The Enigma of the World (2)

 

 

After posting yesterday’s reflection, I was reading Psalm 121 and thought I ought to connect it to John 17:15, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”

 

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us to pray, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13). As you may know, “from evil” can also be translated “from the evil one.” Considering that Jesus has just faced Satan, the evil one, in the Wilderness (Matthew 4:1 – 11), this may make sense, plus there are grammatical reasons for it…or not. In any event, since evil comes from the “evil one” Matthew 6:13 has us praying along with Jesus in John 17:15.

 

As we saw in the previous reflection, Jesus promises to keep us, which takes us to Psalm 121 (ESV):

 

 A Song of Ascents.

121 I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the LORD,

    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;

    he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 Behold, he who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is your keeper;

    the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

8 The LORD will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time forth and forevermore.

 

I prefer the ESV for this psalm for its consistent use of the word “keep” in translation, if you compare it to other translations you’ll see what I mean. I strongly believe that if the original text uses a word repetitiously that we ought to be true to the text, Biblical emphasis should take precedence over our English convention of not repeating the same word.

 

In verse 4 we see that God keeps Israel, God keeps His People; He kept ancient Israel when Psalm 121 was written, and He keeps the New Covenant Israel (Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 2:11 – 22) today. One of the messages of the book of Revelation is God’s protection of the Church through tribulation, with the background motif of Israel in Egypt and the Wilderness, Revelation portrays a victorious People in Christ who overcome by the “blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, not loving their lives even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11). God does not keep us by removing us from the world but rather keeps us in Christ as we live in the world and overcome evil and the evil one.

 

“You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

 

“We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).

 

We must not minimize the distinction between the Kingdom of God and the world, we must not ignore the gulf between light and darkness, good and evil, life and death.

 

Notice that in Psalm 121:3 and 4 that our God is ever watchful over us, He never slumbers or sleeps; when we must sleep, He watches over us; we are always and forever in His tender loving and almighty care.

 

In 121:7 we see that our Father keeps us from “all evil” and that He will keep our soul.

 

(Here the ESV uses “life” but in this verse I much prefer the other option “soul.” I think it better captures the essence of who we are, going beyond physical life into the core of our being.)

 

We can connect 121:7 with Matthew 6:13 and John 17:15, being assured that our Good Shepherd will walk with us through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, comforting us and preparing a Table (His body and blood) before us in the presence of our enemies, anointing our heads with oil, and giving us overflowing cups (Psalm 23).

 

We can be confident that God will keep us from “all evil,” and that our souls are secure in Him; that no matter what may happen to our bodies, that our souls are safe in Christ and that we have eternal bodies waiting for us…glorious beyond our comprehension (2 Cor. 5:1 – 10).

 

If we consider the context of John 17:15, we will remember that shortly after Jesus prays that we will be kept from the evil one, that Jesus will be betrayed, arrested, tortured, mocked, abandoned, and crucified – yet though all of this the Father not only kept Him from the evil one, but Christ Jesus defeated the evil one through His obedience and sacrifice.

 

This, my friends, is our calling in Christ. We see this calling throughout the Old and New Testaments, we see our participation in the sufferings of Jesus Christ for His glory, for our koinonia with Him, and for the salvation of others. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. We behold this calling throughout the book of Revelation where the saints experience an ironic and irenic victory through suffering, even unto death. This has been our testimony through the ages, beginning with Abel (Hebrews 11:4). Let us not be so foolish as to follow a different gospel that would spare us the Cross of Christ.

 

We may have supreme and unwavering confidence that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit will keep us, they will keep our souls; our future is sure and certain in God, He protects us from the evil one, He keeps our souls.

 

Now, let us live for God and others.

 

The Enigma of the World

 

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:14 – 16).

 

“As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:18).

 

Since in previous reflections we’ve explored our relationship with the world, including the world’s opposition to Christ and to us (see especially our consideration of John 15:18 – 16:4), we won’t retrace our steps. However, there is an enigma, a distinction, and a calling that we want to recognize in John 17:13 – 23.

 

Twice Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” What do the words “even as I” convey to us?

 

We are to love “even as” Jesus loves (John 13:34). Jesus sends us “even as” the Father sent Him (20:21). We are to be one “even as” the Father and Son are one (17:21). The Father loves us “even as” He loves the Son (17:23).

 

If we are truly “not of the world,” as Jesus is not of the world; if our origin and source of life, if our destiny and purpose is not of the world, just as it is with Jesus, then why are we preoccupied with the politics, economics, entertainments, values, priorities, and approval of the world? How have we gotten so side-tracked and distracted from the things of our Father, from our mission to the people of the world?

 

We are, after all, citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), and our Lord Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world…My kingdom is not of this realm” (John 18:36). When we consider that Jesus is speaking to the Roman Empire in the person of Pontius Pilate, we ought to wonder why we don’t speak this same thing to the governments and political parties of our own time. Why don’t we make it clear to our generation that the Church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ, the People of Christ, are not of this world?

