After surrendering to God you hear Him talking from inside yourself, from the breeze, from the sky, from the Bible, and THROUGH people. Kinda like this commercial. Thankfully, He loves us and talks to us.
the basics
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
The mission of discipleship and establishing the Kingdom in the world are the core ways that we fulfill our role as Christians. As we place proper focus on these, it fuels the Body, giving it purpose and challenge; helping us to exercise and grow in Godliness. And simply to feel right in our own skin.
But when the mission is lost in the local gathering, and in the heart of the local believer, you can expect something else to take its place. Something like highly entertaining or intellectualized sermons, drama skits, inner focused member-oriented community, hyper control and possessiveness, extreme focus on gifts, back-biting, jealousy, selfishness, judgement, you name it.
Thankfully when you take an honest look at the scriptures, God has safeguarded us from being lured too far away from the purpose. We have to return to the basics. It’s not complex or complicated. But it does require whole hearted participation. Don’t worry, the new testament set you free to have God dwell with you, to guide you, and to be with you till the end. Maybe no one else around you in your gathering sees the truth as you have seen it. Jesus came to set you free so that you could operate according to the order of the reign of God. Walk in it and let the fruit of your life prove your choices.
Sounds exciting doesn’t it? You in? It starts with surrender.
Gospel of Love 12 of 21
This passage contains the infamous dinner at the newly resurrected Lazarus’ house where Lazarus’s sister anoints Jesus’ feet with very expensive Spikenard. Judas sees the “waste” of such an expensive product and complains, mostly because he loves money.
Then the scene shifts as Jesus decides to go into Jerusalem for Passover. It was already well known that folks in Jerusalem wanted to kill him and He had been strategic about coming publicly (“Rabbi, now were the Jews seeking to stone thee, and again thou dost go thither!” John 11:8 ; ”And Jesus was walking after these things in Galilee, for he did not wish to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.” John 7:1) As His followers came our to welcome their coming King Jesus their must of been an air of awkwardness as He rode a colt of a donkey and not a beautiful horse. This not only fulfilled prophecy about Christ (Zech. 9:9) but it spoke prophetically of how His Kingdom was NOT of this order. He was not coming to make Himself the physical King, He was coming to be made much much more than that. King of All Creation, things seen and unseen.
Then in this chapter Jesus teaches one a topics that still baffle most and liberates others. The concept of laying down one’s life. “I say to you, if the grain of the wheat, having fallen to the earth, may not die, itself remaineth alone; and if it may die, it doth bear much fruit; he who is loving his life shall lose it, and he who is hating his life in this world — to life age-during shall keep it; if any one may minister to me, let him follow me, and where I am, there also my ministrant shall be.”
John 12 <—Link here
Prior to the coming of Jesus most everyone pursued the common measures of success- money, power, and respect. But when Jesus came proclaiming the Kingdom of God He turned that whole system on it’s ear. He taught to give stuff away and to not expect anything in return, He taught to forgive and forget, to lay down your life, to take the last and least important seat, to be humble and lowly. In other words what use to be the most valuable things, become irrelevant. It would be like the US government falling and us trying to use paper money that had that government’s name on it. The love and dependency on money and self became incompatible.
It was and still is a shocking concept. Jesus confronted a Godly young man that we call “the rich young ruler” and asked him to go and give up his possessions and come and follow Him (Mark 10:17-27<—link). The young man was conflicted, he was attempting to live out of both economies, as to have two different leaders. Jesus says in Luke 16:13, “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Jesus didn’t confront the rich young ruler because He wanted the young man to be poor and destitute. Jesus confronted him because He wanted to show the young man a new way of being. A way that was dependent upon God’s economy and not his own. Where the core of the young man’s value system was converted. Many many people through out history have gone most of the way to being in Christ and yet have failed in this one area. Do you know why? The Bible says that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Loving money and even money itself is a denomination of self dependency. “If I collect as much of this valuable stuff as I can I can take care of myself and do what I want.” But the freedom cry is Christ saying, “come and depend upon me, look at the birds of the sky and the flowers of the field!”
To say this is easy for any of us would be a lie. Mostly because we have been so convinced by our environment and even peers in the faith that there is some other Gospel, one that includes your own lordship over your own life. We want a Gospel that isn’t as demanding and forthright as the one we read about. It just doesn’t exist, because He loves us and wants us free from this world’s bondage.
