by RobertCummins | Mar 28, 2016 | 13. The Word Made Flesh
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ( John 1:1-5 NAS)
In the introduction to John’s gospel, we are given a glimpse into the origin of the cosmos and we find, mysteriously, it is ordered around the Word—a fact overlooked by the wise men of this world. Even though all men were the beneficiaries of the Light of Life, John tells us, the darkness did not comprehend the bright Word. Yet, the Word was not deterred. He continued in His plans to make Himself known to those created in His image. So that no man would miss this effort, the Word sent John the Baptist to announce His coming.
There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light. There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 1 John 1:6-9 NAS
Even after John fulfilled his duties as the herald of the Word, the intended audience, the Jewish nation, was indifferent. That the Creator of the Cosmos showed up personally and went unrecognized by His chosen people is one of the most tragic events in history.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 1 John 1:9-11 NAS
Still yet, the Word was undeterred. He continued in His mission to make Himself known and to the astonishment of the cosmos, He did so as a loving Father:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 1 John 1:12-13
That the same Word that breathed the cosmos into existence aspires not only to reveal Himself but also to adopt us amazes me more than anything. That the God of ultimate power and glory would become flesh, like me, in order to finally convey what He is really like and what He is really up to overwhelms my intellect and wins my spirit.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 1 John 1:1-14
Father, we pray that the morning star would rise in our hearts, that every obstacle that would keep Truth from embracing us would be demolished. Assault the strongholds of our hearts that make us resist love. Draw us out from behind our defenses and convey Fatherhood to our spirits in ways that mend us emotionally and restore us to a flow of Your Holy Spirit. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Mar 27, 2016 | 12. Seeing God and Being Seen
The disciples have just witnessed another miracle. The feeding of the 4,000 was born out of Christ’s compassion and was driven by practical necessity. The Pharisees grieved Jesus to the core by asking for an encore performance of some miraculous sign. He sighed deeply and said,
“Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to them.”
Friday, I shared this thought, “I believe discipleship (aka: Jesus’ life in us) happens in our everyday, ordinary lives. It happens in our sleeping, eating, working, and walking-around as we discover how radically differently God thinks.” This day in the disciples’ lives demonstrates my point. In the normal course of their affairs, Jesus tees up on this encounter with the religionists, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” Neither has it gone unnoticed to Jesus that the disciples are once again low on groceries and that they are troubled by this new, apparently impossible circumstance.
I have to assume that the leaven Jesus refers to is the hard and unbelieving heart that demands proof before believing. I believe Jesus is saying, “Don’t go down that road. That condition, like leaven, will just cause circumstances to seem more impossible in your imaginations.” Jesus nurtures the tender and growing faith in these men’s lives and he does not want the thought processes of the religiously correct to serve as toxic reference points. He confronts this situation for their faith’s sake. Once again, he shows them how radically different from them He thinks:
Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember…
What is Jesus trying to get across? Isn’t it this: that in simple childlike faith we can trust that he will meet our daily needs? If we are tempted toward unbelief, can we not remember one occasion after another where God supplied our needs (and then some)? I believe what Jesus is saying is simply, “Do not discuss in your own minds (or especially with others) the fact that you have no bread (or whatever you think you’re lacking). Instead, remember and discuss the fact that you have Me.”
Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. 2 Peter 1:3-4 (The Message)
God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you’re ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out. 2 Corinthians 9:8-9 (The Message)
Father, Help us to each see our curriculum here in the school of Christ in which we are each enrolled. May we progressively enjoy that deep rest in Christ as we realize that not only are You near to us, but that our lives are also beautifully interwoven into Your own. Give us this day our daily bread and lead us away from all forms of unbelief. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Mar 26, 2016 | 12. Seeing God and Being Seen
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3 NAS
Here’s a Bible reading tip that most have heard before but it so relevant here: “When you see a ‘therefore’ see what it’s there for.” What we’re studying is there because of Hebrews chapter 11: the great discourse on faith. Let’s review a few principles without listing the dozens of people who make up the great crowd of witnesses surrounding us, cheering us on.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen… By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible… And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him… All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. (from Hebrews 11 NAS)
I don’t know many people who have suffered through worst-nightmare circumstances such as those chronicled in Hebrews 11, but these folks are among us nevertheless. In this moment, people we will live together with in eternity, cherished of God, are saying goodbye to loved ones, to jobs and careers and to their health. In spite of the promises of smiling, handsome, eloquent TV Christian-types, such is life on earth. Have all those who succumb to the designs of evil men, time and gravity, failed to live by faith? Based on many pop-Christian teachings it would seem so. I think of this group as the the First United Church of Denial. (Don’t attempt an acronym here.)
