by RobertCummins | May 31, 2016 | 22. Following And Being Led
Jesus had just filled Israel with fear and astonishment by healing a paralyzed man and forgiving his sins. As his nation was abuzz with awe, Jesus went about his business and “noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.”
“Luke! Is this all you wanted to say here? Did you not want to say a little something to explain why fish like Levi just jumped into the boat with Jesus? Or—did you want us to reconstruct this story for the information we might glean, as if reconstruction and gleaning were of some benefit, some benefit like manna for our souls? Ah yes. I think I get it. Thanks.”
Who was Levi? All we know so far is that he is a tax collector. And what do we know about tax collectors? Well, they are on the social pariah list right after undertakers—death being the only thing worse than paying taxes. To gain appreciation for Levi’s despised status, imagine that the United States had lost the war to the Axis Powers in World War II. Then imagine an American citizen who was in the employment of either Germany or Japan whose job it was to collect your taxes, if necessary with the tact and force of the brutal occupying army. Levi was a man without a country, loathed by his countryman beyond even their hatred for Rome. Even though he had committed the unpardonable sin of compromise, God did not see him as his nation did. God knew Levi was a lonely man who had to harden himself against the stones and slurs slung at him daily. Whatever Levi was, Jesus invited him into his inner circle. Beautiful!
We know that Levi was, at the very least, grateful and had a pent up desire to experience a party which Jesus’ unqualified acceptance apparently triggered: “And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.”
Maybe this was a regular scum-of-the-city dinner party, but I suspect it was a celebration of an unprecedented nature. Levi had discovered that the most righteous man who ever trod the streets of Jerusalem thought enough of him to befriend him. Levi naturally assumed that Jesus would feel the same toward the rest of the city’s scum so he opened his home to them as well. However, those who were most highly ranked in their religious culture, the un-scum, were not pleased:
The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
I don’t know if they were all standing around together, but Jesus preempts whatever his fledgling disciples might have answered:
“It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.“
What an honor it would have been to have been there celebrating with these outcasts; eating, drinking, and making merry with God incarnate as a living consternation to all the elder brothers who were standing outside the party thinking, “I’ve always done my chores, and No One ever killed a fattened calf for me and my friends.”
Religion does a horrific thing to man’s spirit—every bit as intoxicating as lust or greed. Truly, if we are to take the story of Levi seriously, religion is far worse because it alienates. The horrific thing is the delusion it creates that through our chores we achieve status in the religious pecking order where outward moral comparisons define one layer upon another of elder brotherhood. And all the while, the Father appeals:
“Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”
As we think about ourselves and our relationships with God, it seems we have choices to make. We can throw a party, or we can sing a dirge. Those who know they were sick and needed a physician will throw celebrations. Those who are fairing well in the religious pecking order must remain outside the party, grumbling and being content with their relative wholesomeness and productivity.
Father, I did not see the man lowered through the roof whose body was healed and whose sins were forgiven, but I have known a man who was raised from spiritual death as a prodigal and as an elder brother. Oh Lord, that I would remain a grateful, celebrating, lifelong friend to the friendless. For your Name’s sake, may our hearts be struck with astonishment and filled with awe. May the religious receive their invitation afresh. May the banquet continue, and may the alienation of myriad elder brother’s get the best of them, drawing them into the inner circle. Let it be.
by RobertCummins | Jun 4, 2015 | 22. Following And Being Led
Following and Being Led – Matthew 14:25-34
Our passage today is the account of Jesus walking on the water. So, our practical application is…..? Well, in this case, even though we were were told we would be, we are not quite yet in the world as Jesus was. (1 John 4:17) Although… there may be hope. I did hear of a young zealot enrolled in a school of the supernatural who has been practicing. I don’t know if this was for extra credit or if it was just part of a challenging curriculum.
As we know, our passage goes on to describe the disciple’s and especially Peter’s response to Jesus as he approached their boat which was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. However, rather than focusing on this type of the miraculous, which we have little-to-no influence over, I would like to talk about what preceded the drama at sea which we do have control over.
