by RobertCummins | Nov 30, 2013 | 48. Together
John 17:20-26
My attention is drawn to verse 22. “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one…..that the world may know….”
I was recently involved in a discussion on the subject of humility. A few of us attempted to describe how our understanding of this word had been transformed. The word “glory” in verse 22 has further provoked my thoughts regarding humility.
A great deal of my Christian life has been lived as a devout religious person. After discovering God’s love for me, which was 100% free and unearned, I quickly devoted myself to living in a manner that would please Him. I studied the Bible. I memorized scripture. I witnessed. I fellowshipped. I prayed. All these things I did diligently which created opportunities for leadership.
However, as I ascended along this standard pathway of Christian growth, my heart, strangely, seemed to be on more of a downward trajectory. I was struggling privately with sin. I had been growing progressively barren of joy and suffered with some significant depression. Many of my key relationships were strained or broken. I was growing progressively angry at the unfairness of this. How could it be that while I was devoting myself to doing good I was personally doing so badly!! My solution was always to redouble my commitment and rededicate myself to the spiritual disciplines which usually ended up just producing more guilt as I failed to ever study, pray or witness enough to overcome the shame I had grown accustomed to as the normal load of my cross to bear.
Nothing could have been more apparent to me than the fact that my depraved nature was a domineering force that I would be wrestling with (and apparantly loosing to) until the day I die. Sure enough; my heart was just like the bible had said; it was desperately sick. All that I could find comfort (and a bit of pride) in was the fact that Paul and I each understood that we were the chiefs of sinners and that even though we concurred with the law of God at one level, we were really prisoners to the law of sin (our depravity) on another.
Well…it turns out that it was true; my heart was sick, just as Jeremiah had said. However, it was not with “sin” in its conventional manifestations of fleshly desire as I (and most of the church) had believed, that was my problem. With a little help from my friends, within a process overseen by the Holy Spirit, I finally realized that I was a prisoner of another more subtle (yet no less deadly) aspect of my depraved nature: its predisposition toward religion. With my fallenness-fixation, I thought of humility as something I must do; reminding myself continually that as a descendent of Adam’s I was a monster of iniquity – a man driven from God’s presence; a being whose entire motive was to live independent of God’s rule. I was running my race with the identity of a fallen man out of my obligation-orientated definition of humility. I humbled myself with zeal, devotion and deep conviction until I “hit the wall” a few years ago both physically and spiritually.
After the Spirit used this place of weakness and pain to bring some authentic repentance (i.e.; renewing of the mind) regarding my true identity, I have changed my definition of humility. Today, from this new vantage point, I simply define humility as that state of heart where I am agreeing with God in regards to who He says that I am. The impact of this on my experience with God has been radical! My conversion as a sin-addicted prodigal son produced a truly dramatic transformation in my life. My conversion as a religious-addicted elder brother has been no less dramatic.
I am not sure which burden was heavier, blatant sensual sin, or subtle, devout religious flesh so prideful and blind that it could somehow imagine itself qualifying for God’s love. So, as one twice -converted, I consider them both; “the sinful” and the “religious” expressions of “the flesh” to be deadly. But… I believe the “religious spirit” does more damage. Matt 6:23 refers to a light that is in us that can actually be dark and that can be very great. I think the religious expression of our depraved natures are darker because outwardly they can look great. It is rewarded with honors, titles and the accolades of men. It is put in charge of things. The great tragedy is that it cannot lead out of love because it does not feel loved. (That is why its working.) It is working out of insecurity and obligation as it attempts to compensate for its distorted identity.
Jesus intended for the cross to be the place where He finished His work so that we could be relieved of our work in making ourselves acceptable to God. The religious lifestyle of living to please God gave off a light but it was a cold dark light. It was the daily fighting of this unwinnable war with my flesh which I perceived was the cross I was to pick up daily as my load if I was to be a follower of Christ. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
Father, I pray for that day when Your glory will be apparent in us, Your children, as “religion” is exposed for what it is, an impossible pathway to You and a satanic means of entrapment. I pray for that day when the Kingdom’s sons and daughters are released into the freedoms that the cross was intended to produce in and through us; that from this place of security and rest we will actually move toward each other in love, creating a glorious unity that even the world must acknowledge. Amen.
