Who Are You? (Monday) – Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 3:13-17

How did your baptism take place? Did it have any similarities with Jesus’ baptism? I confess, beyond the presence of water, my baptisms did not. I say baptisms, because I had two. The first was as a new born in the First Presbyterian Church of Enid Oklahoma early in 1953. That one was not a dunking. It was a sprinkling. And judging by the fairly clueless and godless behavior of my first 23 years, a dunking might have been better. The second was a dunking that took place in the Tulsa Edison high school swimming pool in the spring of 1976. I don’t know if it was the full immersion, the chlorine or what, but things were much different after that one. I am being silly of course. The difference on this occasion was that I had been given a new heart.

It didn’t happen as I was emerging from the waters of baptism #2, that I heard a voice from heaven trumpeting, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It happened a few months later after I had spent a night in revelry. (I just checked the definition on this and, yes, it was revelry). It was a lifestyle I had been perfecting since I was 13. Based on the hollow and lifeless feeling that was oppressing my soul the next day, I was certain that I had lost my salvation.

There were those familiar voices again playing in my head ; “Robby, you could screw up an anvil with a rubber mallet. You have lost the best thing that you ever had. How typical of you to ruin this just like you ruin everything. You are a looser!” I had not heard this voice, this loud since surrendering my life to Christ a few months earlier. This was the voice of death. It had been stalking me for years. I cried out to the Lord as I was driving back to Tulsa from Enid, “Lord, I cannot bear to live without You! Even though I deserve it, please, please, please do not abandon me. I simply will die without you.”

What happened next is why I am not a Baptist (or a Presbyterian). I told this story to a few of them and their response pretty much uninvited me from their company. Perhaps you will too. However its part of my story so I am not ashamed of it.

Why, I do not know, but I began to weep. My tears turned into a flood; a torrent of emotion poured out of me, the likes of which I had never experienced. Now I am scared; I thought I was loosing my mind plus my salvation, “So this is the judgement of God!” As it turned out I had not lost my salvation and if anything, some sanity was restored to me.

The next hour was the sweetest and most powerful 60 minutes of my life. I will not relate it all here, but suffice it to say, the Lord got it across that I too was His beloved and He was well please with me. Astounding! Given His most excellent communication skills, He also got it across that He would never leave nor forsake me. Oh yes, one more thing that He made resoundingly clear, the name of Jesus is gloriously majestic in all creation!  You might ask, “In what ways have you been more holy since this encounter?  What wisdom did you came away with?” As to holiness, I for sure vowed to never ever revel again. I report that I have only been moderately successful in this. As to wisdom (and here is the big takeaway); Make double-darn sure you have a very secure bond of friendship before you share extra-curricula encounters with bible-only revelation folks.

This living real-time word put a hammer blow to the old voices of my past. I regret to say however that my revelation did not liberate me completely from them. There were almost three decades where those voices were spoken much more subtly to me but no less life threatening. Condemnation is every bit as potent in the context of religion as it is in sin. I have never doubted my sonship since that day. I was certainly a messed up son at many places along the trail. But, I was His messed-up son. Being His son is the truest and most powerful thing about me. Who are you? I am Rob Cummins, God’s son. As Nouwen said,

“…..all the circumstances in between will not negate that. And by the way, I forgive all my sola scriptura family members for their doubts. I truly appreciate your concern for my sanity and salvation. 

Father, by whatever means it requires, permit us to discover and live our lives out of our birthright-identities, that in their secure and restful posture, they may reflect how generous, kind, strong and faithful a Father You are. And, may we be muzzled until such a time as our hearts are sufficiently conquered by Your love and until our words and deeds are adequately flavored by Your grace. Amen.

 

 

Who Are You? Monday) – Matthew 3:13-17

Matthew 3:13-17

I sincerely pray that today, you will at least read Henri Nouwen’s words in
the Blue Book that are drawn from his book :Turn My Mourning Into
Dancing. It seems every time I turn around these days, I am confronted
over and over again with the mystery of Christ in us the hope of glory. (Col
1:27) Nouwen (this am) does not disappoint;

“In Christ we live as God’s beloved before we were born and after we have
died; all the circumstances in between will not negate that.”
How did your baptism take place? Did it have any similarities with Jesus’
baptism? I confess, beyond the presence of water, my baptisms did not. I
say baptism(s), because I had two. The first was as a new born in the First
Presbyterian Church of Enid Oklahoma early in 1953. That one was not a
dunking. It was a sprinkling. And…judging by the fairly clueless and godless
behavior of my first 23 years, a dunking might have been better. The
second was a dunking that took place in the Tulsa Edison high school
swimming pool in the spring of 1976. I don’t know if it was the fullimmersion,
the chlorine or what, but things were much different after that
one. I am being silly of course. The difference on this occasion was that I
had Christ in me, altering my nature.

