the marks of a Christian

I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man.  Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison.  Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but what foundation did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded an empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.  -Napoleon Bonaparte

Rulers have their armies.  Masters have their slaves.  Bosses have their employees.  Kings have their subjects.  Leaders have their followers.  Generals have their soldiers.  Dignitaries have their assistants.  But Jesus Christ the Son of God laid down his life willingly and without regret for ungrateful and undeserving sinners. 

Jesus served when it was the last thing he owed us.  We’d have said, ‘Forget it—I’m not going to some cross for those sorry losers.’ 

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”   -Mark 10:45

We have our example.  The marks of a Christian can be identified—it isn’t how many serve him, rather, it comes down to whether or not he serves others.

What could happen if we evengelicals were to get down off of our moral political platforms and our religious high horses and started to serve the least of these who Jesus spoke about?

don’t be so sure

Love God? Sometimes I hate Him!

-Martin Luther (in answer to a question about whether he truly loved God)

 

We’re sure to tell God of our intentions to obey him and in the hour of our testing we miss the mark.  Okay, you haven’t.  But for the rest of us who have—we can relate with Peter.  Peter wasn’t alone that night in his self-assured profession—the other disciples just had enough sense to not be so loud.  And it should be no wonder that zealous Peter still has plenty of company today, whether we open our mouths or not.  We are no different than the original twelve. 

On the eve of Jesus’ arrest, Jesus tells his disciples they will fall to pieces and Peter essentially says no way.

Peter broke in, “Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Jesus said. “This very night, before the rooster crows up the dawn, you will deny me three times.”

Peter protested, “Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.   (Matthew 26:33-35, The Message Bible)

One moment brash Peter is promising Jesus he’ll stand steadfast by his side—and the next minute he’s brandishing a sword and cutting off the ear of one of Jesus’ captors.  Peter thinks he’s validated his commitment to Jesus while Jesus knows better. 

The lessons of Gethsemane are plentiful—but one that has stood the test of time is simple: Jesus’ idea and our idea of what it looks like to be his disciple are often at odds.  Jesus knew a thing or two that Peter didn’t know—following Jesus isn’t about slaying his enemies, or even staying awake with him when we should be praying.  Peter, like us, had to experience a personal moment of crisis in regards to his outspoken declaration of character and as a result he learned that following Jesus is about painfully recognizing ones fallibility—no matter how tedious and time consuming a process it encompasses.  Remember, it was only moments before wrongly defending Jesus (as if Jesus the Son of God needed any), that Peter was swearing up and down he’d never do such a thing as deny him—only to do that very thing before the sun comes up the next morning.  It was with one vicious swipe of a sword it sure looked like Peter meant business.  But it wasn’t the business of Jesus. 

Rather than showing Jesus his commitment—he shows us all his lack of it.  Jesus isn’t looking for our swords or our big talk, he’s got it handled. 

What he wants is us.  

duel allegiances

That we must love one God only is a thing so evident that it does not require miracles to prove it.

-Blaise Pascal, Pensees

 

I love reading.  You name it I’ll read it—books, articles, blogs, newspapers and notes on cocktail napkins if need be.  Good writing and reporting turns me on, and I know that sounds suggestive, but oh well.  I thoroughly enjoy thoughtful conversation and dialogue. 

Truth be told, I also have an affection for good food, dogs, lakes, and art of all kinds—but not a one of them holds a candle to my passion for literature.  Of course I have my preferences—call me picky if you like, there are several genres and styles I simply can’t tolerate let alone enjoy.  But give me anything by Eugene Peterson and I’ll dive right in.  When it comes to books I dig—I can tell you a good one from a great one no problem.  When it comes to a couple of prints I have framed on the other hand, I don’t know an expensive painting from a dud.  And I haven’t always been this way mind you—although, even as a kid in elementary school when I had time to put down a baseball bat or a hockey stick I did to take in a good read from time to time (but I was sure not to tell anyone for fear I might get teased). 

There is a difference between an affection and an allegiance.  People toy with affections—they’ll die for an allegiance.

Following Jesus means being so passionate about him that we have no comparisons—no dual allegiances. Sort of in the way a young man would take a bride.  He forsakes all others.  He may have affections for another woman or two, but when he marries, he forsakes those affections.  There have been instances in which I have been reading that I get so engrossed in what I am doing (or not doing depending on who you are asking) that I have lost track entirely of everything else going on in the world—which reminds me—when we love Jesus we just don’t get all tied up in the same things that used to consume us. 

