Questions (Sunday) – Mark 10:46-52

Questions – Mark 10:46-52

I did not know my parents and grandparents as well as I would have liked. Other than what I could infer about them by their behavior, I didn’t really know who they were. I knew a little of the what of them but I wanted to know more of the why. In the event, my children or theirs cared to know the why of me, MwM is available. Prompted by Bartemaeus, and a compulsion to tell my story, I have answered a question …

Does Jesus still heal people?

I do believe Jesus still heals people but as one who lives unhealed with chronic pain, this question has haunted me. Holding on to a belief, as the apparent evidence to the contrary, is a set up for deferred hope which will also make the heart sick. If you want to know the why of me, you will need to know where my “Yes” regarding healing began.

My life in Christ began in 1976. It was like being shot out of a cannon. Because of the immediate changes he made in my heart and the love which he inundated me with, I had every reason to believe this Jesus I had encountered was the same guy in the bible who healed people and did miracles. I concluded that the New Testament must be God’s yardstick – life was to measure out in a New Testament-or-better way.

I had grown up as a social paralytic … painfully shy. However, when Jesus entered my life I had a story to tell and I could not shut up. He had set me free and, by God, he intended to do that for all men! After all, I was not special. I wondered, who was this guy jabbering on and and on? The whole thing was like an out of body experience.

As I looked down on motor-mouth Rob, a strange thing was happening – I noticed a cloud forming between him and other (more mature?) Christians. What’s up with this? Upon hearing my story, they would shut down or even walk away. Others tried to gently break the news to me that Jesus really isn’t doing the miracle thing anymore. Your kidding! This was quite disorienting to me as a young impressionable Christian. As, a recent miracle, I was dubious.

I didn’t know it, but I was born again right on top of on one of the larger fault-lines of Christianity. On one side there were Christians who believed miracles and the gifts were childish things, done away with after the death of the apostles. The bible (the perfect) had come and was now the only source of inspiration for them. In this camp, the Holy Spirit’s main job was to interpret scripture.

I sincerely didn’t want to be rude to the sola scripture – segment of my new family but I knew God was still revealing himself to men and speaking to them because he had just done this with me. As I told my story, I watched a cloud form which, I learned, could become stormy and even threatening. As I gave an account of the new hope within me, the right hand of fellowship was withdrawn. I loved these people. This made my heart sick.

On the other side of the fault line there were those who were excited, like myself, that Jesus was the same then, now and forever. They were zealous in their exploration of New Testament life. The Holy Spirit was right in the middle of it all. Admittedly, on this side of the divide, there were plenty of things to raise an eyebrow or even a scriptural-based question but nevertheless, it was among this group that I took my first steps as a baby Christian. Since this tribe was pursuing a biblical reality and happened to be the only ones who would accept me, I threw my lot in with them. Miracles, here we come.

At least that is what I anticipated. However, after I watched hundreds of prayers for healing go unanswered, many of which were prayed in behalf of my body, my heart started feeling sick all over again. As my expectations were undershot by a few miles, I had to ask, “What is wrong with me that I do not experience divine health which, I had been taught, is my birthright?” It was as though I were lost again, except this time – within Christendom.

I became very discouraged trying to connect theologically to either side of the family. Each believed, with certainty, theirs was the way regarding the miraculous. Sadly, the more prideful, insecure and often prominent, would train their doctrine guns at the more obvious heretics across the line.  I have been caught in many a crossfire and, to be honest, doctrinal arguments whizzing through my brain and over my head effect my heart in a sickening way.

As I have continued to trek along the fault lines, how often I have thought I would love to have a systematic, air-tight theology that removed the mystery and answered my myriad questions. But the Lord, I believe, has prevented this. It seems that mystery, at least for me, is the context where faith, hope and love must grow. The absence of certainty is the odd yet fertile place where faith grows best in my life.

Here Along The Fault Line (that was Dylan song wasn’t it?) I have made a choice that I am not going to be offended when I fail to get miracles on demand. Yet, I am going to presume Christ is still a healer and pray along that line. On grounds of my biblical understanding and personal experience, I am going to reject the notion that Jesus has changed his mission. Just because I haven’t experienced my miracle doesn’t prove they no longer exist.

