Truth or Love

Truth Or Love?

Parenting is a great metaphor for life, and many of my hard-earned lessons have come through my relationships with my kids.  They’re fantastic kids, and I love them with all my heart.  I would take a bullet for either one of them in a second if needed.  Sometimes, when I hear noises at night while I’m laying in bed, I imagine exactly how I would jump out of bed and sprint up the stairs to save them from a bad guy with my bare hands.  At other times, they make me so crazy frustrated I have to go for a run just to get some sanity & peace before talking with them.  The issues we’ve encountered with our children are nothing compared to the hell I put my own parents through when I was a kid…just ask anyone who’s known me for awhile.  Anyway, in moments of frustration, when kids get stuck in a behaviors or underlying beliefs that threaten their well being in some way, it’s the parents’ job to hold them accountable to what’s right…but to do it in such a way that feeds their spirits and strengthens the relationship.  This is parenting 101…and it’s the hardest lesson of all.  Chasten and embrace. Set free and guide. Judge and accept.  Obedience and grace.  These seem like opposites, and most people lean heavily on one while neglecting the other.  Healthy, effective parents embrace the tension and excel in both.

So here’s the metaphor.  Today in America we’re seeing a huge spiritual backlash against the traditional christendom of our predecessors. Generations have been growing-up believing increasingly that truth is relative, religious people are mean-spirited, and churches are full of hypocrites. The travesty is that this has been sometimes true…enough of the time that it’s poisoned an otherwise Godly heritage and given birth to a pendulum swing.  I may be oversimplifying to make a point, and forgive me if that’s so, but it seems to me that the type of faith that was promoted & exemplified in most of the 1900’s was characterized by an overzealous pursuit of true doctrine, separatism and growth formulas; at the expense of honesty, brotherly love, and the lifestyle of service that was displayed by our Master. This backlash has produced a tidal wave of followers of Jesus who are very sincere, accepting, and accommodating; but who really don’t know what they believe or why…and they’re falling prey to all kinds of false, misleading, and cancerous beliefs that don’t look anything like Jesus.  

This is one of the most important issues facing the Church today…rediscovering the art of living in truth AND love. We can only do this in the power of God’s Spirit living in us.

On the one hand, Jesus commanded us to love each other and sacrifice our preferences for others.  We see Him and His early followers in the New Testament standing in strong opposition to religious fundamentalists and making friends with the shadiest people in society.  

On the other hand, we are recipients and guardians of truth.  If the Bible is actually true historically and philosophically, and if Jesus really is who He says He is, then adherence to that narrative and body of teachings is of paramount importance.  

We need a new movement.  One that joins these two character traits of God and puts them on display to the waiting, watching, wandering world around us.  Let’s be the Holy Spirit’s movement, starting in our own lives.

Scripture Reading.  Below is an excerpt…just verse 15 of Ephesians chapter 4.  But you should read the whole thing….so good!

“…Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.”

What We Seek

The Bible gets blamed for all kinds of delusional thinking.  We tend to misunderstand for a variety of reasons, and chief among them is our propensity to read into it what we already think and then extract a sentence or two that upholds our view.  In this way, many unwittingly re-create a god of their own making...rather than allowing it to speak for itself and form the lyrics of truth from God's anthem to our own.

This morning's example of this is an often misquoted passage from the end of Matthew chapter 6:

"So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." (Matthew 6:31-33

Seems like a really great deal, right?  Taken by itself, it seems to be a promise...one that is very self-explanatory and amazing.  However, do you see that first word?  "SO"....This implies that it's looking back to what was just said.  Anytime you see something like that, you'd better read the part before so you're sure that you're understanding the purpose of what you're reading.  Here's the full section, which is often broken up into 2 sections in our modern Bibles.  Here, read the full section (Matthew 6:19-34):

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of Godd above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today."