 

How is it that masses of Christians in our own country give themselves to agendas that are not of the Kingdom of God? How is that we have abandoned our calling in Christ to seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God? (Colossians 3:1 – 4), turning our attention and affection to the world…whether those things appear “good” or “bad”? When we do this, are we not eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as opposed to the Tree of Life (Jesus Christ)?

 

On another note, Jesus says, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one” (17:15).

 

We are here on mission, our calling is to complete the mission, not to abandon it. We are here to grow up into Christ, to fully express Christ, and to bring the Gospel to humanity. We are here to participate in the Stone cut without hands filling all the earth (Daniel 2).  We are not here to escape hardship, persecution, trial, or tribulation. We are not here to be snatched away. We are here to overcome in Jesus Christ, for His glory and the glory of our Father; for the salvation of others. We are not to be taken out of the world, but to be protected from the evil one, and we can trust our God that we shall indeed be protected as we are kept in the Father’s Name (John 17:12; 6:39; 10:27 – 30).

 

Something is amiss when we focus on self-preservation and not laying down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16), our thinking and practice are awry when we are not giving ourselves so that those who believe in Jesus will not perish, but have enteral life (John 3:16).

 

Our calling in Christ is to grow up as the sons and daughters of our Father, it is to grow up into Christ as a Mature Man (Ephesians 4:14 – 16; Colossians 1:24 - 29), we are to be overcomers in Christ (see the overcomer passages of Revelation chapters 2 3, and Revelation 21:7), we are to know Him in the power of His resurrection and the koinonia of His sufferings, being conformed to His death (Phil. 3:10).

 

While Jesus says, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16) mission to the world is embedded in John 17. This can be an enigma until we see this passage in the eyes of the Holy Spirit. It can be confusing until we see the clear distinction Jesus is making, when He says that we are in the world but we are not “of the world.” We are traveling as aliens, as strangers in a strange land (Hebrews 11:8 – 16), but we are not simply “passing through,” we are on mission to the world, proclaiming the Gospel in word and deed, living as the Presence of Christ.

 

We’ll close this reflection with a hymn by Palmer Hartsough, I learned this as a lad and I still sing it:

 

 

I AM RESOLVED

 

I am resolved no longer to linger,

Charmed by the world’s delight,

Things that are higher, things that are nobler,

These have allured my sight.

 

Refrain:

I will hasten to Him,

Hasten so glad and free;

Jesus, greatest, highest,

I will come to Thee.

 

I am resolved to go to the Savior,

Leaving my sin and strife;

He is the true One, He is the just One,

He hath the words of life.

 

I am resolved to follow the Savior,

Faithful and true each day;

Heed what He sayeth, do what He willeth,

He is the living Way.

I am resolved to enter the kingdom,

Leaving the paths of sin;

Friends may oppose me, foes may beset me,

Still will I enter in.

 

I am resolved, and who will go with me?

Come, friends, without delay;

Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,

We’ll walk the heav’nly way.

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (25)

 

 

“The ‘unworldliness’ of the Christian life is meant to take place in the midst of this world. Its place is the church-community which must practice it in its daily living…That is why Christians ought to carry out their Christian life in the midst of their secular vocation. That is why they ought to die to the world in the midst of their worldly calling. The value of the secular vocation for Christians is that it allows them to live in the world by God’s goodness and to engage more fervently in the fight against the things of the world” (page 227).

 

It is unfortunate that Bonhoeffer uses the terms “secular vocation” and “worldly calling.” All vocation and calling are sacred, unless it is evil. All that we do is to be a form of worship to God, service to Him and our fellow man, and a form of transformation into the image of Jesus Christ. However, we will move on from this observation into the heart of Bonhoeffer’s meaning.

 

We are to be “unworldly” in the midst of the world. I think there are two senses to this; we are to be unworldly people who live subject to an unworldly kingdom. Regarding the latter, we are citizens of heaven before we are citizens of any earthly nation in particular and to the world-system in general (Phil. 3:20). As to the former, we draw our life from above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God (Col. 3:1-4).

 

This means that we will be distinct from the people of the world and the system which they obey, for while we share the common bond of humanity, the air we breathe is different, the life which animates our souls flows from above, we are subject to higher commands, principles, and laws. For example, loving our neighbor is not an option, blessing those who curse us and use us is our calling, laying down our lives for others is our cruciform Way of Life. Money and the treasures of this age are not our arbiters, the accolades of this world are seen for the vanity they are; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are recognized as not being from our Father, but as the poison of the world-system which is passing away (1 John 2:15 – 17).

 

Bonhoeffer tells us that we are to “carry out” our Christian life in the midst of our vocation. What might this look like?

 

Certainly this includes love for our coworkers and customers, with a desire to serve others and be a blessing to them – whether they are thankful or not, regardless of the state of their souls (Matthew 5:43 – 58). It includes fulfilling our calling as peacemakers (Mt. 5:9). We are to be faithful witnesses to Jesus in word as well as deed (Mark 8:38; 1 John 3:18).

 

We must not engage in gossip, slander, or backbiting. We must always tell the truth and act the truth. Nor should we covet, steal, falsify records, or cheat.  

