by RobertCummins | Dec 8, 2014 | 49. Compassion
Last night as the believers who meet in our home were discussing Romans 13 :14; “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” a friend (one of the most faithful and dedicated believers I know and respect), in their characteristic candor and honesty said, with (what I took as regret), “I hope I someday learn to put on Christ.” They also said, “It is nearly impossible to love as Jesus loves.” The thought that crossed my mind was, “This person is very close to the kingdom of God.”
We who have buffetted our bodies with spiritual disciplines and faithfully attempted to renounce our flesh in regards to its lust have had tastes of that ego-boosting salve of conscience that comes from doing good. (We have also known the debilitating slam to our consciences that comes when we perceive we are doing bad haven’t we?) As we faithful and dedicated saints acknowledge that we are still inwardly yearning for the Father’s affection and His robe of favor and begin acknowledging the utter impossibility of living and loving as Christ does, the kingdom of God is closing in on us. We are destined to be blessed and shall if we will only persevere a bit longer, allowing God to have His way (which, by the way, is radically and unexpectedly unlike ours.)
Oh what a blessed day when we hard working elder brothers (from the Prodigal Son Parable) discover the fast-one the world, the flesh and the devil have played upon our hearts, alienating us so effectively from the affections of God. I hear the elder brother protesting, “Where is your fear of God? You have become too familiar with God Almighty. Do you not know He is a consuming fire!” The saint who is reconciled to the Father graciously responds, “God’s perfect love in Jesus has cast all fear out of my heart. God is my father and He has called me His friend. I am even welcome in the Throne Room. There is no distance between God and I. Christ has perfectly bridged that gap. Even now I am now standing bold and joyfully in his holy presence. Truth be known, I am living courtesy of His Life in me.
Elder brother again; “In all your self-confidence and prideful claims you certainly are not putting on the humble garb of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The saint, with head resting upon the Lord’s breast says, “On the contrary, the most humble thing a human can do is cease working, acknowledging the utter impossibility that anything they might do would equate to putting on the nature of God incarnate or that anything they might do would somehow qualify them as worthy and lovable.”
Elder Brother again (never one to just roll over): “But its a command!” You are saying that putting on Christ is optional!” The son (at rest) responds, “Oh no, not all; its imperative we put on Christ but there is a mystery here in how we go about it. It is so much more than just a spiritual discipline. It is Jesus Himself, the Mystery of the Ages who has come to live in us and become our Life. His Life is our life. We have no Life outside this Life and it is purely a gift. He is the only clothing we have or need.” Working to put it on, even working to please God in dogged faithfulness is a perfect formula for works-based performance religion and the inevitable alienation from God and exhaustion of spirit it causes. The good news is, that just like prodigals, elder brothers too can be reconciled. I’m living proof.
Much of MwM is devoted to describing the proving ground God lovingly designed to bring me to the blessed place of embracing the hope-filled and impossible nature of my situation. I am quite certain the sad exchange between the father and the elder brother was not their last dialogue. I guarantee the father pursued this faithful, hard working, angry and disillusioned son. He had looked forward to the coming of this day when his son’s bitterness and cold heart could be exposed. The wise father knew that his son must take ownership of his heart’s condition if he were to ever realize his Fathers love – the only salve the boy had ever needed or really wanted.
The father relished this encounter which most of us see as the cliff-hanger ending of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. He knew this precious child was very close to the kingdom of God – that safe place where his son’s heart could take refuge and comfort in His pre-existing love, which could never have been earned. The elder brother may have needed help in processing his anger over the futility of all those years of wasted labor in the harvest field. I know mine did.
Because the Father led some true Shepherds to me (like yourself – a bonafide 1 in 99) who knew the landscape of the heart and helped me to finally work through my anger which had so carefully been stuffed away. How often I too thought, if only I could put on the Lord Jesus, then all would be well. Trying to put on our best dress or suit while laboring uphill on a treadmill would be an apt picture of the futility of this enterprise. How comical we must look to the world and to God in our sweaty and clumsy efforts of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Father patiently awaits the blessed day we give up or slip and the belt throws us into a mangled heap behind the machine.
