From James Houston's book, "Prayer: the transforming friendship":
Leo Tolstoy, the Russian novelist, once told the story of two brothers who met for a weekend after a long time apart. On the first night, the older brother was fascinated to see that his younger brother knelt and prayed by his bedside. 'Huh, you still do that?' he said. The younger brother did not reply, but from that time he never prayed again.
Tolstoy remarked:
'This is not because he knows his brother's convictions and has joined him in them, nor because he has decided anything in his own soul, but simply because the word spoken by his brother was like the push of a finger on a wall that was ready to fall by its own weight.'"
Oh, Watcher on the Wall, how solid are your foundations?
Monday, January 30, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
my Father's house
Reading John 2:12-25 (The Cleansing of the Temple)
"Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
With this story John continues to lay out his themes for the rest of the gospel. The story points to the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, addresses the question of his authority, links him to Old Testament Scriptures, presents him as the watershed between belief and unbelief, illustrates the religious stagnation that had infected the Temple worship, and foreshadows his death, burial, and resurrection while presenting him as the true Temple of God.
Why was Jesus so angry about what was going on in the Temple courts? The animals that were being sold were to be used for the prescribed ritual sacrifices. The money changers were there to ensure that the Temple tax could be paid in the proper currency. I think that the reason for the cleansing goes beyond the suggestion that these merchants were overcharging for their services. I believe that Jesus would have cleansed the Temple courts even if they had been conducting this business at cost or as a non-profit service. The Temple and its courts were to be a place for worship and prayer alone. All preparations were to be made outside the gates and the worshippers were to take nothing in but their own readiness to present themselves to God.
Jesus' disciples remembered "that it is written:'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" We are the new Temple of God. We are that Temple both individually and collectively. In his zeal for God's house what would Jesus overturn and chase out of the Temple courts of our lives? There is a space that should not be cluttered, even with the accompaniments of our religious faith, and into which we are to bring only ourselves. Yet so often every space in our lives is filled with "things," religious and otherwise. Is there a time and place in my life that represents the Temple and it's courts, where nothing enters but my prepared heart and the sacrifices that I bring to God? Have I allowed that place to become slowly filled with clutter and activity? Take a look at the geography of your life today. Find the temple courts and look honestly at what has been going on there.
"Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
With this story John continues to lay out his themes for the rest of the gospel. The story points to the identity of Jesus as the Messiah, addresses the question of his authority, links him to Old Testament Scriptures, presents him as the watershed between belief and unbelief, illustrates the religious stagnation that had infected the Temple worship, and foreshadows his death, burial, and resurrection while presenting him as the true Temple of God.
Why was Jesus so angry about what was going on in the Temple courts? The animals that were being sold were to be used for the prescribed ritual sacrifices. The money changers were there to ensure that the Temple tax could be paid in the proper currency. I think that the reason for the cleansing goes beyond the suggestion that these merchants were overcharging for their services. I believe that Jesus would have cleansed the Temple courts even if they had been conducting this business at cost or as a non-profit service. The Temple and its courts were to be a place for worship and prayer alone. All preparations were to be made outside the gates and the worshippers were to take nothing in but their own readiness to present themselves to God.
Jesus' disciples remembered "that it is written:'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" We are the new Temple of God. We are that Temple both individually and collectively. In his zeal for God's house what would Jesus overturn and chase out of the Temple courts of our lives? There is a space that should not be cluttered, even with the accompaniments of our religious faith, and into which we are to bring only ourselves. Yet so often every space in our lives is filled with "things," religious and otherwise. Is there a time and place in my life that represents the Temple and it's courts, where nothing enters but my prepared heart and the sacrifices that I bring to God? Have I allowed that place to become slowly filled with clutter and activity? Take a look at the geography of your life today. Find the temple courts and look honestly at what has been going on there.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
"The one who comes from above is above all..."
Reading John 3:31-36
"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
This is John the Baptist's testimony concerning Jesus. John met Jesus as a man, as he met every other human being that came to him to be baptized. There is no human explanation for how John saw Jesus as distinct from everyone else that had ever lived. Nothing short of an aboslute and clear revelation from heaven could have given him the perspective that he shares here.
John begins by contrasting Jesus with himself. This is a good starting point because John was accepted as a great prophet by the people. As many as two million people came to him to be baptized. John was the central figure of the greatest revival that Israel had ever seen. John is referred to as the greatest of all the prophets. So to start by comparing Jesus to himself was to take a very high point of comparison. John does not simply say that Jesus is an even greater prophet than he is. John tells us that the origin of Jesus, the roots of Jesus being, are located in a radically different place than his own. John is a man, a great man, an influential man, God's man, but JUST a man, he is "from the earth" and "belongs to the earth." Jesus, on the other hand, is also a man, but not JUST a man. Jesus is "the one who comes from above," "the one who comes from heaven." This removes Jesus from the lists of the "one hundred greatest people that ever lived" category, and places him in a category of his own, a category that John repeats twice for emphasis. Jesus is "above all."
Everyone else "belongs to the earth." Jesus belongs to heaven.
Everyone else "speaks as one from the earth." Jesus speaks as someone from another place.
Everyone else speaks what they have received second hand. Jesus "testifies to what he has seen and heard."
Everyone else speaks words from God. Jesus "speaks the words of God."
Everyone else has a given measure of the Spirit. Jesus has "the Spirit without limit."
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands."
The fate of every human being that has ever lived and that ever will live turns on whether they accept or reject Jesus. "Whoever rejects the Son will not see life."
This is the Jesus that you can talk to today. The Father has placed everything you could ever need in his hands. The same hands that received the nails because of our sin, now offer us everything. He has forgiven and has paid the full price for all of our sin. John knew that there was no one else like him. Do you?
"The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."
This is John the Baptist's testimony concerning Jesus. John met Jesus as a man, as he met every other human being that came to him to be baptized. There is no human explanation for how John saw Jesus as distinct from everyone else that had ever lived. Nothing short of an aboslute and clear revelation from heaven could have given him the perspective that he shares here.
John begins by contrasting Jesus with himself. This is a good starting point because John was accepted as a great prophet by the people. As many as two million people came to him to be baptized. John was the central figure of the greatest revival that Israel had ever seen. John is referred to as the greatest of all the prophets. So to start by comparing Jesus to himself was to take a very high point of comparison. John does not simply say that Jesus is an even greater prophet than he is. John tells us that the origin of Jesus, the roots of Jesus being, are located in a radically different place than his own. John is a man, a great man, an influential man, God's man, but JUST a man, he is "from the earth" and "belongs to the earth." Jesus, on the other hand, is also a man, but not JUST a man. Jesus is "the one who comes from above," "the one who comes from heaven." This removes Jesus from the lists of the "one hundred greatest people that ever lived" category, and places him in a category of his own, a category that John repeats twice for emphasis. Jesus is "above all."
