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Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Sermon: The Jesus Way
Title: The Jesus Way
Speaker: Jonathan Bailey
Location:Four Corners Church
Plano, Texas
Date: December 30, 2007
Pastor Randy Bailey: Jon has ministered here to singles a number of times, but it's the first time he's ministering to the church family. In a devotion time, I felt God touch me with that thought and leading, so I asked Jon, and he prayed about it and came back and said, “I think the lord wants me to do that.” Kori and Jon are down here in the front. They are loved and treasured by Nancy and me. Kori, that's his wife and my precious daughter-in-law. I love them both very much. I esteem my son Jonathan because he is a man who walks his talk. He is a man who loves God with all of his heart. He carries a rich understanding of the Word of God. Jonathan, I want to ask you to come and deliver your heart to us today. Could we give him a hand as he comes?
Jonathan Bailey: I'm very, very happy to be here this morning to get the chance to speak with you. My dad asked me, and I was freaking out. Talk to the big people? I usually just talk to the little people, but the big people? It's a big responsibility. That's a big opportunity. I'm very excited. I'm very honored that my dad would give me the opportunity to speak. I'm very excited and I'm very humbled to be here. If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and grab them. We're going to be in Mark 8.
One of my favorite seasons is fall. I love fall. I love when that first cold front blows in and that hot air blows out and that cold air blows in. Do you know that feeling I'm talking about? I love that. One of my favorite things about fall is the leaves. I love to watch the leaves turn colors. You have the reds and the browns and the yellows and the oranges. It explodes into this amazing color, and you think, “That is so beautiful.” I just love to watch these leaves. It's like a beautiful collage. We live in Dallas, Texas, so our fall is not much of a fall. My wife, Kori, went to the University of Missouri. She tells me, “There's a real fall. The leaves and the trees there are beautiful.” I think about even maybe going to Central Park in New York City and standing on top of the Empire State Building and looking out at that massive park of green trees, and then watching them just explode into these beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Even when I was a little kid in first grade, we would go outside and our teacher would make us do these projects where we would collect leaves. We would take them back into our classroom, we'd set them down on a white sheet of paper, and we'd start tracing around the leaf. Then we would take our Crayolas, and we would put two or three in our hand – our yellow and our orange and our brown – and then we would start coloring in the leaf, trying to mimic the color. I just love leaves. Even if you just went into my apartment two or three months ago, you would see these fall leaves decorated in these glass vases, decorated in our shelves, weaved in between our picture frames. I love leaves. I began to think, “What's happening to these leaves?” They're beautiful. Then the thought hit me: These leaves are dying. Then the thought hit me: It's amazing how beautiful death can be. That's what I want to talk about this morning. I want to talk about the beauty of dying with Jesus Christ. I want to talk about how amazing it is to give our lives to Jesus Christ, to die with Him, and ultimately, to live with Him.
When you look at that tree, it looks like it's dying, but it's not dying. The leaves are what have to die. So the leaves are dying, but the tree is still alive. So you see this death is really just a natural cycle; it's just the natural process of this tree. You have the spring and the summer and the fall and the winter. The same thing is true for us. As followers and disciples of Jesus, we have this picture of life and death and living and dying and rising with Jesus. That's what I want to talk about. That is the Jesus way.
I want to say a prayer, and then we'll launch right in to the text. I really just want Jesus to lead us in this passage, because what He does here with the disciples is so beautiful. It's so great the way He helps them see and rethink who He is, and then rethink their call and their mission. Let's pray, and then we'll jump right in to it. Jesus, we ask that You would be our teacher this morning; that You would not let me get in the way of what You want to say; that Your Spirit would forcefully impress upon all of us the beauty of dying with You and rising with You and finding a new life, life like we never knew before – that eternal life You talk about in John 3:16. I pray that You would impress upon us the importance of going into the year 2008 on this Jesus way. Thank You for everything You've given us in this past year, and catapult us forward to follow You in this New Year. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
I want to read through this scripture verse with you. There are 11 verses. I want to read through it so we're familiar with it, and then I want to go through it verse by verse and just take a look at it. It says in Mark 8:27:
“Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
It's a crazy passage of scripture. It's one of my favorites, and it's one that I really wanted to talk with you about this morning. We see Jesus, in verse 27, going out on a journey. Just to give you a little context of the scripture, He just got done feeding the 5,000, which turns out to be when you count the women and the children 20,000 or 30,000 people. So He's going up north to these villages of Caesarea Philippi. This is on the outskirts of Palestine, so it's a place where He can get away from the crowd. He often does this. You read this right off the pages of the gospels when He gets in to this intense ministry with a lot of crowds and then decides to get away from people and just take a break and be alone. This would have been a two-day journey for the disciples. I think about how awesome that would have been, just to be on a two-day journey with Jesus, to listen to Him, to hear Him talk, to maybe listen to a parable or a teaching, to maybe ask Him some questions, or maybe He would even ask me some questions, or maybe even see a miracle. That would have been amazing.
So He asked the disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” Jesus has been speaking and teaching for maybe about a year or so now, so He's wanting to know, “Who are the people saying that I am? Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist, some say one of the other prophets.” But then He asked the more poignant question: “Who do you say that I am? Peter, disciples, the twelve, who do you say that I am?” That's a question that is for the 1st century disciples, but that's also the question for us, the 21st century disciples. Who do we say that Jesus is? Many of us have been traveling a journey with Jesus for some time now. Maybe some of us have been going for longer than others, maybe some of us are new, or maybe some of us haven't even decided to get on with the journey, but we're journeying, so that question is for all of us. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” Great statement. Great answer. But Jesus’ statement right after this is crazy. He says, “Don’t tell anybody that.” What? Don't tell anybody that You're the Christ? I thought that was the right answer. I thought that was the thing I was supposed to say. Don't tell anybody that You're the Christ? That is kind of strange. I began to think about that. The reason Jesus didn't want the disciples telling everybody that He was the Christ is because their conception of who the Christ was, of who Jesus was, of what He came to do and the life that He came to live was totally off base. It was totally out of whack. So Jesus has to take this time on this journey to explain to them the true nature of the Messiah – the true nature of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
I want to talk a little bit about the conception of the Jewish people, of the disciples. When Peter said, “You are the Christ,” what did it mean for him? What did it mean to say that He was the Christ? I think one thing that is important is that these disciples were looking for a physical kingdom. When Jesus came and said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in this gospel,” they were looking for a real kingdom. If you look at the history of Israel, the brief history of Israel is they started out as a people of slavery in Egypt. Then they finally break free out of Egypt, they go to the Promised Land, they get this kingdom, and they have Saul and they have David. They finally get this kingdom, but what happens? They fall away, and the kingdom splits up. Then Babylon rises up, the power of the age, and comes in and overthrows them and enslaves them, so their kingdom is gone. And then Syria, another great power rises up and conquers Babylon, but then it conquers Israel as well.
So you see that they are constantly being a people who are being oppressed. They're looking for this kingdom. They're tired of being in oppression. So finally, Assyria lets them go, and they go back to Israel and they set up the temple, but they never quite get the kingdom back.
They never quite get the government, because the Romans come in. – the next great dominant world force. The Roman Empire comes, and the Romans are oppressing them; the Romans are occupying their territory. So Peter says, “You are the Christ. You are the one that is going to come get rid of these guys. You are the one who is going to get these guys off our back. We're tired of people oppressing us. We are looking for someone who is going to liberate us. We are looking for a kingdom to be set up.” And Jesus says, “I'm not coming to set up a physical kingdom. I'm coming to set up a spiritual kingdom.”
The disciples were looking for someone who was going to conquer their enemies, but Jesus comes and He teaches them – this is beautiful – Jesus didn't come to conquer our enemies. He came to love our enemies. That's a big lesson for the disciples that they had to learn. When you think about the Roman centurion that came to Jesus after the Sermon on the Mount and he says, “Would You heal my servant?” Think about the disciples – James and John and Peter. They're thinking, “No way. No way You're going to heal this guy's servant. This is the guy who is oppressing us.” But what does Jesus do? He says, “Sure. I'll heal your servant.” Then He makes this crazy statement, this unbelievable statement. He says, “I have not found any greater faith in all of Israel than this Roman.” This pagan guy. If you're the disciples, you have to be freaking out at this point, because this is totally blowing your mind, but Jesus is totally helping them rethink who He is, helping them rethink who the Messiah is. Think about when Jesus is getting his beard plucked out; and He's getting beat with a whip; and the nails are being driven into His hands; and the crown of thorns is being slammed into His head; and He looks up and He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” The very people that were crucifying Him, these Roman people – Jesus didn't come to conquer our enemies. He came to love our enemies.
Then I think about John 6:15. John 6:15 is when right after Jesus feeds the 5,000 – so you literally have 20,000 or 30,000 people – and it says in that verse that Jesus perceived that the people were coming to take Him by force and make Him king. What a miracle. But think about the implications of a King, of a warrior Messiah who can multiply food, who can multiply fishes and loaves. Think about it in terms of an army. How amazing is that? How amazing is a King who can raise up a troop from the dead? He just goes out on the battlefield and touches him and he comes back to life. The implications are amazing. This is why the people say, “We have to make Jesus our King. We have to take Him to Jerusalem right now. This is the One we've been waiting for.” But Jesus has to teach them a different way, and that's the Jesus way.
Peter is in this inner circle. Peter is the elite of the elite. There are literally hundreds of disciples following Jesus, but there are 12 that are the core. But Peter is almost the leader of the 12, so he's like the right-hand man. He is it for Jesus. So when he says, “You are the Christ,” you can almost just see him rubbing his hands together saying, “You are the Christ. You're the one that's going to take care of all this for us. You're the one that's going to make all this happen for us. You're the one we've been waiting for.” I think for the disciples, the temptation that we fall in to and that they fell in to is are we using Jesus or are we letting Jesus use us? Are we using Jesus to get what we want, or are we letting Jesus use us for his glory? That's the lesson that the disciples are about to learn.
We all have this consumer mentality. We live in America, the most consumer nation in the world. When we go in to a store, we say, “I want the best possible deal for the best possible price. I want the most I can get for the smallest price.” Sometimes I think that spills over in to our spiritual life and our relationship with Jesus where “I want to get the most I can and I want to make sure I can get it as cheap as possible.” But that's not the way. And Jesus was about to tell them something crazy: “I'm going to have to have to give my life for you people.” The King is going to be a King that is killed. The Messiah is going to be a King that has to die, not one that has to roll into Jerusalem and throw out the Romans. So Jesus says, “Don't tell them. Don't tell them I'm the Christ because you're not ready. You need to learn more.” Let's jump back to the story, verse 31:
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. “
At this point, there's no more time for parables and metaphors – this is how Jesus talks to people. He'll give you a story so it's something you can think about – but in this case, Jesus says flat out, “This is what is going to happen. Here's the bottom line: I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm going to be rejected, and I'm going to be killed. But I'm going to rise again.” But they totally missed that. So He just states the matter plainly. Here's when Peter obviously freaks out. He grabs Jesus; he pulls him over and says, “What are You doing? What are You talking about? Dying? A dead Messiah? Are You kidding me? I don't think so. That's not what we signed up for.” I can almost just picture Jesus looking out as his disciples as peers saying this: “I have to help them see the true nature of who I am.” So He rebukes Peter, but He gives them the strongest rebuke you can think of. He calls the guy Satan. “Satan, get behind me.” Every once in a while, I have some friends that we get together and have these rebuking sessions. We just kind of tell each other what we don't like about each other and encourage each other to be better men, better husbands. But never once have I looked at my friend Terry and said, “Hey, Satan, you need to treat Richman better.” I never said that. That's pretty strong. So Jesus says, “This is totally, totally Satan’s way.” Jesus’ way is the cross. Jesus’ way is death, because what does that lead to? That leads to life everlasting. Here's the struggle. Here's where the battlefront is, where the war is waged: It's waged at this God's interests and this man's interests. This is where we live our lives. This is where it all goes down. The struggle for the disciple of Jesus is the messy process of learning the beauty of God's way verses man's way. That is a messy, messy process, but it's beautiful. Just like those leaves that are dying. They're dying, but it's beautiful.
Let's flip over to II Corinthians 5:14-15. We get a little commentary here from the apostle Paul:
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
I love that scripture. He died to set us free from ourselves, from getting our own way. When you think about man's way, what is man's way? How many people have seen those Burger King commercials with that crazy, scary king? Have you seen the end of those commercials? What's the tag line at the end? “Have it your way.” That's man's way. Man's way is “I want to live life on my own terms. I don't want to surrender to anything. I don't want to sacrifice anything.” “Have it your way.” But we have that beautiful process of learning the beauty of God's way. That's what living life is all about as a follower, as a disciple of Jesus. What if “Have it your way” was my philosophy for Kori and I in our marriage? It really wouldn't work out. It doesn't work with our parents; it doesn't work with our friendships; it doesn't work with any relationship; and it certainly doesn't work with Jesus. But what if it was one of these shows on the History Channel I love to watch called Modern Marvels? Does anyone know about that show? I love that show. I think it's the greatest show. They show how the Empire State Building was built and all the history behind it, or the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. She thinks I'm the biggest dork for watching that show. She never wants to watch that show. But what if I just came home every day after work and just said, “I'm going to watch Modern Marvels. I'm just going to sit down on the couch and watch Modern Marvels.” It's not going to work.