 

In my business career I was especially focused on treating employees fairly, on opening doors for training and education and advancement, on equitable compensation, and on good working conditions and morale. I was also insistent on outstanding and caring customer service and providing safe and healthy apartments for our residents. Giving clients my loyalty, telling them the truth, and wanting the best for them as we did business in a moral and ethical manner were nonnegotiable for me. I am sure I made many mistakes in my business career; I made decisions I would do differently; I hope, however, that in some measure I was a blessing to others and a witness to Jesus Christ.

 

What can you add to the above? How does living the Christian life look in your vocation?

 

Bonhoeffer writes that we are to “die to the world” in the midst of our calling. The world pressures us to conform to its ways and values, to take the short-term view, the easy way out, to believe that the ends justify the means. The world allures us with its approval and promises of influence, money, possessions, security, self-fulfillment, and self-preservation. These temptations (and many more) are real, they can be seductive and they can also blindside us. We ought not minimize the power of peer pressure, of the instinct to put ourselves above others, or our ability to rationalize ungodly and worldly behavior.

 

The more successful we are, the greater the temptations can be, the more subtle on the one hand, and the more blatant on the other. Pleasure, ego, pride and vanity, so many things can deceive us.

 

When we forget that we are on mission, that we are called to be the Presence of Christ in our vocations, that we belong to Another, and that by the Cross “the world is crucified to us and we are crucified to the world” (Galatians 6:14), we may find ourselves in the lap of Delilah. Each of us has vulnerabilities, what is a temptation to me may not be a temptation to you, and what may not be a temptation to me today may become one tomorrow. “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).

 

I loved the sense of accomplishment in my business career. I loved it when I did well and I loved it when my teams did well. When I was a boy I loved playing sports, I wasn’t a good athlete, but I loved playing baseball and football and basketball. In business I was a pretty good “athlete” and I loved putting points on the board. There were days when my sense of fulfillment and satisfaction was overflowing, and I gave thanks and praise to God for His blessing.

 

The temptation was to get caught up in recognition; the temptation was self-centeredness. Early on in my career I learned the intoxication of vanity, and it frightened me – God gave me a healthy dose of fear. I learned through knowing Jesus and knowing His Word to see myself as the servant of all, to seek the welfare of my employees and fellow workers, my clients, my customers. I learned to rejoice in the success of others, in the recognition given to others, in the growth of others. I measured my days and weeks and years in how God was using me to bless others.

 

Dying to the world means that we often say “no” to the world. We say “no” to cutting corners, “no” to lies and spin and shoddy workmanship, “no” to treating people unfairly, “no” to withholding the truth. It also means that we insist on the truth and the welfare of others.

 

I had instances in my career, thankfully they were few, when a client would not address a health and safety issue in an apartment community – in those cases the course was clear to me. I put the client on written notice of the problem and gave the client an immediate deadline for action, otherwise I would end our relationship – no matter the financial loss to me or my firm.

 

Regarding the treatment of employees, more than once I placed my job on the line for an employee – protecting my people was an element of my calling. I lost what was probably the best job I ever had protecting an employee. I share this not to pat myself on the back but so that you will know that I mean what I write, this is no game to me, it is about Jesus Christ and others, it is about being faithful to Jesus.

 

Bonhoeffer tells us that as we fulfill our vocational callings, we are to “fight against the things of the world.” Much of the above speaks to this, and we ought never to forget it. We are to show others a higher way of life, a life of love and truth and service and self-sacrifice. As a rule, what impresses others ought not to impress us, for what impresses us, what we treasure, is to be that in which we find goodness, beauty, and truth. We are to value excellence in workmanship and fidelity in our occupations. We ought not to be impressed by possessions and positions, but rather by that which endures – character, wisdom, peace, kindness, courage, sacrifice. (When is the last time you witnessed courage in the workplace?)

 

We are to be different because we are different, and here is the rub for many of us, we don’t want to be different. Jesus may have been different, but we don’t want to be different. Rather than be used by God to transform the world and show its people a better way, we allow ourselves to be transformed by the world into its image and we conform to the people around us.

 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

 

The nature of our life is that of a sacrificial offering to God, a holy offering; we have been purchased by the Lamb and our lives now belong to Him. Whether those around us “see” this or not they ought to be witnessing us offering ourselves to God throughout each day, in each moment, in each decision, through each action, in the midst of each challenge.

 

And may I say, that this offering of ourselves includes asking forgiveness of others and making amends when we sin, of admitting our mistakes, of taking responsibility for our actions. This is a testimony to the world that God has made a Way in Jesus through which relationships can be healed, made right, and reconciled. As Paul writes, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves” (2 Cor. 4:7).

 

As for being “different,” we wouldn’t mind being different if we had the cure for cancer, or were giving millions of dollars away to help others, or if we were feeding the hungry, or were saving people from fire or flood; do we not realize that we have the Word of eternal life and love for others, that we have the Hope of all mankind?

 

Medics on the battlefield are different from other soldiers, they are seen as the healers, their presence can be reassurance to others as the medics risk their lives, exposing themselves so that others may live.

