Mythical Identities

 

 

I love the early morning, spending time in communion with our Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; meditating in the Word of God, praying for friends, family, and others. I love listening to creation awake, the birds singing. I love watching the first hint of sunshine reflecting off trees and flowers.

 

As I write this I’m reminded of a morning in Daytona, Florida in February quite a few years ago. I arose early that morning, as I normally do, and decided to walk around Daytona International Speedway. In just a few hours the racetrack would roar to life as the command, “Gentlemen start your engines,” was given, then, after some warmup laps the green flag would wave and the Daytona 500 would begin – NASCAR’s premier race. At the beginning of my walk all was quiet around the outside of the track, but by the time I returned to my father-in-law’s RV where we were staying, the racing community around the track was waking up and I could hear stirrings inside the facility.

 

The capacity of the speedway is listed at 101,500, and it seemed as if all those people were in RVs and campers parked around the track, though I knew Daytona’s hotels were also full of race fans, as were accommodations in surrounding towns and cities. The thing about race fans in campers and RVs is that virtually each vehicle has at least one flag flying, a flag representing the race car driver whom the occupants of the RV identify with and want to win the race. Many vehicles have more than one flag because often a husband identifies with one racer and a wife with another. Some of these flags are modest; others are huge.

 

NASCAR fans not only fly the flags of their favorite racers, they wear shirts and hats with the racers’ car numbers and names – and they speak of them as if they know them personally, generally using their first names, even though most fans have never met those whose flags they fly, and if they have met them, it was only for a brief moment – perhaps to obtain an autograph.

 

Whether it is a fan of a race car driver, the fan of a singer or musician, or of an actor, or of an athlete in another sport – when people strongly identify with someone popular or famous they often derive a measure of their identity from that person. People can become obsessed with details about a celebrity’s life, thinking that they personally know the celebrity. The same can be true with identifying with sports teams. It can be true with politicians. It can be true with ideologies. It can be true with cultural practices. It can be true with our view of history.

 

In one way or another, much of what we identify with is myth and image, it is not real, it does not match the reality of the person, the political movement, the history or the culture or region or country – when we idolize others, when we idolize images, we gloss over the fallenness of mankind, we ignore sin, and we look to others and images as our saviors and redeemers and source of wholeness.

 

College sports is a particular reminder of this for me; in Virginia many of my friends identify with either the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech – and when their team is winning all is right with the world. They wear hats and have stickers on their cars indicating that they identify with the Cavaliers or Hokies – this is part of the “identity culture” in Virginia. However, this uncritical identification ignores the reality that much of what transpires in these universities is hostile to the image of God, the Gospel, and the commonsense moral and ethical health of their students. Parents and grandparents don’t really want to know what is taught and practiced in the colleges they send their children to and pay tuition to - they would rather subscribe to mythical images. The same is true for our public schools – it is easier to root for the high school football team than it is to critique what is being taught in classes and to evaluate the (a)moral and (un)ethical practices inculcated in our children.

 

Because of the media tools at our disposal, the power of myth and image is so much stronger today than it has ever been in history, it is what a friend once called “electronic cocaine.” Our attention spans are shorter than previous generations and our capacity for critical thinking is diminished more than they have probably ever been.

 

When we have culture clashes and disputes over the reading and interpretation of history, much of it is about mythical identities rather than the truth – for the truth puts us on our faces, for when we see the truth, as fragmented as our vision may be, we have to acknowledge deep moral and ethical failure in humanity. We are angry when others challenge our myths, we are afraid to see our myths for what they are, and we are most afraid to question our mythical identities – whether they are cultural, ethnic, racial, regional, national, political, or having to do with religious tradition.

 

For sure we should beware of seeking to unmask the mythical identities of others while leaving our own untouched – for unless we know something of the pain of confronting our own myths, it is unlikely that we can communicate with others in such a way as to help them see their own.

 

Perhaps this is one of many reasons why the message of the Bible gives us hope, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God – this means, in part, that none of us is measuring up to God’s original intention for us. The Cross is the great leveler of humanity, “there is none good, no not one.” That means me and it means you, and perhaps more importantly in the context of mythical identity, it means “us.” We are all infected with mythical identities. It is only when we discover our true identity in Jesus Christ that we can begin to shed the mythical identities that have encumbered us.  

 

By God’s grace I have encountered mythical identities in my own life, and that is one reason I refuse to use words such as liberal, conservative, progressive; it is why I don’t care for the words clergy and laity; it is why I much prefer Mere Christianity to a franchised brand that would distinguish me from other Christ-followers; it is why when people do coalesce around labels, or attack labels, that I try to understand what they really mean…and have found that often they don’t know.

 

I have been appalled at the mythical identities that I have worn without question.

 

Can you identify mythical identities in your own life?

 

Galatians 2:20; 6:14

The Second Story

 

The second story

Ephesians 1:1-12

 

 

 

               When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

 

              

               Last week I asked two homework questions, the first was “How many wise men came to see Jesus?”, and the second was, “Where was Jesus when they found Him?”  Now, those of you who did your homework know that the Gospel of Matthew, where the account of the wise men is found in chapter two, doesn’t tell us how many there were.  However, it does tell us that when they found Jesus that they found Him in a house…and when we take into consideration some other information that Matthew supplies us with it seems fairly clear that Jesus was not a newborn when the wise men encountered Him.  Yet, were we to take a poll of the average man on the street and ask how many wise men there were, the likely answer we would get (from those who have an inkling of what we’re talking about) would be three, and the follow up would be that they found Him in a manger.

