FAITH
Traditional Jewish mysticism says every man has the present with the future coming toward him. We cannot plan the past, but we hope for the future.
In Matthew's gospel I have counted 9 times someone had the faith to be given a different future than the present they were living. A simple example is the centurion's servant, who was in great pain with paralysis. Jesus says, I will come and heal him.
But the centurion knows Jesus has great power, that He does not need to come to heal the servant. So Jesus says--I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. The servant was healed the same hour the centurion said what he said. The servant's life was not what it had been: his future was entirely different from his past.
As we know, the writer of Hebrews says faith is--the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Certainly the centurion had the conviction that Jesus could do what was not seen. We cannot live in the past in any realistic sense but by the grace of God we can have faith for a future which is different from the present.
This can be startling. Normally we think of God as He who does not change--Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever. We might think our fate cannot change, that we are like the Prodigal Son, stuck in the mud. And yet Jesus was always changing the life of the one who has faith.
Two blind men receive their sight in Matt. 9, Peter is saved from the sea in Matt. 14, a woman's daughter is demon-possessed in Matt. 15. We certainly think about the transformation of the soul in salvation but we don't always realize how different the future can be for the soul touched by Jesus. And yet Jesus says--I have come that they might have life and life more abudantly.
What might not be so obvious is the change in the soul can result in changes in one's life. The woman in Matt. 9 believes Jesus long enough to say to herself--If I only touch His garment, I shall get well. That led to her challenging the crowd to let her through to touch Jesus so that He might heal her, as He does.
While we cannot say everyone who is sick will be healed we can seek a different life for ourselves than the one we have. Two blind men seek their sight in Matt. 20--Lord we want our eyes to be opened. Jesus is moved with compassion. He touches their eyes, they receive their sight. Do they then leave? No--they received their sight and followed Him.
The rich young ruler cannot follow Jesus. Some of His disciples leave Jesus when what He says is difficult to accept. But these two blind men, kneeling on the side of the road who have the faith to call Jesus--Son of David--these two follow Jesus from that time on.
Now we hae seen how different someone's life is when they have faith for the future. This in essence is the gospel, the kingdom of God which Jesus brought. This is change. When God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden in Genesis 3, He sent them from a place of no alteration to the world of mutability and change. Yet that change enabled the first Adam to eventually become the second Adam, Jesus. That act of sending Adam and Eve out of the garden was what we call grace. Change is the underlying river of the kingdom of God. When the angels with Lucifer rebelled, God did not cause them to repent and return; once gone they were lost.
However, with Adam and the human race we have been given repentance and return. John, the cousin of Jesus, comes preaching--Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus will begin His ministry by saying the same thing.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Friday, September 21, 2012
TRUTH AND LOVE
In Paul's letters to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians he mentions love and truth together.
In Eph 1 he says, In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. Paul prays that God would grant the saints there, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Eph. 1.17. In Philippians 1 Paul says Epaphras has informed him, of your love in the Spirit. For this reason...we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
I've highlighted the words love and knowledge. Evidently the apostle sees both together. I wonder if we do. Traditions which are committed to relationships seem to sacrifice truth; traditions which are committed to the truth seem to sacrifice love.
Why would the apostle want to put truth and love together in the same people? Could it be to produce the fruit of righteousness? To the Colossians Paul says he prays for the saints there, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in every respect, bearing fruit, Col. 1.10. To the Philippians Paul says the reason is, so that you may approve the things that are excellent...having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God, Phil. 1.11. To the Ephesians Paul says the reason is that, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, Eph. 2.10.
Evidently the truth of God is given to us to do the works of love and love is given to us to receive His truth. Possibly if we were to consider the truth of our relationship to God as based on His forgiveness we would have a basis for relationships. And if we would see the love of God as the basis for our calling we would see the truth as the basis for love.
Paul seems to be saying this to the Ephesians. In chapter 2 he speaks of the people there that they, formerly walked according to the course of the world. Did God leave them there to die? No, But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...made us alive together with Christ. God forgave them in order to bring them to Himself--this is His love. Then, immediately Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith...it is the gift of God.
Paul says this to unite the love of God (being rich in mercy) with the truth that God did this. We know His love by His truth. He goes on for the entire chapter to privide the details of how God did this. The truth that God brought us to Himself was to explain His love in forgiving us so He could do just that.
His truth explains His love; but does His love explain how He chose us? He chose us before the foundation of the world, so that His love always had us in mind and in His heart.
If we could teach predestination as love and love understood by truth, possibly we could have the church Paul envisioned.
In Paul's letters to the Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians he mentions love and truth together.
In Eph 1 he says, In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ. Paul prays that God would grant the saints there, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, Eph. 1.17. In Philippians 1 Paul says Epaphras has informed him, of your love in the Spirit. For this reason...we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
I've highlighted the words love and knowledge. Evidently the apostle sees both together. I wonder if we do. Traditions which are committed to relationships seem to sacrifice truth; traditions which are committed to the truth seem to sacrifice love.
Why would the apostle want to put truth and love together in the same people? Could it be to produce the fruit of righteousness? To the Colossians Paul says he prays for the saints there, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in every respect, bearing fruit, Col. 1.10. To the Philippians Paul says the reason is, so that you may approve the things that are excellent...having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God, Phil. 1.11. To the Ephesians Paul says the reason is that, we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, Eph. 2.10.
