Perfecting Jesus?

This passage was touched on as a part of the message yesterday. I’d like to stir the slurry a little and maybe help it firm up a bit in my mind and in others’. It is the idea that somehow Jesus “learned” or was “perfected” or became more complete while here on our dirt.

Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

And I’d like to lay this passage down beside it and take them on as one idea.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren;

On their own, these do not sound like they align well with the whole rest of the Bible, right? God learns as He goes along? It’s actually not a foreign concept in some corners of Christendom. You can hear it if you listen for it in our speech at times. It is certainly not foreign to some schools of Judaism. Alan Dershowitz, a member of the famous Simpson defense team, wrote an entire book devoted to this theme. That the Torah is the plumbline and God was trying some different things before He tried giving us the Torah. Then He finally got it right on Mount Sinai. Be patient with God, He’s learning. Hogwash.

So if that’s not it, what is this learning and perfection we see in Hebrews?

I’d like to pursue this from a couple of different angles. First, look at the beautiful picture God painted when He spoke forth the process by which a lost inheritance could be redeemed, the kinsman redeemer. The redeemer must be near kin. Not some distant fourth cousin thrice-removed’s brother –in-law, not a stranger. He had to be family, he had to be like the one who was to be redeemed. And it is here we get the first clue as to what could be going on here.

God had never been man before. This was a new thing. This was a once for all thing. So, in this sense, there are learnings going on every day as our Lord walks our roads, eats our foods, hears our noises, feels the sun and wind and rain. And suffers.

Now, there is certainly suffering in Heaven when God is grieved, to be sure. Just do a serious study on the words “repent” and “grieve” as they are used of God in Genesis when Moses speaks “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” I think you will see that God knows what it means to suffer. But not as a man suffers. Not in a man’s body, with a man’s mind, a man’s heart, LIKE A MAN. He was to be our near Kinsman, and He was to know the depths and the heights of manhood in the short time He spent here. So He must learn these things by living as a man, so that when He was made our redeemer, the acceptable sacrifice for redeeming man, He would know all He must know to fulfill that role.

Now I’d like to look at this from the perspective of the life of the redeemed, you and me. There is a sense that we are made perfect when we first begin this conversion process. Christ’s work on the cross was perfect, finished, everything done on our behalf, performed super-abundantly and flawlessly. And we receive the full benefit of that work when we act in faith to commit our lives to Him. But there is also a fulfillment of the promise that we only realize when we live out that commitment. We will come into situations which require us to exercise that trust when every one of our five senses and all our worldly wisdom is saying run the other way. There is a perfecting that can only happen in the time of trial, testing, proving of the metal (and mettle) to see for ourselves if God’s Word is “really” true. Our lax little minds can get used to the idea that there is the Bible and then there is “real life.” But God won’t let us remain in that condition if we are His. He will repeatedly and lovingly bring situations across our path that require us to either choose to trust Him, or to cover ourselves with fig leaves, human reason, false religion.

We are called to be hearers of faith and there is only one way to live out that calling: suffering, struggle, darkness. And this is a good picture of the difference between Christ’s perfection as Son of God and His perfecting as the Son of man.

Christ Jesus was our Savior when He was born. But, in time and space, He had done nothing to earn that title. This was a promise that the Father was to fulfill, a sure hope, that would soon be seen in reality. His perseverance in light of the fact that He could have called ten thousand angels is what will crush you. Knowing He could have had it some other way, even a shortcut as Satan offered, but CHOSE to suffer, CHOSE to be like me, CHOSE to weep and grieve.

Did Jesus hesitate because of torture and crucifixion that was ahead? Nonsense. It was the looming act of God placing His hands on His Son’s head and transferring all our sins to Him that made Him sweat blood. All of the holy wrath of God coming to bear on one man at one time for all the sins of you and me and every other son of Adam? And He had to bear it AS A MAN, one like me. This was something God had never done. This was a new thing. A once for all thing. Jesus did not know sin. And now He was to bear ALL sin? Could He do it? As a MAN? Could He drink from this cup? This was what brought forth those halting words in the garden, the terror, the darkness, the suffering that only He could bear while His closest friends slept.

Gethsemane was the final test, the last learning time, the perfecting of perfection. I think Leonard Ravenhill said, “Gethsemane was where He died as a man. Calvary was just the seen completion of it.”

Adam was perfect in his first estate, nothing lacking. Yet he was perfected day by day walking with Christ in that garden. Can you imagine those conversations? Perfection being perfected. Let us go on to completion, you and me. Shall we?

Isaiah 53 Messiah – addendum

Tags

Christ Jesus, Christlikeness, godly man, good husband, Kenya, longsuffering, Maai Mahiu, merciful, presumption, rebellion, repentance, servant leader

As I read again the article Wrong Messiah that I wrote back in November, I sensed it needed another note, another layer to be added that makes it more complete. I thank God for the man who stood that Tuesday in Maai Mahiu, Kenya where we gathered under the gazebo, with the stew and rice cooking nearby, with the cool morning air still lingering. He stood and said what everyone else in the room, young and old, was thinking but was afraid to say. He’s probably sorry he was courageous enough to speak it out loud, but he shouldn’t be and I am not and I hope everyone else in that place was as pleased as I was that he spoke. He asked a simple question that every man who has been obedient enough to the Word of God to actually DO what I laid out in the first article. He asked,

“What happens if you do this servant stuff and your wife takes advantage of your vulnerability and tramples on your kindness?”

This was an informal question and answer time and there was no one designated to answer any particular question. I knew the weight was on me to answer because I had given the message that provoked the question. Even as he spoke and gently asked for help, my mind and heart were quickened with exactly the words I was to speak first. And those words cleared the cloud in the room in a split second and brought a perspective that I don’t think any of us was ready for, although I had a few seconds head-start.