 

Surely, in Christ, we can do no less.  

The Glorious Second Movement

 

 

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:14 – 18).

 

The second movement of John 17, verses 13 – 26, presents us with the tightly interwoven themes of our “mission to the world” and our “koinonia with one another in the Trinity.” To know the God of the Trinity is to know the God who so loves the world, to know the heartbeat of God is to know the sacrificial Giver to all mankind.

 

Jesus sends us into the world as the Father sent Him (v. 18), He prays that we may be one as the Father and Son are one so that the world may believe that the Father sent the Son (v. 21). Jesus prays for our perfection into one “so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (v. 23).

 

Our deep unity in the Trinity is associated with our witness to the world, and our witness to the world cannot and must not be separated from our koinonia with one another in the Holy Trinity. As long as we make excuses for our fragmentation we will fall short of creditable and Biblical witness to the world, with the people of the world suffering the consequences of our parochialism and schism. No evangelistic method can fill the chasm of deficient witness worn deep into the earth by the waters of sectarianism, distinctives, and “franchise Christianity.”

 

Witness, we might say, begins with Incarnation, and Incarnation is found in the unity of the Body of Christ within the Trinity. What people “see” draws them to Christ, we may argue all we want, we may lay out logical schematics, but until people “see” Jesus they cannot come to know Jesus, they cannot surrender their lives to Him, they cannot come home to the Father.

 

As Jesus prepares His disciples to be witnesses to the world, note His emphasis throughout John 13 – 17, it is the emphasis of our abiding koinonia and love together in the Trinity – it is the visible manifestation of our love and unity in Jesus Christ (John 13:35; 17:23). We cannot share with others what we do not have; having arguments is not the same as having Jesus and as Jesus having us.

 

The Great Commission of Matthew 28 flows from the Upper Room of John 13 – 17 and the Resurrection. Indeed, we find “Even as the Father sent me, so send I you” in both John 17 (the Upper Room) and John 20 (Resurrection Day).

 

O dear friends, any evangelistic method that does not begin and end with what Jesus says in John 13:35 and 17:23 falls short of our calling in Him and ill equips its messengers. Jesus equipped His disciples by bringing them into the Holy of Holies, shall we do less?

 

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34 – 35).

 

“That they may all be one; even as You, Father are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me” (John 17:21 – 23).

 

Our witness to the world is contingent on our loving one another as Jesus loves us and our Divine oneness in the Trinity. The two are one in that when we love one another as Jesus loves us we have Divine oneness, and that when we have Divine oneness we love as God loves – God is love (1 John 4).

 

As I hope we will see in forthcoming meditations, this calling is sacrificial, for just as Jesus set Himself apart for us, we are to set apart ourselves for others (John 17:17 – 18). Just as Jesus was priest and sacrifice, so are we to be both priest and sacrifice – for as the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sends us. This melding of priest and sacrifice is our state of being in Jesus Christ, this life on the altar is our abode, this continuing offering up of intercession is embedded in our every breath.

 

When others laugh at our forlorn hope, we see Jesus. When brethren call us impractical and foolish we love them. When the people of the world deride us we bear them on the altar of our hearts in prayer. When the kingdoms of the world mock us and our God, we remind ourselves of that Kingdom that will fill the entire earth, of Jesus putting all His enemies beneath His feet.

 

Every disciple of Jesus Christ, every soul which calls itself “Christian,” is called to live in the Holy of Holies of John Chapter 17, is called to live in the Temple of the Upper Room (John 13 – 17). This is our birthright, our blessing, our calling; our destiny from eternity past into eternity present and into eternity future.

 

We are to live in this Temple, to go out from this Temple, to come back into this Temple bringing others; to know the ascending and descending of the Son of Man. We are called to rescue our brethren from the pigpen as we have been rescued, to declare our Father’s Name to our brethren as Jesus has declared that Name to us, to be broken bread and poured out wine for others as the sacrament lives in and through us in Christ.

 

We are to touch the untouchable and love the unlovable, to be a shelter for the stranger, the alien, the homeless, the disenfranchised, the hopeless, the socially unclean; we are to look through and beneath and beyond the facades of wealth and power and fame and see souls who need Jesus, souls who are trapped in the prisons of this age with its lies and smoke and mirrors and empty promises.

 

In other words, we are to love as God loves.

 

Now then, how will we live today?

Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship Part II – Reflections (24)

 

“Christians are to remain in the world, not because of the God-given goodness of the world, nor even because of their responsibility for the course the world takes. They are to remain in the world solely for the sake of the body of the Christ who became incarnate – for the sake of the church-community. They are to remain in the world in order to engage the world in a frontal assault. Let them ‘live out their vocation in this world’ in order that their ‘unworldliness’ might become fully visible. But this can take place only through visible membership in the church-community. The world must be contradicted within the world” (pages 226 – 227).

