CHRISTIANITY IS A WAY OF LIFE NOT A MOVEMENT

John 17: 20,21

I don’t want my way of life to become a movement.  It seems that when that happens something organic gets lost.  I see Jesus coming to earth and showing people first hand how to enter into a relationship with God, how to enjoy that relationship, and how to live one’s life as a fruit of that relationship.  That is what he wanted his disciples to pass on to others…a relationship.  “That they may all be one, just as you Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us.  So that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Movements become man centered very quickly.  Groups develop their Books of Discipline, Initiation requirements, methods of being accepted or not into the group, tapes of instruction, etc.   Then the hierarchy and leadership structure is built, usually by those empowered by charisma and certificates.  When all is up and going the unintended consequences and human problems begin.  “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain.”

Whatever God creates and builds succeeds as He would have them succeed, until what is to be accomplished is accomplished.  The tabernacle and temple ‘system’ was outlined very specifically by God, right down to what lamp went where.  This was the way he made being in His Presence a practice for His people.  As specific as it was it was only a foreshadow of what was to come.

God fulfilled His plan in His Son.  Jesus completed God’s plan when He died on the cross, reconciling the relationship between God and His people and making His Presence available to all who believe and receive it; He still does.

He is the Way, Truth, and Life in the Presence of God…He is the temple.

The Bible is an amazing book.  It shows the good, the bad, and the ugly.  It shows the success of God’s ways and the failures of man’s ways.  It shows the unintended consequences of doing things our own way instead of God’s.

In Revelation Jesus comes back to earth in a vision to John.  He commissions John to speak to the established churches, all of whom have failed.  The major points of failure were losing their first love and looking and listing to the wrong people.  As he did at the beginning of his ministry he called for them to Repent.  Humans need to learn from their history.  God’s kingdom, His House, is already built by Him.  It is too easy to fall into the two evils that were at the beginning.  “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

As it was in the beginning, God’s people will dwell with Him in a place of beauty, where all that is needed is provided, where the tree of life flourishes, the fountain of life flows freely, and those who choose to believe and receive will enjoy being in His Presence forever. 

Giving People What They Truly Need

“Even though princes sit plotting against me,

Your servant will meditate on Your statutes. 

Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.”

Psalm 119 23, 24

When the government came against the Christians of old, they did not rise up and revolt; they did not boycott; they did not stomp upon the flag or symbol of that government.  They turned to God and the Scriptures for solace and guidance.  They did not act in vengeance, anger, or hate because they trusted God even to the point of martyrdom. 

Jesus taught, “Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me”, Matthew 16:24.  This life in the flesh is transitory; life in the spirit is permanent.  That needs to be in our heart, mind, and soul continually.  Why is that not the message being proclaimed by the Churches today?  There is a lot of protesting and boycotting going on in support of human rights, but is anyone truly concerned about the spiritual orientation of people anymore?  Is there any concern for the souls of people, which is where the true needs are really located?

The concept of rights has been muddied through the years.  Where one was able to sit on a bus or eat in a restaurant is much different than one who is wandering around in the world trying to find fulfillment but is unaware that he or she has been created in the image of God, a God who has a design for each and every created life.  It doesn’t make sense to invoke God in matters that He is intentionally left out of or are contrary to His Word.  Protests and boycotts are not the work God had planned for His people. The work of God that men and women of God are to be doing is presenting the Gospel of God that offers reconciliation and a relationship with God through the work of Jesus.  That is the work that will heal and change lives.  That is the work that will change the culture.  That is the work that will change the world.

There are a lot of good people with a lot of good intentions.  But giving a temporary fix to the feeling of pain may, in the end, be more harmful to the person being helped.  Acting to heal the temporary symptom quickly can be harmful if we don’t get to the root of the problem.  The pain may go but the actual problem will never go away and eventually will grow worse.  So one needs to sit and think.  Is what being done the very best for the person in the long run?

The Bible tells a story that might be helpful in John 8.  The Pharisees drag a woman caught in the act of adultery, which is an unlawful act punishable by being stoned to death.  Jesus handled the situation perfectly, not only saving her life but in the end making her life better.