So we find that Jesus didn't come to bring us what we want, but He came to bring us what we need. Isn't that good? That's what Jesus is teaching these disciples. The title for this message is “The Jesus Way,” and I got it from this quote by Eugene Peterson. It says this: “If we do the Jesus truth the Jesus way, we will get the Jesus life.” I love that. He goes on to say, “Christ is the way as well as the truth and the life. When we don't do it His way, we mess up the truth and miss out on the life.” It's like we all have this Jesus truth stored up right here. Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He forgave me. He is the Son of God. He rose. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. I have all this Jesus truth, but when we don't do it the Jesus way, we miss out on the Jesus life. We have to do both. We have to take this Jesus truth and we have to live it this Jesus way. Then and only then will we get this Jesus life. That's what the world is waiting for – the Jesus life to come and shine forth in the world.
Let's pick back up with the story. How do we get this life? Jesus has just helped them rethink who He is. This was mind-blowing, but now He is going to help them rethink their mission and their call of who they were. So let's pick back up with the story in verse 34.
“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
It's kind of a weird sentence at the end, isn't it? “If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you.” Why would He add that in there? I think it's because for the disciples, this was a major letdown. This was a major disappointment. A dead king? This is crazy. This is unbelievable. And Jesus said, “If you're disappointed of this Jesus way, if you're ashamed of this Jesus way of life, then I'm going to be ashamed of you.” That's a pretty shocking statement.
Let's go back up to verse 34. That's where I want to camp out a little bit. He says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.” That sounds like bad news. But I tell you it's the best news you've ever heard, because Jesus is telling you that there's something greater than your own lives to live for. What does it mean to lay down our lives? I like what the NIV says. It says that we are to lay down our selfish ambition. We just get rid of that. We just put that aside. We're done with that. That frees us up to live in this world. It doesn't matter really what happens to us. What set the world afire for Christianity and Jesus Christ during the time of the apostles? People didn't care about their lives. What happens if I don't get my way? No problem. What about torture? Doesn't matter. What about death? Doesn’t matter. What about life? Doesn't matter. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's an amazing fact. That's what Jesus is trying to teach us. There's something greater than our own lives to live for.
On Friday mornings we have a Bible study and we're going through Romans. It's a fun time. We read this passage of scripture in Romans 8:13, and I said, “I have to put this in the message.” This is pretty cool. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” So what is this flesh? We find that we need to kill this flesh. We need to get rid of this, but what is the flesh? The flesh is the Burger King philosophy. The flesh is living life on my own terms. The flesh is what the Bible calls the “old man” or the “ego” or the “will” or the “self.” This is what the Bible is constantly encouraging us to do away with so that we can live the Jesus live. But how do we kill this flesh? How do we get rid of this flesh? This is what Jesus teaches us: The cross. He says, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” What a shocking statement for the disciples when they heard that. That must have set them on their heels. You can tell this whole passage is crazy for them. There wasn't really much discussion of Jesus dying on the cross yet either, so this comes quite as a shock. But they knew exactly what He meant when He said, “Take up your cross.” At any given day, you go in to Jerusalem, and you can see just up in the hills people getting crucified. It was about as common as you and I driving down the freeway and seeing a wreck. People were getting crucified daily, and as soon as He said that, they knew, uh-oh.
What's He saying?
He’s saying that it's time to end that old life. The cross cuts us off, and it helps us kill that old life.
I love this quote by Brennan Manning. I think I have it in your outline this morning. It's a beautiful statement. It says, “In first century Palestine, the cross was an instrument of torture, a gallows. The honoring of anyone who hung on it was a scandal of the most profound kind. Yet in a stunning reversal of human wisdom, the cross of death becomes the tree of life.” What a beautiful statement. We find now that we cling to this cross, that the cross is something that we are taking in to our lives, that we're actually living because from it comes this Jesus life. It's an amazing thing. The cross becomes a living presence in our lives. It's not just something that happened 2000 years ago. It's not just something that happened when I was converted to Christianity. It's something that is happening now in my life. The cross is my companion on the Jesus way. When Jesus says “Take my yolk upon you and learn from Me,” He is saying “Take up your cross and follow Me.” I love that. So in this passage, Jesus tells us to carry a cross, to die – but He has a cross, and we have a cross. This is our cross to carry. This is ours. He has His, and we have ours.
Let's look at II Corinthians 4:8-12. I remember reading this about a year ago and it's just totally amazing. It's one of those amazing passages that you never hear, but when you hear it you say, “Why haven't I ever heard this before?” This is Paul, and he's talking about this “cross life.” This is what he says:
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (Here's the key thing for Paul) “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (In our dying body, in the body you and I have right now, this one – the eternal life of Jesus Himself coming out of this body.) “So death works in us, but life in you.”
When the apostle Paul was practicing this cross life, it was producing life for other people. That's the great thing about Jesus’ followers and disciples. We practice this cross life, and the Jesus life begins to come out of us, and it begins to produce life for others. That's how we win souls. That's how we lead people to Christ, not with some convincing argument, but with a life that doesn't care about itself anymore, that's there to serve them, to love them, to be their friend – not to convert them to Christianity, but to be their friend to be their friend. That's what it's all about.
So this is no random death. This is not just death to self to feel sorry for yourself and be a doormat. This is a death to self that brings the very life of Jesus himself. This brings the very life that we read about, that we've all read about in John 3:16, the eternal life of God himself. This is how we get this life.
There's a quote by A.W. Tozer. I love A.W. Tozer. If you ever have a chance to read any of his books, they're so awesome. Here's what he says: “If we are wise we will do what Jesus did. We will endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us. To do this is to submit the whole pattern of our lives to be destroyed and built again in the power of an endless life.” That's why I love the cross. The cross has the power to destroy a life, but it also has the power in the wake of that to rebuild a life. So as we're dying to ourselves and we're getting away from trying to live this Burger King philosophy, it's setting up a new pattern of life in us, the Jesus life and the Jesus way. I love that about the cross. That is what's so great. That is why the cross is good news, because now and only now can we have this Jesus life. It's so great.
I may get in trouble here, but I'm going to go ahead and say it, so just say a prayer for me. The point of the cross is not forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: Restoration; redemption; salvation. Forgiveness is an amazing thing. It's a beautiful thing. Jesus died on the cross and absorbed the wrath of God, and that's something we will never, ever have to experience. But we have a cross to carry. We have a hill to climb. We have a death to die. So we find that Jesus didn't die so I wouldn't have to die. Jesus died to show me how to die. So now I get to follow Him. I get to watch how He lived His life, how His death came about, and I get to mimic that. So I turn through the Gospels, and I read them every day, and I think, how did He live his life? Where is He sacrificing? Where is He giving? That's how I want to live it. So I follow Him in the pages of the gospels. The Spirit is guiding and directing us as we do this.
It's like we kind of just stop at forgiveness. It's one of my pet peeves of Christianity. We just stop at forgiveness, put it in park, and wait for the heavenly aid to come pick us up. We're just ready to go to heaven. We're forgiven, and we're ready to get there. But forgiveness is not the finish line. Forgiveness is the starting line. Forgiveness is what brings us to Jesus – the reconciliation. Jesus forgives us so He can save us, so He can love us, so He can be with us. So that is what is so powerful about the word of the cross. That is what's so powerful about Jesus' life is that He shows us how to die, and that He teaches us that this is the most important thing in our lives.
I want to give you some practical application for 2008, because if I just sit up here this morning and talk about this Jesus truth and don't really give you anything that you can do, this whole time has pretty much been wasted. Jesus says, “Whoever hears My words and acts on them” – that's the key, acts on them – “is like a man who built his house on the rock. “ The other man heard the words of Jesus. He heard them, but what's the difference? He didn't act on them. So when we hear these words of Jesus of taking up your cross, of dying to self and finding a new life like never before, and we act on them. And that's how the life of Christ comes spilling forth out of our lives.
I want to give you three things. These are three spiritual disciplines for 2008. I'm pretty sure we all have New Year’s resolutions. We're trying to lose weight. We're trying to look good. We're trying to get fit. But what if as a church – maybe churchwide resolutions – we could submit ourselves to the Jesus way, the way of sacrifice and the way of discipline, and follow Him in this regard. I want to give you three disciplines. These are things Jesus did. You read them right off the pages of the gospels, so what better way to follow Him than actually do what He did?
The first one is fasting. Fasting is an awesome spiritual discipline because it teaches us that our body doesn't control us. Our spirit controls us. This could be really anything. The main thing is food, but you could fast from TV; you could fast from radio; you could fast from that little cell phone in your pocket; you could fast from email or internet. There are so many things that have the tendency to control us. So Jesus is saying, “You can do without that for a little while. You can come be with Me. You can set that aside.” So you may just want to take maybe once a week or once every month; you don't want to be a hero. I remember when I first got into this, I was trying to fast every day. It didn’t really work out. You don’t want to be a hero. Just keep it simple. Take it easy. So you may just want to do it one a month. You fast, and you take from sunup to sundown – that’s usually what I do – so for breakfast and lunch, I don’t eat anything. During that time my body and my flesh start to go, “I’m hungry! I want some food!” I quote the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” I realize that my body doesn’t control me, but I control my body. Jesus is teaching me how to live this Jesus life. So fasting is a great spiritual discipline. I encourage you to start practicing it. Experiment with it. Give it a try and see what happens, because we have to act on Jesus’ words. It’s not enough to hear them.
The second spiritual discipline is silence and solitude. I combine these together. There is so much to listen to in our world. There is so much to be busy with – so much stuff. Silence and solitude helps us break away from the world and helps us get alone and just be with Jesus. Think about that Psalmist who says, “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s hard to be still when you have the radio, the TV, the internet – and most of that is on your phone, not just in your house anymore. Silence and solitude. You get away and you say, “I’m just going to be with Jesus. I’m not going to bring my Bible. I’m not going to bring my journal. I’m not going to bring a book. I’m not going to even really have an agenda. I’m just going to go and be still. I’m going to get away from the crowds. I’m going to get away from the noise, and I’m going to be still.” There’s a dam and a creek in Allen that I go to sometimes, and I’ll just sit there and just take 30 minutes to an hour and just do nothing and just let the Spirit rejuvenate me. I’ll get away and say, “I don’t have to be plugged in to the world like that all the time. I can break out.” What happens is that Jesus’ life starts to well up. And then I live my day with a different perspective of “I’m so glad I don’t have to get my way today. I’m so glad that’s not important anymore. I’m so glad that I can live for others today. I’m so glad that I can live for Jesus today.
You may want to practice silence and solitude, maybe just once a week for 30 minutes or an hour. Don’t try to be a hero with it, but just try to incorporate it in to your life. These are disciplines or practices. So it's not just like we do one and then we just maybe in a couple months do another one, take a little of this and a little of that. These are some things that we're building in to our lives. It's like that cross. Remember how it destroys one pattern of life, and in its wake it's building a new pattern, a discipline, a practice. These are things that are regularly happening. As we practice these things, that is when the life of Jesus comes forth.
Number three: This has been the one that probably has just been so transformative for me, and that is service – service to the poor, service to the down and out or the lowly. I love what Paul tells us. He says, “Associate with the lowly.” It's so easy for us. Look where we are. North Dallas. We have everything we need, everything we ever wanted. Paul tells us, “Associate with the lowly.” Why does he say that? Don't get caught up in what you have. Get caught up in what you can give. Know that life isn't as easy for other people as for you. Some people have tremendous problems with addictions, and they can't break out of the cycle of the world. A lot of times what our friends and I will do is on Thursday mornings, we go to the day-labor center in Plano by Best Buy. We just buy about 100 donuts and orange juice. We try to buy gloves in the winter time and sweaters. We just set up a table right there, and there are 180 guys that are looking for work. These are guys who lost their jobs and they're just trying to provide for their families, trying to just make a way for them. And some of these guys are just drug addicts that are homeless. Whenever they get their money, they just can't break away from the drugs. It doesn't matter who they are or what they've done. We go down there and we just love on them. We just serve them. We don't try to get them to say a prayer. We don't try to twist their arm. We just go down there and love them. Everyone just lines up and it’s so awesome and we give them hugs and we pray with them for anything that is going on in their lives. We just try to be there for them. We just try to make the commitment to be there every Thursday, because it’s important just to be with them. It’s important to be friends with them, to support them and to help them in any way we can. Maybe one guy we'll get a bus pass for. Maybe one guy we'll help out with Christmas presents. Terry did that for one of the guys. It just puts you in the opportunity and that position and that place of service, of serving. And then you get the idea, this is what Jesus was doing. He was serving people. He was with the lowly. The Gospel came to the poor. That's when the Jesus life begins to shine forth. So we see that this isn't a passive life. The grace of God is active.
A lot of times I think we're not only saved by grace but we're paralyzed by it. The grace of God is the most active force in the world, and all it is waiting for is the Jesus followers to come and step in to it. That's what happens when we get into these spiritual disciplines. We put ourselves in a position for this grace to just come in and save us, and we go out into the world and we serve others and we love others and we find that there's a lot more to live for than our own lives. I hope that's helpful, because if we would do the Jesus truth, the Jesus way, then we're going to get that Jesus life.
