by RobertCummins | Nov 23, 2015 | 47. Wholeness
Wholeness – Mark 5:24-34
A large crowd was following Him and pressing in on Him.
We know God so loved the world; no doubt he loved this crowd; no doubt he loved the nation of Israel. Yet, the New Testament reveals, his penchant for demonstrating it one life at a time.
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matthew 7:13-14
Our passage reveals God, in Christ, walking among the many, traveling in the company of a few, yet eventually dealing with just one.
For many are called, but few are chosen. Matthew 22:14
Many were following Jesus for sake of their nation. A major prophet was in their midst. They hoped he had come to restore their nation to God. Their nationalistic zeal was being stirred. The unclean Romans would be evicted, Jews would rule their own affairs. Then there were the curious – nothing this interesting had ever been heard of. They weren’t about to miss the show. These motives accounted for the many.
A few on the other hand were practically stalking Jesus. These people were motivated by debilitating physical conditions that had backed them into corners. The woman in our story had exhausted her resources in pursuit of healing yet she was getting worse – “What happens when I die? What will become of my dependents?” She was desperate. She simply needed Jesus. It didn’t matter to her if he was a great prophet or the Messiah. She just wanted to be whole.
The tiny seed of an idea had been planted when she had “heard about Him“. The soil condition in her heart allowed that seed to geminate and take root. It’s expression, as it blossomed, was; “If I just touch His garments, I shall get well.” Had this woman been chosen – receiving the gift of faith and consequently her healing? Or, was there something she contributed that distinguished her from the many, making her the latest from the crowd to join the few?
Jesus points to her faith. Faith is the smallest of seeds. The Sower sows it liberally that many will see its fruit yet few respond. In the subtlest of thoughts and whispers, it can be overlooked. Some salvage that live-or-die moment when their hearts can say “yes” to the seed. Our story provides a front row seat where we get to see what happens when a person’s “Yes” separates from the many and they become whole.
Lord, may our hunger for you grow. Grant us acute awareness of our need. May it merge with our “Yes.” May faith arise. May you be glorified and honored. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 23, 2014 | 47. Wholeness
Isaiah 26:1-15
The passage begins with, “In that day this song will be sung ” The theme of “forward looking” is not uncommon in scripture as different prophetic voices speak to the events of future days. The day that “that” is referring to here is that day when;
the Lord of host will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow and refined aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all the peoples, even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. And it will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:6-9)
OK….we know there will be singing in “that” day but what song are we to sing in “this” day, right now? This question might be particularly important if “right now” our hearts do not feel like singing. How do we compose music in our hearts without the gush of inspiration or when our appraisals are inclined to affirm dismal trends? I believe we can move toward an answer by looking at Isaiah 26:3,4;
The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace (shalom), because he trust in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.
Back to this future banquet to be held in “that” day, I suppose that as much as anything I desire it is to attend this banquet. If there is anything that causes me to tremble it is my awareness that many invitations have been sent out for this affair and the RSVP of most indicated regrets that they would not be able to attend due to the engagements they had in this world. It causes me to tremble that some who were en route to the party, ran out of oil and were not permitted to enter. And in some cases those who were being invited even killed those delivering the invitations!
I believe we RSVP daily for that banquet in the way we compose our song. It’s relatively easy to write music when circumstances are indicating promising trends but what do we do when we are in pain, or when the stock market crashes, or when that relationship is strained or that negative-whatever is haunting you? Here is a great irony and a potentially very encouraging truth; It is in these moments especially that our songs have the potential to become the sweetest of symphonies to the Lord’s ears.
If we will keep our minds and hearts steadfast by rejecting bitterness and resentment and just cast our cares upon Him, our inner conflicts can be transformed into lyrics of longing like those we find in this passage, saying that;
Indeed, while following the way of Thy judgements, O Lord, we have waited for Thee eagerly; Thy name, even Thy memory, is the desire of our souls. At night my soul longs for Thee, indeed my spirit within me seeks Thee diligently; for when the earth experiences Thy judgements the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (vs. 8,9)
I believe when the lights are brought up in the banqueting hall, there will be a dawning that will reveal that our circumstances and those of the world’s were always being influenced by the judgements of God. By this I mean that at any moment in time, for both individuals and nations, because of His readiness to save, there was redemptive potential hidden in all our affairs, especially the painful ones. Some, by faith, will persevere and find themselves at this banquet hosted by the Lord Himself, surrounded by kindred spirits; but for others;
Oh Lord, Thy hand was lifted up yet they did not see it.