The religious spirit has powered so much of what has been done in Jesus’ name it would be suicidal (at least to religious flesh and the institutions it fuels) to challenge its motives. Can you imagine what an apparent power outage it would create if every Christian enterprise (individual and corporate) being driven by guilt and fear simply ceased? Perhaps the bearings on our religious hamster wheels would simply overheat and seize up; perhaps the Lord will just allow the soul to exhaust itself in its efforts to please God in its own strength.
I believe I hear one last retort from our elder brother, “But what about the souls who will not be saved and discipled if my labors were to cease? And what about the church discipline that needs to be applied to my younger, errant and prodigal brother who has consumed so much of your affection and resources and seems to prefer just being alone with you to actually getting the real work of the gospel done?” I see the father patiently making his way back into the strained relationship, earning his son’s trust by way of his listening heart, creating that safe space where his boy is willing to finally vent his anger and expose all his twisted perceptions of things, especially about his father’s heart. When the wound has been lanced and all the putrid contents have spilled out, I imagine the father saying…..
“My dear precious child, if only you could grasp how much I love you and always have. I know your deeds which began as attempts to please me. I know that you thought these deeds would translate into wealth and security. I know your disappointment in me when it did not seem that I rewarded you accordingly. It will do your heart good to be honest – that you have been very angry with me. Is that not so my son? You must understand, I could not reward you as you wished. Had I doled out your inheritance proportionally to your labor I would have misled you as to my love and conditioned you to think that you could control me. You must understand how distasteful it is to me for you to think that my love is so cheap that it could be purchased with your labors. May I say something now dear one?”
With a strangely troubled yet hopeful heart, The elder brother says, “Yes Father. Please speak to me.”
Do you understand now that you are bankrupt when you think you have qualified and have earned my love through your faithful service? Whatever applause this enterprise garnered is the only reward you will ever receive. None of these temporary positive feelings, born of man’s approval have anything at all to do with the inheritance I have been preparing you to receive. This trouble in your heart that you are sensing is nothing less than the effects of my refining fire which has brought you to this threshold. I’m standing at the door of your heart now and I want to give you some fatherly advice that I promise will heal your lukewarmness toward me. I have a true salve that will heal your eyes, enabling them to see all the distorted things you have imagined about yourself, about Me and the world around you. If you will invite me in, your life will never again be the same. May I enter?”
With fear and trembling, the boy says, “Please Father. Come in. I have longed to hear your heart.”
“I appreciate that you have read and studied my Word. I would like for you to also know my Spirit. It was beneficial that I go away so that He might come and make your heart my dwelling place on earth. Did you think you had achieved this miracle by laboring in the field? Did you think your labor could secure this Mystery of all mysteries? You will put on (if it can be called that) the white garments of Christ when you simply acknowledge what I have done for you as a gift. Nothing at all is built for the kingdom if it is not resting firmly on this cornerstone. Oh how many stumble though. There are so many stumbling around in guilt and fear, so much so that this sad parody is thought of as “normal” and as “the beginning of wisdom“.
“Embrace a bit longer this trouble in your heart. Endure, knowing that I am the Good Shepherd and I am leading you to much greener and well-watered pastures than the arid wastelands you have become accustomed to. In my ambition to give you your true inheritance I am reproving you, disciplining you out of my love which is the treasure you have yet to receive. Please hear my heart and repent. As you do and learn to live out of the Life I have deposited in you, you will be clothed in Christ; you will be fully armored and you will be an overcomer. Your first victories will be over Guilt, Shame and Fear – the frail demons that rape and pillage in all environments void of grace. They are no match for my sons and friends! Understand that even now you are seated with me in heaven on our Father’s throne. Can you hear what I am saying?”
The Christian life is not achieved by subscribing to the right rules and dedicating oneself to obeying them. The Christian Life can only be received. It is utterly miraculous. The Life of Christ is facilitated by the Life of Christ. It can only be lived by us when we see that Christ has clothed Himself in our human flesh. Truly, Christ in us, is our only hope of glory. God had no other plan for the expansion of his kingdom. His Word will one day fill the earth and it won’t be in books on shelves; it will be in the nearly infinite numbers of stories of his transformational life finding expression through millions and millions of prodigals and elder brothers who have finally received their inheritance – a deep understanding and experience with the Father’s heart, in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
The supernaturally abundant life that Jesus promised will be naturally and miraculously revealed in ways that, not surprisingly, very much resemble the Life of Jesus, as it is portrayed in our passage. My dear friend was spot on last night. The love of God is impossible to express in our own strength. However, when we die to our flesh’s entanglements with religion, the love of God will flow naturally out of us Spirit-inhabited humans and it will look like this……
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
by RobertCummins | Dec 7, 2014 | 49. Compassion
Isaiah 59:1-12 (The Message)
In this passage God is telling Isaiah to deliver a message to the following address:
To My people; those busy worshipping Me and studying about Me; people who are right-living – law abiding – God honoring; those who ask Me what is the right thing to do and love having Me on their side.