Evidently the truth of God is given to us to do the works of love and love is given to us to receive His truth. Possibly if we were to consider the truth of our relationship to God as based on His forgiveness we would have a basis for relationships. And if we would see the love of God as the basis for our calling we would see the truth as the basis for love.
Paul seems to be saying this to the Ephesians. In chapter 2 he speaks of the people there that they, formerly walked according to the course of the world. Did God leave them there to die? No, But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us...made us alive together with Christ. God forgave them in order to bring them to Himself--this is His love. Then, immediately Paul says, For by grace you have been saved through faith...it is the gift of God.
Paul says this to unite the love of God (being rich in mercy) with the truth that God did this. We know His love by His truth. He goes on for the entire chapter to privide the details of how God did this. The truth that God brought us to Himself was to explain His love in forgiving us so He could do just that.
His truth explains His love; but does His love explain how He chose us? He chose us before the foundation of the world, so that His love always had us in mind and in His heart.
If we could teach predestination as love and love understood by truth, possibly we could have the church Paul envisioned.
Friday, September 14, 2012
THE ROCK
The passage in Matthew 16 about Peter as the rock has stirred several interpretations, all of which have some value but don't seem to finish our questions.
When we look at it in Greek, several doors open. The Sadducees and Pharisees have been challenging Jesus, so He warns His disciples about them. Jesus leaves the region of Magadan, to go to Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is north, near the Mediterranean where cool breezes blow. It is comfortable, a port of many ships and travelers bringing different philosophies from different lands.
So Jesus will now ask His own disciples if they know who He is out of all the contending, entangling opinions about God. Do they know who He is and who God is? This is the question He will ask them.
First, the disciples say what other people have said. Some say He is John the Baptist; some say He is Elijah or one of the prophets. So Jesus then points His words at His own disciples, But who do you say that I am? Matt. 16.15.
Peter blurts out, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Jesus, ecstatic, then says, ..flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Then Jesus continues with the statement which has so many responses. He says to Peter, You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church, Matt. 16.18.
The Greek that Matthew uses opens up several interpretations. The word for rock is petra. This word is in the neuter gender. The Greeks did not like to leave a word in the neuter by itself, they liked to connect the neuter with a masculine or feminine word. So Matthew has given petra a feminine article, ten, to go with the feminine word, tauten, or 'this' as in 'this rock.'
So is there a feminine word to which 'this rock' can be attached? The only feminine word is ten ekklesia, the church. Tauten is not a personal pronoun, so 'this rock' cannot refer to Peter, or petros. What Peter says is being said to the church.
What is in the verse just before v.18 is, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. This leads us to Matthew 14 where Jesus is walking on water. Peter comes out, falls into the water due to a lapse of faith, and Jesus saves him. When Jesus and Peter get in the boat, the disciples say, You are certainly God's Son, Matt. 14.33. Now this was not revealed to the disciples by God the Father, they saw what they saw, concluding that only God could do that. Nicodemus says something similar when he says, ..No one can do the signs You do unless God is with him, John 3.2.
But Peter did not say what he said because it was evident, rather he blurted out without reservation as the Father burst it into him. Jesus will say later in John 17 that, The words which Thou gave Me I have given to them and they received them and truly understand that I came forth from Thee and they believed that Thou did send Me. In John 8.18 Jesus says, I am He who bears witness of Myself and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me. In 8.29 Jesus says, He who sent Me is with Me.. And yet when Jesus said the Father sent Him, the Jews pick up stones to throw at him, John 8.59.
We can now say the Father gave Peter what he was to say, Peter said it without hesitation. Peter said that Jesus came from the Father. This the Jewish religious leaders could not accept, but Peter has. Consequently Peter becomes the apostle to the Jews, first in Antioch and then later on to Rome. However, Peter does not take an spiritual authority away from the men and women in the local church. In 1 Peter 5.1 he calls himself a sumpresbuteros, a fellow elder with the other elders. Not chief elder or bishop but one of several.
This could only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. What this means to us is that the church is built on the gifts of the Spirit to Christians, not on the authority of the leaders. Peter seems to be saying this when he says, You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2.5.
The passage in Matthew 16 about Peter as the rock has stirred several interpretations, all of which have some value but don't seem to finish our questions.
When we look at it in Greek, several doors open. The Sadducees and Pharisees have been challenging Jesus, so He warns His disciples about them. Jesus leaves the region of Magadan, to go to Caesarea Philippi. Caesarea Philippi is north, near the Mediterranean where cool breezes blow. It is comfortable, a port of many ships and travelers bringing different philosophies from different lands.
So Jesus will now ask His own disciples if they know who He is out of all the contending, entangling opinions about God. Do they know who He is and who God is? This is the question He will ask them.
First, the disciples say what other people have said. Some say He is John the Baptist; some say He is Elijah or one of the prophets. So Jesus then points His words at His own disciples, But who do you say that I am? Matt. 16.15.
Peter blurts out, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Jesus, ecstatic, then says, ..flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Then Jesus continues with the statement which has so many responses. He says to Peter, You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My church, Matt. 16.18.
The Greek that Matthew uses opens up several interpretations. The word for rock is petra. This word is in the neuter gender. The Greeks did not like to leave a word in the neuter by itself, they liked to connect the neuter with a masculine or feminine word. So Matthew has given petra a feminine article, ten, to go with the feminine word, tauten, or 'this' as in 'this rock.'