Father, help us to hear the music within us and discern its Composer. Help us to recognize and edit out the contributions from this world, our flesh and the devil. Help us to persevere until our lyrics are filled with hope, faith and joy, until the rhythms are in time with the Holy Spirit’s movements, until we hear the harmony created by the unity of Your children’s voices. Thank you that we can say even now that we rejoice and are glad in our salvation. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 22, 2014 | 47. Wholeness
Psalm 23:1-6
As I read; “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want“, my thinking backtracked to Thursday’s writing when, after some reflection on John 20:19-20, I asked;
What kind of God would lead us into circumstances so heartbreaking and dangerous and then come and say “Peace be with you?” Well…its the same God, who is also called the Prince of Peace who said, “Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword“.
As I was reading this morning’s passage, “the sword” in Hebrew 4:12 also came to mind; “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
With my salvation came an understanding that I was no longer my own; I had been purchased and now belonged to Another. With my salvation also came a spirit that had somehow become awakened to the scriptures. I assumed this was because the new Spirit in me was compatible with the Spirit who inspired those printed words in my bible. All this to say, as His, I gave Him, as best as I knew how, the freedom to use this sword, this Spirit of Truth, in my heart. This process, where the razor edge of truth and reality touch the untrue and darkened places of my heart, is what I have come to think of as “the circumcision that is of the heart, by the Spirit of Truth, that Paul mentions in Romans 2:29.
As I read Psalm 23 this morning it just seemed to invite me to consider how integral the Spirit and the Word have been as the Shepherd has used them in leading me though valleys with long shadows where I thought my soul had died and then into green pastures with quiet waters where my soul has acquired peace.
“I shall not want” is a large statement. I think if we were to sit down and write our “personal history of wanting” it would tell us much. I have come to believe that the sword with its cutting and mending process has had an effect on my wantings. As a young Christian, I began with almost no wants. I was totally happy just knowing I belonged to Him. Somehow over time things changed as I got busier serving the Lord. Wanting began to surface in my prayers, “Oh Lord, I want to please You. Oh Lord, I want a clean heart.” For many years wanting more of God characterized my longings and prayers.
It was just a few years ago, the Lord reminded me of my beginnings with Him that were so simple and free of want. Even now, I look across the page in my bible and see one of the first prayers that ever formed itself in my heart;
“One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple.”
Ironically, at the peak of my religious zeal, I felt close to giving up. I was privately in despair regarding the idea that I might know Christ in a more intimate way. Fortunately, He had heard my prayer and never forgot it. Fortunately He is faithful when we are not. As the scalpel was withdrawn recently, and I began to mend, I noticed that my wanting level had gone way down similar to those days I had known as young believer. I attribute this to the Lord, having cut something away from my heart that was dead but was posing as something alive in the form of a zeal of wanting more of God.
Truth unbalanced can have a radical impact on the formation of our spirits. Even though as a new follower of Christ, I heard Him clearly proclaim His love for me and delight in me, I was simultaneously hearing from the establishment, by way of sermon and song, that my heart was inherently wretched and destined to stray. I was led to participate in somber ceremonies of remembrance and taught to deeply introspect about my fallen and depraved nature. I arose from communion, redoubling my commitment to resist my flesh and live for God. If I could create a formula for spiritual despair, this is it.
While it is true that in Adam I am a fallen man; it is also true that in-Christ, I am a resurected one. Today, when I am tempted to think my heart is primarily wretched, I pretty quickly hear the Lord say that He is delighted in me and that my heart is clean before Him. The advocates of fallen-heart models of introspective-repentance will tremble for my soul because they believe that we must carry our cross of brokenness so that our sin will be ever before us like David. The thinking follows that if we do this He will not take His Holy Spirit from us. This belief system mandates that loosing sight of the fallen nature will lead to heresy and/or unrighteous living. While this type of spirituality might look impressive, it only produces Pharisees and anxious saints who have not yet learned to rest in the finished work of the cross.