I want to close with I Corinthians 1:18. I love this passage of scripture. This really sums up what we've been talking about this morning. Paul was talking to the Corinthian church, and here's what he says: “For the word of the cross” – everything that we've been talking about this morning: Death to self, finding a new life, the life we've never even dreamed of – “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Think about those people in the Greco Roman world who were living for themselves. It was a sensual age; it still is today. But when that word of the cross went forth, maybe like some of us today are thinking, “This is kind of crazy, John. This is foolishness. Death to self? Are you kidding me? Are you crazy?” But to those people who heard the word of the cross, who took it into their lives and lived it, they found that there was the power of God. So my invitation this morning is a practical invitation. It's not one for this morning. It's a daily invitation. It's a living invitation. It's Jesus' invitation. Come and die with Him.
Let's pray.
Jesus, thank You so much for giving me the opportunity to be here this morning. I'm so glad that You have saved us and that You have forgiven us and that You have called us to live this life. We can't even really believe that You would come down and humble Yourself and become a servant just for us. Now You're calling us to come and die and humble ourselves and live this new life. Jesus, I ask that You would propel us into 2008 with now this Jesus truth but also in this Jesus way so that we will get this Jesus life. May we take up our crosses and follow You. May that be our battle cry for 2008. Thank You, Jesus, for everything You have done for us and everything You're continuing to do for us.
Speaker: Jonathan Bailey
Location:Four Corners Church
Plano, Texas
Date: December 30, 2007
Pastor Randy Bailey: Jon has ministered here to singles a number of times, but it's the first time he's ministering to the church family. In a devotion time, I felt God touch me with that thought and leading, so I asked Jon, and he prayed about it and came back and said, “I think the lord wants me to do that.” Kori and Jon are down here in the front. They are loved and treasured by Nancy and me. Kori, that's his wife and my precious daughter-in-law. I love them both very much. I esteem my son Jonathan because he is a man who walks his talk. He is a man who loves God with all of his heart. He carries a rich understanding of the Word of God. Jonathan, I want to ask you to come and deliver your heart to us today. Could we give him a hand as he comes?
Jonathan Bailey: I'm very, very happy to be here this morning to get the chance to speak with you. My dad asked me, and I was freaking out. Talk to the big people? I usually just talk to the little people, but the big people? It's a big responsibility. That's a big opportunity. I'm very excited. I'm very honored that my dad would give me the opportunity to speak. I'm very excited and I'm very humbled to be here. If you have your Bibles this morning, go ahead and grab them. We're going to be in Mark 8.
One of my favorite seasons is fall. I love fall. I love when that first cold front blows in and that hot air blows out and that cold air blows in. Do you know that feeling I'm talking about? I love that. One of my favorite things about fall is the leaves. I love to watch the leaves turn colors. You have the reds and the browns and the yellows and the oranges. It explodes into this amazing color, and you think, “That is so beautiful.” I just love to watch these leaves. It's like a beautiful collage. We live in Dallas, Texas, so our fall is not much of a fall. My wife, Kori, went to the University of Missouri. She tells me, “There's a real fall. The leaves and the trees there are beautiful.” I think about even maybe going to Central Park in New York City and standing on top of the Empire State Building and looking out at that massive park of green trees, and then watching them just explode into these beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow, and brown. Even when I was a little kid in first grade, we would go outside and our teacher would make us do these projects where we would collect leaves. We would take them back into our classroom, we'd set them down on a white sheet of paper, and we'd start tracing around the leaf. Then we would take our Crayolas, and we would put two or three in our hand – our yellow and our orange and our brown – and then we would start coloring in the leaf, trying to mimic the color. I just love leaves. Even if you just went into my apartment two or three months ago, you would see these fall leaves decorated in these glass vases, decorated in our shelves, weaved in between our picture frames. I love leaves. I began to think, “What's happening to these leaves?” They're beautiful. Then the thought hit me: These leaves are dying. Then the thought hit me: It's amazing how beautiful death can be. That's what I want to talk about this morning. I want to talk about the beauty of dying with Jesus Christ. I want to talk about how amazing it is to give our lives to Jesus Christ, to die with Him, and ultimately, to live with Him.
When you look at that tree, it looks like it's dying, but it's not dying. The leaves are what have to die. So the leaves are dying, but the tree is still alive. So you see this death is really just a natural cycle; it's just the natural process of this tree. You have the spring and the summer and the fall and the winter. The same thing is true for us. As followers and disciples of Jesus, we have this picture of life and death and living and dying and rising with Jesus. That's what I want to talk about. That is the Jesus way.
I want to say a prayer, and then we'll launch right in to the text. I really just want Jesus to lead us in this passage, because what He does here with the disciples is so beautiful. It's so great the way He helps them see and rethink who He is, and then rethink their call and their mission. Let's pray, and then we'll jump right in to it. Jesus, we ask that You would be our teacher this morning; that You would not let me get in the way of what You want to say; that Your Spirit would forcefully impress upon all of us the beauty of dying with You and rising with You and finding a new life, life like we never knew before – that eternal life You talk about in John 3:16. I pray that You would impress upon us the importance of going into the year 2008 on this Jesus way. Thank You for everything You've given us in this past year, and catapult us forward to follow You in this New Year. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
I want to read through this scripture verse with you. There are 11 verses. I want to read through it so we're familiar with it, and then I want to go through it verse by verse and just take a look at it. It says in Mark 8:27:
“Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ They told Him, saying, ‘John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.’ And He continued by questioning them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered and said to Him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's.’ And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
It's a crazy passage of scripture. It's one of my favorites, and it's one that I really wanted to talk with you about this morning. We see Jesus, in verse 27, going out on a journey. Just to give you a little context of the scripture, He just got done feeding the 5,000, which turns out to be when you count the women and the children 20,000 or 30,000 people. So He's going up north to these villages of Caesarea Philippi. This is on the outskirts of Palestine, so it's a place where He can get away from the crowd. He often does this. You read this right off the pages of the gospels when He gets in to this intense ministry with a lot of crowds and then decides to get away from people and just take a break and be alone. This would have been a two-day journey for the disciples. I think about how awesome that would have been, just to be on a two-day journey with Jesus, to listen to Him, to hear Him talk, to maybe listen to a parable or a teaching, to maybe ask Him some questions, or maybe He would even ask me some questions, or maybe even see a miracle. That would have been amazing.
So He asked the disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” Jesus has been speaking and teaching for maybe about a year or so now, so He's wanting to know, “Who are the people saying that I am? Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist, some say one of the other prophets.” But then He asked the more poignant question: “Who do you say that I am? Peter, disciples, the twelve, who do you say that I am?” That's a question that is for the 1st century disciples, but that's also the question for us, the 21st century disciples. Who do we say that Jesus is? Many of us have been traveling a journey with Jesus for some time now. Maybe some of us have been going for longer than others, maybe some of us are new, or maybe some of us haven't even decided to get on with the journey, but we're journeying, so that question is for all of us. “Who do you say that I am?” Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Christ.” Great statement. Great answer. But Jesus’ statement right after this is crazy. He says, “Don’t tell anybody that.” What? Don't tell anybody that You're the Christ? I thought that was the right answer. I thought that was the thing I was supposed to say. Don't tell anybody that You're the Christ? That is kind of strange. I began to think about that. The reason Jesus didn't want the disciples telling everybody that He was the Christ is because their conception of who the Christ was, of who Jesus was, of what He came to do and the life that He came to live was totally off base. It was totally out of whack. So Jesus has to take this time on this journey to explain to them the true nature of the Messiah – the true nature of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
I want to talk a little bit about the conception of the Jewish people, of the disciples. When Peter said, “You are the Christ,” what did it mean for him? What did it mean to say that He was the Christ? I think one thing that is important is that these disciples were looking for a physical kingdom. When Jesus came and said, “The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in this gospel,” they were looking for a real kingdom. If you look at the history of Israel, the brief history of Israel is they started out as a people of slavery in Egypt. Then they finally break free out of Egypt, they go to the Promised Land, they get this kingdom, and they have Saul and they have David. They finally get this kingdom, but what happens? They fall away, and the kingdom splits up. Then Babylon rises up, the power of the age, and comes in and overthrows them and enslaves them, so their kingdom is gone. And then Syria, another great power rises up and conquers Babylon, but then it conquers Israel as well.
So you see that they are constantly being a people who are being oppressed. They're looking for this kingdom. They're tired of being in oppression. So finally, Assyria lets them go, and they go back to Israel and they set up the temple, but they never quite get the kingdom back.
They never quite get the government, because the Romans come in. – the next great dominant world force. The Roman Empire comes, and the Romans are oppressing them; the Romans are occupying their territory. So Peter says, “You are the Christ. You are the one that is going to come get rid of these guys. You are the one who is going to get these guys off our back. We're tired of people oppressing us. We are looking for someone who is going to liberate us. We are looking for a kingdom to be set up.” And Jesus says, “I'm not coming to set up a physical kingdom. I'm coming to set up a spiritual kingdom.”
The disciples were looking for someone who was going to conquer their enemies, but Jesus comes and He teaches them – this is beautiful – Jesus didn't come to conquer our enemies. He came to love our enemies. That's a big lesson for the disciples that they had to learn. When you think about the Roman centurion that came to Jesus after the Sermon on the Mount and he says, “Would You heal my servant?” Think about the disciples – James and John and Peter. They're thinking, “No way. No way You're going to heal this guy's servant. This is the guy who is oppressing us.” But what does Jesus do? He says, “Sure. I'll heal your servant.” Then He makes this crazy statement, this unbelievable statement. He says, “I have not found any greater faith in all of Israel than this Roman.” This pagan guy. If you're the disciples, you have to be freaking out at this point, because this is totally blowing your mind, but Jesus is totally helping them rethink who He is, helping them rethink who the Messiah is. Think about when Jesus is getting his beard plucked out; and He's getting beat with a whip; and the nails are being driven into His hands; and the crown of thorns is being slammed into His head; and He looks up and He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” The very people that were crucifying Him, these Roman people – Jesus didn't come to conquer our enemies. He came to love our enemies.
Then I think about John 6:15. John 6:15 is when right after Jesus feeds the 5,000 – so you literally have 20,000 or 30,000 people – and it says in that verse that Jesus perceived that the people were coming to take Him by force and make Him king. What a miracle. But think about the implications of a King, of a warrior Messiah who can multiply food, who can multiply fishes and loaves. Think about it in terms of an army. How amazing is that? How amazing is a King who can raise up a troop from the dead? He just goes out on the battlefield and touches him and he comes back to life. The implications are amazing. This is why the people say, “We have to make Jesus our King. We have to take Him to Jerusalem right now. This is the One we've been waiting for.” But Jesus has to teach them a different way, and that's the Jesus way.
Peter is in this inner circle. Peter is the elite of the elite. There are literally hundreds of disciples following Jesus, but there are 12 that are the core. But Peter is almost the leader of the 12, so he's like the right-hand man. He is it for Jesus. So when he says, “You are the Christ,” you can almost just see him rubbing his hands together saying, “You are the Christ. You're the one that's going to take care of all this for us. You're the one that's going to make all this happen for us. You're the one we've been waiting for.” I think for the disciples, the temptation that we fall in to and that they fell in to is are we using Jesus or are we letting Jesus use us? Are we using Jesus to get what we want, or are we letting Jesus use us for his glory? That's the lesson that the disciples are about to learn.
We all have this consumer mentality. We live in America, the most consumer nation in the world. When we go in to a store, we say, “I want the best possible deal for the best possible price. I want the most I can get for the smallest price.” Sometimes I think that spills over in to our spiritual life and our relationship with Jesus where “I want to get the most I can and I want to make sure I can get it as cheap as possible.” But that's not the way. And Jesus was about to tell them something crazy: “I'm going to have to have to give my life for you people.” The King is going to be a King that is killed. The Messiah is going to be a King that has to die, not one that has to roll into Jerusalem and throw out the Romans. So Jesus says, “Don't tell them. Don't tell them I'm the Christ because you're not ready. You need to learn more.” Let's jump back to the story, verse 31:
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. “
At this point, there's no more time for parables and metaphors – this is how Jesus talks to people. He'll give you a story so it's something you can think about – but in this case, Jesus says flat out, “This is what is going to happen. Here's the bottom line: I'm going to Jerusalem, I'm going to be rejected, and I'm going to be killed. But I'm going to rise again.” But they totally missed that. So He just states the matter plainly. Here's when Peter obviously freaks out. He grabs Jesus; he pulls him over and says, “What are You doing? What are You talking about? Dying? A dead Messiah? Are You kidding me? I don't think so. That's not what we signed up for.” I can almost just picture Jesus looking out as his disciples as peers saying this: “I have to help them see the true nature of who I am.” So He rebukes Peter, but He gives them the strongest rebuke you can think of. He calls the guy Satan. “Satan, get behind me.” Every once in a while, I have some friends that we get together and have these rebuking sessions. We just kind of tell each other what we don't like about each other and encourage each other to be better men, better husbands. But never once have I looked at my friend Terry and said, “Hey, Satan, you need to treat Richman better.” I never said that. That's pretty strong. So Jesus says, “This is totally, totally Satan’s way.” Jesus’ way is the cross. Jesus’ way is death, because what does that lead to? That leads to life everlasting. Here's the struggle. Here's where the battlefront is, where the war is waged: It's waged at this God's interests and this man's interests. This is where we live our lives. This is where it all goes down. The struggle for the disciple of Jesus is the messy process of learning the beauty of God's way verses man's way. That is a messy, messy process, but it's beautiful. Just like those leaves that are dying. They're dying, but it's beautiful.