               Now you may wonder what we’re doing talking about the birth of Jesus and wise men as we begin our adventure in Ephesians…before I share that with you I need to make as certain as I can that you please understand that seeing three wise men in a nativity scene is perfectly fine with me…it doesn’t bother me one bit…I think a nativity scene would be lacking something without them…so please don’t leave here and tell folks that I’m against having three wise men at nativity scenes…

               In 1977 or 78, I can’t quite remember which year, I was teaching a Sunday School class of young adults and older teenagers.  I think that without exception all of these students had been raised in the church…and had therefore been exposed to preaching, teaching and the Bible all of their lives…it was my first class with these young people…though I knew them all pretty well…and I asked them these same two questions…and the answer I got, without exception…was that there were three wise men and that they found Jesus in a manger…and by the way…my point in doing so then was my same point in doing so this morning…

               So I had a student read the second chapter of Matthew aloud, and I asked my same questions and got the same answers.  So we read it again…and had an instant reply…same answers…and this went on for a few minutes…until the light dawned on Rachel Turnage and she excitedly said, “The Bible doesn’t say how many wise men there were…and it says they found Jesus in a house.”  The power of inherited and taught image was so great in those students that even though they were reading the words of Scripture…the images that they had within them of the passage overrode their understanding of the passage.  Let me repeat that, the power of inherited and taught image was so great in those students that even though they were reading the words of Scripture…the images that they had within them of the passage overrode their understanding and reading of the passage.

               And my point is that if this is so when it comes to material things…concerning how many men and what location the passage is referring to…how much more can this be true when it comes to the way we view ourselves, the way we view each other, and the way we view God?  Does our image of who we are in Christ measure up to what Jesus Himself taught, does it measure up to what the Bible teaches?  Does our image of the Church match that of the Bible?

               Could it be that we have taken negative images, received from family, other people, perhaps even religion, and superimposed them onto our reading of the Scriptures and the Gospel of Jesus Christ?  What does the Bible really say about who we are when we believe in Jesus Christ?

               When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

               Let’s do a quick survey of our passage.

               Verse one, Paul calls the people he is writing to “saints”.  Well, there’s a roadblock isn’t there?  The fact that most of us have an image that a saint is a spiritual Michael Jordan, in a place unattainable by most of us, demonstrates how far removed the original idea of saint has become from what it is today.  It also demonstrates how self-centered we’ve become in our approach to the Scriptures.  For being a saint has nothing whatsoever to do with our ability…but it has everything to do with what Jesus Christ has done for us…and you see…that’s the Gospel…the Gospel is not about us…as we saw in our journey through the Gospel of Mark…but it’s about Jesus Christ.  Well, let’s keep going…

               Verse 3 – we’ve been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ.

               Verse 4 – we’ve been chosen in Him that we should be holy and blameless.

               Verse 5 – we’ve been adopted as His children.

               Verse 6 – God has freely given us grace in Christ.  Please notice…that nowhere in the Bible do we earn mercy or grace…it is always…always…without exception…a gift of God.

               Verse 7 – in Christ we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.

               Verse 8 – God has lavished His grace upon us.

               Verse 9 – God made His will known to us.

               Verse 10 – our destiny is in Christ…we’re not accidents looking for a place to happen…but we are people of purpose and destiny.

 

When we have the big picture, when we know Christ, and know who we are in Christ, we can live life confident of His love and acceptance and can be a blessing to others.

A couple of weeks ago I was over at Dave Mitchell’s house, and Dave and the kids showed me a gallon jar…and in it was a Monarch butterfly in the process of metamorphous…when I first saw it that morning there was a thin membrane surrounding the butterfly…but when we looked at it about an hour later the butterfly had spread its wings and would be released from the jar as soon as its wings dried…

Now just suppose when I looked at that butterfly with its wings unfolded I had said to Dave and the kids…”That’s a nice looking caterpillar.”…what do you think their response would have been?  Maybe Dave’s daughter Marley would have tried to explain to me that what was once a land bound creepy crawly thing called a caterpillar had been changed…and that the new thing is called a butterfly.  Maybe Dave would have wondered how soon he could get me out of his house.

Maybe after hearing Marley’s explanation I would have revised my opinion, and called the thing a “converted caterpillar” or a “good looking worm”. I still don’t think that would have cut it with the Mitchell family…for the butterfly is a new creature…

Notice that Paul never addresses his letters to sinners…or even to converted sinners…he addresses them to butterflies…to saints…to new creatures in Christ…not on account of anything that they’ve done…but because of what Christ has done…we’ve had a change of identity when we believe in Jesus Christ…

Sure there may be times when we forget who we are…and we may imitate caterpillars now and then…but that doesn’t change our identity…we may be butterflies acting like caterpillars…or saints acting like sinners…or new creatures acting like old creatures…but it doesn’t change our identity in Christ…

When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

The thing is…many of us live on the first floor of a two-story house…those of you this morning…who live in a two-story house…how would you feel if…when you got home today…you found that someone had come into your house and taken away your stairs?  Would you simply accept the loss of your stairs…and of your ability to access the second floor of your home…and learn to live solely on the first floor?