Everyone else "belongs to the earth." Jesus belongs to heaven.
Everyone else "speaks as one from the earth." Jesus speaks as someone from another place.
Everyone else speaks what they have received second hand. Jesus "testifies to what he has seen and heard."
Everyone else speaks words from God. Jesus "speaks the words of God."
Everyone else has a given measure of the Spirit. Jesus has "the Spirit without limit."
"The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands."
The fate of every human being that has ever lived and that ever will live turns on whether they accept or reject Jesus. "Whoever rejects the Son will not see life."
This is the Jesus that you can talk to today. The Father has placed everything you could ever need in his hands. The same hands that received the nails because of our sin, now offer us everything. He has forgiven and has paid the full price for all of our sin. John knew that there was no one else like him. Do you?
Friday, January 20, 2006
"What does it profit a man...?"
Reading Mark 8:36
"What good is it (does it profit a man) for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit (lose) his soul?"
Its all here: profit, gain, and loss. Yes, thats pretty much everything in a material world.
The North American church is well on its way to "gaining the whole world." Congratulations on a very successful enterprise! The person in the pew, however, seems well on the way to "losing her own soul." The Christians that I know have never been hungrier for spiritual things, have never been more discontent, have never questioned the usefulness of the church, as much as they do now. Very little of what is being done is being done for "the soul." The church has never been busier, while the souls of its members atrophy and waste away.
The church hears this warning of Jesus as a word against the worldly person but it is not. It is a warning to the religious, who build efficient organizations and put up beautiful structures, and raise large sums of money, and get headlines in the newspapers, and get listed as the "fifty most influential...", and can even find their faces on the cover of Time magazine. These things are irrelevant to me, they are incidentals. The purpose of Jesus' condemnation was not to set himself against material things or organizational progress. The purpose of Jesus was to warn that the incidentals can easily become the whole heart and soul of our lives. What is happening to the Christian soul in the midst of all of this?
You have a nice church, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have programs for every age group and interest, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have more money than ever, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have a prime location for your facilities, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You can draw more people than the church down the street, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You can influence the outcome of an election, but "what does it profit a man...?"
Have you pinched the sheep lately? Do you know if under all that wool they are tired, weak, discouraged, empty, malnourished? Have the disciplines of the spiritual life all but dried up amongst the members of the church? Do you know that the leadership of the church must someday "give an account" (Hebrews 13:17) for the "souls" of its people?
"What good is it (does it profit a man) for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit (lose) his soul?"
Its all here: profit, gain, and loss. Yes, thats pretty much everything in a material world.
The North American church is well on its way to "gaining the whole world." Congratulations on a very successful enterprise! The person in the pew, however, seems well on the way to "losing her own soul." The Christians that I know have never been hungrier for spiritual things, have never been more discontent, have never questioned the usefulness of the church, as much as they do now. Very little of what is being done is being done for "the soul." The church has never been busier, while the souls of its members atrophy and waste away.
The church hears this warning of Jesus as a word against the worldly person but it is not. It is a warning to the religious, who build efficient organizations and put up beautiful structures, and raise large sums of money, and get headlines in the newspapers, and get listed as the "fifty most influential...", and can even find their faces on the cover of Time magazine. These things are irrelevant to me, they are incidentals. The purpose of Jesus' condemnation was not to set himself against material things or organizational progress. The purpose of Jesus was to warn that the incidentals can easily become the whole heart and soul of our lives. What is happening to the Christian soul in the midst of all of this?
You have a nice church, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have programs for every age group and interest, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have more money than ever, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You have a prime location for your facilities, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You can draw more people than the church down the street, but "what does it profit a man...?"
You can influence the outcome of an election, but "what does it profit a man...?"
Have you pinched the sheep lately? Do you know if under all that wool they are tired, weak, discouraged, empty, malnourished? Have the disciplines of the spiritual life all but dried up amongst the members of the church? Do you know that the leadership of the church must someday "give an account" (Hebrews 13:17) for the "souls" of its people?
Sunday, January 15, 2006
"the wind blows wherever it pleases..."
Reading John 3:6-8
"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit...The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The flesh, the physical in general and the sinful in particular, is subject to a certain kind of explanation. There is a certain logic to what the natural man does. The way of the flesh makes sense to the flesh, is defensable by the flesh. The Spirit, on the other hand, is confusing to the flesh: "It blows wherever it pleases..." It does not allow the flesh to set its own course anymore. This is one of the reasons that the Spiritual life is so difficult. The call to live it comes from beyond everything that we have understood, everything that we are familiar with. This is why so many of the things that Jesus spoke strike us as being unrealistically radical. We are dumbfounded by them. We view them as optional or at least as accesible only to "saints." We take these sayings with a grain of salt, as Spiritual hyperbole, as literary exageration to have a certain disorienting effect on us. What we don't do is take them seriously, as if they were really intended to be applied to our day to day life.
However, should the church begin to follow the Spirit and live by his logic then it becomes a spectacle, a novelty, something to take notice of. This is what is intended by:
1. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
2. "If we are out of our mind it is for the sake of God" II Cor. 5:13
3. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." I Cor. 2:14
4. "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" I Cor. 1:20
5. "For we are to God the aroma of Christ (we have the smell of something from another world) among those who are being saved and those who are perishing: to the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life...AND WHO IS EQUAL TO SUCH A TASK?"
II Cor. 15-16
Here is the recognition that it is not a human task, at least not a task for the flesh. Are our lives explainable entirely on the basis of the flesh? Is there any smell of the other world on us?
"Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit...The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
The flesh, the physical in general and the sinful in particular, is subject to a certain kind of explanation. There is a certain logic to what the natural man does. The way of the flesh makes sense to the flesh, is defensable by the flesh. The Spirit, on the other hand, is confusing to the flesh: "It blows wherever it pleases..." It does not allow the flesh to set its own course anymore. This is one of the reasons that the Spiritual life is so difficult. The call to live it comes from beyond everything that we have understood, everything that we are familiar with. This is why so many of the things that Jesus spoke strike us as being unrealistically radical. We are dumbfounded by them. We view them as optional or at least as accesible only to "saints." We take these sayings with a grain of salt, as Spiritual hyperbole, as literary exageration to have a certain disorienting effect on us. What we don't do is take them seriously, as if they were really intended to be applied to our day to day life.