Let's flip over to II Corinthians 5:14-15. We get a little commentary here from the apostle Paul:
“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
I love that scripture. He died to set us free from ourselves, from getting our own way. When you think about man's way, what is man's way? How many people have seen those Burger King commercials with that crazy, scary king? Have you seen the end of those commercials? What's the tag line at the end? “Have it your way.” That's man's way. Man's way is “I want to live life on my own terms. I don't want to surrender to anything. I don't want to sacrifice anything.” “Have it your way.” But we have that beautiful process of learning the beauty of God's way. That's what living life is all about as a follower, as a disciple of Jesus. What if “Have it your way” was my philosophy for Kori and I in our marriage? It really wouldn't work out. It doesn't work with our parents; it doesn't work with our friendships; it doesn't work with any relationship; and it certainly doesn't work with Jesus. But what if it was one of these shows on the History Channel I love to watch called Modern Marvels? Does anyone know about that show? I love that show. I think it's the greatest show. They show how the Empire State Building was built and all the history behind it, or the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. She thinks I'm the biggest dork for watching that show. She never wants to watch that show. But what if I just came home every day after work and just said, “I'm going to watch Modern Marvels. I'm just going to sit down on the couch and watch Modern Marvels.” It's not going to work.
So we find that Jesus didn't come to bring us what we want, but He came to bring us what we need. Isn't that good? That's what Jesus is teaching these disciples. The title for this message is “The Jesus Way,” and I got it from this quote by Eugene Peterson. It says this: “If we do the Jesus truth the Jesus way, we will get the Jesus life.” I love that. He goes on to say, “Christ is the way as well as the truth and the life. When we don't do it His way, we mess up the truth and miss out on the life.” It's like we all have this Jesus truth stored up right here. Jesus died on the cross for my sins. He forgave me. He is the Son of God. He rose. The Bible is the inspired Word of God. I have all this Jesus truth, but when we don't do it the Jesus way, we miss out on the Jesus life. We have to do both. We have to take this Jesus truth and we have to live it this Jesus way. Then and only then will we get this Jesus life. That's what the world is waiting for – the Jesus life to come and shine forth in the world.
Let's pick back up with the story. How do we get this life? Jesus has just helped them rethink who He is. This was mind-blowing, but now He is going to help them rethink their mission and their call of who they were. So let's pick back up with the story in verse 34.
“And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.’”
It's kind of a weird sentence at the end, isn't it? “If you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you.” Why would He add that in there? I think it's because for the disciples, this was a major letdown. This was a major disappointment. A dead king? This is crazy. This is unbelievable. And Jesus said, “If you're disappointed of this Jesus way, if you're ashamed of this Jesus way of life, then I'm going to be ashamed of you.” That's a pretty shocking statement.
Let's go back up to verse 34. That's where I want to camp out a little bit. He says, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself.” That sounds like bad news. But I tell you it's the best news you've ever heard, because Jesus is telling you that there's something greater than your own lives to live for. What does it mean to lay down our lives? I like what the NIV says. It says that we are to lay down our selfish ambition. We just get rid of that. We just put that aside. We're done with that. That frees us up to live in this world. It doesn't matter really what happens to us. What set the world afire for Christianity and Jesus Christ during the time of the apostles? People didn't care about their lives. What happens if I don't get my way? No problem. What about torture? Doesn't matter. What about death? Doesn’t matter. What about life? Doesn't matter. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It's an amazing fact. That's what Jesus is trying to teach us. There's something greater than our own lives to live for.
On Friday mornings we have a Bible study and we're going through Romans. It's a fun time. We read this passage of scripture in Romans 8:13, and I said, “I have to put this in the message.” This is pretty cool. Romans 8:13 says, “For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” So what is this flesh? We find that we need to kill this flesh. We need to get rid of this, but what is the flesh? The flesh is the Burger King philosophy. The flesh is living life on my own terms. The flesh is what the Bible calls the “old man” or the “ego” or the “will” or the “self.” This is what the Bible is constantly encouraging us to do away with so that we can live the Jesus live. But how do we kill this flesh? How do we get rid of this flesh? This is what Jesus teaches us: The cross. He says, “Take up your cross and follow Me.” What a shocking statement for the disciples when they heard that. That must have set them on their heels. You can tell this whole passage is crazy for them. There wasn't really much discussion of Jesus dying on the cross yet either, so this comes quite as a shock. But they knew exactly what He meant when He said, “Take up your cross.” At any given day, you go in to Jerusalem, and you can see just up in the hills people getting crucified. It was about as common as you and I driving down the freeway and seeing a wreck. People were getting crucified daily, and as soon as He said that, they knew, uh-oh.
What's He saying?
He’s saying that it's time to end that old life. The cross cuts us off, and it helps us kill that old life.
I love this quote by Brennan Manning. I think I have it in your outline this morning. It's a beautiful statement. It says, “In first century Palestine, the cross was an instrument of torture, a gallows. The honoring of anyone who hung on it was a scandal of the most profound kind. Yet in a stunning reversal of human wisdom, the cross of death becomes the tree of life.” What a beautiful statement. We find now that we cling to this cross, that the cross is something that we are taking in to our lives, that we're actually living because from it comes this Jesus life. It's an amazing thing. The cross becomes a living presence in our lives. It's not just something that happened 2000 years ago. It's not just something that happened when I was converted to Christianity. It's something that is happening now in my life. The cross is my companion on the Jesus way. When Jesus says “Take my yolk upon you and learn from Me,” He is saying “Take up your cross and follow Me.” I love that. So in this passage, Jesus tells us to carry a cross, to die – but He has a cross, and we have a cross. This is our cross to carry. This is ours. He has His, and we have ours.
Let's look at II Corinthians 4:8-12. I remember reading this about a year ago and it's just totally amazing. It's one of those amazing passages that you never hear, but when you hear it you say, “Why haven't I ever heard this before?” This is Paul, and he's talking about this “cross life.” This is what he says:
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” (Here's the key thing for Paul) “always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (In our dying body, in the body you and I have right now, this one – the eternal life of Jesus Himself coming out of this body.) “So death works in us, but life in you.”
When the apostle Paul was practicing this cross life, it was producing life for other people. That's the great thing about Jesus’ followers and disciples. We practice this cross life, and the Jesus life begins to come out of us, and it begins to produce life for others. That's how we win souls. That's how we lead people to Christ, not with some convincing argument, but with a life that doesn't care about itself anymore, that's there to serve them, to love them, to be their friend – not to convert them to Christianity, but to be their friend to be their friend. That's what it's all about.
So this is no random death. This is not just death to self to feel sorry for yourself and be a doormat. This is a death to self that brings the very life of Jesus himself. This brings the very life that we read about, that we've all read about in John 3:16, the eternal life of God himself. This is how we get this life.
There's a quote by A.W. Tozer. I love A.W. Tozer. If you ever have a chance to read any of his books, they're so awesome. Here's what he says: “If we are wise we will do what Jesus did. We will endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us. To do this is to submit the whole pattern of our lives to be destroyed and built again in the power of an endless life.” That's why I love the cross. The cross has the power to destroy a life, but it also has the power in the wake of that to rebuild a life. So as we're dying to ourselves and we're getting away from trying to live this Burger King philosophy, it's setting up a new pattern of life in us, the Jesus life and the Jesus way. I love that about the cross. That is what's so great. That is why the cross is good news, because now and only now can we have this Jesus life. It's so great.
I may get in trouble here, but I'm going to go ahead and say it, so just say a prayer for me. The point of the cross is not forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: Restoration; redemption; salvation. Forgiveness is an amazing thing. It's a beautiful thing. Jesus died on the cross and absorbed the wrath of God, and that's something we will never, ever have to experience. But we have a cross to carry. We have a hill to climb. We have a death to die. So we find that Jesus didn't die so I wouldn't have to die. Jesus died to show me how to die. So now I get to follow Him. I get to watch how He lived His life, how His death came about, and I get to mimic that. So I turn through the Gospels, and I read them every day, and I think, how did He live his life? Where is He sacrificing? Where is He giving? That's how I want to live it. So I follow Him in the pages of the gospels. The Spirit is guiding and directing us as we do this.
It's like we kind of just stop at forgiveness. It's one of my pet peeves of Christianity. We just stop at forgiveness, put it in park, and wait for the heavenly aid to come pick us up. We're just ready to go to heaven. We're forgiven, and we're ready to get there. But forgiveness is not the finish line. Forgiveness is the starting line. Forgiveness is what brings us to Jesus – the reconciliation. Jesus forgives us so He can save us, so He can love us, so He can be with us. So that is what is so powerful about the word of the cross. That is what's so powerful about Jesus' life is that He shows us how to die, and that He teaches us that this is the most important thing in our lives.
I want to give you some practical application for 2008, because if I just sit up here this morning and talk about this Jesus truth and don't really give you anything that you can do, this whole time has pretty much been wasted. Jesus says, “Whoever hears My words and acts on them” – that's the key, acts on them – “is like a man who built his house on the rock. “ The other man heard the words of Jesus. He heard them, but what's the difference? He didn't act on them. So when we hear these words of Jesus of taking up your cross, of dying to self and finding a new life like never before, and we act on them. And that's how the life of Christ comes spilling forth out of our lives.
I want to give you three things. These are three spiritual disciplines for 2008. I'm pretty sure we all have New Year’s resolutions. We're trying to lose weight. We're trying to look good. We're trying to get fit. But what if as a church – maybe churchwide resolutions – we could submit ourselves to the Jesus way, the way of sacrifice and the way of discipline, and follow Him in this regard. I want to give you three disciplines. These are things Jesus did. You read them right off the pages of the gospels, so what better way to follow Him than actually do what He did?
The first one is fasting. Fasting is an awesome spiritual discipline because it teaches us that our body doesn't control us. Our spirit controls us. This could be really anything. The main thing is food, but you could fast from TV; you could fast from radio; you could fast from that little cell phone in your pocket; you could fast from email or internet. There are so many things that have the tendency to control us. So Jesus is saying, “You can do without that for a little while. You can come be with Me. You can set that aside.” So you may just want to take maybe once a week or once every month; you don't want to be a hero. I remember when I first got into this, I was trying to fast every day. It didn’t really work out. You don’t want to be a hero. Just keep it simple. Take it easy. So you may just want to do it one a month. You fast, and you take from sunup to sundown – that’s usually what I do – so for breakfast and lunch, I don’t eat anything. During that time my body and my flesh start to go, “I’m hungry! I want some food!” I quote the 23rd Psalm: “The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.” I realize that my body doesn’t control me, but I control my body. Jesus is teaching me how to live this Jesus life. So fasting is a great spiritual discipline. I encourage you to start practicing it. Experiment with it. Give it a try and see what happens, because we have to act on Jesus’ words. It’s not enough to hear them.
The second spiritual discipline is silence and solitude. I combine these together. There is so much to listen to in our world. There is so much to be busy with – so much stuff. Silence and solitude helps us break away from the world and helps us get alone and just be with Jesus. Think about that Psalmist who says, “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s hard to be still when you have the radio, the TV, the internet – and most of that is on your phone, not just in your house anymore. Silence and solitude. You get away and you say, “I’m just going to be with Jesus. I’m not going to bring my Bible. I’m not going to bring my journal. I’m not going to bring a book. I’m not going to even really have an agenda. I’m just going to go and be still. I’m going to get away from the crowds. I’m going to get away from the noise, and I’m going to be still.” There’s a dam and a creek in Allen that I go to sometimes, and I’ll just sit there and just take 30 minutes to an hour and just do nothing and just let the Spirit rejuvenate me. I’ll get away and say, “I don’t have to be plugged in to the world like that all the time. I can break out.” What happens is that Jesus’ life starts to well up. And then I live my day with a different perspective of “I’m so glad I don’t have to get my way today. I’m so glad that’s not important anymore. I’m so glad that I can live for others today. I’m so glad that I can live for Jesus today.
You may want to practice silence and solitude, maybe just once a week for 30 minutes or an hour. Don’t try to be a hero with it, but just try to incorporate it in to your life. These are disciplines or practices. So it's not just like we do one and then we just maybe in a couple months do another one, take a little of this and a little of that. These are some things that we're building in to our lives. It's like that cross. Remember how it destroys one pattern of life, and in its wake it's building a new pattern, a discipline, a practice. These are things that are regularly happening. As we practice these things, that is when the life of Jesus comes forth.
Number three: This has been the one that probably has just been so transformative for me, and that is service – service to the poor, service to the down and out or the lowly. I love what Paul tells us. He says, “Associate with the lowly.” It's so easy for us. Look where we are. North Dallas. We have everything we need, everything we ever wanted. Paul tells us, “Associate with the lowly.” Why does he say that? Don't get caught up in what you have. Get caught up in what you can give. Know that life isn't as easy for other people as for you. Some people have tremendous problems with addictions, and they can't break out of the cycle of the world. A lot of times what our friends and I will do is on Thursday mornings, we go to the day-labor center in Plano by Best Buy. We just buy about 100 donuts and orange juice. We try to buy gloves in the winter time and sweaters. We just set up a table right there, and there are 180 guys that are looking for work. These are guys who lost their jobs and they're just trying to provide for their families, trying to just make a way for them. And some of these guys are just drug addicts that are homeless. Whenever they get their money, they just can't break away from the drugs. It doesn't matter who they are or what they've done. We go down there and we just love on them. We just serve them. We don't try to get them to say a prayer. We don't try to twist their arm. We just go down there and love them. Everyone just lines up and it’s so awesome and we give them hugs and we pray with them for anything that is going on in their lives. We just try to be there for them. We just try to make the commitment to be there every Thursday, because it’s important just to be with them. It’s important to be friends with them, to support them and to help them in any way we can. Maybe one guy we'll get a bus pass for. Maybe one guy we'll help out with Christmas presents. Terry did that for one of the guys. It just puts you in the opportunity and that position and that place of service, of serving. And then you get the idea, this is what Jesus was doing. He was serving people. He was with the lowly. The Gospel came to the poor. That's when the Jesus life begins to shine forth. So we see that this isn't a passive life. The grace of God is active.