I gave a quick look to my brother Kelly and asked if I should speak, then i stood and for what seemed like a very long time I let the question echo in that place and in our hearts. Then, as best I could with tears streaming down my cheeks and my heart in my throat, I sputtered out these choking words: “Now you know how God feels.”

All the way back to the garden we see it. A gracious, loving God risking it all by giving Adam that bit of something that He enjoys in infinitude: freedom. For without it we are just machines, wind-up toys that the toymaker creates for his enjoyment that does exactly as its mechanism employs. But God didn’t want machines, He wanted a creature, made in His likeness, that would bring Him glory and worship, a creature He would one day receive back to Himself, perhaps to replace the third of heaven that fell in rebellion. But to get the glory He desired, He must risk that same rebellion. To get the true, loving trust that He desires, He must risk creating a monster of iniquity.

All the way through those first books we see the very people whom He lovingly chose out from among others, those same people turning away from Him and whoring after other things. Always complaining, always taking advantage of His kindness and mercy, always putting God to the test instead of seeing that it was THEY who were being tested. Then God would lovingly bring judgment upon them and they would turn back to Him, only to turn away again after the pressure of the judgment was passed. He started over with Noah and his sons, and almost started over with Moses twice, but more times than not we see a grieving Father rather than a wrathful judge.

All the way through the prophets we see the presumption of a people who took great pride in being the chosen ones, Abraham’s children, who acted more like the devil’s children. We see stiff-necked rebels who will not have One to reign over them, throwing off the yoke that they were created to wear and taking on the yoke that is not easy and makes the burden unbearable. We see a God who lovingly brings them under humiliating bondage in order to cause the people to cry out to Him. We see His own people killing the prophets He would send to bring the message of metanoia.

From the beginning, we have trampled underfoot the goodness and kindness and longsuffering of God. If you give your life to Him and serve Him, do you think you will see something different? Is the servant greater than his master? “If they hated Me, will they somehow love you?”, Jesus asks. Every husband that dedicates himself to serving God above all else, the supreme choice, the ultimate intention, every one will come to know how God feels. The question is: now what? Quit? Try some other manipulative means to get what you want?

I urge you, men, i urge you to not turn away. Love them, love your women when they take advantage, love them when they take no regard for you, love them when you are not appreciated, love them when you are mocked. Turn your face to God and plead for your woman that He might show her the mercy He shows you. Lay your life down, lay your own sin down, lay your pride down. Ask God to give you a hatred of sin and a love supremely for Him that you might be filled with His Spirit. Then you will be merciful to her and kind and strong enough to love her in spite of all the hurt. Turn your face to God and admit your weakness and your desire to condemn. Your words are not adequate; let Him give you the words to say.

I ended my answer that day with this: do you serve God for His own good pleasure or do you serve Him with a result in mind for yourself? The first is godliness, the second is idolatry. Being a husband after God’s own heart is pleasing to God and THAT is the only result we should keep in mind, “fixing our eyes on Christ Jesus, the author and completer of faith.” Doing a little serving for a little while so that you can reap a harvest of her serving you is a very bad distortion and corruption of servanthood. That God might be pleased – that is the “why”, and that will keep you facing the right direction.

Yes, now you know how God feels. Now imagine you are NOT the fallen creature in a fallen world that you are. Imagine you are a thrice-holy, uncreated, infinitely perfect God. How amazing is His love towards us now? How incredible is His act of bankrupting heaven to send His Son, His only begotten Son, to endure the wrath that rightly should fall on you and me? What kind of Father is this that we serve? What kind of Lord and master is this Son of God, worthy to receive our worship? Oh, we praise you God for Your longsuffering with us and Your mercies that are new every morning.

Make us into men that look like Your Son, O God, and do it quickly, I pray.

Finding Christ in Isaiah

Tags

Christ in Isaiah, disobedience to God, hearing God, I saw the Lord, Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, Jesus in Isaiah, obedience to God, Old Testament, Pharisees, Prophet Isaiah, prostration, revelation of the Messiah, the glory of God, voice from heaven, we wish to see Jesus

If you ask most people how many times a voice came from heaven when Jesus was on earth, they would probably say two, baptism and transfiguration. The way I phrased the question sort of requires you to answer “I have no idea” because I didn’t ask how many are recorded. But let’s stick with what we CAN find in Scripture. I would want to add one that is sort of sneaky: when He met Paul on the road to Damascus. He was certainly “on earth” that hour and had just come “from heaven” but let’s not push it for now. So two, right?

Let us, however, not forget this one in John’s gospel, chapter 12:

Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor. “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die. The people answered Him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them. These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.“

Okay, so there’s three at least. But I’m not bringing this up so you can win at Trivial Pursuit Bible Edition. I want to bring up Christ in the period of the Old Testament. It is my firm conviction that, as a rule of thumb, whenever you see God in the form of a man (or a voice) it has always been and will always be Christ Jesus, the same yesterday, today, and forever. I would go further to say that all speaking, including the first spoken word recorded “LIGHT”, comes from the lips of our Lord. The exceptions would be these three events when He tabernacled in flesh with us.

I’m saying there is a very good reason John chose to refer to Christ Jesus as the Word (not a static object like a word on the page, but a living, acting, dynamic spoken Word that is to be HEARD and OBEYED.) If the Bible is not speaking about Christ on every page and in every recorded event, then it is not the Word of God. I thank God at LEAST daily that He quickened men of old to be scribes of the Word of God. But not just for the books that I am privileged to read, but for the Word that comes alive in me when I read it.