 

From this paragraph Bonhoeffer will move into our vocational callings in daily life, but first he must write, “This can take place only through visible membership in the church-community.” That is, we can only be sustained in our individual callings as we experience koinonia within the church-community – going it alone may not be impossible, but it is close to impossible. For sure, if we cannot find koinonia close by us, then we must find it elsewhere in the communion of saints – such as in Hebrews 11.

 

I suppose I must state the obvious, “membership in the church-community” means substantive relationship in Christ, it means relationship we cannot live without – it means that we are desperate for one another for we are “members of one another” in Christ. It does not mean having our names on a membership list, it does not mean “joining” a church.

 

This does not mean that we should not have membership lists, it does not mean that we should not “join” a church, I think we have liberty in this matter and there can be sound reasons for membership on practical and spiritual levels. However, we ought not to confuse the form from the substance; we can have form without substance, it is difficult to have substance without form.

 

Regarding the latter, the life of God in us must have manifestation and that manifestation will hopefully take Biblical form…if allowed to mature, if informed by Scripture, if lived in koinonia, if not quashed by the scribes and Pharisees.

 

Regarding the former, do we truly have organic membership in local congregations, in denominations, and in those who style themselves non-denominational? I have been challenged by this as long as I can remember; the gulf between the Biblical portrayal of koinonia and our experience, at least in the West, has been wide and deep to my thinking in my generation.

 

This is not to say that we don’t have glimpses of koinonia, it isn’t to say that we don’t have shafts of light and beauty, but it is to say that this isn’t the American Christian way of life. We tend to live in isolation from those who we sit behind on Sunday mornings, we tend to not really know them, we seldom need them, and they seldom really need us.

 

If we can live without one another, we aren’t likely members of one another.

 

I suppose I could live without an arm or a leg, or even without both arms and both legs, but I’d rather not contemplate the possibility.

 

(How is it that we can experience seemingly harmonious Sunday morning gatherings, with smiles and handshakes and hugs, and yet have leadership and congregational meetings rife with discord and acrimony? Why can’t we be honest about the condition of our souls?)

We must live out our distinctive calling as the Body of Christ, as the People of God, if we are to live out our individual vocational callings – an arm, a leg, an eye ought to be attached to a body, it is to function as a member of a body. This is one reason why Discipleship has two parts, the first part focuses on our individual calling, the second on our collective calling to life together. (Paul structures Romans in a similar fashion.)

 

“They are to remain in the world solely for the sake of the body of the Christ who became incarnate – for the sake of the church-community.”

 

What might Bonhoffer mean here?

 

My sense is that we remain here to continue Christ’s Incarnational witness. We are here for the benefit of our brethren in Christ (Philippians 1:21 – 25), here to partake in filling up Christ’s sufferings (Colossians 1:24), here to participate in the perfection of the Body (Hebrews 11:40; Ephesians 4:14 – 16).

 

“They are to remain in the world in order to engage the world in a frontal assault.”

 

We are also here to witness to the people of the world and to confront the system of the world, striving in Christ to set others free from the bondage and death of the world. We are on a rescue mission on one hand, and on a mission to dismantle the world – system on the other hand; both are accomplished as we live in Christ, as we obey Him, as we overcome evil with good. Our collective witness accomplishes this, as does our individual witness – we need both, we are called to live both incarnationally.

 

Our obedience matters, it matters for the salvation of others, it matters for the protection of others. We have no life-giving witness without obedience to Jesus Christ.

 

In our current climate, I read Matthew 25:31 – 46 and wonder where our obedience is. It seems we have hidden ourselves in caves and forests and beneath rocks, lest we should be identified with Jesus Christ who gave his life for us that we might give our lives for others.

 

I read the Sermon on the Mount and wonder where our obedience is. I wonder if the Incarnation isn’t a myth, an illusion; if it is true, then where is it? If the Incarnation was true 2,000 years ago, then it must be true today – Christ lives within His Body; if so, then where is He?

 

Well, of course the Incarnation is true, of course the Body of Christ lives; the God who so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son, who continues to give His Son, continues to give the Body of His Son; as Augustine teaches, as with the Head so with the Body.

 

When we wonder whether our lives matter, let us remember:

 

“Through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19).

 

This is the calling of the Firstborn Son, it continues as the calling of the many-membered Son.

 

Abiding Joy

 

 

“But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves” (John 17:13).

 

“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11).

 

Jesus is speaking so that we may have the fullness of His joy abiding in us. He is speaking as He is about to be betrayed by one close to Him. He is speaking as the shadow of the Cross envelopes the Upper Room. That Jesus speaks of joy before His impending crucifixion should not surprise us, for we see that Jesus, “For the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2).

 

As we ponder John 15:11 and John 17:13 (see also 16:20 – 22), I hope we recognize, once again, the unity of John chapters 13 – 17; this is a tightly woven tapestry that calls us to stand back and meditate, allowing its patterns to penetrate our hearts and minds and souls, calling us to enter into it and inviting us to allow it to enter into us.