Jesus knew what it looked like for his disciples to be passionate followers of his.

 ’You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

‘If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.’   (Matthew 6:24-26, The Message Bible) 

Who is it that you love with no equal?

league of his own

 Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair.

-G.K. Chesterton

 

Several years ago my pastor was teaching and told a story about a young couple he counseled in the months leading up to their marriage.  He could sense the excitement and was feeling happy for the bride and groom.  About a week after the wedding took place however, Dr. Richard Alberta received a phone call that he was not prepared for nor expecting whatsoever.  The new groom had called to inform him of his broken heart—upon returning home he had discovered to his horror a voice mail that had been left while away on his honeymoon with his new wife.  The call was from her lover (that the new husband had no idea about) and went into explicit detail regarding their intimate relationship.

When you get married, your new bride is your pride and joy—you consider every other woman inferior.

 The very credentials these people are waving around as something special, I’m tearing up and throwing out with the trash—along with everything else I used to take credit for. And why? Because of Christ. Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant—dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ—God’s righteousness.    (Philippians 3:7-9, The Message Bible)

Jesus is in a league of his own—and for us who know him—there is no comparison.      

where are you?

The largest part of Jesus’ life was hidden… When we think about Jesus we mostly think about his words and miracles, his passion, death, and resurrection, but we should never forget that before all of that Jesus lived a simple, hidden life in a small town, far away from all the great people, great cities, and great events. Jesus’ hidden life is very important for our own spiritual journeys. If we want to follow Jesus by words and deeds in the service of his Kingdom, we must first of all strive to follow Jesus in his simple, unspectacular, and very ordinary hidden life.

-Henri Nouwen

          

We all played the popular hide and seek game when we were greasy haired and wild eyed kids.  And while the version we played or where we played may have differed—the object of the game remained the same—to find a clever spot to hide.  And if you weren’t the one hiding, the task at hand was to look anywhere and everywhere until you found your counterpart.

When people look for us do they find only us—or do they see a representative of the living God?  Do they find a Jesus-follower or a self-promoter?  I have folks in my life that when I get near them I can sense the presence of God.  Can that be said of you?  While God resides in every nook and cranny of our world and the worlds we know not of—he is in every valley and on every mountain top—and he’s in the cry of a new born baby.  The question for us is: Is he hidden within us—and if so—we don’t have to tell anyone, they can’t help but see his countanance upon us.  When we follow Jesus, others shouldn’t have to seek very long to see some mark of his impact upon our lives. 

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.   (Colossians 3:2-3, ESV)

To be a Jesus-follower is to be hidden away in Christ no matter where life finds you. 

spiritual anorexia

We have retreated into our nice big buildings.  Where we sit in our nice cushioned chairs.  Where we are isolated and insulated from the inner cities and the spiritual lostness of the world.  Where we give a tip of our hats to world missions and evangelism while we go on designing endless programs that revolve around us.  And while we should be on the firing line for God, many of us are still in the nurseries of our churches drinking spiritual milk!  We have two options: Retreat into a land of religious formalism and wasted opportunities, giving ourselves to a nice show every Sunday pleasing our conscience but not really making a difference in the world—or we can risk everything for the purpose for which we have been created…

We will either die in our religion or we will die in our devotion.

-Dr. David Platt 

               

A fellow blogger I read—Amy Graham of Birmingham, Alabama—posted the aforementioned on her blog and stated the words she recalled from a message one Sunday morning changed her life.

I believe her. 

My gut tells me that I am a man in conflict.  I have knowledge of what to do but fail so often to do that which I ought to do.  I am torn between my will and my Masters will.  My lower nature wants to be heard and followed when the last thing it wants to do is follow Jesus, or to put it bluntly—help anyone else.  I have too many carnal goals, and not enough sanctified priorities—too many vain lusts, and not enough holy passions—too many broken promises, and not enough quality relationships—too many carefully put together excuses, and not enough Godly fruit—and too many worldly possessions instead of heavenly valuables.

We work to feed our appetites; Meanwhile our souls go hungry.  (Ecclesiastes 6:7, The Message Bible)

Spiritual anorexia is the epidemic of our day—is your soul going hungry?  Getting a tattoo of some ancient Chinese jibber-jabber below your midriff will never satisfy your soul.