These books, that we have agreed are the inspired Word of God, are not just stories about Him and pictures of Him, they are HIS WORDS about THE WORD. And that means they are not like ANY other writings ever written. They are ALIVE because He is alive and they come alive when we are committed to hear and obey. And perhaps the most gracious act He performs when He quickens you by His Spirit is when He injects into you a hunger and a thirst for His Word. Why do you suppose our Lord said that we MUST eat of Him or we will not have His life in us? The Bible is more than books that talk ABOUT Him.

Before we get to Isaiah, look at verse 23. Note the depth of His words here. Note how responsive He is to the request by the Gentiles for an interview. A trickle from the stream whose dam is about to burst gets Jesus’ attention. But the cross must come first.

The hour is come for Jesus to be glorified – so why is He talking about suffering and dying? Very backward to our way of thinking, I know. Where He is, His followers will be. And He says this on His way to a cross. So where do you think you and I are going – Tahiti? He didn’t stay there on the cross forever, but He did have to go through that valley to get where He was going. The only road to resurrection runs straight into a cross.

For THIS hour He came to earth, for what cause? dying? Yes, but that is only a means to the ultimate end: To GLORIFY THE NAME of HIS FATHER. Through His death, yes, and resurrection, certainly, and anything else that pleases Him and brings Him glory. He seems to say so much about the glory of His Father’s name, doesn’t He? And the voice says “I have glorified it already and I’ll glorify it again!”

I’m going to save for another time the obvious contrast between the Gentiles (who came to worship Him) and the Pharisees and their crowd who accuse Jesus of not knowing the Law that He wrote. The very fulfillment of the Isaiah passage below: hard hearts, slimed eyes, plugged ears. And as John fortifies: “He hid Himself from them.”

 

 

Look in verse 41: ^“These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him”

That’s what is says. It was Christ’s glory that Isaiah saw which flattened him like a pancake and brought out the wail “WOE is me. I am unclean.” And it has done the same thing for every man before and every man since, including the one writing these words. “I saw the LORD” says Isaiah and the whole earth is filled with His glory. “Restore me to the glory I had before, Father” our Lord prayed in the garden. If there are degrees of glory, I would bet that His glory has been restored to AT LEAST that which He had before.

There was a special relationship between Isaiah and our Lord Jesus. There is a reason that Jesus quotes Isaiah so often, along with David and Moses. These were men of metanoia, men who had been radically transformed and were thereafter lifelong turners from themselves unto God. They were men of contrite hearts and broken wills who had an unseen King to whom they gave full allegiance all the time.

Quoting Isaiah 53, Jesus asks, “Who will amen our message? To whom has God’s arm been revealed?” Very good question. In the passage preceding, Isaiah speaks of the beautiful feet of the mobasar (good news-er) who brings the good news “Our God Reigns!” He goes on to say all nations will one day see His arm revealed. But who will amen the message? When you encounter the Lord, will you Amen what He says? Or does this refer to you: “Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not perceive. “Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”

If you reject the message of the true gospel yet still want to appear like a Christian, the enemy will send you a nice substitute. He’ll send you a Joel Osteen to please your ear. Or perhaps that is not the enemy’s work, but actually God giving you what you want. Judgment of our sin may not look like the picture you have in your mind. It might have a nice suit and a big smile.

And we can end with this, the failure we can blame most of our self-righteousness on: ^“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

 

the fruit of partial obedience

Tags

consequences, disobedience, partial obedience

This is not my first offering on this subject, but it will definitely be the most memorable, at least for me.

Partial obedience is complete and utter disobedience. And any effort to dress it up or dumb it down or excuse it or call it something else is foolish and a lie.

And let me tell you what it gets you. Not only do you NOT get what you are trying to acquire by the careful tip-toeing around the difficult part of the obedience, you end up GETTING something you were NOT looking for and would have avoided if you had known it was coming.

The thing we are usually trying to acquire (through the mental gymnastics we go through to manipulate our own consciences into convincing ourselves that what we are doing is really GOOD) is the approval of men, to look good or compassionate and avoid looking bad or cold. So we neglect the thing we are commanded to do and rationalize and justify our neglect (or shall we call it refusal) by telling ourselves we are being kind. The truth is there is no kindness in it at all, it is only self-seeking behavior that wants to be known as kind.

So we trade the approval of God for the approval of men. Only here’s the really bad news that we each have to find out, just like Eve and Adam did. That voice that gets you to disobey is a liar and can only tell lies wrapped in half-truths. The two in the garden did not get what they were reaching for, godliness. Instead, they got to see that they were naked.

Yes, not only do you totally get punked on what you were trying to achieve with your “kindness,” you RECEIVE something you would have avoided if you had known what the outcome would be. DISASTER. PAIN. SEPARATION. the realization of the naked idiot you really are.

I can draw up in my mind a really fine set of results to justify my disobedience: like saving a relationship, or not causing strife in my family, or coming off looking like a prince of a guy, or NOT being the bad guy (either will do), or not drawing attention to myself, or anything that avoids the AWFUL circumstances that I just KNOOOW will result if I AM obedient.

But nothing I can conjure up will ever be avoided or realized. In fact, the pain and the damage I am trying to avoid will find me by a factor of at least a hundred. And the approval will never materialize because there is nothing good to approve of, just evil.

And you will find that opportunities for obedience don’t come around the same way twice. They’re mostly one-shot deals. There is a reason God commands when He does. We just can’t see it and probably would royally screw it up if we could.

Hindrances and obstacles

Tags

addiction, church terminology, churchianity, hindrance, hindrances to revival, holding grudges, obstacles, obstacles to God's work, repentance, revival, unforgiveness

The bulk of this article was written by Richard Blackaby in a tract called “Corporate Hindrances to Revival.” I discovered it many years ago and unfortunately it is still true. I’ve edited and amended some parts but hopefully I didn’t take any fire away or add anything to ruin it. dm

I’ve been studying revival history for some time now and there are some characteristics that are distinct about a true move of God in a place. One such distinction is that every movement of God among His people is characterized by a profound awareness of sin. Turning from sin and revival are inseparable.