Then He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent away the crowds. And after He had dismissed the multitudes, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. When it was evening, He was still there alone. Matthew 14:22-23
It is Jesus’ intentionality I would like to explore. But I hesitate. Dare we even allude to discipline as a part of our walk with Jesus? Will we not defile grace the moment we exercise intentionality? I know of another devout man whose intentionality consists of intentionally doing nothing except what pleases him because God in his sovereignty is so thoroughly ruling, what is in his heart must have been decreed. Wow! I believe our two extreme examples of modern discipleship are they themselves missing the boat. Let’s dare to explore the heart of God in Christ as he walked on earth.
After he had miraculously fed the 5,000 people Jesus had an appointment but things needed to be done first. The preliminaries involved getting rid of the people around him. First; the disciples; He directed the disciples to get into the boat and go. Another translations read; He made the disciples get into the boat and go. The Message reads; “he insisted that the disciples get in the boat and go.” Next; the crowds; He sent the crowds away. The same Jesus who said suffer not the little children from coming to him was now intentionally shooing people away. Talk about intentional! His motives become clear though….
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.
Popular preaching has had Jesus dragging his exhausted ministry-depleted self up the mountain so he could get his batteries recharged (by praying) so he could get back to the business of saving the world ASAP. I don’t think so. I don’t see missions-minded Jesus reasoning, “I must pray. Souls are cascading into Hell until my batteries are recharged.” No. I see a love-driven Man simply responding to his heart’s longings to be with his Father alone. Recall (before, in the beginning), Jesus spent considerable time alone with the Father and has reserved it as a trysting place – a place where two people enjoy the intimacy of their relationship – often a reserved place where a rendezvous has been intentionally planned and is jointly anticipated. Upon reaching the summit, I envision Jesus taking a big deep breath and simply saying, “Oh how I love you Father!” I am sure that Father replied, I love you too Son. You are the absolute joy of my heart.”
Here in the middle of mysteries-a-plenty, between men fearful of a miraculous-less life and those fearful of initiating prayer (unless the urge strikes them of course) lest they trample on the grace by which they have been saved, I am envisioning the fundamental act of our intentionality playing out similarly to that of the scene I have portrayed of Jesus alone on a mountain with his Father. This is the essence, as best I can tell, of having a personal relationship with God. Without this dynamic in play, I am not sure what we have as Christians. A creed?
I do not envision our union with God in Christ any less miraculous than walking on water. The things below the feet of fallen man are far more threatening than what lurked beneath Jesus’ and Peter’s feet. Jesus has rescued us every bit as much as he rescued Peter. And he continues to do so as we cry out to him. Our problems are legion if getting out of the boat and following Jesus means getting out of bed and attending a church service. Really, how is this working for us? Hearing Jesus call to us and responding is better portrayed as us intentionality making a place where we meet with God, acknowledging and personally discovering the intimacy which is reserved for us there.
Many have acknowledged the merits of this idea. Few follow through where it becomes a lifestyle – an engrained habit, an anticipated joy. I do not see a great deal of hope for our world without men, women and children pioneering and inhabiting this place of personal intimacy with God. Without it all we have is a sterile, lifeless parody of life in Christ, one which has led the western world into the post-Christian era in which it appears to be firmly entrenched.
I am not without hope though. No man comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him. (John 6:44) Isn’t Father still drawing men to himself? Perhaps this is Father’s next move in the earth. Perhaps we are actually in a Pre-Christian era where a new wave of intimacy is about to be discovered where love displaces obligation as our heart-motive.
To be sure, at this time, our boat is a long distance from the land, battered by the waves with very contrary winds. However I know something about Father, without fail he rescues those who cry out to him. I also know that he is present, standing ready to meet with anyone who will get rid of the noise around them. Without fail those who do, eventually make the discovery that he has been there all along. FYI: This place I continually refer to is our hearts, not just a physical address.