So you see, this section is not about getting all our nutritional and clothing needs met.  It's about focusing our "seeking" on our relationship with God rather than the needs of today & tomorrow.  There is an aspect of promise in there, however, it's not the point...and it surely isn't meant to be instructing us to approach God with our daily needs as if He were our person Genie to meet all our needs.  It's about having different framework than the corrupted, materialistic world around us.  It's about teaching us what truly makes us content.   It's about the connection between WORRY and DESIRE.  It's an object lesson to teach us that "If I only had _____ I would be happy" doesn't actually produce the contentment we seek.  I'll leave you with this:

"I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:11-13)

The Prayer God Always Answers

So often we pray wrong.

There’s a right way and wrong way to do it.  But this has nothing to do with saying religious words in just the right way, or with how much emotion is put into them.  It has to do with motive…what’s in the heart of the pray-er.  You know what I mean?  God sees through all the fancy & emotional words we might say, and looks into the heart.

On the one hand you may have someone who seems to be very comfortable in prayer, and who likes to pray out loud in public settings with words that sound knowledgeable and holy, but who’s heart is actually very far from God’s.  And on the other hand a person who stammers & struggles to express the things within but who’s heart is intimately lined-up with the purposes and character of the Spirit within.

Which one does God hear? Well, He hears both of course.
Which one does He appreciate and respond to?

Scripture teaches us about the nature of prayer and the ONE we pray to (or, with), so we don’t need to come up with our own self-centered definitions and impose them upon a Lord we don’t understand.  The mistake we often make is that we tend to view the Lord from our own limited perspective, and we tend to interact with Him accordingly.

“God please do this for me…”
“God this is what You need to do about….”
“God please give success to ….”

These are not good examples of prayer’s purpose…although they certainly exemplify the pattern of many of our prayers.  The purpose of prayer is to weave our hearts/desires/circumstances/choices…. to the Lord’s.  Prayer isn’t about getting God to do what we want done, but getting ourselves lined-up with what He wants done.  This is the definition of “praying according to God’s will.”  Indeed there are many scriptures that speak about asking God for things/people/circumstances, but the common denominator is HIS WILL not mine or yours….HIS evaluation of the interworking of circumstances from His time-less perspective.

The English word "prayer" comes from the Biblical Greek word "proseúxomai" - prós, meaning "towards, exchange" and euxomai, meaning "to wish, pray" – literally, to exchange wishes; to interact with the Lord by switching human wishes (ideas) for His wishes as He imparts faith.

“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

“You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?” (James 4:2-4)

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)

“You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:11-13)

“Always be joyful. NEVER STOP PRAYING. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

So, perhaps our role in prayer is not to inform God of what we want….but to remain close to Him so that we know what HE WANTS and WHAT HE IS DOING…and then align our lives and priorities around Him in a lifestyle of prayer. The peace & joy that we seek will follow.

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Pray Easy

I've read a few books about prayer over the years, and my favorite quote is from a Bill Hybels book back in the 80's or 90's called "Too Busy Not To Pray."  He says:

"Don't pray hard.  Pray easy.

Prayer doesn't do it.  God does it." 

I was reminded of this as I was reading & praying through Jesus' teaching about prayer in His 'Sermon on the Mount'...Let's pray like this:

"When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the religious buildings where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! Pray like this:

"Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us.
And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.

 

 

Onion-Skin Theology

I wasn't always a professional spiritual guy.  I spent my first 4-years of college studying architecture and working part-time as an engineering draftsman.  I was pretty good at it, but came to understand that it wasn't my calling...and subsequently went (kicking & screaming) into ministry...which is another story.

While I was studying Ephesians chapter 2 the other day, I did some study about the Greek word translated into English as "heavenly-realms."  It's the word "epouranios", which is from "epi"-on, upon, against, fits, on the basis of....and "ouranos"-heaven.