So is there a feminine word to which 'this rock' can be attached? The only feminine word is ten ekklesia, the church. Tauten is not a personal pronoun, so 'this rock' cannot refer to Peter, or petros. What Peter says is being said to the church.
What is in the verse just before v.18 is, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. This leads us to Matthew 14 where Jesus is walking on water. Peter comes out, falls into the water due to a lapse of faith, and Jesus saves him. When Jesus and Peter get in the boat, the disciples say, You are certainly God's Son, Matt. 14.33. Now this was not revealed to the disciples by God the Father, they saw what they saw, concluding that only God could do that. Nicodemus says something similar when he says, ..No one can do the signs You do unless God is with him, John 3.2.
But Peter did not say what he said because it was evident, rather he blurted out without reservation as the Father burst it into him. Jesus will say later in John 17 that, The words which Thou gave Me I have given to them and they received them and truly understand that I came forth from Thee and they believed that Thou did send Me. In John 8.18 Jesus says, I am He who bears witness of Myself and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me. In 8.29 Jesus says, He who sent Me is with Me.. And yet when Jesus said the Father sent Him, the Jews pick up stones to throw at him, John 8.59.
We can now say the Father gave Peter what he was to say, Peter said it without hesitation. Peter said that Jesus came from the Father. This the Jewish religious leaders could not accept, but Peter has. Consequently Peter becomes the apostle to the Jews, first in Antioch and then later on to Rome. However, Peter does not take an spiritual authority away from the men and women in the local church. In 1 Peter 5.1 he calls himself a sumpresbuteros, a fellow elder with the other elders. Not chief elder or bishop but one of several.
This could only be done through the power of the Holy Spirit. What this means to us is that the church is built on the gifts of the Spirit to Christians, not on the authority of the leaders. Peter seems to be saying this when he says, You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 2.5.
Friday, September 7, 2012
IN HIS IMAGE
If you've ever red what the scholars say about Genesis 1-3, you know these few Hebrew words have suggested volumes to our minds. We have come to realize these 80 verses are carefully written.
What is written about the creation is simply repeated by the prophets. But what is written about Adam and Eve is developed by later Biblical writers for all time.
As we know chapters 1 and 2 describe what might not be able to described, life in the Garden unfallen. If Paul tells the Corinthians that the natural man--does not accept the things of the Spirit of God--then we could not understand these two chapters of Genesis unless the Spirit of God illuminates them.
When God created Adam, He breathed on him God's own breath, causing him to be a living being. Now what does living being mean? The word in Hebrew for soul is nephesh, a soul which breathes or possible the inner soul of a man or woman, the word for breath is ruach. The breath of God gave Adam the living soul which would breathe back out the breath of life God breathed in. What was in God was in Adam. This is his soul, his likeness to God.
Probably every living soul searches for that original breath, the satisfaction from within. When such breath is given to us today we recognize it as the Holy Spirit, the the point of saying, Breathe on me, breath of God.
Adam saw birds fly on the wind, ocean waves foam with the wind, his own skin refreshed with a breeze. Today we see sails of a ship filled with the same wind, we see leaves twirl as they fall in winter, we see windmills and feel the wind-chill. Yet that wind does not satisfy the soul, it only fills the lungs.
Do I search for that ruach wind of the soul? I might hear a glimpse of it in the vibrating notes of a Bach adagio. I might see it in the repose of a church sanctuary filled with sunlight. But these are but intimations of immortality, shadows of light, the silence after a voice, a remnant of God.
And yet they are of the Spirit of God.
I am stirred in my inner being by His presence. Even as I live in the fallen world outside Eden, I am aware of Him somewhat like the marble feels the fingers of the sculptor
As breath, music is the vibration of God; the written word is His voice; and life is His being in us. When Adam and Eve fell they didn't lose that image of God, they lost the capacity to please Him. And yet, after Adam and Eve left the Garden, God gave them back the capacity to please Him with sacrifices He would accept. Centuries later, in Jesus God gave us back the capacity to hear His voice, touch His hands, be in His presence.
Can we practice the presence of God? We certainly don't beckon Him as a demand--He already fills heaven and earth. But we can prepare our souls for the revelation of Him by asking God to cleanse us, acknowledging His presence in that place within ourselves from which He created our being. It is that place which first felt His breath. From that place He sees us--do we turn to see Him?
The writer of Hebrews said about the Law--for the Law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God, Heb. 7.19. Later in this same letter, the writer shows us how we can draw near to God--let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, Heb. 10.22.
Jesus brought the living water to the woman of Samaria in John 4.10 and He can wash our bodies with pure water, today.
How can we put ourselves under this pure water? With a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. In this case, faith is seeing that we are the image of God, faith is having the desire to draw near to God, to turn to Him. Are you pressing toward Him? James the brother of Jesus said--Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Then James said just what Hebrews says--Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, James 4.8. It is interesting that James uses the same imagery of the well--draw near, cleanse your hands, purify your heart. Hebrews had said, hearts sprinkled clean, bodies washed with pure water
John the Baptist had said--I baptize you in water...He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, Matt. 3.11.
This we can contemplate in prayer: ask God to cleanse us in our innermost being that we might glorify God in His presence.
