by RobertCummins | Feb 11, 2016 | 06. Shaped By The Word
Shaped by the Word —Hebrews 4:12-13
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. (NASB)
Hebrews 4:12 is as meaningful as any verse in scripture to me. As a new believer, I memorized it, and since, it has affected everything that has followed in my walk with Christ. I was (and I remain) fascinated by the idea of a living word. In a dying world, could there be anything more relevant?
When I became a Christian in 1976, I was not a reader. I had only read a few books in my life. My intellect was awakened at the same time my spirit was. The bible was the first book I read with any kind of absorbed interest. When I read it, it was as though my heart stood to attention, saluted and said, “amen.”
However, my “amen” caught in my throat when I encountered this passage. When I read these verses, my earnest yet naive heart paused and thought, “Wait a second Father. What’s the need for a sword? Remember, I surrendered. I am holding nothing back. Could you please point that thing in the other direction? Somebody might get hurt here.” It turns out this thought was as naive as Peter’s: “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” Here is how the Message says it:
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what.
I liked the sword analogy better than the scalpel. I was going to wield that sword of truth and enter into manly warfare. The idea of a scalpel seems to have a different implication. I discovered as I walked on with Christ that He was endeavoring to make me into His likeness and that in spite of my new nature in Christ, there were thoughts and intentions, doubts and defenses imbedded in my heart that only a skillful surgeon and His scalpel could access. I have come to believe that to call Jesus Lord is in essence to say, “Lord, you have permission to operate on my heart at any time you deem necessary.”
While His Word is a comfort and an encouragement, it also exposes my own agenda. I have been shocked and humbled at how frequently (as in—always) my motives contain a little something in it for me. His Word’s living nature exposes death even in its most subtle (but no less deadly) disguises. I have discovered that I can be as unlike Christ in my motivation behind a hidden sexual sin as I can in leading worship.
Perhaps the most death-infected and recurring thought—which He has had to operate on over the years—is my insistence that I have no secrets or hidden things in my heart. And the Lord says, “Really? Be still. This will only hurt for a second.” And the surgeon proceeds:
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
It is a game-changing revelation when it dawns on us that nothing we think or do can be hidden from Him, not even our motives—where the maturing disciples know the scalpel is most apt to incise. This awareness can be a source of ongoing humility, knowing that we are powerless to hide from Him. No matter where we are or what we are doing, we are laid bare. Those intimate with Him know, always: It is with Him whom we have to do.
Father—however holy or unholy we perceive ourselves, however close or far from You we imagine ourselves to be—let the Spirit and the Word expose our silly and sinful ideas that exalt themselves above Your loving Truth. Whether it’s Your rod and staff or Your scalpel, help our hearts come to rest in Your comprehensive love and care for us. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Feb 10, 2016 | 06. Shaped By The Word
Shaped by the Word – Joshua 1:1-9
The Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them. Every place on which the sole of your foot tread…will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
For Joshua, it was Canaan, the land of promise. For the believer it’s the kingdom of God. To us both, God says, “With your minds saturated with My words and your wills committed to them, go. Possess the land and establish My dominion. Your enemies will flee before you. Put them to flight. I will be your constant companion so do not fear your opponents. Go. Be strong and courageous. Validate my promises. Vindicate my words.” To us both, He says, “You are great. Go and be great.”
I wonder if God isn’t also saying, “Moses’ and Billy Graham’s time has past. It is time for you to arise and recognize your destiny. Christ in you equips you with the promises I made to these men and more. Envision the earth responding to my words, seeing Me as Lord. Lock arms with your tribe—those I am connecting you to—and help each other to recognize and represent My kingdom. Moses and Joshua longed to see the new covenant I have given you—this door into My kingdom. You are the Church. Everywhere you go you shall be My Church. Through you, light and truth will put fear into the enemy’s heart. Keep thinking and praying, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
I could not help but think of the lyrics to Josh Garrels’ song “White Owl.”
When the night comes
And you don’t know which way to go
Through the shadow lands 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
Like a serpent and a dove, you will have wisdom born of love
To carry visions from above into the places no man dares to follow
Every hollow in the dark of night
Waiting for the light
Take the flame tonight
Child, the time has come for you to go
You will never be alone
Every dream that you have been shown
Will be like living stone
Building you into a home
A shelter from the storm
Like a messenger of peace, the beauty waits to be released
Upon the sacred path you keep,
leading deeper into the unveiling
As your sailing, across the great divide
Like a wolf at midnight howls,
You use your voice in darkest hours
To break the silence and the power,
Holding back the others from their glory
Every story will be written soon
The blood is on the moon
Morning will come soon
Child the time has come for you to go
You will never be alone
Every dream that you have been shown
Will be like living stone
Building you into a home
A shelter from the storm
From where we are to where we are going, there will be a divide of darkness we must navigate that will require the Word and the Spirit. We will find the way. Our destiny is to take this greatest of all paths. The kingdom dreams that have been planted in our hearts will find expression, connecting us to each other as a shelter of safety for whatever is to come. As messengers of peace with our love-born wisdom, we shall call each other out into our appointed glory.
