Caricatures

 

Good morning,

I will, the Lord willing, return to Ezekiel in the next post, but I've been thinking about the following for a few days and I want to write it before I forget it. 

Much love,

Bob

When we attempt to correct one caricature by displacing it with another caricature, we compound the caricature and descend into deeper confusion.

 

Cannot we not see that Jesus Christ is our Message? Rightly dividing the Word of Truth is to see the Word displaying and revealing Jesus Christ; bringing every thought captive is to submit all thoughts to Jesus, offer all thoughts to Jesus, and raise all thoughts to the glory of Jesus Christ.

 

When we insist on building tabernacles for Moses and Elijah and Jesus, our Father says, “This is My Beloved Son, hear Him!”

 

Our Border Collie Lily has a basket of toys, and she even knows their names. However, beyond her toys she knows her master’s voice.

 

Do we?

 

1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:5.

 

“Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from thee.” The Valley of Vision, page 134, Arthur Bennet editor.

 

“Considered As Sheep To Be Slaughtered”

 

 

“Calling” and sacrifice are inseparable in Christ. Whether “calling” is a form of vocational ministry, of discipleship (to which we are all called), or of vocation as a butcher, baker, lawyer, physician, teacher, or candlestick maker – calling and sacrifice in our obedience to Christ and our witness to Him are inseparable. If we are faithful to Jesus Christ we will know what it is to suffer for Him, to be rejected, to know pressure to conform to the world – sometimes this will be overt and other times covert, but it will be part of life in Christ and of our relationships both within and without the professing church.

 

We enjoy quoting Romans 8:31 – 39, about the incredible love of God, yet somehow we manage to gloss over 8:36, “Just as it is written, For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” This is much like enjoying Jesus’ teaching in the Upper Room, but glossing over John 15:18 – 16:4, in which Jesus says that, “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you, if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.”

 

I love meditating on “The Lord is my shepherd”; but am I willing to allow the Shepherd to sacrifice me as one of His sheep?

 

Paul writes, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Just as the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3 – 9 lead to, “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness…”, so living godly lives in Christ Jesus will lead to opposition, resistance, pushback, and persecution. How could it be otherwise?

 

The very nature of the world – system is evil, selfish, materialistic, arrogant, prideful, power and position oriented, built on deception and lies; in short, the world – system is opposed to God. How then, can the disciple of Jesus Christ live in the world without opposing the world and the way it thinks and acts? Sooner or later obedience to Jesus Christ will conflict with the world. This conflict often occurs on a daily basis – giving us ongoing opportunities for obedience to Christ and witness to Him by words and deeds. The Nature that lives in us and the nature that lives in the world are opposed to one another – there must be friction and conflict if we are to be faithful to Jesus Christ.  However, as I previously mentioned, we are not to be hostile in the hostile world – we are called to be peacemakers in Jesus Christ.

 

Our suffering with Christ is coupled with our glorification with Christ (Romans 8:17 – 18).

 

“For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” (Phil. 1:29 – 30).

 

“…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the death.” (Phil. 3:10 – 11).

 

While Paul wrote from a Roman prison to people who were going about their daily lives outside of prison, both Paul and the Christians in Philippi were living lives in Christ which were in conflict with the world around them, both were witnessing for Jesus Christ by the words they spoke and the way they lived.

 

Consider Paul’s words, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Phil. 2:14 – 15).

 

Peter also writes about the connection between suffering for Christ and sharing His glory. “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:12 – 13).

 

I have listened to countless American Christians talk about coming persecution, and I think, and have often said, that it is unlikely that the professing church in America will be persecuted for the sake of Christ. Why? Because we love money, and the dollar is the arbiter of our lives. Or, as Francis Schaffer might say, we love “personal peace and affluence.” But I’ve also said that the only reason we don’t experience persecution now is that we are disobedient to Christ. We don’t witness. We “go along to get along” with the world around us, including the workplace around us. We don’t support one another when one of us does encounter trial and opposition for obedience to Christ. We are chameleons – changing colors to blend into our environments.

 

How many of us will spend our entire lives in the workplace without ever sharing Jesus Christ with coworkers? How many of us will spend our lives acquiescing and endorsing devious business practices in disobedience to Jesus Christ?

 

How many of us are offering our children on the altars of demons in order to fit in with the society around us?