A lot of times I think we're not only saved by grace but we're paralyzed by it. The grace of God is the most active force in the world, and all it is waiting for is the Jesus followers to come and step in to it. That's what happens when we get into these spiritual disciplines. We put ourselves in a position for this grace to just come in and save us, and we go out into the world and we serve others and we love others and we find that there's a lot more to live for than our own lives. I hope that's helpful, because if we would do the Jesus truth, the Jesus way, then we're going to get that Jesus life.
I want to close with I Corinthians 1:18. I love this passage of scripture. This really sums up what we've been talking about this morning. Paul was talking to the Corinthian church, and here's what he says: “For the word of the cross” – everything that we've been talking about this morning: Death to self, finding a new life, the life we've never even dreamed of – “the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Think about those people in the Greco Roman world who were living for themselves. It was a sensual age; it still is today. But when that word of the cross went forth, maybe like some of us today are thinking, “This is kind of crazy, John. This is foolishness. Death to self? Are you kidding me? Are you crazy?” But to those people who heard the word of the cross, who took it into their lives and lived it, they found that there was the power of God. So my invitation this morning is a practical invitation. It's not one for this morning. It's a daily invitation. It's a living invitation. It's Jesus' invitation. Come and die with Him.
Let's pray.
Jesus, thank You so much for giving me the opportunity to be here this morning. I'm so glad that You have saved us and that You have forgiven us and that You have called us to live this life. We can't even really believe that You would come down and humble Yourself and become a servant just for us. Now You're calling us to come and die and humble ourselves and live this new life. Jesus, I ask that You would propel us into 2008 with now this Jesus truth but also in this Jesus way so that we will get this Jesus life. May we take up our crosses and follow You. May that be our battle cry for 2008. Thank You, Jesus, for everything You have done for us and everything You're continuing to do for us.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Learning to Love
i listened to a great sermon by Dallas and wanted to share some reflective snap shots.
"Power does not depend upon position."
"We need to learn love, not how to love."
"It is often suggested that we do the deeds of love. In a sense that is true. The deeds of love are only available of love.
John 3:14
"We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death."
"Jesus always teaches contextually in the situations of real life."
Luke 6:28
"Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
This is apart of the life without fear. When fear is removed from your life by the experience of love these are the things you will do.
Luke 6:27-28 is what love will do. These are not a list of laws. People should not read this and go out with a big list of things to do in order to be loving. If you do that it will hurt you badly.
When you read these your heart should leap up in anticipation! One thing you realize after reading this, is that this is going to be a tremendous adventure.
Special thanks to Dallas Willard for preaching this sermon. I found on a website where you can get old tapes of his messages. If you are interested in getting the full version let me know.
"Power does not depend upon position."
"We need to learn love, not how to love."
"It is often suggested that we do the deeds of love. In a sense that is true. The deeds of love are only available of love.
John 3:14
"We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death."
"Jesus always teaches contextually in the situations of real life."
Luke 6:28
"Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
This is apart of the life without fear. When fear is removed from your life by the experience of love these are the things you will do.
Luke 6:27-28 is what love will do. These are not a list of laws. People should not read this and go out with a big list of things to do in order to be loving. If you do that it will hurt you badly.
When you read these your heart should leap up in anticipation! One thing you realize after reading this, is that this is going to be a tremendous adventure.
Special thanks to Dallas Willard for preaching this sermon. I found on a website where you can get old tapes of his messages. If you are interested in getting the full version let me know.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sabbath & the Body
"Sabbath is inseparable from worship, and indeed, genuine worship is Sabbath. The practical center of proper care for the body is Sabbath."
Dallas Willard
Dallas Willard
More on the Body & a Psalm
"The body must be properly cherished and cared for, not as our master, but as a servant."
Dallas Willard
"You are not your body."
JRB
Psalm 127:2
"It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep."
Dallas Willard
"You are not your body."
JRB
Psalm 127:2
"It is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so he giveth his beloved sleep."
Intent on One Purpose
Philippians 2:3-4
"3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."
Jesus,
My prayer today is that you would use the little things of my life to make me a servant. i want to be more gracious, loving, giving and kind. Show me at work and home how all of the details of life are the times when growth and practice are available. Fill me with your Spirit Jesus. Take away my pride. Give me the courage to take the more difficult path and to surrender to your will. May i today shine brightly in your kingdom. May your peace and strength be found in me as i work and play. i love you for loving me. i am honored and no way worthy to follow you.
Jon
"3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."
Jesus,
My prayer today is that you would use the little things of my life to make me a servant. i want to be more gracious, loving, giving and kind. Show me at work and home how all of the details of life are the times when growth and practice are available. Fill me with your Spirit Jesus. Take away my pride. Give me the courage to take the more difficult path and to surrender to your will. May i today shine brightly in your kingdom. May your peace and strength be found in me as i work and play. i love you for loving me. i am honored and no way worthy to follow you.
Jon
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Renovation of the Heart pg. 118
"No longer idolize your body. Human ruin comes from placing ourselves at the center of the Universe, in place of God. This leads to a worship of the body and a life of sensuality. Then our body becomes our primary source of gratification and the chief instrument for getting what we want. For most people their body governs their life."
"Bodily pleasure in itself is not a bad thing, but when it is exalted to a necessity and when we become dependent upon it, then we are slaves to our body and it's feelings. Only misery lies ahead."
Here is a bonus quote from an unknown author that has nothing to do with this post.
"I cannot work my soul to save, for that my Lord hath done, but I will work like any slave, for love of God's dear Son."
beautiful.
"Bodily pleasure in itself is not a bad thing, but when it is exalted to a necessity and when we become dependent upon it, then we are slaves to our body and it's feelings. Only misery lies ahead."
Here is a bonus quote from an unknown author that has nothing to do with this post.
"I cannot work my soul to save, for that my Lord hath done, but I will work like any slave, for love of God's dear Son."
beautiful.
Mystery Messiah
Mark 8:30
"and He warned them to tell no one about Him."
Why did Jesus not want people, the Jewish people, to know He was the Messiah? I think it is because they all had their own conceptions of who the Messiah was supposed to be and what He was supposed to do. He did not want them to look at Him with their lenses. Jesus wanted them to see Him for who He was. After they finally got to know Jesus and who He was, then He would reveal to the Jewish people who He truly was. The Messiah. The coming King. The Creator of the Universe.
Mark 8:31-33
"31And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
As it is easy to see, the Jews had absolutely no conception of a suffering Messiah. It was not in their teaching. And so Jesus has to correct their teaching on death.
"and He warned them to tell no one about Him."
Why did Jesus not want people, the Jewish people, to know He was the Messiah? I think it is because they all had their own conceptions of who the Messiah was supposed to be and what He was supposed to do. He did not want them to look at Him with their lenses. Jesus wanted them to see Him for who He was. After they finally got to know Jesus and who He was, then He would reveal to the Jewish people who He truly was. The Messiah. The coming King. The Creator of the Universe.
Mark 8:31-33
"31And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
32And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
33But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."
As it is easy to see, the Jews had absolutely no conception of a suffering Messiah. It was not in their teaching. And so Jesus has to correct their teaching on death.
George Muller
"One asked George Muller the secret to his service, and he replied, 'There was a day when I died.' and as he spoke he bent lower until he touched the floor. Continuing he added, 'Died to George Muller, to his opinions, preferences, tastes, and will. Died to the world, its approval or censure. Died to the approval or blame even of my brethren and friends. And since then studied only to show myself approved of God."
The Heart of Man (Mark 7:14-23)
14After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:
15there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
16["If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]
17When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
18And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,
19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
20And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.
21"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23"All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
Jesus cleanse me from within. Don't let me go on living life without your washing of the inside of my body. I need your cleansing power!
The Heart of Man (Mark 7:14-23)
14After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, "Listen to Me, all of you, and understand:
15there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man.
16["If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."]
17When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable.
18And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him,
19because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.)
20And He was saying, "That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man.
21"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
22deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.
23"All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."
Jesus cleanse me from within. Don't let me go on living life without your washing of the inside of my body. I need your cleansing power!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sacrifice & Vision
Quotes from Dallas Willard
"Sacrifice is something taken up in God."
"The vision of the kingdom is where Jesus started and where we must also start. He came announcing, manifesting and teaching the availability and nature of the kingdom of the heavens."
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Seeking God: An Interview with Dallas Willard
This is an excerpt from a conversation with Dallas Willard. In this portion they are speaking about God allowing us to seek Him, and the ways God allows us to find. Or better yet how He manifests Himself to us. Generally He does it gently, and in subtle forms, at the beginning, and as we become trasformed into His image we can stand to be more and more in His prescence. Read and enjoy this insightful excerpt.
Willard: This goes to a very deep issue that we really do need an answer to, or our faith will not make much sense. That is the question: “Why isn’t God obvious?” We would think he could be. (I put on the front page of The Divine Conspiracy, a quotation from C. S. Lewis that I think helps with the problem. It’s actually a remark from Screwtape to Wormwood, and it deals with this issue.)
You see, God doesn’t wish to overwhelm us. He’s put us in a position where our will can go in either direction. We are responsible for our decision. It’s what we choose to see that matters. In order for us to have that choice, God leaves things so that we have to seek them.
Isaiah cries out, “Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.” Deus absconditus. That’s a part of this whole picture. We have to seek, so that the promise of Jeremiah 29 can be fulfilled: “You will find me, when you seek for me with all your heart.”
Shaw: Here’s that Screwtape quote: “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” That’s such a marvelous insight from Lewis.
Willard: Isn’t that the point? That God puts us here, and in effect says, “What do you want?” If there is a person who says, “I deeply, desperately, want God,” then as that soul can stand it, it will find God.
Shaw: It would almost be like being confronted with a nuclear explosion, wouldn’t it? My understanding is that God chooses to reveal himself gradually, in metaphor, in vision, in the imagination, because otherwise we’d be annihilated by his presence.
Willard: The standard teaching is “If you’ve seen God, you’re ready to die.” Because it will blow you away—kill you. just the effect on your mind will kill you. People often die of shock, or bad news—they fall dead.
Basically the situation is that God mediates himself to us in forms, first of all, that will work, so we can find him that way, but also in ways we can tolerate. This is the background of prophetic writings such as “He is like a refiner’s fire, like fuller’s soap, and who can stand when he appears?”
Willard: This goes to a very deep issue that we really do need an answer to, or our faith will not make much sense. That is the question: “Why isn’t God obvious?” We would think he could be. (I put on the front page of The Divine Conspiracy, a quotation from C. S. Lewis that I think helps with the problem. It’s actually a remark from Screwtape to Wormwood, and it deals with this issue.)
You see, God doesn’t wish to overwhelm us. He’s put us in a position where our will can go in either direction. We are responsible for our decision. It’s what we choose to see that matters. In order for us to have that choice, God leaves things so that we have to seek them.
Isaiah cries out, “Truly, you are a God who hides yourself.” Deus absconditus. That’s a part of this whole picture. We have to seek, so that the promise of Jeremiah 29 can be fulfilled: “You will find me, when you seek for me with all your heart.”
Shaw: Here’s that Screwtape quote: “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” That’s such a marvelous insight from Lewis.
Willard: Isn’t that the point? That God puts us here, and in effect says, “What do you want?” If there is a person who says, “I deeply, desperately, want God,” then as that soul can stand it, it will find God.
Shaw: It would almost be like being confronted with a nuclear explosion, wouldn’t it? My understanding is that God chooses to reveal himself gradually, in metaphor, in vision, in the imagination, because otherwise we’d be annihilated by his presence.
Willard: The standard teaching is “If you’ve seen God, you’re ready to die.” Because it will blow you away—kill you. just the effect on your mind will kill you. People often die of shock, or bad news—they fall dead.
Basically the situation is that God mediates himself to us in forms, first of all, that will work, so we can find him that way, but also in ways we can tolerate. This is the background of prophetic writings such as “He is like a refiner’s fire, like fuller’s soap, and who can stand when he appears?”
The Death Confusion
The Death Confusion
John 5:25-26
“Truly, truly an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.”
Hebrews 2:14-15
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Death can be a confusing topic in the scriptures. There are times when you will read, “take up your cross and follow me,” and “I have come that they may have life, have it abundantly.” It is almost like we have a bi-polar Jesus. How are we to make sense of these statements of dying and living with Jesus? Lets look at a few more sample texts: Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” The truth of the matter is there is a very deep thread of life and death that runs through the entire scripture, and the closer we walk with Jesus the more and more He will reveal this to us. The question that remains is how do we live or have life, and how do we die, or participate in death all at once? Because what Jesus is telling us is true; we must live and we must die. Another question is what lives and what dies? And it is at this point that we begin to discover more of who we are and what Jesus requires of us. So lets begin the messy work of looking at ourselves and trying to make sense of all this death confusion.