“And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one…..that the world may know….“
by RobertCummins | Nov 27, 2013 | 48. Together
Romans 12:1-21
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, that you might prove what the will of God is, that which is good acceptable and perfect.”
At the age of 25, I was a young zealous disciple who had memorized this verse and was busily memorizing others in a systematic way which, along with inductive bible study, was how I would manage my transformation. It felt good to be on the cutting edge of authentic Christianity.
I didn’t fully appreciate verse 3 where Paul instructs us “to not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgement…”
A lesson I hope I can continue to learn is that our minds and our hearts must be closely related. While the mind can acquire truth, its the heart that must live it. While I had enscribed the first 2 verses of Romans 12 on my mind, it was the remaining 19, having to do with relationships, that God would use to inscribe His words onto my heart. Here is a summary of those verses;
“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of the other; be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; bless those who persecute you; be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation; if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”
I think of truth as a seed. When I memorized it, I would like to think that it had been planted in my heart and was now a part of the renewed me. In truth though, as the seed was stored in my mind, it was really just resting on the surface with any fruit it might bare, hanging in the balance. At 25 I had no idea, that how I would respond to the relational commands of verses 3-21 would determine if the hard shell around that seed would deteriorate so that it might germinate and produce any kind of crop.
One of the ways we are conformed to this world is the way we see ourselves. In Adam, in our “flesh”, we are already predisposed toward selfishness. From that place, the devil and the world conspire with our flesh to keep us in competition with each other so that comparison is second nature. This is ground zero for the transformation God has in mind. (check out 2 Cor 10:12.)
While it appears to us that some have more and some have less, in God’s sight, it has more to do with where he has placed us in His body and how He has distributed gifts among us. God is inviting us into a kingdom without class-distinctions as we know them. In His counterintuitive kingdom, if we aspire rightly, we must embrace the lowly and even our enemy.
So that the biblical knowledge we have stored in our minds ends up in our hearts and ultimately in our motives and actions, God will see to it that we will encounter the lowly and opponents whose views and agendas differ with ours. If we are listening and obeying in the ruff and tumble of human interaction, the hard shell of the seed will break and truth will be birthed; the Word will become flesh; the Light of the world will be seen; love will prevail and the gospel’s claims of freedom will be validated.
God’s good, acceptable and perfect will being done on earth is more dependent on our loving each other than on the mastery of more bible knowledge.
By the time I was 35, I had amassed a lot of bible knowledge but I had also amassed and afflicted a ton of pain in personal and family relationships. Amazingly, in the midst of the contention, my lips were moving and I was mouthing those biblical truths with intense conviction but the true sound being transmitted was a lifeless, noisy religious gong. It was not until I responded at the heart level to Paul’s command to, “if possible, be at peace with all men“, that transformation really had much of a chance.
A very familiar part of me violently opposed this plan but I knew exactly what God was asking me to do. This story is too long to relate here but I can testify that God’s grace literally poured into my life and into my relationships when I obeyed this instruction. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done but it resulted in an amazing transformation. While I am describing an event in time, I believe God is calling the citizens of His kingdom to embrace this process as our way of life, so that men will see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven.
Here is a mystery regarding relationships, the cross and transformation. Prior to this watershed event, I was at serious odds with people very close to me. I was dead certain that if a jury of my peers were assembled and were to hear my case I would be found inncocent in heart and deed; vindicated on all counts. I was certain of this. If truth and justice were on the job the real guilty parties would be brought into the light and held accountable. As I said, I was dead-certain.