Jesus is, in the essence of his being, a healer. This reality is not altered by my incomplete experience. I have wanted outcomes to hedge my faith bets. Instead, God wants faith to precede outcomes. He says faith itself is the assurance of these things we hope for.

Perhaps, like Bartemaeus, we too have issues with our vision. Perhaps, the cry from our hearts should be the same as his, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us !” If we feel some heartache  regarding the division within Christ’s Body,  or we find a longing for miracles, perhaps in the midst of our deferred-heart pain, if we will bear it for a while, we will hear Jesus asking us …

What do you want me to do for you?

I believe we too, if we will persevere and not feint by giving into disappointment, will one day, perhaps very soon, hear Jesus say to us …

Go your way; your faith has made you well.

Father, open the eyes of our hearts. Grant us the spiritual courage to ask questions. Grant us the perseverence to lay hold of that for which we were laid hold of – things which eye has not seen nor ears have heard – these good works which you have prepared for us to walk in. Lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

 

 

Questions (Saturday) – Mark 8:1-30

Today’s passage is laden with questions …

How many loaves do you have?” “Why does this generation seek a sign?” “Why do you discuss the fact you have no bread?” “Do you not yet see or understand?” “Do you have a hardened heart?” “Do you not remember…how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” “Do you not yet understand?” “Do you see anything?” “Who do the people say that I am?” “Who do you say that I am?” (all from Mark 8)

A Christian is thought to be maturing as they progress in hearing God’s voice and heeding His commands. I wholeheartedly agree. This is how servants and bond slaves relate to their Lord. However, He has also called us children. Children and questions are made for each other. Since God is not suffering from a knowledge deficit, perhaps He uses questions to stimulate our brains. Perhaps God likes to watch His children think.

I am a grandfather and my grandchildren are the best show in town. I am so impressed when they hear and obey but I am on the edge of my seat when I see them thinking. Their is magic when their agile and creative minds are engaged by a question. I love watching their wheels turn, assembling from their limited experience and knowledge, answers which make perfect sense to them.

It appears that learning is accelerated more by questions than by commands. This makes sense because, in answering a question, one must take ownership. Their parents proudly watch their brains working and then let them live for a bit with the outcomes of their precious half-baked little ideas.

“OK Mommy, I won’t cut my sisters hair again.” (a recent half-baked little idea)

For cutest ever example, go to: http://gawker.com/5922086/npr-reporter-interviews-his-two-little-girls-after-one-gives-the-other-the-worst-haircut-ever

How does one discover the will of God – that which is good, acceptable and perfect? I have lived in camps where the Bible was the primary means. I have lived in others where the prophetic word was seen as the best way to get direction. Both have their point but there is still another way we can discover God’s will – through living. I believe God is sufficiently in control to ask us what we think and how we would approach a situation. Like a good parent with their child, I believe God gives us the latitude to explore – to get lost and even to be wrong.

God knows experimentation allows the lesson learned to become a part of us. He enjoys watching us as we try and answer His questions from our very limited thoughts and experiences. Is God big enough to accomplish His will and suffer our experiments and failures? I am betting on it. This way His truth becomes enfleshed in our lives – the Word becomes flesh, light shines from the darkness and His children are transformed into His image.

Perhaps we become frustrated in hearing God’s voice because we are listening for commands when He is actually asking questions. Perhaps our progress is limited because we are speaking when we should be listening. Questions provoke thought and dialogue. They create connection between us and God. Questions are appropriate for us as agents of free will – those who are learning to walk in His ways. Questions can create humility and fuel hunger. Questions become us.

Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3) 

Father, permit that our hearts would become mature in their childlikeness, flexible yet resolute, meek yet courageous, humble yet bold and innocent yet wise. Help us to hear the questions you are asking. Help us to ask the right questions of You. Help us to ask the right questions of each other. Raise up an army of people whose childlike and agile minds function in harmony with the Holy Spirit within them. As Your servants and sons, may we hear both Your commands and Your questions. May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

 

 

Questions (Friday) – John 21:1-19

Questions – John 21:1-19

The setting for our passage is this – Jesus had come and gone. His life on earth had begun as a divine embryo and concluded as a glorified human. The offering of his sinless life met the criteria of God’s justice, giving any human being who would believe in him the power to become a fully realized human being – something infinitely more than going to heaven when you die.