Suppose when Vickie and I were doing our house hunting…and we found a two story house that looked great from the outside…but upon entering found that it didn’t come with stairs…that zoning laws prohibited stairs…and that we’d have to confine our living to the first floor… would we have gone along with that deal and purchased the house…would you have purchased the house?

Yet…we think nothing…as a society…and all too often as God’s people…of living in a two story house without stairs…we are conditioned to live with a consumer mentality in which he who dies with the most toys win…we are conditioned to view life economically…we are conditioned…as a society…to believe that there is no absolute truth…no absolute right or wrong…we are conditioned to be caterpillars…things crawling around on the ground…

And when we get a peek of what’s on the second story of life…maybe a glimpse of unselfish love…or of hope…perhaps of comfort…maybe of God…well…we’re told that all of that is conditioning of one type or another…that there’s nothing really up there on the second floor…

When I have the big picture, when I know Christ, and know who I am in Christ, I can live life confident of His love and acceptance and I can be a blessing to others.

Christ is our ladder to the second floor…Christ has restored the image of God in us that sin fractured…Christ has restored us to fellowship with our heavenly Father…

Did Dave Mitchell have to give that butterfly a lesson in how to fly?  Did he have to enroll it in a course to teach it how to be a butterfly?  Was Dave afraid that when he let the butterfly out of the jar that it would crawl around on the ground and act like a caterpillar?  I don’t think so. 

What do you say to the idea that when we look at each other this week that we see new creatures in Christ Jesus…and that when we look in our mirrors…that we see ourselves in Christ…as new creatures…transformed to worship Him and love others?  What do you say to the idea that we venture up on the second story of our house and live life in the perspective of the big picture?

Lambs of the Lamb

 

 

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth” (Isaiah 53:6 – 7).

 

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:36 – 37).

 

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

 

Are we lambs of the Lamb?

 

More precisely, are we sacrificial lambs of the Sacrificial Lamb?

 

Is it enough to read Isaiah 53 and say, “Here is evidence that Jesus is Messiah?” Is it enough to read Isaiah 53 and preach it as an evidentiary text?

 

Are we not called to believe into the Christ of the passage and surrender ourselves to Him, allowing Him to enter into us, living in us and through us to others?

 

If this is so, then what is this to look like? How is Christ Jesus to be manifested?

 

Are we not to lay down our lives for others, just as Jesus Christ laid down His life for us?

 

“This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12 – 13).

 

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

 

And here is the thing dear friends, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! Jesus teaches us that we are to love our enemies, blessing those who are opposed to us (Matthew 5:43 – 48), so that we may be the sons and daughters of the Living God. As the sacrificial life and death of Jesus Christ redeemed us, reconciling us to God when we were enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), so we are called to lay down our lives so that others may be reconciled. After all, we are the organic Body of Christ, are we not?

 

Note the emphasis on “He did not open His mouth,” in Isaiah 53:6 – 7. Consider that “Our griefs He bore and our sorrows He carried” (53:4), ponder “the anguish of His soul” (53:11), “He poured out His soul to death” (53:12), and “He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors” (53:12).

 

And then let us ask ourselves, “Is this a description of my life? Is this a portrayal of my local congregation? Is this how the professing church in America looks today?”

 

Dear, dear friends, what matters to the world…and I think to our Lord Jesus Christ, is not so much the evidence we have in linking the events of Isaiah 53 to those of Good Friday and Easter, but rather the evidence the world sees in our lives as we embody the sacrificial Lamb of Isaiah 53 – for this is indeed our calling. To have the former without the latter is to have a body without a soul.

 

In Romans 8:36 Paul brings his readers to the glorious fruit of the Gospel in our lives, the result of justification and sanctification, the glory of all that he has taught leading up to his quotation of Psalm 44:22, and that glory is that we follow the Lamb wherever He goes…and He goes to the Cross. The glory we lost in Romans 3:23 is eclipsed (if we can use such a term) in 8:28 – 39, for we enter into the koinonia of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10).

 

“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” (1 Peter 4:13).

 

“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24).

"Death works in us, but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:12).

 

Is Isaiah 53 a portrait of our lives?

O Jesus, please make it so.

Sent and Sanctified; Sanctified and Sent (3)

 

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).

 

What would the Church look like if we lived in 1 John 3:16? What would we look like if we lived as one Family, as one People? As Jesus says, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). This love is the love of Jesus, “That you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34).

 

The standard and quality and nature and expression of our love for one another is the very love of Jesus Christ.

 

This must begin in me, and it must begin in you. It must begin in our marriages, our families, and our individual congregations and fellowships, it must begin in our friendships. And here is the thing, even if you never see it elsewhere, you must live it; I must live it. We must not wait to see it elsewhere, we must follow Jesus now, and in following Jesus we must live the love of Jesus, laying down our lives for the brethren, giving our lives for the people of the world.

 

You may come to the end of your life and not have much company, perhaps you will have no company, perhaps you will walk alone in faithfulness to Jesus Christ; but how could we possibly ever be truly alone knowing that Jesus assures us that He will never leave us or forsake us?

 

When Jesus says, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth,” (John 17:18), He calls us to that same commitment, that same life, for as the Father sent Jesus into the world, so Jesus sends us into the world (John 17:18).