.
If you've ever red what the scholars say about Genesis 1-3, you know these few Hebrew words have suggested volumes to our minds. We have come to realize these 80 verses are carefully written.
What is written about the creation is simply repeated by the prophets. But what is written about Adam and Eve is developed by later Biblical writers for all time.
As we know chapters 1 and 2 describe what might not be able to described, life in the Garden unfallen. If Paul tells the Corinthians that the natural man--does not accept the things of the Spirit of God--then we could not understand these two chapters of Genesis unless the Spirit of God illuminates them.
When God created Adam, He breathed on him God's own breath, causing him to be a living being. Now what does living being mean? The word in Hebrew for soul is nephesh, a soul which breathes or possible the inner soul of a man or woman, the word for breath is ruach. The breath of God gave Adam the living soul which would breathe back out the breath of life God breathed in. What was in God was in Adam. This is his soul, his likeness to God.
Probably every living soul searches for that original breath, the satisfaction from within. When such breath is given to us today we recognize it as the Holy Spirit, the the point of saying, Breathe on me, breath of God.
Adam saw birds fly on the wind, ocean waves foam with the wind, his own skin refreshed with a breeze. Today we see sails of a ship filled with the same wind, we see leaves twirl as they fall in winter, we see windmills and feel the wind-chill. Yet that wind does not satisfy the soul, it only fills the lungs.
Do I search for that ruach wind of the soul? I might hear a glimpse of it in the vibrating notes of a Bach adagio. I might see it in the repose of a church sanctuary filled with sunlight. But these are but intimations of immortality, shadows of light, the silence after a voice, a remnant of God.
And yet they are of the Spirit of God.
I am stirred in my inner being by His presence. Even as I live in the fallen world outside Eden, I am aware of Him somewhat like the marble feels the fingers of the sculptor
As breath, music is the vibration of God; the written word is His voice; and life is His being in us. When Adam and Eve fell they didn't lose that image of God, they lost the capacity to please Him. And yet, after Adam and Eve left the Garden, God gave them back the capacity to please Him with sacrifices He would accept. Centuries later, in Jesus God gave us back the capacity to hear His voice, touch His hands, be in His presence.
Can we practice the presence of God? We certainly don't beckon Him as a demand--He already fills heaven and earth. But we can prepare our souls for the revelation of Him by asking God to cleanse us, acknowledging His presence in that place within ourselves from which He created our being. It is that place which first felt His breath. From that place He sees us--do we turn to see Him?
The writer of Hebrews said about the Law--for the Law made nothing perfect, and on the other hand there is a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God, Heb. 7.19. Later in this same letter, the writer shows us how we can draw near to God--let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, Heb. 10.22.
Jesus brought the living water to the woman of Samaria in John 4.10 and He can wash our bodies with pure water, today.
How can we put ourselves under this pure water? With a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. In this case, faith is seeing that we are the image of God, faith is having the desire to draw near to God, to turn to Him. Are you pressing toward Him? James the brother of Jesus said--Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Then James said just what Hebrews says--Cleanse your hands, you sinners and purify your hearts, James 4.8. It is interesting that James uses the same imagery of the well--draw near, cleanse your hands, purify your heart. Hebrews had said, hearts sprinkled clean, bodies washed with pure water
John the Baptist had said--I baptize you in water...He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire, Matt. 3.11.
This we can contemplate in prayer: ask God to cleanse us in our innermost being that we might glorify God in His presence.
.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
HEAVEN AND EARTH
The axle upon which the NT turns is--
On earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6.10
This is the principle by which Jesus prays, tells parables, performs miracles and teaches about the kingdom of heaven. He sees the connection between heaven and earth. So He has given us the opportunity to do the same.
The spirit upon which the kingdom of heaven thrives is the Lord's Prayer for His own. In this prayer we see how Jesus lived such a powerful life. In Luke 10 Jesus had sent 70 disciples out to the places where He would soon come. He gave them nothing to carry: no bag, no shoes, no greeting for anyone along the way. They were to announce that the kingdom of heaven has begun.
The 70 came back with joy, saying even demons obey them. So in chapter 11 Jesus' own disciples ask Him how He prays. They knew the power was not in the exact words the 70 disciples had said, the power was in the prayer of Jesus for them. So the disciples do not say, 'Lord, teach us to say what they said', they say, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'
Jesus gives them 3 things to say.
First, open your soul to God. This is like the inhaling of Adam when the Lord God breathed into him, opening his soul to the breath of God. Jesus opens the Lord's Prayer by opening His soul to the Father. He says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. He is our Father, the One who created the universe. When we open our souls to Him, we receive the understanding of who He is. Paul put it like this--
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You can see that Paul has opened his mind to the greatest, widest, deepest vision of which he is capable: life and death, past and present, height and depth, or any created thing. David had said--
How majestic is Thy name in all the earth,
Who has displayed Thy splendor above the heavens.
God in Christ would be incomprehensible were it not for the Holy Spirit giving us these words. We can read and meditate on the Scriptures to glow open our minds as flowers open to the sun in spring. The experience of many is that God opens the mind gradually through images or impressions that mean a great deal to that person. This is like an individual kiss, from spirit to spirit.