John, the disciple of whom it was rumored, Jesus especially loved, explains his motives for recording today’s passage …

These things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and in believing you may have life in His name.

The first question God asks us is …

Do you believe in me?

Our honest “Yes Lord” (which is also a gift) is our modest contribution to our rebirth. God lays the foundation stone, in Christ, and the human spirit is awakened to the possibility of communion with God. Eternity has overtaken our hearts and we are born anew! However, the next question will determine what gets built on this new foundation …

Do you love Me?

How do you respond? For many years this question deeply troubled me. I wanted to say with Peter, “Lord, you know that I love You” but there was a problem. That sentence, which I longed to say, would hang up in my conscience, which readily informed me that my life did not meet the criteria permitting such a reply. My foundation was in place, in Christ, and I enjoyed God’s favor in so many ways but I was still troubled. In the depths of me, I believed construction delays were being caused by my inability to say, with clear conscience, “Lord, I love you”.

I was haunted by a sense of unworthiness so, I just built it into my theology. It was like a perfect marriage (but one made in hell), “Do you Rob (insecure to the core) accept Depravity as your partner?” I responded wholeheartedly, “I do.” The vows had been exchanged and the two had become one. The merger resulted in a new identity – an elder brother was birthed.

This all made so much sense. God is great and I am not. He is large and I am small. He is holy so I must live in brokenness, which I thought of as the heart’s ongoing commitment to recall – my sin is ever before me. At this point I was all about the chores – I was now helping with construction. I read, prayed, studied, served and led. In my labors, I held out a feint hope for myself – If I did my chores well, perhaps one day I will turn that corner and break into that place others speak of, known as abiding. I reasoned, “If I did my chores, wholeheartedly as unto the Lord, perhaps I would one day (probably after I’m dead) hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

Ultimately God, in his kindness (which, I confess, felt severe at times) led me to repentance for my elder brother, works-oriented heart. He had heard my repeated cry; “Search me and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way“. (Psalm 139:23,24)

Had God not loved me while I was yet a sinner? Could anything separate me form his love? How did the idea that I was not measuring up coexist with my salvation? I tell you, it can easily happen because our hearts, even though they have been reborn, are not immune to deception.

It has many names; discipleship, transformation, spiritual formation, spiritual warfare or sanctification. Since, I am a contractor, I think of it all as construction – a building project spread out over a lifetime. The project has an architect, a general contractor, a location, a plan, a foundation, a superstructure, a general contractor and at least one very important laborer – us. We can sleep in, go on strike, calling in sick or even retire. Or, we can show up for work.

Job abandonment is insane. If we are not on the job, the enemy is going to sneak into the project, steel materials, vandalize, scribble on the plans and disrupt the process however he can. He is a master destructor and opportunist. And, If we show up, wearing our elder brother hat, we will assist him in construction delays.

A major project milestone is met when we show up and acknowledge we are exhausted and can go no further. At this point, the foundation is restored and the superstructure can proceed. God is once again building upon Christ and Christ alone. A lie has been exposed – we cannot work hard enough to earn God’s approval. “You do not measure up” is a hurtful way because it undermines the beautiful structure that Grace has planned.

God exposed the lie. He rescued my heart which had become conditioned to laboring in a vacuum of grace. Today, I can freely respond to the Lord, “I love You”. This liberty is certainly one of the more attractive features of the project! My renewed conscience informs me today that I am God’s possession and he is mine. We are each other’s treasure!  It really is finished! Further labor to win approval is a nonsensical and ultimately destructive notion.

John not only out-raced Peter to the empty tomb, he was also first to rest in God’s love. One who can rest his head upon God’s chest is no longer working for approval. This soul is at liberty to simply enjoy God’s company. Did Jesus have a greater love for John than Peter? No. John had simply presumed upon his friendship with Jesus and found that the foundation held up. The New Testament message is good because what John experienced is available to all who come to Jesus. John presumed upon God’s love and the rumors followed.

My first encounters with Jesus began with a literal inundation of God’s love. In spite of the obvious message in this experience, I reasoned (in my insecurity), “Rob (you screw up), you better work diligently so that you don’t jack this up like everything else in your life.” In my labors, I became the classic elder brother, alienating myself from Father’s affection. His perceived attitude toward me seemed so unfair since I had done my chores so diligently for so long and so much better than my siblings. What can be said to us elder brothers?  Here is what I eventually heard …

Congratulations on that performance! Enjoy the brief applause (even if its only your hands clapping) because you have just received your reward in full.