We are dead. Jesus and His disciples confirm this in their letters. Not physically dead, but dead to God. By saying we are dead we mean we have no life with God. We have life with the world (which includes other human beings), but not with God. The reason we are dead, is because we orient our lives around ourselves. We are constantly looking inward to what we want, desire, lust, dream, etc… We are captured into pleasing every desire that makes it known in our body and our surrounding social arena. The disciple Paul gives us this helpful statement; “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)” Paul gives us this list of inward pulls and calls it all idolatry. What’s the idol? You and me. This is what it means to be dead to God. Sure we acknowledge him, but He is someone who can help us get where we need to go. He is our cosmic Middleman, if we want something we go to Him and hopefully he can pull some strings and deliver (this is not always a bad thing). So deadness to God is simply a normal life of selfishness. Of course, when I say selfishness I don't mean “cry-baby” selfish (although there may be some of that), but very respectful, adult selfishness. It does not manifest itself in loud outburst or whining, but inside our minds as we plot to get our way. It is highly calculated.
This dead condition is what is commonly called sin in the scriptures: sin means simply to miss the mark. Its like you were shooting an arrow out of a bow at a target. Except the problem is your bow is twisted and contorted, so when you release the arrow it comes flying out in a totally errant direction. No matter how many times you shoot it just wont go straight. So for practical purposes we could say the bow is dead to God, no matter how many times it tries to hit the target it simply has no hope. Sin is the manifestation of deadness to God. The disciple Paul continues in his letter to the disciples at Colossi, “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon the sons of disobedience; and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices…(Colossians 3:6-9)” So because of this idolatry (self-worship) or selfishness we commit sins and act disobediently to help us maintain our state of self-worship. What happens when we are angry? Our will is crossed. For example, you are driving on the highway and someone in a flashy sports car cuts you off in order to make a quick exit. Doesn’t that just tick you off? But why? Why are we angry? It is simply because our will was crossed. Something just happened to us that we didn’t want to happen to us. That is the bottom line. So anger begins to simmer, its not boiling over yet. But as we go throughout the day little or big things just like that happen and by the time we get back on the highway to head home from work we are ready to blow. And it all stems from people who are wanting to get their way all the time. Does that make sense? We are dead to God, but alive to the world. This the sole reason, countries go to war, people kill each other, drunk drivers get behind the wheel, drug addicts continue to use drugs, teens ridicule someone who is different from themselves, children will not share their toys, and toddlers lie about eating cookies.
Now, this whole inwardly focused life is what the scripture refers to as self. So the common phrase you have probably heard of is, death-to-self. This is a perfectly good phrase, as long as we are all aware that we are not talking about physical death, but we are talking about the death (crucifixion) of our idolater. Maybe we can just call it our me-idol? Now, lets pause for a minute and talk about physical death.
We are all going to die. This is our human common denominator. It is one of the very few certainties in our world. Physical death is something we all live with, I doubt there are very many people who have not spent considerable amounts of time in their life-time thinking about, how, when, or the way they would prefer to die. As I grew up talking randomly with people about this (mostly my guy friends) we always discussed our desire to die old and in our sleep. That is the safest and most pain free. But why?
John 5:25-26
“Truly, truly an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself.”
Hebrews 2:14-15
“Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”
Death can be a confusing topic in the scriptures. There are times when you will read, “take up your cross and follow me,” and “I have come that they may have life, have it abundantly.” It is almost like we have a bi-polar Jesus. How are we to make sense of these statements of dying and living with Jesus? Lets look at a few more sample texts: Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.” The truth of the matter is there is a very deep thread of life and death that runs through the entire scripture, and the closer we walk with Jesus the more and more He will reveal this to us. The question that remains is how do we live or have life, and how do we die, or participate in death all at once? Because what Jesus is telling us is true; we must live and we must die. Another question is what lives and what dies? And it is at this point that we begin to discover more of who we are and what Jesus requires of us. So lets begin the messy work of looking at ourselves and trying to make sense of all this death confusion.
We are dead. Jesus and His disciples confirm this in their letters. Not physically dead, but dead to God. By saying we are dead we mean we have no life with God. We have life with the world (which includes other human beings), but not with God. The reason we are dead, is because we orient our lives around ourselves. We are constantly looking inward to what we want, desire, lust, dream, etc… We are captured into pleasing every desire that makes it known in our body and our surrounding social arena. The disciple Paul gives us this helpful statement; “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)” Paul gives us this list of inward pulls and calls it all idolatry. What’s the idol? You and me. This is what it means to be dead to God. Sure we acknowledge him, but He is someone who can help us get where we need to go. He is our cosmic Middleman, if we want something we go to Him and hopefully he can pull some strings and deliver (this is not always a bad thing). So deadness to God is simply a normal life of selfishness. Of course, when I say selfishness I don't mean “cry-baby” selfish (although there may be some of that), but very respectful, adult selfishness. It does not manifest itself in loud outburst or whining, but inside our minds as we plot to get our way. It is highly calculated.
This dead condition is what is commonly called sin in the scriptures: sin means simply to miss the mark. Its like you were shooting an arrow out of a bow at a target. Except the problem is your bow is twisted and contorted, so when you release the arrow it comes flying out in a totally errant direction. No matter how many times you shoot it just wont go straight. So for practical purposes we could say the bow is dead to God, no matter how many times it tries to hit the target it simply has no hope. Sin is the manifestation of deadness to God. The disciple Paul continues in his letter to the disciples at Colossi, “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God has come upon the sons of disobedience; and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have laid aside the old self with its evil practices…(Colossians 3:6-9)” So because of this idolatry (self-worship) or selfishness we commit sins and act disobediently to help us maintain our state of self-worship. What happens when we are angry? Our will is crossed. For example, you are driving on the highway and someone in a flashy sports car cuts you off in order to make a quick exit. Doesn’t that just tick you off? But why? Why are we angry? It is simply because our will was crossed. Something just happened to us that we didn’t want to happen to us. That is the bottom line. So anger begins to simmer, its not boiling over yet. But as we go throughout the day little or big things just like that happen and by the time we get back on the highway to head home from work we are ready to blow. And it all stems from people who are wanting to get their way all the time. Does that make sense? We are dead to God, but alive to the world. This the sole reason, countries go to war, people kill each other, drunk drivers get behind the wheel, drug addicts continue to use drugs, teens ridicule someone who is different from themselves, children will not share their toys, and toddlers lie about eating cookies.
Now, this whole inwardly focused life is what the scripture refers to as self. So the common phrase you have probably heard of is, death-to-self. This is a perfectly good phrase, as long as we are all aware that we are not talking about physical death, but we are talking about the death (crucifixion) of our idolater. Maybe we can just call it our me-idol? Now, lets pause for a minute and talk about physical death.
We are all going to die. This is our human common denominator. It is one of the very few certainties in our world. Physical death is something we all live with, I doubt there are very many people who have not spent considerable amounts of time in their life-time thinking about, how, when, or the way they would prefer to die. As I grew up talking randomly with people about this (mostly my guy friends) we always discussed our desire to die old and in our sleep. That is the safest and most pain free. But why?
Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Kingdom of God
“Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say. ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21
The major theme of Jesus teachings was not His death on a cross, but the presence of His kingdom among us now. What was Jesus talking about? What is a kingdom? Our immediate inclination may be the place we call heaven, but that is not it. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual realm. It is a realm of influence that is completely submitted to one thing: the will of God. One author puts it this way, “The Kingdom of God is where what God wants done is done.1” With the coming of Jesus comes this new presence, this new reality that begins to be the home of the student of Jesus. We derive resources for inner-transformation from the grace of this kingdom. We begin to orient our entire lives around this Kingdom. We seek it always. We seek to be in it, we seek to be changed by it; we seek to wield the power of it. And one of the first things Jesus teaches us is that it is different than any other kingdom on earth. The weapons and tools we use are not guns, bombs, but, joy, peace, sacrificial-love, discipline, goodness, trust, and patience. Plainly speaking this kingdom is not of this world.
Israel was so desperately wanting a kingdom. It was the promise of God to set their descendants up as a nation or kingdom. Their power of being a nation was stripped from them by the Babylonians and Assyrians as they were forced to leave their country and live in subjection to a different kingdom. Once they were released some years later they were able to move back to their land but soon they were under a new kingdom: Rome. Ultimately they did not have dominion, but were basically ruled by the Romans. Every Jew of that day so despised the Romans for their occupation of their home land. So the Jews were looking for a new kingdom. But they could not see the kingdom Jesus was establishing. It was not a physical kingdom, but it was a spiritual kingdom. It was common knowledge that the Messiah would establish a new kingdom among Israel, but very few would understand what Jesus was doing as He went along establishing beachheads of the kingdom of God. Places where His students could come and learn and go out and make more students of Jesus.
Luke 17:20-21
The major theme of Jesus teachings was not His death on a cross, but the presence of His kingdom among us now. What was Jesus talking about? What is a kingdom? Our immediate inclination may be the place we call heaven, but that is not it. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual realm. It is a realm of influence that is completely submitted to one thing: the will of God. One author puts it this way, “The Kingdom of God is where what God wants done is done.1” With the coming of Jesus comes this new presence, this new reality that begins to be the home of the student of Jesus. We derive resources for inner-transformation from the grace of this kingdom. We begin to orient our entire lives around this Kingdom. We seek it always. We seek to be in it, we seek to be changed by it; we seek to wield the power of it. And one of the first things Jesus teaches us is that it is different than any other kingdom on earth. The weapons and tools we use are not guns, bombs, but, joy, peace, sacrificial-love, discipline, goodness, trust, and patience. Plainly speaking this kingdom is not of this world.
Israel was so desperately wanting a kingdom. It was the promise of God to set their descendants up as a nation or kingdom. Their power of being a nation was stripped from them by the Babylonians and Assyrians as they were forced to leave their country and live in subjection to a different kingdom. Once they were released some years later they were able to move back to their land but soon they were under a new kingdom: Rome. Ultimately they did not have dominion, but were basically ruled by the Romans. Every Jew of that day so despised the Romans for their occupation of their home land. So the Jews were looking for a new kingdom. But they could not see the kingdom Jesus was establishing. It was not a physical kingdom, but it was a spiritual kingdom. It was common knowledge that the Messiah would establish a new kingdom among Israel, but very few would understand what Jesus was doing as He went along establishing beachheads of the kingdom of God. Places where His students could come and learn and go out and make more students of Jesus.
Rabbi
Jesus was a Rabbi. You need to know that. If we are going to take Jesus seriously again we are going to have to see Him as a Teacher or Rabbi. As students of Jesus we must commit ourselves to understanding the Jewish culture of Palestine during His time. This acknowledgement and knowledge will give us the ability to read the teachings of Jesus with new lenses. Lenses make all the difference. With the correct lenses we see the details. Details are so important. At the age of thirteen I received my first pair of glasses. As I left the optometrist at our local mall, I remember remarking to my mom, “Look at the leaves on the trees!” Evidently for some years my vision had slowly been detioritating and I was losing my focus to see details. But because it was occurring slowly I was not able to detect a change. Apparently I thought trees were big oblong blocks of green. Weird, huh? To be honest, before I knew about Jesus being a Rabbi, I felt like the red words I read in the gospels were more like red oblong blurs than mysterious life giving teachings. This new feeling of seeing details gave me a new perspective on life and my surroundings. I now loved to look at intricate things and marvel at the complexity. It was almost like I was seeing things for the first time.
This can happen with Jesus.
Knowing Jesus was a Rabbi gives you the same attention to detail we need as His students. It is at this point that we begin to understand His teachings and in His words, we have “eyes to see, and ears to hear.” We read, we listen, and we apply everything Jesus says. Thus we apprentice ourselves to the Master.
This can happen with Jesus.
Knowing Jesus was a Rabbi gives you the same attention to detail we need as His students. It is at this point that we begin to understand His teachings and in His words, we have “eyes to see, and ears to hear.” We read, we listen, and we apply everything Jesus says. Thus we apprentice ourselves to the Master.
Synthesis
We need synthesis desperately. I have now been journeying with Jesus for 2 years. And the further I go the more synthesis I get. Synthesis basically means the combination and composition of a set of ideas that form a larger system of thought. I am hesitant to use a word like system because we really have had a lot of talk about systems and systematic theologies, but what I want to offer here is not really a system at all. What I offer here is a sketch of a human beings role in the Great Reversal. The redemption of humanity and the full coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven. You will find no formula, no 7-step, no how-tos. What you will hopefully find is a synthesis of New Testament ideas. Ideas that ultimately find their root in the words, teaching, and the life of Jesus of Nazareth. We need to see them, read them, memorize them, and live them.
The majority of the Western Church now makes little to no practical application to Jesus. We have no idea how to relate to this man who walked among us. Jesus is our ticket into heaven and out of hell. He is our hope for the after life, but not this life. But John tells us that in this man was life, light, and love. Jesus has life, really good life.
The majority of the Western Church now makes little to no practical application to Jesus. We have no idea how to relate to this man who walked among us. Jesus is our ticket into heaven and out of hell. He is our hope for the after life, but not this life. But John tells us that in this man was life, light, and love. Jesus has life, really good life.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Believe
John 11:48
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
What does it mean when the Pharisees say all men will believe in Him? This was a major concern for them. If Jesus was permitted to keep on preaching, teaching, and healing then all of the people of Israel would believe in Him. What Jesus was doing in Palestine was so revolutionary that the Romans would be forced to intervene and take over the leadership role of the Pharisees. Events were escalting so fast that all of the major authorities were devising a plan to put an end to this new uprising of Jesus of Nazereth. Apparently the Jewish people were so excited so filled with a new life, that they were determined to make Jesus the new King of Israel. They believed in Him.