 

This then means that neither you nor I can do what we want, it means that we must not take the easy way, the broad way, the popular way, the cotton-candy American Christian way. It means that we embrace the Cross and follow Jesus for the sake for others (Mark 8:34 – 38).

 

It means that neither you nor I can take the economic way (the way of money and possessions), the political way, the way of nationalism, the way of pleasure, the way of comfort, the way of entertainment, the popular “Christian” way which caters to the “self” and avoids the Cross. It means that we clearly confess that our kingdom, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, is not of this world, that we are citizens of heaven, and that we are seeking the City whose Builder and Maker is God (John 18:33 – 38; Phil. 3:20; Hebrews 11:8 – 16). It means that we glory in Jesus Christ and are crucified to the world (1 Cor. 1:30 – 31; Gal. 2:20; 6:14).

 

We sanctify ourselves, by the grace of God, out of our love for Jesus and also because we love our brothers and sisters. If we truly love others, we will practice lives of dedication to Christ, of separation to Christ; we will live as sacrificial lambs, willing to be offered on the altar for others. When Christ our Good Shepherd chooses us from the flock as sacrifices, we will joyfully yield ourselves to His tender loving care, even in the midst of crucifixion, even as the fire of God descends upon us to consume us for His glory on the altar of the Cross.

 

This means, among other things, that we cannot look at many things others look at, we cannot listen to many things that others listen to, we cannot invest ourselves in many things that others are heavily invested in. It means, in the “Christian” realm, that we cannot join the crowds when they get excited about the latest and greatest teachings, lyrics, and practices, for it means that we must always be asking, “Where is the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ?” If we do not see Christ, if we do not see the Cross, then we must not join the crowds, we must not acquiesce in the nonsense.

 

This can be extremely lonely, let’s not gloss over this. The peer pressure to conform in the world and in the professing church is terrible. Yet, in another sense there is plenty of company, it is the “communion of the saints,” (Hebrews 12:1 – 3, 18 – 24). A welcoming crowd awaits us when we pass through the portal from this age into the age to come, from time into eternity. And dear friends, since eternity is indeed forever, is it not much better to pay a small price now to gain an endless future of joy unspeakable and full of glory? Jesus asks, “What does it profit a person, to gain the whole world yet lose his own soul?”

 

Do you know what it is to be with a group of professing Christians who are talking about popular television shows and not know what they are talking about? Do you know what it is to be with Christians who take their conversational cues from the media – of any persuasion – and find yourself listening to a strange language? Do you know the heartache of wanting Christians to speak of Jesus, of their relationship with Him, of what they are seeing in Hm, hearing from Him, of how they are sharing Jesus with others…and yet they seldom speak of Him?

 

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual 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).

 

If we truly love others, if we love our brothers and sisters in Christ, if we love the people of the world, then we cannot, we must not, be conformed to the world – this includes the economic world and the political world, it includes the world of possessions and popular entertainment, it most certainly includes the values and priorities of the world. Our minds must not live in the realm in which the minds of the world live, in which the minds of much of the professing church live.

 

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

 

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1 -3).

 

For the sake of others we must sanctify ourselves, setting ourselves apart unto Christ, seeking to be completely devoted to Him so that we may be His Presence in the lives of others. If we are not living in the peace of Jesus, we cannot help a church and a world in chaos. If we are not living in the joy of Jesus, we cannot share His joy with others. If we are not living in the assurance of His love, in the fulness of His redemption and salvation, we cannot offer the Gospel to others in word and deed.

 

“You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

 

The nation to which we belong is not of this world. The race to which we belong is not of this world. The world…in any of its forms…does not own us. We are to proclaim the glory of the excellencies of Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit – not the American Dream, nor any other dream or system of this present age, but rather the Age that is Coming in Christ.

 

We, with Jesus and as possessions of Jesus, confess that we are aliens, strangers, pilgrims; that we are “seeking a country of our own,” a “heavenly country,” a “better country,” a City “whose Architect and Builder is God,” (Hebrews 11:8 – 16).  We do this not simply for our own sake, but for the sake of others, that they might see Jesus.

 

If this seems strange, it is an indictment of the professing church, for it ought to be our way of life in Jesus Christ.

 

As we ponder John 17:17 – 19, I hope we will see that this is our calling, the Way we ought to be living, as individuals, as marriages, as families, as congregations, as the People of God. We are to live this way toward God, we are to live this way toward our brothers and sisters, and we are to live this way toward the people of the world. This is who we ought to be in Jesus Christ.

 

We are not our own, we have been bought with a price, with the blood of the Lamb; we are to no longer to live for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us…and in living for Him, we also live for others.

“For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Corinthians 5:14 – 15).

 

 

Sent and Sanctified; Sanctified and Sent (2)

 

 

As we recall that the word “sanctified” has a double meaning (to be set apart, to be purified), we can learn to hold both meanings together in our hearts and minds, seeing them as a whole, as complementary to one another, as necessary to one another.

 

We cannot know purity in Christ without also knowing dedication to Him, without also living as those who have been purchased by His blood and who no longer belong to themselves. Nor can we know dedication to Christ without living in His holiness, without a continuing cleansing and formation into His holy image.

 

When Jesus says, “For their sake I sanctify Myself,” we understand that there is a distinction between Him and us as it relates to purification, for Jesus Christ has always and forever been pure and spotless and sinless. He “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Our High Priest has ever been “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).