Believe God, read and believe Jesus’ words, in His Lordship you are free.
selah
“The Pharisees’ power rises from the burden they heap on the back of sincere Jews; their gratification comes out of the primitive manipulations of people’s fears of displeasing their God.” ~ Eugene Kennedy
Unfortunately many people have Stockholm Syndrome and like being oppressed by a “leader” other than Christ. It’s a good thing that God’s word and Gospel has safeguarded us from having to perpetuate that lie. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all.” 1 Tim 2:5
Venting
I remember the first time I saw myself on film… I was stunned. I was the one of the only people on earth I’ve never seen. I mean I look at myself in the mirror, but I’ve never met me and sat down to chat as to criticized me, I’ve never estimated my age and loved the good parts of my character. I live behind my own eyes, navigating the best I know how.
When I lost the one person I knew best, my big brother, something changed. It almost felt like an internal time clock started counting down. It’s as if a reality hit me deeply-I am not promised tomorrow. My time here is short. What I do here matters… life became fragile.
The last time I saw him he wasn’t there. He had gone. And now I’m left with that experience, and it haunts me. We place such concern on how we look and how others perceive us, for what? To leave it all behind when we die. I guess that’s why God’s children, who let Him Father them, have such a selflessness and confidence about them. God teaches us to not worry about such things, to lay down our lives for our friends.
So what about my brother do I miss so dearly? Part of it is that I lost part of myself when I lost my brother. He was an anchor for me. A go-to guy that was always there. And now… radio silence…
Like a front runner in a race, I keep looking back for him and he is just not there. I felt like stopping when he stopped, some in my family have. But somehow I know that as far as he took me I would only dishonor him by stopping. So on I run… not knowing exactly where I’m going nor where I’ll end. Never being separate from him for we in a lot a ways are the same person, and yet he is not here.
On occasion I have to talk about him with new friends and colleagues. They have no idea. And I’m losing the words that would do him justice… maybe my life will one day do him justice… It may be uncomfortable, but my life with Kevin is forever intertwined…
Perpetuate
Spiritual mentorship is not formulaic, it’s sacrificial and parental. It’s not all excitement either. It’s brass tax, real-life interaction; where the majority of the help comes from what happens un-intentially and sometimes without notice. It’s much like parenting, sometimes resented and most always questioned, yet somehow God works within its confines to form exactly what He wants. The mentor and the mentee both are simply children of God finding great pleasure in being extensions of the body of Christ. Christ whom is the head of all of the Body, works gently to parent all of His children revealing His character and unconditional love. He is the only permanent fixture, we are but dust preparing to get blown away by the wind. Only what we’ve done for love with last and perpetuate.
The Diamond and the Black Felt – reflections on last post…
Refer to Gospel of Love 11 of 21 to participate in this reflection…
Encountering the word of God as a hearer can be just as informative for the deliverer. I’ve felt this way about the short commentary I did on John chapter 11 last week. As I’ve been in conversations about this blog with dear friends I’ve been chewing on some of the implications and applications of these thoughts. Here are some…
During the past few years I’ve been developing my theological signature, discovering the passion I have for the body of Christ. It’s come down to two categories- 1. That they not just know about God but that they know God. And 2. That they are able to practically apply their faith in their real life situations. In my spiritual landscape, that may differ from yours, there are many folks who have a hyper awareness of spiritual things with a very underdeveloped understanding of how to live out their everyday lives successfully (i.e. keeping roofs over their heads and take care of rudimentary tasks). And as I’ve been thinking about the concept from “Gospel of Love 11 of 21″ I’ve discovered that there may be a very important thread that could help in bringing more right perspective within my passion for the body.
Gospel of Love 11 of 21
In this chapter of John we witness one of the oddest and most profound stories in the New Testament- the story of Lazarus. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha were dear friends of Jesus. Oddly, when Jesus first heard that Lazarus was sick Jesus did not come to heal him. Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead for four days before He came and raised him from the dead. Making Lazarus a mighty witness of the power of Jesus.
John 11 <— Link Here
God the Father is the ultimate example of a father. His parenting is perfect and it has perfect results, even when the children are flawed, insufficient, and impatient.
One of God’s sons, the Apostle Paul, was a mighty man used like no other. He was troubled by “a thorn in the flesh” that Paul begged God to remove. God did not remove the thorn, but told Paul that the grace God would give him would be made perfect in Paul’s infirmity.