At first glance we will say, they believed that He was the Son of God, died on a cross, rose again, ect. But that was not the case, those events had not transpired yet. So what was going on?
What we have today is a majority of people who believe things about Jesus, but don't believe in Jesus. They ascribe certain facts to Him. They make a mental assent to knowledge concerning Jesus and that is it. This is a common way we present Jesus to people today. Do you believe in Him?
We have to correct this thought process.
We must repent and see the true intent of what Jesus calls believe.
We will read passages like Romans 10:9-10 and say thats it!
"9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
Just confess and really believe in your heart that it is true. You really have to believe these things if you are to be saved. You really have to believe these things are true. That is the presentation we normaly hear today. This is how Jesus is presented to us. But if we rethink what believe means we will see something totally different. Lets use an example to illustrate this very important word believe.
Lets say that Dirk Nowistki and the Dallas Mavericks are practicing and listening to Avery Johnson their Head Coach. And all of the sudden Dirk says I believe in you coach!
What is Dirk saying?
What does he mean?
Does he mean, "Avery, we believe you are the coach of the Mavericks. We believe that you led us to the Championship in 2006. We believe that you recieved the "Best Coach of the Year" award last year."
Is that what Dirk means when he says, "I believe in you Avery!?" Of course not. It is not that those things are not true, they are, but that is not what Dirk is conveying to Avery. Here is what Dirk is saying to Avery:
"Coach, I trust you. I trust that you know what you are doing. I trust that you have a strategy to accomplish our goal: winning a title. Coach, my confidence is with you, and because of that I will do what you say. I will show up for practice and let you teach me how to: shoot, dribble, play offence, and defense. I will commit my basketball career to you. It is in your hands. I will do my best, but I will not trust my best, I will trust you. Coach, I will listen, think, ask questions, do whatever it takes to be your basketball student. Coach I trust you. Coach, simply put, I believe in you."
That is what it means to believe in Jesus. Anything else is a cheap immitation that is peddled at your local churches all over the western world.
God help us to believe!
"If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
What does it mean when the Pharisees say all men will believe in Him? This was a major concern for them. If Jesus was permitted to keep on preaching, teaching, and healing then all of the people of Israel would believe in Him. What Jesus was doing in Palestine was so revolutionary that the Romans would be forced to intervene and take over the leadership role of the Pharisees. Events were escalting so fast that all of the major authorities were devising a plan to put an end to this new uprising of Jesus of Nazereth. Apparently the Jewish people were so excited so filled with a new life, that they were determined to make Jesus the new King of Israel. They believed in Him.
At first glance we will say, they believed that He was the Son of God, died on a cross, rose again, ect. But that was not the case, those events had not transpired yet. So what was going on?
What we have today is a majority of people who believe things about Jesus, but don't believe in Jesus. They ascribe certain facts to Him. They make a mental assent to knowledge concerning Jesus and that is it. This is a common way we present Jesus to people today. Do you believe in Him?
We have to correct this thought process.
We must repent and see the true intent of what Jesus calls believe.
We will read passages like Romans 10:9-10 and say thats it!
"9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."
Just confess and really believe in your heart that it is true. You really have to believe these things if you are to be saved. You really have to believe these things are true. That is the presentation we normaly hear today. This is how Jesus is presented to us. But if we rethink what believe means we will see something totally different. Lets use an example to illustrate this very important word believe.
Lets say that Dirk Nowistki and the Dallas Mavericks are practicing and listening to Avery Johnson their Head Coach. And all of the sudden Dirk says I believe in you coach!
What is Dirk saying?
What does he mean?
Does he mean, "Avery, we believe you are the coach of the Mavericks. We believe that you led us to the Championship in 2006. We believe that you recieved the "Best Coach of the Year" award last year."
Is that what Dirk means when he says, "I believe in you Avery!?" Of course not. It is not that those things are not true, they are, but that is not what Dirk is conveying to Avery. Here is what Dirk is saying to Avery:
"Coach, I trust you. I trust that you know what you are doing. I trust that you have a strategy to accomplish our goal: winning a title. Coach, my confidence is with you, and because of that I will do what you say. I will show up for practice and let you teach me how to: shoot, dribble, play offence, and defense. I will commit my basketball career to you. It is in your hands. I will do my best, but I will not trust my best, I will trust you. Coach, I will listen, think, ask questions, do whatever it takes to be your basketball student. Coach I trust you. Coach, simply put, I believe in you."
That is what it means to believe in Jesus. Anything else is a cheap immitation that is peddled at your local churches all over the western world.
God help us to believe!
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Our Formation
The formation of the people (Israel) of God was to bring about a blessing to all nations. That blessing was the Messiah: Jesus of Nazareth. Israel was literally to be shaped and formed for the purpose of bringing forth Jesus. And so it is for us. We are to live our lives, “run the race”, “until Christ be formed in you.” “Until we behold in a mirror the unveiled face.” “Until we are renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created us.”
So now in the words of Paul, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, with out blame.” Faithful is he who called Abraham and you, and just as He brought about Jesus through Israel. He also will bring Him to pass in you. This is the promise of our God who redeems and restores.
May the Grace of Jesus be with you.
So now in the words of Paul, “May the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, with out blame.” Faithful is he who called Abraham and you, and just as He brought about Jesus through Israel. He also will bring Him to pass in you. This is the promise of our God who redeems and restores.
May the Grace of Jesus be with you.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Make Ready the Way
Luke 3:3-6
"3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. 5 'EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; 6 AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.'"
What was John the Baptizer talking about? It was crazy times in Israel, and everyone knew that JB was something special. I have had my own struggles with JB and wondering what was his purpose? So after much questioning and bewilderment, the fog has lifted. I think I am beginning to understand what JB was saying. The text below is from my journal on June 21, 2006.
1. "Every ravine will be filled."
The deep places within you where emptiness dwells will be filled with a new life. There will now be a life flowing from you that will be a place for all to come and drink and be filled.
2. "Every mountain and hill will be brought low."
What seemed like obstacles large and small that you could never cross, the places you have looked at and wished you could go, those barriers are going to be obliterated with this new life. You will walk to new places.
3. "The crooked will become straight."
No longer will you lack vision. You will see the goal at the end. For the vision of this new life will be completely out in front of you. You will have a straight shot for it.
4. "The rough roads smooth."
You know what it is like to hit potholes. No more. No more starts and stops, or slowing down and speeding up. The life you are running on will be as smooth as glass.
5. "All flesh will see the salvation of God."
The flesh is weak! It is powerless without this life. But the life has come. Do not worry. Deliverance is given to all those who are ready to make the journey with Him. To get ridiculously wrapped up in the life Jesus is now living on earth. Good bye anger, cultivated lusting, verbal manipulation, religiosity, etc. Hello love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, self control, etc.
This was what the voice of John the baptizer was crying in the wilderness. Make ready the new way of life in Jesus, the life He makes available. Be ready! He will show you the way!
Make ready "The Way."
"3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT. 5 'EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH; 6 AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.'"
What was John the Baptizer talking about? It was crazy times in Israel, and everyone knew that JB was something special. I have had my own struggles with JB and wondering what was his purpose? So after much questioning and bewilderment, the fog has lifted. I think I am beginning to understand what JB was saying. The text below is from my journal on June 21, 2006.
1. "Every ravine will be filled."
The deep places within you where emptiness dwells will be filled with a new life. There will now be a life flowing from you that will be a place for all to come and drink and be filled.
2. "Every mountain and hill will be brought low."
What seemed like obstacles large and small that you could never cross, the places you have looked at and wished you could go, those barriers are going to be obliterated with this new life. You will walk to new places.
3. "The crooked will become straight."
No longer will you lack vision. You will see the goal at the end. For the vision of this new life will be completely out in front of you. You will have a straight shot for it.
4. "The rough roads smooth."
You know what it is like to hit potholes. No more. No more starts and stops, or slowing down and speeding up. The life you are running on will be as smooth as glass.
5. "All flesh will see the salvation of God."
The flesh is weak! It is powerless without this life. But the life has come. Do not worry. Deliverance is given to all those who are ready to make the journey with Him. To get ridiculously wrapped up in the life Jesus is now living on earth. Good bye anger, cultivated lusting, verbal manipulation, religiosity, etc. Hello love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, self control, etc.
This was what the voice of John the baptizer was crying in the wilderness. Make ready the new way of life in Jesus, the life He makes available. Be ready! He will show you the way!
Make ready "The Way."
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Revamping The Body :: What Is A Human
2 Corinthians 4:10
we are...always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
Colossians 3:5
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
The body is central in our journey of Christlikeness. It is where we interact with natural reality and experience life. The body is an amazing creation that God has given us and it will by the grace of God serve you in the process of spiritual formation.
Infected & Saturated
The bottom line is this: our body is infected and saturated with sin. We don't have to think about sinning, it just naturally flows out of us. It's never a fun subject to talk about, but if you will examine your own life, you will find that sin is there and it is not easily corraled. One authors says, "Our body is prepared to do what is wrong in almost every circumstance." Paul tells us that our body naturally in the condition of sin is alive to, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. What does all of this mean? Paul tells us, idolatry. Idolatry? Why does Paul crescendo with idolatry? It is because we want to be god. We have our own agenda. We want to satisfy every desire, so we feel good, or look good. In a very unconscious way we set ourselves up as the ultimate point of reference. This is absoulutely disastrous for us, and this is where Jesus' gospel comes int play.
The Point of the Cross
A very important time in my life is when I finally understood the primary purpose of the cross and crucifixion of Jesus. I was reading a radical and hopeful book by Rob Bell entitled, Velvet Elvis. This statement I will never forget: "The point of the cross isn't forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: restoration."
we are...always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.
Colossians 3:5
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
The body is central in our journey of Christlikeness. It is where we interact with natural reality and experience life. The body is an amazing creation that God has given us and it will by the grace of God serve you in the process of spiritual formation.
Infected & Saturated
The bottom line is this: our body is infected and saturated with sin. We don't have to think about sinning, it just naturally flows out of us. It's never a fun subject to talk about, but if you will examine your own life, you will find that sin is there and it is not easily corraled. One authors says, "Our body is prepared to do what is wrong in almost every circumstance." Paul tells us that our body naturally in the condition of sin is alive to, immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. What does all of this mean? Paul tells us, idolatry. Idolatry? Why does Paul crescendo with idolatry? It is because we want to be god. We have our own agenda. We want to satisfy every desire, so we feel good, or look good. In a very unconscious way we set ourselves up as the ultimate point of reference. This is absoulutely disastrous for us, and this is where Jesus' gospel comes int play.
The Point of the Cross
A very important time in my life is when I finally understood the primary purpose of the cross and crucifixion of Jesus. I was reading a radical and hopeful book by Rob Bell entitled, Velvet Elvis. This statement I will never forget: "The point of the cross isn't forgiveness. Forgiveness leads to something much bigger: restoration."
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Reviving the Soul :: What Is A Human?
Matthew 11:29
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls."
Yoke Up
What does it mean to find rest for your soul? It sounds nice doesn't? Rest. I could definetly use some rest, but how do you obtain it? The secret is in the yoke. A yoke in that day was referred to as a rabbi's specific interpretations on how to live out the Torah. Action is the key. Not just know what the Torah means, but to actually live it out.
So when Jesus asks us to take His yoke, he is telling us to come and live your life according to his interpretations of scripture. Remember Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fullfil it." Therefore, he wants to teach us how to live, and when we begin to implement this new style of life then, and only then, will we find rest for our souls.
Unconscious Control
Dallas Willard says, "The soul is far beyond our conscious control." The soul is that part of us that lies so deep within us that we don't really even acknowledge it most times. The soul organizes the whole person. If your soul is in good order, then most likely everything else will be running relatively smooth. But how do we effect what lies out of our conscious control? The point is we cannot. Only God can. However we are not passive in this process, we play a part. Our part, is what we can do; it's what makes us responsible for the status of "the running wound of the human soul."
Discipline
Discipline comes out of great passion. The reason anyone disciplines themself is because there is something much deeper going on. There is a vision. A vision to be something that your not. When Jesus said, "Take My yoke," those who heard it were given a vision worthy of a lifetime and beyond. It was a vision to come and be just as he was. It was an invitation to come and learn how to live just like Him. Bring your soul and I will show you a life in which you find rest, not hurry, not exhaustion, and not irritation. The soul is frazled and tired. It's like a mom trying to manage two teenage kids who are at odds with one another. The fighting never stops.
Our Hope
Our only hope is to slip into the easy yoke with Jesus. The imagery of a yoke is really perfect. A yoke is a device which is placed around the necks of two animals: a veteran and a novice. What takes place is the novice or younger animal learns how to work like the older or veteran animal. It's training. It's understanding that "I don't have it all figured out" and my only hope is "to yoke up with someone who does." Jesus.
Still Walking
So we continue to walk along the path of disciplined grace with Jesus and he revives our soul. He begins to bring it into rest and order. Our life will run like it should, with less fragmentation and more solidarity.
"Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls."
Yoke Up
What does it mean to find rest for your soul? It sounds nice doesn't? Rest. I could definetly use some rest, but how do you obtain it? The secret is in the yoke. A yoke in that day was referred to as a rabbi's specific interpretations on how to live out the Torah. Action is the key. Not just know what the Torah means, but to actually live it out.
