To Bury the Lead ...

If you were to recount to me, the story of two of your friends, two sisters in fact, of their lives and their memories and things that may have been important to them and to me; I would expect you to tell me their story with the biggest events in it deserving the most attention.  To focus on only one small story and leave the great big one untold, seems unusual.  Maybe it is just a matter of perspective.  Or maybe it is just too difficult for you to believe the great big one as true.  Or maybe nobody ever told it to you, so you are unable to relay it to me.  Many reasons may account for it.  But in today’s language we call that “burying the lead”.  This is what our gospel friend writer Luke did in his letter to Theophilus.  None of us can be certain as to why.  Perhaps the big story would have been just too much for Theophilus to hear at the time Luke penned his letter to him.  Perhaps that was a sore point in Theo’s mind or heart.  But Luke does not omit the characters of Mary and Martha (the two sisters of Lazarus) in his gospel letter.  He does however not ever mention Lazarus as being their brother.  So no recounting of the resurrection of Lazarus in his gospel.  That my friends, would have been the lead story.  Luke focuses on another one.

And what, you may ask, could have been more important to Luke than the retelling of a resurrection in the house of the friends of Jesus in Bethany?  A story for the women (or men) of that age and any other age.  A story about what matters, and what matters more.  Let us take a second look at this story and to learn from it, let us ignore the lead we know has been retold in other gospels, and focus here only on what Luke is trying to retell to us.  The story itself is one of context, of back story.  It begins in chapter ten of Luke’s gospel, the last story of that chapter, down in verse 38 it begins … “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.”  Luke had been telling the stories of the trip of Jesus He made towards Jerusalem.  Jesus was received in some homes and villages along the way, in others He was rejected.  But in Bethany (Luke does not recall the name of it), Jesus is received by a family He has come to know well.  Perhaps this was His first encounter with them.  Perhaps this was one in a long list of them.  But in any case, Jesus (and His companions) were to be received here by Martha, presumably the older sister of the home.

Now receiving Jesus (and crew) implied a certain set of tasks for the women of that household.  In those days, the men worked and provided income and means to maintain a family.  But the maintenance of that family fell to the women (and children, if they had any) to actually perform.  So if I invited a guest to my home back then, presumably I would have provided grocery monies to my wife, but she would have done all the shopping, cooking, serving, and then cleaning that went along with having company at our house.  In addition, Jewish families had traditions of special cleanings they did before meals.  Foot washing was one of those for example, a logical practice given the most prevalent way people moved (by foot).  They also had ceremonial hand cleanings with special water set aside for it, kept in special containers, etc.  All of that had to be maintained as well as a good supply of clean towels to wipe with.  If the time of our meal was anywhere near the end of the day, candles had to be set out, or lamps trimmed with oil, to provide light for us to see with.  Flowers might have been set out to help insure a pleasant smell while we socialized.  All of this work done without indoor plumbing in most homes.  Water needed for any or all of it required a trip to the nearest well to gather it and carry it back to the home.  So as you can imagine to receive Jesus and crew meant that the women of this home in Bethany had quite a lot to do to insure a pleasant experience for any guest, much less the Lord of the Universe and Messiah to Israel they believed Him to be and at least 12 or more of His companions.

Luke continues in verse 39 saying … “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.”  We presume Mary to be the younger sister, but there is no documenting of this I am aware of.  Mary was likely also the more passionate sister, at least passionate for the Word of Jesus.  I am certain both sisters had traveled to hear Jesus speak at other events.  They knew Him.  They had come to believe in Him.  They had come to love Him.  And again how could they not?  Especially after the bringing back of their brother which Luke does not mention.  That entire story reveals more about the personalities and reactions of these two sisters where it comes to Jesus.  In any case whether this event was pre-text to that one, or happened long after it, Mary had developed an extreme fondness for hearing the words of Jesus.  They were the living water of which He had eluded to with the Samaritan woman back at the well.  They were living water to Mary.  When she heard them, she felt at peace, she felt saved.  As would any of us.  So Mary was eagerly sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to whatever He would say.  Instead of doing the thousand chores a woman was supposed to do to receive a guest in those days.

Luke continues in verse 40 saying … “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.”  And here is where this story has meaning for us.  It is a battle of priorities.  Martha knows a pleasant meal does not happen by accident, or little elves descending into the kitchen to help.  It happens by hard, diligent work, she is eager and grateful to perform.  But that workload is not inconsequential.  It is massive.  And it would go much better if she had help.  You are not supposed to ask your guests to do it.  That is a no-no.  But your sister knows the drill.  And she is supposed to already be helping you, and furthermore, she is supposed to be grateful to help.  And before any of us get critical of Martha, she is trying to serve the Lord, the best way she knows how.  Are we any different?  We hear a sermon at church, or read something that moves us, and we set about trying to “do something” for Jesus.  It may not have been exactly what Jesus would have asked us to do, but we volunteer to do it because we wanted to.  This was Martha.  She found fulfillment in serving.  She has the heart of a servant.  And she has come to know extreme joy in the serving.  But she is also pragmatic and worried that without help, instead of being a pleasant meal, this meal may become a Jewish disaster in the minds of those attending.  No good traditions ready, no good food, or cleansing water, etc.  She is freaking out.  So she comes to Jesus and asks for Mary to get back to her responsibilities.  Get that – Mary has responsibilities (things she is supposed to do) – that she is NOT doing, in favor of listening to what God says.  If we could only get that lesson ourselves.