The membership is united in their denial of Hebrews 11. They have moved on beyond the inferior revelation of scripture where loving God without seeing the promises had previously been thought of as running the race with endurance. They have put away childish things like loneliness, broken hearts, dark nights of the soul, paralysis, mental illness and a thousand other things (aka; suffering) as the unnecessary byproducts of weak faith. I think of the First Church of Denial as the place where the Whopper is served up fresh.
The Whopper does not use any secret sauce. It is favored with a very straight forward batch of half truths and blatant lies. That God is good and that He loves us is the sauce’s absolute truth but it is mixed with the notion that, because of this, we have been immunized from decay, if we will only believe and confess it.
The Whopper preaches well to those who are longing for health, wealth and prosperity in this life. It does not preach well in hospitals, nursing homes, orphanages, mental institutions and in occupied nations. It thrives in the West where Whopper Talkers can point to material blessing as proof of their faith. Somehow (with great labor it seems to me), they claim that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection are the collateral for their abundant (material) life. They are the bona fide children of God. Jesus was the first born of their new race. When I hear this message (and I hear it in many forms) I cannot say. “Amen.” I want to say, “Are you kidding me! Have you even read the New Testament? Do you not see that you are adding to the revelation of Scripture!”
As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, we should calibrate our thoughts with His. He was our example and he did not come as a merchant seeking an equity stake in this world. I believe Jesus was saying, “Take care. The balance sheet is misleading. The income statement is a lie.” Jesus was teaching that in and of themselves, financial statements are false bench marks. Seeing them in black ink, as evidence of faith, is an encumbrance that will entangle us with the world, greatly effecting our friendship with Him. Jesus was not just saying that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. With His His life and death, He was trying to say, “I AM the Reward.
Father, deliver us from every evil half-truth that has impaired our vision, every blatant lie that has dulled our hearing and every whopper that has blunted our hearts. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Mar 25, 2016 | 12. Seeing God and Being Seen
Answer: Biblical references to discipleship = 0. References to discipleship w/o biblical references = 8,440,000. In my repentance, I will substitute the appropriate ‘biblical’ phrase in place of ‘discipleship.’
Walking down the street, Jesus saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned: this man or his parents, causing him to be born blind?” Jesus said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re looking for someone to blame. There is no such cause-effect here. Look instead for what God can do. We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light. (John 9:1-5 The Message)
I believe discipleship (the life of Christ) happens in our everyday, ordinary lives. It happens in our sleeping, eating, working, and walking-around as we discover how radically differently God thinks. Our passage today illustrates this idea.
As Jesus and His disciples were doing their everyday walking around, they encountered a sad situation: a man who had been blind from birth.
In the course of their conversation the perceived cause of this man’s circumstance comes up. The disciples, to a man, trace this poor beggar’s curse of blindness to sin—his or his parents’. Jesus chides them and says they’re missing it. He informs them that this illness is not a sin problem and that there are no humans to blame. Jesus implies that their wrong thinking will lead to bad decisions. (If you want to explore this story in greater depth, you can go to the archives of MwM and check out “Listening To God (Saturday) – 2 Chronicles 7:11-22.”)
Jesus brings them to a fork in the road. One sign points to the left; it says, “Blame It on Man’s Fallen Nature.” The sign that points right says, “What God Can Do?” This intersection was further complicated because there was another fork whose signage read, “Somebody Else’s Problem.”
We may not always be conscious of it, but, in light of God’s intimate awareness of our lives, discipleship (Christ’s life) is always underway—or at least it can be if we have ears to hear. Again, whether we are conscious of it or not, I believe we each have an ongoing conversation with God. He sees to it that we always encounter impossible situations and that, in each one of them, we make a decision. So let’s review four principles of discipleship (living in Christ) our passage flushes out:
1) God is intimately involved in the ordinary stuff of our lives.
2) Better listening permits us to join the conversation.
3) God invites us to intentionally engage our personal Missions Impossible.
4) It is Father’s way to bring us to crossroads where our decisions are our responses to Jesus as Lord.
There is another word in this passage that should greatly impact the choices we make. It is the word “we.”
