning of this word is “shepherd,” although in Ephesians 4:11 it is generally translated “pastor” (which is the Latin word for “shepherd”). The verb form of this word is poimaino, which appears 11 times in the NT. It means “to shepherd; to perform the duties of a shepherd.” It is used twice to depict the work of the leadership in the church (Acts 20:28; I Peter 5:2).
Presbuteros—This word appears a total of 67 times in the pages of the New Covenant documents. It is the primary word used for these men. By transliterating this Greek word into English we get “presbyter.” The meaning is: “One who is old; one who is older than another; elder.” It comes from the word presbutes, which means “an old man” (see Luke 1:18; Titus 2:2; Philemon 9). This word is used a number of different ways in the NT.
Episkopos—This word appears only five times within the pages of the NT writings: once with reference to Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:25), and four times with reference to the spiritual leaders of the church (Acts 20:28; Philippians 1:1; I Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:7). By transliterating this word from Greek into English we get “episcopal.” This word is generally translated “overseer,” “bishop,” or “guardian.” The word literally means “to look over; to watch over.”
by RobertCummins | Dec 11, 2016 | 49. Compassion
In this passage God identifies His audience as those who are busy worshipping Him and studying about Him; people who are right-living, law-abiding, God-honoring; those who ask Him what is the right thing to do and love having Him on their side. Given their apparent orientation to Him, we would anticipate the message would be one of warmth and commendation. It was not. Instead it was a condemnation of their motives. Here is a more complete version of what God had Isaiah say to His people:
Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives; confront them with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying about Me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people, law abiding, God honoring. They ask me, “What’s the right thing to do? And love having me on their side.” (Isaiah 58:1-3 MSG)
So…what’s wrong with the lives of His people? Why is God in such a lather toward such apparently good people? Here’s why:
The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? (Isaiah 58:3-5 MSG)
Through Isaiah we can learn something huge about God; production and profitability are not the bottom line of His heart. For those who have managed businesses whose viability is secured by production rates and profitability, this is like a left-right combo. I am tempted to dodge these blows by fast forwarding to the New Testament where I can find a bit more grace. However, as I wait and listen with my new heart and my mind that is being renewed in the Spirit of grace, I hear more than just a wholesale condemnation of production and profitability. Let’s see what God is really after:
This is the kind of fast day that I am after; to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is; sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. (Isaiah 58:6-8 MSG)
In my attempt to hear God’s voice in an Old Testament prophet’s pronouncements, I do not hear it with a heart that is condemned, one that cowers beneath the weight of God’s disfavor, concluding that in order to have my prayers heard, I must sell the business or take a vow of poverty in order to please Him. (I have tried this form of piety and God seemed unimpressed.)
What I hear as a son and a friend of God is that, in our heart, if there is either a hidden or a declared primary motive that is economic in nature, we have totally missed it. As I read this passage with a new, grace-filtered heart, I hear no condemnation regarding production or profits. The complexity of this topic, I believe is, at least in part, due to our propensity to see things in a good–versus-bad frame of reference when, in reality, it is a good–versus-best framework. Let me try and explain.
As we seek the things above, we find an Eternal King who reigns over an invisible yet eternal government—a kingdom ever expanding. It will not be birthed in an institution. At some point it may find expression there, but His kingdom can only be birthed within the human heart. His Kingdom’s government is the central point of every matter, whether we see it yet or not. In world news, at this moment, the greatest crisis looming over us (the media informs us) is “economic” in nature. This is a fact and it must be addressed, but if we are praying and fasting primarily out of fear in order to preserve a more perfect union with the economic security it has historically provided, we have traded away “the best” for something that is “merely good.” I believe God is trying to deter us from investing in things that are temporal and merely good. He is inviting us to invest our hearts where moth and rust have no inflationary effect. He says:
Do this and if you do the lights will come on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer when you call out for help, “Here I am.” (Isaiah 58:9-11 MSG)
If you get rid of unfair practices, quit playing the victim, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness; your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make communities livable again. (Isaiah 58:9-12 MSG)
As a Christian, having overseen a for-profit entity, I am deeply troubled about our economic future and a host of other local, national, and global matters, any of which could be our undoing. I am a lover of freedom and a believer in free markets. These, to me, are good things. At the same time, I have no illusion that conservative (nor any other) ideology will usher in the kingdom of God. The Christ-in-me aspect of my identity requires that I give my ultimate allegiance to an eternal King and His ever expanding, eternal Kingdom. When there is a conflict (and they are inevitable) I must sacrifice what I perceive as my good conservative values to embrace His best eternal Kingdom ones.