 

Jesus speaks not simply of joy, but of the fullness of joy, a joy that is completed and perfected – God desires no less for us in Christ, He promises no less. Jesus speaks not just of joy, but of His joy abiding in us, living in us, taking up its dwelling in us. In Christ Jesus we have abiding joy. Joy is our Way of Life. We see the theme of abiding throughout the Upper Room, the Holy Spirit abides in us, the Father abides in us, Jesus abides in us, we abide in the Vine, the joy of Jesus abides in us – abiding is a motif of the Upper Room tapestry.

 

Jesus’ promise to us is, “No one will take your joy away from you” (John 16:22).

 

Just as the love of God abides in us, so the joy of God abides in us. I am reminded of Zephaniah 3:17, of God exulting over us with joy, rejoicing over us with shouts of joy. Can we be quiet long enough to hear God singing and shouting? Will we allow Him into our churches with that kind of behavior? Will we know Him in the quietness of His love?

 

The joy of Christ within us is a state of being, just as the love of God within us is a state of being. It is possible to sing and dance and shout and play music, but never really know the joy of Christ, for the joy of Christ is a state of being, for God is joy just as God is love.  It is also possible to know inexpressible joy in the depths of inexpressible quiet, and in the midst of inexpressible sorrow and suffering (see again Hebrews 12:2).

 

We may express the joy of Christ in many ways, offering God’s joy in Christ back to Him in worship, sharing it with others – both quietly and exuberantly – and drawing on it as we pass through fire and flood.

 

Love, peace, hope, faith, joy; these are all elements of our state of being in Jesus Christ, they are all His…they come from Him, they abide in us, we return them to Him, we share them with others as we are Christ’s Presence on the earth.

 

Jesus speaks so that we may have His joy, that we may find joy in His Word. Do we? When we read the Bible, are we encountering Jesus Christ and His joy? Is the joy of Christ abiding in us as His Word abides in us?

 

As you ponder the Upper Room (John 13 – 17), where are you encountering joy?

 

Is it in Jesus washing our feet so that we may wash the feet of others?

 

Is it in loving others as Jesus loves us, laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters?

 

Is it finding that place in Christ that He has prepared for us, as He comes to us from the Father?

 

Is it in the coming of the Holy Spirit to abide in us?

 

Is it as the Father and Son come to make their home in us?

 

Is it abiding in the Vine?

 

Is it in realizing that our Father has given us to Jesus Christ and that we are secure in Jesus?

 

Is it in knowing that Christ sends us just as the Father sent Him?

 

Is it in the knowledge that the Father loves us even as He loves His Firstborn Son, Jesus Christ?

 

Where are we finding joy in the Word of Jesus?

 

How is the joy of Jesus abiding in us as our Way of Life?

 

Please do not misunderstand me, I love music and I love Biblically-grounded lyrics and I love singing soft and I love singing loud, and I love quite music by which to meditate and pray; but the joy of Christ Jesus is a state of being, it can be expressed in action, but it need not be external action since it is an inward Way of Life. In fact, there is a sense in which we can have singing and shouting and dancing that is not seen with the natural eye, for it occurs within our hearts and minds and souls and spirits…it never ceases. Sometimes we may be playing the drums and symbols in our hearts, other times a gentle flute. We may be sitting in a chair in a doctor’s waiting room while playing the tambourine and dancing in our souls…and praying for those around us.

 

Paul writes of “singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19). What are we playing in our hearts? What melodies are flowing from our innermost beings? Yes, yes, there may indeed be times when our outward actions rekindle the embers on the hearth of our hearts, but surely this is not to be our way of life, for Jesus is our Way of Life and His joy has become our joy, his joy abides within us.

 

How is the joy of Jesus being completed and perfected within us…today?

 

If I were to knock on your door this evening, would you answer me with a song of joy?

 

The Mystery of Perdition – Part 3

 

 

“Not one of them perished but the son of perdition” (John 17:12).

 

In the previous reflection I wrote that the Biblical picture of perdition defies our understanding and is beyond our comprehension. I am deeply thankful for this, for we are the children of God, we are not God, and our dear heavenly Father wants the best for us; because He is our Abba, He protects us. His protection includes guarding us from knowledge that would poison us, warp us, and damage us. We do not have the capacity to know some things, perhaps many things; when I write “capacity” I include the ability to not be damaged by knowing and seeing certain things.

 

As it is, much of humanity already encounters evil on an unspeakable scale, those of us who live in relative safety often ignore this. Even within our own borders, within our own cities and towns and rural areas, there can be unspeakable evil in myriad forms.

 

There are those who have encountered evil and have no wish to know any more about it, then there are those who haven’t encountered evil and tend to treat it as a theological or philosophical plaything, then there are those who have encountered evil and desperately desire to escape it, and then there are those who have sold themselves to evil.

 

The sons and daughters of God are called, in Christ, to deliver others from evil (Isaiah 61:1 – 3). This means that those who have no desire to know anything more of evil nevertheless continue to confront it as it ravages humanity. I think of Doctors Without Borders, who place themselves in the midst of the evil of war and genocide in order to save others, even though they may suffer and die in the attempt – this should be a convicting example to the Western church.

 

It is important to recall that we were all once dead in our sins and were “by nature the children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1 – 3), lest we become judgmental and not merciful. “You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8).