Given their apparent orientation to God, we would anticipate this message would be one of warmth and commendation. It was not. Instead it was a condemnation of their motives. Here is a more complete version of what God had Isaiah say to His people:
Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back – a trumpet blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives; confront them with their sins! They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying about Me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people – law abiding, God honoring. They ask me, “What’s the right thing to do? and love having me on their side.
So,…what’s wrong with the lives of His people; why is God in a such a lather toward such apparently good people. Here’s why……
The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?”
Through Isaiah we can learn something huge about God. It is that production and profitability are not the bottom line of His heart. For those who have managed businesses whose viability is secured by production rates and profitability, this is like a left-right combination. I am tempted to dodge these blows by fast forwarding to the new testament where I can find a bit more grace. However, as I wait and listen with my new heart and my mind that is being renewed in the Spirit of grace, I hear more than just a wholesale condemnation of production and profitability. Let’s see what God is really after;
This is the kind of fast day that I am after; to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is; sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.
In my attempt to hear God’s voice in an OT prophet’s pronouncements, I do not hear it with a heart that is condemned, one that cowers beneath the weight of God’s disfavor, concluding that in order to have my prayers heard, I must sell the business or take a vow of poverty in order to please Him. (I have tried this form of piety and God seemed unimpressed.)
What I hear as a son and a friend of God is that, in our heart, if there is either a hidden or a declared primary motive that is economic in nature we have totally missed it. As I read this passage with a new, grace-filtered heart, I am hearing no condemnation regarding production or profits. The complexity of this topic, I believe is, at least in part, due to our propensity to see things in a good-verses-bad frame of reference when in reality it is a good-verses-best framework. Let me try and explain;
As we seek the things above, we find an Eternal King who is reigning over an invisible yet eternal government – a kingdom that is ever expanding. It will not be birthed in an institution. At some point it may find expression there but His kingdom can only be birthed within the human heart. His Kingdom’s government is the central point of every matter, whether we see it yet or not. In the world news today, the greatest crisis looming over us, the media informs us, is “economic” in nature. This is “a” fact and it must be addressed but if we are praying and fasting primarily out of fear in order to preserve a more perfect union with the economic security it has historically provided, we have traded away “the best” for something that is “merely good“. I believe God is trying to deter us from investing in things that are temporal and merely good. He is inviting us to invest our hearts where moth and rust have no inflationary effect. He says……
….do this and if you do the lights will come on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage. Then when you pray, God will answer when you call out for help, “Here I am.” He continues…..
If you get rid of unfair practices, quit playing the victim, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness; your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places – firm muscles, strong bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make communities livable again.
As a conservative oriented Christian overseeing a for-profit entity, I am deeply troubled about our economic future and a host of other local, national and global matters, any of which could be our undoing. I am a lover of freedom and a believer in free markets. These, to me, are good things. At the same time, I have no illusion that conservative ideology will usher in the kingdom of God. The Christ-in-me aspect of my identity requires that I give my ultimate allegiance to an eternal King and His ever expanding, eternal Kingdom. When there is a conflict, (and they are inevitable), I must sacrifice what I perceive as my good conservative values to embrace His best eternal Kingdom ones.
My ultimate hope is not in a political party, an ideology or philosophy however good I may deem them. My only hope is that the kingdom of God is expanding to become my primary and superior good, displacing any allegiances I have to earthly kingdoms. I honor America the Beautiful. I wholeheartedly salute the Stars and Stripes. I am humbled by the sacrifices people have made that have established and sustained the freedoms I enjoy and desire for my progeny. At the same time I am a citizen of another realm with its own government and agenda that will one day eclipse the good our great nation has produced. So….