My ultimate hope is not in a political party, an ideology, or philosophy, however good I may deem them. My only hope is that the kingdom of God is expanding to become my primary and superior good, displacing any allegiances I have to earthly kingdoms. I honor America the Beautiful. I wholeheartedly salute the Stars and Stripes. I am humbled by the sacrifices people have made that have established and sustained the freedoms I enjoy and desire for my progeny. At the same time I am a citizen of another realm with its own government and agenda that will one day eclipse the good our great nation has produced. So…
I dream of a day when citizens of God’s Kingdom have earned the right, by way of their wisdom and compassion, to be the moderators of public discourse and introduce a new level of civility into the body politic. I dream of a day when, because of our good works and stewardship, God will see fit to entrust us with more kingdom wisdom and resources. The world will then look upon the Church and say, “These people bring life into even the worst places; they bring much to the table. They fix and repair things, making our communities livable again.” I believe this is on God’s heart and why He taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven… For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 10, 2016 | 49. Compassion
Yesterday I talked about a group of people Jesus identified as “the least of these.” I was groping (and still am) for a better understanding of who “these” persons are. If you read Matthew 25:31-46, you will discover the stakes are high in getting this one right. Scripture is the best commentary on scripture, and I believe today’s passage may shed useful light on who these folks are.
The setting is the upper room, an intimate private gathering where Jesus is sharing and demonstrating something that will be integral to everything His followers do until He returns: “serving.”
To demonstrate how this will look for His followers, He strips off His garment, picks up a basin of water, and proceeds to wash the feet of everyone one in the room, including a traitor. Jesus is acting like a slave, who has been assigned the lowliest of tasks: to wash the dirtiest part of the body—the feet. In an era of sandals, it was the feet, in constant communication with the ground, that trudged through the weeds and the dust and the muck. This demonstration took them by surprise. Their spokesman Peter was shocked and said, “Lord there is just no way I am going to let You carry out a lowly slave’s job for me. You are my master not my slave.” Jesus responded:
Do you know what I have just done? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:12-16)
The sentence that leaps out at me this morning though is this:
Jesus, knowing His hour had come, that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. (John 13:1)
I have often said and heard others say, that at the completion of their race, they aspire to cross the finish line in full stride, having left nothing on the course. I think “having loved our own who were in the world,” right up until the end, is what “full stride” will look like. Just as God provided Jesus with a network of intimates, He has done the same with us. Each of us are uniquely connected to the world around us through very specific networks of people. God is calling us to recognize that we are stakeholders in their destinies. God is asking us to take ownership of the spiritual and material needs around us. The light of the world was never intended to just shine out of a stained glass window. It was intended to be visible, practical and accessible to our neighbors.
Just as the Master showed Himself willing to bow low and deliberately touch and be touched by the filthiest things on earth, He has called us to do the same. Many of the ways we assemble as Christians and relate to each other currently in the Body of Christ enable us to conceal the soiled and broken places in our lives. It is really easy to hide our bitterness, loneliness, fear, lust, ambition, and for that matter, any thing we want to hide, for a few hours within organized programs and rituals each week. However, if you do this enough times in a row, it can become a rigid, sanctified (yet lifeless) tradition and sadly, the norm. This is an old wineskin.
Regardless of our place in society, we have been placed uniquely into the Body of Christ. No two people are connected to the world in the same way. The sets of relationships we have are given to us by God to take ownership of. Only we, with our unique package of giftings and location can fulfill our particular kingdom mission: to love the people in these networks, who are in the world, right up until the end.
I picture a day when the children of God are liberated into their freedom, when we will discover who we really and fully are “in Christ.” Our deep rest and security in Him will allow us to cease with all pretenses and reveal who we really are (even the junk) to each other. We will not be afraid of the filth that is revealed in others and ourselves. We will act on the example and command of Jesus to associate with the defiled and putrid things around us. I believe that in essence we are washing each other’s feet when we gather transparently allowing the blood of His Son and His Word to wash over us.
In the Upper Room, Jesus created a safe space for His network of intimate friends. I think we, too, have the mandate and ability to create safe relational space for those around us through our willingness to truly listen and become involved with the hard messed up stuff in each other’s lives. If we will position ourselves to serve and defer to one another, we will one day find that, by way of our serving, we have become connected to each other with strands of love so strong that they cannot be torn apart. I could envision the Body of Christ, with all it’s newly discovered connections, as a great kingdom-sized net that God can sweep through the earth, producing a catch that will require help just to drag it to the shore.
This passage contributes to my understanding of who are “the least of these.” I believe we are already in close proximity to “them.” By all means, let’s do missions in other cultures, but let’s not fail to see that our neighbors—and we ourselves—qualify as “the least of these.” We must look and listen for the more subtle evidences of spiritual poverty: those identifying marks of loneliness, physical, and spiritual abuse, hunger, and fear, etc. Right now, right where we are, we can take ownership and begin to serve the least of these by creating new kingdom spaces where they feel safe. We must risk our lives outside our little “c” church in order to be the big “C” Church.