 

Jesus told a group of people, “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father” (John 8:44).

 

Jude writes of those who have been “marked out for condemnation,” “clouds without water,” “for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.”

 

In 2 Thessalonians we read of the “mystery of lawlessness,” and of “the lawless one” (2 Thess. 2.7 – 8).

 

We see glimpses of unspeakable evil in the Bible, yet the Bible does not major on evil but on righteousness and love and mercy. In Jesus Christ, we see that God has overcome, and is overcoming, evil with good. Unspeakable evil is overcome by incomprehensive good in Jesus Christ.

 

We must not deny the existence of evil, and we must not abandon those imprisoned within it; the “gates of hell shall not overpower” the Church of Jesus Christ (Mt. 16:18), and greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). Yet, our strength is not in looking into the abyss and the ways of evil, it is not by being occupied with the mystery of lawlessness and perdition, but by knowing Jesus, especially in community. Our warfare is primarily engaged in as a people, we need one another in Christ – we need the support, encouragement, and security of the Body of Christ.

 

However, when we live in a land with an individualistic ethos, such as the United States, in which we are pretty much on our own – within and without the church – our conflict with evil can be especially challenging – isolation is a constant enemy (we can be among people yet still be isolated).  

 

(Bonhoeffer recognized the great need, the necessity, for “life together” as darkness enveloped his nation and the church in his nation.)

 

The lawless one is defeated by the appearance of the Lord, the enemy is always defeated by the Lord’s coming – coming into our lives, into the lives of others, making His appearance (2 Thess. 2:8). Darkness is always overcome by Light.

 

2 Thessalonians Chapter Two is a passage for every generation, including our own. The deception and “deluding influences” rampant in the world and the professing church are exponential…many of which purport to be Christian. This passage demonstrates what it looks like when the “son of perdition” and the “mystery of lawlessness” are let loose in the world.

 

We can “see” these things, we can sense and even understand some of their patterns and dynamics…but our eyes must always be on Jesus, always on Jesus, for we are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1 – 4; see 1 John 3:1 – 3 and its juxtaposition with 3:4 – 5; see Hebrews 12:1 – 3).

 

Our calling is to show Jesus to others, to be His Presence in the world in the midst of unspeakable evil. Do we recognize that the Sermon on the Mount includes the call to overcome evil with good so “that we may be children of our Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:45)?

 

I do not understand much about “You are of your father the devil” or of what Jude writes of those who have been “marked out for condemnation…clouds without water…for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.” But I know enough to know that these things are a terrible mystery. Our Father reveals enough to us to protect us, to warn us, and to help us help others; He also hides enough to protect us, mindful of our frailty.

 

I am thankful that perdition is a mystery, that whatever the “mystery of lawlessness” is that it is a mystery I do not need to fully understand…for what I do know is bad enough, it is enough of a burden.

 

Christ Jesus is our Rock and Refuge; He is our Good Shepherd protecting us; we have much to be thankful for…Jesus will lose none whom the Father has given Him.

 

 

The Mystery of Perdition – Part 2

 

 

JN 17:12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

 

2TH 2:1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

 

               In John 17:12 Jesus refers to Judas with a specific term, in the NIV it is the one doomed to destruction. Other English versions translate this phrase the son of perdition or son of destruction – and indeed the word son is exactly what the Greek text says. So Jesus is referring to Judas as the son or child of perdition or destruction. What does this mean? A look at Paul’s passage in 2 Thessalonians may help us to understand this phrase.

 

               In 2 Thessalonians Chapter Two Paul is dealing with, in part, the personification of Satan and Satan’s opposition to the Church of Jesus Christ. In describing the man of lawlessness, or who the Apostle John refers to as the antichrist, Paul uses the very same term that Jesus uses with respect to Judas; the man doomed to destruction (NIV), the son of destruction, the son of perdition (other English versions).

 

               Once again we are confronted with the association of Judas Iscariot with the devil or Satan, and now also with the spirit and persona of the antichrist – to the point where Paul and Jesus use the same term to describe both Judas and the antichrist. Considering this clear association it is unlikely that the “remorse” we read about in the Gospel of Matthew is a remorse of true repentance, for the Biblical picture of Satan and the antichrist presents no such picture – see Revelation 19:20-21; 20:10. While we may not understand any of what really went on within Judas Iscariot, anymore than we can say that we understand what went on with Satan that led to his rebellion against God; we can say in both instances that the Biblical picture ends in perdition, in an abyss that defies our understanding and which is beyond our comprehension.

 

               Beyond the above there are at least three Old Testament prophecies of Judas Iscariot, Psalm 41:9, which Jesus quotes in John 13:18; Psalm 69:25 and 109:8 which are both quoted by the Apostles in Acts 1:20. And then we have the words of Jesus about Judas in Matthew 26:24, “…but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Perhaps all we need do in reading about the remorse of Judas in Matthew 27:3 is to look back to what Jesus said about Judas in Matthew 26:24 – perhaps Matthew did not intend to leave us with any question about the irrevocability of Judas’s betrayal?