The story of this situation would have looked very different in our world today.  The Pharisees would have brought the woman who was caught in the act of adultery to Jesus’ disciples.  They would have surrounded her in compassion and said, “Don’t fear little lady.  We don’t want you to feel bad about yourself.  We’ll take care of these religious guys.”  Then they would have yelled at the Pharisees for bullying her and spoiling her fun, taking away her rights to be who she wanted to be and do what she wanted to do.  If the Pharisees didn’t change their ways and their laws the disciples would boycott the city of Jerusalem and at some point stone them for being mean.  Then they would gather together and rejoice with the woman and tell her to go back and be her authentic self and do what felt good to her.

The people who make up the Church are to be following Jesus and being conformed to Him in heart, mind, and soul.  Jesus loved this woman.  He saw beyond her faults and addressed the root of her need.  He looked at her with love and respect and told her he did not condemn her. Then He told her to go and sin no more.  He was thinking eternally, not temporarily; spiritually, not in the flesh.  That is the example the Churches should be following to make a real difference in the lives of people.  

He Understands Broken Things

It’s always good to talk to people who knew me a long time ago.  I listen to their stories of how much I influenced their lives and it humbles me and frightens me at the same time.  I am grateful that the influence was seen by them as a good thing because I know how truly messed up I was back in those early days.  I am grateful that in spite of my flaws the good parts came out in my interactions with others.  I attribute that to God’s Presence in my life long before I was aware of it.

Many events, circumstances, and people impacted my life in my growing up years.  Some of those impacts jolted me forward; some of them threw me backwards; some overcame me and left me down and out.  All of them followed me into my adult years and one after another had to be worked on and worked through to repair the damage done so that I could be healthy and whole.  I attribute that work to God’s Presence in my life as I walked through the shadows bringing them into the Light.

I used to curse the darkness of my past but as I worked through those things within me and met others along the way doing the same repair work, I began to see all those events, circumstances, and people are all part of the stuff that makes me who I am today. They all make up a compost pile, full of rotten things that make for good growth.  Rather than curse them I bless them and thank them for their lessons. 

I realized that even though those times, when my head was a mess, my heart had a certain purity about it.  I never wished harm on anyone other than myself.  Through those times when I hid in my inner corner ashamed and perplexed at myself, I was able to reach out and touch other people’s lives because I knew their pain and how to ease it.  I knew what they needed because I knew my needs deep within.  My brokenness gave me perspective to see beyond the faults because I knew first hand what was underneath those faults.  Again, I attribute that to God’s Presence working deep within me.

Jimmy Buffett says, “We’re all flawed individuals.  The cosmic baker took us fruitcakes out of the oven too soon.”  The Bible says, “We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  I appreciate the word ALL in both statements.  It ends my feeling of isolation and causes me to see that my personal story, while it is mine alone, is also a universal story, experienced and shared individually by others.  We all need to be redeemed, repaired, and restored to who God created us to be.  He sent His Son Jesus to earth to accomplish that mission of recovery.  He fully took on humanity and truly understands broken things and broken people.  As I work on my flaws of brokenness they become badges of honor to be exhibited and shared with a sense of thanksgiving and humility.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted

And saves the crushed in spirit.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the Lord delivers her out of them all.”

Psalm 34:18,19

We Reap What We Sow

“Prune Your Church

And help us to bear fruit

That reflects Your justice and peace.”

What does God’s justice and peace look like?

Wrongs are righted

What is broken is repaired

Not ignored

Not trashed

Discussed to create a solution

Not debated to choose a side

We can only reap what we have sown.

How did we get to Memphis?

How did we get from there to here?

When it became all about US

When we made greed our god

When we chose each our own

Way, Truth, and Life

When we demanded each our own

Rights and privileges.

We now bear the fruit of those choices

Injustice, violence, and destruction

We can only reap what we have sown

The fruit of rebellion

Will always be rebellion

We fiddle around issues trying to fix things

History keeps repeating itself

Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

The Image Is Not The Person

Matthew 25:31-40

I am to be an image bearer of God to the world; I am to reveal God’s attributes and characteristics; I am to be light and salt, to encourage others to “Come and see”.  But at no time do I become Christ or God to the world or to anyone.

Disciples of Jesus reveal Him, they never replace Him.  If that were the case He would not have promised to be with them as they went about being witnesses of all He said and did.  Anything that replaces God in the lives of people is idolatry; anyone who replaces God in the lives of people is an idolater.

Some manifestations of idolatry are obvious and clear; the golden calf, statutes of other gods, worship of mortal man and created creatures above the Creator.  Some manifestations of idolatry are less obvious and cross over a thin line of deception; the Bible, the church, those doing the works of God by ministering to others.  The thought that one ministering to the poor and needy is Christ to them is one of those over the thin line idolatries, and it is thought and heard frequently.