 

We also find hope and comfort in that “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Because Jesus has been “tempted in all things as we are” and yet is “without sin” we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16; see also Hebrews 2:10 – 18).

 

Jesus is with us in every moment of our sanctification, in every facet of our lives. We can live in this confidence, receiving His mercy and grace to help us face temptation, to enable our putting off the “old man” and our putting on the “new” (Eph. 4:20 – 24; Col. 3:9 – 11).

 

Not only does Jesus’ righteousness become our righteousness, but His holiness becomes our holiness, the “righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21) is both imputed and infused, after all, we are becoming one with the Trinity (John 17:21 – 26).

 

Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). When we recall that the word “clean” speaks to us of pruning in this context, we see the work of Christ in our sanctification, for pruning speaks of sanctification and sanctification entails pruning. Let’s note the connection of pruning and the “word” which Jesus has spoken. The Word cleanses us (15:3), the Word sanctifies us (17:17), and even though we are already “clean” our feet still need to be washed as our way of life (13:10).

 

Let us recognize the association of Christ sanctifying His Church with His Word in Ephesians:

 

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having not spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless” (Eph, 5:25 – 27).

 

O friends, no self-help teaching can sanctify. No self-centered “Christian” message can form us into the image of Jesus Christ. We are not called to be “better Christians" (whatever that means), we are called to be as Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29). Only the Word of God can do the work of God; if we will not preach and teach and live His Word we will not see and experience His work in us or in others.

 

Only the Word can convict with godly sorrow and transform us into Christ. Only the Word can reveal Jesus Christ. Only the Word can unveil the glories of heaven. Only the Word can sustain us through sorrow and grief and trial. We can only truly base our lives on His Word, we can only truly trust His Word, only His Word is a matter of life and death. Let us not give our lives to the word of man, but rather to the Word of God which is Jesus Christ (John 1:1 – 18).

 

When Jesus prays, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” let us remember that moments before this prayer, Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life” (14:6). Jesus and His Word are one, as John proclaimed in the first chapter of his Gospel.

 

Just as the term “sanctify” holistically holds together two thoughts, just as the Incarnational mystery speaks of two natures yet one Person, so “the Word” is holistic and Incarnational. The Word is Christ and Christ is the Word, the Word becomes flesh in Jesus Christ, and the Word continues becoming flesh within us. The “us” in which the Word becomes flesh is as individuals and as the Bride, the Church, the Temple, the Body of Christ.

 

Among other things, all of this reminds us that our lives must be a work of the Holy Spirit, this is beyond our capacity to understand and to generate, we must not only be born of the Spirit, we must continue in the Holy Spirit, our lives are to be supernatural (John 3:1 – 8; 2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Gal. 3:1 – 5; 5:1 – 24; Heb. 12:18 – 24; Rom. 8:12 – 39).

 

When we speak of being sanctified in the truth, we must mean more than a mere intellectual knowledge of the truth, more than ascribing to a set of doctrinal statements, even more than knowing the content of Scripture. To be sanctified in the truth is to encounter Jesus Christ, knowing Him as our Way of Life, knowing Him as our sanctification. Do we say, “Jesus is my sanctification”?

 

“By His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). The Person of Jesus is our righteousness. The Person of Jesus Christ is our sanctification. The Person of Jesus is our redemption. No wonder Paul writes, “That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10).

 

When we consider the intimacy of the Upper Room with its theme of us being drawn into the koinonia of the Trinity, it should be no surprise that Jesus is saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but though Me” (14:6). We come to the Father through intimacy with Jesus, through knowing Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We come to the Father through knowing Jesus as our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

 

If John 14:6 is simply a doctrinal statement, a statement of belief, without it also being a statement of existential experience, we are on dangerous ground, we are on the ground of the scribes and Pharisees. As Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). We may think that by knowing the data of the Bible, the information of the Bible, the teaching of the Bible, that we know God. But if we are not seeing and knowing Jesus Christ, we are on dangerous ground. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

 

The Word must be made flesh in us.

 

In order for the work of sanctification to occur within us, we must submit to the truth. This means that we confess and repent as we are convicted by the Holy Spirit and the Word, and it also means that, by the grace of God, we obey the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ. (See Hebrews 4:12 - 13; James 1:19 - 25; 1 Peter 1:22 – 25; Matthew 7:24 – 27).

 

The propensity of the professing church in American is to stand in judgment of the Word of God rather than to submit to God’s Word. I am writing of people who profess to have a high view of Scripture, not of those who are honest enough to make no pretense ot believing the Bible. One of the challenges of Sunday school classes and small groups I’ve observed and participated in, is that many men and women stand in judgment of the Bible rather than seek to obey it. If a passage doesn’t agree with them, if they don’t understand it, if it isn’t “practical,” they dismiss it, rather than saying, “Lord, I don’t understand this. Help me to see what You are saying. Help me to obey You.”

 

There is no sanctification without obedience to God’s Word. There is no sanctification without surrender to Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

This then requires our sacrifice (Romans 12:1 – 2). We sacrifice ourselves as Jesus sacrificed Himself. The Lord willing, we’ll continue to reflect on this in the next post in this series.

 

 

“Take Courage”

 

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

 

Jesus tells us the truth about tribulation and persecution and rejection so that we may have peace. He says these things in the context of our Father’s abiding love for us, of the Vine and the branches, of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and of His overcoming the world and the enemy.