Luke continues in verse 41 saying … “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: [verse 42] But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  And here is where Jesus asks women to have faith that they can have it all.  Or rather, understand that serving as important as that is, must be secondary to loving the word of God, and the author of those words Himself.  If our ideas of serving God, create so much work for us to do, that we are only focused on the work, instead of the God, we have taken on too much.  Serving guests will always be a wonder and a blessing.  And it will be with them until they die of ripe old ages.  But Jesus will only be with them for a short while more.  Listening to Him is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it is more important.  Mary knew she should be helping to serve, but she is unable to tear herself away from the living water Jesus is proclaiming.  Those words speak to her soul.  They nourish her in a way that will provide her strength to serve others for many years to come.  But to leave now, would deprive her soul of much needed nourishment that comes only from the mouth of God Himself.  Jesus asks Martha, don’t take that away from her, in fact, come and join her.

So how does the meal get served if Martha joins Mary at the feet of Christ?  Now all of the sudden we need Martha to keep working, and slug it out, so that Mary can stay at the feet of the Master and we can still eat as the guests.  This is the same question we often ask ourselves.  What will happen if I stop doing what I do, or fail to perform what I believe is needed?  But like in Martha’s situation the truth is not the either / or we have made it out to be.  What puts Martha and Mary in this contest of priorities for how to serve?  The same thing that impacts us today.  We assume we know what needs to be done, and worse, how exactly it needs to be done.  Martha was slave to tradition not to workload.  The crew Jesus was with, both men and women, could have easily jumped in and provided Martha with not just a set of two more hands, but a set of twelve plus hands, with many women more beyond that.  It was the false pride of Martha to some extent, combined with the traditions and the culture of the day, that prevented her from asking, let alone, expecting the crew of Jesus would help serve.  But Jesus was raising a culture of service in His crew, then and now.  Joining the servant team, was to be the highest aspiration any of them or us could encounter.  Being served was a gift.  But doing the serving was a higher gift and honor.  Martha felt constrained by her own ideas of limitations to make sure everything comes out alright.  She felt like it all depends upon her, and perhaps her alone.  Just like we do.  Instead of having faith that whatever takes place is OK with Jesus.  Jesus is not looking for perfect bread from the oven.  He is looking for the soul of Mary and Martha to be nourished from His words.  Is it so unthinkable to have the crew serve in Martha’s house?  Will Martha’s pride allow it?  Will Peter’s?  Will Mary Magdalene’s?

Just like in our day.  We volunteer to take on roles of service that culture and tradition predefine.  We have set expectations about what must be done, in what order, and by who, in order to be effective.  Why?  That is not what God is asking.  In fact, He may be asking something radically different from us.  Something else He has equipped us to do, instead of the thing we think we are best suited for.  God may be asking us to do some work for Him that requires us to depend upon Him for the skill and knowledge and strength to get it done, instead of thinking we have it handled.  And do our ego’s prevent us from asking for help?  Especially from those we are not supposed to be asking help from, or from those we are attempting to serve?  You may not know it, but the person you ask help from, may be longing to help you, to feel worthy of serving too, even if they are only able to do such a little bit.  Today’s church has not developed a culture of asking for help, but instead of trying like Martha, to show everyone we have it handled all ourselves.  That is the point, we trust, even in an act of service to others, to do it all ourselves.  We do not rely on Jesus to see it done, nor do we ask our fellow servants for help, nor do we break with expectations and ask those we serve to lend a hand as well.  We seem too proud to ask anyone.  Instead we like Martha seek out the ones we expect to do the chores we expect of them, and become so focused on the chores, we lose all sight of the beauty, and of a shared experience.

The story of Lazarus (the brother of Mary and Martha) being raised may well be the lead of other gospels.  But Luke here focuses on the serving lives of Mary and Martha and all women of his day and ours.  Luke tells this story and ends it with and invitation from Jesus not to let even the cares of service outweigh the craving of the soul for the Words of God.  Let us not be bound by traditions and culture and other false ideas that constrain us and bind us to “how” a thing gets done.  Let us instead, lose our pride, and ask for help from those who can provide it, even those we serve, in order to develop a culture of shared service among us all.  Let us not be too proud to accept help even when it comes from places we did not expect.  Even when that help is small, and perhaps not up to our standards, or done by clumsy old men like myself who probably creates more work to redo than it would be to ignore in the first place.  But that is the point isn’t it?  To accept service, such as it us, from all, is to create a team of servants, used to serving, and giving the highest gift we can give to each other – to join our Master in serving others.  Not at the exclusion of the Word, but because of it.