As I read the above Scripture I see that it is in the poor and needy that Jesus is hiding, not the other way around.  It is important not to cross that thin line over into idolatry, to think that I replace the One who is with me in the midst of ministering.  The image is just that; it is not the Person Himself, merely a reflection of His characteristics and attributes.

Let There Be Light

These are dark days.  It seems like the whole world is in chaos.  There is no place that violence doesn’t exist, either physical or verbal.  Rebellion and the cry for revolution run rampant through this country and the world all around us.  Everyone seems at odds with everybody else as people selfishly demand their rights and that their wrongs be excused, overlooked, or made legal.  As the old song goes, “Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong.”  These are dark days and they can be overwhelming.

It is easy to curse the darkness, to point figures of guilt and condemnation.  Somehow that only seems to be making things worse, adding to the darkness rather than dispelling it.  There is only one way to dispel darkness…

“Let there be Light!”

This dilemma is solved every single morning of every single day since the beginning of time.  Every morning the sun appears and the darkness yields and is silently overpowered by the light. No words, no battle, no violence…it simply yields and disappears into nowhere.

“In the beginning was the Word…In Him was life,

And the life was the light of the world.

The light shines in darkness,

And the darkness has not overcome it…

The True light enlightens everyone.”

John 1:1-9

Jesus is the light that transforms darkness, heals the body and soul of humanity, and reveals the God who created the world.  Jesus said to those who receive, believe, and follow Him, “You are the light of the world.”  It is that light, His light within us that needs to be revealed and reflected to everyone in the world.  It is that life and light that those who receive, believe, and follow Jesus are to witness to the world.  Light doesn’t judge, doesn’t condemn, and doesn’t battle the darkness.  It simply shines and released the power of God to transform someone or something into what it was created to be. 

Image Bearer

I am called to be an image bearer of God to the world.  Like all things created that bear witness to God’s eternal power and divine nature, I am to reveal these attributes and characteristics to the world.  Jesus calls me to be light and salt and MOST important, love.  This is not always easy in a world filled with hate, discord, violence, arrogance, and self centeredness.  But only love can touch and cure these things.

My struggle is being loving without compromising Truth.  The love the sinner, not the sin method seems superficial to me.  Condemnation hardly ever works and that is not what I am to be doing if I am following Jesus’ example.

Love brings one to healing, hope, and repentance.  It is what God did with me so I can I not do that unto others?  I desire to be a witness of God’s redemptive love; an instrument not a hindrance.  I desire to be a witness for God not an obstacle to His work in other people.  I need help with that because I often operate out of my perfectionist spirit.  I need to trust that God will help me do things right, in His Spirit.

Be A Witness Not A Hindrance

“When no bush of the field was yet in the land

And no small plant of the field had yet sprung up

For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land

And there was no man to work the ground.

Genesis 2:5

God created man to work the ground so that when He caused it to rain the seeds would grow.  Tilling the land is preparing the ground for the seeds.  Once they are planted and begin to grow they need to be tended and cared for until they mature and can be used as food.  Man simply tills and tends; he does not cause the growth.

Mastering and having dominion over means preparing and watching over, not lording over.  It is serving the growth that is caused by God; it is serving God by tilling the land, preparing it to receive the seed Gods gives to be planted.

The parable of the Sower explains what happens when the soil where the seed is scattered hasn’t been tilled or tended properly.  Seed will only grow properly in soil that has been tended properly.  Some of the soil was trodden down, packed down into a path.  Some of the soil was mixed with rocks.  Some of the soil was overgrown with thorns and thistles.  None of these soil conditions were able to grow the seeds sown.  Only the good soil received the seed and produced a crop.

Man’s purpose, my purpose is to till the soil that God created and tend to what grows from the seed sown in that soil.  That is my stewardship, service, and responsibility to God’s work.

The parable is speaking of the soil as the condition of one’s heart.  As a servant of God I am to watch over the soil of the heart; my own and the hearts of others.  It is my privilege as His servant to till the soil of hearts so that God’s seed, His Word, can be planted and grow to maturity.  What are ways to do that?