If we must have a blue print to followI would suggest one depicting – a heart, steeped so thoroughly in God’s grace that it is privately and continually saying to him, face to face, “Lord, I love you. I love you! I love you!!” This beautiful structure can rise from the ashes only because we have ceased from our labors. We have finally realized experientially that God has loved us first. With his cross – the demonstration of his love, he has permanently and totally demolished the basis for our guilt-laden introspection and labors. That false foundation has been obliterated! This is the really good news about the Good News!

Note; I can testify that a heart laboring for approval paints a huge works-shaped bullseye on your back – a nearly perfect target for the enemy’s fiery missiles. When the missiles hit, the result is initially condemnation, then our response follows, It is either depression or, more typically (for the devout), a doubling-down on religious resolve which is driven more by fear than love. There is problem …

                                          Working without resting produces religion.

Religion is one of the most hurtful things that can grow in a human heart. It is every bit as ugly as debauchery but it looks pretty good, depending on your angle of view. We elder brothers and Pharisees have stacked one good work upon another, liking what we see. Sadly, others have viewed it and found it rigid, unattractive and even bizarre in appearance. Religion, as it should, drives people away.

Father, may we have life in your name. We pray that you would demolish the foundations of religion in our hearts – these places always teetering between self-condemnation and self-congratulations. Demo the places where we are measuring worth by performance. Teach us to live boldly at rest in your love. May the world watch as we rest our heads upon your chest. May we live so that others will believe, and as with John, may the rumors spread. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Questions (Thursday) – John 13:1-15

Questions – John 13:1-15

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.             

The intense light of these verses reveals a foundational reality; we live temporarily in a world inhabited by the devil. Foundational reality produces wisdom who teaches us that our hour of departure will also come. While we remain in this world there is both – a devil trying to plant lies in our hearts and, an opportunity for us to expose and overcome them. One surprising place God attempts to do this is at funerals.

Funerals remind us of our transience. These solemn assemblies are often the times of quiet we have failed to take, providing long overdue reflection. For an hour, deep calls unto deep, eternity tampers with the temporal, pressing upon us things we somehow know are vital. As Pastor asks, “Oh death, where is thy sting” many can find it right in their hearts as they mourn for others, and themselves. Our hearts may be at their very best, in these moments.

The grieving are then dismissed. We step outside, back onto the treadmill of this world, which is busy dying and trying hard not to think about it. I’m sure the devil meets us at the door and skillfully assists us in our return to denial. Many of Satan’s most potent lies are designed to mask our transcience. When we agree with them, we become friends of this world instead of remaining as the aliens and strangers, we actually are. So, what are we to do, embedded in a world that is asleep at the wheel? We can follow Jesus example …

If I then, the Lord and The Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have friends who engage in spiritual warfare at high levels. They are conscious of the battles, like the one where Daniel’s prayers hung-up for 21 days. I am grateful for their faith and their prayers. Even though they have a heavenly orientation, they recognize the battle has two fronts. They know, perhaps better than most, this same battle is being waged on earth where mankind is stumbling badly, trying to make sense of his brief appearance.

Where our feet come into contact with our wounded planet – defiled and defiant, we are not without exposure. As against of free will, we can succumb to the gravity of sin; we can be pulled into denial and the indulgences it facilitates. So, in order to equip the ground forces, the Lord said,

For I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you…If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

The funeral home experience gave us a brief glimpse of the pain and loss that surrounds us. If our eyes could only remain open just a bit longer, after the last respects have been paid, we would discover that we are surrounded by lonely, hurting and confused people, most of whom are pursuing the American dream as their shot at happiness. Where this is the case, the enemy is winning; denial is serving his ends. Jesus calls this flock, “confused and aimless, sheep with no shepherd.”  And, he would add, “What a huge harvest!” (from Matt 9:36)

While the American dream has been lauded as the hope of mankind, it is at best, a temporary arrangement. One of the problems is that it was born in rebellion and still breeds, an independence that is incompatible with the kingdom of God. Capitalism and democracy have teamed up to generate more material blessing than any previous team but, surely we see that it has not insured peace and happiness. If its a good dream, why do we have the crisis’ we do?