It didn’t happen as I was emerging from the waters of my baptism #2, that I
heard a voice from heaven trumpeting, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.” It happened a few months later when I spent a night in
revelry, a lifestyle I had been perfecting since I was 16. Based on the
hollow and lifeless feeling that was oppressing my soul the next day, I was
certain that I had lost my salvation.

There were familiar voices in my head playing; “Robby, you could screw up
an anvil with a rubber mallet. You have lost the best thing that you ever
had. How typical of you to ruin this jut like you ruin everything. You are a
looser!” I had not heard this voice, this loud since surrendering my life to
Christ a few months earlier. This was the voice of death. It had been trying
to track me down and kill me for years. I cried out to the Lord as I was
driving back to Tulsa from Enid; Lord, I cannot bear to live without You!
Even though I deserve it, please, please, please do not abandon me. I
simply will die without you.”

What happened next is why I am not a Baptist (or a Presbyterian). I told
this story to a few of them and their response pretty much uninvited me
from their company.

Why, I do not know, but I began to weep. My weeping turned into a torrent
of emotion, the likes of which I had never experienced. It was so alien to
me, I thought for certain I was loosing my mind along with my salvation.
The next hour was the sweetest and most powerful 60 minutes of my life. I
will not relate it all here, but suffice it to say, the Lord got it across that I too
was His beloved and He was well please with me. Given His most excellent
communication skills, He also got it across that He would never leave nor
forsake me. Oh yes, one more thing that He made resoundingly clear: the
name of Jesus IS MAJESTIC in all the earth. (Friendly advise; Make sure
you have a very secure bond of friendship before you share extra-biblical
encounters with bible-only revelation folks) Oh, that they would have issued
a muzzle to me when I got saved!

This living real-time word put a hammer blow to the old voices of my past. I
regret to say however that my revelation did not liberate me completely
from them. There were almost three decades where those voices were
spoken much more subtly to me but no less life threatening. Condemnation
is every bit as potent in the context of religion as it is in sin.
I have never doubted my sonship since that day. I was certainly a messedup
son at many places along the trail. But, I was His messed-up son. Being
His son is the truest and most powerful thing about me. Who are you? I am
Rob Cummins, God’s son. As Nouwen said, “…..all the circumstances in
between will not negate that.: And by the way, I forgive all you Baptists and
Presbyterians who shunned me. In fact, I love you.

Father, by whatever means it requires, permit us to discover and live our
lives out of our birthright-identities; that in their secure and restful posture,
they may reflect how generous, kind, strong and faithful a Father You are.
And, may we be muzzled until such a time as our hearts are truly
conquered by Your love and our words and deeds are adequately flavored
by Your grace. Amen.

Who Are You? Friday) – John 10:1-18

John 10:1-18

Theology, sociology, psychology (and many other “ogies”) have all
weighed in and added their two cents worth on life. While I respect their
academic efforts and their many theories, they have not really brought
together a cohesive working understanding of human behavior and society
that has relieved individual and mass suffering and oppression. Yet, man
continues to look into these arenas for answers and saviors. Most wise
men know that what we observe in individual behavior and society are
symptoms of something systemic. In other words there is a backstory,
something deeper and foundational that we must drill down into if we are
to really discover cause. A single verse of scripture has served me more
than all the “ogies” in thinking about the foundations of reality.

The thief comes to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they may have
life, and might have it abundantly. (NASB)

A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy. I came so they can have
real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (MSG)
These are both John, chapter 10, verse 10 from different translations of the
bible. This is a one sentence pronouncement by Jesus’ on ultimate cause
and intent. So, as a follower of the Shepherd, this verse naturally weighs
heavily into the way I understand the whole of scripture and the whole of
life. In both the bible and in life there are many things I cannot fully
understand or explain. Truly, we are immersed in mystery. John 10:10 does
as much to explain the foundational reality to our mysterious backstory as
any sentence or thought I know of.