 

Public Display of Faith (witness number twenty three) ...

John continues his account of the fulfillment of prophecy of the work of the Messiah in chapter 12 of his gospel and beginning in verse 20 he notes that due to the Passover, there were Greek believers in attendance who also wished to see Jesus.  They approached Phillip who took their request to his brother Andrew, who took it to Christ.  This was all happening at what the people believed was the zenith of His ministry.  The people were sure this triumphal ride into Jerusalem was to be the day of His coronation.  They were still bent on Him becoming King whether He wanted it or not.  The Greeks who were there, were intent on witnessing this event up close.  But what the people wanted from their Messiah, was not the mission of the Messiah.  Jesus reading the intents of His listeners must try once again to correct their misinterpretations of scripture for His mission.

Jesus responds in verse 23 … “And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.”  It is important to note that how God measures glorification is NOT how we measure it.  God does not seek adoration, or praise of His name, as the means by which He is glorified.  His ideas of glorification come from acts of love He performs for someone else.  For the name of God to be glorified from the perspective of Christ, it must indicate an even greater act of love, than anyone has given witness to so far.  Only then can the name of God be truly glorified, not from vanity, but from love in action for others; for our God lives by His own ideas of service and love to others first and always.  Jesus then continues in verse 24 to describe what act of love and sacrifice will now accomplish the goal of glorifying the name of God … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”  The Messiah must die to bear the punishment of us all.  The death we have earned He will take on in our stead.  The hopes of the people to witness a coronation that day were not to be met.  Crowning Christ King would not glorify the name of God, but offering the world the crowing act of love and sacrifice would.

Then Jesus continues by offering what the results of His crowning act of love and sacrifice might bear in verse 25 He continues … “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.”  When we seek the redemption and transformation that Christ offers us, we begin to see sin and the pain it causes with clearer vision.  We begin to see how our actions and our apathy have hurt others and hurt ourselves.  This revelation of our lives and of ourselves can cause us to hate what we have become; hate what we have done with our short lives on this planet.  We know that sin causes pain, yet we perpetually choose to embrace it; out of control, spiraling towards even more pain.  It is this life we come to hate through the revelation of its reality, by the transformative power of Christ.  It leads us to want something more, something else, something better.  It leads us to want the life Christ has prepared for us in perfection, to want that perfection to begin here and see its fulfillment in heaven.  If we love sin, we do not seek an escape from it, and it kills us.  But if we hate the sin within us, we find a re-creation through Jesus Christ is possible in the here and now, and redemption and reformation are only a request away.

Jesus continues in verse 26 … “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”  To live as Christ lived, to serve as He served, and love as He loves, is to “follow” Christ.  To be “with” Christ, is to join Him in His ministry to others, for the benefit of others, both physically and spiritually, to meet every need we can meet.  This service of love is how Honor is measured in heaven.  When we serve despite our lack of ability, or skills, or means, the Father God honors our efforts and results are His gifts to us all.  We are reformed in the serving; others are brought to Christ by the love we reflect.  This is how we “follow” Christ, and how we “serve” Him – in the form of the least of these we encounter.  We do not serve to find praise for it.  We do not serve with the intent of receiving some reward in the future from those we do good actions upon.  Our reward is the service itself.  Our honor is to reflect the love of God to others and to be joined with Him in mission and in spirit.  To be in union with heaven is already more reward than we are capable of comprehending.

Though He was divine, He was also human.  The humanity in us fears death, and dreads its arrival.  It is no easy thing to suffer and die, made worse for Him in that this would happen to Him by the very cherished children He had come to save.  Christ had full knowledge of what was coming.  While the people still hoped for a coronation, what was actually soon to occur was His torture and death.  Even before His final struggle with the burden of bearing our sacrifice that would occur in the Garden of Gethsemane, here Christ publicly proclaims His human apprehension for what must occur.  He states in verse 28 … “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.”  Christ sees His eminent torture and death and it troubles Him deep in His core.  It is not only the human part of Him that dreads death.  It is the divine part of Him that cannot see past the grave.  What if, having born our sin He is forever stained with it?  What if, having been stained with our great evil, He is no longer allowed in the presence of His Father – for sin cannot endure the purity of the love of His Father.  What His divine side is risking, is potential eternal separation from His Father – which is the definition of Hell itself.  There is only one way for our salvation to occur, but it is a risk for Him, not a sure thing.  His act of love might cost Him everything, not just His human existence, but His proximity to His Father for all time.  Yet this was the only way, that we could be redeemed from the clutches of evil that we had embraced.  And so it must go forward.