Sadly, the wealth created in our pursuit of happiness, often creates space between us and our neighbors, both physical and relational. This is a problem since it is these neighbors Jesus told us to love as ourselves. How can we be isolated from others and serve them as the Lord instructed us to? The religious right will try me on counts of treason here but I believe there are fatal lies embedded in an uncensored American dream. If these so called fatal lies exist, what are they and, in what ways have we been duped?

So far in human history, free market capitalism has proven to be the most efficient way to create material abundance; yet, without self-denial it is will become the American nightmare. A dream that claims its independence from God and each other will soon see its own funeral. If the U.S. does not confirm its national soul in self-control it will fail to reconcile liberty and law. It will forfeit the true freedoms God intended for her. Here is a worthy plea by C. L. Bates …

America! America! / God mend thine ev’ry flaw, / confirm thy soul in self-control, / thy liberty in law.

We have moved in our grieving from our neighbor’s death to our nation’s dying. Can America be saved, or will the dream of it be encased in a coffin similar to Europe’s post-Christian model? Who will save us? If we think it will be the federal government, we are deluded. At the same time, we are equally deceived if we think, a new regime of politicians, who we like, will save us. The problem is much deeper than political discourse has address, so far.

As Arthur Brooks has proposed in his book, The Conservative Heart, our problems are not complicated matters that can be solved by public policy – this would be the pinnacle of arrogance. Our problems are complex and systemic, meaning, we are going to be living with them, and working through them, together, for a long while.  Jesus said, “The poor, you shall always have with you.” Brooks touts a kind of hope for America (including the poor) that is birthed in an others-oriented kind of independence. He envisions men becoming social entrepreneurs – innovators in serving others. He sees the ground troops creating abundance without being attached to it. Amen Arthur.

Without going christian-ese on his readership, he has found an overlap between the American dream and the kingdom of God. Isn’t there a movie, Mr. Brooks Goes To Washington? There is hope folks! He is already there. He is the President of the American Enterprise Institute. GIve him a call. At least read his book. Recall Reagan’s famous line …

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.

Having read Mr. Brooks views and those of Jesus, I might say …

In our present crisis, no institution (governmental or ecclesiastical), can be the solution to our problem. We must be the solution to our problem.

Back to the bible, which fortunately addresses the systemic problem we face …

There is hope. The New Testament is crammed with instruction on how we are to live together. This very moment you and I are connected to a variety of networks in our work, in leisure, and in family. Someone, right next to us, is needing us. God’s Kingdom will one day displace Satan’s temporal kingdom of lies. One day, by God’s grace, we will overcome the unhealthy type of independence which breeds isolation.

By God’s grace, our networks will one day connect. Kingdom communities will be birthed. Kingdom growth will be fostered as we identify the Satan’s lies and evict them. Momentum will build as we repent of our association with darkness. Our minds will become renewed and we will demonstrate the will of God – that which is good acceptable and perfect.

So, let’s find the soiled feet nearest us. Let’s gird ourselves with towels, and begin to cleanse what we may, here on earth in the lowest places, knowing we are fighting the good fight at a very high and strategic level. Remember Jesus promised …

                                If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Father, we pray you would awaken us from our slumber. Expose the enemy’s stratagems. Trump them with the Truth you have planted in our hearts . May it grow and produce an unimaginably large harvest. May the Word of God soon cover this earth as an ocean, displacing every lie that has held humanity in bondage since the Garden. Beginning with us, connect the army you have strategically located for the great and final crisis. Teach us to number our days that we may present to you a heart of wisdom.  Help us to resist the devil that he might flee from us in terror. Amen.

 

Questions (Wednesday) – John 11:17-44

Questions – John 11:17-44

How can I become a Christian?

What a crucial question! The classic evangelical answer, in my lifetime, has been, “You must ask Jesus into your heart”. Even though the phrase “ask Jesus into your heart” is not even in the Bible, many have come into the kingdom by way of this contemporary phrase because it can embody the biblical injunction to believe and to submit. Recall; Jesus is a savior and a king. However, If someone were to ask me today, “How can I become a Christian?” I will likely refer them to John 11:25-26 and let Jesus personally convey to them …

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.