Only Jesus can do that.

broken Jesus

The things I thought were so important—because of the effort I put into them—have turned out to be of small value. And the things I never thought about, the things I was never able to either to measure or to expect, were the things that mattered.

      

-Thomas Merton

     

 

Victoria S. Schmidt writes;

 

Let my hands heal thy broken body are words purposely placed near a broken crucifix in the Home for the Dying run by the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India.

       

The story behind the broken corpus of Jesus is that a mentally ill person, in anger, took the cross from the wall and threw it at Mother Teresa. In that instant, Mother Teresa picked up the broken Jesus and instructed one of her sisters to place it back on the wall with those words.

           

Do we picture our hands as the instruments they are—the way a doctor would?

 

In Saturday’s post I shared a thought or two about following Jesus—which by the way, I struggle with more than I like admitting.  Nonetheless, I’d like to submit my own Americanized version of Matthew 10:35-36—if I had not fallen into this kind of pattern myself I wouldn’t be able to identify and write about it so poignantly.

                    

I was hungry and you fed me so long as I had very good reason to be out of work, I was thirsty and you gave me a cup of water so long as I lived among the half of the world’s population that doesn’t even have a clean glass of drinking water.  I was homeless and you gave me a room so long as I agreed to be out within a week.  I was freezing cold and shivering out of control so you gave me clothes, but as soon as I could pay you back for those clothes—you required re-payment with compounded interest.  I was sick and you stopped by to give me a list of the local clinics I could visit although I had no money for medicine.  I was in prison and you came to see me so long as it wasn’t my fault I was there—and if I was not to blame, you still proceeded to remind me to change my ways and be good like you.

 

Jesus lays down the gavel and allows for no such caveats or cop outs.

                

Then he will turn to the ‘goats,’ the ones on his left, and say, ‘Get out, worthless goats! You’re good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

                    

   I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
   I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
   I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
   Sick and in prison, and you never visited.’ 

(Matthew 25:41-43, The Message Bible)

         

The down and out bum on the corner by the freeway entrance represents no one less than broken Jesus.  And although passing out a cup of water won’t get us any closer to earning our way into heaven, it does say something about whether we truly follow Jesus—or are merely out taking a walk.   

dressing Jesus

What does love look like?  It has the hands to help others.  It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.  It has eyes to see misery and want.  It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.  That is what love looks like.

       

-Augustine

      

            

Sitting here drinking my morning coffee waiting for my turn in the shower.  And again I find myself thinking about what in the world it means to follow Jesus?—those two words can get lost in a sentence quite easily and without a thought.

 

Bob Rowland, in a poem he entitled, Listen, Christian—reminds those of us who can feel at times  that needs can be met by prayer alone or worse yet, by well-wishing—which can come off as sounding something like bless you brother. 

 

In free verse the poet paraphrases Matthew 25:35-36:

 

I was hungry and you formed a humanities club and discussed my hunger. Thank you.

           

I was naked, and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick and you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless and you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely and you left me alone—to pray for me.  You seem so holy, so close to God but I’m still very hungry, and lonely, and cold.

Do we forget that we are responsible for one another?  It’s commendable that we pray, but when we fail to reach out and touch someone we are not exempt from our responsibility to act just because we took a moment to whisper a prayer.  We are obligated to both our brother and the unregenerate—and the same goes for our enemies if we take the words of Jesus half seriously.           

             

   I was hungry and you fed me,
   I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
   I was homeless and you gave me a room,
   I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
   I was sick and you stopped to visit,
   I was in prison and you came to me.’

 

‘Then those ’sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’   (Matthew 25:35-40, The Message Bible)

 

Friends—I’d submit that it’s high time we take seriously the call to dress Jesus.

promises promises

There are no great things, only small things with great love.

-Mother Teresa

         

Back some years ago when I was what I now consider a kid youth pastor at the not so ripe age of twenty-one we had a youngster in our youth group who was as promising a young man as you’d ever meet.  John (we’ll call him) was class president at a well-known high school in our community and was as keen and smart as they come—his capacity and energy for leadership was unparalleled.  John was gifted and well liked—he was what you might call a go-getter—a driven individual to say the least.  He was also a multisport athlete and a tremendous communicator as well—he was charismatic, electric, and like a magnet when it came to his occasional talks I’d ask him to give to the youth group.  I enlisted John as my point man when we decided it was time to give world missions a whirl and he did a better job than I would have been able to do in collecting and rallying a core group of young people within our group who would eventually give up their paper-route money and trade it in for annual summer trips to remote villages and major cities all over the globe to share the gospel of grace. 