James and John wanted to be the ones to sit on the right and left of Christ when He ruled and reigned. Jesus denied them this request, as this was a decision was left solely up to the Father.
As we read John chapter 11 we witness Lazarus getting sick and instead of doing what we would expect Jesus to do, Lazarus dies. And then rots in the grave as his siblings morn…
God does not have to submit to anyone. And since He is absolutely perfect in every way, we should be glad that He doesn’t. We don’t always understand why He does what He does, but we HAVE to trust that it is for our good.
Becoming cooperative children to this wise and all-knowing God is a major step in reaching maturity in our faith. Praying for healing of those around us and not being disappointed when God chooses to let the sickness progress. We must allow God to act as He pleases and submit to His Lordship. I believe He welcomes our questions as to why He acts the way He acts, but we do not deserve an explanation. There is peace and wisdom to be had in this.
Lord, truly teach us to pray “Your Kingdom come Your will be done.”
20
May
The Reign of Heaven
I ran into a wild eyed gentleman the other day at a religious meeting place. He was middle aged and healthy looking. After inviting him to a gathering that we have, he told me that he was involved in a 4 hour prayer meeting that day of the week and that he wasn’t sure if he could make it. It turns out that it was one of two 4 hour prayer meetings that he attends a week. He said that he spends so much time in prayer so that through his corporate devotion God was going to unleash the gifts on the earth. He began to tell me about how we needed a 24 hour prayer ministry in Charlotte. “This is what God is doing in the earth.”, he said. He spoke of the profound thing that was happening in Kansas City through IHOP, a ministry I’m familiar with.
A harmless and insightful perspective, right? A few years ago I would of been in some kind of agreement with this man’s accessment. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one to bash this guy, 24-7 prayer movements, IHOP, or any of the like; but that day it occurred to me that a religious system could not replicate, replace, or contain the Kingdom of God. In other words it became obvious that the “prayer movement” was not the only thing God was “doing in the earth”.
The problem we have as humans is that we like to control wild things. We see a wild animal and we want to tame it. We see a raw untapped source of energy and we develop technology to utilize it for our best interest. There is no limit to this domineering gene in our humanness. The sea, the universe, our money, our reproductive systems… and my point is that we do the same with God and the expression of church on earth. The young monk Martin Luther had such a desire to live in relationship with God that as he discovered how to actually reach God he was willing to die at the hands of the current “church leaders” so that others might have that same access.
Martin Luther started to break through and teach others to break through in an honest desire to know God, then it became an organization and a system where others, just like the young Martin Luther, would be held captive by a system that men controlled.
And so it is today. The whole idea of “What God is doing in the earth” is simply an exchange program that happens generation after generation. The “church” that worked in the 90′s to produce satisfied religious people is exchanged for a new “church” that meets the religious needs of today’s devout. Changing the “old wine skin” with another “old wine skin” does not work (link). Jesus spoke of a new wine skin- a new place in the heavens that He was preparing for us (link), a place not built with human hands (link), for our citizenship is in the heavens (link). You know, the Kingdom, the thing that Jesus couldn’t shut up about. Not just the future reign, but the present reign.
Just in case you think I may be saying that we should quit community. All of the New Testament screams the importance of community, and no-one can ever justify independence from the family of God . It’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that man-centric organization religion is the enemy of the Christian Church. Jesus said “I also say to thee, that thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my assembly, and gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18
Plainly the New Testament is about the presence of the King in our midst. And He appoints undershepards to express His love and His care. But He does not release His government to be led and domineered by them, that is clearly Mosaic Old Testament religion, not the Kingdom of God. Jesus set in motion a Kingdom where the least is the greatest and the King Himself washes the feet of the Disciples and lays down His life so that each person can know and be in relationship with Him.
The new wineskin is the Kingdom that is landing on the earth in the bodies of those redeemed. The Church is a group of blood bought people who go throughout the earth sharing His love and His life. Factions, separations, cool-clubs, distinctions among people is not from God, but a sad attempt to bottle up what could never be bottled, the presence of The Holy Spirit wildly and effectively infiltrating this planet through those who have accepted Jesus as their King and Lord.
Thus, it’s my conclusion that man’s attempt to capture and sell the Kingdom is the biggest adversary The Church has ever faced. Thankfully what He is establishing will not be defeated, but the faux replica will.
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