Father, help us to discover and create the new wine skins that are strong enough to contain the fullness of Your Spirit, flexible enough to allow for transparency and for the authentic give and take of interpersonal relationships. Help us to become, in ourselves, “safe spaces” for those around us. Help us to identify the ones You have given us and teach us how to wash their feet. And, as with Jesus, our example, let not one of them whom You have given us perish. Amen.
As the Lord has called out to many of us in our old wineskin thinking and structures, He has begun to lead us out into new and totally unfamiliar territory. While it is exciting, it can also be intimidating. I have included a portion of the lyrics to “White Owl” by Josh Garrels. Its message has been a super encouragement to me. A cool animated version can be watched at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMaXzRZw3Ok
When the night comes,
and you don’t know which way to go
through the shadowlands,
and forgotten paths,
you will find a road.
Like an owl you must fly
by moonlight with an open eye,
and use your instinct as a guide,
to navigate the ways that lay before you.
You were born to
take the greatest flight.
by RobertCummins | Dec 9, 2016 | 49. Compassion
Jesus will one day return to this planet in the same manner as He departed, but it will be in a different capacity. His mission will be different. He came initially to reveal the Father and give men new hearts, ones that “by nature” had the capacity, as Adam had, to know God spirit to spirit. He did this by overthrowing sin and death, the enemy’s agents who had facilitated the original separation between God and man. The first time Jesus came as the Savior. This passage is referring to a time when time has run out and He has returned as the Judge. We have come to think of this time as the “great” and “terrible” day of the Lord.
To be honest, I have never dwelt long or hard on this passage. That is not because it is hard to understand. The problem is that, on the contrary, it is very straightforward and I am troubled by its content. As the Judge, Jesus will be separating the sheep from the goats. Here is the troubling part: the criteria, at least in this passage, will not be whether or not I have asked Jesus into my heart and attended church. The criteria will be how I related to a type of person that Jesus refers to as “the least of these,” people with whom Jesus is so closely identified that, however I treat them—that is exactly how I treat him.
I do not want to avoid this passage. I do not want to read it, searching for loopholes that might exempt me. The consequence of succeeding in that would only serve to make The Day of the Lord terrible for me and not great. No, I do not want to hear Him say, “Depart from Me, accursed one, into the fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Here are the identifying marks of the least of these. They are hungry and thirsty. They are imprisoned, naked and strange. Christ is one—we are told—with these people. He calls them His brothers. How we treat them is how we treat Him. It is not enough that we just feel compassion for these downtrodden ones. Our compassion must translate into action in order to avoid being a doomed goat. Will attending church and writing a few checks for their care suffice?
Most of the time, I can share how a biblical truth has intercepted my heart and effected some transformation. This morning, I’m not really trying to teach. I’m just making confession and asking God to search my heart for any deceit that may be there by virtue of living indifferently to or insulated from the least of these, and consequently, from Him.
Are the least of these the same as “the poor” that Jesus tells us will always be with us? If so, they represent to many of us (who have tried to show some compassion in Jesus’ name) a black hole whose core of gravity, with its insatiable appetite, would quickly consume us as well any practical compassion we might show. We know intuitively that there are not enough of us to make an appreciable difference. Peering down into the dark swirling nightmare of poverty is intimidating, so sufficiently so that most of us have determined to go nowhere even near the precipice, lest our compassion be awakened and we find ourselves being drawn in to something from which we cannot escape.
An acquaintance of mine is a former OKC prosecutor and chairman of the Committee overseeing Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. He knows as well as anyone the effects of poverty and its insatiable appetite. He and every employee in that agency know that there are not enough dollars in the state budget to pour into the least of these to fix up their lives. Yet, God has left the least of these on his heart and given him a starting place in approaching the abyss. God gave him a simple plan and a simple prayer (about the size of mustard seeds).
The simple plan involves gathering the stakeholders together who have a vested interest in the least of these, leaders in government and the Church to assemble and explore together how partnerships can be formed and resources pooled in showing compassion for them. The simple prayer was “God, please break my heart with the things that break Your heart in regards to my city.” With this simple plan and prayer they intend to draw near to the edge and peer together into this intimidating black hole, asking God to provide His kingdom wisdom and resources.
Father, we do not want to walk past You when we encounter You as the needy stranger who is either spiritually or physically hungry and thirsty. Open our eyes and show us the least of these to whom we are to give ourselves. When we meet You face to face, we want it to be a “great” day. We desire to hear You say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” So we pray, break our hearts Lord with the things that break Yours. Amen.