Once John brought me a list of one-hundred goals he’d set for himself that he had thoughtfully compiled for the foreseeable short-term future—he wanted me to look it over and give him my opinion—as he was about to embark upon his senior year.  After taking it home and sharing it with my wife I told him I thought maybe it was asking a bit much of himself—I mean short of flying to the moon in a kayak he had some pretty lofty goals.  Hey, we are told to shoot for the stars after all—and I suppose goals are fine and dandy.  But you have to ask—are the stars we shoot for the stars God has for us—or is the target we are aiming for about us when you get down to it? 

 When you tell God you’ll do something, do it—now.  God takes no pleasure in foolish gabble. Vow it, then do it.  Far better not to vow in the first place than to vow and not pay up. (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, The Message Bible)

After I exited full-time ministry some years ago now, I got a call shortly thereafter one evening while sitting down for dinner with my family.  The call was concerning John and the news was grim—John had hung himself in his basement.  A life of promise down the drain.  To this day I wonder if the need for approval of others and a hunger to live up to too lofty of standards might have been John’s undoing. 

We serve a big God—but we must remember we aren’t him—and to put any kind of pressure on ourselves to attempt to play God might be what has a good many of us feeling like we could go insane any minute now.  Wouldn’t it a better idea to use the energy we do possess to trust and inquire of God as to what he might have for us instead of coming up with a list of promises to him, ourselves, and others that is a mile long? 

It might be just one thing God has for us to do—but if it’s the one thing God has for us to do, nothing could be more important.

needing Jesus

A saint is not someone who is good but someone who experiences the goodness of God.

-Thomas  Merton

 

What is it or who is it you will forsake in order to follow Jesus? 

If it’s not everyone and everything—you are in the same boat as the young man who was stuck on his possessions.   The young rich man didn’t need Jesus when you get down to it.  It wasn’t just his money he was holding on to, he was plenty content with himself and his own good works—the young man was happy enough and could live his life without Jesus.  Those of us who follow Jesus—well, we decided the time had come to give up on our plans to live without Jesus. 

Unlike the self-suffiecient young man, we didn’t decide to follow Jesus because we were so smart, wise or even good.  We were in need and Jesus came to us and we figured nothing else had worked.  The assumption that we were so willing to forsake all else was challenged the moment sin came knocking on our door and we succumbed—the notion that we were so smart was shattered the day we put our hope in something other than Jesus—and the idea that we were so wise was dispelled the moment we followed the crowd rather than the Savior.  And if you can’t relate, follow Jesus a little while and you will.

Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, ‘Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?’

Jesus said, ‘Why do you question me about what’s good? God is the One who is good. If you want to enter the life of God, just do what he tells you.’

The man asked, ‘What in particular?’

Jesus said, ‘Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as you do yourself.”

The young man said, ‘I’ve done all that. What’s left?’

‘If you want to give it all you’ve got,’ Jesus replied, ‘go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.’    (Matthew 19:16-21, The Message Bible)

Some of us are fortunate enough to have somehow ended up following Jesus.

our independence day

None but the Lord himself can afford us.  The more clearly we recognize how we dig our own wells in search of water, the more fully we can repent of our self-sufficiency and turn to God in obedient trust.

-Larry Crabb

 

Our independence day was the day we turned our back on ourselves and trusted Jesus—and that is our challenge each and every day.  The account of the young rich ruler can be heard in many pulpits on any given Sunday. Jesus tells of a young man he bumps into who was much like many of us—content with himself.  Essentially, Jesus rains on the young man’s feel-good-about-himself parade and tells him to go and sell all he has and give the money to the poor—that meant giving his cash to those who hadn’t worked nearly as hard or been a tenth as smart with their money as him.

The problem many of us encounter in our reading of the account of the young rich ruler is to take it as a call to forsake ourselves and then go and bury our heads in the proverbial sand. Make no mistake, Jesus brings a sword to life as we know it. But that’s not all he does, he calls us to follow him once we have turned our backs on ourselves.  And what seems to be the end of of our lives turns out to be only the beginning. 