I learned in this encounter with God that His ways are very different and much higher than my own. He was not in the least bit interested in my jury idea. In fact, as far as He was concerned my interest in seeing others brought to justice was the only offense on the books that He would hear. I knew that if I didn’t let go of this that God and I would be at odds. When I finally let go, I died to something. I think of this as having taken up my cross and followed Him. Consequently grace flooded into this impossible situation and set the stage for a new season free from the previous ten years of debilitating strife. Had I insisted on being right, I would have been walking in the flesh and I would have reaped death for myself and others. I would have had to sell myself some story about my opponents depravity to justify my own self righteousness. Being right is highly overrated. While it will good to our flesh, it will be a pathway to death to our spirits.
Father, help us to see that all the ingredients for our transformation are at hand; that our circumstances together with Your Word and Your Spirit are sufficient. May this world see Your resurrection life demonstrated as we find ourselves in right relation to each other; individually members one of the other. In so doing, may we overcome evil with good.
Application Is the Lord bringing anyone to mind just now? Here is a prayer-route to higher ground;
Lord, I forgive (fill in the blank for yourself – you know the names),
I give you permission to take the judgement and the bitterness out of my life. I do not wan this in my life. I surrender it to You and ask You to remove it – to heal me where I have been wounded, to forgive me where I have sinned. I choose not to blame or hold the action of others against them. I hereby surrender my right to be paid back for my loss by the one who has sinned against me, and in so doing, I declare my trust in You alone as my Righteous Judge. Father bless them in every way. In Jesus; name. Amen (This prayer is contributed by Charlie Finck of Liberty Cross Ministries, Liberty Lake, WA)
by RobertCummins | Nov 25, 2013 | 48. Together
Ecclesiastes 4:7-12
“A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”
I inherited a meaningful piece of my vision, which I think of as a set of values, indirectly from the Navigator’s who leaned on “one-on-one” and “small group” ministry models. Our family lived in a small community of people for 15 formative years who were focused on discipleship and community. We taught our own children. We helped each other move, remodel, babysit. We worshipped, worked and played together. I did not know how intertwined with these people my life had become until we relocated to another city. Neither did I know how unique our experience was until, for the first time, I became an integrated part of a traditional local church.
When we arrived in our new city, we were shocked at how private, independent and disconnected people were compared to what we had been used to. We learned that if we wanted community, we would have to build it with those who had an appetite for it. We didn’t know it, but we had been ruined for church in the traditional institutional sense of that word. I am sure I have been a thorn in it’s side as I have kicked against the organizational goads almost from day one.
Where we had come from, a few folks had titles, but their authority did not derive from those titles. The authority to lead in our culture had been earned by simply standing alongside each other through life’s experiences and exemplifying character in the context of relationship. In our new traditional setting leaders were selected by elders or voted on by the congregation. They too had served but their service had often happened in the context of institutional ministry models. We observed that the authority in the traditional local church was less relational and more positional – a lot like a business. While this statement may be incomprehensible to many, our engagement with the traditional local church felt as though we had moved from a family into an organization.
I served for approximately 15 years in the traditional local church, much of that time as an elder. After resigning a few years ago and just living life as an untitled person, relating to others simply as friends or potential friends, I have been able to recover some sense of family and purpose. Note; In my experience it seems I have been a much better representative of the kingdom of God as a friend than I ever was an elder.
I have learned the hard way that I am not going to reform any institution. All I can really do is keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God; acknowledge that the upward call of God in Christ offers every son and daughter a never ending opportunity to know Him more intimately. What I can do is invite others to join me so that together we can explore and discover the treasure and the mystery of Christ who has welcomed us into the eternal community He shares with the Father and the Spirit.
I believe that ultimately whether we are in an institutional church setting or in a smaller community, our kingdom relevance will ultimately be born out of our relational intimacy with Him and each other. Before the final chapter of the Church is written I believe we are going to discover that we are going to need Him, as He is expressed through each other, far more than we may currently grasp.
So Father, as we see the day drawing near, let us draw nearer (together) in Your holy presence with hearts that are fully assured that Christ is now our life and that He provides a living way of continual access into Your presence. May the love we encounter there give us the security to become available to each other in new and authentic ways. May we become the family that all men hunger to know. Amen.