But despite the risk, despite His apprehension, He must continue, for His love for us is just that great.  He declares in verse 28 … “Father, glorify thy name.”  The mission of the Messiah must continue, the sacrifice of love that would confound the angels and sentient life across the Universe for the depth of the love of God must be made.  Those standing around Christ could still not understand why He was so troubled.  They were about to make Him King, yet He seemed so pre-occupied and resolute.  Jesus needed for those in His hearing to know once again that His act of love, was not one of simple humanity, but that it was ordained and shared with His Father God.  The risk of losing a Father, was not less felt, than the risk of losing His Son.  Then verse 28 continues … “Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”  The literal voice of God the Father in response to the request of His Son: all the miracles and acts of love and service done throughout the ministry of Christ were the glorification of the name of God.  In every miracle, Christ attributes His acts of love to the will of His Father in heaven.  He takes no personal credit, but offers all to God His Father.  In this, the name of our God has been glorified.  Then the further promise … “and will glorify it again”.  The sacrifice Christ is about to make, will be the ultimate glorification of the name of God.  It will forever stand as a reminder of how deeply God loves.  And it will forever seal in the minds of all the sentient Universe that God is love, and Satan and the serving of self is evil.  This final knowledge of good and of evil will seal the fate of evil forevermore throughout the universe, only possible from the act of love and sacrifice Christ is about to make.

The response of the people to hearing the literal voice of God the Father was mixed.  Some said it sounded like thunder (likely those who were so steeped in their embrace of evil, they were simply unable to perceive the words clearly).  Some said an angel spoke to Him (these could discern the words, but not their meaning, or perhaps were just not ready to believe that they had just heard the literal voice of God the Father).  Jesus was used to having private conversations with His Father in prayer.  But on this occasion with His eminent death so close, He wanted them to share in the dialog with His Father.  He states in verse 30 … “Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.”  Jesus knew the people and His disciples would want evidence of His authenticity.  This was particularly true, because He was about to greatly disappoint them, in not becoming their earthly King, instead choosing to make the sacrifice of offering His life for ours.  That was a radical departure from their understanding of scripture, and He hoped that hearing the voice of God the Father, might help them realize their error in interpreting scripture once all had come to pass.

Christ continues in verse 31 … “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.”  The reign of evil, the control of evil over the hearts of men, was about to be broken.  What Christ would do would establish His Kingdom in our hearts, His dominion over our minds, hearts, and souls.  No more could the devil make a claim that we belonged to him.  Christ was indeed to reassert His kingship, but not over politics, instead over the human heart.  The “judgment “ that was to occur would happen in the minds of the unfallen angelic beings who chose to serve God in faith, never sure if the claims of the devil had merit at all or not.  The sentient life throughout the universe who had denied the devil a foothold in their worlds would now know their choice of loyalty to God was a good one.  The absolute defeat of evil was eminent.  No more doubt.  Every claim of the devil that God was a cruel dictator, would be discovered fully as a lie.  The truth would be revealed, and with it the contrast of what love will do, versus what evil would desire.  The devil lost his universal audience and his foothold over us, all in the same event to come.

Jesus continues in verse 32 … “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. [verse 33] This he said, signifying what death he should die.”  Jesus knows what is coming, and how He is to die.  What is more, in His words are the ultimate promise of the Gospel.  He will draw “all men” unto Himself.  Not just those of Jewish ancestry, or even of Jewish faith, but all men.  The salvation of every person who has ever lived will be made possible by what Christ is about to do.  The hold of Satan over us is to be broken by the power of His Love to re-create us anew.  In His death is to be our redemption.  But the people who up to now, were not quite sure what He was talking about, clearly understood the reference to His coming crucifixion.  Their understanding of scripture precluded this idea.  They believed the Kingdom of the Messiah was to last forever, and the supremacy of Israel was never to be undone.  Thus if He were to be executed by Rome on a cross, it would discount His ability to be the Messiah at all (from their understanding of the scriptures).  So they respond to Him in verse 34 … “The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?”.  Perhaps Jesus was referring to someone else.  Perhaps he had mis-spoken.  Any other idea than His own death would be preferable to the crowd of witnesses before Him.  If He died, what hope was there for Israel to defeat the Romans?  After all, how could the Son of God die anyway?  Who could kill Him?  Their own logic precluded this idea, their understanding of scripture precluded this idea, they simply could not accept it.

Again the minds of His listeners were clouded by the darkness of misinterpretation of scripture, and the greed it fostered in their hearts.  So our tender Savior tries once again to clear away the darkness and states in verse 35 … “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. [verse 36] While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”  Jesus was and always will remain the light of the world.  He is the light by which scripture was to be interpreted, not the other way around.  It remains so today.  When we examine Old Testament stories and find ourselves tempted to think God was cruel, we need to remember those stories are also referring to this same Jesus.  If His life was one of such love and service it had to have been the same in the first testament to His character.  Perhaps upon closer inspection we can find the love He intended, and the demands of men to have their own way interfering with it.  Yet the light remained in front of them.  Were they to accept it, they would have understood His mission was greater than a mere earthly crown of temporary power.  But they would not.  They remained intent to crown Him.  The time was right.  The people were gathered.  It was going to happen whether He liked it or not.  And so “He hid Himself from them”.  Once again in the middle of a huge adoring crowd of followers and lookers-on, He simply disappears from plain sight.