In many places, however, sinful practices are being renamed and reclassified. When a church member commits adultery, it is often said euphemistically that he or she “fell into an affair.” The man or woman may be portrayed as the victim of an overwhelming schedule, or an unsympathetic spouse. Terminology, such as “falling into” and “affair” subtly shifts the blame away from the sinner. Rather than hiding behind less offensive terms, Christians must be exhorted to agree with God about their sins and accept responsibility for them.

Another adjustment in terminology is to reclassify sin as a “weakness,” “bad habit,” or an “addiction.” Rather than committing the sin of lust, the sinner is said to have an “addiction” to pornography. However addictive and enslaving habitual sin can become, its roots still lie in sin.

Society commiserates with an addict; God judges sin. An addict engenders sympathy for his or her condition, but the Christian knows that sin is not to be tolerated. Society encourages addicts to seek therapy, but not necessarily to repent of sin.

By allowing worldly definitions for sin to creep into the church’s vocabulary, we inadvertently desensitize people to the heinous reality of sin in their midst and the crucial need for repentance. If we do not clearly identify sin for what it is, people cannot properly respond to their condition.

We can also unwittingly challenge people in an unbiblical manner. We often encourage people who have not been walking in obedient fellowship with God to “rededicate” their lives to God and to His will. In this process, people may come before the gathering and acknowledge that they have disobeyed God’s will. They will affirm their desire to dedicate themselves afresh to obey God. Often, members of the congregation will be invited to come and encourage the one who has expressed his intent to try harder to obey God.

 

 The problem with this is that it is not biblical. The crux of the gospel message is not a call to rededication, but a call to turn from our sin and be changed in our minds and hearts toward God. If one’s previous commitment did not keep him walking in obedience, a re-commitment is no more likely to make him faithful. The proper response to disobedience is not a commitment to try harder, but brokenness and repentance for rejecting the will of Almighty God. God looks for surrender to His will, not commitment to carry it out. Rather than encouraging people to repeatedly promise to try harder, we must call our people to repent before Holy God.

We are uncomfortable with spiritual brokenness and repentance. When the Holy Spirit works in peoples’ lives, convicting them of their sin, people often do not know how to respond. We are uncomfortable with the tears and anguish of a sinner under conviction by the Spirit. Rather than allowing people to respond to what God is telling them, we often seek to immediately intervene. We try to comfort one whom God is making uncomfortable!

The structure of a worship service can mitigate against the Spirit’s working. Pressure to begin or end the service “on time” can leave little opportunity for people to respond to what God has said to them. Bringing the service abruptly to a close in order to announce the upcoming potluck dinner or church council meeting, can utterly quench the work that God began in the service. The danger is that a mighty moving of God in the church may not “fit in” to the pre-arranged time constraints of the leaders or the expectations of the listeners

Many people fail to properly understand revival terminology. The term “revival” is the returning of God’s people to Him. This means their hearts are cleansed and sensitized to God. The term “repentance” is also greatly misunderstood. It is often seen as a negative term in an age where everything is expected to appear positive. Yet repentance is one of the most positive words in the Christian vocabulary! It refers to turning from a destructive path and moving instead into God’s abundant life.

Too often, people spurn the terminology of repentance, preferring instead to speak of God’s love and forgiveness. God’s love and forgiveness, however, can only be fully experienced on the basis of the sinner’s repentance. Churches that misuse these terms may hinder their people from experiencing true forgiveness and true revival.

There is a powerful temptation for church leaders to deal with symptoms rather than causes. Instead of addressing the condition of people’s hearts, churches attempt to change their behavior. If members are not attending particular programs or services, the leaders try to make these programs and services more appealing. If members are not sharing their faith with unbelievers, classes in evangelism are offered. If needs are going unmet in the church, more staff are hired to meet these needs or programs are initiated to make the service of others more convenient.

We must look past people’s behavior to the heart condition behind it. Rather than focusing on symptoms, God’s people must be challenged to examine their love for God. People who truly see God’s worth will willingly serve Him, tell others about Him, and long to worship Him.

Matthew 5:23-24 indicates that Christians are obligated to be reconciled to anyone with whom they have a conflict. Yet in many churches this is not practiced. And this behavior is most deadly in the very leaders of the flock. Church leaders are allowed to feud with one another and yet continue in leadership positions. Members, even whole congregations, refuse to forgive members who have joined elsewhere, former pastors, those who have caused turmoil, and yet they presume God will bless them.

We have a corporate responsibility to seek reconciliation, just as individuals have been commanded to do so. If the church as a whole refuses to forgive, its members will also find it excusable to harbor bitterness toward others. If a church will corporately repent of unforgiveness toward another church or toward another person, it’s members will be freed to be wholly reconciled with God in revival.

Our subtle attitudes, practices, and theological presuppositions can hinder a body of believers from experiencing revival. If we face these things and they are properly dealt with, the obstacles can be eliminated that have hindered God’s work among His people.

 

The Importance of Words

Tags

Balaam, Balak, Elijah the prophet, God's Word, gospel in power, hearing, how God blesses, Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, keeping covenant, regeneration, righteousness, word meanings

Numbers 23   And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go, and say thus.. . .God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 

 

Righteousness in the Hebrew language and culture comes down to keeping covenant. God alone is righteous in the perfect sense, wholly righteous because He always keeps His Word. He keeps His Word even when it costs Him great pain and tears, even when it means His own Son must suffer and die on a cross of shame and dishonor. Don’t get the idea that this covenant-keeping righteousness standard is some arbitrary measuring stick in the universe that God must then rise to meet. No, God is righteous and faithful because that is Who He is and He is the standard. His Son struck a tent of human flesh and displayed here in time and space the manifestation of this kind of righteousness. And every other example of humanity in the history of Adam’s race falls short of that standard and therefore must die. Sinning flesh cannot live in the presence of His glory.