 

“These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their time comes, you may remember that I told you of them” (John 16:3 - 4).

 

“Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe” (John 14:29).

 

Jesus speaks to us of our hearts not being troubled (14:1, 27), of giving us His peace and joy and love (14:27; 15:9, 11). He speaks of the Trinty living within us (John 14:17, 23) and of us living in the Trinity (John 17:21).

 

Yet, He also tells us of persecution and rejection and the hostility of the world.

 

When we fail to teach the truth of tribulation in the world we not only fail to teach the Gospel, we fail those we call to know Jesus Christ. If we do not experience conflict with the world it is not likely we are living as disciples of Jesus Christ, for God’s ways are not the world’s ways, and when we come into conflict with the world’s ways we must be obedient to the commands and Way of Jesus Christ.

 

We fail those we call to know Jesus because we fail to inform them that they will have tribulation. We fail to teach them that, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

 

“You [spiritual] adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4; see also 1 John 2:15 – 17 and our earlier reflections on John 15:18 – 16:4).

 

If we would call people as Jesus calls people (Mark 8:34 – 38), people would know what to expect for they would come into the Kingdom with a right way of thinking about life, about Christ, themselves, and the world. How foolish we are to be seeker – sensitive when we are called to be God – sensitive and to call all the world to be Christ – sensitive.

 

False teachers call us to make ourselves the center of life, Christ calls us to give our lives to Him and to others, to live as His brothers and sisters, laying down our lives for others. Christ calls us to the Cross as our Way of Life, and this Way is necessarily the Way of crucifixion and rejection…and yes…of resurrection. Football players are not surprised when they are knocked on the ground, soldiers are not surprised when they face the challenge of battle, marathon and ultra marathon runners are not surprised by the pain they must endure to finish the race – O but American Christians are surprised by the least amount of rejection or resistance or displeasure they encounter for Jesus Christ.

 

If someone at work makes a disparaging remark toward a Christian, that Christian often reacts as if he or she has faced the lions in a Roman colosseum. Why, we won’t even share Jesus lest there be a backlash, making excuse after excuse so as to avoid true identification with the crucified Lamb. We have no shame, do we?

 

Jesus gives us the assurance that in Him we can have peace. In Him! In Him! In Him! Not in “mindfulness,” not in “positive thinking,” not in “name it and claim it,” not in possessions or position or power or fame or in the esteem of the world, but in Him, in Him, in Him!

 

Jesus tells us that we can take courage for He has overcome the world. Why should we take courage in this? Because if our identity is in Jesus, if our life is in Jesus, if our hearts have been captured by an all – enveloping and all – encompassing love for Jesus Christ, then we are one with Him, we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and spirit of His Spirit – and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 8:28 – 39).

 

Soon the eleven disciples will be cowering in the Upper Room. They will have deserted their Master. He has been betrayed by one of their own, tortured, crucified, killed, and buried. These eleven will have the door locked “for fear of the Jews [the religious leaders]”.

 

Look at the whole wide world and then look at this little Upper Room in comparison to it. This little room is nothing, these eleven men are nothing. Why these supposed friends of Jesus abandoned Him – they didn’t even attempt to care for His dead body.

 

Look at the population of the world at the time these eleven were cowering, but also consider all the people who have ever been born from the beginning until our own time – what significance can these eleven fearful men possibly have? If we were to search all humanity for eleven men to lead us, is it likely we would choose these men? Fishermen, a tax collector, an insurrectionist? What qualifications do they have? Cowardice? Unbelief? Selfishness (“we want to be first, sitting on Your right hand and on Your left”)?

 

Yet Jesus says, “Take courage; I have overcome the world.”

 

The inside of the Upper Room is greater than the outside, for the inside is a portal into the Holy of Holies, into the Presence of God the Creator of all, the Father who knows me, who knows you, who knows us (Psalm 139). Those eleven men, and others, have been chosen to lead humanity to the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, and the names “of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” will be with us for eternity (Rev. 21:14) as foundational to that City.

 

In the midst of their fear, of the memory of their cowardice, these men can take courage; even when they have residual doubt after the resurrection, they can take courage, for Jesus is their Shepherd, and the sheep can trust the Shepherd to bring them back to Him, to call them, to love them, to protect them, and to equip them to join the Shepherd as the Lamb, to also be sacrificial lambs so that others may have life in Christ.

 

If you have never suffered for Christ, take courage. If you have never witnessed for Christ, take courage. If you have not responded to Jesus’ call of Mark 8:34 – 38 to take up your cross and follow Him, losing your life for Him and others, take courage. It is not too late for you to cry out to Jesus, asking Him to draw you to Himself, asking Him to live His life in you and through you, asking that you may be broken bread and poured out wine for others, so that they may live in Him.

 

O friends, whether we have labored in the vineyard a virtual lifetime or a matter of hours (Matthew 20:1 – 16), the Master calls us to Himself. I’ll tell you one difference between this parable and the way it is in the Kingdom, in the Kingdom those who have labored in the heat of the day rejoice when new men and women come to labor alongside them, no matter when they arrive, no matter when they arrive. A besieged army does not complain to reinforcements, instead it says, “We are thankful you are here!”

 

As you ponder the Upper Room, as you hear and see the words that Jesus speaks to us, of His love for you, His laying down His life for you, His desire for deep relationship with you – what will you do? There is yet more to come, there is the Holy of Holies of John 17, which we will enter, the Lord willing, in forthcoming reflections.