John continues his epilogue in verse 37 to 41 by stating that despite His plain words, despite hearing the voice of God the Father Himself, there were those who simply would not believe.  Isaiah had prophesied it.  The crowd had fulfilled it.  Perhaps it was prudent that the devil was able to harden their hearts not to believe.  Had they accepted His true mission and understood it, they may have refused to see Him sacrifice Himself.  As much as I want to be saved, I am certain His sacrifice is more than I will ever deserve, better He should live and I should die, than the other way around.  The crowd of believers might have also followed that course if they truly understood it.  But as Isaiah had prophesied this was not the case.  The people chose to trust their own ideas about the interpretations of scripture over the words and evidence and miracles of Christ.

The mission of Christ to reach the rulers of the people as well however, did not go entirely without success.  There were those of the educated class, the ruling class, the noble class who had more access to scriptures and were familiar with the prophesies as well – John tells us there were some of these who did come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  But though they came to believe, they also remained conscious of their place in society.  The edict of the Pharisees that any who should publicly declare in favor of Christ would result in being put out of the Temple posed a problem for these new believers.  Social class and standing was a big part of “who” they were.  So John tells us in verse 42 and 43 that they loved the praise of men, more than they valued their faith in the Messiah.  Is it any different with us today?  Are we vocal about our faith in Christ ONLY when things are going well for us?  When the world seems at our feet, and our blessings are high, and our health is good – do we only then declare our faith in Christ?  But when temptation has brought us low, and our wisdom has come to naught, and we face a life threatening disease – are we then more quiet about our belief in a saving Christ?  Our certainty of a savior is more subject to ridicule when we are broke, sick, and publicly humiliated.  We value admiration of our peers and working associates, and it is hard to give glory to a saving God when it appears we do not carry His blessing.  Yet it is then that our faith is most of use.  It is then that a public display of faith may make the most impact.  To declare for Christ when it is bound to cause ridicule to us, is to allow for a change in our condition to put the reminder in our audience “Who” controls our fate.

When one has experienced the transformative power of Christ to free us from ourselves, the joy and peace that comes with this freedom from a former sin, is overwhelming.  It is life altering.  It is the kind of thing you can hardly keep quiet about.  When you experience this for yourself, your other conditions of life seem hardly relevant.  Whether burdened by wealth, or free in your poverty – the internal freedom of Christ liberates the soul and transforms the priorities.  In the care of Christ, you have enough for what you need, and perhaps more than you thought when you give it away.  Whether healthy with a vigor for life, or ill and unable to climb the highest peaks anymore – The reformation Christ conducts within you renews your soul and gives you hope for a life of even more, unencumbered by the pain and death of sin.  Though your victory may not be complete as yet, though your struggle to surrender is not always full, and you fall again into a sin that seems to bind and control your life – Jesus is still the method of your freedom, your forgiveness, and your perfection.  A declaration for Christ is a recognition of where we are, and an investment in the hope of where He will bring us.  Though our failures belong to us, our victories are wrought by His grace and love.  There is nothing in the admiration of our peers that can compare with this kind of life altering experience.

Jesus knew that a belief in His ability to transform our life was critical to becoming in harmony with the love of His Father.  To allow any other concern to inhibit this belief was to make a trade far and away in our worst interests.  So he declares to those still evaluating the “cost” of a belief in Him as the Messiah in verse 44 … “Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. [verse 45] And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.”  This is not the creation of a fan-club for a popular man in Jerusalem.  It is rather the establishment of a faith that leads to God the Father.  It is an acceptance that there are NOT many roads to God, but ONE way only – through the transformation that Jesus Christ alone offers to our sin-sick souls.  Jesus says to His listeners, this is not about my humanity, but about my connection to Him and His Divinity.  The Son of God offers us the only bridge to the Father God, and a real up-close insight into what His Father is like.  This revelation of God is one of love, of hope, and of service.  This was why it was so important to have faith in the “method” of our Salvation in the form of Jesus Christ.

He continues in verse 46 … “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. [verse 47] And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”  Christ remains the light by which we are able to find the truth in scripture, and the meaning of the written word.  He states that even those who refuse to believe are not condemned at this moment, for His mission was not one of judgment, but one of salvation.  How ironic that we believers who call ourselves Christians are known so much more for our judgment and condemnation of the world around us, than for our participation in the redemptive love Christ showed to bring non-believers to His transformative power.  Jesus stands alone, the only method of our salvation.  Non-believers will not find redemption in accepting our word for how the gospel works.  They will not find redemption in accepting that their lives are ones steeped in the sins of self service, particularly because we keep harping on those facts.  They will find redemption and reformation only in Christ, as they experience it for themselves.  Our whole mission should be to love them to Christ.