I believe the fundamental prayer (or conversation) of authentic Christianity sounds like this, “Oh how I love you Father!” And Father replies, I love you too child. You are the chief joy of my heart.” I could see a day when the onlookers (and by the way, we are being watched) say, “You certainly are God’s sons!” If an old man is permitted to dream his dreams and make his proclamation this shall be mine.
Father, help us to discern the weather. Help us to understand our times. Give us courage to step out of our routines which so systematically exclude you. Even though it is frightening to step out onto the unfamiliar let us find that in you we are buoyant, that we can indeed walk with you who have overcome this world in all its wickedness as well as its busyness. Help us to discover that for us, who are in Christ and have Christ in us we can be deliberate, knowing that you are able to rescue us whenever our dependencies become misplaced. Draw all men unto you to that place where we privately and regularly celebrate our miraculous union. Let this be Father. I love you too.
P.S. The simple reason I give Blue Books away is that they are one of the Father’s best invitations to Relationship With God 101, a course in the original School Of The Miraculous. The Blue Book introduces you to the hearts of others who have been drawn out of the boat to walk with Jesus in greater intimacy. I have found it provides a loose approach (not a formula) to fashion this time to suit both us and the Lord who draws us.
Note: If you don’t know that word (“tryst”) please look it up. This post and the ideas presented therein will make more sense after you read the definition. It puts an entirely different spin (I suspect a missing one) on the essence of being a disciple of Jesus Christ.
by RobertCummins | Jun 3, 2015 | 22. Following And Being Led
Following and Being Led – Luke 18:18-30
For an American aspiring to enter into eternal life, whose nation’s bottom 5% lives better than 70% of the rest of the world, the most troubling word he might ever hear was the answer Jesus gave to a rich man’s question; “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus’ bombshell response…..
One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.
For myself, as an American living in the upper part of an unprecedented historical bubble of prosperity, who aspires to eternal life, it might be tempting to became very sad (like the rich young ruler) for I am extremely rich (along with a huge percentile of my fellow citizens).
If what Jesus spoke was intended for all men, I and every American citizen, who look to Jesus for their salvation is condemned on the grounds of having not given everything to the poor. This is a troubling thought, apparently so troubling to some, they become monks to alleviate their trouble. By giving their belongings away they are at least clear on that count. However, once settled in their hermitage they must learn to pray at all times. So they attend various services throughout the day to remain clear on that count. And we know how their vows of celibacy clear them of lust. You probably see my point.
Even the most devout legalist is doomed. Religion will always set the bar such that righteousness, lofty as it is, still appears achievable. Religion then motivates men out of guilt to take fresh runs at various standards of righteousness hoping that they will clear the bar and live lives pleasing to God.
With the rich young ruler I do not believe Jesus was trying to establish a standard of righteousness where heaven could be purchased by selling all one’s possessions and distributing the proceeds to the poor. No. This would make a sham of the grace by which we are saved. At the same time, I do believe Jesus’ words were a laser guided bomb which had to be dropped into the rich young ruler’s heart. I believe with His piercing words Jesus was endeavoring to take out the stronghold of religion which had imprisoned this man in the idea that eternal kingdom life is attainable through meritorious deeds.
I don’t mean to isolate legalistic monks as the sole prisoners of religion. No man is exempt from this struggle. Monks are just the more obvious, thus convenient, examples. Born again believers are not exempt from legalism. More than once I have been liberated from religious mindsets. On one occasion, I was taking a run at a bar with the anticipation I might actually clear it, when, on a dead run, the whole runway exploded beneath me. To say my face-plant was painful would be an understatement. Like the rich young ruler, I was profoundly shaken.
In retrospect I am persuaded, out of His love for me, God dropped that bomb so that I could fully receive the gift. Eternal life is a gift. It cannot be purchased. If we are in anyway thinking our labors are earning his favor, his loving cross hairs are painted on our hearts. If we are fortunate the missile will find its mark and our religious delusions will be mercifully exploded.