The point in Jesus’ telling of this story isn’t to show that the man loved his money too much (we can be sure he did, just like many of us do)—the truth we must grasp here is that following Jesus is life.  When we choose our money—or anything including anyone else for that matter over following him—it is him we miss out on. 

 That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go.   (Matthew 19:22, The Message Bible) 

When we stick with anything other than Jesus we always walk away sad.

The sin that held a good many of us captive and still keeps a good number from following Jesus is rooted in relying on themselves—we can be a self-sufficient people. Few of my friends if any won’t make it into heaven for being ax-murderers—instead—it’s an overblown belief in themselves and the idea that stealing a candy bar isn’t enough to land them in jail with God that is their undoing.  

what does Jesus drive?

The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.   

-Herbert Agar

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a martyr, was executed by hanging at the young age of thirty-nine for his opposition to the terrible mass-murderer Adolf Hitler and his regime (it is reported that Bonhoeffer was stripped naked  for the occasion and strung up on a  meat hook by piano wire—the wretched process takes about thirty minutes to kill someone).  A German pastor and theologian, Bonhoeffer knew a thing or two about following Jesus and in the end it cost him his very life.  His book The Cost of Discipleship is a modern day classic.  

Bonhoeffer wrote:

When the Bible speaks of ‘following Jesus’, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogma, from every burden and oppression, from every anxiety and torture which afflicts the conscience. If they follow Jesus, men escape from the hard yoke of their own laws, and submit to the kindly yoke of Jesus Christ. But does this mean that we can ignore the seriousness of His command? Far from it! We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when His command, His call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety. Only the man who follows the command of Jesus without reserve, and submits unresistingly to His yoke, finds his burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard—unutterably hard—for those who try to resist it.

The last several years have meant time and occasions for some serious reflection for me personally.  And while I haven’t completed my project yet—I have made some re-discoveries in terms of just what it means to follow Jesus.  Over the last twenty years in particular I have spoken with several professing Christians and a good number have given me the impression that they somehow believe they can have Jesus as someone of peripheral significance—sort of like a mistress if you will.  Unfortunately, for any of us who have the idea that we can be part time Jesus-followers, God doesn’t negotiate the terms when it comes to following his Son. 

 Then another said, ‘I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.’

Jesus said, ‘No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.’    (Luke 9:61-62, The Message Bible) 

It’s not enough to have Jesus in the passenger seat of our car, and besides—Jesus drives the car or he walks. 

 

soldiers on duty

A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.   

-Martin Luther

 

Two of my best buddies upon graduation from high school decided to head on down to local recruiting office and sign up to be proud soldiers in the service of the United States—one opted to go with The U.S. Marines and the other with The U.S. Air Force.  We were raised during a time in which many considered patriotism to have been at an all-time low (post Vietnam), only to see a dramatic turn around during the Reagan years as we grew older.  By the time my friends and I escaped high school it was the tail end of such an era, and if you ask me, it was also the end of a climate in which the president of these United States was honored by a good portion of it’s citizens despite ones political party—you didn’t refer to the president as Smith, and if you did, you were quickly reprimanded by your parents or your teacher and told to correct yourself and say President so and so.  

When you sign up (or are involuntarily told to sign up) to enter The U.S. Armed Forces some things are explained to you.  To go off to boot camp you are doing more than going away for so many weeks on some grueling survival of the fittest, you will be  changing everything just short of changing your name.  You become property of the U.S. Government.  You sleep where they tell you, eat what they feed you and get to slide on the underwear they provide for you.  Your vacations are planned around a schedule other than your own and any enemy of the United States, you are to treat as such.  Essentially, you are no longer your own person, you are subject to being told your every move and nothing can come between you and your new identity—not to mention a code of conduct that demands utmost attention.  And when it comes to your own family, if they aren’t kosher with any of that, they have a choice to make—either your family lives with your new life or they move along.  

It gets me to thinking—following Jesus isn’t up for debate—we don’t get to make our own deal.

A soldier on duty doesn’t get caught up in making deals at the marketplace. He concentrates on carrying out orders. An athlete who refuses to play by the rules will never get anywhere. It’s the diligent farmer who gets the produce. Think it over. God will make it all plain.  (2 Timothy 2:4-7, The Message Bible)

Maybe us Jesus-followers ought to take a page out of an officers manual the next time we need some advice.

the top

The society in which we live suggests in countless ways that the way to go is up. Making it to the top, entering the limelight, breaking the record—that’s what draws attention, gets us on the front page of the newspaper, and offers us the rewards of money and fame.