We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light. (John 9 The Message)
Jesus’ use of “we” effectively rules out the Somebody-Else’s-Problem trail. He was trying to say that blindness and human suffering are our problems and that dealing with them is the work of Jesus and his disciples. I think it would be fair to say that Jesus’ life was our illustration of what it looks like when he answers the prayer: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In other words, healing is a work of God that we need to energetically pursue while the sun still shines. Jesus is telling us that He and His disciples (which can include us) are living within a window of opportunity:
When night falls, the workday is over. For as long as I am in the world, there is plenty of light. I am the world’s Light. (John 9:4 🙂 The Message)
I see many who have taken the trail that limits the Holy Spirit to being the interpreter of scripture. This path applies scriptural principles to the fallen nature of man as if this is the primary business of God in the earth. While I love and respect this part of the family, I can’t follow this trail because Jesus said it would be expedient that He send us a Helper when there was, as yet, no Bible. So the Spirit’s helping must have been in the doing of all the works that Jesus demonstrated. The Spirit didn’t sit around waiting until the canon of scripture was formed so he could finally get to work interpreting it.
Is it possible that redemption is providentially hidden in the seemingly random circumstances of our lives? Is it possible that, where evil and impossible circumstances seem to abound—that grace and redemption are actually present—even in the potentially impossible circumstances, in the all-the-more capacity Jesus’ promised?
When will our night fall? Will it be as we draw our last earthly breath or when we are snatched up in to the air? We don’t know the answer, but Jesus’ point is that as long as we are drawing breath, our window of opportunity to do the works of God is still open. The Holy Spirit, who remains in the world, provides plenty of light for the remaining works we’ve been called to do. He’s the world’s light and He resides in us. Let the work continue.
Father, help us to see our destinies as Your Kingdom agents called to reconcile this world to Your rule. Help us to expose the bullying administrators of darkness, who press their lie upon us that not all things are possible with You. Help us to see the lies beneath futility, bad theology, and all hopeless circumstances. Help us to be those who energetically work the works of God. Thank you for sending us the Spirit to work in and through us while the sun still shines. Amen.
Note: I have only recently caught my error. I would like to disavow my use of the word ‘discipleship’ and apply ‘Christ’s’ life retroactively to MwM. While ‘discipleship’ sounds right (after all there were disciples) there is a great risk that one or more (or all) of the 8,444,00 hits will imply that a mature Christian is the byproduct of some patentable process. I don’t believe the original 12 ever thought about their experience with Jesus or the Holy Spirit as ‘discipleship’. We probably shouldn’t either. My supplemental prayer is…
Father, may the life of your son, in all its mystery and majesty, eclipse every man made notion of Christianity. All to your glory, forevermore. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Mar 24, 2016 | 12. Seeing God and Being Seen
For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 2 Chronicles 16:9 NAS
We are not in the kingdom of Judah, and we’re not the king Asa, but their God has become our Father, and the Old Testament was written for our benefit. My ambition is to derive some of that benefit for others and myself. While the covenants are different through which we relate to God, there is a common theme to both. He wants all of our hearts. This morning I want to explore this all-ness. Let’s get some backstory first.
In Asa’s early reign he did not act foolishly. Listen to his heart, “O Lord, You are our God; let not man prevail against You.” The consequence: peace in the Land because the dread of the Lord had fallen on Judah’s enemies. God works like this:
The Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, then He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, then He will forsake you.
More old covenant if-then’s. (For more on those, check out last Saturday’s post from II Chronicles 7:11-22)
Listen to this:
They entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul; and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. II Chronicles 15:12-13
There was a significant cost for non-compliance with God’s commands about all–ness. When men failed to give themselves to God, there was trouble and death, for God troubled them with every kind of distress. Yet when they sought him in the midst of trials, the outcome was radically different:
The Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, then He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, then He will forsake you… But you, be strong and do not lose courage, for there is reward for your work. from 2 Chronicles 15:1-7 NAS
In our passage, Asa, the king of Judah, displeased God because he relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord his God. This gets us back to all–ness. All–ness is about reliance and trust in God over our other options. However, I believe all–ness and abandonment need revised to fit our context. What do these concepts have to do with us who live under the new covenant?