However, should the church begin to follow the Spirit and live by his logic then it becomes a spectacle, a novelty, something to take notice of. This is what is intended by:
1. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
2. "If we are out of our mind it is for the sake of God" II Cor. 5:13
3. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." I Cor. 2:14
4. "Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?" I Cor. 1:20
5. "For we are to God the aroma of Christ (we have the smell of something from another world) among those who are being saved and those who are perishing: to the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life...AND WHO IS EQUAL TO SUCH A TASK?"
II Cor. 15-16
Here is the recognition that it is not a human task, at least not a task for the flesh. Are our lives explainable entirely on the basis of the flesh? Is there any smell of the other world on us?
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
A horrifying truth
I have discovered a horrifying truth. Stated simply, it is this: If I do not love my enemy I cannot love anyone.
I have learned this the hard way. I have learned it through pain and hurt, received and inflicted. Have you ever wondered why Jesus would force on us such a radically counter-intuitive demand as this: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Mat. 5:44), "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you..." (Luke 6:37-28), "love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back..." (Luke 6:35)?
Jesus understood that all of my love is at risk if I refuse to love (defined as praying for, doing good to, lending to, etc...) my enemy. I am genuinely horrified at this realization. I have good reason to be. There are things we will never understand about ourselves, about God, about the people around us until we can stand before our enemy with love and compassion.
This is not an option reserved for saints. We cannot afford to wait until we achieve sainthood to test the waters on this. There have been few insights that have shaken me as much as this one has.
I have learned this the hard way. I have learned it through pain and hurt, received and inflicted. Have you ever wondered why Jesus would force on us such a radically counter-intuitive demand as this: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." (Mat. 5:44), "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you..." (Luke 6:37-28), "love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back..." (Luke 6:35)?
Jesus understood that all of my love is at risk if I refuse to love (defined as praying for, doing good to, lending to, etc...) my enemy. I am genuinely horrified at this realization. I have good reason to be. There are things we will never understand about ourselves, about God, about the people around us until we can stand before our enemy with love and compassion.
This is not an option reserved for saints. We cannot afford to wait until we achieve sainthood to test the waters on this. There have been few insights that have shaken me as much as this one has.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
"Can anything good come from there?"
Reading John 1:43-46
"Philip found Nathanael and told him, 'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' 'Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?' Nathanael asked."
Prejudice (pre-judgement) can blind us to so many good things. Nathanael didn't need to meet Jesus to know that he could not be a source of good. Nathanael knew the town where Jesus grew up and what could be expected from a start like that. Luckily Nathanael was introduced to Jesus and was able to see past his prejudice to the person who stood before him. The point, however, is that he nearly missed God because he had a pre-conceived idea about the way in which God should show himself. How many times do we miss God because we think we know how God would speak, act, react in some particular circumstance?
Jesus was conceived before Mary and Joseph were married. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus "came eating and drinking, and they say, 'here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners.'" Can anything good come from that?
Jesus had no job, home, or family, and accumulated no material possessions. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus broke the Jewish sabbath laws time after time and offended the leaders of his own religious upbringing. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus shamed religious leaders but forgave a woman who was caught in the act of cheating on her husband. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus lived only thirty three years, his ministry lasted only about three years, and he was executed before he had a chance to create any kind of organizational structure to his movement. Can anything good come from that?
Jonah had the same problem with God. God wanted to show kindness to Israel's worst enemy and spare them from destruction. Could anything good come from that?
Elijah had the same problem with God. God had allowed the forces of evil to grow so strong that Elijah thought he was the only one who was left who had been faithful to God. Elijah was reduced to the point of despair and suicide. Can anything good come from that?
Eve had the same problem with God. Here was all this wonderful fruit that was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom..." Yet God was withholding this treasure from her. Could anything good come from that?
Saul had the same problem with God. All those wonderful possessions that they had captured in battle could surely be used for some good purpose. Yet God had ordered them all destroyed. Could anything good come from that?
I have the same problem with God. His ways are just not my ways and his thoughts are just not my thoughts. God has allowed so much evil in the world. Can anything good come from that? God has taken me through so many dark places. Can anything good come from that? God has allowed people that I love to be hurt or to hurt themselves through so many foolish choices. Can anthing good come from that?
I know better than God what would be good for me. I'll just go my own way and do what I think is best. But can anything good come from that?
For those who walked with Jesus and trusted him through his life, death, burial, and into his resurrection: everything good came from that!
"Philip found Nathanael and told him, 'We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote - Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' 'Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?' Nathanael asked."
Prejudice (pre-judgement) can blind us to so many good things. Nathanael didn't need to meet Jesus to know that he could not be a source of good. Nathanael knew the town where Jesus grew up and what could be expected from a start like that. Luckily Nathanael was introduced to Jesus and was able to see past his prejudice to the person who stood before him. The point, however, is that he nearly missed God because he had a pre-conceived idea about the way in which God should show himself. How many times do we miss God because we think we know how God would speak, act, react in some particular circumstance?
Jesus was conceived before Mary and Joseph were married. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus "came eating and drinking, and they say, 'here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and 'sinners.'" Can anything good come from that?
Jesus had no job, home, or family, and accumulated no material possessions. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus broke the Jewish sabbath laws time after time and offended the leaders of his own religious upbringing. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus shamed religious leaders but forgave a woman who was caught in the act of cheating on her husband. Can anything good come from that?
Jesus lived only thirty three years, his ministry lasted only about three years, and he was executed before he had a chance to create any kind of organizational structure to his movement. Can anything good come from that?
Jonah had the same problem with God. God wanted to show kindness to Israel's worst enemy and spare them from destruction. Could anything good come from that?
Elijah had the same problem with God. God had allowed the forces of evil to grow so strong that Elijah thought he was the only one who was left who had been faithful to God. Elijah was reduced to the point of despair and suicide. Can anything good come from that?
Eve had the same problem with God. Here was all this wonderful fruit that was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom..." Yet God was withholding this treasure from her. Could anything good come from that?
Saul had the same problem with God. All those wonderful possessions that they had captured in battle could surely be used for some good purpose. Yet God had ordered them all destroyed. Could anything good come from that?
I have the same problem with God. His ways are just not my ways and his thoughts are just not my thoughts. God has allowed so much evil in the world. Can anything good come from that? God has taken me through so many dark places. Can anything good come from that? God has allowed people that I love to be hurt or to hurt themselves through so many foolish choices. Can anthing good come from that?
I know better than God what would be good for me. I'll just go my own way and do what I think is best. But can anything good come from that?
For those who walked with Jesus and trusted him through his life, death, burial, and into his resurrection: everything good came from that!