 

               There are many mysteries in the Scriptures, things that we can dimly see but which we cannot fully understand; as much as we would like to engage in speculation, speculation is generally unprofitable and diverts our attention from the Biblical text with its focus on Jesus Christ, God’s love for humanity, and the offer of redemption that is extended to us through the Cross and Resurrection.

 

               What can we learn from Judas? The first thing is in the words of Jesus, “Therefore when he [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him,’” John 13:31. God uses persecution and betrayal in our lives to transform us into His image and to be glorified in us. If we are going to know Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10) it will likely mean that we experience betrayal. We are called to allow the most painful experiences in life to be the means by which we are transformed into the image of Christ and the means by which God is glorified within us.

 

               The second thing we can learn is the heinousness of sin and the consequences of alignment with Satan. We are not engaged in a religious game; the Gospel is a matter of eternal life versus eternal death. What we believe matters, how we live matters, and our faithfulness to Christ matters. There is a lot we may not know about Judas Iscariot; but we should give heed to what we do know.

 

 

The Mystery of Perdition – Part 1

 

 

“Not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled” (John 17:12).

 

I want to consider this passage in two ways, first thinking about Judas and then pondering the idea of “perdition.”

 

In 2009 I was leading my congregation through the Upper Room on Sunday mornings, and when I came to John 17:12 and Judas Iscariot, I prepared what follows as a handout for folks to take home and study. I hope it is helpful.

 

Judas Iscariot

Staying Within the Biblical Text

By: Bob Withers

September 25, 2009

 

                    Our time in the Upper Room with Jesus in September and October can only scratch the surface of John Chapters 13 – 17. Due to time limitations, there are some threads of these chapters that we’ll be unable to touch on at all; one of which is Judas Iscariot.

               As we’ll see below, the Bible does not tell us a lot about Judas Iscariot (not to be confused with another Apostle named Judas), but that is the case with most of the Apostles, and in one sense this shouldn’t be a surprise because the Gospels are about Jesus Christ and not about us or anyone else. Of the twelve original Apostles we know more about Peter from the Gospels and the Book of Acts than anyone else, and next to Peter we know more about John than anyone else – but beyond those two Apostles our information is pretty scanty and in some instances nonexistent.

               Concerning Judas Iscariot, of the four Gospel writers John tells us more than Matthew, Mark and Luke; the Book of Acts (also written by Luke) also refers to Judas (in the first chapter) – but John is where we get more of a glimpse of Judas than anywhere else…and yet it is only a glimpse.

               The temptation with just getting a glimpse of something is to read more into it than we ought to and to build an image or teaching which may not be there at all; it is a temptation that most of us, including me, find hard to resist!

               The temptation with getting a glimpse of Judas is that we want to find some way to understand why he betrayed Jesus. Why did he do it? What was he thinking? What was he feeling? Perhaps he wanted the best for Jesus and just went about it the wrong way? Maybe he repented after he saw the consequences of his actions and asked for forgiveness? Isn’t there some way we can turn Judas into a sympathetic figure?

               The challenge in asking these questions is to stay within the Biblical text – a difficult challenge with almost any Biblical text; but perhaps a particular challenge with a tough subject like Judas Iscariot.

               Below are the key New Testament passages referring to Judas Iscariot, I have not included passages from Mark or Luke because they parallel those in Matthew and John – what do these passages teach us?

 

               JN 6:70 Then Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!" 71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)

 

               The word “devil” means “slanderer” and whether or not Jesus means that Judas is a slanderer as opposed to being possessed or influenced by the devil at that particular time, the fact that Jesus uses this particular word forms an association with Judas and the evil one, known as the devil or Satan.

 

   JN 12:4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 "Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

 

          Here is another glimpse. We are told that Judas was a thief and we are shown that Judas was also a liar and a deceiver. In John 10:10 Jesus teaches that the thief (referring to the devil) comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. In John 6:44 Jesus also teaches that the devil is a murderer, a liar, and in fact “the father of lies”. So once again we have association occurring with Judas and Satan.

 

               The following passage in John Chapter 13 occurs in the Upper Room:

 

  JN 13:2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus.

 

   JN 13:26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

 

               In 13:2 we see that Judas had already moved to betray Jesus; see also Matthew 26:14; Mark 14:10; Luke 22:3.

               In 13:26 – 27 we see something akin to a consummation of relationship between Judas and Satan – though the exact nature of what we’re reading is hard to grasp. Without a doubt a line of demarcation is crossed with the words, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him”.

 

   MT 27:3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.

 

             Here is another glimpse of Judas, which without a full Biblical context could be open to different interpretations. Could this mean that Judas came to God in repentance, asked forgiveness, and was forgiven? This is a fair and reasonable question. Of course we all know that remorse can take many forms, from true repentance and confession and seeking forgiveness; to being sorry for being caught. Remorse coming from a recognition of sin, a recognition of wrongdoing, does not in and of itself mean that it is remorse leading to repentance. Are there other Biblical passages that might throw light on this question: Did Judas turn to God in repentance?

 

We will pick this up in the next post....