 

That was the negative side of the covenant: fail at any line at any time and death is your portion. Keep it perfectly, perpetually, and personally, and you live forever. This makes Christ’s sacrifice all the more meaningful to you and I. Having earned eternal life by His perfect fulfillment of the law laid down on Sinai, not only in letter, but in the perfect spirit and relationship that God was looking for before the law was given, having done all that, He chose to stay and have His own body, the Law Incarnate, nailed to a tree so that the Law could die and the covenant could pass away. This is also the picture of the perfect servant who is pierced at the doorpost of the Master’s house to signify his allegiance and lifetime union with His house so that he could stay with the wife and children that he gained while he served there.

 

He keeps His Word. His Son kept His word, in fact, He was the Word. He has always been the speaking voice, in creation, in lawgiving, in prophecy, all of it. This seems to me a great deal of importance on words, how about you? Don’t you think that is a lot more importance than we place on them? Why does He care so much about words and speaking and hearing and obeying and keeping our word and His Word? What was so devastating about the choice Adam and Eve made to follow the word of the serpent and not follow His?

 

I can’t put it into a simple phrase that explains it all. But I can lay out some principles that can help us know God’s ways better than we did yesterday. And line upon line, precept upon precept, a little here and a little there, with stammering lips, I can speak to His people.

 

God is a speaking God. He spoke and, in the absence of raw materials, everything we see became. Light, heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, clay, sand, sea, insects, mammals, birds, fish, fruits, grains, air, rain, lightning, wind, tides . . . all of these He spoke into existence. Some He spoke directly into existence, which is immediate creation, nothing between. Sometimes He spoke to something and told it to bring forth something else, which is mediate creation, with a middleman. Either way, it came to be BY HIS WORD. Because He is a God Who speaks. And He chose words to be His medium and our ears to be the receiver. Essentially, the answer to our question begins with “because He says so.”

Ephesians starts with a beautiful string of words that provide a clue to the answer to our question: starting in verse 3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:”

 

Now the translators chose to translate Eulogeetos as ‘Blessed be’, as if we were doing the blessing. We bring a similar word over directly as eulogy, the good words we say about someone who has passed away. But the grammar indicates something else going on here. Yes, the word is used a praise. And yes, we find this kind of praise in the Psalms when the translators often use the word bless (although it is probably more correct to say ‘praise’ – It is the superior that blesses the inferior) This word is actually describing God’s intrinsic character. Look at it from the way it is written in the Greek “The Good-Word God, who by nature blesses, who actively blessed us (in past action and the benefits of that action are continuing on till now) in the heavenlies IN CHRIST.”  And He blesses the same way He does everything. With words. EU-LOG-EETOS. Log – the root of all the logos words, it is with words that He blesses.

 

And not just words in some vague sense. Log and leg are two roots out of which grow one tree. The roots split very early in the formation of the language: log – going the way of “that which is said” – and leg or lex – going the way of “to choose “ and “that which is laid down”. Leg is then the LEGal root, legislation, legitimate. Log is the ‘saying’ root, a verbal expression, formed as words to be spoken. He blesses with words and those words are SPOKEN words. After the speaking, they might be written, but they are always spoken words which are meant to be heard by ears.

 

We could spend a year unpacking these first few verses, but one other note on this passage in Ephesians before we leave it. These blessings with which the Blesser blesses us are IN CHRIST, the Word, the speaking voice of God. And the blessings come via the Spirit from heaven, but they are located in Christ and they are not something outside of Him or in addition to Him. Okay, moving on.

 

The truth is that if you let someone talk long enough, they will betray their own attempts to cover who they are. When someone says something embarrassing or self-incriminating, we can play a little trick in our minds that separates the words from the speaker. “He’s just having a bad day. He didn’t mean what he said. That’s not how she really is or how she really feels.” Well, you can play that game with people, but you cannot with God. When God says something, He means it, and in eternity, it is done. All that’s left is to wait for it to manifest itself in time and space, sometimes immediately, sometimes after what seems to you and me like a very long time. But He does not exist inside time, He just intrudes His hand into time. When He says it, it is. You cannot separate God from His Word. Listen to His voice when He speaks in Scripture, when He speaks to Moses, when He speaks to the prophets, when Jesus speaks.

 

He does not qualify His statements or make compromises with anyone. “you have heard it said unto you . . . but I say unto you . . .” He talks like all authority has been ceded unto Him or something. When you start talking like He holds all authority, watch how things change. Your whole language set will change. You will stop presenting the Gospel to people based on a need they have or telling people they have a God-shaped void in their otherwise perfect existence. That is humanist, ego-centric evangelism. The true Gospel is Christo-centric.

 

Even the likes of disobedient gainsayer Balaam can be used by God to be His mouthpiece of blessing unto His people. God utters through Balaam one of the most important passages in all of Scripture: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” This passage also speaks of God’s nature and character, like the one in Ephesians, and again it is speaking of blessing.

 

This is take two of three times Balak, King of Moab, tries to get Balaam, from the line of Esau, to curse Israel while they are in the wilderness. All of Moab is scared to death that Israel is going to do to them what they just did to the Amorites. So they try gainsaying, paying a prophet to say what you want them to say so that you will get what you want. This, by the way, was not just a sin of the Old Testament. Look at the warnings and rebukes in the NT that bring up Balaam’s name. Yes, people are still doing it today.

 

So, on the first try, God puts the words in Balaam’s mouth and he speaks a blessing on Israel, even though he’s being paid handsomely to curse them. So God has spoken His blessing, it is a done deal. Take two, what does God say of Himself? “Shall I not make good on what I have spoken? Shall I not fulfill what I have promised? Did you not hear me? Do you think I am a man to lie or go back on my word?”