Jesus, not being one to waste the fragments of a good bomb, allowed others he came to liberate to overhear and be disturbed along with the rich man. Stunned, they asked…..
Then who can be saved?
As much as any words Jesus ever spoke I am grateful for those he spoke in response to his befuddled friend’s question…….
The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.
Whether we live in the top 5% or the bottom 5% of the economic demographic, without Christ we live in profound spiritual poverty. And try as we may, in our fallen guilt, to appease a holy God through religious observances we remain impossibly estranged from Him. Our salvation is made possible exclusively though a gift. That gift is purely and simply Jesus. There is no other way to receive what the rich young ruler hungered for other than receiving Jesus, who cleared the highest bar of righteousness. Through a simple yet miraculous embrace of this reality we are made sons and daughters of God. He has breathed upon us and His life, His DNA is once again ours.
The one thing the rich young ruler lacked was not that he was unwilling to sell all that he had. He also lacked the understanding of grace and he lacked the understanding that Jesus Himself was the eternal Bread of Life. My suspicion is that the rich young ruler’s hunger eventually drew him to Jesus where he grasped the bigger picture, one where Christ was the fulfillment of the Law, and one who could dismantle every religious stronghold which opposes the grace gift of God in Christ. I believe after the resurrection, with God’s bigger picture alive in his heart, he reevaluated the meaning of “the poor” and of “wealth.”
I believe in light of the great love with which this rich man discovered he was being loved, he readily surrendered the title (or right of self determination) of his possessions over to God. One day in eternity we will discover whether Jesus asked him to release him of this stewardship or not. I am betting God did not demand it of him. It would be a potent testimony to be in the world and not of it by stewarding this wealth while living free from its intoxicating and binding influence.
Father, continually lead the captives out of captivity, especially those hearts which have fallen back into laboring for your approval and blessing.
by RobertCummins | Jun 2, 2015 | 22. Following And Being Led
Following and Being Led – Luke 5:27-31
After healing and forgiving a man’s sins who had been lowered on a cot through a roof Israel was struck with astonishment and, according to Luke, was filled with fear. As his nation was abuzz with awe Jesus went about his business and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
“Luke! (actually Holy Spirit) Really?! Is this all you wanted to say here!! Did you not want to say a little something to explain why fish like Levi just jumped in the boat with Jesus?” Or, did you want us to reconstruct this story with the information we might glean as if reconstruction and gleaning were of some benefit, some benefit like manna for our own souls?” Ah yes, I think I get it. Thanks.
Who was Levi? All we know so far is that he is tax collector. And what do we know about tax collectors? Well, they are on the social pariah list right after undertakers – death being the only thing worse than paying taxes. To gain appreciation for Levi’s despised status imagine that the United States had lost the war to the Axis Powers in World War II. Then imagine an American citizen who was in the employment of either Germany or Japan whose job it was to collect your taxes, if necessary with the tact and force of a brutal occupying army. Levi was a man without a country loathed by his countryman beyond even their hatred of Rome. Even though he had committed the unpardonable sin of compromise, God did not see him as did his nation. God knew Levi was a lonely man who had to harden himself against the stones and slurs slung at him daily. Yet Jesus invites him into his inner circle. Beautiful!
We know that Levi was, at the very least, grateful and had a pent up desire to experience a party which Jesus’ unqualified acceptance apparently had triggered; And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them.
Maybe this was a regular scum-of-the-city dinner party but I suspect it was a celebration of an unprecedented nature. Levi had discovered that the most righteous and revered man who had ever trod the streets of Jerusalem thought enough of him to befriend him. Levi naturally assumed that Jesus would feel the same toward the rest of the city’s scum so he opened his home to them. However, those who were most highly ranked in their religious culture, the un-scum, were not pleased…..