Jesus tries again to simply state the facts of a how a real transformation takes place, He continues in verse 48 … “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. [verse 49] For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. [verse 50] And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.”  The mission of the Messiah is a united Godhead both Father and Son for our redemption and restoration.  If we reject Christ and His offer, we remain “who” we are – creatures bound to the slavery and addiction of sin and self-service.  Having heard the offer of Christ to save us, and rejected it – we are left no other course but one of our own design.  There is but one road to perfection, but an infinite variety of pathways to self-destruction.  This is the best deceit of the devil.  He tells us there are many pathways to God, so we are able to find the one that pleases us and pursue it.  But the pathway to God that we accept because it “pleases us” remains rooted in self-service, and does not transform our lives.  Only Christ can do that.  Only Christ makes the offer to change fully the core of “who” we are.  Without that kind of transformation, we will continue to want the wrong things.  We will continue to pursue the wrong path.  We are our own worst enemy.  It is only the death of self, that can see us re-created into the people He intended us to be.  This is not possible without our Creator.  Christ alone is the ONLY pathway to God.

The commandment of God, is only a commandment when we are not in harmony with it.  When it is natural to us, it is no longer a commandment but a part of “who” we are.  But even in His use of this term, Christ identifies the “commandment” as being “life everlasting”.  The goal of Jesus and of His Father is that we should LIVE forever, not merely exist in the tortured state of the addiction to self and self-service.  His first and foremost goal is to offer us a real “life” that can begin now and does not end.  This was the message to those in His hearing that day, and throughout the ages of time.  When we are transformed by His power, our faith grows whether quietly or on public display.  When His transformation takes hold of us, our surrounding conditions matter little, and His work matters most of all.  For His transformation changes “who” we are; and puts us in harmony with Him and His Father.  Then the adoration of men, appears as it truly is, of no value at all.  We can begin to measure Glory like God measures it, in actions of love for others.  Gratitude and praise mean little, but the chance to serve, means everything.  It is this way for our God, as the life of His Son demonstrates completely.  So it will be for us, as we allow Him to bring us into harmony with God His Father …

 

Priority Dysfunction ...

If all the world is a stage, then ‘distraction’ has to be the name of the play.  Time flies past you at speeds that cause you to take it for granted.  And while you occupy your mind and body with the trivial, the meaningful eludes you.  It is not that meaning is out of your grasp, it is too often simply out of your thoughts.  Maintaining a big picture set of priorities with all the distractions that bombard you for your attention is difficult.  The miniscule takes priority, the repetitive becomes preoccupation, and before you know it, your life is mundane, routine, and without any real purpose.  Christians are not immune to this phenomenon; in fact they are particular targets of it.

The easiest way to keep you from reaching your goals is simply to keep your mind focused elsewhere.  One of the chief reasons God setup a permanent time-out for humanity once each week was to try to help us get over our prioritization problems.  Consider for a moment the life of a parent.  A parent bares the responsibility for the care and feeding of a baby.  But demands on our finances, to succeed at our occupation, and maintain shelter for family can often keep a parent so preoccupied that the real needs of their child go un-met.  Of how much more value is the closeness felt between breast-feeding mother and infant, than formula-fed day care dropped-off baby.  Of how much more value is the tender words and touch of a father at bedtime and breakfast than the commuter who is awake long before, and at home long after the child is conscience.  Demands of survival are often so acute in today’s world that parents are choosing special moments to bond with their children – school plays, concerts, graduations, birthdays, holidays, etc..  There is simply no time to bond on a daily basis. 

Yet to discuss regret, a parent rarely regrets the missed promotion at work nearly as much as the time lost with toddlers.  First steps and first words are not the only milestones to be cherished.  What about first questions of the meaning of love, of life, and of purpose.  How do we impart values without investing our time?  Truth is we are imparting values like it or not; we pass on the tradition of hard-work, and lack of intimacy.  Time is of such critical importance, but we manage it as if it were an infinite resource.  We fail to recognize hard choices as such, thinking there is ample time in the future to meet everything we want to accomplish.  But before you know it, failing health, circumstance and fate, shorten the once thought long-term to an immediate here-and-now.  Regrets are inevitable when we fail to keep our priorities of what is truly important uppermost in our mind, our scheduling, and our attention.

God knew far better than we, that evil would work tirelessly to keep us distracted from what is truly important.  The intimacy God would have us experience, we are kept from simply by keeping us busy.  The intimacy of husband and wife, the intimacy of parent and child, the special bond between siblings, and of course the life-altering connection between man and his Savior God – all these relationships matter most in life.  They far outweigh the trivial pursuits so many of us call our lives.  They require time and attention to grow.  They need to be nurtured.  When you begin to realize this, you begin to understand why the concept of a ‘Sabbath’ is so important in our world.  A God created time-out for man.  Stop what we’re doing.  Stop thinking what we focus on.  Not because what we think about is wrong, but because what we focus on is robbing us of what is really important.  Until we separate ourselves from our routines and choose to focus elsewhere can we be free to see what our choices really are.