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Pat Robertson
"Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for dividing God's land." (Sonja Barisic, Associated Press)
Is there no one close enough to Pat Robertson to share the gospel with him? This man needs Christ.
Is there no one close enough to Pat Robertson to share the gospel with him? This man needs Christ.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Follow me
Reading John 1:43
"Follow me"
A call to follow is both a call to embrace something new and to release or leave behind something old. The more radical the call, the more deeply felt the gains and losses will be. I have never found the call of Jesus to be comfortable or to feel safe. It is a call away from all that is familiar and reasonable.
I can love people who love me. I just can't feel comfortable with loving my enemy, with blessing those who curse me and doing good to those who despitefully use me and persecute me. I saw what happened to Martin Luther King. It just doesn't seem fair. Being a Christian offends my sense of justice. To love my enemy, I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
I can forgive people who hurt me, within reason and up to a certain limit. I just can't keep forgiving them over and over again. You have to keep some kind of accounting of wrongs done, after which you call down fire from heaven. After all, many of my favorite movies are based on the revenge theme. It feels good to finally have a day of reckoning. To give up that "right," I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
I can extend myself to help others, if I have the time and it doesn't conflict with my plans. My right to myself and to all that I own is not something that I can just let slip away. To "consider others better than myself," to "take the very nature of a servant," this is going way too far. I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
Believe me, the list goes on and on.
How could Jesus just walk up to me, in the midst of my comfortable life and say: "follow me?"
What am I to do?
I learned quickly how to be a good Baptist but how can I learn to be a good Christian? You say, "follow me," but how can I possibly keep up to you? Perhaps, after starting with good intention, I've lost sight of you already. Help me to "follow hard after you."
"Follow me"
A call to follow is both a call to embrace something new and to release or leave behind something old. The more radical the call, the more deeply felt the gains and losses will be. I have never found the call of Jesus to be comfortable or to feel safe. It is a call away from all that is familiar and reasonable.
I can love people who love me. I just can't feel comfortable with loving my enemy, with blessing those who curse me and doing good to those who despitefully use me and persecute me. I saw what happened to Martin Luther King. It just doesn't seem fair. Being a Christian offends my sense of justice. To love my enemy, I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
I can forgive people who hurt me, within reason and up to a certain limit. I just can't keep forgiving them over and over again. You have to keep some kind of accounting of wrongs done, after which you call down fire from heaven. After all, many of my favorite movies are based on the revenge theme. It feels good to finally have a day of reckoning. To give up that "right," I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
I can extend myself to help others, if I have the time and it doesn't conflict with my plans. My right to myself and to all that I own is not something that I can just let slip away. To "consider others better than myself," to "take the very nature of a servant," this is going way too far. I just can't follow that.
(But if I don't follow will I ever find out who God is? If I don't follow won't God always seem as boring and shallow as myself? I don't need God to help me be like me but I sure need him to help me be like him.)
Believe me, the list goes on and on.
How could Jesus just walk up to me, in the midst of my comfortable life and say: "follow me?"
What am I to do?
I learned quickly how to be a good Baptist but how can I learn to be a good Christian? You say, "follow me," but how can I possibly keep up to you? Perhaps, after starting with good intention, I've lost sight of you already. Help me to "follow hard after you."
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
What do you want?
Are you a follower of Jesus? What are you following him for? What do you want from him? After John had baptized Jesus he saw Jesus passing by the next day and pointed him out, saying, "Look, the Lamb of God!" At this point two of John's followers left him to follow Jesus. Jesus, aware that they were following, turned around and asked them: "What do you want?" (John 1:38).
What makes a person want to follow Jesus? What makes a person leave what was previously important to him and take after this very unusual man? These two people had been a part of the revival movement that John had instituted and yet at the sight of Jesus they were prepared to leave John and start over with Jesus. How do they answer Jesus' question? They respond by asking him where he is staying. They cannot articulate their reasons. Does this make them irrational and unstable? I don't think so. I think that they have sensed something about the uniqueness of the person of Jesus. They are not now following any program, revolution, philosophy, political pathway, or specific teaching. Jesus himself is the attraction and they want to know where he is staying because they want to be with him. This is fundamentally what it is to have an encounter with God. We come under the influence of his person, his authority, his greatness, his way with people, his immense love and his undeniable intention to be with us (Immanuel). Throughout the gospel story we learn much of what it means to follow Jesus but the draw of Jesus is nothing less than the weight of his personality. Here is a most remarkable person who invites us to "Come...and see" (John 1:39).
What makes a person want to follow Jesus? What makes a person leave what was previously important to him and take after this very unusual man? These two people had been a part of the revival movement that John had instituted and yet at the sight of Jesus they were prepared to leave John and start over with Jesus. How do they answer Jesus' question? They respond by asking him where he is staying. They cannot articulate their reasons. Does this make them irrational and unstable? I don't think so. I think that they have sensed something about the uniqueness of the person of Jesus. They are not now following any program, revolution, philosophy, political pathway, or specific teaching. Jesus himself is the attraction and they want to know where he is staying because they want to be with him. This is fundamentally what it is to have an encounter with God. We come under the influence of his person, his authority, his greatness, his way with people, his immense love and his undeniable intention to be with us (Immanuel). Throughout the gospel story we learn much of what it means to follow Jesus but the draw of Jesus is nothing less than the weight of his personality. Here is a most remarkable person who invites us to "Come...and see" (John 1:39).
Sunday, January 01, 2006
"grace and truth...through Jesus Christ"
Reading John 1:17
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
John continues to draw out the contrasting themes that he will develop throughout his gospel. The contrast here is between law and grace. On this reading of the text the thing that stood out to me most forcefully was the contrast between law and truth. The law and grace comparison seems more intuitively easy to make. In what way, however, are law and truth set over against each other?
Truth is a subject of considerable interest to John. John uses the word as many times in his gospel and letters as Paul does in all of his 13 letters combined. John's is the only Gospel that records Pilate's question: "What is truth?".
From the verse we are thinking about it is clear that truth is something other than, even over against, law, and truth is something other than, even alongside of, grace. Truth is something particularly New Testament, something particularly associated with the coming of Jesus, something located in the era of the Spirit.