I had the epiphany that the Kingdom of God is like when I was designing something and would use "onion-skin" to help with the design process.   We would make a base drawing, then use onion-skin - a very thin and transparent layer of vellum - to superimpose design options on top of the drawing to see how they would look.  For example, if I was designing a house floor plan, I could use onion-skins to explore various layout options for interior walls or exterior landscaping.  It has occurred to me that this is what it must be like for the Kingdom of God among us.  Although we cannot "see" the Kingdom, its realities are all-pervading and ever-present...like an imperceptible layer of higher-reality that superimposes and interacts with our daily lives, pasts, and futures.  This is an incredibly accurate analogy for how scripture views the "heavenly-realms."  It's not "over there" or "later"...it's right now, among us.  It's not limited to space & time like we are, it's an additional layer superimposed upon space & time, interacting with it...us....me....you.

Kind of like when Jesus would say things like "he who has eyes to see, let him see."  ....or in Luke 17:20-21 when He said, "Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, 'The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.'”

So, the question is, which reality is more real?...and how do we live into that one?

The Great Obstacle and Greater Remedy

The greatest obstacle between me and the life I seek is myself.  This morning I was reminded of this, and the remedy.

"Surrender don't come natural to me. I'd rather fight You for something I don't really want, than to take what You give that I need. And I've beat my head against so many walls...now I'm falling down, I'm falling on my knees. And this Salvation Army band is playing this hymn. And Your grace rings out so deep, it makes my resistance seem so thin. You have been King of my glory, won't You be my Prince of Peace?" (From the song "Hold Me Jesus" by Rich Mullins)

     "The trouble is not with [God's] law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 
     And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
     I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:14-25)

Crisis of Faith

When God invites you to join Him in His work, He presents a God-sized assignment He wants to accomplish.  It will be obvious you can’t do it on your own.  If God doesn’t help, you will fail.  This is the crisis point at which many people decide not to follow what they sense God is leading them to do.  Then they wonder why they do not experience God’s presence, power, and activity the way some Christians do.

The word “crisis” comes from a Greek word that means “decision.” The same word is often translated “judgment.” We aren’t talking about a calamity in your life such as an accident or death.  This crisis is not a disaster or a bad thing.  It is a turning point or a fork in the road that calls for a decision.  You must decide what you believe about God.  How you respond when you reach this turning point will determine whether or not you proceed with God in something only He can do or whether you continue on your own way and miss what God has purposed for your life.  This is not a one-time experience.  How you live your life daily is a testimony of what you believe about God.

All through scripture when God revealed Himself, His purposes, and His ways, the response required faith.  Read what God says about faith:

• Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. (Heb.11:1)
• For we walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Cor.5:7)
• [Jesus said,] The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)
• For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt.17:20)
• [Paul said,] My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power, so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.” (1 Cor. 2:4-5)
• If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all. (Isa. 7:9)

Faith is confidence that what God promised will come to pass. Sight is the opposite of faith. If you can see clearly how something can be accomplished, faith is more than likely not required…  Christians (as well as everyone else) have a natural tendency to try building a life in which faith is unnecessary.  We establish a comfort zone where everything is in our control, but this is not pleasing to God.  God will allow things into our lives that drive us to utter dependence upon Him.  Then we see His power and His glory. 

Jesus said if His followers have faith in God, they will do even greater things than He He has done.  Our faith in the Lord must be based on God’s power, not on human wisdom…  On their own, the disciples could not feed the multitudes, heal the sick, or raise the dead.  But God could and did do these very things through them.  When God lets you know what He wants to do through you, it will be something only He can do.  What you believe about Him will determine your response… We face the same crisis of belief the people in the Bible experienced. When God speaks, what He asks of us requires faith. Our major hindrance to obedience is our self-centeredness. We think we have to accomplish the assignment in our own power and with our current resources.  We think, “I can’t do that. That’s not possible.” In other words, we lack faith.  We forget that when God speaks, He always reveals what He is going to do-not what He wants us to do for Him. We join with Him so He works through us.

Excerpts from “Experiencing God”, by Henry Blackaby