The hindrances to good soil are a trodden down, hard path, a rocky ground, and thorns overgrowing the ground.  They speak to a hard heart, a superficial heart that has no root, and a heart overtaken by the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.  These heart hindrances prevent me and others from going past hearing the Words of God and truly understanding the Words of God.  Understanding comes from trusting, knowledge, and believing in someone or something.  It means I get it and want to grow more in that understanding and bear fruit.  It is a process and it takes time.  But most importantly it is God’s Spirit working within me, working within us to produce what was planted.

Tilling the soil means creating sacred space.  It is important to be a witness and not a hindrance to God’s work within each heart.  As Francis would pray, “Make me an instrument” not a wall to what God is doing.

QUERIES:

What can I do to till the soil of my heart so that it will hear and understand

God’s Words?

What can I do for others to help them till the soil of their hearts so that they will want to hear and understand God’s Words?

Maranatha

These are days of embarrassment for me

Embarrassed to be an American

Embarrassed to be a part of the Church

Embarrassed because of how God is represented.

The image is tarnished

The view is distorted

The message is wrong

We have failed in our mission.

The Truth is hidden in deception

The Truth is hidden in distortion

The Truth is hidden in lies

The Truth is hidden but not dead.

Jesus came to a world such as this

He came as a light to the darkness

Jesus will come again to this world

He will come and dispel the darkness forever.

This will be a day of great joy and jubilation for me

Every knee in the world will bow to His name

Every part of His Church will bow to His name

God will be properly represented and will reign forever.

Maranatha Lord Jesus

Come quickly

If You Knew The Gift

John 4: 10

“If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you,

‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him

And he would have given you Living Water.”

It is my delight to be in Your Presence

It is my delight to know Your Law

It is my delight to bask in Your Word

It is my delight to love and obey Your Son.

I am continually in Your fountain of Living Water

I am continually refreshed and renewed by its flow

I am continually filled with joy and jubilation as it falls

I am continually filled with awe as I bask in Your Presence.

Behold what manner of love You have showered upon me.

Behold what manner of love You have showered upon all creation

Behold what manner of love resides in Your Son Jesus

Behold what manner of love in His work of reconciliation.

If you knew the gift of God you would delight in His Presence

If you knew the gift of God you would delight in His Law

If you knew the gift of God you would delight in His Word

If you knew the gift of God you would delight in His love.

Diversity In Unity

Wisdom 16:20-26

“You nourished Your people with food of angels

And furnished them bread from heaven

Ready to hand, untoiled for, endowed with

All delights and conforming to every taste,

Serving the desire of the one who received it,

Was changed to whatever flavor each one wished.”

As I live more and more intentionally in God’s Presence, that Presence penetrates my mind, heart, and soul.  We become one and my heart’s desires slowly become His desires; His plans my plans and therefore will be granted.  I find God to be a very personal God, not a one size fits all entity.  While people are basically all the same we are also all very different.

God feeds and nourishes each one according to who each one of us is.  Our conformity as humans is really conformity to our Source, not to one another.

Hence the paradox…diversity within our unity.  Until I examine each and every snowflake I will never appreciate that there are no two alike.  It is all a wonderful mystery to me; so different yet so alike.

One of the interesting facts of Story is that the personal becomes the universal.  That is why it is good to tell our personal story because we will not feel alone.  The personal becomes the universal but it never loses its uniqueness.  God is truly amazing in His creation.  I can stand alone and yet be one, together with people and with all things.

All I Need

As I grow older the words and ideas get fewer

My need grows stronger for simplicity

And weaker for complication.

I don’t find the need to analyze to comprehend

I don’t find the need to argue to compete

I simply need to experience and believe.

“In the beginning was the Word

And the Word was with God

And the Word was God.”

“Know that the Lord is God

He made us, not we ourselves;

We belong to Him, we are His people.”

Knowing and believing that is all I need

To know and believe.

All the rest is just commentary.

Back To Our Source

It was disturbing to me that this year Easter was celebrated weeks before Passover.  If any two holy days should be celebrated together it is these two.  They are the crux of Judaism and Christianity.  Without these foundational events neither religion can stand.  It is also the two events that join the two faiths together.  Christ is our Passover.

So much significance is lost in our secular world today.  The Source, the purpose of religion is all but forgotten.  There is no focus, no hub to center on.  Without a hub the wheel cannot function.  The spokes will go in every direction, eventually dislodging themselves from the wheel rim altogether, strewn all over the ground, useless.  The same happens with people.