Many saints are rediscovering the identities God desired to impart to them at their rebirth. They have not lost sight of the reality that their fallen natures can be stimulated by sin but they have learned that introspection and doubling down on commitment is a trap. Instead of fearing and honoring the power of their fallenness, they are learning that a deeper Truth resides within them. They are discovering that Christ, the resurrected One is resident within them with His kingdom and that He alone is the hope of any glory and light that their life might produce. They are celebrating the fact that they are brand new creatures in Christ and that this is a superior reality than that of their depravity.
Father, as our hearts are awakened to the fulness of our salvation may we cast off our sackcloth and ashes. May we fill our lamps with oil and dress ourselves for the celebration feast that is set before us even now. May our lamps be continually full of oil and grow brightly with the joyful radiance of new life as we make our way triumphantly to that ultimate affair; the Marriage Supper of Your Lamb. May it never escape the notice of our hearts that we are not just guests at the feast; rather we are Your Bride. Consummate Your love in our hearts that we may glow with a holy fire. May this dying world see us as our heads are rested upon Your breast. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 21, 2014 | 47. Wholeness
John 14:25-31
A few years ago I became acquainted with a marvel of creation called a carbon nanotube (CNT). This incredibly strong and incredibly small carbon molecule will radically alter the properties of other materials if and when they are introduced into them. But, as I have followed the story of CNT’s, I have watched the industries that will one day be dramatically effected by them demonstrate a peculiar indifference. “Yes”, they say, “We are aware that nano tubes exist and that they are truly amazing, but …until you demonstrate this to us on a very large scale, we are not going to divert our attention from what we are doing. We won’t invest our resources because we are content with the properties of the materials currently available to us. We are familiar with them and we are tooled-up to use them.”
It occurs to me that “peace” is quite a lot like a nano tube. Peace comes from the Hebrew word “shalom”. The meaning of this word is much bigger than our efficient english language conveys. It can best be translated as prosperity, tranquility, well-being, safety and security according to Jim Branch, the Blue Book’s author. He also says that our word “wholeness” is the closest word in our language to shalom.
Before Jesus ascended he said, Peace (or wholeness) I leave with you; My wholeness I give to you..so do not be troubled or fearful“. Wholeness of the type that Jesus has left us is like a nanotube in that it too is incredibly powerful and overlooked. Christians know it exists because the bible has told us so. We know it will radically alter lives and society if and when it is introduced, but we have never seen it on a broad scale, so we are not going to slow down to examine or invest much in something that seems to exist mostly in theory. Anyway, we are used to functioning without prosperity, tranquility, well-being, safety and security. We are so used to our lack of wholeness, we are not going to divert our attention from the ways we have tooled-up to cope and manage our lives.
However, just as there are innovators and early adopters in the realm of science and industry who make discoveries that change the world, there are also pioneers of this sort within the body of Christ. They are those who have not only read the bible and made profession of its truth; they have also determined that those truths were meant to be experienced and are giving themselves to that enterprise. In the same way the stock of the innovating nanotube companies are currently overlooked, I believe the kingdom of God, with its righteousness, SHALOM and joy is also overlooked and dramatically undervalued.
We know that His kingdom is an eternal realm. We know that it is within us. We know that its government will increase. But still, in spite of these things, many believe the kingdom is out of reach for man in his depraved condition therefore when we pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done“, we see the kingdom as a then rather than a now possibility. Because we are so preoccupied with our fallen natures, I think we believe the kingdom can only be built by man in glorified bodies.
I am no theologian or scholar. I am just an investor with some “talents” I have been entrusted with. I am betting my talents that Jesus is a valiant warrior, a jealous lover and a benevolent, determined and loving Monarch who will see His Bride, the Church glorified in this earth. I believe as the Church reevaluates herself through the lens of a now-kingdom of God, she will rediscover her royal identity, her inheritance and her destiny as the light of this world.