Paul tells the Philippians to focus on these things--
Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
Second, as God has opened our minds to fill us to the fulness of Christ, so we cultivate that fulness with His words. We should breathe in His promises, breathe out our circumstances. In His prayer, Jesus then tells us what He wants us to focus on daily--
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
The breathing in is symbolized in--forgive us our debts--the breathing out is--we also forgive our debtors. The breathing in is--do not lead us to temptation--the breathing out is--deliver us from evil. The kingdom has come in Christ, do His will, depend on Him daily, and forgive. These are the things we can concentrate on every day as an act of faith.
And third, we must live this way. When we make the kingdom, His will, forgiveness and daily faith our habit, we will be surrounded by the atmosphere of God. God will not be an abstract being but the atmosphere which we breathe. Jesus did this and says something similar to it. He says to do the will of His Father is His meat and drink. It is what sustains Him as food and drink did every day. Jeremiah says--
Thy words were found and I ate them,
and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart.
To believe, to forgive, to do His will every day is to take possession of His blessings. This is how we appropriate what He has promised us. It is how we see heaven in everything on earth. Jesus says in Matthew 6--
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
That gathers in a few words all of what we have been saying.
The axle upon which the NT turns is--
On earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6.10
This is the principle by which Jesus prays, tells parables, performs miracles and teaches about the kingdom of heaven. He sees the connection between heaven and earth. So He has given us the opportunity to do the same.
The spirit upon which the kingdom of heaven thrives is the Lord's Prayer for His own. In this prayer we see how Jesus lived such a powerful life. In Luke 10 Jesus had sent 70 disciples out to the places where He would soon come. He gave them nothing to carry: no bag, no shoes, no greeting for anyone along the way. They were to announce that the kingdom of heaven has begun.
The 70 came back with joy, saying even demons obey them. So in chapter 11 Jesus' own disciples ask Him how He prays. They knew the power was not in the exact words the 70 disciples had said, the power was in the prayer of Jesus for them. So the disciples do not say, 'Lord, teach us to say what they said', they say, 'Lord, teach us to pray.'
Jesus gives them 3 things to say.
First, open your soul to God. This is like the inhaling of Adam when the Lord God breathed into him, opening his soul to the breath of God. Jesus opens the Lord's Prayer by opening His soul to the Father. He says, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. He is our Father, the One who created the universe. When we open our souls to Him, we receive the understanding of who He is. Paul put it like this--
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You can see that Paul has opened his mind to the greatest, widest, deepest vision of which he is capable: life and death, past and present, height and depth, or any created thing. David had said--
How majestic is Thy name in all the earth,
Who has displayed Thy splendor above the heavens.
God in Christ would be incomprehensible were it not for the Holy Spirit giving us these words. We can read and meditate on the Scriptures to glow open our minds as flowers open to the sun in spring. The experience of many is that God opens the mind gradually through images or impressions that mean a great deal to that person. This is like an individual kiss, from spirit to spirit.
Paul tells the Philippians to focus on these things--
Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy
of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
Second, as God has opened our minds to fill us to the fulness of Christ, so we cultivate that fulness with His words. We should breathe in His promises, breathe out our circumstances. In His prayer, Jesus then tells us what He wants us to focus on daily--
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors.
The breathing in is symbolized in--forgive us our debts--the breathing out is--we also forgive our debtors. The breathing in is--do not lead us to temptation--the breathing out is--deliver us from evil. The kingdom has come in Christ, do His will, depend on Him daily, and forgive. These are the things we can concentrate on every day as an act of faith.
And third, we must live this way. When we make the kingdom, His will, forgiveness and daily faith our habit, we will be surrounded by the atmosphere of God. God will not be an abstract being but the atmosphere which we breathe. Jesus did this and says something similar to it. He says to do the will of His Father is His meat and drink. It is what sustains Him as food and drink did every day. Jeremiah says--
Thy words were found and I ate them,
and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart.
To believe, to forgive, to do His will every day is to take possession of His blessings. This is how we appropriate what He has promised us. It is how we see heaven in everything on earth. Jesus says in Matthew 6--
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
That gathers in a few words all of what we have been saying.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
JOHN 6--UNION WITH CHRIST
In Acts 9.27 Barnabas brings Saul to the apostles, to show them Saul has been converted. In Acts 13.2 the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul for the work of the ministry, with the laying on of hands. In Acts 15.2 Paul and Barnabas go together to the apostles at Jerusalem to settle a dispute. Paul and Barnabas were brothers in the Lord, ministry partners, fellow travelers and yet they divided. Because Mark deserted Paul in Pamphylia, Paul does not want Mark with him. Barnabas is willing to forgive Mark, Paul is not. So these two brothers in the Lord, these two spiritual warriors Paul and Barnabas split apart in Acts 15.39.
This is a tragedy, but one that will be redeemed by the Lord. After Barnabas and Mark go to Cyprus, Mark comes to Paul when he is imprisoned in Rome. Paul says Mark was even an encouragement to him, Colossians 4.10. 11.
If there is one passage in the NT which God may have meant to unite all Christians--Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal-- it undoubtedly is the Lord's Supper. And yet, the church is tragically divided. Possibly we could look at John 6 in a way to unite Christians, as Paul and Mark were united in Rome.
When Jesus speaks of His body and blood, even disciples who looked Jesus in the eye, who heard His voice, even then and there they leave Him. His words in John 6.48-65 are like looking directly at the sun--we cannot do without the sun but to stare at it will make us blind. Maybe we can walk in the light of these words and yet see what we have not seen.