In John chapter three we find Jesus in conversation with Nicodemus, a "teacher of the law." Jesus says to Nicodemus three times: "I tell you the truth." Jesus says to Nicodemus "you are Israel's teacher...and do not understand..." (v10). Nicodemus has the law but doesn't have the truth. Jesus comes to him three times with this concept. The law tells us right from wrong but does not tell us the truth (in this special sense). Truth appears to be a bigger or fuller category than law. Truth is a corrective to Nicodemus' understanding of the law. Truth is a deeper principle than just "right and wrong." Truth is not in opposition to the law but it understands what the law does not. It is possible to understand exactly what the law says (as Nicodemus does) and yet to know nothing of the truth (as Jesus shows is the case with Nicodemus). The law says: "sin and die,"; the truth says: "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world."
It is easy for the Christian to become more like Nicodemus than like Jesus. Truth is not about knowing right and wrong (which the law graciously and wisely teaches us). Truth is about the more powerful law that Jesus came to institute: "because the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The law reveals sin, bondage, and condemnation. The truth shows the way to righteousness, freedom, and forgiveness. Jesus shows Nicodemus that his greatest need cannot be met by the law. The law leaves a person in a very uncomfortable position. We have to get past our fixation with right and wrong. This will only lead us to resentments, self-righteousness, self-condemnation, and more bondage to sin.
Do I think that truth is telling people that what they are doing is right or wrong? Do I think that truth is afflicting myself with my sin, guilt and shame? John puts truth on the side of grace and freedom and reveals it as the answer to problems raised in our lives by the law. This is why Jesus says: "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." He never says that the law can do anything like that for us.
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."
John continues to draw out the contrasting themes that he will develop throughout his gospel. The contrast here is between law and grace. On this reading of the text the thing that stood out to me most forcefully was the contrast between law and truth. The law and grace comparison seems more intuitively easy to make. In what way, however, are law and truth set over against each other?
Truth is a subject of considerable interest to John. John uses the word as many times in his gospel and letters as Paul does in all of his 13 letters combined. John's is the only Gospel that records Pilate's question: "What is truth?".
From the verse we are thinking about it is clear that truth is something other than, even over against, law, and truth is something other than, even alongside of, grace. Truth is something particularly New Testament, something particularly associated with the coming of Jesus, something located in the era of the Spirit.
In John chapter three we find Jesus in conversation with Nicodemus, a "teacher of the law." Jesus says to Nicodemus three times: "I tell you the truth." Jesus says to Nicodemus "you are Israel's teacher...and do not understand..." (v10). Nicodemus has the law but doesn't have the truth. Jesus comes to him three times with this concept. The law tells us right from wrong but does not tell us the truth (in this special sense). Truth appears to be a bigger or fuller category than law. Truth is a corrective to Nicodemus' understanding of the law. Truth is a deeper principle than just "right and wrong." Truth is not in opposition to the law but it understands what the law does not. It is possible to understand exactly what the law says (as Nicodemus does) and yet to know nothing of the truth (as Jesus shows is the case with Nicodemus). The law says: "sin and die,"; the truth says: "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world."
It is easy for the Christian to become more like Nicodemus than like Jesus. Truth is not about knowing right and wrong (which the law graciously and wisely teaches us). Truth is about the more powerful law that Jesus came to institute: "because the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The law reveals sin, bondage, and condemnation. The truth shows the way to righteousness, freedom, and forgiveness. Jesus shows Nicodemus that his greatest need cannot be met by the law. The law leaves a person in a very uncomfortable position. We have to get past our fixation with right and wrong. This will only lead us to resentments, self-righteousness, self-condemnation, and more bondage to sin.
Do I think that truth is telling people that what they are doing is right or wrong? Do I think that truth is afflicting myself with my sin, guilt and shame? John puts truth on the side of grace and freedom and reveals it as the answer to problems raised in our lives by the law. This is why Jesus says: "you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." He never says that the law can do anything like that for us.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
"He has surpassed me..."
Reading John 1:15
"John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"
It is no small thing to be able to look at another and honestly say 'he is a better man than I am.' We are naturally egocentric and believe in our own superiority. The person who comes to Jesus is forced to admit this or be doomed to projecting his own image onto Jesus. If I am not absolutely clear about the fact that Jesus 'has surpassed me' then I will use my relationship with Jesus to affirm and reinforce my own sin. Even my repentance will only be a reflection of my own desire to minimize and to let myself off the hook. I will be able to use Jesus to forgive myself and to condemn others. I will have baptized my self-righteousness.
If I can accept that Jesus is the better man, if, with John, I can say 'I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals' (1:27), then I am positioned to hear the whole truth about myself and then real change is possible. This is the definition of Christian humility. The presence of this humility is tested for every time I am criticized. An immediate defensive reaction is a warning sign that something is amiss in my relationship with Jesus. Even if I think the criticism is not justified there should be something in me that says: 'they don't know the half of it, the don't know my secret sins, my thoughts, my neglected duties, they don't know my coldness, my lack of love, my wanderings, my betrayals of Jesus and his priorities...'. The presence of this humility is tested for every time I criticize someone else, every time I think that someone else's sin is worse than my own, someone else's rejection of Jesus is worse than my rejection of him, someone else's neglect is worse than my neglect, someone else's rebellion is worse than my rebellion.
The one thing that stands out about John the Baptist, more than anything else, is his humility with respect to Jesus:
"He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me." (v15, 30)
"I am not the Christ" (v20)
"I am not Elijah" (v21)
"I am not the Prophet" (v21)
"I am the voice of one calling in the desert" (v23)
"I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals" (v27)
"He must increase but I must decrease" (3:30)
You will be a better man when you recognize that Jesus is the better man.
"John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying 'This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"
It is no small thing to be able to look at another and honestly say 'he is a better man than I am.' We are naturally egocentric and believe in our own superiority. The person who comes to Jesus is forced to admit this or be doomed to projecting his own image onto Jesus. If I am not absolutely clear about the fact that Jesus 'has surpassed me' then I will use my relationship with Jesus to affirm and reinforce my own sin. Even my repentance will only be a reflection of my own desire to minimize and to let myself off the hook. I will be able to use Jesus to forgive myself and to condemn others. I will have baptized my self-righteousness.
If I can accept that Jesus is the better man, if, with John, I can say 'I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals' (1:27), then I am positioned to hear the whole truth about myself and then real change is possible. This is the definition of Christian humility. The presence of this humility is tested for every time I am criticized. An immediate defensive reaction is a warning sign that something is amiss in my relationship with Jesus. Even if I think the criticism is not justified there should be something in me that says: 'they don't know the half of it, the don't know my secret sins, my thoughts, my neglected duties, they don't know my coldness, my lack of love, my wanderings, my betrayals of Jesus and his priorities...'. The presence of this humility is tested for every time I criticize someone else, every time I think that someone else's sin is worse than my own, someone else's rejection of Jesus is worse than my rejection of him, someone else's neglect is worse than my neglect, someone else's rebellion is worse than my rebellion.