Many saved-and-going-to-heaven evangelicals immediately start backing up when they hear superlatives like all and everything. Sell all. Forsake everything. They know (or believe) they can’t meet this condition in their fallen nature so they retreat, not wanting to get any where near an altar call or commitment to all-ness. They may think, “Why set myself up for failure? All–ness is simply not possible.” And they’re correct if it refers to a completed condition of the heart. But, what if all–ness is more about a child-like orientation to Father, a process and not perfected work? I would like to share how I stumbled into what I call all–ness.
When I came to Christ (or probably more accurately, when he drew me to himself), I did not hear the classic gospel message. In fact, I did not feel any specific conviction of sin. I didn’t invite Jesus into my heart to just save me from my sins or to escape hell. My deepest conviction at that time was that I was utterly alone, lost, and that darkness had a vice-grip on me. The folks standing around me at the altar just wanted me to repeat a prayer, but I did not comply. Instead, I essentially told Jesus, from my heart, that He could have my life and do anything He wanted with it. I was wrecking it. To my best understanding I entered into a new covenant with God on that day. Since then, my understanding of it has been unfolding. Today, I think of this covenant simply as a relationship—but not a contractual one held together by ifs and thens. It was initiated by and is sustained by Christ alone.
In that moment, had I really succeeded in giving God my whole heart? How is that even possible? Can a fallen nature bent on having its own way really abandon itself to another? I believe we can because I did. I was absolutely thunderstruck at the changes Christ made in my life in a very brief span of time. It truly was amazing. Projecting forward with this supernatural trend in mind, I envisioned Christ and I walking hand in hand on a gradually upward grade until that day the trumpet would sound from the East and all my tears would be wiped away. Silly boy.
It was not far long into my walk with Christ that I realized this world still had a downward pull on me. The battle was on. What had happened to my surrender? My temptations made me feel like a traitor. My sin made me feel like a mutineer. I was not yet married so I thought, “maybe I need to become a monk. I’m not a Catholic, though. Okay, I’ll just become monk-ish. I will wage a battle of discipline over my flesh, and I will prevail. I must!” I had surrendered to Him. I had made vows to God only a fool would break. Consequently, the broad, secure place of salvation quickly became a narrow path. In fact it would progress into something more akin to a tightrope, a religious one, to be precise.
In my struggle with sin had I broken trust with God? Yes, a thousand times and then some. But here is where we discover the nature of all-ness and see God’s ifs and thens in the context of grace instead of the Law:
If we are faithless, then He remains faithful. II Timothy 2:13 NAS
If we confess our sins, then He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9 NAS
The battles I fight with sin do not negate my original and complete abandonment to God. My sin never has separated me from Him. It was always a matter of who was holding the title to my life. I handed that to God and I’ve never asked for it back. Why would I want it? Where else was I going to go? When I encountered temptations, when I sinned, when I found deep parts of me dull and unresponsive, I returned to the simple idea that I was His and He was mine.
When I first came to God, He accepted my all as my honest consideration into our covenant. That my all consisted of less than nothing is what facilitated my stumbling into all-ness. I inadvertently placed my entire reliance upon Jesus Christ. When we stumble (or find our way) into all-ness, we inevitably meet Christ as Lord. And when we add to Lordship, His sovereignty, His omniscience, and His power, we become his disciples. When it dawns upon us that His throne is actually in our hearts, where we work out our salvation, we discover the kingdom of God. His initial and ongoing work is to secure our reliance and trust for our own benefit. The Father is always inviting us into that place of rest where we truly abide in Christ and bear much fruit for Him.
We don’t have to be perfect to give ourselves totally to God. How many people are failing to know Christ as Lord because they have been intimidated by Christ’s command to take up their cross and follow Him. Giving ourselves to God is both a onetime and all-time, ongoing affair. Abiding is abandoning myself to His faithful keeping. It sounds like a grueling uphill trek when in reality it is simply learning how to rest in His ongoing mercy. He is faithful to show us how we behave contrary to abandonment. He is faithful to recall and honor our surrender. He loves the childlike trust that introduces us to the kingdom of God. Remember that He initiated your being completely His and that He will sustain you as you rest in Him. That is why Paul can say:
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6 NAS
Father, help us to become comfortable with the fact that we are never hidden from your sight and that it is with you with whom we have to do. Help us to be strong and to not lose courage. For those of us who have never abandoned ourselves to you, would you give us eyes to see that our surrendered status is actually the safest place in the universe to be? Help us each to discover that You yourself are our reward. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