The way of Jesus is radically different. It is the way not of upward mobility but of downward mobility. It is going to the bottom, staying behind the sets, and choosing the last place!

-Henri Nouwen 

 

For some us, our stage is a stage—while others of us have been hand selected to serve behind the scenes and unseen enemy lines.  Either way, the thing that every last one of us has been called to do is to serve others. 

My dad’s pals down at the local homeless shelter or my mom’s friends over at the crisis pregnancy center who are slaving away for Jesus aren’t doing what they do to make a name for themselves—and they are doing a pretty good job of remaining undecorated.  These folks could surely go out and do a better job of selling and raising more money.  They could certainly put on quite a show considering just what it is that they do.  The beauty is that neither is doing what they do for money or fame.  The folks I know who serve Jesus best don’t do it for monetary or temporal purposes—they are serving Jesus and making a name or a fortune for themselves isn’t on their list of things to accomplish.  

Then those ’sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.’    (Matthew 25:37-40, The Message Bible)

It could be pointed out that while Mother Teresa’s life as a servant has been held up as model to follow, thousands of others like her have served the destitute and gone practically unnoticed by a good majority of us  self-enamored  Americans while Jesus hasn’t missed a thing. 

How could he?

It’s Jesus they have been waiting on all along.

the free life

Jesus was truly free. His freedom was rooted in his spiritual awareness that he was the Beloved Child of God. He knew in the depth of his being that he belonged to God before he was born, that he was sent into the world to proclaim God’s love, and that he would return to God after his mission was fulfilled. This knowledge gave him the freedom to speak and act without having to please the world and the power to respond to people’s pains with the healing love of God.

-Henri Nouwen

     

We follow Jesus after all—and he was as free a human being as any to ever walk the planet.  I suppose that means we ought to be free ourselves to a certain degree if we follow him at all.

Jesus spoke often about the freedom that life in him entails:

 17-21 Coming down off the mountain with them, he stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then he spoke:

   You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
   God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
   You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
   Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.

   You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
   Joy comes with the morning.                                           (Luke 6:17-21, The Message Bible) 

Many just don’t get it.  It doesn’t sound like Jesus isn’t describing a life of freedom—but he is!  To the casual listener it sounds as if Jesus is talking more in terms of jail than he is in terms of freedom.  Make no mistake—the free life isn’t one of comfort and ease.  It’s not the life of fame and fortune.  It’s never about who’s watching or not watching.

The free life is about much more than any of that.  The free life Jesus lived was about pleasing his Father in heaven and so it is with us.  It is one of the great paradoxes: When we live for ourselves we aren’t exercising our freedom—no—that would be sacrificing the freedom that God has so richly given us in Christ.  A free person can skip down the side-walk smiling after just having lost it all and hum a song of delight in Jesus, because in God’s reality—she hasn’t lost a thing.

legislating freedom

Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit and abolish women? The sun, moon, and stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky?

-Martin Luther

   

I grew up in a church where you learned very quickly not say the wrong thing—or look, act, or think any other way than you were told.  Looking back now, it was rather cultish.  Boys had their own section of the beach, the church bus, and the hallway for that matter.  Blue jeans were frowned upon and any music that had a beat reminiscent of rock music was of the devil.  Movies that didn’t feature Jesus sporting some goofy blue gown and sash were  discouraged.  Red lip-stick was banned  and colorful skirts above the ankles were devices of Satan.  Basically, anything that might be fun was frowned upon.  I can’t say I looked forward much to hanging out with such a sour group of sanctified saints.  Even hanging out was evil—if I remember right.

My upbringing served me well in fostering a healthy skeptism and a grave mis-trust for religion—when I finally did bump into Jesus it was refreshing to say the least. 

Because we are aware that freedom can be abused and maybe have seen it firsthand (or in my case—been there, done that) we’d rather err on the side of thinking—Freedom might just not be the best thing, there has to be some restraints to keep this ‘freedom thing’ in check.  And then after a few of our own failings, we conclude—I think I’ll write some guidelines for myself.   In turn,we put together some guidelines for our weaker-younger brothers making anything that might be an occasion for abuse off-limits and before you know it, we have a whole manual something along the lines of How to be a good-little Christian.  It’s no wonder freedom never gets a snowballs chance to even make it’s debut.   