The one thing that stands out about John the Baptist, more than anything else, is his humility with respect to Jesus:
"He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me." (v15, 30)
"I am not the Christ" (v20)
"I am not Elijah" (v21)
"I am not the Prophet" (v21)
"I am the voice of one calling in the desert" (v23)
"I am not worthy to untie the thongs of his sandals" (v27)
"He must increase but I must decrease" (3:30)
You will be a better man when you recognize that Jesus is the better man.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
"The word became flesh..."
Reading John 1:14
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
If a picture is worth a thousand words what do you have when the perfect Word ("the Word was God," John 1:1) becomes the perfect picture ("the exact representation of his being," Heb. 1:3)? Where do we even begin with the interpretation when Word and Picture of the eternal God is perfectly fused with temporal humanity ("became flesh")? John uses images of life and light and glory to try to convey some of the impact of this unprecedented event. Jesus is the closest we can ever come to understanding the One whose "thoughts are not our thoughts" and whose "ways are not our ways" (Isaiah 55). Jesus is the closest we will ever come to seeing the one who lives in "unapproachable glory." Looking at Jesus and seeing God is like looking at the night sky and seeing the heavens. We can see enough to feel completely overwhelmed but realize that we are only seeing the outer fringes of his being. Jesus does not fully remove the mystery of God, does not make God familiar. On any consideration the incarnation of God presents us with something not fully understandable. The incarnation is problematic, like Moses' bush that burned with fire but was not consummed. How can the eternal be dressed up in temporal clothes without losing its essential character as eternal? How can "the glory of the One and only" be transformed into one human being among a population of billions of human beings and not lose his essential character as blindingly glorious?
All attempts at explanation are less than satisfying and have the effect of diminishing the wonder of the event. All that we can say is that he "made his dwelling among us" and "we have seen...". To go further than this would be like trying to explain the science behind the burning bush.
Can we live with wonder or are we doomed to reject what we can't understand, even though he has "lived among us" and "we have seen..."?
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
If a picture is worth a thousand words what do you have when the perfect Word ("the Word was God," John 1:1) becomes the perfect picture ("the exact representation of his being," Heb. 1:3)? Where do we even begin with the interpretation when Word and Picture of the eternal God is perfectly fused with temporal humanity ("became flesh")? John uses images of life and light and glory to try to convey some of the impact of this unprecedented event. Jesus is the closest we can ever come to understanding the One whose "thoughts are not our thoughts" and whose "ways are not our ways" (Isaiah 55). Jesus is the closest we will ever come to seeing the one who lives in "unapproachable glory." Looking at Jesus and seeing God is like looking at the night sky and seeing the heavens. We can see enough to feel completely overwhelmed but realize that we are only seeing the outer fringes of his being. Jesus does not fully remove the mystery of God, does not make God familiar. On any consideration the incarnation of God presents us with something not fully understandable. The incarnation is problematic, like Moses' bush that burned with fire but was not consummed. How can the eternal be dressed up in temporal clothes without losing its essential character as eternal? How can "the glory of the One and only" be transformed into one human being among a population of billions of human beings and not lose his essential character as blindingly glorious?
All attempts at explanation are less than satisfying and have the effect of diminishing the wonder of the event. All that we can say is that he "made his dwelling among us" and "we have seen...". To go further than this would be like trying to explain the science behind the burning bush.
Can we live with wonder or are we doomed to reject what we can't understand, even though he has "lived among us" and "we have seen..."?
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Children of God
Reading John 1:12
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."
In the previous verse we read that "he came to his own but his own did not receive him." What is it to be rejected by your own? What feelings and emotions and hurts pressed in on the humanity of Jesus because those who owed him so much turned him away at the door? He is the Word, the voice of God calling out to us but we have refused to listen or we go on reading the paper while he talks away in the background of our life. He created everything that is, all the things that we live by and enjoy and take great pleasure in but we reject the greatest pleasure of all, the pleasure of knowing him - we take the gifts and reject the giver. He is the life, the spark that turns bare existence into joyful being. We taste the joy but refuse to share it with the one who holds the cup and offers it to us. He is the light but we prefer darkness or shades of gray, thinking that somehow darkness can add a little colour to our world. He is rejected on all counts even though we have nothing without him. The drive to declare our complete independence of God is at the heart of our rebellion against him. Like the prodigal we want our inheritance and we want it all to ourselves, somehow thinking that we will enjoy it more if we can flee our father's world, can get out of his shadow.
Beginning with his birth "he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering...we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3). The problem of his rejection is reversed when we "receive him" and "believe in his name" but it is never fully put to rest in this world. What betrayal there is even in the heart of the Christian. How often we "grieve" him, reject him from our days routines, ask him to wait while we attend to other things, show him the door when we don't like what he says, rage against him when he will not yield to our will.
Nevertheless, when we open our life to him, acknowledge who he is, recognize our complete dependence on him and give thanks to him for being the reason we have a life at all then we are welcomed as children. We become his in a way that it is not possible to be without receiving Jesus as God. When we join with Thomas in falling down before him and saying "my Lord and my God," then the incarnation moves from being a matter of history to a matter of personal experience. History is set right for me when I open the door and gladly welcome Jesus in.
Any room at the inn this Christmas or will Jesus have to wait until the busy holiday season is over to get the welcome he deserves?
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."
In the previous verse we read that "he came to his own but his own did not receive him." What is it to be rejected by your own? What feelings and emotions and hurts pressed in on the humanity of Jesus because those who owed him so much turned him away at the door? He is the Word, the voice of God calling out to us but we have refused to listen or we go on reading the paper while he talks away in the background of our life. He created everything that is, all the things that we live by and enjoy and take great pleasure in but we reject the greatest pleasure of all, the pleasure of knowing him - we take the gifts and reject the giver. He is the life, the spark that turns bare existence into joyful being. We taste the joy but refuse to share it with the one who holds the cup and offers it to us. He is the light but we prefer darkness or shades of gray, thinking that somehow darkness can add a little colour to our world. He is rejected on all counts even though we have nothing without him. The drive to declare our complete independence of God is at the heart of our rebellion against him. Like the prodigal we want our inheritance and we want it all to ourselves, somehow thinking that we will enjoy it more if we can flee our father's world, can get out of his shadow.
Beginning with his birth "he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering...we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3). The problem of his rejection is reversed when we "receive him" and "believe in his name" but it is never fully put to rest in this world. What betrayal there is even in the heart of the Christian. How often we "grieve" him, reject him from our days routines, ask him to wait while we attend to other things, show him the door when we don't like what he says, rage against him when he will not yield to our will.