 

 

 

Why does God put so much importance on this concept of hearing? The answer lies in the importance of His Word that He speaks. The words are the medium and the ears are the receiver that God has chosen to get His message through to us. His Word comes in power, not in word only. Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance;”  God is not playing word games. Spiritual life is not some ethereal mystical stuff. There is a war on for souls, including yours and mine. And the true gospel of Christ has within it the power of God unto salvation.

Jesus said some things that were strange to hear sometimes. “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger. . . I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” This sounds weird until you realize Jesus is the Living Word. Unless you receive the Word into you, it cannot save you from death. If you do hear His voice and obey in faith, you will live forever. If you neglect to hear or refuse to hear, then you do not partake of the bread of life or partake of His blood spilled to cover your sin and your sins. Hear and obey and you are a guest at the King’s table and you will never hunger or thirst again for that fulfillment for which you were created. We were created for His glory, to worship Him with our lives, to offer ourselves to Him as living sacrifices that bring Him glory. He insures that the only boasting is in the completed work of Christ by confounding the wisdom of men and annihilating human pride in the way that He works.

 

By the spoken word of the Gospel, His power impacts our ear and strikes the heart and creates a fire in us that purifies and begins to form His own image in us. And it is His own image in us that brings Him glory and brings the light to everyone around us. And He not only takes us as righteous when we trust His Word, He begins to displace the old smelly self-righteous self with His own righteous nature which others will encounter as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, just to name a few. All of which are implanted, not as extras, but as Christ IN US.

 

Romans 8 answers the question of “how do I know if I am IN CHRIST?” You will know you are IN CHRIST when HE is IN YOU. And there will be no mistake here. Christ’s Spirit has never filled anybody and they remained unaware of the fact. You will no longer be the same person. Instantly, and bit by bit, as we maintain our grip of faith on His Word, Christ is formed in us. I don’t care how “good” of a person you are, if God regenerates you, you will be cataclysmically changed into something that has never yet walked the face of the earth.

 

God is a speaking God. He didn’t choose whalesong or squirrel chatter or even birdsong. He chose words to communicate. When He speaks, it is done. He does not lie or go back on His Word, He is faithful to do what He has promised. He keeps His Word to His own hurt. He has searched the earth to find hearers of faith who will take Him at His Word and hang their entire life on His faithfulness to His Word. Hearers who will trust His Word more than what they see.

 

 

He is looking for Elijahs who, just because God had said it when He laid down the law, will walk out of nowhere, right into Ahab’s court and say, “it’s not gonna rain again until I say so.” He is looking for Josephs who will say “how can I sin against God? And “what you meant for evil, God meant for good.” He is looking for Jobs who will say “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” He is looking for Stephens who will look right into the eyes of the Sanhedrin and say “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” He is looking for men like Paul who was not disobedient to His call, who fought the good fight, who finished the race, who found God’s grace to be sufficient, who loved not his life unto death.

 

Stand firm. God’s Word is on the line and He will not fail. The Lord hath spoken it. He puts His amen to it as it leaves His mouth. When it hits your ear, will you add your amen to it? Your response determines your destiny. Ears to hear, or uncircumcised in ear and heart. The seed, His Gospel, is the same. The soil proves itself by its reception or lack of it.

 

Hear, O Israel. Christ alone will have the glory.

 

What if it’s real?

Tags

agony, anguish, counterfeit, diabolical, enemy strategy, intercession, intercessory prayer, man of tears, prayer, Satan's strategy, spiritual warfare, subterfuge, travail

What if spiritual war is real and not the carnival sideshow counterfeit? And what if the enemy is supernaturally clever? And what if he knew certain things, things like God’s ways, how things are really accomplished?

What if he knew that only when we are willing to see what God sees, feel what His heart feels, know the grief and pain that He suffers, only then can we really hear His voice in the moment that we need an answer or a word to speak? What if he knew that only when we are baptized in the fire of anguish will anything of God truly be born in us and that everything else is just flesh which he need not fear at all?

What if he were witness to the death of so many martyrs  that he saw a strategy that would work: softness, comfort, ease, absolute avoidance of all pain, seeking pleasure and convenience at every turn, self-fulfillment, self-determination, self-respect, so that even your religion is all about a cushy place to land at the end of your self-seeking life, when you’ve sucked every bit of enjoyment and entertainment out of it you can? What if he could turn even the worship and the “sacrifice of praise” into an activity designed for my enjoyment and pleasure?

What if he could formulate a message that sounds really spiritual but is essentially a hypnotic spell or a narcotic drug designed to put you into a stupor like a spider does to its prey? What if he could distract you with a perceived need that one of his spokesmen says is “your call to action” so that your busy-ness is the perfect substitute for being a slave to Christ?

What if he could make Christianity all about refining your behavior and doing good to others and make you forget about expecting anything supernatural happening in you or through you? What if spirituality was expressed merely as a good show in the flesh for men to see and saying the right words but not dying daily and bearing instruments of our own death or yielding ownership of my life to the only one worthy of it?

 

 

 

 

What if he could turn what is valuable upside down and take the things that will vanish like a vapor and burn like straw and make them what we truly value? What if he could convince you that your good ideas are God’s will and God’s call? No broken heart required, no mourning or fasting or tears or pain, just an idea.

What if he could create an environment where truth is what you think it is and morality is what I think is right and pleases me? What if he could make it seem unbearable for me to go without anything for more than five minutes? What if the very words of pain, blood, tears, agony, travail, what if words like that became detestable and worthy only of suckers?

Sounds like a perfect strategy if you were looking to create a smorgasbord of tasty treats to satisfy your never-ending hunger to devour humanity.