 It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?    (Galatians 5:13-15, The Message Bible)            

A major difference between legalism and freedom is that one can be legislated and the other cannot. 

my big zit

Do you know why most Christians don’t get any better or why you don’t get any better? It’s because you’re doing it wrong, dummy! You are obsessed with sin and your faith has become another ’system of laws’ whereby you feel guilty and try and try and try to do better. It doesn’t work, never has worked, and never will work…

-Steve Brown

  

If I had this freedom thing down pat I wouldn’t bother writing about it.  But I want to breath it with every gasp of air I have left before they box me up and stick me in some stuffy cemetery.

A few days ago I returned from a weekend away to see my oldest daughter graduate from high school.  It was exhilarating and frightening all in the same swoop.  Maybe you can relate to my feelings—she’s my first-born and makes me one proud dad.  Anyways, I woke up the other morning and headed into the bathroom after putting my morning coffee on just to be greeted by a big red spot on the tip of the end of my nose (and for those who haven’t seen me—I don’t have the smallest beak in the world).  The thing was irritating and it hurt too.  Figures Id’ get one—my dad gets the pesky buggers every once in a while and I make fun of him.  I thought by the time you were so close to forty these little ego deflaters would be history for good—let alone a man in his mid-sixties.  I suppose I have something to look forward to besides streets of gold. 

Nobody likes zits, or least no one has told me any different.  Zits are like sin if you ask me—although those of you lucky enough to never get a zit can’t say you never get a sin.  Sadly, some times it seems like I hate zits more than I hate sin.  I also got to thinking about the fact that I didn’t touch my big zit—not once, and it disappeared within a day (to my satisfaction).  Sin is like that I have found, and although my sin nature hasn’t taken any extended vacations lately to my dissatisfaction—my sins do seem to have a way of being less of an issue when I don’t obsess about them but rather trust that God meant it  when he said he forgives every last one of them.   

 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.    (Romans 13:13-14, ESV)

I think the idea here is to starve the flesh—my sin nature has trouble surviving let alone prospering when I don’t feed it.  Like my big zit, I have this thing for obsessing about things that are better left alone and I am slowly but surely learning that it helps to stop thinking about my sin and start focusing on the one who has delivered me from it’s penalty. 

Temptation has a  way dissipating when it isn’t messed around with.

the invisible fence thing

The reason we’re so bad is that we’re trying so hard to be good.

-Steve Brown 

Have you seen these invisible fences they have for dogs?  I have to imagine that an invisible fence would make a good candidate to ruin your life if you were a dog. 

You can’t see these things driving around your subdivision because they are invisible after all. They have become quite popular and it’s no wonder—what a great concept.  We had a dog some years ago that was a prime candidate for the invisible fence thing.   We didn’t end up getting one for several reasons and looking back I’m not so convinced our dog wouldn’t have run right through the thing no matter how many shocks it would have zapped him with.  Max and I were pals on day one, we were two peas in a pod.  Like me, he liked to move around and he wasn’t much excited about being told he needed to conform.  

The spacious yard we had so kindly provided for our new dog was not even close to sufficient for him.  I guess it didn’t help that we had one of those stupid metal stakes you put in the ground so your dog can run around in circles until he makes you so dizzy watching him that you need to scarf down a box of Dramamine to handle it. 

It didn’t help that Max was a bird dog either.  He’d just about rip off anyones arm that dare try to walk him.  Even with one of those cruel choke collars on, he was a terror.  It might explain the pain I have in my shoulder lately and it’s been almost five years since I saw the crazy dog.  If there was something within a mile to chase—you might as well have attached yourself to a telephone poll.  Max even decided one spring that he wanted to redecorate our backyard with crater’s he decided to dig—our yard resembled the moon when he was done with it.

I felt sorry for Max.

Looking back now, I think obedience school or Ritalin would have only made Max more frustrated.  The reality is, we got the wrong dog to fit the bill.  What we had in mind was a nice little pet for our kids.  It didn’t work out that way.  Sitting still and taking orders wasn’t the dog’s strong suit.  And I’m not sure that dog was even capable of it.  He was a dog after all, and dogs aren’t made to be couped up in an 4′ by 2′ cubicle all day long.   Invisible fences have to make dogs resentful I figure, I mean how fun is to see a female two lots over you’d like to frolic with and have a straight shot at her and then all of a sudden you remember that you have a stupid invisible fence that you can’t jump over? 