Father, reveal this part of our stories to the world, demonstrating the incomparable superiority of Your kingdom to any competing principality or power. Awaken us to the glory within. Help us to see ourselves as You see us. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Feb 9, 2016 | 06. Shaped By The Word
Shaped by the Word – Psalm 119:1-16
How blessed are those whose way is blameless,
Who walk in the law of the Lord.
How blessed are those who observe His testimonies,
Who seek Him with all their heart.
They also do no unrighteousness;
They walk in His ways.
You have ordained Your precepts,
That we should keep them diligently.
Oh that my ways may be established
To keep Your statutes!
Then I shall not be ashamed
When I look upon all Your commandments.
I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
I shall keep Your statutes;
Do not forsake me utterly!
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Your word.
With all my heart I have sought You;
Do not let me wander from Your commandments.
Your word I have treasured in my heart,
That I may not sin against You.
Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes.
With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth.
I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
I will meditate on Your precepts
And regard Your ways.
I shall delight in Your statutes;
I shall not forget Your word.
With poetic passion an unknown psalmist preaches, prays and vows with all his heart to abide in God’s word. In this longest chapter of scripture, the statutes and law that are referred to are the Torah. I like to imagine what this author would have said had he been present when the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. With the new covenant as the backdrop I believe he might have said something to this effect:
Oh Lord, that You have made me blameless in Your sight,
Inviting me into Your most holy presence,
Has dumbfounded my heart.
That You Yourself have become my great high priest
Is far more than I could have ever anticipated.
This is such a glorious surprise!
This new heart You gave me is spirit-compatible with Your Word.
How utterly blessed I have become having Christ to explain You to me.
When I ponder these things, I am filled with wonder, boldness and joy.
All Your precious words I am treasuring in my heart.
My heart has been made wealthy in You.
Your words are my daily feast and the product of my lips.
I dwelling in You? You dwelling in Me?
Astonishing.
Oh Lord, may the outward expressions of my life
Reflect the untold inner-wealth of my heart.
I am in awe of You. I am in love with You.
Father, please awaken the native hunger of our new hearts for Your Word. Help us to learn to feed ourselves, to personally discover and celebrate the blessed reality of our circumstance with You. I do celebrate You, Lord! Thank You that You will never leave nor forsake me. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Feb 8, 2016 | 06. Shaped By The Word
Shaped By The Word – Colossians 3:12-17
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Most Christians know George Barna’s name as it has been made popular through his statistics. They have little good to say about the trends in the Religion of Western Christianity: RWC. Although I am drifting, I am inescapably a part of the Oklahoma Synod of the RWC (RWCOS on our placards). Being a life-member of the RWCOS I have had the opportunity to observe our culture, and I do not take issue with Mr. Barna’s stats. As to his reports, however, I believe that if we can read them and weep, there is hope.
Through what lens would the RWC Christians George Barna polls interpret this passage and answer this question: “How do you let the word of Christ richly dwell within you?” It would naturally be through the lens of our experience. So, we RWC rank and file might answer Mr. Barna, “I let Christ’s word richly dwell within me by listening to my pastor’s sermons, by listening to teachers on TV and radio and by studying my Bible.” Some may even say, “by memorizing scripture.” But to discover what Paul truly meant, isn’t it important to know what this statement meant to the Colossian—who had no Bible, no concept of a paid staff, no concept of practically everything we consider essential to doing Christianity?
It is probable that the first words of Christ heard by the Colossians were from Epaphras, who likely was converted by Paul when he was teaching in Ephesus. The word of Christ came to them in the form of a transformed man and his story. Without the advantages (advantages?) of modern travel, mass communication, and structures with stadium capacity, the New Testament church was left with the primitive, yet obviously effective, means of a stripped down Gospel of Christ crucified and Him resurrected and the story of those whose lives it had transformed. Oh yes, there was also the power of God.
Where modern Christianity depends mostly on a pastor, his staff, and the programs they administer, the New Testament church depended mostly on each other and the simplicity of a fuller and simpler Gospel. Those Mr. Barna interviews probably look at the primitive church and think, “Oh, what the ancients could have accomplished if only they could have enjoyed the advantages we have in accomplishing the Great Commission.” The reality that seems to be escaping us is that the New Testament church and its simple stories and its simple Gospel turned the world upside down. The Barna Group on the other hand is reporting the world has turned the church upside down.