 

But let us make no mistake, there is the Cross, and the Cross must not be only external and seen in time and space; it must not only be seen as rooted in eternity – eternity past and eternity future, the Cross must be a living Presence and Reality within us, it must be our source of Light and Life, it must be the animating principle of our lives – in fact our very lives must be cruciform, shaped and molded and formed by the Cross of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20; 6:14).

 

Twice Peter wanted to spare Jesus from the Cross (Matthew 16:21 – 23; John 18:10 – 11). Peter would finally learn to embrace the Cross and to teach others the glory of this embrace (see the theme of 1 Peter). As we read the courageous words of Peter’s letters, let us recall that this was the same man cowering in the Upper Room.

 

Wherever you are, whether you are in your own Upper Room or on the Road to Emmaus or even on the Road to Damascus, Jesus Christ is calling you to come to Him, to be one with Him, to live in intimate friendship with Him…embracing the Cross, having courage, sharing in His ironic and irenic Resurrection Victory, and to experience the joy that can only be known in giving our lives for Him and others.

 

Wherever you are, Take Courage!

 

Unfinished Thoughts on the Soul - Part 2

 

What of our souls?

 

We know that when God formed man that He “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man become a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). We also know that our souls were marred, disfigured, and warped when our fellowship with God was broken…however we may understand the particulars, the image of God within us was desecrated.

 

There was also a deep interior death that occurred when we partook of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil – hence on the day we ate it we did indeed die. It follows that we need a new birth in Jesus Christ, it follows that Jesus brings a New Creation into existence, it follows that we who were once dead in trespasses and sins have now been made alive, raised from the dead, in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:1 – 10).

 

But I want to focus on the soul. I want to know if what we believe, if what we say, if what we do matters. Because if it does not matter, I will stop writing and I will stop speaking and I will enjoy tea and crumpets from now on and not care for the church or the people of the world…and I should think I might have a very good and peaceful time. It may take me a while to get over the habits of a lifetime, but I will try.

 

There has been a lot written and said and taught about spiritual formation the past few decades, and while I have used the term and will probably use it again, I have never been comfortable with it – for it lacks an object. It is like a license plate on a car that I know of that says “beleeve.” Of course it means “believe,” but what does it really mean? Do we believe simply to believe? What do we believe? What do we believe in? In thin air? In ourselves? In Mickey Mouse? (Many people do believe in Mickey Mouse and regularly go on pilgrimage.)

 

Jesus does not call us to a self-improvement project; He calls us to be transformed into His image. In fact, our calling is to be “conformed to the image of His [the Father’s] Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). The thing is, transformation does not occur as we look at ourselves, but as we behold Jesus (2 Cor. 3:17-18; 1 John 3:1-3; Colossians 3:1-4), and herein is where I think much that passes for spiritual formation loses its focus, for it treats transformation as something that can be considered apart from intimacy with Jesus Christ and from the incarnational mission of Jesus Christ.

 

Now I am sure that good spiritual formation folks will say, “But of course we mean Jesus.” Then I will ask, “Well, why not explicitly say that we seek to be Biblically formed into the image of Jesus Christ, the Firstborn Son?”

 

Let us return to the soul. Do our souls matter? Does the shape of our soul matter when we pass into eternity?

 

I think the Bible passages we considered above demonstrate that we, our souls, will be judged when we move into eternity. That our words and deeds matter; they matter in terms of the effect they have had on others, they matter in how we have treated others, they matter in how they have affected the beliefs of others – they matter in whether we have been Christ to others.

 

We ought not to be so foolish as to think that what we believe is somehow a card that trumps what we do, that glosses over our actions toward others and toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Bonhoeffer wrote about “cheap grace.” Discipleship without cost, witness without cost, Christianity without cost.

 

I think while the above passages in 1 and 2 Corinthians speak of accountability, that they also, and perhaps more importantly, speak to us of intimacy, of knowing Jesus and being transformed into His image. After all, must not accountability have an object, a purpose? What is the point of being accountable just to be accountable? What is the goal of accountability? What is the point of obeying Jesus Christ?

 

Jesus says, in effect, “Be obedient to Me so that you will know Me.” Likewise, “As you know Me you will learn obedience to Me.”

 

“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).

 

Paul writes about presenting every person complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28), or as one translation puts it, “Unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” What of those who enter eternity immature? What of those who enter eternity having brought with them wood, hay, and stubble? What of those who have paid no real attention to discipleship, to living a cruciform life?

 

Do we really think the Bible teaches that we all will advance across the stage and graduate with honors?

 

Our Father and Lord Jesus desire relationship, they are not focused on moving us along from one grade to another whether or not we have learned from them, whether or not we have entered more deeply into koinonia with the Trinity.

 

It seems to me that if we took our souls seriously, that we would seriously want to grow into Christ and help one another grow up into Christ. It seems to me that if pastors took the souls of their people seriously that they would move beyond Sunday morning group therapy sessions, entertainment, and what Tozer termed “scribal Christianity,” a Christianity lacking a deepening encounter with God. We can emphasize correct doctrine but miss knowing Jesus Christ and miss being Christ to others.

 

These are my unfinished thoughts…how might you continue them?  