I dream of a day when citizens of God’s Kingdom have earned the right, by way of their wisdom and compassion, to be the moderators of public discourse and introduce a new level of civility into the body politic. I dream of a day when, by our good works and stewardship, God sees fit to entrust more kingdom wisdom and resources to us. The world will then look upon the Church and say, “These people bring life into even the worst places; they bring much to the table. They fix and repair things, making our communities livable again.” I believe this is on God’s heart and why He taught us to pray….
Our Father, who art is heaven, hallowed be Thine Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…..For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 6, 2014 | 49. Compassion
John 13:1-17
Yesterday, I talked about a group of people who Jesus identified as “the least of these” (tLoT). I was groping (and still am) for a better understanding of who “these” persons are. If you read Matthew 25:31-46, you will discover the stakes are high in getting this one right. Scripture is the best commentary on scripture and I believe today’s passage may shed useful light on who these folks are.
The setting is the upper room, an intimate private gathering where Jesus is sharing and demonstrating something that will be intergral to everything His followers do until He returns; that is “serving“.
To demonstrate how this will look for His followers, He strips off His garment, picks up a basin of water and a towel and proceeds to wash the feet of everyone one in the room including a traitor. Jesus is acting like a slave, who has been assigned the lowliest of tasks; to wash the dirtiest part of the body – the feet. In an era where sandals were worn, it was the feet, in constant communication with the ground that trudged through the weeds and the dust and the muck. This demonstration took them by surprise. Their spokesman Peter was shocked and said, “Lord there is just no way I am going to let You carry out a lowly slave’s job for me. You are my master not my slave.” Jesus responded;
Do you know what I have just done? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right; for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
The sentence that leaps out at me this morning though is;
Jesus, knowing His hour had come, that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
I have often said and heard others voice, that at the completion of their race, they aspire to cross the finish line in full stride, having left nothing out there on the course. I think “having loved our own who were in the world” right up until the end is what “full stride” will look like. Just as God provided Jesus with a network of intimates, He has done the same with us. Each of us are uniquely connected to the world around us through very specific networks of people. God is calling us to recognize that we are stakeholders in their destinies. God is asking us to take ownership of the spiritual and material needs around us. The light of the world was never intended to just shine out of a stained glass window. It was intended to be visible, practicle and accessible to our neighbors.
Just as the Master showed Himself willing to bow low and deliberately touch and be touched by the filthiest things on earth, He has called us to do the same. Many of the ways we assemble as Christians and relate to each other currently in the Body of Christ enable us to conceal the soiled and broken places in our lives. It is really easy to hide our bitterness, loneliness, fear, lust, ambition and for that matter, any thing we want to hide, for a few hours within organized programs and rituals each week. However, if you do this enough times in a row, it can become a rigid, sanctified (yet lifeless) tradition and sadly, the norm (or tradition). This is a wineskin.
Regardless of our place in society, we have been placed uniquely into the Body of Christ. No two people are connected to the world in the same way. The sets of relationships we have are given to us by God to to take ownership of. Only we, with our unique package of giftings and location can fulfill our particular kingdom mission; to love the people in these networks, who are in the world, right up until the end.
I picture a day when the children of God are liberated into their freedom, when we will discover who we really and fully are “in-Christ”. Our deep rest and security in Him will allow us to cease with all pretense and we can reveal who we really are (even the junk) to each other. We will not be afraid of the filth that is revealed in us or each other. We will act on the example and command of Jesus to associate with the defiled and putrid things around us. I believe that in essence we are washing each other’s feet when we gather transparently allowing the blood of His Son and His Word to wash over us.
In the Upper Room, Jesus created a safe space for His network of intimate friends. I think we too have the mandate and ability to create safe relational space for those around us through our willingness to truly listen and become involved with the hard messed up stuff in each other’s lives. If we will position ourselves to serve and defer to one another, we will one day find that, by way of our serving, we have become connected to each other with strands of love so strong that they cannot be torn apart. I could envision the Body of Christ, with all it’s newly discovered connections, as a great kingdom-sized net that God can sweep through the earth, producing a catch that will require help just to drag it to the shore.
This passage contributes to my understanding of who are “the least of these”. I believe we are already in close proximity to “them”. By all means, let’s do missions in other cultures but let’s not fail to see that we ourselves and our neighbors qualify as “the least of these”. We must look and listen for the the more subtle evidences of spiritual poverty; those identifying marks of loneliness, physical and spiritual abuse, hunger and fear, etc.. Right now, right where we are, we can take ownership and begin to serve tLoT by creating new kingdom spaces where they feel safe. We must risk our lives outside our little “c” church in order to be the big “C” Church.