Will the people who claim to believe in and follow God truly learn who God really is and who we really are in Him?  Will we as a people ever stop trying to make God in our image, claiming Him for our own desires?  Will we as a people ever see the majesty and glory of the God who loves us and submit to the life of Truth and beauty He created us to live?  In that submission comes a peace that passes all understanding.

The Information Highway...To Where?

I get frustrated when I read things about God that simply are not true.  There is a lot of misinformation out there that are causing folks to get the wrong ideas about God and end up making dreadful decisions that will affect them in this life and in the one to come.  The writers of the Bible, especially the New Testament, wrote a great deal about the end times being filled with false teachers and prophets.  They were right to issue those warnings.

No one said where the “Information Highway” was going to.  The knowledge just kept pouring out, filling the airwaves, the classrooms, the bookstores, and the internet with endless information on endless subjects.  Information filled with facts, opinions, interpretations, imaginations, and as Pete Seeger said, garbage, filling our minds at a rapid pace.

The “Information Highway” is entered and exited 24-7, jammed bumper to bumper, but no one is really clear or every asked where was it going to.  There are no Rest Stops on this highway, no place to pull off and think, much less ponder what was been driven through.  One cannot look at each wave because the tsunami coming from behind keeps one moving constantly to stay ahead of the deluge. What is new becomes obsolete; what is made becomes remade, bigger and better, over and over again. 

There is no time or space to slow down; therefore there is no ripening or maturing the information into wisdom.  There is no rest; therefore there is no contentment or satisfaction.  There is no peace in the journey.

The “Information Highway” disregards and bypasses the Way of Truth.  It leads to Chaos, one exit before Destruction.

The Experience That Changed Me Forever

On Palm Sunday 1973 I had an experience that changed my life forever.  For me it was a true Born Again moment.  Forty three years later I can still see and feel that experience as if it happened only a second ago.  I am always brought back to that moment no matter where I wander; in good years, bad years, prodigal years, desert years…God continually reminds me that I am His and He is mine.  When all is said and done in my life, it is the only thing that truly matters to me.

Presence without form

Communion without words

An encounter of inner transformation

Unseen to the human eye

But clearly felt by the heart and soul

And I was changed forever.

The Seed of Life within opened

The Scriptures came to life

The stories made perfect sense

They spoke to me

They moved me

And I knew they were true.

In that moment in time

I fell head over heels in love

With the Carpenter from Nazareth

Jesus…God’s only Son

Through it all that love has never changed

It only grows deeper, realer, and truer.

This Is My Father's World

God wants to be found.  The humans were the ones who hid themselves in the garden.  God wants to be found, discovered, known, and loved.  Nature silently screams of His character and His power.  He puts His Spirit within us to teach us His way, His Truth, and His life.  God wants to be found, as a treasure that I will sell all I have to get and keep.

Face to face encounters with Jesus transformed people.  His loving gaze freed folks from whatever entangled them.  “He looked beyond their faults and poured out love on their needs” (Brian McLaren).  He showed compassion and somehow that convicted and convinced folks to change without a word of condemnation.  The touch of love works inside out.

The world is a harsh place.  The enemy of God has been unleashed and is running around free to deceive and destroy all in his path.  He overcomes by fear even knowing that God’s love trumps fear.  But in the heat of the battle it is easy to forget who wins in the end.  God is always aware of human weakness and builds ways to remember Him and His ways. 

Rituals are ways to remember; feasts help so I don’t forget.  The earth and all that is in it is God’s.  No one really owns land or wealth, but are merely stewards of what belongs to God.  God is the source of all life.  The rituals and feasts, the weekly, seventh year, and fiftieth year times of Jubilee declare that Truth.

In God alone my soul rests.  He alone is my rock.  He alone is my hope, my salvation, and my fortress.  With all that is going on in the world today I am covered by His mercy and compassion.  My response to the chaos and confusion is “What is that to me?  I follow Jesus”.  “As for me, I walk with God”.  This alone is my security and sanity.  My ears tune out the ever present chatter of the world and remain continually alert to the simple call I have heard before…”Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden.  I will give you rest.”

God is in continual control of all things and of all repairs that need to be made to this broken world.

“Though the earth and all who dwell in it may rock,

It is I who set firm its pillars.”

Psalm 75

God is in continual control of all things, not me.  My responsibility is to communicate the Life that God gives, the Love that God has for His creation, and the Seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that will transform the world.