So when Jesus asks us to take His yoke, he is telling us to come and live your life according to his interpretations of scripture. Remember Jesus said, "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fullfil it." Therefore, he wants to teach us how to live, and when we begin to implement this new style of life then, and only then, will we find rest for our souls.
Unconscious Control
Dallas Willard says, "The soul is far beyond our conscious control." The soul is that part of us that lies so deep within us that we don't really even acknowledge it most times. The soul organizes the whole person. If your soul is in good order, then most likely everything else will be running relatively smooth. But how do we effect what lies out of our conscious control? The point is we cannot. Only God can. However we are not passive in this process, we play a part. Our part, is what we can do; it's what makes us responsible for the status of "the running wound of the human soul."
Discipline
Discipline comes out of great passion. The reason anyone disciplines themself is because there is something much deeper going on. There is a vision. A vision to be something that your not. When Jesus said, "Take My yoke," those who heard it were given a vision worthy of a lifetime and beyond. It was a vision to come and be just as he was. It was an invitation to come and learn how to live just like Him. Bring your soul and I will show you a life in which you find rest, not hurry, not exhaustion, and not irritation. The soul is frazled and tired. It's like a mom trying to manage two teenage kids who are at odds with one another. The fighting never stops.
Our Hope
Our only hope is to slip into the easy yoke with Jesus. The imagery of a yoke is really perfect. A yoke is a device which is placed around the necks of two animals: a veteran and a novice. What takes place is the novice or younger animal learns how to work like the older or veteran animal. It's training. It's understanding that "I don't have it all figured out" and my only hope is "to yoke up with someone who does." Jesus.
Still Walking
So we continue to walk along the path of disciplined grace with Jesus and he revives our soul. He begins to bring it into rest and order. Our life will run like it should, with less fragmentation and more solidarity.
"Thus the Lord says, 'Stand by the ways
and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will
find rest for your souls.'" [Jeremiah 16:6]
What's Your Theological World View?
Check out this interesting survey on your Theological World View. I found it entertaining and pretty accurate. You will have to see for yourself.
My report is below. I find the results to be fairly accurate to my own beliefs. If you have any interest in post-modern theology then I would reccomend a book entitled "A Genorous Orthodoxy" by Brian McClaren. It basically sums up the whole thing.
Anyways, have fun and enjoy the survey.
My report is below. I find the results to be fairly accurate to my own beliefs. If you have any interest in post-modern theology then I would reccomend a book entitled "A Genorous Orthodoxy" by Brian McClaren. It basically sums up the whole thing.
Anyways, have fun and enjoy the survey.
You scored as Emergent/Postmodern. You are Emergent/Postmodern in your theology. You feel alienated from older forms of church, you don't think they connect to modern culture very well. No one knows the whole truth about God, and we have much to learn from each other, and so learning takes place in dialogue. Evangelism should take place in relationships rather than through crusades and altar-calls. People are interested in spirituality and want to ask questions, so the church should help them to do this.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
Sunday, November 20, 2005
Overhauling the Heart :: What Is A Human?
John 3:5
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'"
Matthew 5:44-45
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father."
Wickedness Present
Overhauling the human heart is completely the work of grace. A human surgeon may perform surgery on the physical heart, but no one can heal and restore a spiritual heart. The heart is that "place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come. The heart has been formed by a world away from God; now it must be transformed (Renovation of the Heart, Pg. 14 - Dallas Willard). The heart is a wicked place, our own actions can easily prove this, and if that does not convince us then we can pick up a history book and look at what human beings did before us and gasp at the evil that has existed (which has not come to an end). The truth of the matter is that the heart is bent toward evil. I have heard it said that "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matt. 14:19)."
Hope
Nevertheless be comforted and have hope, "In whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. (1 John 3:20-21)." Saying the heart is wicked or bent toward evil is like stating the obvious, but is essential for our understanding the overhaul. As we slowly but surely walk along the path of disciplined grace with Jesus our heart will begin to take on his outlook, willings and actions.
This is the promise of God from the beginning, "I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it (Jeremiah 31:33)." Amazing! I have often said that, "God is no God if He cannot change the desires of a human heart." This is the business He is in. He is so interested with who we are and who we are becoming, and His goal is to make our heart like Christ's. To become completely immersed in agape love, that does not regard self, but promotes the good of others for their sake and not our own. This is the God(Trinity) of the Universe. This is the greatest reality in your life.
Heart - Will - Spirit
I am going to make this simple. Your heart is your will. Your heart is your spirit. Whenever you will you reveal the intentions of your heart. Your spirit is that place that God created which reflects His image. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule... (Genesis 1:26)" We rule by excercising our heart, or will, or spirit. Whenever the Bible makes reference of them each term is referring to our exectutive center. So now when you read through the scriptures and run into these words you will know what the writers had in mind.
Our Devestating Problem
"The human will (heart or spirit) in the human being is not only precious, it is a problem. From the strictly human point of view it is a devestating and unsolvable problem (Renovation of the Heart, Pg. 145 Dallas Willard)." In simple language, were calling the shots. That's not good. If there is anyone who should not be running my life it is definetly me. Think about it. I really have no idea what I am doing. The greatest hinderance to Christlikeness for Jonathan Bailey is Jonathan Bailey. We all need to embrace that, no matter how much it hurts, it's true. But thanks be to Jesus who says, I will take over. I will show you how to live. "I have come that you may have life, and a good one at that (John 10:10 PAR)."
To Be Continued...
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.'"
Matthew 5:44-45
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father."
Wickedness Present
Overhauling the human heart is completely the work of grace. A human surgeon may perform surgery on the physical heart, but no one can heal and restore a spiritual heart. The heart is that "place within us from which outlook, choices, and actions come. The heart has been formed by a world away from God; now it must be transformed (Renovation of the Heart, Pg. 14 - Dallas Willard). The heart is a wicked place, our own actions can easily prove this, and if that does not convince us then we can pick up a history book and look at what human beings did before us and gasp at the evil that has existed (which has not come to an end). The truth of the matter is that the heart is bent toward evil. I have heard it said that "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders (Matt. 14:19)."
Hope
Nevertheless be comforted and have hope, "In whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. (1 John 3:20-21)." Saying the heart is wicked or bent toward evil is like stating the obvious, but is essential for our understanding the overhaul. As we slowly but surely walk along the path of disciplined grace with Jesus our heart will begin to take on his outlook, willings and actions.
This is the promise of God from the beginning, "I will put my law within them and on their heart I will write it (Jeremiah 31:33)." Amazing! I have often said that, "God is no God if He cannot change the desires of a human heart." This is the business He is in. He is so interested with who we are and who we are becoming, and His goal is to make our heart like Christ's. To become completely immersed in agape love, that does not regard self, but promotes the good of others for their sake and not our own. This is the God(Trinity) of the Universe. This is the greatest reality in your life.
Heart - Will - Spirit
I am going to make this simple. Your heart is your will. Your heart is your spirit. Whenever you will you reveal the intentions of your heart. Your spirit is that place that God created which reflects His image. "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule... (Genesis 1:26)" We rule by excercising our heart, or will, or spirit. Whenever the Bible makes reference of them each term is referring to our exectutive center. So now when you read through the scriptures and run into these words you will know what the writers had in mind.
Our Devestating Problem
"The human will (heart or spirit) in the human being is not only precious, it is a problem. From the strictly human point of view it is a devestating and unsolvable problem (Renovation of the Heart, Pg. 145 Dallas Willard)." In simple language, were calling the shots. That's not good. If there is anyone who should not be running my life it is definetly me. Think about it. I really have no idea what I am doing. The greatest hinderance to Christlikeness for Jonathan Bailey is Jonathan Bailey. We all need to embrace that, no matter how much it hurts, it's true. But thanks be to Jesus who says, I will take over. I will show you how to live. "I have come that you may have life, and a good one at that (John 10:10 PAR)."
To Be Continued...
Saturday, October 15, 2005
What Is A Human?
Luke 10:27 (NASB)
And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Examining
How are we to view the human being? How do we decipher the many complex layers that encompass a human? This question has been around for milleniums and is essential to understanding our journey into Christlikeness.
The best way to understand the human is to take what the Creator of all human beings tells us. Jesus says we have a heart, soul, body, mind, and relationships (social arena). So we have five distinctive parts to the human being, and inside each one of those we see several layers that differentiate each other.
Complexities
The human being is complex and these five elements intertwine with each other making any study into the depths of human beings a massive and collossal one. The best illustration I have come up with is a computer, if you think on the workings of a computer and everything that goes into it then you only begin to scratch the surface of the complexities of the human.
"Making It" In This Life
There is an awful lot of talk about purpose, specifically your own purpose or destiny. We see it in our bestselling literature and most popular movies. Someone is fulfilling their destiny; there is nothing greater than witnessing someone rise to the occasion and fullfil their call in life. Calling, destiny, purpose are great things and I don't want to discount them too much, but I do want to say that we have the tendency to replace God (Trinity) with our purpose.
Most people are living their lives to fullfil whatever their destiny may be, so they use every effective means to be able to achieve this end (even God). God is never a means to an end. God is never the end in itself. God is the means and the end! Let me say as clearly and precisly as I can, that you, reading these words right now have no greater purpose than to become like Christ. You have no greater destiny than to be like Jesus. You have no greater calling than to be with Jesus learning to be like him. Thats it.
True Purpose Unveiled
Everyone who is searching for significance, purpose, destiny, and calling you need not look any further. When Jesus Christ stood amongst the needy people of Judea and said "Follow Me" there was the most challenging, gracious, and fullfiling statement ever uttered to man. When Jesus said those two words His intention was that you and I would become the kind of person whom would naturally take on His way of living. Period. There is so much more to say about this, unfortunately I will get off track if I continue any further. If you would like to know more please read the Gospels in light of the calling of Jesus. Follow Me.
The reason I mentioned this is to say that each element of the body is to become transformed. It is to take on the character of Christ. Your heart will begin to reflect the heart of Jesus, your mind will begin to think like Jesus, your soul will oreint itself like Jesus' did, your body will respond like Jesus, your mind will unconsciously and consciously dwell on the goodness of God, and in your relationships you will begin to promote the good of others instead of your own (primarily).
A Call Worthy of Your Entire Life
Such a life seems out of reach, but that's the point! It is so far out reach that we are going to have to rely on He who is willing and able. Jesus' call is such an enormous transforming event, that it will require all of your life. And Jesus recognizes this and tells us this over and over, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27). "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it (Luke 9:24). So Jesus calls us to come under the radical renovation of the heart by living the life Jesus lived and constantly responding to the overtures of His grace.
Let's take the journey: to be with Him, learning to be like Him.
And he answered, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF."
Examining
How are we to view the human being? How do we decipher the many complex layers that encompass a human? This question has been around for milleniums and is essential to understanding our journey into Christlikeness.
The best way to understand the human is to take what the Creator of all human beings tells us. Jesus says we have a heart, soul, body, mind, and relationships (social arena). So we have five distinctive parts to the human being, and inside each one of those we see several layers that differentiate each other.
Complexities
The human being is complex and these five elements intertwine with each other making any study into the depths of human beings a massive and collossal one. The best illustration I have come up with is a computer, if you think on the workings of a computer and everything that goes into it then you only begin to scratch the surface of the complexities of the human.
"Making It" In This Life
There is an awful lot of talk about purpose, specifically your own purpose or destiny. We see it in our bestselling literature and most popular movies. Someone is fulfilling their destiny; there is nothing greater than witnessing someone rise to the occasion and fullfil their call in life. Calling, destiny, purpose are great things and I don't want to discount them too much, but I do want to say that we have the tendency to replace God (Trinity) with our purpose.
Most people are living their lives to fullfil whatever their destiny may be, so they use every effective means to be able to achieve this end (even God). God is never a means to an end. God is never the end in itself. God is the means and the end! Let me say as clearly and precisly as I can, that you, reading these words right now have no greater purpose than to become like Christ. You have no greater destiny than to be like Jesus. You have no greater calling than to be with Jesus learning to be like him. Thats it.
True Purpose Unveiled
Everyone who is searching for significance, purpose, destiny, and calling you need not look any further. When Jesus Christ stood amongst the needy people of Judea and said "Follow Me" there was the most challenging, gracious, and fullfiling statement ever uttered to man. When Jesus said those two words His intention was that you and I would become the kind of person whom would naturally take on His way of living. Period. There is so much more to say about this, unfortunately I will get off track if I continue any further. If you would like to know more please read the Gospels in light of the calling of Jesus. Follow Me.
The reason I mentioned this is to say that each element of the body is to become transformed. It is to take on the character of Christ. Your heart will begin to reflect the heart of Jesus, your mind will begin to think like Jesus, your soul will oreint itself like Jesus' did, your body will respond like Jesus, your mind will unconsciously and consciously dwell on the goodness of God, and in your relationships you will begin to promote the good of others instead of your own (primarily).
A Call Worthy of Your Entire Life
Such a life seems out of reach, but that's the point! It is so far out reach that we are going to have to rely on He who is willing and able. Jesus' call is such an enormous transforming event, that it will require all of your life. And Jesus recognizes this and tells us this over and over, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27). "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it (Luke 9:24). So Jesus calls us to come under the radical renovation of the heart by living the life Jesus lived and constantly responding to the overtures of His grace.
Let's take the journey: to be with Him, learning to be like Him.
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