Even now as we are confronted with the unlikelyhood and seeming impossibility of God’s kingdom overthrowing the kingdoms of this earth, we can have the peace Jesus left us because;
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father has sent in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
Father, may those of us who have buried our talents dig them back up again and reinvest them by faith into Your now-kingdom. Help us to realize Christ in us, the hope of glory. Help us to discover the resurrected life of Christ in us today. Help us to see ourselves as the new creations in Christ that we are. Raise up a new generation of kingdom innovators and early adopters who can help us to scale-up the righteousness, peace and joy of your kingdom so that the majesty of Your name would be acknowledged. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 20, 2014 | 47. Wholeness
John 20:19-31
Once again Jesus just materializes in their midst! I wonder if they got used to His unannounced and sudden appearances. Or, perhaps some of them, whose hearts had stopped thought, “Man! I wish He wouldn’t do that! I could picture Jesus smiling, knowing perfectly well what they were thinking, saying, “Peace be with you“. He is on record as wanting peace in our hearts but an observation about Jesus I have, that seems like a contradiction, is that He is a disrupter. Things do not remain the same when He is present. This passage highlights this observation.
The disciples were, as far as we know, gainfully employed three years ago, minding their own business, hoping that the Messiah would come and redeem Israel. Each day for them looked pretty much like the previous one. But, for the past three years each day had unfolded as a surprising adventure. Whether they realized this or not is doubtful, but they were daily privileged , in watching Jesus, to see what God the Father was like and how He wanted to relate to mankind. Like Adam and Eve, they were again walking in unhindered view and relationship with God. Instead of grasping that they were experiencing an aspect of Eden, their hearts were pining for a new golden age of Judaism in which their association to Jesus would insure significant opportunities for them.
But, instead of taking their places in a royal court, this passage finds them in hiding because the One they had hoped would usher in the new era had just been murdered. They had lost their best friend as well as their highest aspirations. Their dreams were now utterly crushed because the so-called Son of Man was not powerful enough to overcome the Jew’s religious regime or the Roman’s political one. The disciple’s circumstances were now stark barren of hope. The system, as usual, had won. In the unseen realm, Death too was gloating over his most recent victim. And, to make matters worse (if it were possible), their lives were endangered because of their association with a Man, who claimed greater authority than Caesar himself.
I suspect all disciples (not just church attenders) – those who have become authentic followers of Christ, have wondered as they surveyed their disrupted lives, “What have I got myself into?!” What kind of God would lead me into circumstances so heartbreaking and dangerous and then come and say, “Peace be with you.? Are you kidding?!” Well…its the same God, who is also called the Prince of Peace who said, “Do not think I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword“. He is the same kind of God who says that “he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.
Question: I wonder how many people, who, over the years, have invited Jesus into their hearts on the premise that He had a “wonderful plan for their lives” came to a place of total bewilderment as they took stock of the not-so-wonderful way this plan was playing out?
In the midst of the disciple’s worst nightmare, Jesus shows up and says, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you. Receive the Holy Spirit….Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed…..these things have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name“.
I see God, as One reserving His right to appear suddenly or to ask us to trust in His presence even when He seems quite absent. Like the disciples, because our view of what He is actually doing is often flawed, He must come and disrupt our peace and even break our hearts if need be in order to rescue us from any misplaced expectations and affections. In His loving sovereignty, He comes and says, “Peace be with you. As you are working your salvation out in the midst of various trials go out and, as heralds of peace, BE the good news – let your light shine before men by trusting in My presence, acknowledging that the world-system will not prevail and that neither death nor trials will have the last word. It will be you, whose story I am writing in the presence of an unbelieving world, which will be read so that others may see and believe that I am the Christ and they too will find life in My name.