Unfinished Thoughts on the Soul - Part 1

 Good morning,

A few months ago, I began making notes on the soul. Do you think about the soul often?

When I was a child my mother taught me a prayer that many children learned in those days:

"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."

I remember wondering what the "soul" was. I never asked my Mom, and I'm sorry I didn't. I neglected to ask her many questions that I wish I had. When she died at almost 43 years old there was no longer an opportunity to ask her anything.

To my young mind, the soul seemed like something mysterious, weighty, and important. To my old mind it still seems that way.

As I reflect back on pastoring, I wonder why I didn't preach on the soul, why I didn't explore it with my congregations. This is akin to what I've been experiencing with my health in this season of life, it demonstrates my ignorance. 

Like many older folks I have a cardiologist, a hematologist, I've seen a neurologist, I have a rheumatologist, and one or two other "ologists." I have wondered how I got to be so old and know so little about my own body, I've lived in this tent for over 75 years and have only just started to really learn about how it works (or not!) and how fearfully and wonderfully made I really am. How could I have been so ignorant for most of my life?

Below are some of my thoughts on the soul, some of my questions and ponderings.    

What thoughts do you have?

Much love,

Bob

 

The Soul – Does It Matter?

 

Have you wondered why it matters?

 

Why does what we believe matter? Why does what we do matter?

 

Is it a matter of reward and punishment beyond this life?

 

Is it a matter of ultimate salvation beyond this life?

 

Can we envision a God who says to one person, “Because you have believed this creed you are rewarded,” and to another person, “Because you have not believed this creed you are judged”?

 

Suppose the first person hated people as a way of life, and the second person loved and served people as a way of life?

 

For those who believe that salvation is a transactional matter that can be signed, sealed, and delivered in a moment of time without further experience, why does what we believe beyond that matter? Why does what we do beyond that matter?

 

Why contend for the faith within the faith community if, when we die and enter eternity, what we have believed has no eternal and ongoing significance?

 

A fair reading of Scripture indicates that, as Christians, what we believe and what we do matters, it matters to the point that Paul suffered much so that Christians would believe and do the “right” things; not “right” in the eyes of man, including religious man, but “right” in the eyes of God – “right” in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Most of the letters of the New Testament, including Revelation, deal to some degree with correcting false belief and false living.

 

Religious falsity was more of a threat in the New Testament than the sin of the world, the flesh, and the devil; after all, we often can’t see that which is the closest to us. How we forget that the Pharisees and Sadducees crucified Jesus. As Paul points out in Galatians, those who are born of the flesh are ever persecuting those born of the spirit and promise (Galatians 4:29).

 

At this point, before I move on to the matter of the soul, I want to suggest that there are mysteries beyond the grave that we ought to acknowledge. I’ll likely return to these, but I want to raise an awareness of two of them right now. The first is found in 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15 and 2 Corinthians 5:10, and the second is in 1 Corinthians 15:35 – 49.

 

In the first two passages we see that there is an accountability beyond the grave, and in the second passage I believe we can infer that this accountability results in dimensions of participation in the glory of God, “one star differs from another in glory.” Now this raises its own questions, and I can think of no better exploration of them than Dante’s Paradise, so I will leave the questions alone for now. (A wonderful survey with thoughtful commentary is Hans Boersma’s, Seeing God - The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition.)

 

But is “accountability” the best word to use? While it may be a word to use, is it the only word to use? I’ll return to this question.

 

Regarding the first two passages, contrary to the thinking of many American Christians, 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us that we will be held accountable for the “deeds done in the body…whether good or bad.” Forgiveness for sins is one thing, accountability is another. Whether we understand the dynamics of this or not, we ought to acknowledge the Bible’s teaching. What we do matters, our actions matter.

 

In Revelation 19:8 we read, “It was given to her [the Bride] to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

 

I imagine many of us would like to gloss over this verse, for we want it to read, “The fine linen is the blood of Jesus,” or “The fine linen is the righteousness of Christ,” but the verse doesn’t say that, it says that the fine linen is our righteous acts.

 

Now for sure all righteous acting and living flows from the Vine, the One who was made sin on our behalf so that we would be made the very righteousness of God in Him (John 15:1ff; 1 Corinthians 5:21). But let us not dismiss Revelation 19:8, for it is in the context of eternity.

 

Our actions matter. We will all appear before Christ’s judgment seat – we cannot hide in the crowd.

 

When we come to 1 Corinthians 3:10 – 15, we come to a passage that many Protestants gloss over lest we begin asking uncomfortable questions, for this passage surely portrays a process, an experience that indicates more than a brief “moment,” however we might think about time within eternity. There is a revealing by fire to come, one which we will all experience, just as we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

 

Here again we see that our works matter very much. We may build with “gold, silver, and precious stones,” or with “wood, hay, and straw.” Building material matters. The quality of our lives matters. They matter to the point where Paul writes, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

 

Does not our dear Lord Jesus command us to “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20)?

 

Just as I have pointed to Dante’s Paradise in considering 1 Corinthians 15, so I will point to Dante’s Purgatory in considering 1 Corinthians 3, as well as, once again, Boersma’s fine work. Dante’s Purgatory is a journey in spiritual formation, and I suspect it is better to experience it now rather than putting it off until after we die. Read what Dante says, not what your possible prejudices think he says. (I recommend the Sayers translation with its excellent notes).