I might invite them out for coffee in a week or so and follow up with the same question Jesus asked …

                                                                  Do you believe this?

If we could poll the hearts of all those who have been authentically born again, I believe we would find that all live rebirths share a miraculous common denominator – they believed in him.

Pretty simple isn’t it? Yet, having a savior in heaven is one thing, having a Lord living in our hearts at breakfast is another. Where the Eternal Seed takes root, we begin discovering his life within a very personal tension. We discover that we have our ways and he has his, which are somewhat higher than ours. We also learn he has this notion it is to everyone’s benefit that we lose every argument. Welcome to the kingdom.

In three different places in this passage we see the inevitable tension. ( John 11:21, 32 and 37.) In our passage, we see an If only – attitude being exposed in Martha and Mary, who believed Jesus was the Messiah. This sentence may sound foreign, but the sisters (as believers) had inherited eternal life, and within the tension (as heirs) they were inheriting eternal life.

“If only” – a seemingly innocuous phrase is a thin disguise for our anything-but-innocent attitudes. At its core, “If only”, betrays dissatisfaction and disaproval. The holy spirit will eventually expose us. We will hear our heart’s protest  – “Oh man!” or “That’s not fair!” or “What’s the deal!” Sarcasm also betrays this attitude – “Oh, that’s just perfect!” Decoded, these phrases are all asking the wrong question …

Couldn’t you have done this as I had thought best?

Disciples eventually learn that Jesus is invested in every aspect of their lives and he knows, in each of these areas, how we are to think and what we are to do. Discovering that the Spirit indwells us and has actually become our life is foundational to knowing Jesus as Lord. Walking in the Spirit, living out of his life, involves the ongoing experience of repentance – the laying down of our opinions for his truth, and our preferences for his ways. This is also called discipleship.

Tragically, in our have-It-your-way / seeker-friendly culture, discipleship has become an optional track within Christendom, an experience reserved for those called into ministry. Discipleship has been cast as a works-oriented, excessive burden to be carried by those “in ministry”. Discipleship is nothing more than learning to daily live out of God’s life within us. Being a disciple is neither exclusive nor heavy. Jesus said …

                                                     My burden is easy and my yoke is light.

Only a few special saints are called into ministry and discipleship is reserved for them – what a lie! No doubt a demon achieved great notoriety in Hell for the crafting of these whoppers. Will there be notoriety in heaven for saints who overcame these demonic strongholds? Probably not. That awards banquet is going to be all about Jesus – the Truth, who ultimately expressed his life through his younger brothers and sisters. These children of the kingdom ultimately arose and overturned the lies which separated discipleship from Christianity and relationship from religion.

I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.

If we do stand before God and give an account of our lives, (which I anticipate) I can imagine him handing out those white stones to the overcomers referred to in Revelation 2:17. I have allowed my imagination to run a while on this track; I dearly want to hear him say, “Well done good and faithful servant. You have crossed the finish line in full stride. I shall call you ‘Hoss’.” If that name is already taken and I looked down and my stone reads, “Real Deal”, I would be equally stoked.

In summary, salvation was never meant to be a stand-alone event – something that happened way back when. It is true, there was a “when” that we received grace to believe. In that moment, Jesus – the Life of God, invaded our still-born spirits. This was the beginning of our salvation – a lifeprocess of working out his life with awe and wonder. Discipleship is not a program or a course. It is a lifestyle. No matter what you haven’t been told or how alien this post may sound, discipleship is integral to normal christianity and it is for all who believe.

Father, thank you that you persevere with us even as we insist on doing life on our own terms. Let our folly run its course. As light, let us overcome darkness. May our lives serve as living proof you have sent Jesus – who saved us and is saving us. Amen.

 

 

 

Questions (Tuesday) – John 5:1-9

Questions (Tuesday) – John 5:1-9

                                                              Do you wish to get well?

Why would Jesus ask such an obvious question? Do not all sick people wish to get well? Do not all captives wish to be free?

Not necessarily. Law enforcement dealing with abuse, hostage and kidnap cases know that a victim can adapt to their enslavement and bond with their captor. This is called Stockholm- syndrome. Like proverbial frogs in a kettle we can settle for environments, and ideas, which are lethal as long as they are introduced to us in manageable increments. Even after discovering we are in dangerously hot water, we may opt to stay there just because things have become familiar. Think old wineskins.