Father, do what You must to adjust our vision to see the world through the lens of Your kingdom. In the midst of our circumstances, whatever they may be, help us to glorify You by living in a supernatural realm of peace and joy and love. For Your name’s sake. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Nov 19, 2014 | 47. Wholeness
Luke 24:36-53
Great persons come and go with much ceremony. “Advance” people come, making preparation prior to arrival. Heralds report as the VIP nears. An entourage of officials of lesser rank and status are in attendance. Then there is the greatest One of all who arrives, flying under the radar, arriving as an infant born into a common family. And now, just prior to His departure, He seems to still shun pomp and circumstance. He just materializes; scaring the wits out of His closest friends. While they were still on their heals in utter shock, He asks them,
Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
Jesus wasn’t searching for missing information when He asked questions. He knew exactly what was in man’s heart, especially His disciples. Yet…He asks anyway. I believe Jesus is always trying to jump start the reasoning in our hearts with His questions. He believes it is important for us to formulate the answers for ourselves so that we bump into the reality of where we are so that we can better get to where we are going.
To assure them he was not a dreaded specter, He permits them to examine the same body they had abandoned in Gethsamene that was ultimately impaled upon a cross. By touching His scars, they verified it was in fact Jesus. The body that had just popped into the room was made of flesh and bone, like the bodies they lived in. If they had been on their heels before, they have now been floored, possessed by the wonder and the joy of it all. I suspect, as they grasped the implications of Jesus’ resurrection life, hope and joy were rekindled regularly over the years to come.
Another way Jesus sustains us through the years and rekindles the fires within is by “opening our minds to understand the scriptures“. On this occasion, He permitted them to grasp that the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms were being fulfilled in Him. There are seasons where He permits us to connect the dots. The disciples were not scholars. They were not necessarily well read or educated men, yet in the years to follow they would turn the world upside down by simply proclaiming that there should be repentance for the forgiveness of sins because Christ has conquered sin and death. The disciples saw and even handled Jesus. We can understand why they believed. But, what has provoked the millions of others to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ who would not get to see the resurrected body?
There is no sin in giving our minds to the discipline of academic understanding and to the mastery of scriptural texts as long as we do not err by missing the Spirit who authored them. The sin would come by making our understanding of God our god. If we are depending on our knowledge as the vehicle moving us forward we have made learning our golden calf. We are in trouble because we were commanded to have no other God’s before him. We have also made a mockery of the disciples and the New Testament.
The disciples did not have seminaries or bible study reference materials. All they had was His Spirit. When Jesus opens a disciple’s mind to understand the scriptures its not to add to their knowledge base; it is to connect the dots between their minds and hearts; between their knowledge and their wills, between time and eternity. When that happens, transformation occurs. It was not scholarship that caused the gospel to take root. It was changed lives. It was the kingdom’s righteousness, peace and joy. It was about the essence of God’s life, finding expressions in human beings which gave credibility and authority to the message and cause for others to buy in. Changed hearts and lives, not knowledge, are the only true evidence of His resurrection. Without transformation, the claims of the gospel are hollow and unbelievable. The gospel will be far more credible when the Body of Christ is actually living in resurrection power.
Unfortunately, the gospel has too often been preached and pushed as a get-out-of-hell & into-heaven proposition only. While forgiveness and eternity security are great news, it is only partial news. The bigger picture is that the gospel was not intended as an end in itself. It was intended as a port-of-entry into the kingdom of God, which is a now– kingdom bringing with it now opportunities and responsibilities (discipleship) that go overlooked and unattended when getting out of hell and into heaven is the main point.
I am encouraged as I see so many believers from different faith communities focusing on the kingdom of God. It is my suspicion that as all our vast gospel knowledge and focus is recaptured into the context of the kingdom of God, many dots will get connected and His eternal life will find “new” and “now” expressions in the lives of His disciples. Only transformed lives can establish the credibility of Christ’s resurrection. I personally see no other hope for this world outside of Jesus’ prayer being answered;
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Father, help us to encounter afresh Your Spirit, who is Your promise, Who will clothe us with power from on high; who will heal our troubled and doubtful hearts. Open our minds and hearts fully that we may understand Your kingdom and the now implications it has for us as individuals and as the corporate expression of Your life in the here and now. Amen.
Note: Miracles are a great compliment to transformed lives. They were normative in the early church and they can be now.