Wrong Messiah

Tags

God grieves, husband, male headship, marriage, role of men in marriage, wrong view of messiah

I had a couple or three roads converge in my mind.

I think this problem is known to every man, and certainly every dedicated man of God who is married. It is the conflict between being the God-ordained head of the wife and household and being meek and gentle and a servant. Most men have given up on one or both of these callings.

What do you think was perhaps the biggest misconception about the coming Messiah which caused everybody around Him such difficulty? They were NOT looking for an Isaiah 53 Messiah. They were looking for the One that is still to come, the warrior, the ruling and reigning King of Glory Who marches in and kicks butt and takes names. Then here’s this guy who washes feet, seeks no glory, and gets whipped and nailed to a tree.

We have been enculturated with a view of God that is a despot and Who wills all things to happen the way they happen, Who exercises complete sovereignty over every situation. Then we encounter life situations that make us question the compassion of this all-powerful controlling God. Most of these problems come from bad, or at least incomplete and misguided, teaching about the nature and character of God.

Absent from almost every view of God is the grieving Fatherhood (and  motherhood while we’re on the subject, because God does not lack any good characteristic even if it is found mostly in women) that we find repeatedly in Scripture. I think this absence is a tactic of the enemy to caricature God and cause confusion and despair among us. It might even play on our desire for power to picture a God who constantly exercises complete control over every detail of every life. Because that’s the way we would do it if WE were God.

In our flesh, we really don’t want a God Who grieves. We don’t want God to look down on our plight and grieve. We want Him to wipe out our enemies with a single blow. Wait, no. Let them suffer for a long time with a plague, then wipe ‘em out with fire. After September 11, 2001, we wanted God to go turn Al Qaeda’s land into a beautiful piece of greenish tan glass. We don’t want a God Who grieves. But we fail to see that the God of the universe does grieve and lament and weep – OVER US. Over our stubbornness and pride and self-seeking, self-righteousness, and self-promotion (no matter how we try to hide it behind pretty words).

But we can’t stop there or we will have just substituted one caricature for another. God doesn’t only grieve. He wins. In His incarnation, He won through losing. He gained the victory by suffering the humiliating defeat and shame of death on a cross at the hands of His religious and political enemies. With this suffering, He bought the rights that were lost in our disobedience and idolatry and perversion. He won the keys to sickness, death, hell, and the grave. Jesus is Victor, but He won by dying, dying to His desires to preserve self and life and status. But won life and power and victory for both Himself and for us.

He will execute justice and His righteousness will rule earth once more. And the faithful few will reign with Him. Not today, though. Today He grieves and bears the pain, expressed completely in the body of His Son, Christ Jesus . But as in the days of Noah, His grief will come to an end and He will bring an end to the injustice and He will send His Son to earth again and this time it will not be as a servant. But even in Noah’s day, it was in pain and grief that God wiped out all but a handful of us and started over. Agapeland represented the flood for their children’s bible in this way: God wept. He wept for 40 days and 40 nights and the tears filled the earth. I think that’s pretty accurate.

Now back to you and me and the problem we have as men. We cannot balance the idea of the headship of men with the idea of servanthood. And we are burdened with the same problem that everyone had with this Isaiah 53 Messiah. We just can’t wrap our heads around the idea that we can lead by serving, that we really can be exalted by being humiliated, that there is any truth to being great by being the least.

When I was describing God before (which I know always approaches blasphemy), take note that I never said God did not HOLD all sovereign power over all situations, all things, all of us. I said that He does not exercise that power in every situation. While you and I are tempted to exercise authority in every situation, we must exercise God-like restraint in our relationships, especially with our women.

Let’s look again at the well-known passage concerning husbands: “Men, love your women as Christ loves the church.” How did/does He do that? With iron-fisted rule, demanding immediate attention and respect? He gave Himself up. For her. But also for Himself, “that He might present her back to Himself in all her glory.”

This might be hard to grasp at first glance, but think on this. If you really love your wife, you will want the best for her. And the best for your wife includes her fulfillment in being presented back to you in all her glory. We won’t dive right now into what it means to “sanctify her by the washing of water by the Word of God.” But this washing isn’t going to happen by you shoving the Word down her gullet. There is a lifetime of difficult work involved in you, the man, submitting yourselves under God’s almighty hand, allowing YOUR heart to be washed and purged of its filth and selfishness.

We men must FIRST be filled with His Spirit, which Spirit serves only to exalt the Risen Lord. This Spirit does not seek its own, does not seek attention or approval of men (or women). The character of God’s Spirit is humble. I didn’t say weak. The gentleness from God is strength under control, God’s control as the director of your whole life. Think of John, one of the sons of thunder, who asked Jesus if He wanted him to call down thunder on those who rejected their message. But John learned humility as He saw Jesus suffer and die and rise again. And as John submitted himself, God thundered through him in his writings, especially the Revelation.

 

Our warped view of God’s character, prompted by the counterfeits of the enemy, began in the garden with “has God said?” We don’t really pay attention to the way God does things. We view the universe as being for our enjoyment and not God’s. We don’t acknowledge His claims on us or our stuff. Isn’t it strange that we enforce our headship more than He does?

Here is a principle that we would do well to remember:  I am becoming like what I truly love. Henry Scougal put it this way:  “the worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” If you worship a God whose character has been distorted by poor theology and counterfeited representations then the character that you present to your woman will be even more distorted.

Is male headship of the home really God’s way? Yes, it is. If you want to debate that question, take it up with someone else some other time. The question I seek to present is “Are you willing to be the kind of head we see presented in the servant nature of the One and only God-Man ever to walk the earth?” This is the kind of head we are to be – “as Christ loved (and heads) the church.”