Its contribution for me is this; Behind the stories and scenes of our
individual and corporate experience, there is a very accomplished thief
and a very Good Shepherd vying for our hearts (and through them, the
dominion of this earth). So, how does this sentence serve me? It is very
simple. When I see something that has been stolen or is being stolen;
when I see something that is dead or is dying; when I see something that
has been destroyed or is being destroyed, I immediately presume its the
thief, the Shepherd’s enemy, who has climbed over the fence somehow
and has gotten into the sheepfold. On the other hand, If I see life (where
new things are being birthed and growing) I assume the Shepherd is
involved. Since I didn’t take any courses on systematic theology I have
adopted this basic premise as a cornerstone value in my systemic
cosmology (or belief system). Stated even more simply; God is good.
Satan is purely evil. This foundational orientation to reality is not only a key
to wisdom and discernment, it is essential to how we will learn to hear the
Shepherd’s voice.

He calls His own sheep by name…and the sheep hear His voice…and He
leads them out…I am the Good Shepherd…and I know my own, and my
own know me. (verses 3 & 14)

I have followed this Shepherd for more than 36 years. He has never
permitted the enemy to ravage me. But, due to my own doing, the wolf
has dug his teeth in to me on occasion. I have told the story in many ways
but it required the help of a few of the Shepherd’s apprentices to help me
identify the tracks of the beast where had regularly been crawling over the
fence and into my heart. The doorway (or gate) into my heart is through my
eyes and through my mind. I learned that the enemy had been trafficking
in the domain of my thoughts in subtle ways since I was a child.
So thorough was the dissemination of his lies in my belief system,
that it effected who I believed myself to be.

After discovering this, we (the under-shepherd and I), identified those
patterns of thought that were contributing to death in all it expressions. I
broke my associations and agreements with those old familiar ideas about
God, myself and others and evicted them. The result is that today I am
more apt to hear the condemning, accusing tones of the enemy’s voice
and reject them as the voice of a stranger who I will not follow.
And a stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because
they do not know the voice of strangers.

In 1976, I entered through the gate and was saved. Jesus served as a
living bridge that I crossed over from the domain of the thief where I had
been ripped off and lied to (and was condemned to die) for 23 years into
the Kingdom of God, where I have been given safety and pardon for my
many years of agreement and obedience with the prince of this present
evil age. I have some bite marks to be sure; but they only serve to remind
me that we are still at war. As I approach the beginning of my sixth decade
and reflect on the story He is writing on my life I can concur with John
10:10 that He truly is a good Shepherd and is faithful to provide a real and
eternal life; a more and better life than I ever dreamed possible.

Father, may you teach us to recognize the enemy’s voice where it is
entangled in the root system our depressions, our sickness, our
hopelessness, our fear and all other places where death and decay are
stealing and eroding away at the foundations of our life – robbing us of our
truest identities in Christ and the abundance that is intended to flow from
our innermost beings in Him. In Your precious and wonderful and name.
Amen.

Who Are You? (Sunday) – Song of Songs 2:8-17

Of all the teachers and preachers of the word that are are currently out there exercising their gifts, I wonder how many of them would point to the Song of Songs as their favorite book of the Bible. Few I suspect. I know from personal experience and from listening to four decades of evangelical sermons that Paul’s writings rank much higher than Solomon’s. (although Proverbs has its appeal as a pathway to blessing.) I am sure it is no accident that the default setting in my You Version Bible App is Romans 8 (KJV no wonder) where Paul is masterfully unfolding the theological particulars of justification and our deliverance from spiritual bondage.  Most evengelicals love Paul because he breaks mystery down about as far as is humanly possible. We feel that if we could just master his teachings that we could then individually, finally enjoy a more complete relationship with God and that corporately we could finally become the radiant Church that Christ died for.

I can picture the expounder of Truth, in his study, clawing away at his text and study guides when he comes across an obscure cross reference; “Behold he is standing behind the wall, he is looking through the windows, he is peering through the lattice.” His thought is, “What could some reference to a voyeur have to do with anything!”   However, the verse is so strange, he persists on this tangent, reading;

                My beloved responded and said to me, Arise my darling, my beautiful one.”  

The student now recalls his theological training, “Oh yes, Song of Songs is that rather odd piece of Old Testament wisdom literature. He regains his discipline and returns to Romans and Paul’s exposition on justification, still wondering why he was ever cross referenced to the old testament’s manuel on marital intimacy.

I sometimes wonder, as we evenagelicals are in our studies, more deeply honing our understanding of justification, if God is not peering through our latticework or looking through our window. I actually wonder if He has not made His way to the door and stands there knocking, attempting as usual, to deliver His standing invitation;

Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. Let me see your form, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your form is lovely.”