Jesus will begin this entire passage in John 6.39 by saying, that of all that He has given Me, I lost nothing... and HE will end this passage by saying in John 6.65, no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father. In between, in John 6.46 Jesus says, Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Jesus is referring to Himself, saying only in Him can anyone see the Father. He will say the same thing to Philip in John 14.8. What all of this means is that between 6.39 and 6.65 Jesus will show us how we come to the Father who is in heaven.
The Father has chosen, Christ will redeem, and the Father will bring us home.
I have said in a previous post that the Bible has 4 viewpoints--God speaking to God, God speaking to men and women, men and women speaking to God and men and women speaking to each other. We are used to Jesus speaking to His disciples as He is God. We are used to the disciples speaking to each other. But in the NT we have a few rare glimpses of God speaking to men and women from His own point of view. This is one of those moments.
When Paul addresses his letters to those in certain cities, he calls them saints. He does so because they have been redeemed and sanctified by the blood of Christ. When the Father 'sees' them, He sees them as saints. When Paul writes to the saints at Ephesus, he says, But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2.4. How can we be seated in the heavenly places and yet be here on earth? From God's point of view we are with Him and in Him in heaven. This is because God is not in time; He sees our future as our spiritual state, not as something which has not yet happened.
Now let's go back to John 6. When we partake of the bread and wine of communion, from God's point of view it is His Son's flesh and blood taken into us. So when the Father sees us, He does not see our flesh, He sees His Son's perfect resurrected flesh. When we take the wine, the Father does not see our corrupted blood, He sees His Son's perfect blood poured out for us, in us. We are received into the Father's presence because of His Son's presence in us.
Here on earth, that bread and wine do not become Christ's earthly flesh and blood, they are seen as His flesh and blood by the Father through God the Spirit in heaven. So, from the Father's point of view Jesus can say, I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh, John 6.51. What Jesus has done is come down from heaven (I am the living bread that came down from heaven); He met us here (If any one eat of this bread); and then He takes us to heaven (he shall live forever).
When we die and are resurrected to heaven, standing before God, He does not see our sinful flesh, He sees His Son's flesh which we took into ourselves in the form of communion bread. When we stand before God, He does not see our corrupt blood, He sees His Son's blood which we took in the form of communion wine. This is what is meant in Eph. 1.7 when Paul says, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
Through us, in us God sees Christ who fills all in all.
So Jesus says this with a nearly blinding sheen when He says, He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in Him. The heavenly life of the Father, which was given to the Son, is not given to us, as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who east Me, he shall also live because of Me, John 6.57.
This is how all Christians can be one, as Jesus and the Father are one, John 17.11.
In Acts 9.27 Barnabas brings Saul to the apostles, to show them Saul has been converted. In Acts 13.2 the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul for the work of the ministry, with the laying on of hands. In Acts 15.2 Paul and Barnabas go together to the apostles at Jerusalem to settle a dispute. Paul and Barnabas were brothers in the Lord, ministry partners, fellow travelers and yet they divided. Because Mark deserted Paul in Pamphylia, Paul does not want Mark with him. Barnabas is willing to forgive Mark, Paul is not. So these two brothers in the Lord, these two spiritual warriors Paul and Barnabas split apart in Acts 15.39.
This is a tragedy, but one that will be redeemed by the Lord. After Barnabas and Mark go to Cyprus, Mark comes to Paul when he is imprisoned in Rome. Paul says Mark was even an encouragement to him, Colossians 4.10. 11.
If there is one passage in the NT which God may have meant to unite all Christians--Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal-- it undoubtedly is the Lord's Supper. And yet, the church is tragically divided. Possibly we could look at John 6 in a way to unite Christians, as Paul and Mark were united in Rome.
When Jesus speaks of His body and blood, even disciples who looked Jesus in the eye, who heard His voice, even then and there they leave Him. His words in John 6.48-65 are like looking directly at the sun--we cannot do without the sun but to stare at it will make us blind. Maybe we can walk in the light of these words and yet see what we have not seen.
Jesus will begin this entire passage in John 6.39 by saying, that of all that He has given Me, I lost nothing... and HE will end this passage by saying in John 6.65, no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father. In between, in John 6.46 Jesus says, Not that any man has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. Jesus is referring to Himself, saying only in Him can anyone see the Father. He will say the same thing to Philip in John 14.8. What all of this means is that between 6.39 and 6.65 Jesus will show us how we come to the Father who is in heaven.
The Father has chosen, Christ will redeem, and the Father will bring us home.
I have said in a previous post that the Bible has 4 viewpoints--God speaking to God, God speaking to men and women, men and women speaking to God and men and women speaking to each other. We are used to Jesus speaking to His disciples as He is God. We are used to the disciples speaking to each other. But in the NT we have a few rare glimpses of God speaking to men and women from His own point of view. This is one of those moments.
When Paul addresses his letters to those in certain cities, he calls them saints. He does so because they have been redeemed and sanctified by the blood of Christ. When the Father 'sees' them, He sees them as saints. When Paul writes to the saints at Ephesus, he says, But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ...and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, Eph. 2.4. How can we be seated in the heavenly places and yet be here on earth? From God's point of view we are with Him and in Him in heaven. This is because God is not in time; He sees our future as our spiritual state, not as something which has not yet happened.