Father, help us to discover and create the new wine skins that are strong enough to contain the fulness of Your Spirit; flexible enough to allow for transparency and for the authentic give and take of interpersonal relationships. Help us to become, in ourselves, “safe spaces” for those around us. Help us to identify the ones You have given us and teach us how to wash their feet. And, as with Jesus, our example, let not one of them whom You have given us perish. Amen.
As the Lord has called out to many of us in our old wineskin-thinking and structures, He has begun to lead us out into new and totally unfamiliar territory. While it is exciting, it can also be intimidating. I have included the lyrics to White Owl by Josh Garrels. Its message seems prophetically on-point and has been a super encouragement to me.
Josh Garrels – White Owl Lyrics
When the night comes,
and you don’t know which way to go
Through the shadowlands,
and forgotten paths,
you will find a road
Like an owl you must fly by moonlight with an open eye,
And use your instinct as a guide, to navigate the ways that lays before you,
You were born to, take the greatest flight
by RobertCummins | Dec 5, 2014 | 49. Compassion
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus will one day return to this planet in the same manner as He departed but it will be in a different capacity. His mission be different. He came initially to reveal the Father and give men new hearts, ones that “by nature” had the capacity, as Adam had, to know God spirit to spirit. He did this by overthrowing sin and death, the enemy’s agents who had facilitated the original separation between God and man. The first time Jesus came as the Savior. This passage is referring to a time when time has run out and He has returned as the Judge. We have come to think of this time as the “great” and “terrible” day of the Lord.
To be honest, I have never dwelt long or hard on this passage. That is not because it is hard to understand. The problem is that, on the contrary, it is very straightforward and I am troubled by its content. As the Judge, Jesus will be separating the sheep from the goats. Here is the troubling part; the criteria, at least in this passage, will not be whether or not I have asked Jesus into my heart and attended church. The criteria will be how I related to a type of person that Jesus refers to as “the least of these” (tLoT), people who Jesus is so closely identified with, that however I treated them, that is exactly how I treated Him.
I do not want to avoid this passage. I do not want to read it, searching for loopholes that might exempt me. The consequence of succeeding in that would only serve to make The Day of the Lord terrible for me and not great. No, I do not want to hear Him say, “Depart from Me, accursed one, into the fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Here are the identifying marks of tLoT. They are hungry and thirsty. They are imprisoned, naked and strange. Christ is one, we are told, with these people. He calls them His brothers. How we treat them is how we treat Him. It is not enough that we just feel compassion for these downtrodden ones. Our compassion must translate into action in order to avoid being a doomed goat. Will attending church and writing a few checks for their care suffice?
Most of the time, I can share how a biblical truth has intercepted my heart and effected some transformation. This morning, I’m not really trying to teach. I’m just making confession and asking God to search my heart for any deceit that may be there by virtue of living indifferent or insulated from tLoT and consequently Him.
Are tLot the same as “the poor” that Jesus tells us will always be with us? If so, they represent to many of us , who have tried to show some compassion in Jesus’ name, a “black hole” whose core of gravity, with its insatiable appetite, would quickly consume us and any practical compassion we might show. We know intuitively there is not enough of us to make an appreciable difference. Peering down into the dark swirling nightmare of poverty intimidating, sufficiently so that most of us have determined to go no where even near the precipice, lest our compassion be awakened and we find ourselves being drawn in to something we cannot escape from.
An acquaintance of mine is a former OKC prosecutor and chairman of the Committee overseeing Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services. He knows as well as anyone, the effects of poverty and its insatiable appetite. He and every employee in that agency knows that there are not enough dollars in the state budget to pour into tLot to fix up their lives. Yet, God has left tLot on his heart and given him a starting place in approaching the abyss. God gave him a simple plan and a simple prayer. (about the size of mustard seeds.)
The simple plan involves gathering the stakeholders together who have a vested interest in tLot, leaders in government and the Church to assemble and explore together how partnerships can be formed and resources pooled in showing compassion for tLot. The simple Prayer was “God, please break my heart with the things that break Your heart in regards to my city.” With this simple plan and prayer they intend to draw near to the edge and peer together into this intimidating black hole, asking God to provide His kingdom wisdom and resources.