I do not believe the intimacy of Song of Songs is secondary to the doctrine of justification in Romans; I believe it is the point of it.  It would appear there is a chasm between Solomon’s language of longing and desire and Paul’s language of logic and devotion.  If you have not yet discovered this, the Blue Book devotional is written more in Solomon’s love language than Paul’s. It is itself one of God’s invitations to come away to be alone with Him, where we learn to be comfortable in His presence, opening the door of our hearts to the One who has first desired us and has been looking in upon us. Is God not ultimately saying to us through the doctrine of justification….

Behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land;  the time has come for the pruning of the vines and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!”

The truth is; for those legitimately born again sons and daughters, there is no longer a chasm between them and God. For those who will believe, Jesus has become a mediator between God and men. The veil between the outer court and the inner sanctuary has been torn in two, giving us unhindered access to God. Christ Himself is the Bridge and the Way across the chasm!

I can picture a day when the fulness of this wondrous good news dawns upon us, His Bride. We will likely be in the midst of our diligent study (which we had thought was bridging some gap), when we realize; the point of our justification had always been that we should learn that truly It is finished…. My beloved is mine, and I am hisTruly at this time, as we discover the difference in possessing each other and possessing knowledge, spring will overtake winter.

Who Are You?” the Blue Book has asked this week. Hopefully you can respond, “I Am His!”

Father, in Your kindness deliver us from the winter of our religion and escort us out into the springtime of relationship with You. Thank you that we do not have to establish the pathway into this hallowed place but that You Yourself are the Way and that You have freely given Yourself to us. Help us to individually and corporately discover these unending, beautiful and fragrant landscapes that, in You, await us all. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Who Are You? (Thursday) – John 15:1-11

I am the true vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me; and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. 

Typically when I read scripture, the cross-referencer in me comes out. In light of this passage, I  cannot help but think of two other verses;

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. (Psalm 51:3) and…                                     Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it…… (Psalm 127:1)

As a young Christian I was involved in very intentional methods of discipleship, where the becoming of a disciple, at least in my mind, entailed the doing of prayer, fellowship, study and witnessing. I would not trade that experience for the world; not because I give doing wholesale endorsement as a means but rather it is from that perspective I have learned the inestimable worth of being as opposed to doing.

During those years of intense doing, when I would see my sin ever before me, I mostly thought of how inclined my sinful nature was toward lust, greed and pride.  I even tried to do King David one better by reflecting deeply and regularly about my hopelessly depraved nature. My sense was that if I could introspect sufficinetly into the dark abyss of my heart, I could then be cleansed proportionally and break out into the light of freedom in Christ – that coveted fruit-laden promised land of discipleship.

What was fueling this zeal? Was it my pure love of Jesus Christ? Was it my commitment to the Great Commission? Or was there something I inherited in Adam that I had not taken fully into account that was also driving my doing?

Over time my new Christian life grew to feel heavier in some ways than my old sinful one. Willing my outward self to tell people about Jesus, while my inner self was reeling was just not working! What was I selling in my evangelism anyway; “Well yes, Jesus will save you from your sinful deeds but not from your sinful nature. So… come to church with me and we will sing …..

My heart is prone to sin; it is more deceitful than all else. It is desperately sick. Who can understand it. Like Enoch Oh Lord, rapture me and all shall then be well with my soul. Hallelujah, hallelujah, then all shall be well with my soul.

My oldest granddaughter told her little sister recently, I love your precious heart but..I don’t like your face. She should have said, your face is beautiful (which it certainly is) but your heart..that’s another matter. The little sister is precious beyond belief but her family is discovering that thing in here we inherited in Adam which I had not taken fully into account that can end up powering a religious treadmill of doing. When little sister is asked if she wants help putting on her shoes, she reacts with an offended look and says, “I CAN DO IT MYSELF!” Never mind that they end up on the wrong feet.

I will turn 61 next week. I have been privileged to have labored in vain in building the house as I have often attempted to DO IT MYSELF. We not only inherited lust and greed and pride from Adam. We inherited independence. Christ’s disciples ultimately discover that sin not only influences the deeds of the flesh; it fuels the motives of the heart. It is in the heart where our motives live; and it is from our motives that our deeds ultimately derive. Thus Solomon’s wisdom…

Watch over the heart with all diligence for from it flow all the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

I am now deep into the second half of my life wishing that I could somehow spare the zealots from the futility of the wrong kind of labor. If I have acquired any wisdom, it is to say that much of discipleship is simply allowing God, in His sovereignty, to overcome that part of me that is inclined to DO IT MYSELF.