The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
I don’t know if they were all standing around together but Jesus preempts an answer from his fledgling disciples and said to them,
“It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.“
What an honor it would have been to have been there celebrating with these outcasts; eating, drinking and making merry with God incarnate as a living consternation to all the elder brothers who were standing outside the party thinking, “I’ve always done my chores and No One ever killed a fatted calf for me and my friends!”
Religion does a horrific thing to man’s spirit – every bit as intoxicating as lust or greed. Truly, if we are to take the story of Levi seriously, religion is far worse because it alienates. The horrific thing is the delusion it creates that through our chores we have achieved some status in the religious pecking order where outward moral comparisons define one layer upon another of elder brother-ship. And all the while, the Father appeals….
Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.
As we think about ourselves and our relationship with God it seems we have choices to make. We can throw a party or we can sing a dirge. Celebrations will be thrown by those who knew they were sick and needed a physician. Those who are fairing well in the religious pecking order must remain outside the party, grumbling and being content with their relative wholesomeness and productivity.
Father, I did not see the man lowered through the roof whose body was healed and whose sins were forgiven but I have known a man who was raised from spiritual death as prodigal and as an elder brother. Oh Lord that my heart would remain a grateful, celebrating lifelong friend to the friendless. For your Name’s sake, may our hearts as well be struck with astonishment and filled with awe. May the religious receive their invitation afresh. May the banquet continue and may the alienation of myriad elder brother’s get the best of them drawing them into the inner circle. Let it be.
by RobertCummins | Jun 1, 2015 | 22. Following And Being Led
Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He found first his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
How do men find God? In our passage a network of people pick up on news being spread by a couple of John the Baptist’s former followers, “We have found the Messiah” and before long Jesus’s ministry has grown to five. But had these men found God? The scriptures tell us that whatever men are thinking, in reality God had found them. (John 6:44)
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.
There is an invisible and powerful backstory to our relationships with God. Theologians cal it prevenient grace; a divine grace that precedes human decision. It exists prior to and without reference to anything humans may have done. It means that whenever I am moving toward God by choice I am actually responding to One drawing me. It means the thoughts and circumstances preceding my choice were His wooing.
This is one of those realities which makes our prayers and our songs begging God to draw near quite absurd. We might feel lonely or feel abandon yet perhaps we shouldn’t respond by pleading with God for something He has already accomplished. Perhaps we should take a reality inventory and by faith discount feelings and align our thinking with what actually is. God has never left us. In fact, even in the troubling and disorienting moments he is fully present just as he was yesterday and will be forever more.
Once upon a time I worked very hard to maneuver others into that place where I could look them eye to eye so that I could tell them the gospel and pop the question, “Would you like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart?” Looking back on those days as a fisherman, it was as if you could stick anything on the hook and the fish would bite – even on a shallow presentation of the gospel. I was one of those fish. Did the fish quit biting or did I just quit fishing? Regardless, God is still casting for men.
I too am still fishing but my bait is much different. Its no longer a patented presentation although that lure is still in my tackle box. I haven’t touched it for years now. My lure of choice these days is Jesus Himself. In the mysterious dynamic of men moving toward God where our will is somehow involved yet subordinate to God’s drawing, I believe the best lure today is something very much like I see in this passage, “Ok, you want to find God? Excellent! Come and see Him.”
Where I perceive God is drawing a person, I simply pass along Jesus’ invitation, “Come and you will see.” If you follow this lure with an honest heart far at all what you will see is that you are being drawn. I am not too big on trying to snag fish with patented gospel presentations these days. I want people to taste the bait for themselves and see that He is good. They need to come and personally discover that out of a crazy powerful love God is present and intimately involved in all the affairs of our lives. In our taking the bait, we need to surrender to this love and be transformed as we are held by the powerful currents of our grace infused backstory which is simply Jesus who was and is and is to come.
The Blue Book is one of the best invitations I have come across. I believe it is one of God’s favorite lures. Its been extremely successful in drawing men to himself in the waters where I fish.
All glory power and honor be unto Him forever more. Amen