When Christ stated “the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” He was trying to clear up the misconceptions of the day that man was obligated to ritualistic observance of the Sabbath.  The institution was created and ordained to help us push our reset button.  It is WE who need to break free from our self-imposed slavery to commercialism, materialism, and empty pursuits.  It is WE who so desperately need an institution like the Sabbath to give us a day of rest from the mind-numbing routines we enslave ourselves to.  It figures that the Creator of man who wrote the owners-manual would know best what man really needs to operate effectively.  We need a time-out or we being to break down, stress out, and find ourselves watching our lives pass us by.

Christians however sometimes misinterpret the true value and meaning of a Sabbath day.  They turn blessing into compulsion.  They turn an exercise in helping us reprioritize into a set of spiritual habits that are every bit as much a routine as the non-spiritual list of activities in our lives.  The Sabbath becomes a list of do’s and don’ts that could not possibly encompass the concept of ‘keeping’ the day holy.  No this is just the arrogance of man, combined with his ignorance and desire for blind structure instead of profound life-altering thinking that cannot be bound into a list.  How does one find his God and reconnect to Him through a set of arbitrary rules and lists designed to encapsulate morality without forethought to the values the lie behind it?  No, the Sabbath is about prioritization.  No singular activity can be evaluated in the light of the Sabbath the same way by all mankind.  Just as each human is an individual, each relationship with God will also have unique characteristics.  What one man finds as bringing peace and intimacy with his God, another may find no value in. 

The guidelines God gave were to help us bring home the point of prioritizing our lives properly.  First, God should be our number one priority – everything else, everything good, flows from the first thing we focus on.  Second we need to abstain from our career and commercial pursuits (i.e. our work).  We need to remember that our careers are NOT our lives, only a component of our lives.  Thirdly, we need to refrain from requiring others to work for us.  We must not be selfish in our time away from work, forcing others to take up our burdens, but we must allow them to share in the time away from routine.  Even our animals, or anything in our domain, should be allowed a break from the routine.  Lastly God reminds us that He is our creator, and this knowledge should help us understand that this time-out is for our benefit.

Following these guidelines and understanding the intense need we all have to reset our priorities makes the Sabbath an infinitely valuable tool in regaining meaning in our lives and steering clear of regrets.  Should we make the choice to come away from the world and give our minds the freedom to dwell elsewhere we can begin to live at a level we never thought possible. 

Christians must avoid the temptation to treat religious goals as weekly habits that occupy our times and schedules with the regularity of a Swiss watch.  Church service with a planned routine, followed by a meal, followed by a nap, followed by an evening meeting sound familiar?  Many Christians believe this is ‘keeping the Sabbath’, but is it?  Are we truly forcing our minds to break free from routine, or are we simply altering the content of our routines?  Routine limits creative thinking.  Routine can easily become forgettable, non-memorable, meaningless.  Christians develop an unhealthy dependency on their pastor to ‘feed’ them on a weekly basis.  Rather than being forced to confront God on their own, they seek anonymity within a congregation.  Rather than ponder the deeper meanings God wants to share with them personally, they seek to hear whatever the pastor has to say – after which they can feel good about criticizing his content and delivery.  Is this routine actually helping them, or just helping them pass the time.  Push the reset button folks.  Start thinking in non-conventional ways, the way the Sabbath was intended.

If we are to live without regret, we must learn to accept what God wishes for us.  We must learn to accept the happiness He wants to give us.  We must learn to prioritize what is truly important, and keep it there.  We must regularly check ourselves and insure our priorities have not been altered.  We must break free of the distractions of the stage we live within, and find the freedom only our God can bring …

Unto Caesar ...

There is a debate in this country regarding the separation of church and state.  Surprisingly the debate is not over the particulars regarding the state encroaching on the rights of a minority religious viewpoint; rather, it is over whether this nation should choose to remain with the powers of church and state separate at all.  Christians at large, believe their rights are trampled on when prayer is eliminated in public schools, or statues of the ten commandments are ordered removed from public courthouses.  Are they right?

We have been called a Christian nation.  Muslims around the world view us this way simply because the overwhelming number of religious people in the U.S. claim Christianity as their basic religion.  Though next in line would be Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu faiths respectively.  Atheists and agnostics make up only a small percentage of the nation.  Occult and Satanist religions even smaller than that (though occult is defined in the eye of the beholder).  So even though Christians make up the majority of the population to date, they are not the fastest growing belief system in the U.S..  Muslims hold this distinction.  It might be better to call us a nation of faith or beliefs than a truly Christian nation.