Nevertheless, when we open our life to him, acknowledge who he is, recognize our complete dependence on him and give thanks to him for being the reason we have a life at all then we are welcomed as children. We become his in a way that it is not possible to be without receiving Jesus as God. When we join with Thomas in falling down before him and saying "my Lord and my God," then the incarnation moves from being a matter of history to a matter of personal experience. History is set right for me when I open the door and gladly welcome Jesus in.
Any room at the inn this Christmas or will Jesus have to wait until the busy holiday season is over to get the welcome he deserves?
Monday, December 12, 2005
Spiritual amnesia
Reading John 1:10-11
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him."
Many movies and television programs have dealt with the theme of amnesia and the chaos and confusion that results when a person forgets who he is and no longer recognizes his friends and family members. This is exactly what we are dealing with in these verses. We are looking at a failure to recognize who made us and what we are doing here. The result is a rejection of our most important family members: our loving heavenly Father, our brother Jesus, and our closest comforter, the Holy Spirit. There is a complete network of love and support but we turn our backs on it because of a lack of recognition. This is the condition of the world in its unbelief. This is often referred to as being "lost," a term that is very fitting for the spiritual amnesiac.
These verses show that a lack of recognition leads inevitably to a lack of reception. We give the best reception to those whom we know and love the most. If I am not giving Jesus a very warm reception in my daily life I need to trace the problem back up the line. How well do I really know him? The Gospels are the meeting place and if I'm not spending time in the Gospels I begin to be afflicted with bouts of temporary amnesia. This in turn leads me to a loss of connection with my Father, Brother, and Comforter. I begin to enter into an experience of lostness where the ground seems to go out from under my feet - insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, purposelessness, come to underlie all of the normal experiences of life. At first it is only a sense, something hard to put your finger on, but left to grow it becomes a thief and a robber of the joy of life. All this can be prevented by regularly going to the meeting place and staying connected with the greatest lover the world has ever known; Jesus the lover of my soul.
"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own but his own did not receive him."
Many movies and television programs have dealt with the theme of amnesia and the chaos and confusion that results when a person forgets who he is and no longer recognizes his friends and family members. This is exactly what we are dealing with in these verses. We are looking at a failure to recognize who made us and what we are doing here. The result is a rejection of our most important family members: our loving heavenly Father, our brother Jesus, and our closest comforter, the Holy Spirit. There is a complete network of love and support but we turn our backs on it because of a lack of recognition. This is the condition of the world in its unbelief. This is often referred to as being "lost," a term that is very fitting for the spiritual amnesiac.
These verses show that a lack of recognition leads inevitably to a lack of reception. We give the best reception to those whom we know and love the most. If I am not giving Jesus a very warm reception in my daily life I need to trace the problem back up the line. How well do I really know him? The Gospels are the meeting place and if I'm not spending time in the Gospels I begin to be afflicted with bouts of temporary amnesia. This in turn leads me to a loss of connection with my Father, Brother, and Comforter. I begin to enter into an experience of lostness where the ground seems to go out from under my feet - insecurity, loneliness, anxiety, purposelessness, come to underlie all of the normal experiences of life. At first it is only a sense, something hard to put your finger on, but left to grow it becomes a thief and a robber of the joy of life. All this can be prevented by regularly going to the meeting place and staying connected with the greatest lover the world has ever known; Jesus the lover of my soul.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
"The light of the world..."
Reading John 1:4-9
"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (v9)
My life is a juxtaposition of darkness and light, each element unexplainable in its own way. How can I account for the presence of either? The presence of goodness is as problematic as the presence of evil. What makes it even more confusing is the presence of both in one person's life. The world I know, the people I know, is a whirl of both strains that makes for warfare, conflict, and confrontation both between people and within the individual. At the end of history, my personal history or the history of the world, which will win out, the darkness or the light?
John answers the question like this: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." This is the reading of the NIV but John made his statement in a deliberately ambiguous way (something John was fond of doing). His statement can mean both (and he probably intended both) that the darkness has not understood the light and that the darkness has not overcome the light. The light of Jesus is not a logic that can be comprehended by evil. In a world of tremendous evil there is no explaining the goodness of God. God's goodness presses in to the evil and gets into close proximity with it, it loves the unlovely, it sacrifices itself for the salvation of the enemy, it could call down lightning but refuses to, it could crush in an instant but waits patiently for repentance. The light can not be understood by the darkness, its presuppositions are totally foreign to evil.
John also says that the light cannot be overcome by the darkness. In Jesus it will be shown that goodness is more powerful than evil. Goodness is connected to life (another of John's favorite themes) but evil is connected to death and destruction. The light of Jesus will overcome the darkness in us. Our strategy in the war against evil is to have more of Jesus, more of the light of the world.
"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." (v9)
My life is a juxtaposition of darkness and light, each element unexplainable in its own way. How can I account for the presence of either? The presence of goodness is as problematic as the presence of evil. What makes it even more confusing is the presence of both in one person's life. The world I know, the people I know, is a whirl of both strains that makes for warfare, conflict, and confrontation both between people and within the individual. At the end of history, my personal history or the history of the world, which will win out, the darkness or the light?
John answers the question like this: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." This is the reading of the NIV but John made his statement in a deliberately ambiguous way (something John was fond of doing). His statement can mean both (and he probably intended both) that the darkness has not understood the light and that the darkness has not overcome the light. The light of Jesus is not a logic that can be comprehended by evil. In a world of tremendous evil there is no explaining the goodness of God. God's goodness presses in to the evil and gets into close proximity with it, it loves the unlovely, it sacrifices itself for the salvation of the enemy, it could call down lightning but refuses to, it could crush in an instant but waits patiently for repentance. The light can not be understood by the darkness, its presuppositions are totally foreign to evil.
John also says that the light cannot be overcome by the darkness. In Jesus it will be shown that goodness is more powerful than evil. Goodness is connected to life (another of John's favorite themes) but evil is connected to death and destruction. The light of Jesus will overcome the darkness in us. Our strategy in the war against evil is to have more of Jesus, more of the light of the world.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
"In him was life..."
Reading John 1:3-4
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."
The fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. The whole physical universe has its explanation in him. Jesus was the executor of the Father's command: "Let there be...". All of the physical sciences sit on the foundation of the creation. The Psalmist says that "the heavens declare the glory of God...". We have not understood the creation if we only see it as a wonder. The message of the physical is not simply that nature is a marvel but that God is glorious. Nature is never fully understood until it is understood as a creative work.