When we were evicted from Eden, our identities as those created in God’s image, were scrambled. We were forced to live by our considerable wits. The self-image that was formed as it labored in the cursed ground was that of a doer.  Doing it ourselves in our own ability is the thing that must die in order to follow Jesus. This is certainly a large piece of what He meant when He said that if we wanted to be His disciples, we must take up our crosses and follow Him.

A profound miracle eventually occurs in the lives of disciples when the weight of futility becomes sufficient to produce the godly sorrow and humility of authentic God-gifted repentance. The doer then fades away and a true human being begins to take shape – a personality that is being restored to the original image of God. When we read John and hear Jesus command us to abide, we must not just think of a busy and obedient life. In our consideration of “who we are”, we must ultimately see ourselves as John did (the disciple whom Jesus loved).

As John lay his head upon Christ’s chest, he was giving us the best picture of abiding imaginable.  As he lay there entirely at rest in God’s love; totally free of introspection regarding his fallen nature, he was the abiding branch drawing fruit from the true vine.  Consequently he would be a disciple who bore much fruit throughout his life as He lived out of the LIfe of Christ in him.  I believe John and all fruit-bearing disciples no longer live under the tyrannical notion that we CAN DO IT OURSELVES.

I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me; and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. 

Hear is a hint for zealous disciples: If it seems you are kicking against the goads; if there is just a sense that all is not really well with your soul; If there is frustration and anger building up, perhaps it is not just the devil’s opposition to your vision or ministry. Consider the possibility that God Himself is standing between you and your dream and another superior one that He has for you containing even more glory. God may be rescuing you by bidding you come and die to the idea of becoming someone by YOURSELF in the strength of your own doing. Consider the possibility that, buried in the frustration of current circumstance is the kindness of God attempting to lead you into the promised land of abundance that is inherited by those who learn to truly abide in Christ; those who can say….

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Father, Search me and know my heart, Try me and know my anxious thoughts. Deliver me from any hurtful religious ways that would in any way diminish the joy of abiding in You or the fruit You have ordained from my life. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Are You? (Wednesday) – Revelation 19:1-10

Being a road builder has connected me to trade associations whose mission it is to influence how our transportation infrastructure is funded. This has introduced me to the world of politics where banquets are common. The invited ones to these galas are those with money and the best seats are reserved for those with the largest amounts of it. It has been an honor to have been invited to many annual banquets but most of them have become pretty ho hum after a few decades. Even though it would be inappropriate to miss most of these events, I confess that when I read the invitation, I find myself thinking, “Do I not have five yoke of oxen that need proving on that day?”
 
There is however a banquet I deeply aspire to attend….
 
Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'”
 
The oxen comment comes from Jesus’ Parable of the Dinner in Matthew 14. A great man has invited many to attend a gala. Everyone seemed to have excuses. None of the excuse were evil. They were simply the things that were more important to them than this man or His banquet. The Parable of the Marriage Feast in Matthew 22 is very similar yet with more sobering consequences to those shunning the invitation.
 
The fear of God should cause us to tremble if we have been too busy to respond to the persistent invitations the Father has made to our hearts. God’s invitations don’t come on embossed stationary. They come as that still small voice inviting us to slow down and find time for Him.
 
My trembling is caused because those who did not have ears to hear squander the highest privilege afforded man – the invitation to intimately associate with the King of the Universe.
Because many believed that above all, the oxen needed tending,  there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth as many do finally hear God’s voice as it says, “For many are called but few are chosen.” Or, “For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.”
 
I suppose one of the things that motivates me to distribute the Blue Book devotional is that it has been one of the most effective invitations to intimacy with God that I have ever been entrusted with. While church and Sunday School attendance may be good, I have a sense that those who will be attending the Marriage Supper of the Lamb will be those who have cultivated their friendship with God privately in the most intimate places of their hearts. This is the spirit and the core DNA of the Blue Book.
 
Their is a banquet that the Lord sets before us each morning that is new and fresh and is ours for the taking. He Himself is the Bread of Life. For the believer, His presence within our hearts is the miracle worth attending to. We must learn that the oxen can wait.
 
Father, how glorious and majestic is Your name in all the earth! May You assist us in our making ourselves ready. Let our attending the Marriage Supper of Your Son become fixed in our dreams and expectations. Lead us Father into that green pasture where we learn to rest utterly in Your righteousness; where our works spring from Your Life within and we are clothed appropriately. We will rejoice and be glad and give the glory to You! Amen.