Father, we do not want to walk past You when we encounter You as the needy stranger who is either spiritually or physically hungry and thirsty. Open our eyes and show us the least of these who we are to give ourselves to. When we meet you face to face, we want it to be a “great” day. We desire to hear You say, “Well done, my good and faithful servants”, so we too pray, Break our hearts Lord with the things that break Yours. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 4, 2014 | 49. Compassion
Psalm 41:1-3
How blessed is he who considers the helpless; The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, Thou dost restore him to health.
I was recently caught in a fairly intense crossfire that broke out in the midst of my eternal family (actually in an adult Sunday school class). The issue in contention just happened to be “the helpless”. More accurately it had to do with what the government’s role should be in caring for them.
I will try and reconstruct the scene of this shootout. One group (actually just one person) was advocating that the government should increase funding on the merits of the bible’s mandate to care for this group, whom he saw primarily as a socio-economic class. This drew fire from the other side that advocated a reduction of funding because, in their view, the government’s involvement was actually creating and sustaining a growing culture of socio-economic helplessness.
The armed-majority, desiring a very limited role for the government proposed that it is the Church’s job to care for the helpless. The armed-minority agreed and with the biggest slug probably shot in the battle, he said, “You are right. But, the Church is not doing it!” Both sides were good shots and their bullets were finding their marks.
For the record, I was recruited by a worried party to attend this class to serve as peacemaker should the need arise. So, as I attempted to stand in the middle and listen, It seemed obvious that both sides had merit to their cases but it also seemed, realistically, that the Church, regardless of her convictions, will have to partner with the government to meet the needs of the helpless at least until it is willing and able to shoulder this burden. Since we are told by Jesus, that the helpless will always be with us, we will always be addressing this issue. It will be good to keep this subject on the table before us in the halls of government and the Church.
The timing of this verse is amazing because I am attending a meeting today that is being hosted by a prominent believer who occupies one of the highest posts in Oklahoma’s Department of Human Resources who apparently has some things to say about this unlikely partnership. I will be all ears and heart. (This was written in 2012.)
While I am greatful that God promises some super fringe benefits to me if I will consider the helpless, I honestly believe there is a higher road than the divine–quid pro quo motivation our passage suggests. I think Jesus came to the down trodden, not because of what he would get from God by doing it, rather because he simply loved them and had compassion on them. Something about their needs attracted His heart. He identified himself as one of them. Jesus is kin to this group.
I don’t believe that the helpless and downtrodden are just a socio-economic class. When Jesus saw the helpless, I do not think his view was limited to the slums of Jerusalem; His vision took in the full spectrum of humanity who are helpless to save themselves from their inward poverty regardless of how hard they try. The downtrodden range from the old and impoverished to rich young rulers. This is an arena the government cannot address – the heart of man, from which all the issues of life flow.
The dialogue that determines how the government will relate to the poor often breaks down due to the polarization of partisan politics. My hope is to one day see a Church, who by virtue of proving herself faithful with “little”, is entrusted with the “much” of this need. My hope is that upon this day all men may see her good works and glorify the Father in heaven as this arena of care is entrusted into her increasingly willing and capable hands.
Father, may Your Church arise and earn the right to stand, in Your Spirit, in the midlle of warring factions and facilitate this dialogue from the perspective of Your Kingdom, free of the motivation to receive anything in return for her service other than the privilege of seeing that Your majestic Name has been duly honored. May Your Church fulfill her destiny, bringing Your Kingdom’s righteousness, peace, joy and wisdom into this arena that most see as a hopeless battle that cannot be won. Come Lord and give this mocking and unbelieving world evidence that You are a God to whom nothing is impossible. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Dec 3, 2014 | 49. Compassion
Luke 4 :14-21
Jesus walks into His local synagogue and boldly announces that He was the one the great Isaiah had spoken of when he said,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
Jesus came to proclaim and live out, as the first born of a new race, a comprehensive gospel that touched the spirit, soul and body of all those who had been downtrodden by the Fall.