 

Let’s recall that in Ezekiel 2:5 that God told Ezekiel that “whether they listen or not…they will know that a prophet has been among them.” Will people know, do people know, that a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ, has been among them when they work with us? When we live in their neighborhoods? When we meet them in civic or recreational functions? When we attend school with them?

 

Let us make no mistake, we are talking about sacrificing ourselves for Jesus Christ and others (Romans 12:1 – 2; Mark 8:34ff). We are speaking of living sacrificial lives, intercessory lives, for Jesus Christ and others. The Nature of the Lamb of God is sacrificial, the Nature of the lambs which the Good Shepherd tends is likewise sacrificial. “Witness” to Jesus Christ requires a life of sacrifice.

 

If we do not know what sacrifice is in small things, it is not likely that we shall know what sacrifice is in big things. If we have not been faithful in small opportunities, it is not likely that we shall have the privilege of responding to large opportunities. Small opportunities become mountains when we do not practice lives of obedient witness.

 

For example, if we go along with workplace gossip it becomes harder and harder to say “no” to the gossip. If we participate in disrespect toward those in authority, it becomes harder and harder to break that cycle. If we once acquiesce in or participate in coarse language and subject matter in the workplace or a social setting, it is difficult to recover that ground so that we may live as holy men and women and witness for Christ.

 

Consider Ephesians 4:17 – 5:21, a person cannot live in obedience to Jesus Christ in these things and not live as a witness to Him, and not live in conflict with the world. Do we see that our lives, our words and actions, are the bedrock of our witness? Do we understand that sharing in the rejection and sufferings of Jesus Christ are elements of taking up the Cross? Are we living in the awareness that, “If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14)?

 

Jesus concludes His call to discipleship in Mark 8:34 – 38 with these words:

 

“For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

 

Are we living as Christ’s sacrificial lambs?

“A Servant Is Not Greater Than His Master”

 

I once used a popular “witnessing” course with a congregation, and while it had some valuable elements to it, if I could revisit that time and place I either wouldn’t use it at all or I would supplement it in order to place it in a more Biblical context. Well now, those words “more Biblical context” suggest that I wouldn’t use it again because, in spite of its stated goal, a message and training are either in a Biblical context or they aren’t. Do you see the tension here? Some of the elements of the course are helpful, but the overall image it presents of a Christian who shares the Gospel is frankly missing the Cross of Christ, and by extension the Christ of the Cross. This is common today, we draw crowds when we have touchy – feelie messages of how to be a Christian without the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross. Tragically, we called these crowds a success.

 

I regret that I did not teach my people about suffering for Christ in our witnessing, about sharing His sufferings the way we share His Body and Blood at the communion Table, about rejoicing when we are privileged to be rejected and suffer for His Gospel.

 

Yahweh tells Ezekiel, “And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house” (Ez. 2:6).   

 

 We like to quote the Beatitudes, until we get to the last two, which are yoked together as one:

 

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10 – 12.

 

The Beatitudes in Matthew comprise ten verses in our English Bibles, three of them are about persecution for the sake of Christ. That is, Jesus gives more attention to the blessedness of being persecuted for His sake than to any other subject in the Beatitudes.

 

The Beatitudes set the stage for what follows in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 – 7), they set the trajectory. The final stage of the trajectory is verses 10 – 12 – persecution. Where do the first seven beatitudes lead? They lead to verses 10 – 12, they lead to persecution. Is it possible to live in the first seven beatitudes and not experience persecution for the sake of Christ? Is it possible to be a peacemaker and not experience what the Prince of Peace experienced? Is it possible to live so counter-culturally and not know the pushback and hostility of the world?

 

In Luke’s setting for the Beatitudes, Jesus also says, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.” (Luke 6:26). Might there be something amiss when our witnessing and outreach is driven by a desire to be acceptable to everyone? When we teach techniques so as not to offend others? After all, there is an inherent offense in the Cross of Christ, for the Gospel convicts of sin and requires a response, either one of repentance or of continued rejection of God.

 

In the Upper Room, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus teaches that since we are not of the world that the world hates us, and that, “A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18 – 16:4; 17:14-16).

 

Yet, in the midst of hostility, our words and actions are to be in wisdom and “with grace, as though seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:5 – 6). Our goal is always to save others and win them for Jesus (1 Cor. 11:19 – 23); hence we make ourselves the servants of all. Let us make no mistake, we are called to represent Jesus Christ and not ourselves.