John tells us that not only the fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus but so also is the meaning of existence. The meaning of life can be seen in an encounter with the living Christ. "In him was life and that life was the light of men." The answer to what we are here for, what life is all about, is fully discovered by reflection on the life of Christ. This is John's introduction to his Gospel. He is telling us that as we read about Jesus, about all that he said and did, that we will discover the meaning of life, of our life. The incarnate life of God translates something that is eternal and distant into something that is finite and near. We can grasp the meaning of life when we look at Jesus' life.
Later John records that Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). It was God's intention that we would not only understand the fact and meaning of life but that we would participate in it to the full. When I read the Gospel I am intended to see in Jesus' life something about my life. I am intended to see what God has in mind for me. I have been invited to participate in the life of God as the ultimate fulfillment possible in this world. This is reflected in Jesus' prayer in John 17: "I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me...".
"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men."
The fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ. The whole physical universe has its explanation in him. Jesus was the executor of the Father's command: "Let there be...". All of the physical sciences sit on the foundation of the creation. The Psalmist says that "the heavens declare the glory of God...". We have not understood the creation if we only see it as a wonder. The message of the physical is not simply that nature is a marvel but that God is glorious. Nature is never fully understood until it is understood as a creative work.
John tells us that not only the fact of existence is rooted in the person of Jesus but so also is the meaning of existence. The meaning of life can be seen in an encounter with the living Christ. "In him was life and that life was the light of men." The answer to what we are here for, what life is all about, is fully discovered by reflection on the life of Christ. This is John's introduction to his Gospel. He is telling us that as we read about Jesus, about all that he said and did, that we will discover the meaning of life, of our life. The incarnate life of God translates something that is eternal and distant into something that is finite and near. We can grasp the meaning of life when we look at Jesus' life.
Later John records that Jesus said: "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). It was God's intention that we would not only understand the fact and meaning of life but that we would participate in it to the full. When I read the Gospel I am intended to see in Jesus' life something about my life. I am intended to see what God has in mind for me. I have been invited to participate in the life of God as the ultimate fulfillment possible in this world. This is reflected in Jesus' prayer in John 17: "I pray...that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me...".
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
"In the beginning was the Word..."
Reading John 1:1
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
God has many names. Everyone of his names communicates something essential about his character or about his relationship to his creation. I cannot imagine any era of history that could appreciate more the name we have presented here, "the Word," than the information age in which we live. We are only now beginning to discover how incredibly information rich every piece of biological matter on this planet is. The complexity of communication within a single cell is breath-taking. The Bible is clear that the "words" behind all of this communication is nothing less than the voice of God, speaking his unending "let there be...".
God as "Word" has opened the lines of communication between himself and those whome he has uniquely created in his own image. It is his intention to speak. It is his intention that we would hear and understand. The reason that a finite human being can cognitively interpret speech from an infinite God is a matter of God's intention, expressed in his design. God's communication to us is rich, vivid, "broad-band," if you will.
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." Hebrews 1:1-2
We are both a receiver and a broadcaster of information. How well we receive from God has a big impact on how well we broadcast. God is an intentional and persistant communicator. Is there anything that is interfering with my reception?
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."
God has many names. Everyone of his names communicates something essential about his character or about his relationship to his creation. I cannot imagine any era of history that could appreciate more the name we have presented here, "the Word," than the information age in which we live. We are only now beginning to discover how incredibly information rich every piece of biological matter on this planet is. The complexity of communication within a single cell is breath-taking. The Bible is clear that the "words" behind all of this communication is nothing less than the voice of God, speaking his unending "let there be...".
God as "Word" has opened the lines of communication between himself and those whome he has uniquely created in his own image. It is his intention to speak. It is his intention that we would hear and understand. The reason that a finite human being can cognitively interpret speech from an infinite God is a matter of God's intention, expressed in his design. God's communication to us is rich, vivid, "broad-band," if you will.
"In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." Hebrews 1:1-2
We are both a receiver and a broadcaster of information. How well we receive from God has a big impact on how well we broadcast. God is an intentional and persistant communicator. Is there anything that is interfering with my reception?
Monday, December 05, 2005
"Come to me ... "
Continuing to Read Matthew 11:28-30
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."
Truth is hard to come by. There are lots of good ideas out there but truth is another matter altogether. Even for those who believe in absolute (revealed) truth, as I do, truth is highly personal. What I mean by this is that truth is not a neutral entity for me, it is not something I can indifferently look up in a book and sign my affirmation to. Truth is entangled with the whole of my life. It has deep implications for everything that is important to me. I have foundational reasons both to hate and to love truth. Truth can be tampered with, adjusted, redirected, twisted, crippled. I can even use one truth to destroy another. But what does this have to do with Jesus invitation to "come to me"? It has everything to do with it! If I am going to explore truth as it relates to my weariness, my burdens, and my need for rest I will have the best success if I do it with someone I trust. The more I trust Jesus the more I will allow him to speak whatever I need to hear. The more I trust Jesus the more I will be willing to let down my guard, give up my defensiveness, admit my hidden motivations and even my resistance to "being told." This is why Jesus says "take my yoke upon you and learn from me...". The only way we can face the really important truths is by getting into relationship with Jesus. Any attempt to get to the truth in some abstract, impersonal, way is doomed to failure. Jesus invites us to have an encounter with truth in the safety of his presence..."and you WILL find rest for your soul...".
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."
Truth is hard to come by. There are lots of good ideas out there but truth is another matter altogether. Even for those who believe in absolute (revealed) truth, as I do, truth is highly personal. What I mean by this is that truth is not a neutral entity for me, it is not something I can indifferently look up in a book and sign my affirmation to. Truth is entangled with the whole of my life. It has deep implications for everything that is important to me. I have foundational reasons both to hate and to love truth. Truth can be tampered with, adjusted, redirected, twisted, crippled. I can even use one truth to destroy another. But what does this have to do with Jesus invitation to "come to me"? It has everything to do with it! If I am going to explore truth as it relates to my weariness, my burdens, and my need for rest I will have the best success if I do it with someone I trust. The more I trust Jesus the more I will allow him to speak whatever I need to hear. The more I trust Jesus the more I will be willing to let down my guard, give up my defensiveness, admit my hidden motivations and even my resistance to "being told." This is why Jesus says "take my yoke upon you and learn from me...". The only way we can face the really important truths is by getting into relationship with Jesus. Any attempt to get to the truth in some abstract, impersonal, way is doomed to failure. Jesus invites us to have an encounter with truth in the safety of his presence..."and you WILL find rest for your soul...".
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