My 38 years as a follower of this same Jesus have been lived in either a cease-fire or cross-fire between camps who are divided on just how comprehensive this salvation Jesus proclaimed was intended to be. Both camps believe that Jesus is still in the business of restoring life to still-born spirits, that if they will repent, He will set these prisoners free from the power of sin, making them God’s children and giving them eternal life. The bullets fly and the family separates however on whether Jesus still heals people physically and delivers them from demonic torment. (or if demonic torment really exists)
In my sojourn I am traveling alongside tribes who are on both sides of this divide. And as much as we may hunger for the certainty one camp’s theology might provide, no one seems to offer a certified, (preferably seminary-derived), patented truth that will bring peace in the family. I am just going to tell my story (in super-condensed form) as it has evolved so far and describe what I have peace about in my heart.
I surrendered my life to Christ in 1976 in a very missions-oriented church but (please promise to not shoot me), this was a church that spoke in tongues. As I gave Christ permission to move in and rule, He brought some immediate and dramatic changes to my life . And I too (please don’t run away) received a prayer language early into my new life in Christ. For the record this was not, as far as I know, the Acts 2 – kind of speaking in tongues intended for interpretation. Mine has been what I think of as private prayer language.
I just assumed that Jesus was the same as Isaiah had introduced Him and the New Testament had presented Him. I reasoned in childlike innocence that if He could transform my life and save my soul, He must be able and willing to heal our bodies as well. Surely He had not just given the New Testament as a teaser! Surely Isaiah was not gilding the lilly!
At that time, I didn’t realize how much fun I was going to have and how many new friends I was going to make, proclaiming that I now prayed in an unknown language and that Jesus was still healing folks. However, I am certain that my family and friends completely agreed I was now speaking in an entirely different language. (sarcasm intended)
God, what have You gotten me into!!! The reception I received with these proclamations made this shy, reclusive young man quickly aware that he was either going to need a life boat or a bullet proof vest on this journey. (A bullhorn might not be needed as I had initially thought.) What transpired, as I put miles behind me on the trail, was a forfeiture of whatever childlike innocence I had first known. My heart made some adjustments to accommodate for the lack of healing that I was surrounded by. Because of my origins though, and how I read the New Testament, I was still unable to adopt the readily available doctrine that relegated healing to the first century only as a sign-gift needed at that unique moment to launch the Church. (Did the Church need power then that it doesn’t need today?)
It is crushing to watch disease take its toll, especially while You have believed and proclaimed that God is good, powerful and willing to heal. It would be much easier to join a cessationist camp and relieve myself of the deferred hope that has often made my heart sick in regards to healing. At least there I would be free from the temptation to raise questions (or even make a case in my heart) about the goodness, power and willingness of God. As one who takes a fair amount of medicine and who has a fair amount of aches and pains that he would like to be free of, I still cannot adopt, in good conscience (as convenient as it would be), a gospel that is limited to salvation (greek = sozo) as the forgiveness of sins and a get-out-hell free pass. (Have secessionist done a word study to see how comprehensive this greek word sozo actually is?)
I have decided that, even in the presence of apparent evidence to the contrary, I am going to continue thinking of Jesus as the one who heals bodies and restores men to righteous sanity and wholeness. He is my Savior, Teacher and as the first-born of a new race (of which I am a member), He is also my Example. I confess that I still live in a crossfire of arguments on this topic. Sometimes the debate even ricochets around within my own heart. However, I am determined, by God’s grace, to hold on to the God I first met when I was 23. Again, I am no scholar, but this Jesus, with His comprehensive good news, lines up with the whole counsel of scripture better than the other partial-sozo Jesus’s I have been offered.
If I am in error, I figure the worst scenario I will face is having to explain, when I stand before Him, that I had believed and proclaimed that He was actually better, more willing and powerful than He actually was. I am willing to take this risk. I prefer giving this account than trying to explain why I had buried my talents and brought Him no return-on-investment. I also feel that (in light of Hebrew 11) I am not alone living with the tension experienced between the believing and the coming true.
I hope your gun is not drawn when we meet or that you won’t withdraw the right hand of fellowship (or offer me the limp one). For the record, I no longer carry a gun and I assure you my hand will be extended to you wherever you are in your trek with the Lord. Oh, and by the way, when we meet, I also pledge to speak in English (my native tongue) and not in a foreign tongue 🙂
Father, may you teach us in Your fragmented body to be at peace with all men, especially our eternal family, as much as it is possible. May we realize as a family what the full extent of Your Kingdom’s good news is. May we live it and proclaim it from the rooftops. Amen.