Going back to our beginning we find that our founding fathers were largely Christian believers.  They applied Christian thinking and morality to the nation’s first set of founding principles and laws.  They publicly talked about their devotion in speeches to both private and public audiences.  In essence, religious speech was not uncommon in governmental bodies as the nation first began to define itself.  They prayed in Congress, put chaplains in the military. and were unabashed about speaking publicly about their faith.  They were not perfect, nor are we, but they did believe.

However with the inquisition a not so far away phenomenon; and having recently emerged from the dark ages, our founding fathers did see the wisdom of allowing for the freedom of religion, by keeping the state out it.  When religious and political power were united (as they were first in Rome, then in England) great persecution arose in the name of God (but more accurately for the greed of gold).  Many died for no other reason than a differing faith or belief system, their wealth forfeited to either state or church or both.

So our nation became founded on Christian attitudes and prevailing morality, but chose to make the distinction between the church and the state.  In point of fact we were the first country to make such an issue of this.  But we were not the first advocate of it.  Christ Himself, while here on earth, answered one of those meant-to-trip-you-up questions by saying … “render unto to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”  This was the first admonition to separate how we think about government and religion, and was ironically proposed from within Christianity.  Christ Himself laid out for us our proper priorities.  Money was to go to the government, and our hearts were to belong to God.  Oh that we could learn that lesson, rather than so often reversing it.

A study of Biblical prophesy talks a great deal about the Beast, and his image.  Many characteristics of the Beast are articulated throughout scripture, but the most compelling trait was his desire to control the conscience of men on pain of death.  The Beast (an enemy of the church throughout scripture) tried to make men think a certain way.  He wants and demands worship and adoration.  And according to the scripture, a great many people follow after the Beast and his image.  Why is this important?

Because scripture also refers to a new nation that rises up in the world and helps the church.  That new nation is us.  Our country arises across the sea and restores freedom for religion to the world.  Those that believe can live here free from persecution, inquisition, and death.  The church is free to grow here at least for a while.  But alas, we do not remain true to our values according the same sets of prophesy.  Eventually we begin to speak just like the Beast.  Note this does not mean we are forsaking religion, rather the contrary, it means we are uniting with it to compel the conscience of man.  Sound familiar?

It is NOT a gradual slide into liberalism, or atheism, that causes us to become like the Beast.  It is the unification of religion and political power that attempt to control the will.  Christ never compelled anyone to follow Him.  He authored freedom of choice for all creation, even when that creation made the wrong choice back in the garden.  There was no forced will then, and there is no forced will now.  There is an offer extended to man, but nothing to force him to accept it.  Satan on the other hand, is all too happy to enforce his will on your mind, heart, body, and soul.  The very nature of evil is to corrupt and control the mind of man.  And so like its author, the Beast begins to speak like Satan.  Uniting the spiritual with the political under the name of “good” but with every action resulting in pure “evil”.

And worst of all, Christians are driving the truck.  It is the siren call of Christians who want to reclaim our nation’s morality that are responsible for speaking like the Beast and the Dragon that preceded him.  What is it they say about good intentions paving the way to … hell.  And this is the road we are on today.  Republicans, though wounded by the results of the last election have not softened their positions on social tolerance in any way.  Rather they believe they lost because of their LACK of firmness to their values.  Today’s Republican party is emerging from defeat even farther to the right, than to the center.  It’s most popular spokes people prove this point again and again.

Ironically it is not the entire Republican agenda that is a problem.  Fiscal responsibility, small government, strong defense, wide personal freedoms, and local oversight are excellent principles upon which to build a political party.  But mix in extra helpings of hate posing as religious fundamentalism, and you excite a base to take “mob” action, rather than deliberate tolerance.  Homosexuals and abortionists are no more enemies of Christ than are adulterers and gossip mongers.  There is no compelling spiritual reason to single out a particular set of evil for a zero-tolerance policy when this is not universally applied to every other set of bad behavior.  It is the devil’s work to try to legislate morality.

It is not the duty of the Christian to try to stamp out sin in the world.  It is the duty of the Christian to love his enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.  In short, it is the duty of Christians to love.  There is no mention of sin in our list of responsibilities.  Those that wish to call sin by its proper name often use this language to hide their true meaning – they wish to call other people sinners, or hold people accountable publicly for their sins.  To truly call sin by its right name would involve only defining it as it truly is – PAIN.  All sin is inextricably linked to pain, whether felt immediately or over a longer term.  To point out the destructive nature of sin, without accusing anyone else or condemning anyone else, is to truly define sin.  Condemnation has never been our responsibility, nor has it ever saved anyone.  Whereas love has done more, and accomplished more than you could possible ever fully define.

Rather than spending our energies in trying to legislate sin out of the world, and God back into our nation.  Why don’t we exert the same energy in submitting our prideful will to God’s control and learn how to truly love each other as well as those who disagree with us and our beliefs.  There is still time to redefine Christian values from out of the mouth of the Beast and back to the source of all love.  Let us learn to emulate our humble leader, who though He was God on earth, He was servant to us all ...