Now let's go back to John 6. When we partake of the bread and wine of communion, from God's point of view it is His Son's flesh and blood taken into us. So when the Father sees us, He does not see our flesh, He sees His Son's perfect resurrected flesh. When we take the wine, the Father does not see our corrupted blood, He sees His Son's perfect blood poured out for us, in us. We are received into the Father's presence because of His Son's presence in us.
Here on earth, that bread and wine do not become Christ's earthly flesh and blood, they are seen as His flesh and blood by the Father through God the Spirit in heaven. So, from the Father's point of view Jesus can say, I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any man eats of this bread, he shall live forever and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is My flesh, John 6.51. What Jesus has done is come down from heaven (I am the living bread that came down from heaven); He met us here (If any one eat of this bread); and then He takes us to heaven (he shall live forever).
When we die and are resurrected to heaven, standing before God, He does not see our sinful flesh, He sees His Son's flesh which we took into ourselves in the form of communion bread. When we stand before God, He does not see our corrupt blood, He sees His Son's blood which we took in the form of communion wine. This is what is meant in Eph. 1.7 when Paul says, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.
Through us, in us God sees Christ who fills all in all.
So Jesus says this with a nearly blinding sheen when He says, He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in Him. The heavenly life of the Father, which was given to the Son, is not given to us, as the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who east Me, he shall also live because of Me, John 6.57.
This is how all Christians can be one, as Jesus and the Father are one, John 17.11.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
WHEN CHURCHES DIVIDE
The large institutional churches are losing members by the millions. The Roman Catholic church has so many buildings, so many priests and nuns but few Catholics come to mass. France has 48 million people who say they are Catholic and 6 million say they practice their faith. The Episcopal Church is losing membership rapidly, too. In the US, the Episcopal Church enrollment numbers make it resemble a small denomination. Membership in the Presbyterian churches is down 50% from decades past, and they are only typical.
Can we say something about what is happening, which might lead out of this situation?
Let's see if we can. The large institutional churches always taught their own foundational theology. If we can think of it as a house in a storm, with doors and windows locked so the storm cannot get in, we might understand the issue. Members can feel secure within the walls. The basic idea of a system of thought is that it promises, if you adhere to its' tenets--if you stay within its' walls--you will be secure. An example is, if you are good you will prosper; if you are not good you will not. This is much of the advise Job's counselors gave him. The foundational system promised security as they always were about the history of that denomination.
However, if the storm outside--the culture and society--were to ever invade the house, the system then fails. As long as the denomination taught their own religious system the people were protected, they got some relief on Sunday. But when the denomination begins to teach what the world is saying, being inside is no different than being outside in the storm. People don't feel any relief. They come into the church to get away from society and culture, but if the culture invades them on Sunday, they have no refuge.
So they no longer believe in the religious system they have been taught. The walls come down, as they did at Jericho. Once the people have been abandoned by the church, they scatter.
Now if a church cannot enable members to find Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, the people are caught between a system to which they no longer cling and a savior whom they cannot find. Nowadays so many clergy don't really believe in what their church has traditionally taught, so their ministry is the boomerang that simply flies back in their face. They end up teaching about themselves and their own opinions. Attendance falls, people are lost and scattered. So the situation is like struggling on a rope bridge between two mountains--it's as shaky to go back as it is to go on.
The system no longer protects, but they cannot find Jesus.
Now the larger churches have become like small ones in attendance and budgets and influence. Small groups break away,they gain members, they spread Christianity out across the country like blown leaves in autumn.
If these smaller churches enable people to find Jesus, they will thrive without becoming large. They won't grow because they don't do the work of evangelism. Spreading the gospel requires being in contact and fellowship with those who differ from you, those who do not believe what you believe. Remember when Jesus ate with sinners and immoral women and Pharisees and tax collectors? In small churches this mingling with the world rarely happens. The dynamic so often is, if you are not like us, you won't like us. When the gospel says, Go out into the world, we withdraw.
So it's a yo-yo dilemma. The larger churches rise up to become meaningless, the people fall away for small and private places.
This is painfully ironic because a few decades ago, large organizations like the Southern Presbyterian Church joined the northern Presbyterian affiliations through difficult compromise. If they gained anything, they lost it when faithful members went off to the PCA or the OPC or the ARP. Whatever had been gained is now lost. If budgets and programs were combined, the presence of God was lost. We tried to combine to be bigger only now to separate to be smaller.
Something like this is happening to the Episcopal Church. The EC in America once was large and thriving; now that it is liberal and no longer Christian, Episcopalians have gone to affiliations in Africa and Asia. The small Reformed Episcopal Church is gaining those members and priests; the Anglican Church in America is gaining members and buildings; churches that specialize in Anglo-Catholic tenets are growing.
In the Reformation, the Church of England had Calvinism on one side and Romanism on the other. Anglicans found their identity in the pressure from both sides resulting in a uniquely English church with an English spirituality. But in America that situation does not exist. The Episcopal church is now confronted by the same unbelieving generation, secular society and antagonistic government that every church in the US faces. The pressure is not from the sides, but from the front. The issue no longer is,Can we get along, but it is, What do we believe? The Episcopal Church in the US will have to face unbelief, the failure of liberalism, the economy and a hostile government. What this means is the EC will divide along the lines of doctrine rather than personality Some churches are returning to the creeds, the Reformation confessions, the 1662 Prayer Book, the 39 Articles and the ancient counsels.