Will you (will I?) trust that God’s way is right? If you want to protect self, avoid pain, seek pleasure, you will lose your life in the end. But if you will lose your life for Christ’s sake and for the Gospel you will find it. If we represent the wrong Messiah to our women we do not glorify God. It’s as simple as that. Ask God today to reveal what this means in your daily interaction and conversation with your woman. If you honestly seek this wisdom, He will reveal it.

Forsaking and precariousness

Tags

born again, Christian life, Christianity, death and rebirth, die to self, dying to self, forsaking, freedom, liberation, new creation, transformation, voice lesson

Death and rebirth – a precarious period

Amen, Amen I say unto you, He that hears my word, and faithes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation;

but is passed from death unto life.

My one and only voice teacher, Dr. Fred Schreiner, performed a work in me that I will always be thankful for. Certainly for what he taught me about singing, but that is not what I’ll always remember him for. He showed me a principle, without even trying, that I have seen repeated in Scripture, church history, and in my own experience that is of great value.

He took what was a very “turned out” singing mechanism and took it in the completely opposite direction. I mean the pendulum swung so far away from where I was until you could not even hear the old vestiges of where I was any more. Then, after he was certain the “old way” was dead, he began to move me back the other way. Until one day, I told him that we were almost back where we started. He said “Yes, but we had to make this journey to get you here. I couldn’t just move you a little bit in the other direction. I had to break down the old way of singing first, then bring you to where I wanted you to be in the first place. Which was quite close to where you were, but far away at the same time.”

 

 

He had to take me 180 degrees from where I was to move me 8 or 10 degrees. He knew the mind and ear and muscle memory have a very strong gravity that will resist small changes by pulling me back to what is comfortable. So in order to break free from that force that pulls me back (down) there has to be a much stronger force that provides the push out into new horizons.

When God places His finger on something and says ‘this must go’, then our hold on it must be released and we must die to it and forsake it. No turning back.

Now, we enter a very precarious period. We must take care with how we speak to others about this ‘thing’ at this point and for a long time thereafter. Because God may have an end in mind that we don’t understand yet. He may want to bring it back to life in a new way with new attitudes and new dimensions and proper perspective. Whereas before there was corruption and misunderstanding and wrong direction, He brings it back facing the right direction with attention on Him and not on the thing itself. It is a reborn thing not anything like it was before.

But if I have made that old thing (which may have been a good thing) the object of my polemic teaching, maybe even railing against it with vigor, it is going to be very hard for God to get me to agree to this rebirth. Maybe even impossible. And that would be tragic. For it could be that God’s whole plan was to make something right that was wrong, not to set it aside eternally.

Now I am cautious to even speak (much less write down) an idea such as this because it can make room for the twisted idea that the death and the forsaking of the thing is somehow a quasi-death or a pseudo-death. I see this in today’s gospel a lot: I’ll do a little dyin’ and a little forsakin’ over here so that I can get over there. This is completely wrong.

The forsaking must be to the uttermost with NO HOPE OF EVER RETURNING (or even a wish to: ahh, those leeks and onions we had in Egypt). It is a leaving (one-way ticket to who-knows-where) and a cleaving only to him. And if you have forsaken utterly, God will know it. And if it is His plan to bring it back, He will let you know. But you should not go around looking for it. Because that means you haven’t really forsaken anything.

Something has to die for us to be made right with God. And God dictates the terms and conditions. Thank God He sent His Son and His Son gave His life so that, once and for all, that price was paid. For the born-again experience to be known in our lives, something (someone) else has to die, too. No man can serve two masters. First, bind the strong man. Then you can spoil his goods. Sorry for the mixed metaphor.

Oh, that I might know Him in His death AND in His resurrection. Lord, deliver us from a religion that does not have as its aim to take a man and see him pass from death unto life. Save us from a Christianity without metanoia, a Christianity without a complete change of mind and heart. Revive in us a religion that raises the dead, that injects and infects a man with God’s new life, that sparks a fire that spreads to all who come near, that rejects selfishness because it is replaced with an expusive, explosive, incendiary affection towards God.

Lord, save me from myself

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

I didn’t write this prayer. This is from the journal of a man I respect, Kevin at Strategic World Impact. But I find it to ring so beautifully in tune with my own heart that I share it here.

God save me from the love of myself.

God save me from the love of praise.

God save me from serving You so that I can be rewarded by men.

God save me from preaching what others should do while not doing it myself.

God save me from the hypocrisy and gossip that I often call prayer and intercession.

God save me from ministering in Your name but not calling on Your name every day.

God save me from doing work for You but not worshiping towards You.

God save me from talking about love for You but not taking time with You.

God save me from titles and entitlements.

God save me from pleasures that build the flesh but deny Your spirit.

God save me from serving You to be well thought of by others.

God save me from griping and complaining about simple things and then talking about sacrifice.

God save me from using the Bible to make my point so I can thereby prove that others are wrong.

God save me from being right all the time.

God save me from a sharp tongue and a backbiting spirit and passing it off as quick-wittedness.

God save me from pride in what I do instead of glorying in my weakness.

God save me from giving to others while always keeping the best for myself.

God save me from serving You and taking the glory and the rewards.

God save me from using You to further my ministry and my agenda.

God save me from praying only for myself, my work, my stuff, my life, my ministry.

God save me from preaching from my heart and not from Yours.

God save me from seeking the lost as a notch on my belt or a bragging point at church.

God save me from trying to be the most spiritual so that others around me can be put down.

God save me from the pecking order and using leadership as a place of advantage rather than service.

God save me from favoring people based upon what they can give or what they can bring to my life.

God save me from loving those who love me while casually passing by those who have offended me.

Kevin says, “One thing I’ve learned is that I don’t know everything. But if I’m willing to walk in humility and brokenness the bible tells us in Psalm 51 that this is a heart that God will not despise.”