If this is true (and I acknowledge that many would posit that it is not), what are we to do? It seems obvious that we each need to have a story. Like Epaphras, we need to be able to give an account to our neighbors and family of the new hope within us. People don’t want us to invite them to church to hear someone else tell them about Christ. They want to see and hear of the resurrected Christ in our lives. Are those outside the Church not correct when they observe the RWC and think we have many convictions but not many stories? We, with our political agendas (which have so little congruence to Christ’s teachings) refer novitiates to this book or that sermon. Do they not look at us and see what Barna reports?
We, with our strong convictions are mostly living our lives vicariously through others. Is it not fair for outsiders to ask, “What is Christ doing in their lives that relates to me?”? I believe the fields are white for harvest, full of people who simply want and need to connect with a body of people with a pulse, not an institution with a membership role. Here is a question that could get me lynched, but here goes: is it possible the RWC itself might have as many tares as any foreign mission field?
There is no hope of glory in this earth outside of that which is inherent in creation and that which will be progressively revealed through Christ in His Church. We are each called to work out our salvation with the sober understanding that a great cloud of witnesses is observing our progress (or lack of it). At one point Jesus says, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me.” Isn’t He saying, “If My life doesn’t match My claims, then you have a legitimate basis for your unbelief”? My question is, “Have we—the RWC really given the world an accurate portrayal of Christ’s life? Or is it just a sanctified American Dream (SAD).
While the current stewards of our existing wineskin-thinking would justify their ministries by the numbers on the roles or by money in the bank, I think Paul and his New Testament cohort would suggest we adopt a new plumb line by which to measure—the current stories of transformed lives. I am not only referring to those first chapters of new life where we were saved from hell. Rather, I’m referring to the fresh stories of how we are being redeemed from the selfish little hells within our own hearts: updates that chronicle the presence of the resurrected Christ in our lives today, that evidence the presence of the Good Shepherd and His ongoing and intimate work in our hearts. Really, why should the world believe us if all we have is biblical convictions, conservative political affiliations, and second hand truth?
Father thank You that You are present and accessible to us all. Thank you that wherever we are, in You, all can be well with our souls. Help us to discover that incredibly good news and may that revelation update and refresh our souls and stories. May we allow Your word to have the run of our hearts—to the extent that we individually and collectively reflect Your resurrection life to all those who are watching our lives. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Feb 7, 2016 | 05. The Heart
The Heart – Psalm 51:10-17
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit …The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise … Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.
A good deal of my Christian life has been spent with this prayer on the tip of my tongue and it is not hard to imagine why. My heart was unclean, I did not have a steadfast spirit and being cast away and stripped of the Holy Spirit was a real possibility, or so it seemed. Living in this state of uncertainty constituted my broken and contrite heart. I was on fire for God and I did my best to convert other sinners to this revelation of brokenness but I didn’t have many takers. (Thank God!) I should have given closer attention to the following sentence from today’s passage;
You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering…
Nor any offering, we might imagine currying favor with God. The truth is, when I was singing my dirge of brokenness, thinking I was red hot for God, I was missing a good deal of what Christ died for – my ability to rest in his love, in spite of whatever sacrifices I have or have not made.
Where did the idea come from that my heart was unclean and that I deserved to be cast away? In the Middle With Mystery is the long answer to that question. The short answer is that it came from the hell created by religion. Here, I’m not speaking of religion in its organized expressions. I’m speaking of the heart’s entanglement with deception. It was a blatant lie that God’s love and commitment to me were contingent on my performance, yet this was the operative principle in my heart, even as a born again follower of Christ!
There is a certain type of zeal generated when the devout look in upon their depravity. A man will go to great lengths to cleanse himself of the darkness he finds, by way of his sacrifices. He will tithe and serve and congratulate himself for his devotion, knowing that he has made a contribution to God’s work. This is the defiled math of religion. I’ve lived inside this calculation.
God made his point in the old testament. Men, even chosen ones, do not have the capacity for holiness in themselves. It would require a new heart and a new life to birth anything truly holy. It was going to have to come from Love not Law. The Jew’s labors to cleanse themselves never touched the inside of the cup. Jesus came to give us new life. He would fill the cup with his very own life, that we might become an utterly new creation – citizens of a kingdom which knows no end.
New Testament math sounds like this. We must live within this calculation …
Thank you Lord that you have created in me a clean heart and renewed a steadfast spirit within me. Thank you that you have not cast me away from Your presence. Thank you that You have given me Your Holy Spirit. Thank you that you restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Oh Lord, that I may teach this truth to transgressors and see sinners converted to this gospel. So be it.