Dogs were made to run free without a leash tied around their neck when you think about it.

I think it’s reasonable to say that religion is a lot like the invisible fence thing.

While we were in conference we were infiltrated by spies pretending to be Christians, who slipped in to find out just how free true Christians are. Their ulterior motive was to reduce us to their brand of servitude. We didn’t give them the time of day. We were determined to preserve the truth of the Message for you.   (Galatians 2:4-5, The Message Bible)

When we set up rules to keep and all sorts of regulations in regards to our life in Jesus we end up serving the same purpose an invisible fence serves; the moment no one is looking or the fences come down we are off and running to some place we have no business going.

Invisible fences aren’t for us Jesus-followers.  Come to think of it, they aren’t much good for dogs. 

jumbo horsefly

If you but love God you may do as you incline.

-Augustine

  

I’ve stumbled across a story from the life of President Abraham Lincoln a time or two now about an appointee within the president’s cabinet that would try to challenge and stimy the president every chance he got.  A friend of honest Abe’s finally came to him and asked why he didn’t have the pesky man replaced.  Lincoln, in turn—told his well-meaning friend a story about walking down a country road one day and coming upon a farmer who was busy plowing his field with a horse-drawn plough.  As Lincoln approached the farmer he noticed a jumbo sized horsefly on the back-side of the working horse and figured it couldn’t be helping the poor horse concentrate on the task at hand.  Lincoln—in an attempt to help the farmer out, went to simply brush off the little pest.  As Lincoln raised his hand to take a swat, the farmer protested—Don’t do that, friend.  That horsefly is the only thing keeping this old horse moving.    

The moral of the story for today’s lesson is simple: Religion is nothing more than a jumbo horsefly and there are those within certain circles of the church who’d like you to do anything—and I stress anything—other than contribute to freeing people from living under the irritating and deadly oppression that religion represents.  Those caught up in the facade of religion do not like any one who messes with their religion and they are not afraid to tell you so—to mess with religion is to mess with God.  Many church leaders feel the need to use religion to do the same exact thing the farmer was doing with the  horsefly—use religion and the endless rules that accompany it as a means of motivating others to live the Christian life.  

These preachers of bondage wouldn’t know freedom if it hit them upside the head.  In his letter to the Galatian believers—Paul had something entirely different to say than what the peddlers of religion in his day were preaching.

 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a ‘law man’ so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not ‘mine,’ but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.    (Galatians 2:19-20, The Message Bible)

There is a better way. 

It’s called freedom—and it can be a rare commodity in some circles.

freedom’s fiercest enemy

Luther, in speaking of the good by itself and the good for its expediency alone, instances the observance of the Christian day of rest—a day of repose from manual labour, and of activity in spiritual labour—a day of joy and cooperation in the work of Christ’s creation. ‘Keep it holy’, says he, ‘for its use’s sake—both to body and soul! But if anywhere the day is made holy for the mere day’s sake—if anywhere anyone sets up its observance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, to dance on it, to feast on it—to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment on the Christian spirit and liberty.’…

-Samuel Tayler Coleridge (1772-1834), Table Talk

 

The enemies of freedom are many—but I’d have to say that religion is it’s fiercest.  If that surprises you it shouldn’t.  

Religion has never been about the love of God but about the works of man.  Nothing has changed since the inception of man’s oldest institution.  More is done in the name of religion to keep people down and hold them back from actually following Jesus than any other single thing.   For a people who should be as free as anyone—us Jesus-followers—we sure can be a pretty bound up and tightly wound people.  It’s one thing for our younger brothers and sisters in the faith to be all hung up on keeping a list of rules that they feel they must follow to please God—but it’s altogether for us who ought to know better by now.  Shouldn’t we be following a person instead of a set of steps to spiritual success after all?   Doesn’t any measure of spiritual success for the Christian come down to following Jesus?

Jesus has written his law of love on our hearts if we know him at all—we can toss aside our note-pads.

It’s a bit disheartening to read about all the rules we should be keeping when Jesus said nothing of the sort.  He summed up the new law of love in a single sentence.  We, on the other hand—have volumes and volumes about the traditions and religious dogmas of man.

 Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.   (Galatians 2:21, The Message Bible)

Is it time for you to stick a fork in religion and get back to pursuing your relationship with Jesus?