 

“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:24 – 26).

 

As Ezekiel, we are sent to a hostile world; but we are not to be hostile, as Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and unrighteous." (Matthew 5:44 - 45).

 

We are to be firm, we are to be clear, but we are not to be hostile. We are to be confident but not conceited. After all, we no longer belong to ourselves; we are the servants of Jesus Christ.

 

Are we living as His servants? Are we serving others?

“They Will Know That A Prophet…”

 

“As for them, whether they listen or not – for they are a rebellious house – they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 2:5).

 

It seems to me that our standard of preaching spans the spectrum, from the presumptuous to the uncertain apologetic. On both ends we fail to submit to the Word of God and speak as His ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20), we fail to speak “as the oracles of God” (1 Peter 4:11). Perhaps either way we make too much of the earthen vessel (2 Cor. 4:7), either covering up its weaknesses with theological and religious bravado or highlighting its uncertainty so as to abdicate responsibility and elicit sympathy.

 

One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard regarding preaching was, “Be yourself and forget about yourself.” That is, God made you to be you, not to be somebody else (Psalm 139), and though we should learn from others, we will never be another person, we can only truly be the person that God made. Yes, for sure our Father and Lord Jesus are always molding us into their image by the Holy Spirit and the Word, so when we say “be yourself” we mean be the person you are in Christ, a person who is, by His grace, growing in Him.

 

The next part, “forget about yourself,” means that we stand before others with one primary audience, and that is God. We are to be His servant, not the servant of man (Gal. 1:10). The congregation is, however, an important secondary audience, in that we are to model faithfulness to God and His Word, and in fact we ought to be able to say to our congregations and small groups, indeed to everyone, “Follow me, as I follow Christ,” (1 Cor. 11:1; 2 Th. 3:7, 9).

 

There is a holy tension in these things, one for which only the grace of Christ is sufficient. As we “forget about ourselves” in speaking the Word of God, we surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ, we submit ourselves to Him and His Word, and we trust the Holy Spirit in both the delivery of the Word and the response to the Word.

 

(Whether it is a speaker or a singer or someone leading in prayer, why O why do we begin with a focus on ourselves? “Pray for me as I try to sing this song.” “I’ll do my best with today’s message.” On a similar note, I was taught not to begin a message with prayer because, “If you aren’t ready by then then you aren’t ready.” And may I ask, do we need cute stories with which to begin a message? While they may have an occasional place in the beginning of a message, if we are gathered to hear the Word of God then ought we not to command sober attention? I doubt that the State Department begins an important communique to another country with a joke or cute story. A nice story can have its place in a message to relieve tension – as long as it is relevant; we are not entertainers; we are the servants of the Most High God.)

 

Scott Gibson used to say, “If there is a mist in the pulpit, there is a fog in the pew.” What he meant is that if the preacher is uncertain about what he is saying that the congregation will be more uncertain and confused than the preacher. I seem to be hearing more “apologetic preaching” than I recall hearing before, that is, preachers displaying uncertainty about what they are saying – the Bible says that we are to speak “as the utterances of God,” not as messengers who are uncertain of the message.

 

Does this mean that we are never to speak of textual ambiguity? Of course not, there are some things that are just not clear and we ought to be an example of how to negotiate those passages, but even then there ought to be a confidence in the Word of God – for these instances ought to be the exception and not the rule. We certainty ought to understand the thrust of any extended Biblical passage – otherwise we are simply not ready to preach it or teach it – we ought to see Jesus Christ in it.

 

Preaching and teaching the Word of God takes courage. Do we have courage to speak God’s Word? In Joshua 1:6 -7 Yahweh says to Joshua, “Be strong and courageous…be strong and very courageous.” If we are to lead God’s People, indeed if we are to live goldy lives of obedient discipleship, we must have courage. Do we have it? Are we displaying it? Are we modeling courage in our words and deeds?

 

Oswald Chambers wrote that every day we wake up on a battlefield. Paul writes:

 

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Cor. 10:3 – 5; see also Eph. 6:10ff).

 

It takes courageous obedience to Christ to speak His Word and live against the grain of this world and much of what passes for Christianity.

 

When people encounter our preaching and teaching, when they intersect with our lives – do they know that “a prophet has been among them”?