The issue now is, how will a church perform evangelism in the society without compromising to the views of that society?
The way we've always done it in the past is through young families. Bring young couples into the church so their children will be raised where the parents attend. This doesn't always guarantee the children will follow in the parents' footsteps, but it is what most churches did.
The way God addressed this was to raise up men and women outside the denomination who reminded us all of who Jesus is. After World War II this was Peter Marshall, Billy Graham, Oral Roberts and Bishop Sheen. They reminded us of who Jesus is and therefore who we are. That put the church in opposition to the world, the flesh and the devil, it purified the church.
The bridge has to be crossed.
The large institutional churches are losing members by the millions. The Roman Catholic church has so many buildings, so many priests and nuns but few Catholics come to mass. France has 48 million people who say they are Catholic and 6 million say they practice their faith. The Episcopal Church is losing membership rapidly, too. In the US, the Episcopal Church enrollment numbers make it resemble a small denomination. Membership in the Presbyterian churches is down 50% from decades past, and they are only typical.
Can we say something about what is happening, which might lead out of this situation?
Let's see if we can. The large institutional churches always taught their own foundational theology. If we can think of it as a house in a storm, with doors and windows locked so the storm cannot get in, we might understand the issue. Members can feel secure within the walls. The basic idea of a system of thought is that it promises, if you adhere to its' tenets--if you stay within its' walls--you will be secure. An example is, if you are good you will prosper; if you are not good you will not. This is much of the advise Job's counselors gave him. The foundational system promised security as they always were about the history of that denomination.
However, if the storm outside--the culture and society--were to ever invade the house, the system then fails. As long as the denomination taught their own religious system the people were protected, they got some relief on Sunday. But when the denomination begins to teach what the world is saying, being inside is no different than being outside in the storm. People don't feel any relief. They come into the church to get away from society and culture, but if the culture invades them on Sunday, they have no refuge.
So they no longer believe in the religious system they have been taught. The walls come down, as they did at Jericho. Once the people have been abandoned by the church, they scatter.
Now if a church cannot enable members to find Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, the people are caught between a system to which they no longer cling and a savior whom they cannot find. Nowadays so many clergy don't really believe in what their church has traditionally taught, so their ministry is the boomerang that simply flies back in their face. They end up teaching about themselves and their own opinions. Attendance falls, people are lost and scattered. So the situation is like struggling on a rope bridge between two mountains--it's as shaky to go back as it is to go on.
The system no longer protects, but they cannot find Jesus.
Now the larger churches have become like small ones in attendance and budgets and influence. Small groups break away,they gain members, they spread Christianity out across the country like blown leaves in autumn.
If these smaller churches enable people to find Jesus, they will thrive without becoming large. They won't grow because they don't do the work of evangelism. Spreading the gospel requires being in contact and fellowship with those who differ from you, those who do not believe what you believe. Remember when Jesus ate with sinners and immoral women and Pharisees and tax collectors? In small churches this mingling with the world rarely happens. The dynamic so often is, if you are not like us, you won't like us. When the gospel says, Go out into the world, we withdraw.
So it's a yo-yo dilemma. The larger churches rise up to become meaningless, the people fall away for small and private places.
This is painfully ironic because a few decades ago, large organizations like the Southern Presbyterian Church joined the northern Presbyterian affiliations through difficult compromise. If they gained anything, they lost it when faithful members went off to the PCA or the OPC or the ARP. Whatever had been gained is now lost. If budgets and programs were combined, the presence of God was lost. We tried to combine to be bigger only now to separate to be smaller.
Something like this is happening to the Episcopal Church. The EC in America once was large and thriving; now that it is liberal and no longer Christian, Episcopalians have gone to affiliations in Africa and Asia. The small Reformed Episcopal Church is gaining those members and priests; the Anglican Church in America is gaining members and buildings; churches that specialize in Anglo-Catholic tenets are growing.
In the Reformation, the Church of England had Calvinism on one side and Romanism on the other. Anglicans found their identity in the pressure from both sides resulting in a uniquely English church with an English spirituality. But in America that situation does not exist. The Episcopal church is now confronted by the same unbelieving generation, secular society and antagonistic government that every church in the US faces. The pressure is not from the sides, but from the front. The issue no longer is,Can we get along, but it is, What do we believe? The Episcopal Church in the US will have to face unbelief, the failure of liberalism, the economy and a hostile government. What this means is the EC will divide along the lines of doctrine rather than personality Some churches are returning to the creeds, the Reformation confessions, the 1662 Prayer Book, the 39 Articles and the ancient counsels.
The issue now is, how will a church perform evangelism in the society without compromising to the views of that society?
The way we've always done it in the past is through young families. Bring young couples into the church so their children will be raised where the parents attend. This doesn't always guarantee the children will follow in the parents' footsteps, but it is what most churches did.
The way God addressed this was to raise up men and women outside the denomination who reminded us all of who Jesus is. After World War II this was Peter Marshall, Billy Graham, Oral Roberts and Bishop Sheen. They reminded us of who Jesus is and therefore who we are. That put the church in opposition to the world, the flesh and the devil, it purified the church.
The bridge has to be crossed.
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