In our passage Jesus was confronting a victim of Jerusalem syndrome, a common RTD (Religiously Transmitted Disease). To rescue the man, Jesus had to derail his familiar thinking with a question. He asks the man, “Do you wish to get well or would you prefer to remain here in all this familiarity as a disabled victim?” After the man described his hopeless circumstances, Jesus said to him …

                                                     Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.

With a question and a command Jesus enabled this man to trade in the familiar for the impossible.

The scriptures answer the questions we should be asking. Hopefully, as aliens and strangers in this earth, we are at least asking ourselves, “Where am I?” The bible will tell us we are in a battle and that our hearts are both the battle ground and the prize. If this awareness is absent from our consciousness we are already in very hot water. We are central in this battle between God and Satan. Scripture describes our battle as a conflict between light and darkness. In our battle,  the enemy has taken many captives by way of many dark-philosophies and theologies. Tragically, wrong ideas can become familiar to us. We will even zealously protect them. I know this first hand.

Ironically, my own prison was constructed from legitimate truths which I embraced with a damaged heart. Insecurity in God’s love led me to embrace depravity as my core identity – “What a wretch am I.” Depravity led me to embrace God’s sovereignty as fatalism. Fatalism led to passivity and hopelessness in all things except an after-life, when I would finally be free of me. When jesus would come to me and ask, “Son …

                                                              Do you wish to get well?

I would respond, “Oh Lord, if only that were possible. My sin is ever before me. You know I would like to be free but things, being fixed as they are, make this impossible. Oh Lord, please do not take your Holy Spirit from me. I am just a sinner saved by grace and this fate of mine is to be expected, here in this fallen world. Oh Lord, I’m a lost cause but Ill be alright. I know you are busy. Why don’t you spend your valuable time on someone who can receive you.” I’m sure his response was …

Oh Lord.

In my prison, I spent a great deal of time in dark introspection. My thoughts and deeds reinforced my self image as one with a desperately sick heart, beyond understanding and beyond help. Not surprisingly, I was also struggling to receive and enjoy God’s love. I reasoned, as I sulked in my depravity, that discipline and even judgement should be my due from a holy God. I was experiencing chronic Jerusalem syndrome. I had grown comfortable with ideas about God and myself based on half-truths, also known as lies. I was getting cooked alive.

In my story, events transpired which led me to reconsider my essential identity. Eventually, after God did an especially gracious thing in my heart, I was able to see that I was more than just a sinner saved by grace. I was a saint. On top of that, I was also a son and a friend of God’s. From this place it became easier to acknowledge and receive God’s love. That is a BIG DEAL! Since then, a great deal of shame and guilt have been edited out of my thought process. I feel as though God plucked this frog out of the pan that he might live, and do so abundantly.

It was as if Jesus had come to me and said, “Rob, do you wish to get well or do you prefer to remain a prisoner to your precious half-truths?” This derailing question was necessary because God knew I was entrapped by toxic and familiar ideas. My theology explained my reality. That reality was the foundation of all my reasoning. Having our cosmology (why things go as they do) altered is the equivalent of a psychic earthquake. The question became, “Rob, will you trade the familiar for the impossible? Give me your incomplete identity as a sinner saved by grace and, in exchange, I will give you a fuller identity as my son and friend.” The Holy Spirit was breaking down all my syndromes and preparing a place for Jesus in my heart.

The enemy delights in any theology that discounts how we see ourselves or distorts how we see God. One of Satan’s strategies is to limit our involvement in the battle by trapping us in our insecurity with bad theology.

One day, when all the enemy’s half-truths have been exposed, I see the Church becoming agents of healing. Through a liberated Body of Christ, who has grasped her identity and assumed her destiny, the sick in both mind and body, will be set free. That is what it will look like when God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven.

Father, strengthen our hearts. Help us to be bold and courageous in our faith. Lead us to that place where we anticipate, in all arenas of the battle, to see you doing good, exceedingly above and beyond our understanding and expectation. Please show us where we are constricted by half-truths, however comfortable we have become with them. May our beliefs grow to be in-sync with the you, to whom nothing is impossible. Amen.